"Oh, shit." She pressed her comms hastily. "Alert to all Knights Mechanica. We're about to have company."
"What are you talking about?" Windchime asked. Thankfully, their small numbers meant that her teammates were close by, so she knew she’d have help in moments.
"There's a mech here and it's still intact," she said and retreated slowly. It appeared that the larger mech had realized it was being scanned and now began to move. "And it looks like it's getting ready to fight."
"It would be good to note that I pick up more movements across the town," Mini said.
"And I guess those aren't Knights?" she asked and looked around when the activity became visible even without the HUD.
"No," Mini replied simply.
Combat mechs emerged from the hidden corners and crevasses of the town. Most were Lancers, but a couple of Cinders appeared as well. They had been positioned at strategic points along the paths and roads leading in and out and had managed to remain utterly motionless and completely hidden among the smoke and wreckage.
It was, like many had suspected, an ambush but given that they made no effort to attack directly, it seemed it might be designed to trap the Knights inside the town and prevent them from leaving. Which meant that whatever it was they had been caught inside with was the real trap, and Athena didn't want them to escape it.
Jessica13 turned her attention to the mech she’d first seen that activated slowly and straightened to its full size, which resembled that of an Excalibur. It was perhaps a few meters shorter than the one Hammerhand piloted but made up for it with a large ballast around the midsection. It looked rounded and even the limbs had been given extra padding that was almost like armor, which would make it much slower but almost impossible to break through.
"What the fuck is that?" she asked. "There are pieces on it from about seven or eight other mech designs, but it's not based on a central design. It looks like…all those pieces have been put together with tons and tons of armor."
Windchime rushed to her side and gaped as the massive mech activated itself fully and exposed a variety of steam vents across its body, obviously for cooling purposes.
"Holy shit," the man said. "That's a Golem."
"A what?" she asked but he made no reply and instead, quickly called to the other Knights to form up. Hammerhand had engaged a group of Lancers and kept them busy for the moment. He would keep them at bay on his own and let them deal with the other threat, whatever it was.
Mini was quick to answer the question. "Golems are created from whatever scrap can be found. They are dangerous to pilot by a human, which is why they are generally operated by an AI with basic combat programming. They're difficult to destroy but generally not that much of a threat."
"Unless they're about twenty meters tall and carry more armor than your average bunker," she pointed out.
He paused. "Yes, that is correct."
"How the hell will we be able to get through the armor?" Jessica13 asked as Windchime turned to the Knights who had responded immediately to his call. The Golem appeared to be fully activated and moved ponderously out of its hiding place. It crushed the remains of a couple of nearby buildings and released showers of bright yellow sparks that almost suggested a pair of flaming wings.
She gulped instinctively, took a step back, and glanced at her teammates. Windchime positioned them quickly and snapped orders to arrange them in fighting formation. None would engage the massive mech alone or even attack it all out.
"Keep it busy," he said. "Hit it when you can but jump back quickly too. Don't let it get a lock on you."
The others appeared to agree with the tactic. While they were all the bravest fighters she had ever met, none of them would risk their lives unnecessarily. She knew they would follow the orders of Hammerhand, Tinker, and Windchime mostly because they knew there would be no lives risked without reason.
"Jessie, try to keep it distracted but do so from a distance," Windchime said once he’d connected with her over a private line. "And keep any of the other mechs off our backs."
"Understood." She removed her rifle from its place on her back and focused on three Lancers that approached, obviously intending to distract the group from their attack on the Golem.
"It’s time to get to work," Mini said and called up the aiming software.
Jessica13 looked down the scope and used some of the upgrades on the motion sensors to give her a better view of the mechs that moved steadily closer.
"Mini, keep us moving away from them," she said, handing the controls to the AI. "Draw them away from the fight and away from the Knights."
"Understood," he replied and guided the Minato back slowly as she lined up her shot. The Lancers didn't appear to pay her much attention and focused instead on the Knights who had begun to engage the Golem. They quite probably hoped to find easy targets among them and so moved steadily closer while they believed their quarry was distracted.
She took a deep breath, exhaled quietly, and pulled the trigger. Her target was the cockpit area to eliminate the human control of the mech, which would in turn remove most of its combat capabilities.
The Lancer slumped forward since the AI still needed to gain control when the human input ceased, and it was immediately apparent that it was out of sync with the other two. They had already turned to try to identify the origin of the shot fired at them.
"Keep us moving," she reminded Mini.
"I will, but there are some…complications," the AI said and sounded almost uncertain. She had never heard him like that before and looked quickly to where the Golem advanced on her teammates. She noticed that
