This part of downtown was called the North Waterways and was bisected by a large branch of the Meridian River. The river branch caused the blocks along it to break from a saner grid pattern, into jagged streets that cut into each other at odd angles. Most of the buildings were smaller, no more than eight stories tall, and older, being part of the original downtown Meridian City. The stream flowed into Meridian City Docks, which had been the original driving force for Meridian City’s growth.
For Erin though, it meant a lot of blind corners and narrower streets. She was already jumping a bit at every louder echo. She might have a better chance to understand which direction the gunfire was coming from if she removed the full helmet she had, but she didn’t want to risk something so stupid. So much more stupid than what she was already being.
Erin came to the last main street before she entered the warrens of the North Waterways. She could see that towards the right, further east towards where the numbered streets ended and the city named the streets leading towards the docks. She could see what looked like a blur of neon followed by the sound of a brassy bell. Was it DEE-JAYNE maybe? Erin needed to find the Cavalry, who should be to her left, further west.
She was intimately aware that she could just as easily be shot by a roaming tank-bot. With that in mind, this really, really wasn’t a good plan. Hopefully the Plot didn’t think of it. In spite of her admitted history of reckless behavior and personal dispair, she actually wasn’t all that keen on dying.
The first path she intended to turn down clearly had one of the tank-bots, two intersections away. She sped past as soon as she recognized the dull green bot. comprehending now that the kill-bots were taller than Pyrocles, a monolith of steel. It fired at something, but she’d already passed the intersection.
She finally turned down the next road, moving slowly towards each intersection to try to find the least deadly route to The Ferret.
One, two intersections into the warren of streets, with nothing stopping her. She came to Mayhew at 4th Street. One mile away. She turned left. The streets were more or less abandoned, except for the cars parked along the road. She passed one with a couple giant holes in them, one of which blew out a big section of the back, as if the bullet burst from the trunk before hitting the side of a building nearby. The walls were also scarred with damage, holes and chunks missing. She didn’t see anybody anywhere.
Erin came to another intersection and the dumpster she’d been about to pass exploded, a crash of sound and motion.
Another kill-bot must have turned a corner and was about to come onto Mayhew behind her --it would have a direct line of fire on her. Erin gunned it, head low, trying to make it to the next turn off before she lost a limb or torso.
Another shot landed behind her, but she could feel the sound crash through her bones. She nearly missed the left turnoff onto Lorie Road, the street diagonal to Mayhew.
She moved out of sight as the corner of the building between her and the bot went past. Now she was traveling on 8th Street, and needed to head further upriver.
Erin turned back towards Mayhew as soon as she was half certain there wasn’t another kill bot waiting for her, or trying to follow her down 8th. No bot in sight on Mayhew. She turned again, hoping to blaze through the last half mile.
Erin made it to 14th and Mayhew with no sign of superheroes, and nearly fell off her bike at the sight of one of the kill-bots waiting just around the corner, embedded partially in a wall. She simply froze, her bike wobbling at the sudden shift of balance, until her mind caught up that this bot was, in fact, quite immobile and deactivated, with half of it looking torn apart.
Erin hadn’t realized how tough these things were, but she remembered now that Silverknight and Pyrocles had to work to rip them apart from the local news reports.
Erin reached 15th and Mayhew and… there was still no Cavalry. Of course. It took her ten minutes to get here, no doubt they handled the one bot just a block down and moved on. She stood there a moment on her bike, looking around, trying to figure out where to go next. Movement drew her attention along 15th, where something large and green rolled around the corner.
She had no idea whether or not it was the same one she’d seen earlier, but it fired at her before completely coming around the corner and the ground four feet away geysered in asphalt and debris, showing her with gravel that hurt and pinged off the metal of her bike.
The bots may be robust, but - Erin thought irreverently - whoever programmed their aiming system had been woefully inept.
Hearing another shot and feeling gravel hit her leg, Erin revved her bike towards 16th street, feeling crosshairs on her back burning hotter than the Plot ever had. Erin made it to the next intersection as the bot rounded the corner at Fifteenth and Mayhew. They were much faster than she realized.
At this rate, she was going to be boxed in. Not taking the time to look, she doubled back again, onto Sixteenth towards Lorie and the rest of the city. Erin decided to escape the North Waterways altogether, and maybe try to reorient on where the Cavalry were.
This had been so stupid, she practically deserved to get shot. But if the Cavalry found her bleeding corpse, maybe The Ferret would check her goddamned texts.
At the next intersection, there was another bot just off of Lorie, and Erin practically ran into the damn thing. Its armed rotating platform hadn’t been aimed at her. That changed as it heard her try to blow past. It turned its massive cannon and she sped up. She couldn’t see it on her right, but she felt she could practically feel the crosshairs on her back.
There was another explosion of noise.
She must have been hit, because the shadows ahead of her seemed to swell as if to eat her and her bike up.
