The engine of the Appalachia fired up and the landing gears slowly withdrew as the ship flew into the air. The yard the Appalachia was parked in had no roof, but the walls were over 100 ft tall, so it took a few seconds before the ship was clear to move forward. The AGI squad cars arrived outside the spaceport just in time to see the Appalachia fly off toward the desert.


    As the Appalachia took off toward the desert a man with blond hair and a faux hawk ran into the cockpit. He had pale skin, pale blue eyes, and was short for a man. Standing at a total of 5 feet, 8 inches, he wasn''t anywhere near as opposing as any of the others. He had a laid-back attitude, but also an aura of confidence typical of those in his profession.


    The ship was moving side-to-side just enough that it was difficult to stand, yet he walked into the cockpit without any problems. "Hey boss, what''s going on? Why are we moving?"


    "Hendricks, we''re you in the crapper when I was calling you?" Owl had a sour tone and a stern look in his eyes while trying to keep the ship steady in low altitude.


    Hendricks started to get nervous, because he knew he was about to get chewed out by his captain for not being at his station. “Yes. Nature called with a vengeance. Sorry, boss.”


    Owl picked up Hendricks wristwatch which had been laying on the dashboard in front of the steering wheel. "And did you leave your com link up here so you wouldn''t get disturbed?"


    Without saying a word, Hendricks took the wristwatch from Owl and put it on. His entire face sank as he thought of the tongue lashing he was about to receive from not just the captain, but also Harpy, once she and Blackbird returned to the ship. Hendricks proceeded to sit down in the co-pilot’s seat, and the two of them didn''t speak to one another until they made the pickup.


    ***


    After informing Owl that the squad cars were heading in their direction, Harpy and Blackbird still had to deal with the two AGI mech that were pursuing them. Harpy''s mech was much heavier so it wasn''t as fast as the two standard mechs following her, so she had no choice but to turn around and engage them in a dog fight.


    Harpy had her mech grab the rifle on its back and turn 180 degrees while still flying in the same direction. The rifle she had was the same off-white color as her mech with a single red stripe on both sides of the rifle. It was designed for long distance shooting, but it would work well enough in close quarters combat.


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    A white beam similar to the one that came from the sniper rifle she was using earlier came out of the barrel when she fired the mechs rifle, and hit one of the mechs right in the head taking it out of the fight.


    "Yes! Nice shot!" Blackbird cheered as he saw the mech tumbling after hitting the ground.


    "Don''t yell in my ear." Harpy didn’t mind how close Blackbird was to her, but his shouting was annoying.


    The other AGI mech had enough time to get a shot off that hit her mechs chest plate. Thankfully, the weapon that standard mechs used wasn’t very powerful and it would take a few shots for them to penetrate the armor of Harpy''s heavier unit.


    Harpy prepared the next shot, but the security mech swerved to make it harder for her to hit. She had some difficulty at first, but eventually she identified his pattern, and predicted exactly where he was going to be.


    Bang! Harpy fired another shot, and the second mech went down without any issue. Unfortunately, right after she took that mech down she saw three more approaching them in the distance. Harpy turned around trying to get more speed, then she heard Owl’s voice over the comms.


    "Hey Harpy, Scarecrow and I are inbound. Get ready for pickup."


    "This is Blackbird. Harpy’s busy losing a tail. Was Scarecrow jerking off in the can again?" Blackbird smirked while insinuating that this was a common occurrence that has happened several times before.


    Hendricks stood up in his sea "Hey that’s not what I’m doing. And besides the mission had gone south because…"


    Owl immediately interrupted him. “Scarecrow, none of us want to know about what you do in your alone time."


    Hendricks, or Scarecrow as they often referred to him when speaking over comms, sat back down while looking meekly at the floor a little embarrassed by them mentioning the situation.


    Before the other AGI security mechs could catch up with them the Appalachia had caught up to Harpy''s mech, and hovered only a few feet off the ground in front of them. Harpy maneuvered her mech into the air until it was above the Appalachia, then she signaled Owl over the com to open up the cargo hold. Owl flipped a switch on the control panel in the cockpit, and a double door on the roof of the Appalachia over the cargo hold opened to let them in.


    Harpy landed her mech in the cargo hold without any problem, and she and Blackbird left the cockpit of her mech as the cargo bay doors began to close. They made their way to the cockpit of the Appalachia and took the seats directly behind Owl and Hendricks. Once they were all buckled in the Appalachia flew into orbit where they saw a sea of stars laying out in front of them, and a section of a large space station on the left side of the bow of their ship.


    Hendricks lightly chuckled. “Well guys, I might’ve screwed up, but we still got away Scott free.”


    Owl and Harpy both glared at him and spoke in unison. “Shut up, Hendricks.”