Chap 4
A/N: Let's get this show on the road shall we?
Previously...
"Mori you there?" asked Daisuke.
"Yeah I'm here? Why?" Mori retorted.
"We've been waiting for how many hours now? For all I know, they probably executed our captain."
"I highly doubt that. He still has his machete with him. He should be alright."
"Let's not go towards those depressing thoughts alright? We still have this fire mission going on." said Dominic.
"Yo pops. Ready to move?" asked Allen.
"Sure thing. Tell those guys to get ready."
"Roger that."
So the team of four soldiers gathered around Dominic and they headed out towards to where Alcatraz is held captive.
Present time...
The fire team continued to press forward towards their objective as they activated their camouflage on. They sneaked past the gate and the guards guarding it. Once they sneaked past them, they made their way towards the left side of it and towards the mansion. They haven't made a single noise and they intend to keep it that way.
"Alright then. I spotted the mansion. Get yourselves ready." said Dominic.
"Roger that. Should we just breach into the window?"
"Good idea."
Meanwhile back with Alcatraz...
Alcatraz woke up and he saw himself inside a fancy room. Wondering where the hell he was he looked around the room just to see if anybody is there. Sure enough there was a maid sitting next to him reading something. When the maid heard some noise coming from the bed, she looked at Alcatraz and smiled at him.
"W-where am I?" asked Alcatraz.
"Well you are here in the Empress's Mansion Sir Cobalt."
"I-I see. Where is my armor?"
"Right there Sir Cobalt." said the maid.
He saw his armor somehow taken out and still in its worst condition. Alcatraz sighed when he looked at the state his armor is in. Thanks to those women knights beating on him, he has to get a new one. But the one thing that he was quite surprising is that the maids were able to take off his armor without further damaging it.
"It seems that you guys had a had time taking out my armor."
"Indeed Sir Cobalt but we were able to manage it without further damaging your armor." said a woman an elderly voice and Alcatraz was surprised to see the head maid here.
"Sorry about that. Our armor is quite tough to take out for those who aren't used to it. But regardless...what is the state of the town?"
"Italica has been restored to peace and order. Though we are forever grateful for protecting our city Sir Cobalt."
"Ah it's no biggy really. Just doing my job."
Then Marshall looked at who's behind the head maid and saw three other maids. This time however, they are humanoids. One has cat ears with a cat like face. The other one has snakes for her hair along with pointed ears. She sported a cute blush on her face and this girl looked like she is either 11 or 12 years old. The last one had bunny ears which looked cute on her.
"Um...don't mean to be rude but who are these girls?" asked Alcatraz.
"Oh. My apologies. These three women are my assistants in helping with the chores around the mansion. Right here at my right is Mamina who is Warrior-Bunny. To my left is Persia who is a Cat-Humanoid. Over here is Aurea who is a Gorgon. Last but not least, the maid who attended you is Mohmu who is human like us." said the head maid.
"Wow. When I first heard about this dimension from one of my subordinate officers, I thought that there might be some fantasy like creatures that would appear. It seems that I was correct. Albeit, there are some guys who love young women like your maids ma'am so I would watch out for them."
"Thank you for your concern Sir Cobalt. But don't worry they can handle themselves just fine."
"So how did these girls come here to work as maids? I believe that there might be a story towards this."
"Well it started with the late master actively employing people from different races since he believes that the only way civilization could only move forward is to overcome their discrimination."
"That has always been the same thing with where I came from. It wasn't as bad as it was years ago but there are some who still do that. But I can understand the whole problem with that."
"Sir Cobalt smells like the late master..."
Aurea's hair...or rather snakes I should say...were wiggling to Alcatraz but its seems that Mohmu is the one that stopped it.
"I will not tolerate any rudeness towards Sir Cobalt!"
Alcatraz sweat dropped at the interaction unfolding before him. Aurea pouted like a child having their toy taken away by their parents. Seems like he may have missed on something valuable towards Gorgons.
"Ah you see Sir Cobalt. Gorgons are spirit draining creatures. They even like to drain the spirits away from young men like you Sir Cobalt. They were nearly extinct due to their nature like that. Although I did train her to be self-restrained when it comes to visitors."
Alcatraz nodded. But he nonetheless patted Aurea's head as if he was a parent telling their kid that its okay.
"It's okay. No harm done."
Just then it seems that all of the occupants have heard some sort of noise up to where he is located. All of the maids have tensed up.
"It seems that we have rather rude visitors here." said Mamina.
"It must be Sir Cobalt's men." said the head maid.
"If it is somebody else?" asked Persia.
"Then proceed as usual."
The window got busted and already four troops came in with their guns up. But they didn't shoot since one of the soldiers saw Alcatraz.
"Whoa whoa there! We're just here to get the captain out since he was captured already." said a voice Alcatraz knows all too well.
"Dominic?!" yelled Alcatraz.
"Yup. We were ordered by the Colonel to have a fire team get in and see if you are alright."
"At ease gentlemen. Don't harm these soldiers Persia and Mamina. They are under my command." said Alcatraz.
"Alright then."
"First off...get your fucking helmets off!" yelled Alcatraz.
The soldiers took off their helmets and the maids already recognized them since they were with him a while ago.
"Geez calm yourself boss. We're under direct orders to do something drastic in case your life's in danger." said Daisuke.
Alcatraz sighed in frustration.
"Now how are we going to pay for the damages here? I mean that window must have been around a fortune! How am I going to pay for this..." Alcatraz had anime river tears streaming down his face.
"O-O-Ochitsuku (C-C-Calm down). We can think of some ways to pay for this..."
"Don't worry. We can take care of it. After all, we do have some spare glass so it won't be a problem."
"Thank you so much! We are truly grateful!" Alcatraz thanked the head maid profusely while she just giggled at his antics.
But it seems that Alcatraz's chest gave out and he clutched it in pain. The maids were worried about him as his bruises haven't healed yet. Allen searched through his armor to see if he can find some healing gel around his holster or something. Once he finally got it, he gave it to Alcatraz which he took. Applying a bit of gel on his chest, he could feel the healing effects of the gel already. Giving it back to Allen, the man sighed.
"Must have suffered some broken ribs from the impact. Thank goodness that we got some gel or else I would've suffered some internal bleeding."
"I could tell that they did a good number on you. You're gonna need to tell the armory about getting yourself a new one. Oh and if you haven't noticed, we are redesigning our marks."
"Oh that's cool...wait...you said redesigning our marks?"
"Yeah. I didn't stutter didn't I?"
"Why are we doing that?" asked Alcatraz.
"Well it seems that the UDF wanted to get rid of the emblems that symbolizes each unit since they are running out of ideas with a pattern. So they went with the unit's number, nation's flag, and also the UDF insignia. Recon teams have the 'RT' written on the left side of the chest plate while the number is on the right side. The insignia is on the left side of shoulder plate while the flag is on the right side. But we decided to use the circuit pattern on the kama skirt."
"Makes sense."
"A symbol for your unit?" asked the head maid.
"Oh. In the UDF, we used to have symbols to represent what unit we come from. For example, in the unit that I along with Dominic, Allen, and Orlando came from, which was the 27th Technical Company or known as 'Bad Company', have the sun as their symbol. Other units use symbols so that they wouldn't be confused with somebody else. But with the new improvement, we decided to take that away and place our unit, flag, and UDF insignia."
"I see. Interesting indeed."
"Well why not get acquainted with each other? Introduce yourselves and maybe we can have some-"
"Fun?" said a female voice and Alcatraz knew who that girl was.
Rory Mercury appeared in front of him via magic circle along with Lelei and Tuka.
"What do you want demigod?" asked an annoyed Alcatraz.
"Buu~. You're no fun you know? I only wanted to come here and check up on you like the others. Is that wrong of me?" asked Rory.
"I'm fine thank you."
"You're holiness! Its an honor to have you here!"
The head maid went towards the demigod and knelt down in respect. Alcatraz just looked at the scene awkwardly but he nonetheless smiled that everything is alright. Alcatraz got tapped onto the shoulder and looked at the MRT from Dominic. He was quite surprised that he has to meet with the UDF Military Generals along with the Minister of Defense and Minister of Treasury. As everybody interacted with one another, he didn't notice a person dressed in what looked like a night robe of some sorts. Alcatraz didn't know who that person was but we know who it is. It was no other than Bozes herself!
However, it seems that nobody didn't notice her and busy with their socializing. Bozes got really mad at them ignoring her. So you know what happened next? She scratched Alcatraz's face creating some rather fine marks on his face. After that he got sucker punched and blacked out.
Next morning...
"So what exactly happened here?" asked a rather annoyed Pinya.
"Well this woman actually clawed his face along with punching him at the guts knocking him out cold." said Dominic.
"We didn't do anything nya." said Persia.
"Yup. Didn't know that chick actually had sharp nails that matches a cat's claws. I mean look at those red lines." said Allen.
"But regardless, we have to get going Empress. I'm actually called in by the Generals of the UDF and the Japanese Ministers to tell them about our reports back in two to three days."
"What Alcatraz meant is that he has to meet with the Senate and the top military generals from Japan."
This shocked Pinya to the core. A single report from him may end up having the UDF on the move again and she knows how powerful their army is. She knows that she can't let that happen. Also she has heard from one of the soldiers that Alcatraz was assigned here to help out the Japanese Branch with their situation.
"Very well! Let me accompany you to Alnus!"
All of the people around the throne looked at her like she was some sort of mad person or something. Alcatraz sighed at this. He didn't really like to have the Empress come to this as it may end up causing some tension towards the two sides. Plus they might look at him and say somewhere around the lines of 'is America trying to send a joker of a captain here just to mess with us?' or something like that.
"Captain are you sure about this?" asked Daisuke.
"I wished that I haven't said that. I could already predict what might happen. I might get sent back and the guys back in America are going to shake their heads at me and calling me a failure of a captain. What should I do? What should I do?"
The whole fire team just sweat dropped at him.
"I don't think that the UDF generals along with the Ministers would say that. I mean with the empress, negotiations for peace might begin there." said Mori.
"Hmm...now that you think about it, you are right. Guess I shouldn't have overreacted a bit there. Very well. Tell Baseplate that we are going to have some rather important guests here so they better be on their best behavior." Alcatraz said to him.
"Roger that. Baseplate this is Ghost 5-9. We are having some special guests coming to base. Requesting permission to transport her there."
"Copy Ghost 5-9. We'll give her the welcome wagon but only if she brings another person with her. Baseplate out."
"We just got the green light captain."
"Alright then. You guys go out towards your vehicles and I'll meet you there."
"Roger that."
So the whole fire team left the throne room and they went towards their vehicles. Rory and the others left via magic circle. Alcatraz then told Empress Pinya,
"Our base will welcome you if you are with somebody else. Other than that, we should get going."
"That will be fine then. Hamilton will be in my stead when government elections arrive while Panache will look over things here in Italica to maintain the peace and order. Bozes, to atone for your mistake, I'll have you accompany me."
"I am honored milady!"
Alcatraz just shook his head but he just wanted to get this one done and over with. He went back to his room and got into his damaged armor. Once he got finished with equipping his armor, he accompanied the two women towards their modified Amarok Jeeps. At first they were hesitant about it but they went inside nonetheless. Alcatraz was on the front seat while Daisuke was on the wheel. The engine roared and they left the area towards the Alnus Base. Pinya thought in her head,
"I'll have to give a reason towards the UDF about this contract violation or else they will be on the move again. I have to do this even if I have to be thrown towards the mouth of the Griffon."
When they arrived towards Base, they were stopped by a couple of guards.
"State your name, rank, unit and business."
"Lance Corporal Daisuke Handa from Recon Team 6. We are here to transport two HVI back to base."
"Alright then. Let them in."
The gate of the base opened up and the vehicle went in. The two women marveled at the strange looking buildings there. Parking their vehicle at the lot, the whole squadron along with the two women left the jeeps. Then all of a sudden, the two women saw a group of ten soldiers wearing the same armor as Alcatraz only instead of black markings, it has green markings. The soldiers loaded their weapons and they got ready.
The whole field lit up showing a precise and accurate image of the Imperial State. The soldiers spotted what appears to be strange skeletal like enemies that have glowing eyes and making these strange noises. They opened fire on them taking them down automatically. However, on the process, one of them got hit three times until he went down. Pinya was about to go in there and do something but she was held back by Daisuke. He shook his head at her.
"They are training. Please don't interfere Empress Pinya."
"H-how were they able to get have the image of the Empire in such a state like that?" asked Pinya.
"Oh that. That isn't really the Empire in its state right now. Its just a simulation for troops to undergo before they are assigned into their units."
"Simulation?" asked a confused Pinya.
"It's a machine that allows us to display a make up real life situation so that our soldiers can get a better feel of what combat will look like in the near future."
"So strange but yet still effective..."
As the group continue to move around the base, Bozes saw an AAV roll up and troops came out from the vehicle.
"Is that an armored chariot? And how is it that armored chariot able to let soldiers out from that structure?" asked Bozes.
"I do not know." said Pinya.
Then they saw the troops raise their weapons and fire. They widened their eyes at such display of fire and wondering what the blue lights are.
"Are they mages? Also what type of sorcery that allows them to project such fast light projectiles?"
"Oh milady. Those aren't mages. They are soldiers just like the ones you command ma'am. What you witness are guns. Also the lights that you mention are what you would call plasma. That plasma energy can cut through armor as if it were butter."
"Are you done touring? I have to get to the armory and place a request on a new one. Plus I need to tell them to place the symbol that you have on right now which is the circuit pattern. Also show these girls where they are staying okay?" said Alcatraz.
"Roger that captain."
So Alcatraz went towards the armory and talked towards the technicians. They were laughing at him and said that he looked like a veteran of the previous Zorgan Invasions. He was really pissed because first off, they are calling him old. Second, they are making fun of him because he got his ass kicked by a bunch of women knights.
"Will you just get going with the repairs?!" said Alcatraz.
"Sorry hahahahaha! I can't stop laughing at you! Hahahahahahahahahaha!" one of the technicians kept on laughing and Alcatraz got a tick mark on his head.
He then punched the man across the face sending him flying towards a table.
"Now then. If you guys are finished with your bantering, I need to place an order for a new set of armor."
"Man you're no fun. Anyways. What's your name, rank, and unit?" said one of the technicians.
"Alcatraz Cobalt. Rank Captain. Unit, Recon Team 5."
"Alright then. You're armor will be ready in a day so don't worry about it. Bring your armor here for some discarding."
"Alright then. Thanks for the notification."
So Alcatraz went back towards his quarters and changed out of his armor into his military dress uniform which consisted of a long black jacket that goes down to his knees, black pants, and black knee-high boots with with white highlights. He has a white belt that goes around the waist. (Got it from ZAFT's uniform from Gundam SEED). He then gave the beaten up and damaged armor towards the armory and he went towards Kasai's office.
"Yo Kasai. Sorry about it." said Alcatraz.
"Oh its no problem. Just as long as you are safe then its all fine. We need you after all. The USA didn't send you just because of a whim. They believe in your ability to command a team as it was placed in Manhattan."
"I know that. But just because I could accomplish one major thing in the states doesn't mean I can do another repeat performance here in the Gate dimension."
"I can understand your fear but believe in yourself. After all you weren't promoted to this position just to replace your deceased officer am I correct?"
"You got it right..."
"Don't worry son. Not all officers are perfect. We make mistakes and even I make some mistakes. But what truly defines an officer is whether they learn from them or not."
"Thanks sir. So I was told that I have to go back to Japan with three other members am I correct?"
"That is correct. Also you have to transport those two HVI as you say to Japan as they may prove useful for negotiations."
"Well...those two HVI are basically Empress Pinya and her representative Bozes."
"Interesting. I didn't know you could convince the Empress herself to come with you."
"I didn't. She decided it herself."
"Oh. Well whatever works then its just fine."
"Before I go, I have some suspicions of what the Empress might do."
"What would that be?"
"I have a feeling that she might send all of the information back to the Imperial State about our activities here in Alnus. After all, when I was back there in Italica, I saw her perform to the best of her abilities as a commander of the army. I have no doubts that she was sent as a spy to do some reconnaissance over our base here. Call me delusional or whatever but I have a hunch of what her true mission was besides defending Italica from invading forces."
"I see. Well for now just keep an eye on her and if she does, well you know what to do. But I just hope it doesn't come down to that."
"Me too. Thanks sir."
Alcatraz went back to his office and saw some paperwork he has to fill up. As he was working on signing those papers, he heard a knock on the door.
"Come in." said the Alcatraz.
The door opened and there he saw Mori with Pinya and Bozes.
"Sir. Where are their quarters?" asked Mori.
"Oh...that. Let me take care of it while you may resume whatever duties you have to accomplish."
"Yes sir. Understood."
Alcatraz got up from his seat while Mori left the his office. Pinya and Bozes saw the uniform he wore which was the same thing that the general wore during their initial meeting in the small meeting room except it was black. The general wore lavender with a black outlining along with gold trimmings on their uniform. Before he could show them where they are going to spend the next night, Alcatraz got pulled over by one of the officers reminding him about the paperwork he has to fulfill. Alcatraz told him that he'll be able to finish it before his team leaves in two days.
"Sorry about that ladies. Those officers had to remind me about the paperwork deadline before we leave in the next two days." Alcatraz said while rubbing the back of his head.
"It is alright Sir Cobalt. By the way, does your uniform bear any significance towards the rank you attain?" said Bozes.
"It does. The color of our uniform determines the rank of the soldier. Green is associated with Privates and Lance Corporals. Brown uniforms are sergeants, gray uniforms are lieutenants, and captains wear black. Following so far?" asked Alcatraz.
"We are." replied Pinya.
"Majors wear red, colonels wear white uniform, and generals wear lavender uniforms. All government leaders, however, wears carolina blue uniforms. The Ministers wear maroon, while the president wears gold."
"I thought that they would wear purple uniforms since that signifies royalty?" asked Pinya.
"Well that is true but the Senate prefers to wear carolina blue uniforms than purple."
"Interestingly strange but nonetheless we are really intrigued by the way your uniforms are made. Whenever you wear it, it feels as if you radiate authority and power."
"Really? Didn't think about it since they are just formal dress uniforms. But I'm not going to change your opinion about it."
Alcatraz then found an empty quarter for the two of the women. He opened the room and showed it to them.
"It may not be spacious as your bedroom but it is spacious enough to suit your needs. Is this fine?" said Alcatraz.
"This will be fine. In fact this will suit our needs just fine."
"Alright then. Just remember, that if you need anything, my barracks are just next to mine."
"Thank you Sir Cobalt. We will keep that in mind."
"Alright then. I have to go back to my office and do some paperwork. Rest up okay?"
"Yes. Thank you Sir Cobalt." said Bozes.
The captain went back to his office and continued where he left off in his paperwork. After that, he went back to his barracks and slept for the night.
Timeskip...
So the captain grabbed his duffel bag while he was dressed in his formal military uniform. Accompanying him are Mori, Takeo, and Ryuma. As they waited for Bozes and Pinya to get ready, it seems that Rory, Lelei, and Tuka wanted to come in too. Tuka was dressed in a jacket, scarf around her neck, a hat on her head, faded blue jeans, and tennis shoes. Lelei and Rory wore their normal clothes.
"Why is it that I have to wrap my relic in bandages?!" yelled Rory.
"Sorry but there are rules to uphold there on the other side of the gate. Can't have you show those people your weapon and have you arrested. Deal with it." said Mori.
The two kept arguing back and forth until Rory relented. Alcatraz checked his digital watch and saw that the time is already 9:10 A.M. Could they be running late or trying to figure out what stuff they might need for the trip? Well only way to figure out is if he would ask a question or something.
"Sorry about that Alcatraz. I had to convince them that they'll be provided with as much when they are there in Japan." said Kasai.
"Oh no problem." Alcatraz saw Kasai hold an envelope in his hands.
"Before you go, here's the money that you'll probably want to have when you go vacation there in Japan. Don't rush things and enjoy. I know you haven't been to Japan so its good to have some experience of the culture and the food."
"Oh I will. I love Japanese food and I always eat it in my house because its not only healthy but delicious."
"Well then you better get going. I highly doubt that those representatives are the most patient type of people in the UDF."
"I know. See you later Kasai."
Out in the open are two nice cars and Alcatraz automatically knew that these are Lamborghini. What's surprising is that they somehow found his car. His car is a four-seater Murcielago. (Hey I know that it ain't a four seater but deal with it! This is a work of fiction okay? We can let our creative minds do the art for us!)
The other one is a Lamborghini Urus mini van. Alcatraz opened up his car thanks to the guards bringing his keys in. Once he got it opened, he asked if there is anybody that would like to hop in his car. It seems that Lelei, Pinya, and Bozes wanted to ride with him so he let them. The rest were in the van.
"Alright ladies. Time for you to see good old Japan. The Land of the Rising Sun." said Alcatraz.