Hammerhand turned to face Tinker. He looked like he wasn't sure where the man was going with what he was saying and wasn't sure if he liked it either.
The group of Knights assembled around them appeared to choose one side or the other and began to argue over the valid points each of the men had raised. Jessica13 lowered her head and moved back a few steps, not wanting to be caught in this argument as she felt both the outsider and way out of her depth.
"Enough!" Hammerhand commanded sharply, his speakers very easily heard in their small area. "We are clearly in a position that requires you all to listen to reason, and here is the reason I give you. No one will restore honor through killing themselves. If any want to earn their honor back for whatever reason you feel it's needed, you will fare better in the effort by staying alive, do you understand?"
Tinker and Windchime still looked less than convinced.
"Do you understand?" their leader snapped and took a step toward them.
There were few things in the world more intimidating than the sight of an Excalibur staring at you and expecting some kind of answer. The two men weren't affected the same way Jessica13 would have been, however. They didn't take a step back from the man, but their heads lowered and what looked like dejection settled over them as far as she could see.
They felt ashamed. Hammerhand had a point, and they knew it. Windchime had looked for an easy way out, wracked by guilt as he was, and felt he couldn't look any of his brothers in the eye after what he perceived as a lapse in judgment. Tinker felt similarly disappointed with himself.
But this was not the moment for guilt or self-recrimination. They had a job to see through and trying to get themselves killed any other way wouldn’t do anyone any good. The only way they could make up for whatever foul deeds they believed they were to blame for was if they powered through the battles ahead and emerged at the end having rid the world of the likes of Athena.
"We can't afford the waste of losing either of our finest members," Hammerhand continued in a softer tone. "We are all to blame to some extent or another for this. That is what being in the Knights Mechanica means. We are all brothers, and our problems belong to the group, not only to one or the other. None of us could have anticipated that Athena would do what she did, and in that, I am to blame. No matter how unhinged she was before, I would never have thought she had fallen this far. The three of you did the correct thing in liberating the town of Auburn from Athena's grasp. You could not have weighed the lives of the one against those of the other."
Jessica13 lowered her head, drew deep breaths, and tried to pull away from the memories of the bodies she'd seen burned in the buildings around them.
"I need every last one of you to steel yourselves and clear your minds," Hammerhand said and addressed the Knights as a group. "The responsibility for what happened here belongs on the shoulders of Athena and no one else. It was her choice, and all we can do is make her pay for her wanton destruction and her cruel decisions."
The Knights raised their hands and a cheer came from them. Windchime and Tinker did as well, even if they did appear to still be despondent over what they'd seen.
"Now, we still need to find a way to engage Athena that won't allow her to destroy another city like this," Hammerhand said. "She would be insane to repeat the carnage, given that they are the ones supporting her and her people. But if there is anything we've learned from this town, it's that we know we can't expect her to do the right thing or even the logical thing. Her actions prove only that she needs to be stopped."
Another cheer erupted from the group, who already felt a little more lighthearted when they saw their leader with a better attitude than before. Jessica13 couldn't help a small smile. She knew she wouldn't be able to help them much with planning their attack on Athena, but there was still collecting and packing the parts and pieces they had scavenged. That did appear to be the one thing she could do while the others began to formulate a battle plan.
Something crackled and sparked in the sky above her and she looked up as she made her way to the Beast. Curious, she tilted her head and squinted in an effort to make out what hung above them in the growing darkness. Not only had the sun already begun to set as the smoke cleared slowly, but heavy, dark clouds gathered and flashes of lightning arced through them to illuminate something that wasn't a cloud.
"What the hell?” Despite her best efforts, she simply couldn’t make it out. "Mini, can you see what is up there?"
A couple of scans ran across the HUD. "All scans are inconclusive. You could look through the scope of your rifle for a better view."
She did as the AI suggested, took her rifle from her back, and peered through the scope. It provided a breath-taking sight of the massive clouds above her head as they darkened and surged with streaks of lightning quickly followed by a crack of thunder. As she’d suspected, there was definitely something else there. It was hard to tell what it was, exactly, until she zoomed in closer and
