That wouldn’t happen, though, and not only because she had no intention to leave him. The looters seemed to lose interest and began to move away from the square, drawn by an unmistakable roar that confirmed the presence of the mob close by. More people were likely being strung up for helping the FEMA invaders, or maybe for helping Athena or her cretins, and it didn't sound like the townsfolk went about it pleasantly.
Jessica13 didn't want to get involved, but if she had a propensity for gambling, she would have to guess that Mayor Jones was somewhere in or near the mob.
If he wasn't leading them in their frenzy, she reminded herself. That was always possible.
She could ask Mini to run the numbers for her, but that would merely delay the inevitable. If she wanted to put a stop to all this or at least get an idea of what they tried to accomplish, she needed to chat to the mayor before things escalated and became more serious than they already were.
"I suppose I should ask you why we are moving closer to the noise," Mini commented as she strode forward.
"We need to talk to Mayor Jones, and that's likely where he'll be."
"You do know that they will not take you protecting Robert7 lightly? The chances are, with the numbers that remain, they would be able to overwhelm you—and that's assuming they don't have a handful of mechs with them.”
"If they do become violent, we could always run away. Robert7 is able to hold on better, so we would at least be able to get away quickly enough."
"I do hope you are right."
"It’s not like an AI to hope for anything. Aren't you supposed to give me all the numbers that support the fact that this is a terrible idea?"
"I could, but would that change your mind?"
"No."
"And would it gain us anything?"
"Probably not."
"And we do need to speak to the mayor, as you said. Which means that all the numbers I could provide in an attempt dissuade you would merely be a waste of my core processing power when all it should do is find us ways to escape a potentially lethal situation."
He wasn't wrong and she wasn't about to question it as they continued to approach the growing din that represented the mob of Auburnites who gathered in the center of town.
The militia was present, and they appeared to escort another group toward the stockade. The prisoners mostly included surviving FEMA pilots and raiders, but what looked like a few townsfolk were swept along with the others.
Six men and women were dragged along by their guards and seemed to have taken a beating before they were captured by the militia. Those people who followed yelled insults and as Jessica13 drew closer, she realized that similar plaques hung around the prisoners’ necks. These once again denoted traitors, informers, collaborators, or other ways in which they had apparently helped Athena's men while they were still in control of the town.
She could understand the Auburnites’ need to vent their frustration. They were in a shitty situation and it was easy to pick it up and blame it all on someone, but this was taking it too far.
Someone in the mob found one of the kitchen's refuse bins—the kind usually saved to be added to the fields as fertilizer—and distributed the contents among the others. Before long, the crowd hurled the garbage at the prisoners. When that ran out, one of them picked up a rock.
Jessica13 couldn't help but wince when the rock struck one of the men in the stomach. He shouted in pain and doubled over. A second caught him in the head and he fell, bleeding from where it had opened a gash in his scalp.
The militia didn't bother to try to help him to his feet. They stepped around him, and the mob snatched him up, slipped a noose around his neck, and hauled the unconscious or dead man into the branches of a nearby tree.
His plaque read collaborator.
"What's happening?" she asked in a strangled tone. She’d never seen anything like this. The people of Auburn, who had seemed so peaceful and hard-working a few hours before, were in a frenzy that made her feel unsafe, even inside her mech. She could only imagine how Robert7 felt with no protection and nothing between him and the crowd.
They finally noticed her arrival, and while none wanted to engage the mech piloted by one of the now-famed Knights Mechanica, there was no shortage of hateful looks directed at the man on her back. She didn't know what to say or do, having seen what they were more than willing to do to one of their own.
No more rocks were thrown and there wasn't any more refuse to fling either, but the full attention of the people began to settle on her, especially when the prisoners were herded into the quickly filling stockade.
Mayor Jones was nowhere to be seen.
"Why are they locked up and not this one?"
Jessica13 couldn't see who said that, but the crowd seemed generally in agreement. Some held ropes up and demanded to have Robert7 strung up like the rest, and the militia was quick to approach. It seemed pathetically ironic that Jessica13 and Robert7 were essentially back where they’d started. She couldn't recognize any of those she had encountered earlier and who had executed their prisoners, but that wasn't saying much. It seemed reasonable to assume that this group would behave no differently.
At a guess, she would have said that any one of them was responsible for the executions.
"Get him down and let him be tried like the fucking rest!"
The mob persisted with the demand, and more began to take up the chant. It seemed most of them wanted to
