The Elite Mecha had a pistol. Our close range fighting was now obsolete. That did not mean we could just give up either. "Finn. We need to get closer to him. I can get a bit closer for you using energy fields, but then its all you from there. Can you handle that?" I asked. "I can." he said. Finn then charged him at full speed. The Cadini mecha began shooting us, but I was able to get up the energy field in time. However, my energy field was very thin with only one star in it. The field was broken before we could get all the way there. A well placed head shot placed us into critical damage. I looked at Finn and he shook his head. He continued and stabbed one of the blades into the mecha's dominant shoulder. The mecha was able to back away using the Hummingbird Wings and aimed its pistol again with the other hand. It shot the other blade out our hand. We were disarmed and there was no way for us to continue. From the way it aimed at us, I was certain they were going to try to capture us. It was a failure condition for the mission. "Finn. We're pulling out of here. Begin a dive."
Finn looked at me and said "You sure? I would rather die fighting. The city is already destroyed." I nodded and said "Let's go." Finn did not say anything and I turned to see him tearing up. I was going to say something, but he leaned forward and pulled me into a hug. "I love you." he said before beginning a full nose dive. I was shocked, but I could not dwell on it. I needed to focus on the escape pod. I pulled away and began starting up the escape pod. He gasped painfully before leaning back into his seat. Since I had five stars in it, it happened quickly. The whole cockpit was ejected from the chest of the mecha and I gained control of the escape pod. It had some jet propulsion and extendable wings. I extended the wings immediately and flew close to the ground to not be easily seen. Because it was just an escape pod, it had no offensive capabilities. It did have an auxillary energy field to help in escape of an enemy. As we got out of the city limits, we were seen. From there, it was a race eastward to get out of the country's borders.
It was obvious it would try to shoot us down. Once we were seen, the Cadini mecha began firing on us. My auxillary energy field was even weaker and shattered after two shots. We were under heavy fire and it hurt my chest directly. I cried out in pain, but I could not black out. Finn mounted me and gave me directions on what to do. It kept me grounded and conscious. He also began rubbing my chest to alleviate the pain. A rocket was fired at us and he said "Turn hard left when I tell you to!" I nodded and waited for his signal. The rocket got closer and closer to us. He gave me the signal and I banked left as hard as possible. The heat from the right jet engine caused it to detonate prematurely. We avoided the direct hit but the engine was gone. "Brace yourself!" I yelled as I tried to keep the nose of the pod up. I could see the border coming up. We just had a few dozen miles to go. The black smoke was trailing behind us. I screamed in frustration. "C'mon, you piece of shit! We're almost there. It's so close I can taste freedom." I said.
Another rocket was fired and there was nothing we could do about it. We needed the engine we still had, and even that was beginning to fail from the strain. The direct hit might not kill us outright, but we would be down in enemy territory with no hope of escape. Before the rocket could hit us, it was detonated. We looked and saw the other knights blew it out the sky for us. I saw one turn back to us and gave us a U.S salute. That was how I knew it was Suzie. The mecha fired off all their rockets before shooting with the pistol in its hand. The Battle mechas were able to take out the eight rockets but one of them was shot down while it happened. Both engines had gone and we were gliding using the wings. The border towers were shooting at us and firing anti-mecha cannons. Suzie and the other knight had to split up to protect us from both ends. We were able to clear the tower and a forest stretched out before us. I knew it was going to hurt like a bitch as I braced for impact. We crash landed near the middle of it.
