"There is a twenty percent chance that any insult you offer him when he is found will strike an emotional chord," Mini told her and broke what had been a fairly long silence. The distraction was welcome. "I would suggest something involving his mother. Or perhaps his body odor?"
"I won’t insult him," Jessica13 said, even if she didn't fully mean it. The worst thing was that Mini could probably read her body language and tell that she wasn't entirely truthful. "But…can we move a little lower?"
"I can reduce the height of the mech by twenty percent, but that would also reduce our speed by an additional fifty percent," the AI replied.
"Do it. We don't need to move too fast," she said softly and wedged herself in more securely.
It was uncomfortable enough to remain in place while the Minato was in Bulletfoot mode and doubly so with the new legs that were intended to increase the speed of the mech when they were running. Unfortunately, they didn't do much for comfort, especially when they moved slowly.
And it didn’t help that every step entailed a half-step slide as the loose soil gave way under the weight to send a small cascade down the hill each time they moved forward.
Every movement dislodged a tiny avalanche and raised small puffs of dust around them during their progress to the top. Aside from the fact that it made the climb more onerous, each time the hand grasped ahead to pull them up, dirt piled onto the Minato’s freshly painted green coat, which made her cringe.
While the grubby look would make them more difficult to see at longer distances, who the hell actually liked walking around in a dirty mech? Besides, it would be a horror to clean the joints later.
Mini lowered them a little more before they crested the hill so they almost crawled to the top. The sun was behind them, which meant that if they were any higher, they would instantly be framed against the glow for anyone to see.
As it turned out, there weren't too many of anything to see them so their caution appeared to have been unnecessary. The plains ahead were mostly deserted, sweeping grasslands with patches of dirt cutting in there and there. The trees that rose from the grass didn't grow very tall and were mostly ugly, gnarly specimens meant to survive on the sparse water that was available to them.
The heat was not something to be ignored, of course, and what life there was could easily hide in the grass below.
There weren't any mechs, though. The indentation left by one even as small as the Minato would be seen easily from their vantage point. While there was the possibility that someone was down there without a mech, given the kind of dangers that lurked in the area—which included but were not limited to snakes and a variety of venomous spiders and insects—she doubted it.
The location was thoroughly devoid of human life.
"Do you pick up any life signs?" Jessica13 asked and checked the readings that Mini put up on her HUD. It was difficult not to enjoy the view of the grasslands that stretched out in front of them as far as the eye could see. The tall grass rippled in the wind like it was a large body of green water.
He was quick to reply. "About a couple of thousand, but it doesn't look like any of them are human. Unless someone's piloting a Sherlock with one hell of a shooting eye, I don't think we have anything to worry about."
"Is that so?"
"Do you have anything else to add?" he asked.
She made no effort to answer, and a few alarms pulled her attention to the edge of the hill.
"Movement on the periphery," Mini alerted her.
“Thanks for the update,” she snarked.
Dull green-gray dust puffed and cascaded into a low cloud that covered most of the area before she could even identify what had caused it.
Something moved in the cloud, however, and at an impressive pace.
"Shit!" Jessica13 gasped as Mini reacted much quicker than she ever could have and leapt out of his crouched position. The Minato still didn't have much in the way of weapons aside from the grappler on the right arm, which meant the best thing she could possibly do if she came under assault was to run the hell away.
But whatever it was that attacked them moved much faster than she could have anticipated. The reading from the motion sensors told her it was a mech, but there was no way to determine what kind.
A low humming filled the air as two blades slashed viciously from the dust that billowed around her. The onslaught forced Mini back a couple of steps and the mech rose from their position on all fours. The muted buzz grew louder as the blades moved, and she could make out a couple of assault rifles aimed at her from above.
"Grappler!" Jessica13 shouted and hastily took control of the right arm as rounds pinged off the Minato's armor. The grappler launched with a hiss and the dart struck the earth a few dozen feet down the hill. She immediately engaged the retractor and yanked them down in a rush and away from the volley of bullets.
Mini engaged a couple of subroutines while they were still virtually airborne so they landed on their shoulder, rolled easily, and came out of it on their feet. He used the speed of their descent to jump all the way to the bottom of the hill in a single bound.
The impact was jarring, but she already knew enough to brace herself against it as the AI maintained their balance.
The other mech vaulted upward and a pair of rockets activated to launch it even higher. It
