Titans Ch. 08

"Let's make it look good for at least a couple of minutes, yeah?" She swung a lazy fist towards his mech's head. Alex leaned backwards to dodge it, then grinned and attacked. Metal clanged against metal as the two mechs went at each other in hand-to-hand combat. It wasn't very effective, or what they were designed to do, but it certainly looked impressive.

"Number one is a big deal, but there's people in this army I want to come with us if we're doing that," Alex said, kicking out at Anna's shin, "We can travel faster than the army anyway, so we won't lose out on a head start by staying to the end of the battle."

Anna shrugged, disguising the motion in an uppercut, "If you've got some humans who can keep up with us in a fight then we can hang around and pick them up."

"Not humans exactly, but sure."

Anna ducked under a high jab and shoved Alex backwards, repositioning around him as he regained his balance. He saw what she was doing, the artillery over her shoulder lighting up and sliding forwards into a firing position. The melee around them was intense but parted in a wide circle to avoid the stomping metal feet. Flares of energy lit up their digital battle map as the spellcasters Anna had highlighted began hurling spells at the opposing army. A group of goblins deeper into the Wildling horde had begun a chant, gesturing staffs and amulets in his direction, so he powered up his own weapons.

"Execute on my mark, Lieutenant," Alex slipped easily into his professional persona, "Three, two, one... mark."

They stepped apart, arms raising and weapon apertures opening. With a screech and a thud, the howitzer fired; the small but devastating charged shell arcing out towards the chosen target. Simultaneously, the blast cannon boomed and pulverised a cone through the wildlings. The goblin warlocks literally came to pieces, sparks flying from their various magical implements. Aiming each arm independently, Alex moved down his target list with lightning and plasma while the sharp chatter of Anna's twin heavy machine guns started shredding her chosen enemies.

The already chaotic Wildling force broke into a chorus of shrieks and bellows as the twin mechs tore their magical support to pieces. The empty circle that had surrounded their mock fight collapsed inward on one side, beastmen hurling themselves at the metal giants with reckless rage. Alex paused in his targeting to sweep some of them off.

"Ignore them!" Anna shouted over the rattle of her guns, "They can't hurt the armour, focus on the mages before they get any more spells off!" As if triggered by her words, a bolt of purple lighting streaked across the battlefield and slammed into her shoulder, shorting out her shields and incinerating the beast that had been climbing it. "Ah shit. I'm fine, keep firing!"

Reluctantly, Alex did as she asked. One of his targets thrust a familiar ball of green fire towards him before falling to a laser pulse, he sidestepped it but couldn't avoid the black beam that swept across his back and scorched the hull without even touching the shields. Thankfully, the reactor was both better armoured than the rest and protected by the magic-draining sword. He drew the blade, snapping the makeshift rope sheath as the giant mage was gunned down with a splash of plasma.

As she had promised, Anna seemed to be doing fine for now, but in the middle of the battlefield and with no cover the pair of mechs made an obvious target. Arrows pelted their hulls, goblins and beastmen swarmed around their feet, deadly eldritch powers sought them out and from across the field giants began to converge.

"Anna, switch MGs to the approaching giants. Prepare for close quarters combat." Alex took a chance, reassigning Anna's targets to himself. They were already taking a beating from the spellcasters but if the giants got into grappling range they'd lose the ability to dodge, and die under the concentrated fire. He swatted at a fireball that would have hit his lieutenant as she carried out his orders. The sword hungrily sucked the fire out of the air, but a purple lightning strike slipped past his guard and struck the other arm. His plasma cannon hissed, venting scalding gas as something within it ruptured. With no functional weapons in that arm now, he swapped the sword to that hand.

Anna's projectiles proved to be more effective against the giants than Alex's beams had ever been, blowing great chunks out of their bodies and armour. One of her elbows had taken some damage from a spell and locked up, so she rotated at the waist to assist with her aiming. As one of the giants drew close a thick cable unspooled from the wrist of her good arm until it scraped the ground, she whipped it around and an energy field crackled around it to burn and tear the giant's flesh.

Alex watched his sensors carefully, doing his best to dodge or absorb incoming spells while still picking off his attackers with lasers and lightning. He was so absorbed in the motions of his task, he nearly missed the flare of light from the right flank of the army; Gelb's signal that they were in danger. A cluster of giants had pushed forwards into the empire's battle lines, not by the Irregulars but beside them, and his squad was in danger of being completely cut off and surrounded.

"Anna, priority target," he instructed, marking the centre giant for an anti-personnel mortar. Her mech's head twitched in that direction, instinctively looking for what he had pointed out on the map.

"Why the hell is that a priority target?" she grunted, twisting so both machine guns could chew through a heavily armoured squad.

"Lieutenant! PRIORITY TARGET!" Alex roared, buckling to one knee as a fireball exploded across his thigh.

"Alright. Shit. Keep your panties on." Anna's mortar lit up, assembling a new shell in the barrel. She turned on the spot, keeping one gun trained on the armoured squad while the other hung uselessly by her side, unable to point to any helpful targets. The Howitzer angled downwards, screaming as the coils charged then releasing its payload with a heavy thump. It arced low and fast, hitting the bullseye and exploding with a cacophonous blast. One giant remained standing in the area, but a shadow shot up its leg and began crawling over the already bloody abdomen leaving a thin, deep cut in its wake.

Alex continued to decimate the enemy mages, making enough of a dent in their population that the incoming spells were finally starting to slow. Anna grappled with a giant who had charged forwards while she was distracted, he activated his wrist blades and carved its head in two, but not before a beam swept across her good arm and silenced the machine gun.

"Think we can make a break for it now Captain? Get some cover in the trees," Anna suggested, throwing off the corpse and firing her mortar at the goblin that had hit her with the beam. Alex reviewed the battle map. The Irregulars were safely back in the human army now, which had advanced into the empty space. Across the field the Wildlings were losing ground, and the remaining giants were being bombarded by Walter's artillery and the human mages. The fight was heavily in the empire's favour.

"Fighting advance into the treeline then," he acknowledged, "Prioritise targets that will be difficult to draw line of sight on once we're in cover."

Anna wordlessly followed his order, stepping on some enemy foot soldiers as her remaining gun sought out its best options. Alex pushed his mech to its feet and moved after her, slowed but not stopped by a partially damaged knee motor. They didn't make it as far as the trees though. A bluish gas quickly faded into their path, Alex stumbled as something within it tried to drag his feet out from under him and back in the direction they came from.

"You fucking idiots," he growled as his sensors saw the ray of energy lancing down from the human mages. With a whir of servos, he brought the sword around to point down in front of him, where it dissipated the fog enough for him to regain traction. "Follow right behind me," he instructed Anna, but before he could take another step a tendril of light reached out and wrapped around the mech, pulling him backwards. He clenched his jaw and lashed out, slicing through the tendril. Moving the sword let the fog creep back in though, and the tendril was already reconstituting itself for another attempt.

"Just hold a sec, Captain. I don't know what the fuck they're doing but I'll stop the fuckers," Anna swivelled, bringing her howitzer to bear on the human mages.

"Wait!" Alex gasped as the tendril spell gripped his arm, but the shell was already airborne. He watched in horror as it curved down towards the assembled wizards, then breathed a sigh of relief as it detonated on an invisible dome. "Anna Carroll you do NOT fire on friendly forces without an explicit order!" he shouted, cutting through the tendril again. With the arm free, he pointed it skyward and fired the arc gun straight up. A few seconds later, an answering flash came from Gelb.

"Oh... right. Shit. Should have thought of that," Anna mumbled, distracted but still firing her remaining machine gun. Alex threw himself back towards the army and out of the fog, joining her in their now begrudging assistance of the human army. Another spell flew towards them and he sliced it out of the air. He watched on his scanners as Talia carried Gelb up the cliff.

"So, what's the plan Captain?"

"We wait," he muttered, almost to himself, still watching his scanners.

"Well that's a fucking great plan. Why didn't I think of that?" Anna snarked.

"Patience, Lieutenant." Alex kicked a squad of goblins that ran out of the trees to join their army, sending them flying. Meanwhile, Talia reached the top of the small cliff and hung below the mages. Gelb scrambled onto her shoulders and onto a palm she held up. With surprising strength, the elf threw the gnome over the edge. He rolled to his feet and scurried beneath a cart. Nobody seemed to notice him.

"Be ready to make a break for it. Distraction incoming," Alex warned, and not a moment too soon as the mages' battle emplacement suddenly lit up like the sun. The bright light lasted only a fraction of a second, but the fog immediately dissipated. Atop the cliff he could see the mages staggering and clutching at their eyes; blinded, but hopefully temporarily enough that they could continue aiding in the battle. Perfect. "Go!"

The two mechs dashed into the treeline, firing as they went. They passed through the remains of the camp without stopping. As much as Alex hated abandoning his squad, if the mages didn't want him to leave then this could be his best chance to get away. Sword or not, magic was still a major pain to deal with. He would have to trust the Irregulars to look after themselves.

As Anna had predicted, the dregs of the army were still getting equipped. They disrupted them where possible but kept moving. Before long, the mech pilots had left the battle far behind and passed deeper into the woods.

*****

"Holy shit! What a fucking mess..." Anna grimaced as she leaned out of the cockpit and inspected the melted and battered elbow of her mech. It had been damaged even before the battle, but now it was completely unusable.

"You're telling me," Alex grumbled, hopping down to inspect his mech's knee. He'd gotten off lightly compared to Anna, but it was still bad for a durable mech.

"What now then? We're going to struggle with any more engagements in this state."

"We can get repairs," Alex rubbed his jaw thoughtfully, "That's kind of related to the people I wanted to pick up."

"Someone got a portable fusion forge in their wagon or something?" She squinted at the scorched plating, trying to work out how long it would take to reform the hard metal.

"Or something," he grinned.

"So, what? We circle back around? Now or after the battle ends?"

"After, I think. If we can catch one of their scouts out in the field, then they'll be able to pass on a message. Have them meet us away from those fucking mages."

"Yeah. What's with those fuckers anyway? I thought with you fighting in their army they'd be on your side."

"I thought so too," he sighed, "Apparently they're pretty desperate to work out how to make their own mech though. Didn't want their meal ticket walking away."

The two pilots sat, leaning against the feet of their respective mechs, breathing steadily as they came down from the adrenaline high of the battle. Eventually, Anna brushed her long, blonde hair out of her eyes and looked up at Alex's face. He looked back, his eyes tracing her sharp jawline. He cleared his throat.

"How did you even end up with the Wildlings?" he asked. Anna drummed her fingers on her thigh as she thought back on her story.

"Well I was expecting to be drifting in space for a few weeks at least when we dropped out of the ship, but we were already entering the atmosphere when we left the slipspace field. I kind of lost you in the tumble but managed to get my trajectory plotted before it was too late. Ended up with a pretty good landing for an emergency insertion from within the atmosphere. You'd have been fucking proud.

"I started wandering, looking for civilisation. Came across some little goblin fuckers who thought I was some sort of giant knight. We had a bit of an argument about that; I stepped on their leader, then one of them dressed like a low budget goth made a load of tentacles appear. I just about shit myself then it bent my right howitzer like a drinks can. Surrendered at that point, did the whole 'take me to your leader' thing and convinced them I was looking to join the army. They bought it but were obviously super fucking suspicious, so they kept a close eye on me. Lucky you I managed to sneak off to do some recon a few days ago, saw you from the mountain top. The rest is pretty dull, just marching, camping, questioning, and not being able to leave that fucking cockpit for way too long."

"So how did you find out about number one?"

"They kept going on about some big metal king to the north. I already had suspicions that number one and two were about, so it didn't take much figuring."

"What made you think they were around at all?" Alex's last question made Anna's breath catch in her throat. She smiled nervously and bit her lip.

"Had any interesting dreams recently?" she answered with a question of her own. Alex's heart stopped. He took in the arousal plain in her eyes, her flushed cheeks and teeth catching on her lower lip. His eyes went wide.

"Ha!" Anna cheered, jumping to her feet and leaping over to envelop him in a hug, "I knew that was real! I knew you were really there."

Alex accepted the hug limply. His mind raced, trying to reconcile their relationship in the dream world with the real, flesh and blood woman in front of him. Slowly, haltingly, he kissed her on the cheek. She drew back, looking at him with analytical eyes. Her expression fell.

"Sorry," she whispered, "Too much?"

"For now," he smiled sadly, rubbing her back soothingly, "I'm sorry too. I'll be fine, just give me a while to process."

"Sure." She stood, disappointed. She retreated to her mech, climbing up into the cockpit. She looked back over her shoulder from the edge. "We should settle in, set up sensor sweeps. We can hold position here until nightfall, if that's okay Captain?"

Alex just nodded, not trusting himself to speak without upsetting Anna any further. He climbed back into his pilot chair and inserted the neural spike, sending his mech the instructions to scan the area and alert him to any movement. He settled in for an awkward wait.

*****

The subconscious chime of a perimeter warning made Alex jump. The sun was lower than he remembered, he wasn't sure if he had slept or just zoned out. Four blips of motion were heading in their direction. He swivelled more precise sensors in that direction, picking out more details, then breathed a sigh of relief. Four horses with six occupants were following the mechs' footprints. Elizabeth and the Irregulars.

"Hey Anna, friendlies incoming. They found us first." he called out. She looked up from where she sat in her cockpit, running some diagnostics on her heavy H-MAC rifle.

"Shit, dude," she chuckled, "You didn't tell me they were competent. I see why you wanted them."

It was several more minutes before the Irregulars came within sight of the mech pilots. As soon as Talia saw Alex waving through the trees she kicked her horse into a gallop, nearly throwing Daine off the back. She rode into the little clearing and leapt straight from the saddle into Alex's arms as the horse cantered to a stop.

"You're alright!" she squeaked, showering him in kisses, "I was so worried..."

"I was about to say the same to you," he smiled, kissing her back.

"Well this is fucking awkward," Anna monotoned as the rest of the squad arrived one by one. Alex blushed, and carefully set Talia down on the ground. He cleared his throat.

"Irregulars, this is Lieutenant Anna Carroll; mech pilot and weapons specialist. Anna, this is Sergeant Thrak, Corporals Gelb, Daine and Talia, Countess Vanessa Ravenholm... and Major Elizabeth Swift." He put his arm around Elizabeth and squeezed gently. Anna looked the major over curiously, a slow smile spreading on her face.

"Holy fuck. You got yourself a squad and a harem? Where do I sign up for this army?" She folded her arms, giving him a challenging look.

"I'm not sleeping with him," Vanessa interjected, helping Daine down off the horse, "Not interested either. It's just those two with the poor taste."

Talia stepped forwards, standing in front of Anna and looking up at her. She was tall, but the Lieutenant still stood head and shoulders above her, and the difference in stature between the mech pilot's armoured bulk and the elf's slender form was even more obvious than the height disparity. Anna looked like she could pick Talia up and snap her like a twig, but the smaller woman didn't look intimidated. In fact, she smiled.

"Not just us two, right?" she stared up, her long ears quickly turning red but her embarrassment not stopping her, then she winked. "I wouldn't call it a harem yet but there's always room to expand."

Anna burst out laughing, the tension of the moment broken.

"Oh, I like this one," she said to Alex, looking at him with puppy dog eyes, "Can we keep her pwease, daddy?"

Elizabeth had been about to say something but choked on thin air at Anna's faux little girl voice. Daine doubled over laughing while Thrak's large jaw quivered with the effort of keeping a straight face and Gelb stifled a chortle. Even Vanessa smirked. Alex just buried his face in his hands with a sigh.

"Stars above, Anna... Until now I was the only pilot these guys knew. Don't give them whiplash."

"Of course, sir. Sorry sir," she snapped off a rigid salute, "I would like to give fair warning to the rest of the group that most pilots are a lot more fun than this grumpy bastard."

"I don't know if I can handle more fun than you," Elizabeth murmured behind him.

"Additional fair warning to the kinky redhead," Anna held the salute, "We also have very good hearing and tend to be dominant in the bedroom, ma'am."

"Alright Anna, cool it for a moment please," Alex instructed as Elizabeth futilely tried to burrow into the back of his shoulder, "You can joke around later, but right now I'd like to know why they showed up already. What happened to the army?"

The Irregulars all looked to each other, trying to decide who was going to speak. Eventually Elizabeth pulled her face out of his shoulder and nodded permission to Thrak, who stood to attention and began to explain.

"The battle was an absolute success; the Wildlings were routed and with the damage you and your Lieutenant dealt to their mages and giant population the cavalry was able to ride down or round up any attempts to retreat with impunity. Gelb was able to get away from the mages after the distraction and they seem to think it was some strange ability of your armour that caused the flash. However, it came to light in the aftermath that their betrayal was premeditated and in fact very much part of the General's plan. Major Swift had a disagreement with the General over this fact and was arrested." He took a breath and was about to continue when Vanessa interrupted.