Heart Like a Machine

Chapter 50

"There's a lot to cover so we're going to have to split up," she said walking up to the Sunwing.

She tapped her Focus and a map of the Forbidden West came up. There were red markers that identified the rebel outposts and camps that were needed to be cleared.

"We might as well clear the outposts before we get to the camps," she said and sent the data to my Focus. "Once we're done, we're going to meet up here before heading to one of the camps," she pointed to the map. "Sound good?"

"Yeah," I nodded. 

"If anything happens, make sure to get into contact and I'll come as soon as I can," she said. "You can ride on this Sunwing. I can always override another one."

"About that," I said. "Is there a way I can override the machines?"

"I was actually working on one for you. So it'll be easier for us to go out ourselves if we need to. It's coming along very well and should be finished. I was going to give you a finished version with all of the overrides so we don't have to do this again."

"Thanks, Aloy," I smiled.

"Be safe out there," she said and placed her hand on my shoulder.

I smiled and leaned over to her, lightly pressing a kiss to her cheek, "You be safe out there, too."

I climbed onto the Sunwing and waved to her before flying into the air. I headed off to the first rebel outpost that was marked. I was going to be taking care of the half by Barren Light and Chainscrape and make my way a little bit past the base. She was going to most Western side and come back East and we were going to meet up at the camp that was closest to the base. 

I headed to the first outpost and started to get rid of the rebels that were there. They were surprised to see it was someone like me. They were expecting Aloy since some of them were referring to her as Hekarro's champion. How they were expecting his champion and they'd have the chance to getting revenge on Regalla's behalf. I only smirked at them and said that they would only wish to perish at her hands. I took the first outpost down with ease. When I went to go loot some of the chests they had, I came across some Tenakth tags.

"Hey, Aloy?" I tapped my Focus.

"What's up, Y/N?" she asked.

"I found these tags."

"Tags?"

"Yeah. They have some Tenakth names on them."

"Hold on to them. They might want those tags for the family of the lost ones."

"Alright. How are you holding up?"

"I'm doing alright. Flying over the mountains is not easy."

"I can definitely imagine how cold it'll be."

"Yeah. Maybe once everything clears up we can fly out this way since there are beaches here."

"I look forward to it. Alright, I'm going to head to the next one. I'll see you later."

"I'll see you later."

I got onto the Sunwing and flew off to the next location. While I pulled up the map, I changed the marker from red to green. I located the next outpost and flew as close as I could. I didn't want them to damage the Sunwing and render me without a way to get by. I'd have to walk to the other places and that would take forever. I landed a bit far away from the base and made short work of the outpost. Like the first one, they were surprised to see me. I took them out with ease and continued on my merry way. I opened the map once more to see there were two new green markers. Aloy was sure making short work of these outposts.

After I had finished my third outpost, I decided to stop and rest for a bit since I was flying for a longer time than I wanted to. And not to mention getting more supplies to make arrows since I was going through them like no tomorrow. I got something to eat before heading back onto the Sunwing and heading to the next location. Pulling the map up once more, I saw that the outposts out further West were complete and Aloy had finally moved inwards.. 

I was almost finished with having one more left to do. I was taking another break since it was a bit farther than the others. I was sitting on a hill looking out at the lands, watching a Tallneck walk in the distance. There were machines around the Tallneck looking for dead machines to get scrap from so they can add it to their scrap piles. I had never been on the Tallneck before and I wanted to get a good view from it. I tapped my Focus once more to get a hold of Aloy. I heard grunting and the sound of a gun going off.

"Bad time?" I asked Aloy.

"Bad time!" she said.

"I'll call back," I said and ended the call. 

I let out a sigh as I continued to watch the Tallneck walk around in a circle. This one was in the middle of the desert and I had no idea how Aloy was able to get on top of it. Then I looked over at the Sunwing and realized how she did it. I chuckled to myself, not being able to think like Aloy does. 

"Well, time to get the last outpost done," I said and got onto the Sunwing, flying in the direction of where it was.

While I was heading towards the last outpost, Aloy called back.

"Sorry, Y/N. Had to deal with the last outpost before I come to the meeting point. Is everything ok?"

"Yeah. I was just taking a small break and looking at a Tallneck. I said to myself, I would like to be on top of those one day."

"Getting up is pretty easy with a Sunwing now," she chuckled. "But I'll take you to one soon and show you how to climb up it."

"I'd appreciate that, thanks. I'll see you in a little bit."

"See you in a little bit."

I looked down to see I had flown over the rebel outpost, something I didn't want to do.

"Oh shit," I whispered to myself.