Another shower of sparks indicated a successful strike and the lead car lurched ahead, suddenly free of the weight it had dragged behind it. The motion was too fast and too abrupt and it skidded and rolled onto its side in the dust it caused.
The momentum of the other cars kept them in motion for a few yards, but they ground slowly to a halt.
Jessica13 raced toward the edge of the bluff and hunkered into cover as she pressed the button to contact Windchime.
"Son of a whore!" he shouted as soon as there was a connection. "Is that you? Was that you shooting?"
"What's a whore?" she asked.
"Never mind that. Did you shoot?"
"Yes. I killed a couple of Athena's men before I brought their supply train to a halt. They'll probably come out to try to get their hands on me, so I really hope you can get here quickly before I have to fight them on my own."
"Fuck you," he all but snarled before the comm cut.
She shrugged and assumed he was angry because he’d missed out on the action and she’d stopped the convoy single-handed. That aside, he could be counted on to get to her as quickly as he could. In the meantime, she had more relevant issues to worry about like creeping a little farther away from their original position without revealing themselves. Heavy mech boots thumped around the immobilized supply train and questions were yelled in an effort to determine why it had come to a stop and who was to blame.
Gunshots were fired at her previous position but none were around her current location, which confirmed that they still had no idea where she was. That wouldn’t last, unfortunately, as the enemy would soon realize that she had nowhere to go without exposing herself to them.
Jessica13 looked around for something that might help and held the assault rifle primed and ready in case she needed to use it. They hadn't seen her, likely because they didn’t expect a smaller mech to attack them, but she doubted they would spare her if they found her simply because of size.
Two mechs appeared from farther down the slope and she turned slowly. They were Lancers, but she hardly recognized them. For one thing, they were in decent shape, which alone made them different from the ones she had seen before.
More footsteps indicated the approach of other mechs and from her scant cover among a handful of straggly bushes, she saw the shadow cast by what could only be a Cinder.
"I suggest we run," Mini said as she began to back away quietly.
The perverse instinct surged again, both annoying and titillating, to remind her that she had a gun and now knew how to use it.
It provided a persistent temptation, but she pushed it down and decided to wait for Windchime. Perhaps part of this unexpected new development was to learn to live to fight another day—if only because she’d barely explored the unexpected and immensely satisfying new development.
"Let's go," Jessica13 said and the mech settled into Bulletfoot mode again. She couldn't hear the men behind her as they were likely on one of the secured comm lines, which allowed themselves to talk without informing their quarry about their plans.
The decision came not a moment too soon.
Bullets kicked the dirt up around them when an assault rifle locked onto her back. The Minato surged forward in the direction Windchime would most likely come from. She didn't know how long it would take her to meet up with her teammate, but as long as she stayed alive, there was nothing to fear. They might have greater firepower, but she had speed and maneuverability. She could outrun the bastards and outlast them if she needed to.
"Where the hell are you, Windchime?" She hissed through her teeth when the alarms warned her there were a number of breaches in her armor. Nothing critical was hit, but it wouldn't be long before something was.
Gunfire suddenly erupted from ahead of her and the shooting from behind quickly stopped. She didn't have time to look to see if it was because they had been killed or merely tried to find cover before that happened.
Mini kept them in motion and varied their path randomly to make them a more difficult target and a few minutes later, Windchime appeared, racing toward her at phenomenal speed.
"Pull the mech up!" she called and waited until the AI had drawn them out of Bulletfoot mode before she took control of the upper half of her body. He retained control of the lower half to keep them running as she twisted, yanked the rifle from her back, and turned to look at the five mechs in pursuit.
Three were Lancers, with one Sherlock and the Cinder she had noted lagging behind. They were slower mechs and better suited for standing ground than running attacks.
Windchime's fire had pinned the Sherlock down and forced the mech back a few steps so it wouldn’t be able to deliver effective shots.
Jessica13 took advantage of this and twisted while her legs continued to run in the opposite direction. It was difficult to aim while in motion and at that speed, but this wasn't the time to insist on precision when she had a full mag of bullets to use. She set it on full auto and noted the bullets she had at her disposal before she opened fire.
The bullets kicked dirt up and she tried to keep a solid grasp and aim the weapon where she wanted. It wasn't easy but a Lancer was hit three times, tripped to land face-first, and made no effort to rise.
One of the others was struck as well but in the knee area rather than in the cockpit. A spurt of black liquid issued from the joints and the mech rapidly lost the ability to move with its now damaged hydraulics. All the pressure released and it stumbled and fell.
"Get down!" Windchime shouted,
