"We'll have to risk it," the other man said as they disabled the captives.
"Remind me why we don’t simply kill them," Windchime asked a little irritably.
"That’s not our choice to make," Jessica13 said firmly and shook her head as she moved to the men who had been bound using spare wire Tinker had carried in his pack.
"There will be more of them around the town, though," Windchime said. "Those with the shiny boots you mentioned who make trouble with the local townsfolk with Athena's blessing."
"Should we bring them here?" she asked.
"I think you and Tinker should stay and keep an eye on the bunker as well as our prisoners," he said. "I can go to the other checkpoints, gather those who are still loyal to Athena, and bring them here, whether they want to be brought or not."
"That does seem reasonable," she acquiesced after a moment’s thought.
Mini appeared to agree and immediately supplied the man with the locations of the other checkpoints. With the information he needed at hand, he turned to leave. She gave him his sword, and she and Tinker remained and waited while the night passed and the sun slowly began to rise before their teammate returned with a group of captives in tow.
There were fewer of them than she thought that there would be, and she could see sprays of blood on the man's hybridized mech.
"I take it many of them weren't overly cooperative?" Tinker asked and raised a hand to shield his eyes against the rising sun.
"Those who weren't changed their minds fairly quickly after their friends were cut in half," Windchime replied. He sounded less than enthused about the fact as she hastily secured their new prisoners.
A part of her suggested that she should be celebrating. They had won a major victory and on their own, no less. The other Knights would arrive in the next few days, which gave them time to consolidate their position in the location and set up defenses for the folks of Auburn.
But all she felt was sick to her stomach. Memories of killing the men in the checkpoint building herself, then seeing what they had done while acting under Athena's command had left her feeling shaken.
It wasn't like she hadn't killed before but this was different, somehow. She wasn't sure how, but it had certainly impacted her in a way the other deaths hadn't.
As the dawn brightened, the people in the town of Auburn began to stir and begin their day. It wasn't long before they realized the change that had come over their town and the sense of excitement was tangible. A few of Athena’s agents hadn't been found by Windchime and once they registered the changed atmosphere, they quickly tried to establish some semblance of control over the populace.
It was immediately apparent that it wouldn't go well for them. The Auburn townsfolk had been strained and apathetic, apparently shocked into submission when their people were burned alive and simply resigned to their circumstances. Now, however, when they saw the Cinders no longer supported the enemy agents among them, they reacted with the decisiveness borne out of anger and suffering.
Those who had weapons were tackled and disarmed by several men and women, and the others surrendered when they realized they could expect no additional support.
After a fairly short discussion which included numerous gestures and nods toward the bunker, the residents dragged their prisoners away from the town to where Jessica13, Windchime, and Tinker waited for them.
Messengers were sent by the townsfolk to notify those who hadn’t witnessed or been part of the early-morning rebellion. Despite the fact that they scurried from street to street and house to house, it was almost mid-morning by the time most of the inhabitants had assembled outside the bunker.
By then, the earlier sense of celebration had faded somewhat and no one appeared to know what should happen next. Athena's men looked fearful and clearly anticipated that the mob would lynch them at the slightest provocation, and the townsfolk looked restless. The mood seemed to ebb and surge as if they weren’t sure whether to be angry, excited, or simply confused.
Tinker was the first to act, stepped out of his mech, and pushed himself onto the table the Cinder pilots had been seated around earlier.
"I am Tinker!" he called and projected his voice to carry and silence the crowd around him. "This is Windchime, and you may have met Jessie yesterday. We are members of the Knights Mechanica and were summoned to aid you in your time of need."
The people settled almost immediately and stared intently at the man with the scraggly beard and bushy eyebrows.
"Those who called us have paid the price for it, but know that their deaths were not in vain," he continued, and Jessica13 realized how similar his speech pattern was to Hammerhand's. "We don't want to take this town away from you, however."
Glances were exchanged and it seemed the townsfolk were unsure of what to make of that.
"The Knights Mechanica are here to help you but not to take over," Tinker continued and fixed a firm gaze on the group. "As for these sorry wretches, I suppose you get to choose what you want to do with them yourselves. Then, you can take control of your water supply from within this bunker."
He dropped from the table as the people began to discuss what they wanted to do with the men. The Cinders would be left for their use in defense, and she wondered if she could get her hands on a couple of those that were used in the fields and help them to build others.
It would take training before the people of Auburn were able to use the mechs without injuring themselves, but it wouldn’t be an insurmountable challenge. Mini had a handful of subroutines that would
