Breaking Blades
Copyright© 2026 by FozzieBare
Chapter 11: Watching Them Leave. Furiosa Gets Her Machine. Relief at Last
When they got close to Darren’s MAC, Amy’s fingers tightened on the trigger. Then she saw the tag above the MAC and sighed softly.
<AFK>
Either he had left the keyboard long enough for the idle timer to kick in or logged off.
Damn him. Damn him for not being man enough, or bombastic enough to stick around to take one final beating.
But that had a positive meaning too.
It was over.
It was well and truly OVER.
Well. Not completely.
There still might be a few Blades who hadn’t made it onto a ship yet.
And if there were, they could still be blasted.
Didn’t hurt to check.
Amy spoke up over the Reforged channel. “He decided to leave rather than face the consequences. Don’t know why we expected something different.”
Abigail spoke up, aggrieved. “Can we blast him anyway? His MAC that is? He deserves it.”
Amy: “Nah. He ran. He doesn’t want a big finale where he loses one last time? He doesn’t get one. Come on Reforged. Let’s make sure the Blades are truly leaving. Then we can relax. See if they got the message. Prepare to repeat it on Tarkin’s Roost if necessary. If they don’t leave before we’re ready, they’re stupid enough that removing their WarMACs would be a service to Kelto’s servers.”
She turned, set off again. “Come on, Reforged, follow up.”
Abigail watched Amy march off, people starting to follow. She didn’t want to, just yet. She watched Darren’s machine like it was going to come to life like a horror film. She wanted to shoot it. Badly.
But Captain Amy had forbidden it.
Well ... forbidden shooting it.
Abby couldn’t resist. She manipulated her controls. Her MAC’s foot came out and rapped the immobile machine once. Not devastating, of course. But definitely a kick. Definitely one last teenager “So there” moment.
She didn’t trigger the microphone, so no one heard her say to a man who was no longer there to hear it... “That’s what you get for making Captain Amy cry, asshole.”
Amy’s voice finally got her moving. “Come on Abby, back in formation. Catch up, we don’t want to leave you behimd.”
Abby obeyed and rejoined the formation after a few seconds at top speed to catch up.
Just before they drifted out of sight, the frozen WarMAC which had been abandoned by its owner hit its own internal logout timer and disappeared from the universe.
No one looked back to see if it would reappear.
Amy was to be disappointed again in her quest of “Find some Blades who haven’t yet left the planet, shoot them”, as the last folks were disappearing into the shuttles that would take them off world.
Most of the reforged formation stopped well within virtual range to see them leave.
Amy kept walking slowly, purposefully forward.
Adrian started to worry. Amy wouldn’t go into the ship’s weapon ranges to attack the ships themselves...
Would she? I mean technically, they’re still on the planet...
But he looked over at her before he said something
She was in the process of sliding her hands off the controls. Her feet were curled under her gaming chair, not ready to jam the pedals to leap forward and attack.
Angry Amy wasn’t Foolish Amy. Though, after everything Darren had put her through, Adrian couldn’t have blamed her for being a little foolish.
But getting a repair bill now would be reckless. Not foolish.
Apparently she wanted to make it VERY clear that she was watching, and would tolerate no shenanigans, no “Hey, maybe we can give it one more try.”
Enough to prove her point. “You are leaving. That is wise. Continue to be wise.”
The last Blades presence on Galensview started its departure as the shuttle’s powerful engines fought against the relentless grip of the planet’s gravity. Dust kicked up everywhere, swirling out and eddying around Amy’s chosen WarMAC’s feet. Then the shuttle lifted off. Wobbled perhaps infinitesimally, before the engines kicked into higher gear, and pushed the ship higher in the sky. Leaving. Hopefully forever. But leaving. That worked for her.
She didn’t say anything. Her vision was focused on the ship. She wanted final confirmation that they were gone. That she could move on. Declare this ended.
Adrian’s WarMAC walked up beside her. He said nothing. Just watched with her.
Finally, it was no more than a distant dot in the virtual sky. A few seconds later, even the dot disappeared.
Adrian felt, more then saw Amy sigh at her computer.
She opened the Reforged-chat channel. Opened her microphone.
“That’s it, Reforged. They’re gone. Never to come back I hope. Well done. No debrief today. Thank you for coming. Enjoy what’s left of your day. We’ll talk later about the battle and what, if anything, comes after this. Hopefully it’s something more fun than this. Certainly less stressful.”
Behind her people started heading back to a base to log out, or simply disappeared in place.
Abigail hesitated. Amy messaged her, no voice.
“It’s ok, Missy. I’ll catch up with you online in a little bit. I just need to decompress some. Don’t worry, I’m ok.”
Abby took the hint. She just replied “You better, Captain Amy. I wanna talk about things. Just dump the adrenaline. Maybe I’ll do some schoolwork. Ping me via RelayChat if I don’t respond in game.”
Abby disappeared. Apparently the schoolwork really couldn’t wait. Amy couldn’t resist a soft chuckle and a thought of “We need to get that girl better hobbies ... other than blowing up fake robots online, of course”
Adrian could have opened a private chat to Amy, instead he gently turned her chair to face his, and waited till she shed the headphones she had worn through the whole thing.
Adrian was a master of only using two words to ask a question, instead of the several paragraphs Abby would have preferred.
“You ok?”
Amy first though to protest “Of course, we won. Why?” and thought about the answer.
“Ok ... ish. It’s not like there’s victory music and a level up screen. But I was hoping to feel ... a bit more complete. A bit more ... vindicated. But this isn’t awful.”
Adrian chuckled. “Yeah this does not suck at all. The whole thing sucked really badly. But right now, after what happened? Not bad, Amy. Not bad at all.”
Amy raised an eyebrow, and chuckled. Adrian Mercer, master of understatement. “Not bad at all? High praise from the master.”
Adrian did a physical caricature of the wizened old Kung-Fu master thoughtfully stroking his beard. “It is earned.”
The two shared a weary chuckle for a second. Amy grew a bit more serious for a moment. “Is it bad that I hope that the Black Hold forces are slow learners and don’t take the hint and leave?”
Adrian shook his head. “Amy, if they fail to take the hint after what just happened, I’d ask if their legal guardians know what they’re doing online when they’re obviously too dumb to use a computer responsibly.”
Amy laughed. “Well ... I dunno. They willingly followed Darren. That’s not a ringing endorsement.”
Adrian chuckled with her, and then grew serious. “Did I tell you that I came up with a new project today watching you work?”
Amy shot Adrian a mock glare. “Don’t tell me you’re going to make me watch battle videos like Elias does and do critique and strategy planning. It’s been a long day, Adrian Mercer. I’d hate to ruin it by taking this keyboard and beating you around the head and shoulders with it.”
Adrian shook his head after pretending to cower like he was actually afraid of Amy’s silly threat. “No. I’ve decided to build you a new MAC.”
Amy tried to figure that out. “But we’ve spent so much time and effort, rebuilding and upgrading it with Martin’s toys. Why a new one?”
Adrian smiled. “Call it my version of a campaign trophy or ribbon for your first successful campaign. Your MAC is good, but that’s because I built it up again, Martin’s upgrades help. But still, working from a low base. I really want to have words with whoever built your WarMAC. Not friendly words either. But no, your WarMAC is good. I want to make one that is great. About as damn close to perfect for you as we can get. And the best part? You remember all the salvage we’ve earned on this stupid Crusade, either from Phase One’s raiding of their stores, or here from all the times we blew up their MACs? It’s going to be built specifically from that salvage. Everything that will become your new MAC will have a former Blade owner at its heart. Call it a trophy MAC, if you want. And then I’m going to work with Martin. Make sure he’s properly motivated with pizza to make the best version of all his toys. He even told me that he’s got something really special that he wants to make sure works. If it does, a Reforged tradition will continue. Your existing MAC got the first of the new class of armor. This will be something different. It will be WILD when you find out. Trust me on this. The only reason I’m not telling you what it is, is because Martin wants to one hundred percent confirm the technology is doable and repeatable before he announces it to us. But should it work ... your MAC will be the first one to get it.
Amy laughed. She was actually kind of worried about the upgrade, not because it was experimental. But he had described a near ten percent boost in armor durability as “a very good armor upgrade” That ten percent had saved her MAC from destruction during the ambush. What would be an upgrade that he considered REALLY special? The mind boggled. She wanted to know. Wanted to torture Adrian till he broke and told all. But some secrets were worth the wait. It’d be like Christmas morning. That didn’t mean she wasn’t going to relentlessly press Adrian for more info. Just not this very moment.
Her eyes however had widened, and she had to keep her hands from doing a “Gimme Gimme NOW” reaction.
Adrian continued. ““Don’t bother thinking about what to name it, though. It’s got a name already. Furiosa. I heard someone say “Damn, Amy’s fighting like she’s one of the Furies let loose on the battlefield. Abby told them that was half right. We’re the furies, you’re Furiosa. So ... you need a MAC to fit your new nickname”
Amy’s breath actually caught for a second. That mad lunatic. He had named her MAC already and he named it...
She giggled helplessly. “I’m never getting rid of that nickname, am I?”
Adrian was serious. “Never. “What you did, what you went through, even before Darren’s threat became part of it, is jaw-dropping. Awe-inspiring. And that’s the thing. You’re about to say you did nothing special. Just did your job and your team did theirs. I’m going to short-circuit that pattern right now. Why? Because I want you to consider this. Your team DID do their job quite well. But who did they do it for? And don’t say for Reforged. Of course they did. And who of Reforged did the most work with them? I’m sorry to keep destroying your arguments before you make them, but if I wait for you to articulate them, we’ll miss dinner. I feel hungry.
Amy grinned. “So there’s no chance to argue you out of building an Adrian Mercer top of the level machine with Martin’s usual upgrades and something no one else has but Martin has gone so far as to say “VERY SPECIAL?”
Adrian nodded solemnly.
Amy continued, theatrically. “And you’re going to literally build it out of the skulls of my fallen enemies?”
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