"Well, let's go prove them wrong, shall we?" She felt an almost manic kind of smile settle on her face. They had made it this far, after all. There was really no point in ever turning back.
Besides, it wasn't like those waiting for her Topside would expect her to move as fast as she could in the Minato, after all.
The elevator came to a halt and the doors began to pull open as slowly as they had closed. It appeared as though the warning had been sent to the three Guardians since they all stood in wait outside the elevator.
"Jessie, please don't do this," one of the pilots said. She recognized Lance7's voice. "Head on down with us and this will all be worked out, I promise. Armstrong7 would never let them take you away from the defense level."
"It wouldn't be his call, and you know it," Jessica13 said and shook her head decisively while she made sure to stay in motion and inched away from the Guardians. "I'm going to leave. I'm heading out! I have to see the ruins, the gold and red sunset, and the world! Lance7, what they’ve told us all this time is all lies!"
"No, they're not lies," he replied. "You don't know what you're talking about. You don't know what you're doing."
"Yes," she said, partly to herself as well as to the pilot who stood between her and freedom. "Yes, I do."
"As do I," Mini said. "Please place your hands up to brace your neck."
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"We're taking you back down with us," Lance7 said.
"I wasn't talking to you!" she retorted.
"I'm taking control," Mini replied. "And getting us out of here."
She did as she was told and placed her hands on her neck to brace it like she had been taught to if she expected a hard impact. The Guardians hadn't locked any weapons on her yet.
Mini took control of the mech and she could feel him going through a couple of hardware changes. These appeared to tweak the hydraulics to fit the adjustment that was required to move down on all fours on the elevator floor.
“What is this?” she asked, but Mini made no answer as the mech settled in with a shudder.
"Damn it, Jessie!" Lance7 called and moved into the elevator to restrain her.
It seemed that was what the AI had waited for.
Coils whined on what were now the hind legs and in a second, he bounded up to the wall of the elevator, used the mag clamps on the hands to provide leverage, and vaulted over the tall mech. He landed smoothly on the other side and began to run and jump in movements like a dog’s, complete with a smooth loping pace.
The impact was still jarring to anything or anyone inside.
As all three Guardians attempted to converge on them, Mini navigated them around the slow-moving legs of the large mechs.
It had been a good idea to brace her neck, as each bound ended with a painful jolt across her whole body. In a few seconds, however, they were clear of their pursuers.
When the last one tried to physically block her escape, Mini ducked low and darted between its legs.
Once they were clear, the mech maintained its forward momentum and without so much as a second thought, vaulted over the edge of the cliff.
Jessica13 gasped when her whole body was caught in the vertigo of looking down to see the ground hundreds of meters below. It was an exhilarating, terrifying sight that was only made worse when vertigo vanished, gravity took hold, and they began to plummet.
"What are you doing?" she screamed.
"Trust me," Mini replied calmly.
They pivoted and the left hand aimed at the cliffside while the grappler engaged again. It fired, the retractor left as loose as it could be. The dart hammered into the wall and stuck.
They continued to fall but their momentum was arrested by the retractor, which pulled them against the cliff face. Mini immediately began to run them down the wall.
It went much faster when they were practically free-falling, but aside from a somewhat rough landing, they were none the worse for wear. The AI pushed them rapidly into motion and increased speed as he continued to move on all fours like a wild dog. They cleared the minefield quickly and smoothly, while the dart disengaged from the cliff wall and it and the cable retracted.
"You're damn amazing, Mini," Jessica13 said, unable to restrain her laughter as the whole world opened up in front of them.
"Your compliment is noted," Mini said. "And appreciated."
“What did you do to the mech?” she asked and looked at the improved movement and speed as they literally raced away. “I didn’t know that it was capable of this.”
“Your knowledge banks do require upgrades,” he agreed. “This is the format originally designed for the Minato for all-terrain movement at high speed and also in combat situations. What it lacks in weapon capabilities, it makes up for in speed and agility. Your descendants affectionately referred to it as Bulletfoot mode.”
“Bulletfoot mo— Is that why they called us bulletfoots in the bunker?” she asked and still tried to adjust herself to the changes.
Mini paused for a few seconds. “There is a ninety-three-point-seven-eight percent chance of a connection between the name for the mode and the name for mechanics. Minatos with fully-functioning AIs were a preferred support mech when I was designed.”
She smiled. “I like that.”
Chapter Ten
The afternoon light faded. Even from the ground, the sight of the sun setting and painting the whole sky with a variety of
