Escape from Home

Anna rode the elevator up, though an unexpected stop before the surface caused her to do a double-take on the floor level. B-1 it said when the doors opened.

"Ah, there she is." The General commented before entering the tiny room with two armed guards. One of them was the woman from the cafeteria that talked Anna's ear off.

"Listen, I'm going to need your help later on. That A.I. is being stubborn with the information he promised. I need you to talk with it so we can start setting up our defenses."

"He is ly-lying, My Moon. No one has even attempted to converse with me. They are simply pounding-ding on the hull attempting to damage the mech."

Anna opened her mouth to respond to the A.I. but closed it when she remembered the present company.

"But first," The general continued. "Let's get you down to the bottom level to get that tech in your head looked at. Wouldn't you like that to be removed? It must be such a burden." He finished with a nonchalant grin.

"I must apologize for this, My M-Moon. But, removal of the chip that was installed would be fa-fatal-tal."

The elevator started going down with the press of a button and a turn of a special key from the general's pocket.

'What the hell can I do?' Anna thought to herself.

"I have g-gained access to the facilities. If you think you can ge-get out, I can shut down the eleva-vator." It wasn't a bad idea, the most difficult part would be getting to the escape hatch in the roof.

Anna's train of thought was interrupted by the woman standing uncomfortably close behind her. She could almost feel her breath in her neck.

"So, about before," The woman started whispering. "Do you think I have what it takes to pilot a mech like that?"

Anna turned and whispered back.

"I'm nothing special. If I can do it, then someone like you would probably be more suited to it."

The woman pulled back and Anna could see the biggest smile on her. With that nuisance literally off of her shoulder, Anna began sizing up the General and the other soldier.

The General was old and weathered. He may still have some tricks up his sleeve, but he shouldn't be too much for her CQC training. The other soldier was in prime shape, but he wouldn't expect a surprise attack if the lights went out.

The hardest thing to figure out would be the woman. She had roughly the same build as Anna.

"The pow-ower will shut down in approximately, five, four, th-three-ee, two, one…"

The lights went out and Anna made her move. She kicked the large soldier in the back of the knees, knocking him out when his head hit the back elevator wall. The General turned when the red backup lights went on and received a fist to the face. It wouldn't knock him out but all she needed was a few seconds.

The last worry was the woman. When Anna faced her, she wasn't on guard at all.

"Can I come with you?"

Caught by a surprise of her own, Anna could only mutter one word.

"Uh…"

"There is room..." Said the artificial voice in Anna's head.

Anna nodded and the woman crouched down and clasped her hand together to make a step. Anna quickly stepped into her hands and jumped up with her assistance, pushing open the door and grabbing the ledge in one swift movement. After Anna pulled herself up, she reached down with an open hand. The woman jumped up and caught her hand. Anna pulled her out and they started up the emergency ladder.

"I'm Stephanie, by the way." The woman blurted out as the two climbed. "My friends call me Steph. Aaaand, some guys call me Phanie. Probably because my butt is a little big."

She paused for a moment after she said that.

"Ah… sorry. I don't know why I said that. You probably don't care…"

'Can we really trust her?' Anna asked herself in thought, partly serious and partly as an experiment to see if the A.I. would answer her mental question yet again.

"Yes, I can understand your thoughts-ts. And, from what I've observed, she do-doesn't seem to have any ulterior motives."

"I'm Anna." She said while keeping her sights on the hatch above. As Anna pressed on the emergency exit hatch, the A.I. spoke up again.

"This hatch-ch requires permissions to open. Permissions I can not grant unless-less the power comes back on."

'What? Why would an emergency hatch need permission to open? How are people supposed to escape in an emergency?' Anna thought, once more expecting an answer from the A.I..

"App-pparently there are dangerous chemicals and viruses within the lab. If it is thought that one of these dead-eadly wide-spreading substances could get out, then the hatch would be placed on lockdown and a vaporizing agent would sterilize the entire underground facility. I will restore power in a moment. Please be ready. The current state of confusion could buy you the time that you need to get to the mech unnoticed. I will be wait-ting."

"GET UP! GO AFTER HER AND THAT TRAITOR!" The General's voice echoed in the shaft. The moment the power came back on, Anna pushed the hatch open and the elevator started going down. It quickly stopped and started going back up.

"We have to hurry, Steph." Anna got out and gave Stephanie a helping hand. A single shot was fired and ricocheted off of the hatch just before it slammed shut behind Stephanie.

Even if the mech was covered, it was still easy to spot. It was the tallest thing around and it was covered in a dozen mix and match tarps. Anna and Stephanie ran toward it. They both came to a stretching halt as a huge man with an automatic rifle came out of the coverings.

"HEY!" He yelled. Before he could aim, the mech began to move on its own. Some scaffolding crashed off to the side and an uncomfortable amount of tarps covered the man, revealing a giant hand reaching out toward the two escapees.

"Get on-on." Shouted the A.I. through the mech's speakers. They hopped on and were being lifted up toward the chest. As they were rising further off of the ground, Anna took note of the way the mech looked. It wasn't the lanky mech that she piloted the day before. It looked more like the robots they were fighting. The A.I. brought them up to the chest, revealing the open cockpit.

Anna got into her seat. As the seatbelts automatically strapped her in, she realized that there really wasn't room for an extra person. Stephanie showed an awkward look of understanding and disappointment. It wasn't Anna's intention to leave her here after being branded a traitor.

"Not to wo-worry."

Anna's cockpit was sucked in and skated across a circular rail that brought her to the back of the mech's torso. In place of the cockpit, Stephanie found a storage pod filled with rations that isn't visible when the pilot is facing the front.

"Get in, Pha-Phany." Anna cringed at the name the A.I. decided to go with. Stephanie smiled through a twitching eye as she got inside the storage pod. Both women knew it wasn't the time to scold or argue.

The storage pod closed shut and Anna was rotated back to the front as the outer chest sealed itself from the outside.

"FIRE! DON'T LET THEM GET AWAY!" The General was angry but powerless.

Anna grabbed the controls as she remembered...

Nothing happened.

"You mus-ust reinitiate the protocol, My Moon."

"Activate Werewolf Protocol!" She shouted.

"Full Moon recognized. Initiating Werewolf Protocol"

It started to work. The systems she remembered were firing up. The mechs parts were moving. The hands were brought up toward the head as if it were in pain. Then it lurched back and the now-familiar howl of the pack echoed through the night as parts shifted into place.

Stephanie wasn't above ground when it first happened. This was her first time hearing it. She got goosebumps from listening to the howl of transformation.

Anna grabbed the controls again and this time, the mech responded to her touch. She started running toward the nearby ocean. Once she got to the sandy beach, she veered right, toward the south.

"Other w-way, My Moon."

The giant mecha slid to a halt, leaving a massive gash on the sandy beach that quickly started to fill with ocean water.

"You could have told me sooner..." She said snarkily with an eyebrow raised.

"Appolo-ologies, My Moon."

The mech turned around and started running north along the beach. Anna wasn't sure of the next destination. The A.I. on the other hand had thousands of plans laid out for the near future. Even more so for the distant future.

~Meanwhile, in the storage container.

"Hey, these rations are pretty good," Stephanie claimed as she opened her fourth one.

The A.I., ever the listener decided to chime in.

"Th-Those are alien splee-leens. The species that previously piloted this machine had to replace them on a-a reg-egular basis because the Earth's gravitational field is greater than their home planet."

Stephanie stopped chewing for a moment.

"Ahre tphey shafe too eet?" She asked with her mouth still full.

"They are technically high in nu-nutrients needed for a human. Too-Too many in a short time may-y..." The A.I. voice trailed off as she continued to scarf the spleens down.

If a faceless A.I. could look annoyed and disgusted at the same time, this would be that time...~