Upon the platform of bulky machinery, she shifted levers and pressed buttons. A low, tender voice chimed up from the intercom. "Chapin, I have a lock on the shuttle." Blowing a large chunk of raven mane from her face, Chapin's cheeks grew fat with air. It would have been so easy, so simple to just say the word and blow it to pieces, to make the command and save both their asses. Chapin only dropped her eyes to her feet and settled deeper into that leather interior.

"There are civilians on that shuttle, Zero."

"I am aware."

"We don't kill innocents."

?"I am aware."

After conversing with the AI, Chapin sighed softly. She could have smashed her fists to what most would call the dashboard of the heavy mech, but Zero hadn't been the one who wounded her, so why wound him' Even if he was incapable of feeling" "We knew going in that this would be dangerous?" Chapin whispered to the machine, a hand moving to stroke just below a button in a sign of what could only be called affection; twisted as it was. "I just didn't think we'd go into a storm with our hands tied behind our backs?"

"Chapin," Zero's voice chimed back up. Was that some amount of hesitation from the AI"

"I know," Chapin answered, cutting him off. She hadn't wanted to receive more from him; because what he said was never what she wanted to hear"what she needed to hear. I love you, Zero" A thought for nobody but herself. They were unrequited feelings, she knew; but she was also aware that it wasn't his fault. Stupidity was the only factor, here. What person in their right mind would fall in love with a computer" Chapin was never one for sanity; hell, she'd been a soldier since thirteen years old, was the first to ever be assigned to an AI at fourteen" Zero had been all she'd known since.

"Chapin, enemies are closing in." A foreign voice came from the intercom; she soon recognized it as Brick. He'd been a jack-of-all-trades in the resistance as long as she'd known him. Mostly, he served as a mechanic"but he liked to keep a close eye on the teenager when she worked the field.

"Yeah, yeah' What else is new?" Chapin muttered, though it wasn't for his ears. "Alright, Brick" Thanks." This was looking more and more like a failed mission. "Any chance you guys could send a little back-up" We need to get this shuttle stopped" I'm not seeing it happening with just Zero and me." It was a lost cause and she knew it. There were only three people with the balls to get out on the field, and two of them were dead. The resistance was full of cowards that hid beneath the ground....There was a long pause, and the girl knew he didn't know what to say to her. "It is fine, Brick" I know you'd come out here if you could, just' Give us a little bit more time; I think we can pull this one out of our hats" Maybe?" Words spoken too soon as she felt a sudden jolt in the otherwise smooth ride. "Zero, what the hell is going on?"

"Chapin," Zero said, always the one to start a conversation in the most formal of ways; and always one to state the obvious. "We are taking on fire."

Gunfire was a terrifying sound; the only thing perhaps more terrifying was being used to it. At seventeen years old, Chapin was. "Damn it, alright' We're pulling out." Chapin reported back to Brick. "E.T.A fifteen minutes." A few more buttons were smashed with fingers, and she felt the shift of machinery, admired the soft hum of gears. "Alright, Zero' Let's lose them."

"Does that mean you wish me to take evasive maneuvers, Chapin?"

"You know me too well, Zero." A smile lit up Chapin's face, though it was short-lived as another blast rocked the very foundations of the machine. "Damn it, they're closing in fast?"

"Chapin! Get the hell out of there, now! I swear if you come back with so much as a scratch on your body, I'll kill you myself!" Brick's lyrics came over the intercom of her mech. There was a certain level of annoyance there; the right words, the wrong voice?