(Note: The events in this story were adapted directly from a dream I had the night of 11/23/2012, and include a bunch of new Malaysia Experts and agents who just came along with the dream…like, their names were there, despite me never seeing them before. This dream took place about two years before the current events of Giant Robo.)

•••••

"Well, this is a fine mess we're in…" Tetsugyu gave the quarry around him a good look, hoping for a ladder, something to climb, anything. "Couldn't that guy just capture us or something? Throwing us into an open mine seems like a waste of time."

"Just be glad I was able to take care of him while we fell…" Ginrei tucked the commissioned pistol into her jacket. She was still grieving not being able to use her usual handgun during the Malaysia mission. It was a brand new model and Commander Khairizah was concerned it was too dangerous, especially for a teenage girl.

"The radio reception's so bad out here!" Daisaku exclaimed, toying with his watch. "I was at least able to send a rescue alert before my connection cut out."

"So I guess all we can do is wait." Ginrei stopped against a wall of the quarry and looked up to the sky; the edge of the quarry was maybe six stories or more above them. If Tetsugyu hadn't managed to catch her and Daisaku and lodge his ax into the quarry wall, they probably would've wound up pancakes at the bottom of the quarry. She was thankful Tetsugyu had reacted fast, but if only he weren't being so cranky…

In the meantime, Tetsugyu was chucking stones at the far wall, with Daisaku sitting cautiously at Ginrei's side. Ginrei sighed audibly. "Could you find something more productive to do, Tetsugyu?"

"Yeah, I guess I could try and…" Before she could react, Tetsugyu released one of his axes from his sleeve, spun it around on its chain, and threw it up towards the edge of the quarry. It missed by a few metres and begun to soar downwards, and Tetsugyu just about shrieked as it headed down and pierced the ground near his feet.

Ginrei was holding Daisaku back. "Tetsugyu! You could've gotten yourself killed!"

"It was worth a try!"

"It most certainly was not!"

"Well, fine, I'll just sit here then!" He plodded over to her side and fell into a seated position with a huff. Ginrei refused to look at him. Daisaku, meanwhile, eyed either of them curiously.

Maybe two minutes passed before Tetsugyu cleared his throat noisily. Ginrei's eyes rolled in response.

"Yes, Tetsugyu?"

"You have fantastic perfume."

She turned sharply. He looked back at her blankly, and a moment passed before he waggled his eyebrows. It took every piece of Ginrei's restraint to keep from sending a hard smack across his face. She knew he meant well, but…but…

"I'm going to explore," she said suddenly, standing up. Remove yourself from the situation, she told herself. Be an adult. She walked ahead through the quarry tunnel, arms folded, the clenching in her stomach subsiding. She sort of hoped Daisaku would follow so she'd have someone to talk to, but he stayed perched next to Tetsugyu.

Ginrei turned a corner in the quarry's corridor and noticed something skitter around far up ahead. Her hand flew to her pistol, poised, but relaxed when she saw it was only a cat. Three cats joined up with it, and the group of them begun to head up a loose metal staircase and through the door to a small workroom.

She called out over her shoulder, "You guys! Someone's working in the mine! They've got cats!"

"What is it with girls and cute things?!" Tetsugyu fired back.

I guess I'm going alone, then, Ginrei said to herself. She walked on until she reached the stairway; each step was made of corrugated metal, and it felt flimsy and loose beneath her boots. Clutching the banister, she headed up into the workroom. Curiously, it was carved into the quarry wall, relatively tidy and well-shaped inside. A current calendar was hammered into the wall across from her with a large tack, and there was only a beat-up desk, large cat food dish, and filing cabinet along the wall. Someone was regularly using this room.

But there was an incessant grinding coming from behind a door within the office. At the foot of this door was one of the cats, a ginger tabby, hastily scratching at the door like it wanted inside.

"So you want in?" She asked the cat, opening the door. As soon as it was open, she was assaulted by the sound of machinery churning. Some sort of heavy material grinder was inside that room, with a large funnel connecting to a large open tank beneath an opening in the floor. Something, maybe coal, was being heated and ground up beneath the floor. A wide pres, with the mechanisms for lowering itself, hung from the ceiling. A sign on the wall proclaimed "Pelupusan Sisa No. 4". Ginrei squinted at it for a moment, deciphering it; "sisa" meant "waste", and she realized she'd found some sort of garbage disposal.

The cat walked past a floor-mounted control panel and hopped onto the opening of the funnel. Panicking, Ginrei rushed forward, climbed up to the opening of the funnel and pulled it out, but when she turned to drop the cat off on the floor, she lost her position.

The feeling of slipping downwards was slow and horrible; first she was kneeling in the opening to the disposal's dumping chute, and next thing her knees were raw from the slide down and her fingers were coiled around the edge of the funnel. Her only next choice for something to grab onto was the small railing around the opening in the ground above her, or onto the press. Either one looked flimsy.

Breathing hard, Ginrei attempted to take a step back up the funnel. "Daisaku! Tetsugyu! Are you there?!"

She slipped out. Within less than a second, she latched onto the press's pole, hugging it with her whole body. The grinder below her was sending vibrations through it, making her even less steady. M-Maybe I can shoot the machinery and make it stop long enough to climb up, she thought. Her hand shaking from the vibrations, she began to reach into her jacket for the pistol. A loud grind sent a quake through her body, and the gun fell, tumbling down to the heated grinders below. She watched as her military commission pistol was torn to shreds as it was heated into putty, and then disappeared into the dimly-lit darkness below the machine.

She wanted to throw up. Instead she burrowed her head into her arms and the pole and screamed as hard as she could.

Someone must have heard her, because the next thing she knew, one of the Malaysian esper Experts ran into the room, wide-eyed and horrified.

"T-Tony!" Ginrei yelped. "Turn off the machine! Or use your powers to lift me up!"

"I'm afraid they're not strong enough!" Tony Cheung called down. "M-m-maybe I can turn it off!"

He ripped hard on the control panel's power level, his strength kicking in by reflex, and the crank came off in his hand. He stared at it in sheer terror, dropped it, and bolted from the room in a flurry of garish clothes.

The rescue team was obviously nearby. But, at the same time, the press was beginning to slowly tear from the ceiling, and Ginrei decided it was time to try the banister. She reached out, hands trembling, and her grip sunk securely around the banister.

Rescue agents were flooding into the workroom, Tetsugyu leading the pack. He turned to the doorway and locked eyes with her, howling, "Ginrei!"

A smile lit up on her face. And that was when the banister gave way.

Her scream was nothing but bloodcurdling as she begun the eight metre drop towards the machine's grinding teeth. Tetsugyu rushed forward with a roar, sending a flurry of axe strokes through the control panel. When Ginrei opened her eyes, she found herself standing on the fallen banister, which lay against the clenched-shut grinding mechanisms. The banister was quickly melting, and Ginrei wasted no time in climbing back up through the disposal funnel.

When she reached the top, she let herself drop to the floor, relieved. Daisaku rushed to her side, yelping, "Miss Ginrei! Miss Ginrei!"

"I'm fine, Daisaku…!" She looked up to meet his face. "That was awful, though. Thank Tetsug—"

"What is going on in here?!" came the brash voice of Commander Khairizah, her beaded black and silver Punjabi suit jingling as she entered the room. "How did you manage to fall into that?"

"I was getting a cat out of it!" She stood up, annoyed but a little embarrassed. The same ginger cat strolled over to sit by her side. "And for one thing, this machinery has an incredibly indecent excuse for safety measures!"

"You…" Khairizah pointed at Ginrei. "Just risked your life for an animal and trespassed on what could be BF Group property, possibly instigating another attack…you…" Tetsugyu was suddenly under fire. "Destroyed said BF Group machinery, and you…" Daisaku, now. "Left your robot parked in a rice field."

"I-I-I'm sorry." Daisaku sheepishly looked to the ground.

Khairizah turned on her heel, heading out of the room. "Your commander in Beijing will certainly love to hear about this! Crew, move out!"

As the rescue agents began to follow her out, Tetsugyu murmured to Ginrei, "Yeah, Chujo'll love to hear that we don't like meat-grinding our Experts!"

"Tetsugyu, shush." She gave him a quick glare, and headed over to a duo of female rescue agents, each wearing a colourful uniform hijab. The shorter of the two was holding one of the cats.

"Sorry we were late," said the shorter girl, named Priya. "Our team was just wrapping up training outside the city when Daisaku's call came in."

"You want to go for bubble tea?" asked the other girl, Fatima.

"Well, that's a nice alternative to being shredded, so yes." Ginrei begun to head off with the girls, but stopped and flipped back to face Tetsugyu. "But Tetsugyu…"

He stood up straighter. "Yeah?"

She rolled her eyes, thinking. "You know, I won't do this often, but…"

He studied her for a moment, cocking an eyebrow. "…But?"

Ginrei strolled over to Tetsugyu's side, stood up to try and match his height, and landed a delicate kiss on his cheek. She drew back quickly, adding, "Thank you for saving me."

His face went red, one hand shakily going to his cheek, almost disbelieving her lips were ever there. He hastily attempted to hammer out the reply, "N-no p-pruh-pah-probleh-blem, G-Guh-Gin…R…"

Ginrei walked back to Fatima and Priya and the three left, laughing among themselves; Tetsugyu could vaguely overhear Fatima mention a nail salon. Ginrei returned to his mind and a goony lovesick grin came to his face.

Daisaku circled at his feet, wide-eyed. "Can we get bubble tea, too?"

•••••

Fin