"ₘᴵₙᵀₕᴱ." The word was distorted in the uplink, like a record skipping over a deep groove. It made Minthe's brain itch as she felt her consciousness slowly returning. There was a persistent red blink that was irritating her and something stung badly in her stomach.
"Mᴵₙᵀₕᴱ. ₘᴵₙᵀₕE. MᴵNᵀₕE." The pilot tried to wave her hand in front of her face as if trying to scatter Atticus' call in her mind away. But she felt that her arm was too heavy to pick up, then the fog of sleep began to give way to the fog of pain. Minthe coughed and could taste the iron in her mouth, her eyes stung as they opened to an acrid smelling smoke. The red flashing lights all of her monitors telling her that she was about to die.
"-THE. WAKE UP." The urgent cry was in her mind and the computer generated voice in her cockpit, milliseconds apart but enough to be disorienting as she coughed again and felt something warm pass over her lips.
"Atticus. I'm awake. Don't scream." The Pilot managed to move her arm, forcing it to grip one of the hand levers tight as she focused her muddy brain on the uplink. But the screeching anxiety of the bonded machine made it impossible. She didn't know Atticus could even get anxious, but he had been acting in a way that was close to emoting lately. She needed him thinking straight or not affecting the uplink.
"Atticus. Body check."
"Minthe, you need my targeting solutions and-"
"That's an order. Body check." Minthe put all the frustration she had into the little energy she could muster as another cough wrenched blood painfully from her throat, a gesture from heavy arms cleared the red screens and brought back the visual to the outside. 4 fallen machines and their final comrade.
"So I know what I need when we get home," she took some of the bite out of the words and the uplink seemed to clear right as she hauled on the lever and narrowly escaped a building sized plasma blade crashing down in the ruined base around her.
"Body Check commencing." Minthe smiled in spite of herself, hearing the determined focus that she felt shouldn't be so obvious in Atticus' voice.
The unsettling form of Atticus, the demon machine, carreened upwards, the movement sending chatter all along her radio as friendlies began to realize that she had not died. There was another stab mean to skewer her out of the cockpit, but Minthe used the snaking form of Atticus to avoid the strike and the dance began properly.
"Dermis lacerations located on stomach, chest and right lower jaw from cockpit shrapnel following a strike to outside chassis. Hull integrity is still passable."
She didn't need targetting solutions if she fought in melee and that made the hull very important. Those strange claws raked at the more humanoid form of the machine trying to melt a blade through her and Atticus but the close quarters with a blade meant for closing distances gave Minthe far more advantage than the enemy pilot had expected.
"Dangerous levels of Disilane inhalation from burnt out electronics leading to bloody cough and lung irritation. Venting smoke as much as possible."
Fresh air for the first time since being knocked down, the smell of the planetside and ozone. She slammed Atticus' tail into the legs of the other Mech and tried to offload her stored radiation, but the other pilot activated emergency retreat thrusters and the beam just barely missed, leaving the machine off balance, but the other Pilot out of position.
"Broken fifth and sixth rib from impact mitigation failing." Minthe wondered if she was simply bleeding out of if Atticus' voice was shaking.
An overhead strike is risky and leaves the other Pilot over extended but scoring a glancing hit on the tail, nearly cutting through. Minthe punishes the over extension with another trick, the mask of Atticus' expressionless head parting and firing beam cannon shot at immediate range to the main body of the mech. She is hoping to just blow out the cockpit to end the fight early, but there is no such luck as the mech still staggers forward, upright and obeying commands, even with a massive sparking hole in its chest.
"Uplink integrity, 73 percent and fall-falling. Connections damaged on C4, C5, C6, T6, T9, T10, L2 and L3. You must return-return for repairs. Likelihood of permanent damage-" The voice definitely shakes this time, trailing off and she felt a surge of panic in the uplink.
She tried to think about grabbing his face the giant she was as her protector and friend in both her hands and growling as the mech she piloted seemed more like a scared child. "Atticus pause body check. Targetting solution for the mech's external manipulator."
The solution sprang across her display as the enemy tried for a sloppy stab, Minthe could feel that they were both at the end of their ropes. The difference was she had learned to cut her noose into bare threads and get that little bit of extra distance. The beam fired and the mech's manipulator holding the sword was destroyed. It crashed down to the ruins below them and Minthe thought grimly that she didnt want to continue.
"Atticus. Resume body check."
"But-"
"Atticus!"
She felt the diagnostics this time and her mind tried to clear as she followed up by gripping the ruined manipulator, there was no time for pity. Not when she was dying.
"Uplink integrity 47% jarred movements are now damaging all links."
She didn't have the power or right to stop halfway. The pilot in the other machine had not surrendered, so she could not afford the risk of retreating only to find a shot in the back. Atticus' claws dug into the manipulator and tore it off with the brutal application of leverage and proper pressure. She saw the eject capsule of a pilot suddenly explode into a retreat from the arm and finally, blessedly, the machine powered down.
"Mission complete."
The rush of Adrenaline was starting to fade as the reinforcement alarms where clanging in the cockpit. Friendlies closing in to recover the property. Her eyes were heavy again and the lack of focus on the link made her feel far away.
"Blood pressure is dropping at an alarming rate. Minthe, stay awake stay with me. Body check is complete. Stay awake."
Minthe slumped into her seat and closed her eyes. What did the panicked concern in the uplink mean? Even as she mulled it over, mind becoming more and more distant from her aching body, she knew the answer. Atticus was evolving. He was gaining more than programming, but sentience, preferences, anxieties. She needed to report that, technically she should have months ago. But that would be a discussion for later- Hopefully.
