"So," the other man said. "How do you think we should do this?"
"If I had to guess, I'd say her agents would be able to contact her if anything happened," Jessica13 said. "The men—who all wear shiny boots for some weird reason—would be able to alert her that we were taking over and so give her time to come back. The folks in the town seem afraid of her. There are some who believe she's actually some kind of leader who will take them into a brave new world, and that is the image her agents—for want of a better word—try to pass on. They talk like she's some kind of prophet or something, but I think most only pay lip-service because they don't want to end up in the next building that's set alight. That said, I think they’re afraid enough of her to contact her right away rather than wait to see if we gain the upper hand."
Tinker sighed and nodded. "Well, if there are those who would alert Athena about what we’re doing, it would be best if we take them out quickly and quietly first before we confront the Cinders."
"They wouldn't be able to connect with her directly, I don't think," Windchime pointed out. "There’s too much interference from the trees and the hills. They would need a higher point to be able to send transmissions out."
"He’s right," she agreed. "The folks who contacted us needed the top of that church to send the transmission we picked up. The chances are they have something at the top of the bunker to help with that. If we were able to cut their comms, we would cut their line with Athena off entirely."
"That…does sound like the beginning of a plan," Tinker said tentatively and looked Windchime, who nodded in agreement. "Do you think you could destroy it?"
It took a moment for her to realize they were talking to her. "Wait, why me?"
"Because you're the one with the grappler," Windchime said but didn’t sound very happy about it. "We'll still need to be as quiet as possible when we get to the bunker to make sure no alarms are raised before we can do it."
The other man nodded. "Are we ready to act on it now?"
"You might want to familiarize yourself with the maps first," Jessica13 said. "But yes."
A plan of action was quickly developed. Mini mapped the route that would leave them exposed the least on their way to the bunker. The worst part was around the checkpoint that led to it.
"It's mostly open terrain," Windchime said. "Even if we move across it quickly, there won't be any cover to keep us hidden. They will see us moving and it will all be over."
"I can get across," Jessica13 said. "There's tall grass that would hide Mini and I if we're in Bulletfoot mode, but we would still be visible to the men manning the checkpoint."
"We'll have to handle them,” he replied
She wasn't sure she liked the sound of that. Handling sounded fairly deadly, especially to men who weren't in mechs themselves. It made things a little less fair than they generally were but given that she piloted a smaller support mech, most of her time spent toe to toe with other mechs generally tended to be unfair toward her. Aside from which, she reminded herself, these were men who followed Athena and had stood back while their fellow townsfolk were burned alive.
Night had fully fallen by the time they had their plan finalized, but they needed to make sure they were out of sight of the locals as well as anyone who might be able to report them. There was no way to tell who would simply assume their arrival was an invasion and sound some kind of alarm. They didn't need to deal with Athena's guards as well as the local folks from Auburn.
The best place that could be found was the divot—almost a small river—that had been dug to allow water to flow into the fields. It was mostly dry for the moment and was probably only filled when needed. Unless they stood at the very edge, it should keep them out of sight of the locals.
They did need to keep themselves low, however, which meant dropping down and moving on all fours.
It was no problem for Jessica13 and Mini, as all they had to do was move into Bulletfoot mode. The earth around the dried riverbed was mostly soft, so they didn't have to worry much about making noise.
Windchime had an easier time of it than she had expected. She didn’t know whether it was the work of his AI or if he was merely more skilled with his combat mech than she thought he was, but the second pair of arms suddenly came active and enabled him to scuttle across the surface of the riverbed with ease like an insect. It was interesting to watch.
Tinker had a little more difficulty, however, as his mech lacked the kind of improvements that would have allowed him to move on all fours.
She took her position at the front and used Mini to scan their surroundings periodically to make sure there was nothing and no one moving around their route. On the few occasions when the motion sensors did pick something up, the three mechs froze in place and waited for the movement to pass before they continued.
It was even more harrowing than being among the people and acting like a peddler. At least she knew what she was doing when playing that role. She had no experience with the kind of situation she was in now.
But Tinker and Windchime both expected her to be able to do this and keep them alive besides. She felt out of her depth but hopefully, Mini would be able to help her settle into her role.
The reasonably short journey through the riverbed, as it turned out, was the easy part of their operation. When the water’s
