Yttri turns and starts shooting at the robots again. She tries to stay confident, tries to keep believing that Simmons will come through. She knows he'll try. He doesn't seem like the type to ever give up when he puts his mind to something. She just hopes he'll be able to find a way to get them home.
A few moments later she hears an engine revving. Just from the sound she can tell that it's a small vehicle, light and maneuverable. She hopes it's also very, very fast. A second later Simmons rounds the corner from behind the base, driving a mongoose, and stops in front of Yttri.
"Way to go, cyborge!" Yttri cheers, hopping on behind him. She shoots a few more bots with the stunner before hooking it on her back and wrapping her arms around his waist. "Let's go," she whispers, relief evident in her voice. She can practically feel Simmons blushing as he revs the engine and they take off.
Sarge hooks the shotgun on his back before climbing into the hornet. He sits behind the machine gun, swiveling it to test the range.
"Just try to cut a path through the robots," I tell him. Tinu hands me one of the battle rifles from the pelican, and I see that she and Wash are each holding their own. I had hoped we wouldn't have to use anything more powerful than the stunners on this mission. I had only brought them for emergencies. Now I just hope we can avoid needing Doc, another precautionary measure, for anything. "They can't aim up, so you should be safe, but Lopez knows to get you out of there if things get too hot," I add, turning back to the man in red.
"Understood," Sarge says happily, still studying the gun.
I step over to the front of the ship where I can see a brown robotic head wired into the controls. "You know what you're supposed to do?" I ask.
"Fly over the robots, let the idiot shoot them, fly away if they shoot back," Lopez says in a voice that suggests, at most, boredom.
"Good to hear you're as excited about the mission as I am, Lopez," Sarge says sincerely.
There's an audible sigh from the cockpit. "Can I drop him when we're done?" Lopez asks.
I pretend to think it over for a moment as I check his ammo readouts. "No," I decide, and the robot whispers something that I can't make out. "Remember, we're trying to rescue your teammate and the woman who gave you your new body," I say warningly.
Lopez doesn't respond, which I choose to take as understanding.
I turn back to Tinu and Washington. "Once there's a path open, we're going to run through as quickly as possible," I explain. "These training bots turn slowly, and their aim isn't great, so we shouldn't have any problems if we're quick."
"We know," Tinu says. "You've said it, like, five times. Let's just get moving."
Wash nods his agreement.
I turn my head to fully face Tinu. "Are you sure you're up to this?" I ask. I eye the crack in her visor, a visual reminder of the possible concussion she may have suffered.
"To quote my doting older sister," she says in a slightly teasing voice, "'I'm fine.' Seriously, don't worry about me. Let's just get Yttri and that maroon guy back."
I can't help but spare a thought to marvel at how she can sound so light hearted even now. I'm sure she doesn't know how much I rely on that optimism from her. Some days, I need her to remind me that we're still allowed to smile, despite everything that's happened.
"Alright," I concede. "Lopez, get going." The hornet's engines buzz louder as he and Sarge take off.
I watch them go for a few seconds before following, Tinu and Wash close behind. This will work, I think forcefully. I know it will. It has to.
A small group of robots fade into view in front of the mongoose, causing Simmons to swerve drastically to avoid hitting them. Plasma bolts fly in their general direction, but none get close. Yttri starts to smile, despite the dangerous situation they're in. It's kind of fun, she decides; moving fast like this and feeling her stomach twist at every turn. She understands, for just a moment, why Tinu loves this type of thing so much.
Simmons swerves again, tilting the vehicle onto two wheels for a while before leveling out. I was wrong. This is still terrible, Yttri thinks, tightening her grip on Simmons' waist as she nearly falls off. "Don't do that again," she shouts over the sounds of battle.
"Wasn't planning on it," Simmons calls out. His voice is strained to a high pitch and Yttri realizes after a moment that her hands resting on a part of his stomach where the under armor is exposed.
Yttri moves her hands back up to the metal armor, thinking he must not like to be touched. "Sorry," she says, quiet enough that she thinks he might not hear.
"I-it's fine," Simmons responds. "Just ticklish."
Yttri recognizes this as his embarrassed voice and tries her best not to laugh. Still, she can't help the few chuckles that escape. She doesn't know why she finds it so amusing; it just fits so well that her cyborge would be ticklish.
She also doesn't know why the fuck her brain is fixating on this when they're being shot at. Yttri gives herself a mental slap on the head and tries to focus. There's actual real, important stuff going on. She doesn't need to be thinking about how Simmons would sound if he laughed.
Then, she hears a new sound, different from the mongoose's engine and the constant pop of plasma blasts. Yttri smiles as she recognizes the drone of twin rotors. Sure enough, a moment later the hornet flies over the rock formation. Sarge shouts something incomprehensible from his seat behind the machine gun before he starts firing.
Sarge begins to cut a line through the training bots with a spray of bullets. Yttri sees three armored figures running toward them in the wake of the dead robots. Simmons steers toward them but slows when he sees the robots still separating him and Yttri from the others.
"Keep going," Yttri instructs. She grips the seat of the mongoose as best she can with her legs before letting go of Simmons. Yttri raises the stunner and begins firing over Simmons shoulder. The bots in front of them fall with glowing plasma on their chests, and Simmons steers around the bodies.
Yttri glances up from her shooting for a moment to check Sarge and Lopez's progress through the canyon. Her eyes land on the hornet just in time to see the rocket hit it.
"Sarge!" Simmons yells. He watches as the hornet crashes to the ground.
Yttri follows the faint smoke trail from the rocket to it source on the cliff side. She has no doubt Gold is hiding up there. She then turns her attention to the growing pillar of smoke from the crash site. "Go," she says, pointing over Simmons' shoulder. The maroon soldier nods and turns away from safety and toward his fallen teammates.
When they near the crashed pelican Yttri sees Sarge standing in front of the cockpit, firing his shotgun left and right. She hops off the mongoose, shoving the stunner into Simmons' hands. "Help Sarge," she says. "I'll get Lopez."
Simmons nods and sprints to Sarge's side. He begins firing the stunner at any robots that get too close to the hornet. At the same time, Yttri climbs past the shattered glass into the cockpit.
Most of the wires connecting Lopez to the ship's controls are disconnected due to the crash. Yttri carefully removes the last few. "Hey, robot," she says, holding the head up for inspection. "You still alive?"
"I got hit by a rocket," he answers.
"Don't be such a baby. Your core programming is still intact. We just have to start over on finding you a new body."
"Typical," Lopez mutters.
Yttri pokes her head out of the hornet. "Cyborge!" she calls. Simmons steps over and she tosses down Lopez. "Take our friend and get him to the other side of the canyon," she instructs before disappearing back into the cockpit.
Simmons juggles the head for a moment before getting a good grip on it. "Wait, what about you?" he calls up.
"Working on something," the muffled reply comes from within the ship. "All robots and cyborges I don't want fried should be at a safe distance before I do it, though."
"What are you going to do?"
"She's gonna overload the engines and create an emp," Sarge says between shotgun blasts.
Yttri's head pops back out of the ship. "That's… surprisingly correct," she says in a mildly shocked voice. She disappears back into the ship before adding, "Though, it's pronounced E.M.P, not emp."
"I should stay here," Simmons says, still shooting robots.
"Nope," Yttri says. "The E.M.P will shut down your artificial organs. You should be out of range before I set it off."
"I'm supposed to protect you," Simmons points out.
"Sarge can handle that," Yttri says dismissively.
"But-" Simmons starts.
Yttri looks out from inside the wreckage. "You already helped me thought the tough part," she says matter-of-factly. "I can handle this. It's what I do. But I need to know you'll be safe first."
Simmons stands there for a moment, seeming like he'll argue, before nodding. He straps Lopez to the back of the mongoose and fires a few more shots at the attacking bots before hopping on. He looks at Sarge as he starts the engine. "Keep her safe," he says. The older man nods while reloading. Simmons spares one last glance toward the ship before driving away.
"Alright, now that that's out of the way, it's time to get to work," Yttri mutters. She starts pulling out and rearranging wires at lightning speed.
"Need any help in there, little lady?" Sarge's voice drifts into the ship.
Yttri quirks an eyebrow at the term. She's fairly certain no one's ever called her that before, and for good reason. This guy's asking for a wrench in the face. "You're the one who gave Simmons his robot parts, right?" she asks, remembering something the cyborge had mentioned.
"Yep," Sarge says happily. "Simmons 2.0 is one of my best works yet."
"In that case, I think I'm good on my own in here," Yttri says. "You just focus on shooting those bots, old man."
Sarge grumbles something back, but it's lost in the sound of a shotgun blast.
Yttri smiles while she works. She has a feeling that maybe, if she overlooks the man's outdated mechanic techniques, she could start to like Sarge.
As predicted, the chapter is shorter. Decidedly not yay! Also, I didn't put as much time into revisions, so it may not be as... refined as I would like. Still, it's there and it does what it needs to, so I guess that's good. Anyway, I hope you all liked it.