He caught it smoothly with his second right hand and adjusted both rifles to do more than lay down covering fire. His concerted barrage eliminated the final Lancer by simply destroying the cockpit. The Cinder burst into flames and the man screamed inside and attempted to climb out.
Already burning, he didn't make it all the way and only managed to haul himself partially free before the smoke or the heat killed him. He sagged, still mostly in the cockpit, and smoke billowed to allow only fleeting glimpses of the slowly blackening corpse.
"Stay down!" Windchime yelled, still in motion as he drew his swords.
The Sherlock immediately realized the danger it was in and a piercing alarm screamed and easily drowned out the sounds around them. Jessica13 covered her ears. She knew the reason why, of course. Sherlock mechs had a highly unstable core fueling their movements, and instead of fixing them with something more stable, the designers had fitted them with a button that would blow the core instead.
She didn't like them for precisely that reason. In simple terms, like Cinders, they tended to blow up. Unlike Cinders, when they blew, they tended to leave a massive crater.
Windchime knew it and had already taken steps to hopefully avoid disaster. First, he shot the man inside to prevent him from making any more mistakes that could doom them all. With him disposed of, he worked quickly, sliced into the back of the Sherlock, and dug within to find the core.
He located it, yanked it out of the mech, and after a moment's thought, hurled it as far as he could away from both the train and the two of them.
Jessica13 ducked instinctively and closed her eyes while she imagined the explosion darken the sky.
Fortunately, the core, without the rest of the mech to feed on, had only a bright flash and little real power.
It was over in a moment and she looked up cautiously and surveyed the carnage.
"Are there any more of them at the train?" Windchime asked as he moved beside her.
"Probably," she replied. "My guess is that they're only support mechs, though."
She frowned and focused on her HUD to determine the source of the alarms that blared in her ears. Her teammate snorted and waved a hand dismissively.
"What did I tell you?" he asked and shook his head. "Don't attack. You're not built for that."
"I felled two of them, didn't I?" she asked and ran a hasty systems check on the mech. "More than a couple, actually, if you count the first two on the convoy. Besides, that's why you gave me your rifle."
He growled and shook his head again, vehemently enough this time that his mech reacted to over-emphasize it dramatically. “No. I gave it to you in case you needed to defend yourself, not so you could start a fight you couldn’t hope to finish. What would you have done if I—”
"If I could interrupt," Mini said and effectively cut off the admonition the man seemed ready to deliver. “I’ve examined the fallen mechs. The rifle attached to that Sherlock would actually be far more accurate for you to use for the pinpoint shooting software I can provide."
"Huh," Jessica13 replied and moved immediately to the mech in question. Windchime muttered something inaudible and ran a couple of systems checks to make sure he was ready for another fight. She wasn't sure what he intended to do next, but she wanted to support him better than simply carrying bullets for him.
Her teammate watched in silence as she detached the weapon from the Sherlock, hefted it, and studied the software.
"You really want to be involved in the fighting, don't you?" Windchime said finally as she returned to him. "You can't simply leave it to me, can you?"
"I thought you might need me for more than only support," she replied and tried to sound casual. "Besides, if I pick them off from far away, I'm not exactly in the thick of it myself, am I?"
"So long as you don’t shoot me too," he grumbled. "Come on. We don't have time to waste."
He had a point, and it was sufficient to render her possible protest unspoken. The remaining members of the convoy would be able to make necessary repairs in short order and would soon be on the move again. While it would be interesting to work on the train herself, that wouldn’t be possible if she had to shoot it again. She wouldn’t say as much to her teammate, but who the hell knew what kind of damage she might cause the second time? Her achievement brought real satisfaction, but she was at least honest enough to admit to herself that she wasn’t entirely sure she could repeat it.
"Nice work stopping the train," Windchime admitted grudgingly. "But it looks like they're trying to get everything moving again. Maybe they don't realize they’ve lost their attack team?"
"Or they don't care," Jessica13 replied and immediately looked for a reason to try her new rifle. "I think I can distract them and give you cover fire to approach them without being seen."
"Okay, why not?" he said after a moment’s thought. "Wait for my signal."
For the first time since they'd left Auburn, she decided she would actually follow his orders. While she still believed she had abilities and intuition that had begun to emerge along with her instinct to test her limits, she also knew she’d been lucky thus far. Too much too soon might be the death of her, and it was better to rely on his experience and skills for now.
With this in mind, she set herself up on a small rise that gave her a clear view of the mechs below. Windchime moved quickly and remained as low as possible in the tall grass.
"You may fire when ready," he said.
"Are you ready?" Mini asked. "I've updated the
