When the dust of the collapsing mecha finally settled, Rush was the first to climb atop the hulk and make for the hatch on the back of the neck. Giza tried to climb up after him, and couldn’t even make it a few feet without the suit. She called out, and Rush backtracked to give her a hand.

  “Thank you, Rush.”

  “You’re welcome. Stay here.”

  Rush left Giza where she was and started walking away. Giza pondered following him anyway, but decided against it. Several seconds later, she hear the whirring of a chainsaw followed by a loud boom, and then saw a piece of scrap go flying into the distance. Apparently she had made the right choice staying away. The noises stopped, so Giza followed Rush’s path and found an open hatch waiting for her.

  “Rush, you in here?”

  She hopped down without waiting for a response, and saw Rush standing frozen in the middle of the collapsed cockpit, staring at what was left of the pilot. She let out a gasp of horror as she saw more and more of the blood splattered around the pilot’s seat.

  “Did you-”

  “No,” Rush said, as he turned around to face her. “I didn’t do this. He was dead when I got here.”

  “What happened to him?”

  “I don’t know how,” Rush said. “He’s still in his seat, the safety features should’ve kept him alive. This shouldn’t have happened, Giza.”

  Rush’s usual intensity was fixated entirely on the corpse, which did not seem to bother him in the slightest. Giza found it almost disturbing how nonchalant he could be about such gruesome horrors.

  “But there has to be some reason.”

  “He was acting strange,” Rush said. “The way he attacked us, what he did, why he did it- it doesn’t make sense.”

  Bandits were not, on average, a logical bunch, but simply blowing up one hauler and leaving stood out even among their sadistic behavior -as did their heads exploding out of nowhere. Giza lacked Rush’s capacity for analysis, but even she could see that there were pieces out of place here, and several more still missing.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “Rush, do you think this is connected to Shinji at all?”

  Rush took a pause to think on it. His ears perked up at the sound of others climbing the mecha’s exterior, and he quickened his usual thoughtful pace.

  “Maybe. I don’t know.”

  “You...you should unbuckle him,” Giza said, daring to look at the pilot once again. “We’ll tell everyone he bashed his head in during the fall, got thrown around the cockpit. We keep this between us.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I’m starting to wonder who I can trust, Rush,” Giza said. Three mysteries at once was too many for her. Shinji’s unknown agenda, why the bandit had attacked, and why they had died -they could not all be explained by coincidence.

  “You can trust me,” Rush said.

  “I know,” Giza said. That, at least, was certain. “Do you trust me?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then we’ll figure this out,” Giza said. “Somehow.”

  The commotion around the fallen mech was intense enough that no one noticed a humble newcomer sneaking off to their sleeping tube in the sleeper hauler. Arthur Reynolds dug out a communicator and delivered a thorough account of the battle to Commander Howle, holding his communicator close to his head all the while.

  “They say the pilot died as a result of the mech’s shutdown, ma’am,” Arthur said. Howle raised an eyebrow. That was an unexpected boon. She’d been worried her explosive finish might have been too obvious.

  “Well, then it seems this observation has been a resounding success,” Howle said. “Thank you for your service, soldier.”

  “Thank you, ma’am. Permission to return home?”

  “Not yet, trooper,” Howle said. “Walking away now would raise suspicions. Follow them for the remainder of their current expedition, at least. You might take the opportunity to ask some questions about the suit.”

  “I- Yes ma’am,” Arthur said, reluctantly. He hung up, and Howle discarded her communicator to focus on writing down a report that made absolutely no mention of Arthur Reynolds.

  The suit’s combat capabilities were adequate, at best, but getting better with every upgrade. That would appease some of the officers breathing down her neck at every update. Howle couldn’t care less. She wasn’t so blinded by violence as some of the military brass.

  Still, there were a few people who needed killing.

  The commotion around the fallen mech was intense enough that no one noticed a humble newcomer sitting on the sidelines, chatting with one of the caravan’s deputies. Shinji tapped his finger against one of their remaining scrap haulers as he watched the Junkers start to work.

  “It really is more impressive in person,” Shinji said.

  “I told you very clearly what it was capable of,” Liam grunted. “Do you have enough to report back now?”

  “I do,” Shinji said. “Or I would. If I was just here to observe and report.”

  Shinji hopped off the hauler and stuck his hands into the pockets of his grimy trousers. He walked in front of Liam and pivoted to stare right into his eyes.

  “Overheard someone say the pilot died accidentally,” Shinji said. “You think that’s true?”

  “Very likely,” Liam said. “Rush has never killed anyone on purpose.”

  “Oh.”

  Shinji turned around and examined the fallen mecha.

  “We’ll have to do something about that,” Shinji said. “We got a few people who need killing.”