XXV. Collision Course pt. 1

Someone had saved me. I was in the palm of a mechanaught's hand, either saved, or just fallen into a trap. But it didn't seem to be the latter, because the hand brought me up to the cockpit's hatch. I don't remember ever being more grateful in my life. It was one of the odder-looking models I'd seen. The head was a bit small, with a large antennae poking out above a single eye. The arms appeared to be heavily armored, with three large plates covering the shoulder area. Strapped to the back were two pods with red circles on the side. Lastly but not least, the legs appeared to be entirely constructed from large pistons. To top it all off, it had been painted blue and white, and branded with the word "Police."

"Get in! Hurry!" a female voice said from within. I reeled back in shock.

"Minerva?!"

The female within got out of the seat, ushering me inside. "Hurry! I have no idea how to operate this thing!" I grunted, gripping my shoulder as I strapped myself in. However, there was a jarring shake as a rifle shot hit my stolen mechnaught in the side, and the next thing I knew, Minerva was no longer right outside. With a yell, I looked down, and saw the girl falling amidst rubble and parts of my mechanaught. Yanking the controls down sharply, the same hand that had saved me then saved the blonde, catching her moments before impact. Before I had a chance to boost away, yet more ordinances rained down upon me as I stomped the pedals.

"Left arm damaged." A robotic but feminine voice rang out next to me. The priority now was to get Minerva somewhere safe. The arm she was hanging onto was online half-functioning, and the other hand only carried an angular green shield. With a sigh, I turned to face the two assailants.

"You don't half to tell me that," I muttered as I looked at the mech diagnostics. Eyeballing the two before me, I quickly assessed how I was going to handle this. There was one in the air – I had fought those before. In fact, I remembered that the psycho bitch I had so frequently ran into piloted one of those. But this one didn't have a killer aura around it. That, and the number was different. It was holding what appeared to be two red pistols. But judging from the shots that had rained down before, the pistols were actually SMGs. Now the other was interesting. It vaguely reminded me of the enormous one I'd stolen to escape the prison, but this one wasn't as large, and it was quite colorful; purple and yellow. Gray in some places. A single eye on the rectangular head. Rifles in hand.

This was going to be hard, if not downright impossible.

"Get out of the mech. Those were just warning shots before. Next time, we will shoot to kill."

No kidding, I thought as I pondered what to do. I looked down at Minerva, who was still within the palm of my mech. She was the priority at the moment. I couldn't let her die, especially after she'd saved my life. Quickly, I jammed the pedals down, boosting backwards. Immediately, the pair began shooting. But I wasn't stationary this time. With a grunt, I lifted the mech's arm to the cockpit hatch, letting her inside. But this moment of hesitation was near costly.

There was a loud boom as one of the rifles shot true, and the damaged arm was blown off. Minerva cried out, falling towards me as the mech rocked. "Agh!" I yelled as her arm hit the controls, the mechnaught veering off to the side. Again, there was a roar and a boom as the mechnaught then collided with the side of a building, smashing right through it and bursting out the other side. Yanking the controls sharply to the left, I realized my mistake when Minerva nearly fell out of the open hatch.

"Hang on!" was all I could say as I tried to bring the mechnaught back under my control. The cockpit shook wildly as I tried to close the hatch. To make things worse, the boost energy had run out, and the mechnaught returned to simply running. I yelled as the heavy mechnaught from before slipped out from behind a corner, guns blazing. I could hear the shots digging into my armor, but I didn't stop. Rather, I couldn't stop. My body was frozen in fear, and I could only watch in horror as the enemy grew bigger and bigger on my screen.

"Aren't you going to stop?" Minerva whispered.

I shook my head. "No," I whispered, and again hit the boost.

"What the fuck?!"

KRSHK!