Darik sat with the pin in his hand, though still over the paper below. He wasn't sure if he should count this battle a win or a loss.
The explosives detonated like planned. Burying the majority of the mech and doing enough damage to disconnect whatever power source kept it going. He had only just gotten into viewing range when they went off, his ears ringing as what was left of nearby windows exploded and a dust storm of depree took the streets. Thankful for the protection that he's old pickup gave him in that moment.
Despite Cat being so close and being blown several feet away she was fine from it. Darik gave a sigh of relief when he saw her stand up, but he soon regretted it as she made her way back towards the half buried mech. A majority of its face and an arm was free from the rubble, though only parts of the face seemed to be funshinal by then. He was sure he heard her yelling something at it. Anger spilling out then in a stream of questions and demands.
The loud bombing voice of the mech easily broke through the ringing in Dariks ears as it spit up gallons of thick skinny blue liquid with a deep chuckle.
"You rodents will be nothing more than a forgotten species soon enough."
Tate had gotten to her side by then, despite her shaking form he actually let her have her primary weapon back. Darik thought they might be able to get some kind of information from whatever memory chips they had but as Cat cut through the face of it several times he knew whatever could have been salvage was gone now.
He watched as she had almost the entire face cut apart, a single right optic dimly glowing red hanging by several thick wires that had started sparking when the trucks radio started ringing as Hanas' group sent a request for help. He had started hooking the horn then, though thinking back on it now he suppsect that that action is what caused the mechs sudden reaction.
It had started pumping out more of the blue liquid as the single optic shined brightly again before narrowing to a simple laser like light that focused onto Cat specifically. Possibly because she was the closest or because she was doing the most damage at the time. Why she didn't move was a mystery to Darik but as she suddenly fell over in tune with the final deactivation of the mech he knew it had done something to her.
Lucky Tate was close by, catching her before she could crack her head on the pavement. Being smarter than Cat Tate had only given the motionless mech a glance before running for the truck.
Darik knew those few minutes lost would be a painful hit to respond to Hana's signal. Confirmermation met them as they pulled up to the mostly crushed hybrid Hana had so intensely claimed was faster than anything else. The top completely pulled off and the back end was as flat as a pancake. The lack of blood gave Darik pointless hope that she was alive somewhere for a while but after finding Lucy and Jake hunkered down in a storm drain he knew she was gone.
Even if the civilizations taken were allowed to live he could only suspect that someone working for the army would face cruel treatment like any other enimie. His mind couldn't stop itself from forming a picture of Hana being held down in water or being connected to living wires. Things he's grandfather had once told him about during a mission in WW3, they had found an abandoned torture factory with the remains of men and women who had gone MIA early in the war. His stomach turned enough that day he quit the second the option came up despite being offered a higher rank. It was one of the many told by his grandfather to attempt to scare him away from joining. But back then Darik could easily think of it as a people he didn't know anything about. A wall of disconnection told him he wouldn't break like his grandfather did, now that metaphoric wall had suddenly dropped as he thought of Hana there.
He didn't know whether to write his resignation or a report. Though at the rate the war was going he could easily walk away and not face any kind of punishment from the clearly falling government, making a resignation pointless. He knew a report could lead to something. Either it was better or worse for them was the issue.
Catherin had survived whatever the mech had done to her but she layed in an almost comatose like state for the last three days. Waking up long enough to swallow some water before passing out again. If it wasn't for Tates constant watch over her she might have died from dehydration by now, though hunger is still a possibility.
Darik had been disterbed by their relationship when he had first met them, legitimately contemplating between calling the police or beating Tate to death himself. The longer he watched them on the first day though he realized who was calling the shots. She had calmly sat in Tates lap without a word, he had seemed a bit surprised when her hands started exploring his body but he didn't stop her. They answered questions like nothing was wrong with it either. At the end she openly admitted to attempting to cause a fight ,she found him quite boring because of it.
Later he was further informed of the couple's past and mental instability, more specifically Tates inability to tell her no in non-life ending situations. The first two years within the game he had ended up in some mind breaking slave training. Somehow ending up as Cat's 'partner' sometime during the third year. Unlike Cat though Tate had sympathy, regrat, and the more complex emotions she herself did not have. Even after years of therapy none could explain why his comments could often make her decide differently, those rare occasions where she just told him to be quiet happened less and less.
If he told the sargents that a mech had zapped her with something it could lead to her restrainment or death, the military was already in a panic as it was. But if he kept it quiet it could lead to a painful end. As time passed he started writing out the report detailing the effectiveness of claspiting a building over a mech and the kidnapping of Hana.