Standard Disclaimer here. I do not own Armored Core or Tenchi Muyo War on Geminar. This is a work of fanfiction. The previously stated properties belong to their respective owners.
Chapter 10: The Pain of an Answer.
"HYAAAA!" was Chiaia's war cry as she charged Canis, and like just like the last couple times, she ended up face first in the grass with the flat end of her sword used to smack her in the ass before Canis tossed it on the ground next to her. It was a few weeks after the ghost incident and the girls were all fully healed between their healing ahou, or whatever the hell it was called, and our medical facilities. Kenshi and his wives were all on a set of bleachers we had rigged up together, while my friends and I sat on the other side enjoying the show. We were currently putting Kenshi's wives through a rigorous training regime before we let them lay a hand on the NEXTs or NORMALs, IF we let them touch them, not to mention making sure they could fight on the ground. I put them up against the others instead of me for the time being. They were all understandably scared of me after the arena battle a few weeks back. Even more so after a couple of Kenshi's closest wives issued a rematch, this time in hand to hand combat. I promptly put Chiaia, Morga and Aura into the dirt.
They had initially tried to get Kenshi to fight as well though he kept refusing. Smart boy, he was smart enough not to pick a fight he couldn't win. Don't get me wrong, the boy was good, very good, good enough to even give Canis a run for his money. But he knew it was a very bad idea on a couple of counts. He knew my arm was not normal, and he could see from the way that I moved that I had been training and fighting a lot longer than he had. I had my father and his old friends to thank for that they had put me through a training regime so hard I wanted to die, and they had done that ever since I could walk, and I meant that quite literally. This was all the reason we needed for me to sit out and let the others handle things. Canis was currently bare handed as he sparred with Chiaia, and in typical Canis fashion, he was constantly picking on her the entire fight. Embarrassing her every time he put her down.
Four of us were professional soldiers both in and out of a NEXT, though Miss Haze and Lilium were no slouches either. Both trained in martial arts as a sport and for self defense, though I worked with Lilium here and there on the dirtier aspects of fighting hand to hand, as well as breaking her of her sportsman's bad habit of backing off and letting up. Teaching her to keep going until her opponent was crippled or dead. Such a habit would get her killed in a real life or death fight.
We had Canis currently running a couple rounds with some of the girls. Chiaia was the last of Kenshi's close wives to fight him. After this fight it would be May's turn. Canis kept playing with her because she couldn't touch him and she kept getting more and more frustrated everytime he embarrassed her. Canis wasn't exactly taking this seriously, though I knew why, she couldn't touch him even on a bad day so he was pissing her off as a lesson. Had she been good enough to actually put him on guard it would be a different story. He would give her a lot more respect and fight more seriously. She was a decent fighter from what I could see but she was not a warfighter. I noticed something odd with these people and this culture. some things they took serious and yet a minute later they were like children with how they forgive and forget. I learned some of Chiaia's back story during the war and what she had done initially would have been a death sentence back where we came from. Her loyalty being proven later not mattering, we would never have taken the risk back home.
She charged him again with her wood sword swinging in an admitedly fine display of swordsmanship that was, unfortunately, turning sloppy with her anger and embarrassment. Lilium sat to my left on a blanket while May was to my right on her own. I was currently crouched down, my blanket rolled up behind me. Ghost was playing with Theresia as she had him chasing a toy on a string as she sat in a chair. Henry was basking on a rock in the sunlight next to May's painted turtle, Mr. T.
We watched Chiaia trying to hit Canis with her wood sword while he kept dancing out of reach. I saw him looking for another easy opening on her, there were plenty, but he was looking for the easiest one that he could use to embarrass her again. It came a few moments later as she over extended her reach, being exhausted but too stubborn and angry to quit, He ducked and lunged forward grabbing her sword wrist and with a quick twist and bend, made her drop her weapon as he kept moving towards her, rising up with his back turning to her and flipping her over him to the ground and finally dropped to his knees, her head between them, as one hand pulled her chin back exposing her throat and he brought a half fist down on her neck. Giving her a little tap but it was clear that she would have been dead had he been serious. He rolled away before she could kick him in retaliation. Grinning cockily as he walked over to us and took a spot on a blanket. I could see a slight sheen of sweat on him as grabbed an apple from the basket of food we had brought with us.
"No Fair!" Chiaia said rolling to her feet, face red from anger and embarrassment, rubbing her ass cheek which had been Canis' favorite target of embarrassment with either her sword or kicking with his boot. Her pride was hurt more than anything. The other girls weren't looking all that enthused at being the next ones to have to go through training, especially if it was going to be him doing it.
"Had you kept your temper, you might have had him if you would have bluffed or baited. Instead you let your emotions get the better of you. He saw this and took full advantage of it. He was being nice. he could have ended it multiple times with every clash." I informed her as I stood up, tomahawks rustling at my hips with my sidearm. They had all seen how deadly I was with them when they had challanged me, and I had been using training dummies at the time. I was better with a tomahawk in hand than they were with their swords.
"You are all so engrained with your sportsman's conduct and 'honor' that you refuse to fight as true warfighters. I can guarantee you that the enemy will not be as nice as you are. If you meet the enemy like this you might as well turn around and bend over and say "take it" because that is exactly what they are going to do." Theresia said, Ghost being tuckered out, was now under her chair for a nap. May had gotten up for her turn but Theresia had waved her hand making her sit back down as the older woman got up and moved to our improptu sparring ring. Some workers watching as they went about their business, some in mechaworkers. I had given permission to Miss Haze to send over a number of NORMALs to help with repairs but also to help strengthen defenses.
"Stay where you are." Theresia ordered, both the next girl who was about to come up, and Chiaia. "You want us to take you seriously? I will." She said as she stepped into the ring, feet slightly spread. I looked over to Theresia's seat and saw she took her gun, but her usual rounds were on the ground. I looked back to the ring, knowing exactly what she was going to do as I saw the barest hint of blue at the cylinder of her gun. This was going to be a hard hitting lesson.
Lashara raised her hand, about to signal the start. Chiaia got set for a charge, the second she moved Theresia pulled her gun and shot repeatedly, putting round after round into Chiaia's chest, all rounds hitting centermass. The crowd was stunned into silence, Lashara was in shock. Her hand hadn't even moved down, the match never started. Chiaia looked shocked and afraid reaching up to her chest as she felt wetness and she fell to her knees.
"It... It hurts... It should hurt more...Right?" She said before she fell face first in a faint. I sighed as I stood up as the girls were just about to panic and start screaming, so focused they had been on the gun and the noise that they didn't look too closely at Chiaia.
"May get the bucket will you please?" I asked nicely as I turned Chiaia over. Her chest covered in in neon blue, pink and orange paint, little plastic bullets full of paint either beneath where she fell or still stuck to her clothing. Checking her pulse casually to make sure she didn't actually die from shock as May came up with the bucket. Theresia holstered her gun and crossed her arms waiting, a calm and cool expression on her face. Kenshi and his wives still in shock thinking she was dead until I had rolled her over and they could see the paint. Taking the bucket from May before I dumped it on Chiaia and she was shocked awake. Choking and sputtering sitting up and looking around wide eyed.
"Relax, you're not dead." I said before handing the bucket back to May before she walked off. Chiaia checking her chest again. Feeling for bullet holes, there were none of course but she was going to be bruised for the next couple days. She brought her fingers up looking at the paint on them and then looking at Theresia in shock, which was starting to turn to anger brought on by fear of death and what she thought was a very cruel joke.
"You wanted me to take you seriously? I took you seriously. I took care of you before you were ever a threat." Theresia said coldly looking down at the girl. She popped out the cylinder and popped out one of the bullets and held it up the plastic tip filled with green paint. "SIM rounds, everything is real except for the actual bullet. You think your enemy is going to fight fair just because you do? They will do the same if not worse than what I just did, and all it took was a couple seconds. Everyone else was being nice. I am not nice." Theresia said before she walked off, putting the SIM rounds away and reloading for lethal rounds. The loud clicks as she loaded up making Chiaia flinch. May had returned for her turn to teach and she helped Chiaia to her feet.
"It is that simple ladies. Either you kill them or they kill you. 'May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't.' It was something taught to me by my father, and a great man and leader said it long before him in one of the bloodiest wars our world has ever know. We are not here to be merciful, we are not here to be nice, we are not here to be honorable. We will kill, we will destroy, we will blow shit up, we will use every tactic available to us because that is exactly what the enemy is going to do to us. I promise you this, that the Lynx, Mecha-masters, and soldiers of the enemy will have been trained just as we have, and they will not rest until they have completely destroyed, broken and conquered you." I said looking at them all, hands on my hips, giving a hard look to all of them. May had come to stand by me and looked at me. I could see the disapproval in her eyes. She didn't want me to put them through the same training that I had gone through. Things were going to be bad yes, but not as bad as I made it seem. I was just so used to fighting dirty wars and battles both in a NEXT and on foot that I had almost forgotten that there was such a thing as an honor code in war and that not everyone was going to fight dirty.
" take a rest for an hour... Meet back here by then... I'll let May and Lilium take over." I said before I headed back to my spot and sat down. Kenshi and his wives breaking off. Some of them taking Chiaia away to talk with her. I could see Kenshi giving me a hard look, I didn't really care. You had to have a hard heart to do what I had to in ORCA. Knowing that much of the human race was going to die before we got off planet. It was something I would have to live with, knowing that I was responsible for so much death, to save our race as a whole, to know that I was both monster, and hero. People would only see the monster for many years to come. The hero wouldn't come until long after we left our planet. long after I was dead, or it would never come at all. I may always be viewed as a monster for the rest of human history.
"you don't have to be so hard on them Dare... It's not like back home..." Lilium said softly as she looked at me. Seeing my face and its hard set expression, remembering what I had to do in order to save the human race from extinction, the cost was, high, very high. I indirectly had a lot of innocent blood on my hands, something I knew I had to live with for the rest of my life.
"It's hard not too...look what I went through... Look what I had to do..." I said looking at her. she knew, they all knew my background, how I grew up and what Omer did to my home what they did to Joshua and my father. The many missions my father had taken, not all of them exactly clean, and my own. Seeing what my father did for a living to put food on the table and then I went and did the exact same thing.
" I know Dare, but this is NOT home. Yes we have to fight our own kind, yes they will fight like us. but the majority of that force is what Kenshi and the others are used to dealing with." She said looking at me and set her hand on mine. In the few weeks that we had been here, we had send out a number of drones, coming across various camps of the enemy force, and yes, about 80-90% had been the weapons and troops of this world. But that last percentage had been NORMALs and Arms Forts, the weapons of our world. The NEXTs were better hidden so we hadn't seen hide nor hair of them since the first sighting. We didn't know how many, or where they were, all we could do right now was wait for the first move in this grand game of war. Much of what I had assumed and initially planned for was thrown out the window. While the force was large, it was by no means what we had expected which also meant that any and all of their tech was going to be kept strictly to themselves. They would not be arming their allies. Instead it looked like a four sided war. us, the ORCA Brigade. And our opposite counterparts would deal with each other, while Kenshi and his forces would deal with their own counterparts. Though that didn't mean we weren't going to train them, to be better fighters, using better tactics. We were going to do what we could to increase his odds of survival while dealing with our side of the war.
"Alright... I'll let up... A little. though we still have to train some of them in NEXTs. If an Arms Fort or NORMALs shows up they will have no chance of taking them down unless they have at least one NEXT on standby, though it may as well be one of us." I said as she smiled seeing that she finally won. By our reports from our drones, there were a lot of Land Crabs of varying types, many more Giga Base-class Arms Forts and a couple of Eclipse. Though the most disturbing had been their main base which I knew it had to be which also had to have most of their NEXTs and NORMAL forces. There was only one and it was probably one of the most terrifying weapons ever created. They had Answerer. It was extremely dangerous to take down and much larger than the one I fought before, probabably to handle carrying NORMALs and NEXTs, but it wouldn't come here. Not unless they turned desperate. Had we not shown up, they probably would have brought it in because nothing could stop it, but between us and Motherwill, It wouldn't come anywhere near us. While standard NEXT weapons couldn't touch it at range. I was certain that Motherwill's cannons could bust through their Primal Armor, and we could take it down with NEXT weaponry if we had to and if we were close enough to where the PA wouldn't be able to destroy their rounds fast enough. That and I discovered that my MOONLIGHT was devastating to its weapons and wings. Despite all that power and the PA, it had very little actual armor plating which made it a very easy target once you disabled the missiles.
We could see Kenshi and his wives all together talking heatedly. They would occasionally glance over at us. I knew they didn't like the fact that we had taken over and I didn't give a damn. They would thank us when this was over. They didn't like it, but they also knew they didn't stand a chance against us, any of us. I had already proven myself. Canis was showing just how dangerous he was in hand to hand combat. He was one of a handful of people who could give me trouble if I wasn't careful, which was surprising because he never fought back when we abused him for his antics. maybe because he liked it, I don't know.
The group was walking back to us and getting up into their bleachers. May getting up and moving to the ring, she was the friendliest of us and would put them more at ease. She could probably train them so it sunk in better than than the rest of us since it was now clear they were afraid of Canis and terrified of Theresia and myself.
"I am going to be taking over training those of you who are not quite as up to speed as others of your group, don't worry I'll be a lot more gentle. After all I'm not a meanie like Darien over there, he just likes to bark a lot you know, Grrr.." she said throwing her thumb over her shoulder at me, growling playfully. Which got a couple of nervous giggles from the crowd, but they were warming up to her at lot faster than the rest of us. Lilium got up to go help. She was probably more suited to being an assistant than Canis, Theresia or myself at the moment. The two of them hadn't done anything to scare them. If anything they looked relieved when they were around because they had seen one, or both, reel me in on occasion during the last couple weeks, and with both of them taking over, it told the girls that they had once again 'collared the beast'. As some people have come to call it, which put them more at ease. I watched the two take over, lining the girls up in the field. Leading them through some basic warm up exercises, the girls much more relaxed and willing to listen to the two of them. Ghost had waddled over to me and looked right up at me after sitting. Sighing I reached into the basket and pulled out a ham and cheese sandwich, giving him a couple slices before eating the sandwich.
Many of the other students, male and female, were coming to watch the training session. Though mainly to stare at the otherworlders since we were still a new novelty to them. It didn't take us long to notice there was a larger population of females than males. Kenshi and his close wives stayed out of the training since they were better than the other girls and more experienced so we would leave them alone for now.
The principal and some of the teachers were watching us as they came up. Taking in the sight of all the girls in organized ranks as May and Lilium put them through a basic course of movments, stance, and attacks. the workers kept about their business though afew had come by to watch. The ones I had come to know as Hannah and Jozzy were standing together, watching May helping Lapis, with her stance. she was currently the only one of Kenshi's close wives to come out to the field to learn the basics. She certainly looked determined and hard working which got her respect points from us.
They had practiced for about an hour before May called for a water and bathroom break. The girls spreading out to either the water cooler or the bathroom facilities, looking much more relaxed and happier with Lilium and May training them. Lapis was looking nervous as she came over to us as we were all setting on blankets or chairs in the shade of trees, surprisingly, she was heading for Theresia, with her water bottle in hand, she was a very tiny girl and despite clearly being very nervous, she looked determined as well. Theresia looked up at her as she approached. Her expression as usual, was calm and carefully blank. Lapis fidgeted nervously before she looked up to look Theresia in the eye.
"Umm, I know I am in no position to ask... But you be willing to train me as you fight?" She asked, face flustered and nervous. Gaining a raised eyebrow from me, and surprisingly from Theresia as well.
"Why do you think I should train you and why me out of all of us?" Theresia asked looking at her. Crossing her legs and setting her hands in her lap. Lapis looked a little more nervous but she stayed rooted in her spot, so extra respect points for not backing down and running which I though she would do because that is how she came across at first.
"I want you to train me because I think that you and Mr. Vega have a point, and you look like you have seen a lot more than he has." she said shyly which got me to turn and look straight at her to which she almost back up but stopped as Theresia, surprisingly, laughed. I turned to her as she stopped and her expression softened a bit, almost motherly but with that hard edge of a trained soldier still behind it.
"Good answer, and yes I have more time on the battlefield the our young pup here." she said with that expression on her face still and glanced at me chuckling at my mock insulted growl before she briefly flipped the bird at me. "Alright Lapis, tell you what, I'll try training you, but know this, it is going to be hard. Harder than anything you have ever done. if you can't handle it, there is no shame in quitting, not everyone can go through the training regime that I went through. but if you make it through, you will earn a great deal of respect from all of us because you will be one tough little cookie." Theresia said as she stood up and looked at the rest of us. "I will handle this girl's training from now on, so you don't need to worry about her." Theresia said while Lapis looked up with a brighter expression and a little more determined and confident now that she had spoken to one of the scarier otherworlders and hadn't been sent off or laughed at.
Lapis and Theresia only walked a little bit away, still in the shade of our trees and NEXTs which were close by, Theresia already starting Lapis on a workout routine that she did along with her, this brought looks of surprise from the other girls as they all came back from their break. Seeing little Lapis taking direct instruction from one of those that scared them the most and that the same woman was going through the same work out with her, for an older woman she was very fit, constantly encouraging Lapis and pushing her to keep going. May and Lilium back to training the other girls while Kenshi and his close wives were in the shade of their bleachers. Lithia looked very surprised that Lapis had gone off on her own for a much harder training routine than the other girls. The others clearly in an easier class than Lapis was currently going through.
This continued for a few hours, stopping for breaks and lunch. Before it finally ended a couple hours past noon. The girls all soaked with sweat, Kenshi and his other wives joining in for the normal work outs after the basics were over with. all of us working out together except for Theresia and Lapis who were on their own routine, Theresia constantly pushing Lapis as she worked right beside her. Lapis looked like she wanted to cry at times but kept going, at the end of the day, she was leaning against the tree that Theresia used for shade, exhausted. Theresia sweating hard but still standing. encouraging the girl. as she rested. Everyone cleaning up, then I heard it, and turned very slowly to the small army of girls looking at Morga as she talked to Lithia.
"I don't think he is as tough as he acts or as good as he says, he beat us only because that Insanity of his is too advanced and he only beat us in combat on a fluke. he certainly takes orders from women like a good little boy." She said, indicating Lilium and May. " He probably has never seen a war like ours despite all his boasting. I don't think he even understands pain and loss, and talk about fashion, look at how he hides his face and arm. How can anyone wear an outfit like that." she said, still haughty and stuck up. The words she spoke setting off my anger, she was speaking loud enough to be heard, mainly to be seen as superior to her fellow wives, some of them even nodding in agreement. my friends hearing this either looked at her or me. My fists clenching in anger, Theresia, having heard the last lines. was about to rush her, and would have if Canis hadn't got a hold of her. Lilium seeing my anger and pain on my face. reaching up and rubbing my arm. Morga, seeing this, smirked liked she had hit a button, she didn't hit a button, she stepped on a fucking land mine. May grabbed my other arm seeing I was about to go after her. Lilium coming to help. I almost dragged them with me before I noticed them.
Morga looked a little fearful seeing my expression and how I was coming right for her and would have if May and Lily hadn't stopped me. Shaking in anger, my hands clenching and unclenching, wanting my hands to be around her neck. snarling before I turned away and started walking back for the NEXTs, Lily right beside me while May stayed between me and Morga, picking up hers and lilium's pets. Morga seeing me walk off, got more cocky and lost her fearful expression. "See? he obeys like a good boy. He knows who is superior." she said with arms over her chest. "He just likes to act out. Probably overcompensating for something. He has no idea what pain is." She said as she looked like haughty and completely cocky.
"I don't know pain huh?" I said softly, coming to a sudden halt, but loud enough to be heard. Reaching up and rubbing my covered right arm, Lilium stopping next to me as I stopped. Holding my arm infront of my so I could look at it, before reaching up to pull off the glove. they couldn't see what I was doing with my back to them.
Lilium saw what I was doing and reached up and grabbed my hand, knowing what I was going to do. " You don't have to do this...its not worth it..." She said to me, pleading a little as I reached up and pulled off my glasses. My eyes shut tight.
"No...I'm going to show them... Just this once, what pain and loss is." I said softly to her, reaching for, and pulling off my shirt. Some of the girls covering their eyes seeing what I was doing while others stared big eyed. The other students, workers, and teachers were all watching now, some of the other girls were looking on with interest seeing me starting to strip, until they saw what was being uncovered from my backside. They could see the ugly scar tissue that covered half my back from the right side that went from shoulder to waist, seeing all that raised and ugly scar tissue but what surprised them more was as I turned around so they could get a good look at me, at the scars that covered my right side, my right nipple gone as was any indication of my pec, walking forward with eyes shut still. Reaching up to pull off my bandana with my good hand, exposing the scars that covered the right side of my skull and upper face around my right eye, and they could now clearly see my biotech arm, all the gears, pistons and wires that made it work as it was connected to my torso where more metal workings that had replaced my upper right chest and back could be seen showing that I was a good deal of machine. I slowly raised my head, opening my eyes and exposing my biotech eye. Everyone looking completely shocked into silence as I looked around at them all. Holding up my right arm with fist clenched.
"Look at me... LOOK AT ME!" I roared out, commanding. All those who looked away from my disfigured body now all looked back transfixed at my command. The force in my force making them look. Morga looking horrified at me.
"I don't know pain? I don't know loss? take a good hard look... This is PAIN! I died in one of the hardest battles of my life! I lost over thirty percent of my body!" I yelled at them all as I walked around, completely exposed. Every transfixed at the monster in front of them. "The only reason I am standing before you today is because of two crazy old men who put me back together. This is the price of war... This is the price of fighting for what you believe in! Look at me!" I roared again as they were about to turn away again, Lilium had her face in her hands. The rest of my friends looked angry as I walked around, completely exposed, to drill this point into this bunch of children.
"I don't know loss? That NEXT we saw weeks ago? you want to know why I was so upset about it? Why I am so angry to see it? Its because that particular Lynx and NEXT killed my mother! That is Loss! That is Pain! You want to know why they call me Insanity? Take a wild fucking guess!" I snapped, looking at them all. Glaring at Morga as she stared back horrified at me.
"This war turned personal, and I will not rest until that bitch is dead at my feet! I know war, pain and loss better than any of you standing here!" I yelled at them all, glaring all around. "I have more blood on my hands than any of you could ever imagine. Next time think before you open your mouth, because next time I'll have you lying at my feet if you insult me like this again!" I snapped, looking hard at Morga before walking away with heavy, angry steps. Pulling on my shirt and glove again and tying my bandana back around my skull and putting on my glasses. My friends jogging after me. Theresia still looked pissed, I know I did. She took it almost as personally as I did.
We climbed back into our NEXTs, ghost riding on my shoulders, and boosted back home in silence though I know that Lilium was watching me through the cameras, May too for that matter. Both concerned for me as they knew my temper and how I felt about my injuries and mother. We were all back in the manor within half an hour and I was sitting in one of the chairs back in mine and Lilium's rooms. Lilium and May both there talking to me and calming me down slowly until they finally got exasperated with my mood and temper with their slow progress and dragged me up to the bedroom. Two hours later I was too tired to be angry anymore and passed out for a couple hours with Lily and May in each arm until dinner. We came down to the dining hall smelling roasted chicken and potatoes, both girls walking a bit bow legged but they looked satisfied that they had exhausted most of my anger out of me. As we walked in I froze, Kenshi and all his wives were there spread among the long dinner tables. It looked like Kenshi and some of the other girls had helped Miss Haze, Theresia and Canis cook dinner for everyone. Seeing them all there I quickly grabbed my bandana and glasses and pulled them on and glared at the other Lynx, walking in since Lily and May wouldn't let me back out.
"You could have said we had guests..." I hissed at them, before taking my spot. Noting that Morga was sitting as far from me as possible at the farthest table and at the farthest end of it while Kenshi and his other close wives sat at our table.
"We tried but at both times we tried there was either to much noise or you were sleeping like a rock." Canis said, smirking at us as he saw how Lilium and May were walking, I glared at him and picked up a baked potato and chucked it as hard as I could at his head He only grinned further after dodging it as I growled at him. Making sure that everything was covered by my bandana and glasses.
"We wanted to apologize, we didn't know what you had gone through up to this point. We are sincerely sorry for our co-wife's rude and apalling behavior." Princess Aura said as she stood up and bowed to us. I was really not in the mood to deal with any of them but unfortunately I had no choice in the matter. May and Lily taking their places next to me. I noticed that Lapis was sitting next to Theresia. She looked exhausted but it appeared she hadn't given up after her first day training with Theresia and so the older Lynx was giving her pointers on how to eat and train if Theresia didn't have time for her.
"Apologize...Accepted." I said, barely wincing as Lily elbowed me hard in the ribs knowing my temper and knowing I was going to deny it unless she made me. "Just make sure that none of those particular subjects are brought up again." I said looking at them all, seeing nods all around. They didn't want to have to see that again, though some were either staring hard at me or not at all. There was a morbid, grim fascination with staring at such injuries, it couldn't be helped. Some of them looked like they pitied me as they kept touching their own arms or heads as if they were trying to imagine what it was like to lose an arm or live with the injuries that I had.
Dinner was a louder affair than usual, the girls couldn't keep quiet for long, and what had began as quiet quick whispers had eventually turned into a lot of chatter and gossip as they got braver seeing that no one was stopping them from talking. Some occasional glances at me but they had slowed or stopped over time. Kenshi looked at me occasionally thorughout dinner. As if trying to understand me judging by personality, temper, and what history they got out of me or the others. We made a point to talk very little about ORCA and what we had done up til this point. They obviously wanted to know more as the girls kept bugging May or Lilium seeing as they were the friendliest of us. A few were even trying to get to know Theresia better seeing that the normally quiet and timid Lapis had gone up to her and Theresia didn't bite her head off and instead took the girl under her wing. My mood gradually improved over time, I was male, my temper either would last for hours or days or sometimes only a few minutes depending on circumstances. Males felt emotions just as strongly if not stronger than females, it was just that it was so ingrained in our brains since birth that any show of emotion was a sign of weakness that we didn't usually react externally as females did to things, though internally we felt it, we were just better at keeping things under wraps unless like earlier. Such a strong surge of emotions would get out and we would show it very clearly.
Lilium kept a close watch over me throughout dinner, making sure I behaved myself now since they had appologized to me. she chatted and talked with the girls though she kept checking on me because I was so quiet.
Miss Haze leaned in as she finished her plate, looking at me. "They have started moving. The drones I sent out earlier today showed a handful of Land Crabs of Union origin on their way. They also have a lot of mechanoids, mechaworkers and foot soldiers on the move as well. They might be here in a week since they are trying to be cautious and avoid my drones. No idea how many NORMALs or even NEXTs are in those Land Crabs, but they will devastate Kenshi's forces unless we deal with them. That leaves Kenshi and his troops to deal with their opposing counter parts. One last thing, two of the mechanoids stood out. A dark blue one who looks like the skin of his tain was skinned off, and a red and grey one next to it. They certainly stood out a lot more than the other mechanoids. Not sure how critical that is or what it means to Kenshi and the others, but we should tell them in the meeting tomorrow before we push their training more. We will have to train them in between clashes. I think they will keep coming to us because we are sitting on a prime piece of real estate, they have nothing at their camps that will make us want to go to them so lets take the home field advantage and keep it. the only exception is that Answerer that they have. I don't see it moving anytime soon but still, we need to keep our eyes on it. " she reported to me. Passing along her PDA which showed me everything she had observed for today.
"Agreed, the Answerer will wipe out everyone and everything here if it comes before we can destroy it. Keep the main cannons aimed in its general direction and if it ever goes on the move and comes into range, open fire. If need be, we will send out NORMAL drones to harrass some of their camps and keep them hard linked to our records so if a NEXT comes out, we can at least do a quick search and destroy to deal with it so they don't come at us in force, things could end very badly if they throw everything at us at once because they outnumber us already in NORMALs and Arms Forts, but if they add NEXTs to the mix we will be very hard pressed to hold them off. But they won't do that because that will leave Answerer and their other soft targets exposed to us. I'll handle Answerer myself if I have to if it comes to it. Just be ready to start harrassing their camps with NORMALs and have the assembly lines warmed up and ready to build replacements. "I said looking at all the data and then issuing orders. We had discovered that another sub-pocket of Motherwill was completely dedicated to assembling NORMALs and spare NEXT parts and weapons as well as ammo which finally answered our question of how our repairs, ammo and reinforcements would be handled. We kept finding new things about Motherwill every few days or so.
I leaned back in my seat after handing Miss Haze back her PDA, calmer and more focused with a clear objective in front of me. My previous anger and bad mood gone as I focused on the task at hand. Looking around at all of the carefree girls. I was going to have to let Kenshi lead his own forces for the most part while we dealt with keeping the others off their backs. Setting my hands on the table as I started planning our attack and defense strategies, the first move of this massive chess game of war has been taken. The clock was ticking. Time to prepare for our counterattack. I could only hope that my target would be in the first assault. The war has begun.
Chapter 10 is finally done. hit writers block halfway through and was working on how to get through It and a friend might get his wish earlier than expected. we will see, for now i will see what flows through my hands for Chapter 11. hope you enjoyed the chapter. constructive criticism is appreciated, bitches gripes complaints? shoot me a message, just don't be an idiot about it.