Different circumstances, different characters, same world and situations.
What if it happened somewhere else?
Another place, a Gods Eater Burst Fanfic.
Fenrir Offshore European Branch, Britannic Isles, Fall.
"So, I understand the new arrival will be here soon, is that correct?" Asked the blonde woman.
"Yes Ma'am. The ekranoplane with the New-Type from the South American Branch has docked about one and a half hours ago at Portsmouth. Luckily, The A3 is still usable by our transports after the last operation." The redhead working the data desk answered.
"I see. And Kate, I have been working here with you for 4 years now. I understand I'm your superior, but you can call me by name only if you wish." The Lieutenant said, Attempting yet again to put her colleague more at ease.
"I'll be working on that, Sylvia ma'am." Kate said with a grin.
-Transport arriving at gate 2- The speakers announced, a clearly synthesized voice making the announcement.
"I'll be on my way. After all, this is the first New-Type we're getting, and after reports from the Far-East Branch about what theirs can do, I'm curious to see her." Lieutenant Sylvia Richards, 20, Short-Blade Old Type Gods Eater, mused.
The Offshore European Branch was quite a well built place, in the old BBC Television Centre, although, like the old building, whoever designed the floors was probably, drunk, drugged, or more likely, both. Hence, it was a nightmare for anyone to find their way around it. After 4 years working here, Sylvia still had difficulties getting to where she wanted to be.
About 15 minutes later, and finally at the loading bay of gate 2, she finally found the subject of much talk amongst the male Gods Eaters of the branch since the announcement of the new arrival. And as she had to make a double take at the sight, the lieutenant finally found why.
The short, disheveled and light blue hair, the light coffee skin, and the soft yet striking features sure were a sight to behold, even if the clothing wasn't excessively scant.
Second Lieutenant Anna Cavalcanti, 18, New-Type Gods Eater, smiled as she saw the woman approaching her. The trip was uneventful all they way to the new Branch, as most of the other passengers of the hydroplane were male, and a bit too busy staring to actually make any sort of conversation. Good thing she only packed a single backpack, which meant she could take the transport as soon as it arrived. Said backpack was now resting on the ground while she laid down on a bench.
Picking herself up, the New-Type took the time during her new superior's approach to analyze what she saw. Blonde, long smooth hair, white skin, and athletic build composed her sight, with very practical clothes suited for any mission. She could respect that, alright.
"Lieutenant Sylvia Richards, 2nd fast response team." Said the woman, while extending a hand with a greeting smile.
"Second Lieutenant Anna Cavalcanti, previous 1st assault team, ma'am." Anna answered, saluting quickly before shaking the Lieutenant's hand.
"That all your baggage, lieutenant?" Sylvia asked, surprised at not finding anything nearby besides the backpack.
"Yes ma'am. I tend to travel light, and my God-Arc isn't exactly big, so one backpack was enough" Anna said, while picking up her backpack. Her God-Arc was fixed on the outside, which was turned to the wall before.
Sylvia was quite surprised to see what the New Type was talking about: Her God-Arc was in gun mode, and was significantly smaller than most, besides resembling an old assault rifle, rather than something more fitted to shoot down a helicopter as most gun-type were.
Noticing her Lieutenant's surprise, Anna explained. "My God-Arc is based on a SG553 we had left back in the storage of the South-American Branch. Since we're not near any high-value targets, we tend to get underfunded, so most of our God-Arcs are re-purposed form old weapons we have back from before the Aragami appeared. It looks old, but it works well enough."
"I see. Although yours is able to become a blade-type as well, correct?" Sylvia asked.
"Yes, in fact. Hold on a second." Anna said, picking her God-Arc off from the backpack's front. With a shift of her hand, the weapon reconfigured itself into...
"A... Sledgehammer?" Blurted a quite incredulous blond lieutenant.
"...yes. As I said, re-purposed." Anna answered, somewhat expecting this reaction, scratching the back of her head.
"Huh. Well, as long as it works, I guess. Now, follow me, I'll try to show you the main places you'll need here in the Offshore European Branch. " Said Sylvia.
"...Try, ma'am?" Asked Anna, a bit confused by her superior's choice of words.
"Yes. Unfortunately, as you'll soon find out, it seems our engineers had a stroke while holding a pencil, and the management decided to use that as the floor plans. Don't worry if you get lost sometimes, it's perfectly natural and expected. " Sylvia said, matter of factly, eliciting a smile from Anna.
'Hmm. She seems nice enough. This could work.' Thought the New-Type, while following her new superior through a seemingly endless amount of corridors and cross-paths, quickly realizing she was not kidding about the stroke or getting lost part.
Arriving at the main hall, Anna was taken aback by the sheer size and looks of the place, an involuntary smile crossing her lips together with her wide eyed expression. Sylvia noticed her reaction, letting out an amused smile herself.
"I reckon you approve of our facilities?" Asked Sylvia, clearly proud of what her Branch had to offer.
"Yeah..." Mumbled Anna, more preoccupied with taking in the sight of everything. The domed ceiling, the multiple bleeding-edge public terminals, the floor lighting perfectly composing the natural one, not to mention the several recreational areas and the very well-equipped data desk with a gently-smiling redhead at the wheel. A far cry from the precarious facilities back where she was stationed less than 2 days ago.
"This is the main hall, where you'll find the recreational areas along with our main public terminals array. The girl on the data desk is Kate Faulkner, our information specialist. She'll keep you updated about any assignments our unit might have. " Pointing to the two doors to the right of the desk, Sylvia continued:
"Over there are the elevators, this is the ground floor, 1st floor are the employee accommodations, 2nd is the units accommodations, 3rd is the officers accommodations, 4th is the main research and health facilities, 5th is the planning and strategy rooms, and anything above that is management areas, with top floor housing the Branch Director's Office. Underground we have our production, maintenance and detention facilities. "
Pointing to the left of the desk now, Sylvia finished: "Finally, that door to the left leads to the main deployment area, consisting of gates 1 and 3. Our main armory and testing range is also that way. Any questions?"
Trying to assimilate all the information, Anna felt it was best to just mumble somewhat towards "no, ma'am" and shake her head slightly.
"It's a lot to take in all at once, so if you have any doubts of questions, feel free to ask me or Kate, we'll be happy to help. Now, follow me to the elevators, I should show you your room, so you can get settled and ready for the medical tests. Our director, Daniel Harper, would also like to speak with you once we are done with that. Since you are our first New-Type, he wanted to meet you personally. " Sylvia said, while leading her new team mate towards the right, when a very loud explosion sounded through the facility, shaking the ground and making the lights blink.
After turning back towards Anna and seeing she was alright, Sylvia tuned towards Kate, which was regaining her footing and looking startled at the monitors at her desk. "Kate! Sit-rep!"
"Sensors show an explosion on the 2nd floor ma'am! Let me run a diagnosis!" Kate said hurriedly, while using the touch-sensitive monitors with both hands.
"Confirmed, ma'am! It seems a gas pipe ruptured and exploded in contact with the nearby wiring! It looks like a localized explosion, our blast doors have activated in time to avoid further damage. No dead or wounded reported so far." Said Kate, relief apparent in her expression.
"That last part will change when I find those bloody engineers. They are not walking out on us this time." Sylvia said, anger seeping through her voice. "That blast could have killed someone! What in the name of all that is holy were they thinking!" When remembering how odd was for an explosion on the 2nd floor to have no wounded, she quickly ran a scenario through her mind.
"Kate, which rooms were affected in the explosion?" Sylvia asked, suddenly changing tone to a more wary one.
"Rooms 24 and 25 were rendered completely unusable ma'-oh." Kate answered, realization hitting her as well.
"Oh, fuck me." Sylvia said, face-palming.
"Something wrong, ma'am? Besides the giant explosion, I mean." Anna asked, finally feeling moods were calm enough for her to chip in the conversation, besides not expecting her superior to react so... openly, in front of a new subordinate.
Pinching the bridge of her nose, Sylvia turned to Anna, in a tone clearly annoyed yet apologetic. "Yes, rooms 24 and 25 were the only ones we had free in our accommodations. 24 was in fact going to be yours from today on. " Sylvia said, wanting to rip off the testicles of whoever was responsible for this.
"Oh. That's.. huh." Anna said, cursing her luck. It seems things still tended to explode when she was nearby. She did wonder sometimes if this was the reason the South America Branch was so kind to the prospect of sending their only New-Type overseas.
"Ma'am, if it's not a bother , I could share a bedroom with someone then, given the, well, recent happenings." Anna finished, while waiting for Sylvia's answer.
"Hmm. I guess we'll have to do that, yes." Accepted Sylvia, arms crossed and expression thoughtful. Turning to the redhead, she asked: "You got everything covered down here, Kate?"
"Yes ma'am. Maintenance personnel are already on site and attending to the issue. All fires have been put out and there's no serious structural damage reported." Kate answered, while sending a dozen reports and sit-reps for different people.
"Good. Do we have any extra beds lying around somewhere?" Sylvia asked.
"I believe we have one or two in one of the storage bays, yes. Where would you like me to send one?" Kate asked, still sending sit-reps to alarmed personnel.
Sylvia sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "You know what, screw it. Send it to my room." Sylvia said, turning towards Anna in the middle of the sentence. "It's big enough for us both and you seem like a good kid from what I could gather." Sylvia said, turning towards Anna in the middle of the sentence.
"Ma'am? Are you sure?" Asked Anna, suppressing a small smirk.
"Yes, yes. You're in my unit after all, and I'll be taking over the command of the 2nd fast response for Captain Peter since he'll be going on a visit to the continent soon. So, in a way, you're my responsibility." After giving a nod to Kate to thank her for her help, Sylvia leaded the way to the elevator. "Come. I'll show you the way to, well, our room now."
Anna obliged and followed, suppressing now a very significant smirk as she was fully aware of not a small number of male stares coming from the lobby, most of them not knowing whether to fell jealous of Anna's, or Sylvia's situation.
Mostly both.
'Now, this is interesting' She thought to herself. After giving another glance at her newest roommate, more specifically towards her toned back, she thought of an addendum.
'Scratch that. Very interesting' She finished her line of thought, as they both got into the elevator.
Very first episode of a GEB fic right here. Not very sure where this is going besides that it's gonna be whacky, with some lemon. Some WAFF will also be included. Do note I'll be taking certain liberties with the Canon for the sake of awesome, but nothing too serious.