Crowbars and Mechs: A Futuristic Guide to Romance

Charlie was just rolling with laughter. She had just acquired years worth of medicine and food and come out of it with not even a scratch. That one fellow had been looking mightily piqued, but he looked like more of a figurehead than anything she was about to be afraid of. Crates lay strew over the little mine shaft she had repurposed for a sort of garage. Jasper was in one corner, cooling off. She grinned at the inanimate mech. He had served her well today, done the whole thing without so much as a hiccup. The caper had been pulled off in a less than satisfactory way but hell, look at all these supplies! Charlie beamed as she began to pack away the evidence in various compartments and things. She only wished she had someone to share this victory with. Alas, she could tell no one as many a mouth would quickly give away its secrets for a bit of food. No longer would she be a slave to the Lith meter, which measured out just how much slop it thought she was worth for her days worth and often was more stingy than a banker with his bonds.


The hulking officer had sorted out any little hiccup in the skimmer he had wandered into, but thankfully his unit wasn't made up of any sort of pansy arsed layabouts and even with the explosion most of them had just shrugged and gotten on with it. The visit with the other unit’s Lieutenant had gone less well, with Theo nearly punching the fucker but deciding that breaking the man’s jaw while surrounded by four of his unit in power armour would probably just get him hospitalized. Nonetheless, the other unit had finally picked up its sticks and left them a few pallets of MRE's which would last his unit about a month. That meant that he'd probably have to rely on some local food until the next supply drop in three months. He sighed and wandered back to his own skimmer and gave Quinn a few orders before retiring to his quarters and getting changed. Instead of the resplendant dress uniform he was now in the urban camo dressed power armour that the units were famed for, clomping out into the main bay of the ship and then over to his mech. He pulled himself inside and sorted himself out, lighting up systems and generally giving the thing a kick in the guts. They had six machines, and all of them would be active as they walked and escorted the steam lorries and trains that would transfer his supplies to the base they'd use. It was time to do a little recon. He raised Quinn over the comms, who was in one of the spare machines they had, and told him to get the whole convoy moving and that he'd join up with them later. His massive mech started moving towards the signs of damage and battered buildings and the turned up earth that the mech had made as it had assaulted them, and started tracking them back away from his base. He harboured no doubts as to if he'd find it or not, likely it would be long gone. But this would serve two purposes.. he might find some clues, and (more likely) if he was still under observation whomever it was would see that he wasn't going to sit on his hands and was more than capable of doing the job himself. He grinned to himself though, his mech warm and seemingly happy after being cooped up for so long.. It felt good to be behind such power again. The missile pods on the shoulders remained covered, but he could do nothing about the guns that made up the arms. They were still soot-blackened from recent action, something he had made no effort to change. Looking good was for parades, he was more concerned that people knew that they'd better not fuck with him or his unit.


Obviously Charlie was no idiot. She would not lead him directly to her foxhole, having run about in a couple of circles first and leaving various other red herrings. She had not gotten as far as she did in life without being aptly aware of how to hide. Closer toward the dinner bell, the earth began to tremble. The metallic clank that accompanied it gave away that this was no normal quake. Charlie bolted from the mine, latching it shut with a camoflauged door she'd crafted herself. The tiny shanty she lived in was nearly on top of the opening so all she had to do to 'look normal' was plop down outside her door and set about sewing. It was from this spot that she would first catch sight of Theogrin in all his mechanized glory, though obviously she wouldn't know who really piloted the great hulking thing. She also caught that he seemed to be following her trail quite closely, even if it was a fake.

Whomever had been piloting that hunk of junk knew their machine fairly well, but they could not disguise the scrapes on the ground the feet would leave nor the occasional brush against a building or a slightly knocked shanty. The Grizzly that Theogrin rode in was a signifigantly bigger machine, but through the MIU he had a far greater control of his mech. It was very agile and could put on a suprising burst of speed if he needed it to, but its greatest talent was the masses of armour and weaponry that had been placed on it. There were some heavier machines, but he prefered this one, to be honest. Besides, he hadn't come across anything that had downed him yet, although some had come bloody close. He drew the mech to a stop as he paused at a crossroads, looking at the scuffed rock worn smooth by the passage of time and people wandering over it. He frowned as he looked about, servos whining and the mech adjusted its feet. He could swear the trail came to a stop near here, but then there were -many- marks against the rock and earth that looked as though it frequented this place. As though it had gone all four directions. He cursed to himself and examined the buildings around him.. there seemed to be a quarry or mine cut into the rock on one edge, the other buildings were two or three level shanties made out of.. well. anything.

Charlie eyed the mech, which seemed to be grinning uneasily at its surroundings. If that bastard could root her out in one go, she was going to be sorely pissed with herself. Jasper was normally quite light as far as suits went. He had no weapons, and could only flail his arms in any combat situation. It wasn't like she was funded, like these Iron Wolf bastards. Given beautiful machines so they could fuck around with them and use them for nothing but intimidation. She mused over all this while doing her best impression of 'normal', which was mending a pair of pants with a look of indignance on her face.

He cursed and wandered around for a few seconds and considered blowing one of the shanties into little shanty shaped bits of shrapnel just because he was mildly irritated. He turned and noticed her sitting out the front of the run down building and gave a mental shrug before he clomped over to the house near the dilapidated minehead was, accidentally squashing a rubbish bin flat. He paused, shook his foot free of the now frisbee'd bin and cursed and then turned back to the woman. He flicked on the external speakers and growled quietly into them, although his voice would still come out easily enough that she, and everyone else in the nearby houses would probably hear him, “Hey... you down there. Seen any mechs about lately? I'm hunting a hereti-,” he paused. “A terrorist.” His voice was carefully neutral, as he wasn't stupid and antagonizing the local populace wasn't going to win him any favours. At least at this point.

The girl peeked out from underneath the brim of her hat, peering towards the shoulder of the great metal thing as though she would have no idea of where the cockpit would be. "Hmmm.. About yea tall?" She pointed to the roof. "Got a weird grin on its face, smashing people's cans for no reason? Blue and white shiny fella? I mighta seen one, why do you ask?"

He forgot he'd left the microphone on as he growled and the mech hunched forward a few inches. The entire planets worth of people and he'd found a smartarse already. “Yeah yeah. I squashed your bloody bin... I'm being serious.” He pondered shooting up one of the shanties for sheer shits and giggles anyway. “Look, if you've seen one just let me know alright. Th'bastard just attacked my unit and I'm mildly pissed off and I've got a score to settle.” The missile pods flicked open and then on second thoughs they closed as though his hackles had raised and he was seriously on edge. Which to a point, he was. He was in the mood for making shit go 'boom' and not worrying about the reasons why.

It was really reeeeeeeeally hard for Charlie not to grin back at the Wolf. "Maybe he had a good reason to attack you, eh? Suppose you'd better catch up to him and ask.." She leaned back against the thin metal wall, overly confident and just oozing with pride for her marvelous work. Hell, she was half-musing over bringing Jasper out and playing 'who's got the bigger shiny mech suit' with this man.

He scowled and the mech moved in such a way that gave the impression of anger that anyone would do such a thing, particuarly when his unit had just arrived on planet, never mind in the city. “Hardly. We've been in this area for no more than a week, so whatever reason they had it was a bloody stupid one.” He growled again and the mech straightened and looked about, his scanners pinging quietly in the cockpit but nothing so much as peeped. “Aside from crushing your bin, it’s not as if we have been stomping people's houses down.” He gestured with one massive gun to the closest shanty house, to the scratched and dented wall. “Hell, whoever it is they've done more bloody damage to this place than I have.”

Ohh-ho-ho, that did it. "What a bloody ignorant thing t- For fuck's sake!" Charlie stood in one swift motion, her sewing falling from her lap to join the rest in a pile at her feet. "Your associates have done nothing but terrorize people for as long as I remember. What kind of bloody idiot are you anyway, claiming your organization is innocent. You've all got the blood of the weak on your hands, every last one of you pigs!" The girl whipped her hat from her head, loosing the dirty mass of brown curls that had been dammed up beneath it, and threw it angrily at the cockpit. This would not be the first time her temper had put her in an unfortunate situation.

Naturally, his temper, already simmering, went from 'mild death' to 'white hot heat of the heart of a sun' in about a tenth of a second and he roared back at her with all the boost of the speakers on his mech, although he'd forgotten about them. “LIKE HELL I HAVE YOU BLOODY INDIG INGRATE! I'VE BEEN HERE FOR ALL OF FIVE FUCKING SECONDS AND I HAVE SOME HALFWIT IN A TIN BOX NICK HALF OF MY RATIONS AND MEDICAL SUPPLIES BECAUSE THEY'RE TO STUPID TO GET THIS SORT OF SHIT THEMSELVES!” The echoes out from the city around them didn't put him off, but no doubt his roars would be quite impressive from her point of view. “I don't terrorise people, they do stupid shit that hurts us and others so I hunt them down and rip them apart.” He snarled, “I have no need to kill innocent people... the people I kill aren't bloody innocent, thats why!”

Charlie screamed right back in his bloody 'face', "You're an idiot if you think the only person you've hurt by senseless violence is your target. OH! THAT'S RIGHT. NO WONDER BECAUSE YOU'RE A BLOODY MORON. Well, jog on, -IMBECILE-. I'll be sure to tell this heroic person you're after that he is A HERO and that THE PIGS are after his hide!"

“CRAP HE IS! WHAT SORT OF HEROIC ACTION IS -STEALING- YOU STUPID BITCH?! AT LEAST I DON'T HIDE BECAUSE I'D GET THE SHIT KICKED OUT OF ME IF I DARED SHOW MY FACE.” He waved his hand around and the mechs arm mimicked the movement. “LOOK AT ME DAMMIT, I’M HERE AND ASKING FOR A FIGHT BUT THE COWARDLY WRETCH WON'T EVEN SHOW THEIR FUCKING FACE! THATS NOT FUCKING HEROIC!” He growled and continued, at a slightly less howlingly mad pace, “You don't even know who or what the zog I am. You're ignorant and you're lashing out at me because I'm here.”

"PERHAPS J- THIS HEROIC HERO DOESN'T WANT TO ROLL AROUND WITH A DIRTY PIG IN THE MIDDLE OF PEOPLE'S HOUSES, YOU STUPID.. IDIOT!" Charlie was screaming with indignant rage at the gall this man had to call her a coward. "YOU WOULDN'T KNOW A HERO IF ONE SAT ON YOUR UNDOUBTEDLY UGLY FACE, YOU PITIFUL EXCUSE FOR A HUMAN BEING."

“I WOULDN'T NEED TO BECAUSE THE FUCKER WOULD BE DEAD IN SHORT ORDER DAMN IT! I DON'T NEED TO KNOW A HERO, BECAUSE MOST OF THEM ARE BLOODY STUPID YOU BACKWARDS INDIG WENCH!” He was fairly fuming now, the missile pods having slid open again as the MIU responded to his white hot rage and he was seriously entertaining the idea of blowing -something- up just to assauge his temper. He couldn't let himself do it, not just yet. “WHY THE HELL DO YOU CARE ANYWAY? ITS NOT AS IF WE HAVE DONE ANYTHING TO -YOU-!”

"BETTER TO BE STUPID THAN A DAMN INBRED PIG." She then proceeded to pick up various rocks and fling them at the offending mech, all the while make oinking and squealing noises and exclaiming that something sure smelled like bacon. "LOOK AT YOU YA BRUTE, YOU WANNA BLOW ME UP RIGHT NOW DON'TCHA, BUT YOU CAN'T CAUSE YOU'RE A MORON. PUSH THE BUTTON, ASSHOLE. IT'S PROBABLY BIG AND RED AND SHINY LIKE YOUR ASS. BUT YOU WOULD KNOW YOUR ASS FROM YOUR ELBOW NOW WOULD YA? MOROOOOOON." Even Charlie herself wasn't sure what she was trying to prove at this point, enraging this person with his really big guns and whiny attitude. It pleased her, however, so she continued.

In a sudden moment of clarity, his voice calmed and he murmured to her. “Yes, I would.” And with that, he pulled the trigger on one of his weapons. There was not even a half second of discharging capacitors as the heavy PPC built into the left arm vomited forth plasma and lightning to a spot a good five meters away from her. The massive energies unleashed cooked any moisture in the ground where it hit and turned the ground into a red and white boiling spot of molten earth and probably blew her off her feet. He felt -much- better. He hoped he hadn't killed her, although there had been gobbets of white hot molten earth spattered about, not to mention the shockwave.

She had indeed been knocked on her ass, only it didn't serve to placate her. "....I KNEW YOU WERE A FUCKING IDIOT. THAT BIG OLD GUN AND YOU CAN'T EVEN HIT ME?!" And then she caught sight of the carnage. It wasn't the rapid cooling earth that caught her eye, nor the readied plasma gun that stared her down that made her lip quiver. Her hat was nearly decimated, half of it caught in the blast and vaporized, the other half blackened and smoldering. "You.. you did that on purpose didn't you? YOU MONGREL!" Her green eyes glowed with an intensity that not even near-death had brought forth. "You ruined my only hat!? I HOPE YOU INTEND TO PAY ME FOR THAT HAT YOU JERK, IT WAS MY ONLY ONE."
He just -grinned- and shook his head. “No, its what you get for being a smartarse.” He hadn't inadvertainly been aiming for her hat, but it had caught on the wind after she'd thrown it and it had fallen back nearly level with her. He sighed and looked about one last time. ‘Well, I guess this was a bust.’ His 'gaze' turned back down to her and he watched her carefully. He was feeling much better now, something about being cooped up in a starship and then finally being unleashed on the ground made him so much happier.
She narrowed her eyes. "You'll pay me for my hat or I'll take my pound of flesh out of your suit." Charlie loved that hat. She had always had it from the day her dad had smashed the oversize thing on her head and it fell down around her neck. It was her very favorite hat. She was, however, toeing a very dangerous line that could result in her completely blowing her cover all for the sake of her precious hat.
“.... Righto. You do that.” He sighed and turned off the external speakers and turned and wandered off back towards his base, muttering about 'fucking indigs'. She was kind of cute though, in a 'I'm a downtrodden peasant' way... although she was kind of off her nut as well. You'd think with some steam based heap of crap battering its way around the various shanty towns someone would take exception and be glad someone had decided to frag it, but no... He shook his head again and bade the computer to plot a course towards his base.

Depending on how alert he was to these thing, Theogrin would either hear a slight thump or feel the jostle that would alert him to something being horribly wrong. After grabbing her crowbar and multi-tool from the ground, Charlie took off after the Wolf like a shot, quickly bounding up onto a nearby roof and following the line of shacks. While she sped along like a preying cat and he ambled back in the direction of the docks, she pushed her goggles down over her face and jumped, clinging for dear life to the leg, then shimmying up towards the yolk of its massive shoulders. For sure, this thing was a lot bigger than poor Jasper, but their inner workings couldn't be -that- different, right? Spotting a particularly weak-looking bit of armor, Charlie wedged the crowbar in good and tight and heaved with all her might until the plate popped off and went flying. If he hadn't noticed by then, he certainly would now. Especially when his readings and compartment pressure would start to go all wonky as Charlie started hacking away at whatever she could reach.

He heard it, and the computer started squawking at him immediately. He threw the mech sideways in a violent motion to try and dislodge her as he snarled and cursed. The worst part is is that he knew who it was, and that he actually had the ability to get rid of her. Anti-personel charges were studded all over the mech, little chunks of explosive studded with ball bearings to stop people doing exactly what she was now. He cursed and then stopped, and then hit the big red button on the console and his mech stopped and went silent.

At this moment, Charlie was about the equivalent of a bunny gnawing on a carrot that was probably ten times its size or more. Nevertheless, she knew exactly what risks she was taking but somehow she had reached a level of nirvanic 'don't give a fuck anymore' that gave her the cahones to do this sort of thing. She finally managed to wrench loose a good chunk of wire.. Although with the amount of wire it took to power this thing it was likely that particular chunk wouldn't do much but put a little damper on some range of its movement. Nevertheless, she tore at it like she was rabid, all for the love of hat.

The cockpit popped and blew outwards with a hiss of decompression and he emerged. He was not a small man, and dressed in his power armour he was massive. And yet for all that the armour made him surprisingly agile as he stepped up and then hit the jump jets and did a backflip over his mech to land with a ground shaking thud, looking up to see her hacking into his mech with a crowbar and not much else. He snarled and slid the massive forearm based anti-personel rifle on his thigh and pulled his hand out of it, hitting the jets again and landing with a clang on the mech right next to her as he snarled, “And what the hell do you think -you're- doing indig?” He grabbed her by the scruff of the neck and tore her off his mech, holding her nearly thirty foot off the ground in one hand as he hung off the back of his Grizzly.

"The hell does it look like, moron, I'm taking my due pound of flesh." She still had a good hold on her crowbar and her hands where flexing on one end of it much like they would a bat. She was sizing up his faceguard for a good swing when it struck her that she was dangling high enough up to crush most or all of the bones in her body and perhaps treating his head like a baseball wasn't the best idea in the interest of survival. Close up, she was probably far dirtier than could be realized at first glance, having worked a good half a day in the mines before pulling off her grand caper and then meeting up with this metal plated fool.

He grinned at her. “And what happens if I take my pound of flesh out of you? Sounds like you need a good spanking half the time. Oh well. I suppose there is only -one- way down.” He left her under every impression he was going to drop her.. until he lept off himself and hit the jump jets and landed perfectly, letting her go as she touched. She probably wouldn't be used to that sort of manuver and would stumble away from him onto her arse. He looked down at her and scowled and then popped his helmet, The powered thing moving up above his head as he eyed her with his own eyes, and gave her a look at him. “I don't know what the hell the units here before have been like, but I'm not.. my unit isn't like that. We're here to make damn sure everything goes on as normal.”

Surprisingly it only gave her momentary falter, almost like she were used to the sort of jerky movement it took to pilot such a suit. Her stare did not fail, however, and she kept him locked in it, even as she evaluated his face for signs of dishonesty or a look at the angry yelling creature she'd been locked in a screaming match with. "Come on. You aren't about to fool me for one second with that bullshit. -Normally- I'd have a hat. -Normally- some fool wouldn't clomp up to my doorstep and start pointing fingers. -NORMALLY-.. JUST.. AUUGH." Something about the way she couldn't find a trace of either of those things in his face infuriated her to no end.

His face twisted a little as he snarled back at her. “I didn't point fingers dammit, I asked you for help and you gave me lip. And then started pelting my damn mech with stones and whatnot and generally arsing about.” He scowled at her and his finger actuators flexed as though he was considering just lamping her and getting back to base. He was kind of tired after all. “Most people would have just stepped on you and you'd be a greasy bloody stain on the deck,” He pondered that for a second as he watched her. “Although I think you know that.

"You wouldn't do that, don't throw your empty threats at me." She gave him a flat look and punctuated it by rolling her eyes. "You're a charmer, a real ladies man. I can tell by the way you flattened my innocent hat that meant a lot to me and have no intention of recompense. Feh.." She turned her back to him, and even after this afternoon's scintillating adventures, a grim mood began to grip her. Her crowbar arm hung lax at her side as her shoulders slumped a bit. As far as stature went, she was a bit more heavy set than was normal on a planet full of starved workmen.

He gave her a flat look. “Of course I bloody wouldn't. I'm not here to flatten people that haven't done anything to me.” He stretched and growled and shook his head. “I dunno what the hell they did to you lot, but is the rest of the bloody planet like you? Or are you a random exception?” He wasn't being overtly hostile, but it was fairly obvious he wasn't amused by the afternoons goings on.

"You're going to to whine about it either way aren't you? Well go on then, piss off. Big bad scary girl denouncing your ways, better destroy something she holds dear.." Charlie grumbled and snorted and generally carried on her petulant display, pacing back and forth in front of the vacant mech as if doing so would bring her precious cap back. He watched her for a few seconds and then shrugged.

“Okay.” His helmet slid back down to cover his face and he ambled back over to his mech, pausing to pick up the plate of armor she'd managed to pry off. With a grimace he launched himself up his mech again, looking about inside and then ramming the plate back on and securing it carefully, ensuring some random crowbar wielding crazy woman wouldn't be able to get back into it again.

Charlie set her jaw, wiggling the handful of wire she pulled out of her pocket, her small victory, in his general direction before an evil grin took her. Something then possessed her to take her crowbar and raise it above her head. As she lined up her aim, she yelled, "I REALLY LIKE THIS CROWBAR TOO. HERE, TAKE IT." With that she flung it into the cockpit and, more specifically at a more important looking screen panel where it lodged itself like a brand new flagpole. And then she turned and ran.

He didn't see what she'd done, but he heard it all right. He hauled himself around to see the crowbar lodged in the main display and just started swearing. He hit the external lock and then just threw himself into the air, jump jet blasting him forwards and upwards as he roared. “COME BACK HERE YOU WENCH!” He landed with a thud on the rock and dirt and pounded after her, his armour not slowing him in the slightest (Given thats exactly what powered armour does after all) and at the very least kept her in sight. His mech's anti-tampering systems were engaged, so noone would be stupid enough to touch the damn thing before he got back to it, wherever that was.

She ran and ran, ducking and weaving through the shacks like they were nothing but a dingy maze and she was a mouse after the cheese of the gods. She was laughing and shouting as she did so, oinking at him and hoping he could hear it as she was too afraid to turn around to look and see how far he actually was behind her. It was this sort of carefree nonsense that she felt kept her alive, for without it, hers was a dull existence indeed. Nevertheless, she was doing her best at trying to escape him with her feet hammering out a quick pace and her heart an even faster one. She might have run around, half the time he just ran straight through them. He was moving to fast to get out of the way and while he didn't destroy any homes, there were walls with a hulking great sillohette in them where he'd just smashed straight through. He could see her in front of him and he was gaining slowly, much to his chagrin. Normally he would have been able to chase her down no problem at all but this was all unfamiliar territory to him and her back yard. She might have had the home field advantage, but he was getting closer and closer as he ran straight through a brick wall he put his shoulder into.

Several times she nearly tripped but one stray chair leg sent her tumbling in a heap to the ground with an 'oof'. Cursing, she assessed the damage- a few more scrapes to add her her palms but nothing serious as she watched him come crashing round towards her. All she could do was wince and put her arms up to protect herself and hope he saw her in time to stop before he barreled straight over her.
He lept over a pile of rubble and came smashing down, either side of her his boot landed and shattered stone as he shook her and himself. His hand smashed into the wall behind her and his other hand grabbed her and held her tight as he laughed, “Gotcha!” He growled at her and snarled quietly, “What the hell's the big idea, you and your bloody crowbar... that was my mech dammit!” He popped the faceplate and his eyes wandered over her face, scowl evident on his heavy brow as he waited for her to respond. He was breathing fairly heavily, but he wasn't beaten.. not by a long shot.

"Just returning the favor. You know.. 'me smashy everything you love'." She laughed at him, her body shaking despite her solid resolve, for it knew just how close to death it was at this very moment. "I mean honestly, what about me doesn't scream 'erratic behavior'?" Her smirk was cocky and betrayed the fact that she knew he wasn't about to flatten her.

He grimaced at her. “You know, that makes kind of sense.. In that you don't make -any- bloody sense. I ought to tie you up and whip you for the next hour or so.” He growled, eyeing her, “I'm barely even a week on planet and I've got you destroying my shit. What the hell, really. What do you even -do- on this light forsaken rock?” He looked up at the sky and then the surrounding area.. the whole planet was dark and horrible, but it was hot and humid.. it made no sense.

"We do what we're told and sell-out pigs like you are here to make sure we do it." She shrugged, but it was more like she was trying to shrug off his grip. After that whip comment, she was far more uneasy being this close to him. "Plus it's not like it's hard to fix, any half-braindead tech can fix it.. Not like a crowbar'd your mainframe or something, geez." She may have finally dropped her steely green glare but nothing about her gave off a penitent vibe just yet.

He blinked and growled. “Sell out? Sell out -what- exactly? I'm here to make damn sure noone else takes a bite out of humanities collective arse.. We proved we're pretty fucking good at that ourselves. The last thing we need is some shithead alien bastard coming here and nicking 'lith or worse yet, humans.’ He growled quietly, “Besides, some of us didn't join to go stomping on other people.” He considered tying her up and hefting her off some crossbeam in one of the few solid, brick buildings here and doing just that, and whipping her silly for a while. She needed it seemed.

"You act like they let us keep what lith we mine. It all goes to them and you work for them and seriously, get your hands off me before I'm forced to do something drastic." It was surprising, the way they had been tearing through people's houses and walls that no one had come running or formed an angry mob yet. The dinner bell had long since rung, perhaps everyone was still about it. It was beginning to get dark though and it wouldn't be long before someone came along to find an officer and a miner locked in this.. weird position, both of them on edge and irritated and looking they were about to scrap any minute.

He gave her a flat look, with him in power armour the most she could do would be... well, actually, not much. Other than probably hurt herself. He held onto her long enough that she'd realise exactly what he was thinking, that he could quite happily hold onto her for quite some time and not care what she did, but he let go and stepped back with the quiet whine of servos. “Didn't say they did let you keep it but there are still people who'll raid the depot's and kill anyone they come across. Which means a lot of dead indigs.” He eyed her, and then shook his head. “Bah, not that you give a crap what the hell I do.” He stretched in the power suit and looked about in the shadowed buildings that they were amidst before looking back down to her.

"You're right, I don't. Because I know you're full of shit. I've seen Iron Wolves kill over bar tabs and other even dumber things." Charlie got up and brushed herself off, scowling at him and obviously not one bit sorry about what she had done to his mech. "So off me or whatever it is you plan on doing and get it over with." She flicked her hair back over her shoulder and waited, one fist planted on each hip. If he was just gonna call her that, she might as well earn it, right?

He laughed quietly. “You know what? I'm not going to. Because if did it would just reinforce whatever bizzare notion you have of who and what I am. Not that I have any reason to knock you over the head.” He paused for a few seconds. “Kick your arse maybe, but not shoot you.” He eyed her and looked her right in the eyes. “So. I have no doubt I'll be seeing more of you in the future. Somehow I don't expect you're the kind of woman to let me have a nice, quiet.. peaceful deployment.” He shook his head with a smile and laughed quietly.

"Somehow, from your eagerness to ruin perfectly good headwear, you don't seem like the kind of man who enjoys a peaceful deployment." She snorted and gave him the ol' up yours, since who wouldn't milk this situation if they had the chance. "You can keep the crowbar too. Something to remember me by." With that, she jumped a nearby fence and took off running, satisfied that he was too exasperated with her abrasive behavior to follow. Hopefully the sonuvabitch wouldn't remember where she lived or if he did, she hoped he didn't care. Several things were glaringly obvious about that man. Firstly, he had to be high ranking otherwise he wouldn't be out wandering without a partner. Second, he was handsome in a clean-cut way and it sort of grossed Charlie out that something like that would even cross her mind. Lastly, all of this would make Jasper's glorious return all the more satisfying when she knew that at least one of their number would be devastated that they had her -literally- by the scruff of her neck and let her get away.

He paused and seriously considered using his jets to follow her, but on reflection he decided to let her get away with it. it'd give her something to think about. However, he did hit his jets and blasted free of the hovels, straight up until he had his bearings as he lept over the dwellings and landed with earthshattering thuds as he made his way back to his mech. He clambered back up inside of it and pause for a moment as he looked at the crowbar with a grimace. He didn't need the main screen to pilot it, but dammit.... it was his mech. He ripped it out and considered throwing it away just to spite her, but it was a good tool. He'd have to get the engineers to put it on his power armour or something in a holster. He buttoned up and booted the mech up again and stomped back towards his base. It was getting late after all.