The rain quickly transformed most of the ground to mud, which made it difficult to slog through it while carrying heavy chunks of metal but none of them lacked incentive. No one wanted to be caught by lightning while having to deal with the next wave of attacks.
They covered most of the town in an impressively short time thanks to the number of people who had committed to the project. The section farthest from where the battle had ended was left for last since it took longer to carry all the parts and pieces required through the mud and the rain.
"There's a visual!" a man shouted. She assumed it was one of those who had been sent to work as scouts and wondered why the comms crackled with interference.
"Visual of what?" Jessica13 asked.
"Maybe you should guess?" Mini retorted.
She scowled and could have sworn she heard a sarcastic undertone in the AI's voice. When she thought about it, though, there was nothing in his programming that suggested he was treating her sarcastically. She would have to run a few diagnostics to get a better idea of it later.
For the moment, however, they needed to deal with whatever it was that approached.
The Knights, now joined by those who had piloted the fallen mechs, began to gather toward the edge of town on the side where the balloons advanced and loomed ominously overhead.
"Is it them?" she asked and looked at her teammates.
"Who the fuck else would it be?" one of the Knights snapped.
Jessica13 knew better than to take what the man said personally. They were all under a great deal of stress, after all.
She turned to the townsfolk who stood and stared at the balloons that continued their slow yet inexorable journey toward Auburn.
"Get those generators running," she said. "Now!"
They had almost seemed in a trance until she snapped the last word and caught their attention firmly. She instructed them to head to the section of town where a large number of the power cores from the crushed mechs had been gathered and connected to the entire network of grounding towers they had erected.
It had been an idea from one of the locals, and she had agreed without hesitation. She had actually been surprised by their inventiveness, and the idea to store the grounded electricity from the lightning had been fairly brilliant and easy to incorporate. Given that they didn't know what to do with the stored electricity, she hadn't been sure about dedicating any resources to it but they would have to survive after this and having fully charged power cells would always be useful.
There would be time enough later to find a use for it once they had all survived Athena's attacks.
The generators they would turn on would set up the capacitors, which would make sure the power surges didn't short any of the cells out. Working on that would be enough to keep the townsfolk busy for the moment while the Knights determined what kind of attack they would face.
They had needed to abandon the outer defenses since they would be too far away from the rods and too close to the trees, which could end up destroying the mechs if they were struck by lightning. Unfortunately, this meant they would have to do any fighting that was necessary within the town itself. Hammerhand hadn't liked the idea, but at least the defenses would slow any ground invasion.
Jessica13 scowled as the lead balloon moved slowly across the final distance and entered the airspace of the town below. With it this close now, she could see it had a prow at the front with a crude owl carved into some kind of metal to display Athena's sigil proudly. None of the others had it, but even one seemed to be something of an announcement.
Obviously, it was intended to fill everyone who saw it with dread as they looked up and saw storm clouds, lightning, and her sigil watching over it all.
Lightning flickered through the clouds with new intensity and a few shafts even streaked toward them, caught the rods, and showered the ground around them with sparks.
Her fingers and muscles ached after all her effort and her entire body begged for some kind of rest before this next encounter. She knew that every other man and woman, Knight and civilian alike, felt the same way. They were all exhausted, drained, and on their last reserves, but none of them would simply lay down and die. They would fight to their last breath.
As Hammerhand moved in front of the group, they all felt the same dread and yet steady, firm attitude toward what approached. There was no need for heroic speeches this time. They knew what was coming and they knew what the likely end would be if they failed in their task. That was why they wouldn’t fail.
"So it begins." His voice rumbled through their ranks as he raised his hammer and a cloud of steam erupted from his cooling vents. Lines of mechs were now visible as they moved through the trees and approached the line of hedgehogs that had managed to funnel the first wave into their kill zone.
It would still slow the bulk of their troops—and bulk did appear to be the best description for what advanced on the town—but a few lines appeared to approach the hedgehogs with no intention to find the easy way in.
Jessica13 looked down the scope of her rifle and scowled. They were mostly Predators and Balthazars that had been stripped to the bare minimum of parts to make them as light and mobile as possible for the attack. They would be able to advance much faster and ahead of the main force and already, the first few passed between the hedgehogs.
"Hold your fire," Hammerhand communicated to the Knights, who complied and held their fingers motionless on their triggers for the moment while the modified mechs marched toward the second line of hedgehogs.
Lightning crackled above them again and flared repeatedly as
