City of Light

Chapter 10

The more I think about it the more the memory fades away, I barely remember my dream. After about half an hour of walking I slip into an ally and open a sewer grate I climb down the ladder and the guys soon follow. It's not a really a sewer, it's brick room and an iron door. A screen is on the right side asking for a fingerprint I scan my thumb and I hear the door release its locks. I push the door open, it closes behind us and re locks. I flip on the light next to the door and the massive warehouse steadily lights up. The lights continue to turn on, down the seemingly never ending emptiness.
"Claire?" I call out my voice echoes and doesn't seem to stop. On both sides of the warehouse multiple damaged M.E.C.H units are raised up but large mechanical lifts. Recovered parts are on trays by their owners, ripped, burned. Welders and others tools are scattered on big shelves, the chill that runs through this place always made me uncomfortable.
"Melvy? I'm coming be right there!" The young girls' voice comes from behind one of the M.E.C.H units. A rustle and a crash later she comes into view soaked in oil.
"Sorry for the awful appearance. Wow, so that's it huh?" She looks at my arm, the engineer in her is fascinated.
"Yeah... So where is she?" I look around.
"Right over here." Her white tight, high waist jeans are covered in oil and the leather pads on the knees and the side of her thighs are glossy from the oil. She too has a green long sleeve crop top brown elbow pads, goggles pulled over her head holding back her short messy brown hair.
"You're crazy to wear a crop top in that freezing weather." She looks back at me and grins.
"I just woke up, give me a break. It's freezing down here the same goes for you." I say. She chuckles.
"Well, you're not the one working your ass off caring metal parts back and forth across a ware hours two miles long to fit metal giants." She jokingly smiles at me. Claire is a strong girl, she works so hard and she is so focused and intelligent that I often wonder if she ever leaves the warehouse. I found her in a M.E.C.H battle in her own that was made of scrap, but way more advanced than her opponents. She had a gift, it was illegal to battle M.E.C.H units but I wanted that talent to go to something better than that. She has been working for me for about two years now, but she is the only one that treats me like an average person and not the daughter of a famous business man.
"She's right over here." We arrive at a large yellow shipping container, a small key pad is needed to open it.
"I put it in here for safe keeping, I know how much she means to you." She inputs a code and a green light lights up the key pad. She grabs the large metal handle and with all her might she pulls the door open. A white light flicker to under the mangled machine. The right arm is blown off, and blood covers the recovered part, my arm. The clear glass face is surrounded by burn marks and a shattered metal head. The chest that used to have heavy metal plating is completely blown or chipped off, and its other arm is badly burned and parts are missing. It used to hold a large gun that could set launch an exploding shot that could wipe everything out in a mile radius if you were willing to sacrifice your energy, it's the gun that wins battles. It's legs still relatively intact, except for severe burns and missing plates of metal.
"Here's the low down, your jump pack was severely damaged so I'm ordering another one and the armor is being forged as we speak, the back hatch was blown to pieces and the inside was destroyed, so that needs new parts and the right arm was recovered but can still be reattached but I need time to do that, the gun however melted after the explosion of the engine, which both of those needs to be replaced..." She trails of knowing she lost me. It's hard to look at her in such disrepair, but...
"You do what you need to fix her." I look at her and sigh. That M.E.C.H was my second home for years, I felt useful, I felt empowered. It's painful not being on the front line with my squad fighting the enemy air strike M.E.C.H units. I was 11 when I was practically forced into the army. In their words, "You have the skill our most talented soldiers don't have. You are what we need to win this war. You have an incredible amount of energy." I was the youngest of my kind, I quickly moved in the ranks, people never took me seriously. I remember my first day as a training officer a few months before I was promoted to fight on the front lines. A man 21, he told me I didn't frighten him, and that a kid like me means nothing where I stand. I tossed him out a second story window and came down and put my foot on his chest and pointed my rifle with a blade on the end at his forehead and yelled "if you won't obey my orders I'll crack open your skull and carve it in your brain if that's what it takes!" Everyone rushed over and told me to let go of him, you're crazy they said. The training supervisor grabbed my arm and tried to pull me off him. I stood like a rock and grinned, I made that boy fear me, I made those maggots of men fear me. With everyone's attention, I screamed "today on you will treat me with the respect I deserve! I wouldn't be here if I didn't deserve it, nor if I could handle it! If anyone disobeys be you will end up your head chopped off and blood on my blade! Did I make myself clear?!" I have never seen a man as scared as he. I'm what makes the enemy run, scatter like rats. I am the devil they all fear, they pray for miracles, but miracles and simply glorious misunderstandings. I have the enemy under my thumb.