Black Market Merchant

56 and Dixon split off from the main group of Hunters returning to the city after passing over the plasma wall. The bloody mess of Twisted, artillery holes, smoke and dust still resonated heavily over the sand strewn battlefield. 56 couldn’t imagine what that kind of fight it might have been like if they had to face the monsters at ground level. Undoubtedly the human side would have faced gravel casualties.

They were headed for the large gathering of oversized semi-trucks that had taken over the former ICADs assembly point. There were 23 trucks in total, each one being colored differently and with their own unique symbols of identification. One unique feature that 56 noticed was that each trailer had a QR code labeled on each side of it.

“Orville, you can cut the recording now.” 56 called to his little floating buddy. “Once you do, tell me what the QR codes are saying.”

“Understood boss 56!” Orville’s chipper voice replied.

Dixon started to descend towards the middle of the trailers, slowing considerably compared to the breakneck speeds they had been traveling during the battle. 56 then saw that the one they were headed for had a symbol of a Badger wearing a red, feathery carnival mask and matching glittery cape. 56 also saw that Sam and Tammy were just then coming out from the truck’s cab.

“The QR code says that this truck carries the Party Badger, a Hunters Class Military Mech (HCMM). Its officially registered with the Hunters Clan and allowed to cross over country boarders with proper intent.” Orville answered. “Do I need to give more information?”

“Party Badger? That surely is a unique name.” 56 mused to himself before replying to Orville, “No, that’s enough information for now. Stand by.”

“Already to go Dixon!” Tammy shouted as she bounded excitedly towards the hover bike as it landed. “Quick, do your mechanics check and let me get out there. I’m ready to get personal with one of those Demon Kodiak!”

“Calm down Tammy, I am getting old and can’t move that fast.” Dixon chided as he stiffly got off the bike.

In the meantime, Sam had climbed onto the roof of the trailer and was unlocking four code locks that ran down the roofs center. Then once done, he jumped down the trailers backside and entered a command onto a control monitor mounted to the trucks frame before he stepped back carefully. With an angry sounding hiss of air escaping, the trailer walls spilt in two as the sides fell away slowly as the air brakes controlled its decent, to reveal a humanlike designed Mech lying on its back.

“Start recording.” 56 murmured urgently to Orville.

The HCMM was over 5 meters tall, with a black colored base tone with three big white stripes running vertically along its chest and back. Just like how a Badger might look or an Adidas tracksuit. The Party Badger symbol was stamped right over the cockpit hatch as well as a serial number marked just below it. The Mech’s wingspan was equally as wide and the overall appearance looked rough, but experienced was the better term to use.

The head wasn’t as pronounced out from the torso like a human might look and lacked a neck to look more like a turtle’s head instead. The head featured a more streamlined look with where the shoulders met with the torso to make the whole appearance look more defensive. Likely the whole body had to be turned to look around, but guessing from the thick, orange tainted glass running three-fourths of the way around the head, Tammy could likely see her surroundings simply fine.

The body, arms, and legs were covered in thick armored platting, not all that much different to how police or military riot gear looked or protected. The joints were not covered, save for the widened armor plates on the legs near the knees. This design showed that Tammy’s Mech was made to be a medium, ground-based variation of Mech, which focused on being sturdy and agile to take on the heavy Twisted. If it were being used for true military purposes this design was much too unarmored and wouldn’t hold up well in a prolonged firefight.

Then 56 saw the weapons lying next to the hands and alongside the legs of the Mech. There were two that were obvious, one being a double-edged sword that looked to be two hands width in size and impossible for any human to even consider carrying. The length had to nearly half as long as the Mechs body too! The blade was thick and chipped in several places, but it was far from being useless to cut or in danger of breaking.

The other weapon interested 56 far more. It looked like a cross between an oversized M1 Carbine rifle and a mini artillery. There was no doubt that this weapon was specially designed to be used exclusively by Mechs. The rifle was labeled in white lettering as a “Mechanized 76.2 mm Rifle”. It had a top feed magazine to supply the large rounds into the absurd rifle and looking over the body, 56 could see multiple areas where extra magazines were being kept. This gun looked terribly similar to what the AFR used with their Mechs in their attempt to quell the cyborg’s rebellion.

The last weapon, or so 56 assumed it was a weapon, was unfamiliar to him. The device resembled a bow-staff, but it wasn’t fused together. Rather it looked like it was intended to split apart for some reason that 56 could not yet surmise. Its length was also mysterious because it was one meter shorter than the entire Mech was.

Just as the two doors thumped softly onto the sandy ground Dixon spoke to Tammy, “Alright, get in there and settle in.”

Tammy laughed girlishly and a bit too manically as she dashed for the cockpit near the top of the HCMM’s torso and smooshed head. As she tied a Hello-Kitty pink head band to hold back her frizzy afro, Tammy urged Dixon to hurry. Dixon joined Sam at the monitor and picked up a tabloid that had wires running directly to the frame the Mech was laying on.

“All systems are warming up nicely and no error messages have popped up yet.” Sam called out looking at the monitor and selecting various tabs and features.

“Alright, Tammy, start it up. Like before, please start with testing the cockpit and head areas first this time. We don’t want the legs kicking Sam again.” Dixon ordered.

“Ya, that really hurt!” Sam shouted out.

56 looked at Sam curiously. The HCMM being 5 meters tall, and the feet looking to be over a meter in size, meant surviving an unprotected kick from the Mech was impressive. Sam noticed 56 looking at him and pulled back the hair covering his forehead to reveal a hand sized chunk of flesh missing off his forehead. It looked like a boiled egg that had a portion of the shell missing.

“Nice scar!” 56 said with sincerity.

“Fine!” Tammy shouted back to Dixon and Sam rolling her eye dramatically as she closed the hatch to the cockpit.

It looked like her body fit snuggly into the body shaped shell that accounted for the pilot’s means of controlling the Mech. Her hands, arms, legs, torso, and head were nestled into separately crafted motion sensor plates that wirelessly tracked her movements in the cockpit, which then controlled the Mech to move according to her own motions in real time. 56 wasn’t able to see anymore of this cockpit in further detail because of his angle and that she closed the hatch much to quickly.

“Testing head.” Tammy’s electronic voice called out through the HCMMs speakers.

The HCMMs orange tinted glass lit up with a pale orange glow and then proceeded to sit up with the torso following along with the motion. The heat exhaustion fans were noticeably quiet, and it was as if they weren’t even on at all. The only proof they were indeed on and running was the hazy heat waves shooting out from behind the Mech’s head.

“Good. Now right hand open and close, twice.” Dixon called out to the Mech.

As the Mech sat fully up, Tammy followed his order and did so with the right hand. Then doing the same with the other arm and legs, Tammy’s Mech ended up passing all the tests.

“Alright, everything is good.” Dixon shouted to both his partners.

Sam nodded and pressed a big red button next to the monitor. There was a loud click and what sounded like wires automatically coiling.

“Tammy, the Party Badger is dislodged from the truck frame.” Dixon announced. “Let’s do one more test with the magnetic repulsion packs.”

56 perked up upon hearing this. Robotic advancements aside, the technology around utilizing human created magnetic fields to repulse against Earths natural magnetic field to create a new form of travel, was like discovering a new planet to him. The possibilities that it offered, not only for a military use, but for easing travel and transportation of any object, were endless. Now here was a live example of using magnetism to move a Mech that was easily over a thousand kilograms. 56 could hardly contain his excitement and felt like geek-ing out.

“Tammy, jump normally first and then the second time use the magnetic pack.” Dixon ordered.

The Party Badger’s head nodded slightly before casually jumping straight up. Even though she only jumped two meters high, 56 braced himself for the impact. Yet when she landed there were no vibrations. The HCMM had landed no differently than a human would have, despite the weight difference.

56 peered at the soles of the HCMMs feet and realized his folly. There were high grade shock absorbers, both in and outside of the Mech’s heels and calves. Before he could admire them further, Tammy jumped casually again.

Just as her feet left the sandy ground, an orange-colored electrified pulse irrupted with a muffled ‘womp’ sound from the flat shaped backpack on the Mechs back. This pulse, no wider than a meter, caused the Mech to triple in height and leave a light imprint in the sand below!

As the HCMM landed with this time a noticeable thud, Sam called out from the monitor, “30% error readings. Seems like a coil malfunctioned. Same error as last time.”

“70% is still acceptable.” Dixon replied waving off the warning. “Its going to cost a fortune to repair though. Considering that, Tammy, get out there and earn the repair fees!”

“Finally!” Tammy’s electric-toned voice cheered.

Then the Party Badger stood up like it was getting out of bed, just before reaching back down to grab the sword. She slung its massive girth over her onto her back where a ‘U’ shaped hook locked the hand guard into place. Which secured it to the Mech for later use. The Bow-staff device she did likewise, only this time the weapon was sticking much farther above the Mechs body, like some kind of radio antenna.

The Party Badger then picked up the gun and checked both the safety and that the magazine was loaded. Satisfied, she slung the heavy rifle onto her shoulder with a metallic clang. The movements she performed were so fluid and accurate that 56 would have guessed she was looking at a flesh and blood giant instead of a pilot controlling a mechanical machine.

“That took forever! Look everyone else is already mustering by the plasma wall!” Tammy whined as she pointed with her free Mech hand.

56 looked that way and was surprised to see that all the other Mechs had already deployed. He had been too focused on Tammy’s Mech that he failed to notice the other Hunter’s Mechs were doing the same thing. Seeing the group of giant Mechs he felt like they almost looked like a bunch of Spartan’s from “Halo” gathering to take on the Covenant. In a way, that guess was not all too far off.

There then came a beep from Dixon’s watch. Dixon took one look and then shouted up to Tammy. “Tammy, it has just been announced that the bounty for killing the Demon Kodiak’s will not be spit. Its first come, first kill! So, no need to play nice or share.”

The Party Badger looked down at Dixon and with her free hand she clenched it excitedly, “Perfect. I hate sharing!”