Jessica13 glared at him, wiped the dirt from her mouth, and attempted to push herself to her feet. Her body rebelled and shrieked in pain at the attempt. Hot tears rushed down her cheeks as she looked at the other mechs.
She wasn't afraid of them, she told herself. They were nothing more than worthless pirates who didn't even know how to put a proper mech together. She refused to be cowed by them.
The Balthazar pilot seemed determined to gloat over her and acted like he thought disabling the Minato was some kind of feat. "Did you think this would be a walk in the park, little rat? You pathetic little piece of shit. Do you think you can take four of us down and live?"
Her scowl turned into a sneer and she gave up the attempt to stand that her body resisted so painfully. Instead, she began to drag herself across the ground toward the Minato. "If I'm such a pathetic little piece of shit and I'm such a bunker rat, what does that make the four I killed, huh? What does that make all of you that you needed luck and so many of you to defeat a fucking support mech?"
She punctuated her angry retort by spitting the blood in her mouth at the Balthazar. Her spittle landed a few meters shy of its feet.
There was a moment of stunned silence among the pirates, but it was ended by another fit of laughter from the apparent leader.
"I have to say, you have more fight in you than most bunker rats," he said and laughed derisively. "That's not saying much, mind. Most of you pathetic excuses for breathers tend to lay down and die. It doesn't really matter since it'll end the same way for you. It'll only last a little longer.”
Jessica13 paid no attention and continued to drag herself up to the Minato.
"Feel like dying in your mech?" the leader asked. He walked over to her and made the ground shake with every step of the heavy mech. "I can respect that, I suppose. We can take it apart with you still alive inside. It doesn't really matter. I think my boys actually prefer to have a squishy inside the mechs they pull apart."
She still made no reply. There was no way she would give the asshole the satisfaction of thinking he had rattled her. The horrible truth was indisputable. She had lost and there was no way to get around that. But they wouldn’t break her spirit. She would believe they could get out of this until her very last breath.
Something caught her eye in the distance, and she narrowed her eyes to focus on it. A gleam of green light moved and definitely look like a mech, but it was too far away for her to be sure. It made little difference if it signaled the approach of reinforcements, so she ignored it in the same way she ignored the jeers and laughter from those assembled.
Fuck them. Fuck the pirates.
She stretched up, caught the jagged edges of the Minato, and winced when the steel cut into her fingers. Blood seeped from beneath her fingers but she ignored the pain, hauled herself into the cockpit, and settled in with a soft sob.
"I'm so sorry," Mini said and the speakers crackled with interference as more alarms now blared inside despite the fact that there was no HUD to tell her what the problems were. "I failed you. I was supposed to get you clear of the danger and help you in your quest to save the people in the bunker and contact the Knights Mechanica, and…I failed you. I'm so sorry."
"You don't owe me any apologies," Jessica13 said. She tried to fight back a cough that constricted her lungs and moved the radio to where she could fiddle with it and maybe send one last emergency message. "You did everything you could and more. You got me farther than any other AI could have done. For that, I can only thank you. It was my recklessness that got us in this mess in the first place. I thought I could help on my own like I was some kind of hero. There's not much else to say."
She continued to fiddle with the radio while Mini processed her words. There was still the chance she could get the message out. The Knights were out there somewhere, and even if they couldn't save her, they could still save the people in the bunker.
"Your compliment is appreciated," he replied after the pause. "Your appreciation for a compliment from me is an unknown factor but know that I consider you a hero. You saved me. And tried to save others, to whom you owed nothing."
That teased a small smile from her and she patted the side of the mech. "Your compliment is appreciated."
Jessica13 activated the radio again, coughed, and cleared her throat before she focused on the Balthazar that now moved in to finish her off once and for all.
Fuck them. She stared at the barrel of the assault rifle that was aimed at her and keyed the broadcast button as her mind went back to the five words that had stuck with her for some reason.
"Live free or die hard, motherfuckers!" she shouted as loudly as her lungs could make it, closed her eyes, and waited for the inevitable end. She wouldn’t die cowering but she didn't need to watch.
Chapter Sixteen
Her mind had already accepted the finality of it. She hadn't really expected to go out like this. It wasn’t like she intended to end up there, waiting for death from the barrel of a powerful assault rifle aimed at her head, but in all honesty, there were worse ways to die. At least this way, it would be quick. Almost instantaneous, she reassured herself.
Jessica13 took a deep breath and waited, and her body flinched instinctively.
The earth shuddered violently and
