"My banks suggest they took what they could carry," Mini replied. "They didn't want anyone else to profit from their work, so they likely placed magnesium charges inside and set them off. It'll burn through virtually anything in the bunker and render anything that's not burned toxic. Food, supplies, and even weapons."
"That’s annoyingly thorough," Jessica13 said softly. "What about the people inside?"
"There would have been evacuation plans in place like there were in Sanctuary," the AI explained. “Once the exterior was breached, alarms would have sounded and everyone taken out through other escape entrances."
"And those who didn't make it?"
A pause actually made the answer unnecessary. "They would be either killed by the pirates, fire, or smoke."
She nodded and tried to stop tears from welling up. It seemed a perfectly irrational response to cry. After all, it wasn’t like she knew any of these people.
They circled the perimeter and found the entrance, from which most of the smoke escaped. As they approached the door, she could see something blocking it, at least partially.
It was large enough to cover most of the entry but there were chunks missing from it.
A few more steps revealed that it was one of the larger mechs. An Argonaut V grasped the sides of the door and shielded as much of it as possible. It had been able to slow the pirates, as evidenced by the chunks they'd needed to hack from it to get through.
They'd cut it while the pilot was still inside. Pieces of his body protruded, blackened where the blood had stopped flowing.
"A damn hero," she whispered and patted the chest plate of the mech. A7 had always said that about their fallen, and it felt fitting there too.
He had tried to slow them. The logical explanation was that he'd run out of ammo, couldn't fight much more than what his mech's fists could do, and had made sure his enemy paid dearly in time and bodies from the looks of the three pirate mechs sprawled in front of him.
Those Argonauts could do tremendous damage with their fists, she could give them that.
"Hold on, I'm picking something up," Mini said and yanked Jessica13 out of the stupor she hadn’t realized she'd fallen into.
"Picking up what?"
In lieu of an answer, the AI displayed an audio file on the HUD's screen. She pressed to play it.
"Mommy!" a voice cried through static and background noise. "Mommy, where are you?"
"Where's this coming from?" she asked.
"Inside." Mini highlighted the location.
Jessica surged forward almost before she knew what she was doing, shoved past the ruined Argonaut, and slipped through the doors to stare into what looked like a massive elevator shaft like they had in Sanctuary. The cables had been cut but she could see evidence of others that had been set up to enable the pirates to descend and ascend again.
"Where?" she asked.
"At the bottom of the shaft." The AI once again highlighted the location on the HUD.
"I can't see anything."
"I pick it up based on the motion sensors and partially from the sound still coming through. It's a child. Based on voice-recognition patterns, it’s a female no older than the age of ten."
"Shit." She hissed her frustration and leaned over the gaping shaft below her. "Do you have any suggestions? Could I climb down there?"
"Doing so would risk damaging your filters," Mini asserted. "Besides, a quicker rescue would be to use the grappler to let her climb up. Use the maglev to bring her up."
Jessica13 paused, considered that, and nodded. "Okay, but you'll have to fire it. I can't see down far enough and I might hit her with the dart."
"Agreed. Position the mech over the edge so I can begin the calculations for the shot."
She complied immediately and noticed the temperature in the processors spike as the AI began the necessary process.
"Firing now," Mini declared. It was followed quickly by a kick from the air cannon to fire a dart and cable down the shaft. She heard it impact and the retractor quickly reversed to leave it as taut as possible.
The maglev descended from her arm. It was meant to carry crates up and down difficult terrains using a series of magnetic coils to climb up and down the cables. It would have trouble carrying a full-grown human but a ten-year-old girl… It was possible.
"Hey!" Jessica13 called from her position at the top of the elevator shaft. "Climb onto the lev and let it bring you up."
"Are you my mommy?" said the voice from the bottom.
She grimaced and wondered what the hell she was supposed to say to that. "I…no, but I can take you to her!"
Why the hell did she say that?
"She has boarded the maglev," Mini announced.
"Oh…well, if it works, it works," she said and raised her eyebrows. "Bring her up."
"I did as soon as she boarded."
"You're so efficient."
"Your compliment is noted and appreciated."
Jessica13 couldn't help a small smile as the lev began to raise the girl. It was slow work and she needed to maintain her position. Her heart ticked a pattern to the rest of her body as she needed to keep herself absolutely still. Any movement from her could destabilize the cable and the child would fall.
"I really wish I had connected it to the ceiling first," she whispered.
"Stay still," Mini advised. "She's almost at the top."
She scrunched her face. "Oh, stay still, huh? And here I thought I could start dancing to the music in my head."
A pause followed. "Is that sarcasm?"
"Look, get her up, okay?" she muttered. There were few things in the world she hated more than standing absolutely still. It was like she was allergic to it or something.
A small head appeared through the smoke. Short red curls were clearly visible outside a filtration mask, one of those used if someone needed to dive in water tanks for repairs. It was meant to filter the oxygen out of virtually anything, including billowing
