(Takes place in episode 4.)
(I am not the best at Montages but this will be my best shoot.)
-Montage begin-
-Day 1 of Training.-
A new day had begun as everyone was sleeping in a provided room with purplish gray carpet with blue line patterns, 6 bunk beds with over headlights, three nightstands on the right side of each bunk, three desks in front of each bunk, and personal lockers for their clothes on both sides of the room. Everyone was sleeping soundly in their bunks with Cammie(top bunk) and Valentina(bottom bunk) sleeping on the furthest bunks from the door, Jaune (top bunk) and Kazu(bottom bunk) sleeping in the middle row of bunks, and Yasamin(bottom bunk) sleeping on the last set of bends. The light of the room were then turned on as Chase mixed into the room and gazed at them.
"Rise and shine, y'all. School starts today. Let's go." he said as everyone began to grown and get up.
Everyone then began to put on their gen:LOCK suits and do whatever they could to prepare for their first day of training. Adjust shoulders, shadow box the air, door their hair, even flex in the mirror like Kazu did.
"Ugh." Valentina groaned with an eye roll as she left.
The only one that wasn't out of bed yet was Cammie, still sleeping even though they had to get ready.
"Cammie, come on. It's time to get up." Jaune said in his blue suit, gently shaking Cammie awake.
She groaned as she opened her eyes, seeing her friend wave at her before she finally got up and got ready. Once suited up, everyone headed down to the mess hall and got provided trays of food but they weren't exactly appetizing. Yaz didn't mind it as she dug in while Valentina, Cammie, and Jaune gazed at it with caution.
"This is our breakfast?" Cammie asked as she gazed at it with a frown, her little robot Nugget on her shoulder looking at the food as well.
"I guess so but I'm sure it taste better then it looks." Jaune said with hope before they all heard sizzling and looked to see Kazu making his own breakfast on a grill. "Though, nothing's wrong with making your own."
Following the red suited man's lead, Jaune went over and began to make some eggs(fried and scrambled) and bacon for breakfast. He was nice enough to make some for everyone to share, something Cammie and Valentino were more than grateful for as this made eating their provided meals easier.
"Jaune, you are a life saver." Cammie said as she ate some fried eggs.
"Agreed." Valentina said as she ate some bacon.
"No problem." he said as they had a nice breakfast
Once breakfast was done, every headed to the lab and got into the pods to upload into their holons with Dr. Well ready on the computers. Once they uploaded and headed for the field, Yaz observed them as they had target practice against virtual Union spider tanks. The results were pretty basic as Jaune, Cammie, and Kazu's aim wasn't accurate but Valentina was more then prefect as she got perfect shots every time. The trio couldn't help but gaze at her holon with envy was she posed in victory. The next portion of training was stealth and maneuverability, they faced Miranda, Leon, and Jodie again as they all had rifles and tried to stay hidden while finding them to shot. Kazu and Cammie went off in one direction as Jaune and Valentina went off in another, they remained hidden as Valentina looked to see Kazu rush out and get taken down by a walker tank.
"What's the scenario?" Jaune asked.
"Kazu's out. Let's try to circle around and strike." she said to him, getting a nod as they moved the other direction.
They were also to the corner before Cammie came out and got startled, shooting at them while covering her face.
"Hey, Cammie!" Jaune said as her and Valentina covered their faces, waiting until she stopped shooting to see it was them.
Safe to say she was embarrassed as they moved onto hand to hand combat training. Miranda and Leon gave a quick demonstration of a spar before they stopped and turned to Valentina and Yaz as they stepped into a large boxing ring to spar. Cammie watched from the side as she crouched down on a crate as they began.
"Huh!" Yaz grunted as she spun for a sweep kick but Valentina moved back to dodge.
"Ha!" Valentina said as she threw a high kick but Yaz leaned back to dodge.
Meanwhile in another boxing ring, Jaune was sparring with Kazu as Chase watched so see how this would fair.
"Alright, Jaune. Let's see what those self defense classes on your record can do." Chase said as Jaune assumed a boxing stand, bouncing on the soles of his holon.
"Bring it on, kid./それを持ってきて、子供。" Kazu said as he gestured for Jaune to attack.
Jaune gave a nod before charging in, getting close to throw two jabs that Kazu dodge and a right hook that he ducked under.
"HA!" Kazu shouted before punching Jaune in the stomach, sending him stumbled back before he regained balance.
He charged back in and drew his fist back for a punch, seeing Kazu ready to block before Jaune change and kicked his leg out from under him.
"Got ya." Jaune said before quickly tackling Kazu to the ground and holding him down by the arms and waist.
"Not bad, that MMA?" Chase asked.
"A bit, yeah." Jaune said as he continued to hold a struggling Kazu down. "Submit, man. You're not getting out of this."
Kazu didn't listen as he managed to get his left arm free and punch Jaune in the face but he didn't give up his grapple.
"AH! Fine, have it your way!" Jaune shouted at him before he unleashed a flurry of right arms punched at Kazu, who brought his free left arm to block them.
"Whoa! That's enough, Jaune! You won!" Chase said as he went to stop the fight, stopping Jaune from throwing more punches.
While the younger holon calmed down and got up, Kazu's pride wouldn't let this stand as he got up and socked Jaune in the stomach before slamming him down to the ground.
"Kazu!" Chase argued from the dirty trick while Kazu just posed in victory.
'So he want to play dirty huh?' Jaune thought before springing back up and giving Kazu an uppercut.
This spun out of control into a fight that went outside of the boxing arena with Chase running after them to try and break it up. After the fight was handled, the 4 newbies moved on to an obstacle course to improve their agility. The ones who performed the best were Valentina and Kazu with Jaune managing to give a alright performance and Cammie not being able to keep up with any of them.
"Wo-Woah!" she let out as she stumbled and fell on her back.
She sighed in defeat as she looked to a crate next to her before a hand was placed over her head.
"Need some help?" Jaune asked her as he smiled but he couldn't show it in his holon.
"First breakfast, now helping a lady up? You trying to score a date with me?" Cammie teased as she took his hand and he pulled her up.
"MMM. Maybe but I want work up to it." Jaune teased back before nodded to the course. "Come on, let's catch up."
Giving a nod and a giggle to him, the two continued through the obstacle course until they moved on to a lecture from Dr. Weller as he mixed in from the lab.
"Gather around everyone. Class is about to begin." he said as they all sat around him. " In the field, the most important thing to protect is your cyber brain. No matter the costs. We can repair any other damage to your holons, but you only one mind. Don't ask if we can make copies because you will not get an answer."
-Day 5 of Training.-
The training had progressed nicely as they were all slowly getting better, Jaune, Cammie, and Kazu were getting better with their aim while Valentina upgraded to a sniper rifle. This best fit her since she had experience being a snipper before coming to the Anvil.
"Today's topic is Uptime. It is the limit to how long your mind can run on a cyber brain before you must return to your body." Dr. Weller said as he mixed to them for today's lesson. "If your neural/psychological image is changed too much, it will be incompatible with your body's nervous system. You won't be able to download again if it is changed."
After the debrief for training, the group left to return to their barracks and rest for tomorrow. They each had their own activities to pass the time but they did not interact with one another much outside of training, except Jaune and Cammie who were grateful to have a partner to play "Siege 2" with.
-Day 6 of Training-
A new day of training was before them but with the new recruits getting armor for their holons like Chase and Yaz. Each one was armored differently and differently designed for each of them. Kazu's was red, Valentina's was purple, Cammie's had green markings and a set of flaps mounted on her head to mimic her mechanical ears, and Jaune's was customized with blue armor and markings. They all assembled for another mixed in lesson as Jaune, Cammie, Kazu, and Valentina sat around Dr. Weller.
"Overclocking, one of the many modifications available to you while running your digitized mind. Use this with caution, for though it can make you faster, stronger or braver, it will consume your uptime faster." he said to them.
The team was then put on a foot race through a mountain trail with their holons, they were instructed to try to use their overclocking to see which one could handle it the best. The winner was none other then Chase due to his lengthy experience before he received a warning about his uptime.
"WARNING. UPTIME SAFETY PROTOCOL BREACHED. BEGINNING IMMEDIATE DOWNLOAD." it said before Chase's holon was shut down and he returned to his damaged body.
The rest of the group was able to catch up and see Yaz shaking her head while gesturing to Chase's holon.
-Day 7 of Training-
"Your bodysuits not only protect you precious gen:LOCK potential, they can also serve as intelligent armor and enhance your bodies speed and strength base on it's intent through your nervous system." Dr. Weller said with a smile as they all stood outside without their holons this time except Chase. "If you have to wear them nearly 24/7, you may as well be comfortable in them."
The group was then put into spars to fully understand the mechanics of their suits, getting sudden bursts of new strength and speed with as they fought. Like Kazu after Yaz kicked him away, his suit began to glow in certain parts of his body before he charged at get again. This time, he was faster then before and dodged Yaz' strikes with ease while delivering some of his own.
"There's also an always active network between your uploaded minds. Think of it as sight beyond sight, allowing you to share your eyes when you need them. It is also the first stage to achieving gen:LOCK phase two where you not only share your eyes but share everything in your respective minds." Dr. Weller said as they moved onto the next exercise.
They were doing the same stealth exercise as the first day, facing off against Miranda, Joey, and Leon in their walkers. The team had improved immensely as since then as Yaz was their eyes in the sky, linking with them through the network to avoid the walkers.
-Day 8 of Training-
The team was having breakfast once again as Jaune and Kazu were cooking together since the first day, having gotten past their fight on first day and became friends/rivals. Though Jaune had some catching up to do, they were good friends.
"Bacon's about done, Kazu. You good with the eggs?" Jaune asked him as he stirred his skillet full of bacon.
"Yeah, they're looking good./ええ、彼らはよく見えます。" he said as he had a pan full of fried and scrambled eggs.
After breakfast was done and they moved onto their holons, the group was sitting in another one of Dr. Weller's lectures.
"Today, we're covering the most import accept of being in the gen:LOCK program, aging out. When the human brain reaches adulthood, it stops regenerating the key aspect of gen:LOCK, neurotransmitters. gen:LOCK relies upon in young minds, hence you can reach an age where they no longer are produced and you can no longer be in the program." he said as he gestured towards Leon. "Like Leon for example. he is gen:LOCK compatible but is a little too old to participate. There's too much risk for him to dive in like the rest of you."
This news shocked the tank pilot as he gazed in awe at Dr. Weller. To think the Polity had two compatible all along but one was too old.
After the lecture was finished, the team worked in almost complete sync, having each other's back and shooting every target without fail. After the day's training was complete, they reported back to the hanger and set their holons back in their ports before diving out and back to their bodies.
-Montage End-
Back in the barracks, everyone was currently relaxing from the day of training and out of their gen:LOCK suits for their normal clothes. Yasamin was wearing a gray shirt and pants with boots while sitting at a desk with a holo-screen to read something, Valentina was without her jacket and doing the splits on the floor, Kazu was laying his back on his bed while strumming his guitar, Cammie was on her own holo-screen checking something while laying on her bed, and Jaune was reading a book while sitting on his bed.
"I don't think my legs have ever been this tight before." Valentina said with a small groan as she stretched them as far as she could.
"You are doing the splits after all./結局、あなたは分割をしているのです。" Kazu said as he leaned up from his bed to gaze at Valentina.
"I'm just saying it wasn't this hard when I did it before." she said back to him.
"Well they have been pushing us pretty in training. Maybe that could be it." Jaune said as he looked to Valentina, who shrugged at him, before returning to his book.
Kazu wanted to comment on what Val said but ignored it and laid back down on his bed, grasping at the air.
"God, I could use a beer./神様、私はビールを使うことができました。" he said with a sort of plead.
"They sell beer in the commissary." Yaz said as she continued to reed her screen.
"Really? Nice." Cammie said as she looked to Yaz.
"Not to you or Jaune, Cammie." she said as she turned her head to her.
"I'm legal back in Scotland...if I order it with some food." Cammie admitted as Nugget looked at her.
"The drinking laws are different here, Cammie. Not that I care, but we're still registered minors." Jaune said as he looked up from his book.
"Thank you, Jaune." Yaz said with a nod to him.
"I need a beer. I don't care where I have to get it on this base./私はビールが必要。このベースのどこで入手する必要があるかは気にしません。" Kazu pleaed more as he continued to grasp at the air.
"On that we can agree, I also wouldn't mind a dance floor." Valentina said before Chase mixed into the room.
"Sorry to disappoint ya, but we're not allowed to go off base." Chase said as everyone looked at him.
"Then what does everyone do for fun around here?" Valentina asked as she focused back on her splits.
"The Ether, same as everyone else." Yaz said as she went back to reading her holo-screen.
"You guys up for a game session on "Siege 2?"" Cammie asked them.
"No." everyone but Jaune said as the blonde man closed his book.
"Come on, guys, at least she's suggesting something." he said as he hung his feet of the side of the bed.
"Thank you!" Cammie said before she jumped off her bed as Valentina got up to stand. "Is Jaune the only one who wants to game with me? Would ya really rather be bored?"
"We have been training together non-stop and this is our first full break. You're the last people I want to spend more time with." Valentina said as she looked to Cammie with a hand on her right hip.
"Well wouldn't this be a good team building exercise then? Even if it's on our break, we could still relax and have fun." Jaune said as Cammie pointed to him.
"Exactly! Gaming together can help us improve or some shyt! What do you say?" Cammie asked as she looked over the rest of the group since Jaune was already on her side.
The room was a bit silent for a moment before Kazu gave a sigh and lied down while Chase crossed his arms.
"Alright, sure." he said with a nod.
"WOO!" Cammie cheered while jumping in the air.
"Sweet! See you guys in the Ether." Jaune said as he pulled out a virtual reality headset and laid back on his bed, laying on his bed.
Everyone did the same as Kazu laid on his bed, Valentina laid on the floor, Yaz rested her head and arms on the table and Chase mixed out of the room. Being the first two to log in, Jaune and Cammie appeared in a huge, brightly colored city with buildings of bright lights, slanted structures, and people as gaming characters or themselves all around them. Cammie's character was a white rabbit with large green eyes, a pair of goggles, a black vest and a necklace with one gold and two silver nuts while Jaune's character was wearing blue knight armor with a black hood over his head and a large shield in his left hand and a sword on his waist. (Heathcliff from SAO armor but blue.) To two gazed around for their friends but saw they were nowhere in sight.
"Did they forget to link up with us?" Jaune asked as he turned to his rabbit friend.
Cammie sighed as she brought up a screen and a clicked the menu button titled "Friends."
"Let me handle it." she said as she clicked Kazu's name for their party, hearing his mix in behind them.
Turning around, they saw their friend with his hands on his hips while wearing a metal-studded leather jacket with matching black pants, black boots, a white designed t-shirt under it the jacket with a fingerless stub glove on his right hand and a white wristband on his left wrist. His hair was stylized to go over his left eye and he had black face paint over his eyes.
"Wow, going for the metal look huh?" Jaune said as he looked at his friend.
"I could say the same for your knight get up./私はあなたの騎士が起きるのと同じことを言うことができます。" Kazu said back.
"This is my "Siege" look." he said to him with a proud nod.
"But seriously, did you need to look tougher then you already are?" Cammie asked him as Yaz mixed in in front of Cammie.
She looked the most normal but with a different outfit of a red orange hijab, a saffron coat, and her hair being longer under the hijab.
"A hijab? in here?" Cammie asked as they took in her appearance.
"Is it that strange?" she aske with a smirk.
"No not in the slightest. It's just strange seeing you with longer hair." Cammie said as she gestured around her head.
"I think she looks rather lovely. Is this an old look of your's?" Valentina asked as she mixed in next to Yaz but was the most different then the rest.
Valentina's avatar was a male with red streaks across his right eye and white across his left, wearing a dark suit with matching gloves, rolled up sleeves and no undershirt. The suit itself projects a space background depicting moving stars and nebulae.
"Whoa, nice suit!" Jaune said with wide eyes.
"You look absolutely smashing!" Cammie said.
"Valentina, is that you?/ヴァレンティナ,、それはあなたですか？" Kazu asked as he looked at "him."
"Yes, it's me. And I think it's time that "Val" came back into light." he said as he checked out his hand quickly.
"Val? You game as a guy?/ヴァル? あなたは男としてゲームしますか？" Kazu asked he tilted his head to "Val."
"Well, it's sort of like that but not exactly like that. I will game as a man from now on but it's a bit complicated than that." Val said.
"Kazu, do they not have-" Cammie stopped before turning to Val. "Oh, sorry Val. You should say it. It's your body."
"It's fine, Cammie." Val said to her before looking to Kazu. "Currently, my body is female but it wasn't always female. I like to...change it up every now and then."
"Change it up?/変更しますか？" Kazu asked,
"Val is genderfluid, Kazu." Jaune said to him.
"Genderfluid?/ジェンダーフルード？" he said in surprise, finally understanding.
"So you've change yourself?" Yaz asked with crossed arms.
"A few times, actually." Val said to her.
"So, you're really a guy?/ だから、あなたは本当に男ですか？" Kazu asked as Val turned to him.
"Sometimes I am a man, sometimes I am a woman. Right now, I'm deciding one becoming a man again soon. I feel the pressure coming on much heavier then it ever has before." Val said as they looked away for a moment before looking back at Kazu.
"That must be some pressure." Jaune commented, though he didn't know what pressure she had experienced before.
"Alright but...which were you born as?/大丈夫ですが...あなたはどちらとして生まれましたか? " Kazu asked as Val leaned closer to him.
"That's the mystery." they whispered while caressing Kazu's cheek.
Val pulled back as Kazu was left in a state of curiosity. Cammie then gave a grunt as she saw that one person of their group was still missing.
"Where is Chase? It shouldn't take this long." she said before hearing him mix in next to Jaune and they all turned to him. "Really? You can make your character into anything you wish and you just add a hoodie?"
"What can I say?" Chase asked he showed off his brown trousers, a black shirt with white stylistic rhombus shapes on it, a gray hoodie with glowing cyan interior and white shoes. "I gotta do me."
"Amen to that, my hoodie brother." Jaune said as Chase chuckled at his fellow hoodie wearer.
"So, what we gaming in?" Chase asked the group as Cammie brought up a menu screen.
"Aye. We got dozens of games to chose from. Maybe sci-fi?" Cammie asked as she pushed a game option, changing all of their appearances to colored battle armor with helmets while she was now a robotic rabbit.
"Are you serious? This is no different then our real suits." Val said as they all looked over their armor before Cammie changed it.
"Pirates then?" Cammie asked as they were now dressed in pirate like attire. "Up for plundering booty on the high seas?"
"Arr! I think a new option is needed, matey!" Jaune said in pirate-talk as he was dressed like a familiar movie pirate. (Jack Sparrow)
"Fancy monster hunters then?" Cammie asked as she changed them to fashionable clothes with unique weapons on their persons. "Sound good? Come on, guys! Make a choice already!"
"I'm up for anything of these, personally." Jaune said as all of their Ether appearances chanced back to normal.
"I...think I'm just gonna go catch a concert./私は…コンサートに行くつもりだと思います。" Kazu said awkwardly as he walked away.
While watching him leave, Val caught sight of two people in a nice outfits walking back and the woman caught Val's eye a bit.
"Ehhh, I have a sudden need to check out the clubs." Val said before walking off from the group.
"Oh you bunch of dafties. Yaz?" Cammie said as she looked to Yaz with a bit of pleading.
"I think I'm gonna quit before I get ahead. Maybe next time, Cammie." Yaz said as she walked off on her own as well.
Cammie's rabbit ears flopped down in sadness before Jaune walked to her and gave her a head pat.
"Sorry this didn't work out as you thought, Cammie but you've still got me and Chase." Jaune said as he gestured to Chase.
"Uhh, I guess that's fine." she said with as her ears went back up.
"What? Are we not-" Chase said with offense before the Ether began to glitch and cause everyone and everything to static and waver.
It lasted for less than 5 seconds before everything suddenly went black and the Ether shut down, forcing everyone of the gen:LOCK team back to the barracks.
"What was that? Did someone not pay the Ether bill for the base?" Cammie asked as she sat up and took off her VR goggles as the base alarm system was going off.
"I don't think so, something big is going on." Jaune said as he looked up to the alarm ringing with everyone getting up as well.
"Interceptors, ready one and ready two. Scramble. Alert Teams Baker, Charlie, and gen:LOCK One. Report to North Mech Hangar for immediate load up. Repeat, Interceptors..." Able said over the speaker system as the alarm rang.
"Does he mean us?/彼は私たちを意味しますか？" Kaz asked as a warning screen appeared in front of all of them.
"I could guess, it is!" Jaune said as he jumped down from his bunk.
"Oh hell." Cammie said with wide eyes while Chase mixed into the room.
"It's showtime, guys! Let's roll!" Chase said as he pointed to the door.
Rushing to their suits and heading to the docking bay, the gen:LOCK team and their holons loaded up on the Polity aircraft carrier and flew off towards their first mission. They were joined by Dr. Weller and Colonel Marin, who mixed in, as the others communicated through video screen.
"We'll be dropping within about ten clicks north of the Dallas Data Center." Marin said with her hands behind her back.
"Are targeting the Ether? How can they even do that?" Leon asked through the top right screen.
"It appears the Union is attacking one of the main distribution nodes for the entire network." Dr. Weller said as the gen:LOCK team stood around him and Colonel Marin, a digital clock loaded on a screen floating next to him.
"We've evacuated the area once the attack began but since then, there's been too much interference for us to get a correct read on the Union forces." Marin said as she looked over the team. "We're not exactly sure how many you'll be going against."
"Well that's just great./それは素晴らしいことです。" Kazu said with a blank face as he stood next to Valentina.
"If they tap into the data center, we're fucked aren't we?" Cammie asked while standing in between Valentina and Jaune.
"Cammie, when this is over, we have got to work on your cursing problem." Dr. Weller said with his hands on his hips.
"Why? I think my cursing is-" Cammie said before Jaune put a hand over her mouth. "Mmm?"
"Not that a joke isn't appreciated, it's not the time or the place for it." Jaune said as Yaz gave him a nod before he turned to Dr. Weller. "How bad is the situation, doc?"
"We're not entirely sure yet." Dr. Weller said as Cammie took Jaune's hand off her mouth.
"Huh?" she let out in confusion.
"The union doesn't usually attack like this, it's completely new." Yaz said with crossed arms while remembering her union past.
"Exactly. The Union works more like an infection. They creep and expand. This data center is hundreds of miles from Union territory." Marin said as she flourished her right hand out. "We've never seen them extended their reach this far in one go since-"
"New York." Jaune and Chase said as everyone turned to Jaune and Chase.
"You were at New York?" Chase asked him as Jaune gave a nod, showing a sad look.
"Born and raised, until the Union invaded." Jaune said before shaking off his sadness and showing determination. "We can't let them take Dallas too."
"Agreed. The Union's usual strategy is to edge into the next area and shove the Polity out with minimum collateral damage." Dr. Weller explained as he looked over the group. "They always want to keep the infrastructure intact. Maybe they've finally decided it's time to cripple the Ether."
"Then let's upload already and stop them./それでは、すでにアップロードして停止しましょう。" Kazu said as everyone turned to him before realizing something. "Wait, why couldn't we just upload from the base and just send in our holons?/待って、なぜ私たちはベースからアップロードしてホロンを送ることができなかったのですか？"
"Did you not listen?" Cammie ask him.
"Kazu, you do remember what Dr. Weller said about our uptime, right?" Jaune asked him with a raised eyebrow. "We have a limited amount?"
"Our current limit is insufficient the travel and the mission itself." Yaz said with her arms still crossed.
"Exactly. This is how you'll work when on missions. We fly you in, you upload from the plane, take care of business, then you download back quickly and then back to base." Dr. Weller said in a rush.
"With the risk of bring our bodies closer to the battlefield." Valentina said with snide and a raise right hand. "Can you see hear how thrilling that sounds?"
"Alright, alright. Let's get to it, when do we download?/わかった、わかった。いつダウンロードしますか？" Kazu asked as he looked to Dr. Weller.
"Ummm..." Dr. Weller let out as he looked to the clock next to him, seeing it struck exactly 23:47 o lock. "Now."
Heading to the GL pods loaded onto the plane, everyone laid down and relaxed as they downloaded into their holons to drop for the mission but it wasn't very comfortable as they were lined in a row and in uncomfortable sitting positions. From the back to the front, it was Val, Cammie, Jaune, Kazu, Yaz, and Chase.
"Uh, Jaune, cant get you arse out of me face!?" Cammie asked as she had stare at Jaune's holon's backside.
"Sorry, Cam, can't do that. Tight fit." he said as he could barely move his shoulders around.
"None of us...are happy about this./私たちの誰も...これに満足していません。" Kazu said back to them.
The polity carriers were flying over the city as Leon radioed to the gen:LOCK team.
"Reaching the drop zone. We're coming in hot." he said to them.
"How hot?" Chase asked him.
His answer came when the hanger doors under their holons opened and they were met with the sounds of fire from the Union. Chase dropped down as his holon switched to a camouflaged skin as a Union spider tank was in front of him. The tanks shot grappling hook and caught Chase's arms, dragging him in until Chase flipped over the tank and held it as Yasamin dropped down in after him. She fired at the tank and skated to the side as Chase was released the the tank was destroyed, they left to scout the area for more Uninon troops. Valentina was the next to drop as she used a tether from the carrier to land on top of a build, she looked for the highest view point and worked her way there to act as sniper support.
"Let's jam!" Cammie said as she and Jaune dropped into a zone together.
The blue holon landed with a tuck and roll as Cammie was slipping a bit on her skates, kicking a few cares away on accident. Jaune rushed and stopped her from causing anymore damage as Cammie got her balance.
"Heh, thanks." Cammie said with a nod as she and Jaune moved to recon the area.
Meanwhile, the last of their team had been deployed from the carrier plane in another area.
"YAH!" Kazu shouted as he failed to land properly and flopped into a roll down a road before hitting a globe of the earth covered in lights to stop.
He quickly got up and tried to look like it was planned before walking to look for the Union. A squad of Union soldiers with tanks were patrolling an area before Chase came racing in and took them out, using his rifle to make quick work of the ground soldiers before flipping onto a tank and shooting it to pieces and taking out the other one.
"Alright, Yaz! The first area is clear." he said as he landed from the destroyed tanks.
"Everyone, switch on your camo. We're closing in on Chase's location." she said through the commlinks before taking out several fighter drones. "Ready to advance, I'll cover. Go."
On the tallest building, Valentina was on their stomach with the sniper rifle ready as they switch their camo on while Jaune, Cammie, and Kazu did the same. The former two were against a building with their guns out and ready.
"Cover my six." Jaune said as he walked in front of Cammie, who nodded as they moved down the round.
The duo moved in silence as Jaune looked around the area before turning to see Kazu walking up to them. He jumped a bit but calmed down when it was a friend, not a foe.
"Good to see you, Kazu." Jaune said with a nod as Kazu nodded back to them and walked away.
Going on his own, Kazu ran into the crossfire of Polity soldiers against Union soldiers. He tried to fire but his gun was knocked out of his hand, though it didn't stop him from improving. He walked to a care and lifted it to throw at them before the spider tanks were suddenly shot down, Kazu looked and saw Val waving to him from their sniping point. Back with the youngest of the gen:LOCK team, Jaune and Cammie were hiding around a corner as a Vanguard walker was facing off against several Union soldiers and two spider tanks.
"Okay, the walker should be able to handle the foot soldiers but we can deal with the spider tanks." Jaune said as he turned to Cammie. "You take the tank in the back, I'll go for the one in front."
Getting an unsure nod, Jaune came from around the corner and skated towards the union squad. He dodged any shots from the tanks before charging in!
"YAH!" he screamed as he tackled the front spider from the squad.
The holon and tank rolled on the ground before Jaune got on top and pulled out his gun, shooting the exposed undercarriage 6 times. The tank sparked as Jaune moved away and it exploded. He then turned to see the other spider tank aiming for him before a shot from Cammie ricocheted off and hit a radio tower, knocking it lose and making it fall to crush it while the soldiers ran to cover.
"Hehe." Cammie nervously laughed as she waved to Jaune.
"Nice shot." he said with a thumbs up before seeing the globe Kazu knocked over rolling down the street.
In another area of the city, Vanguard walker tanks and soldiers were about to be over run with Union spider tanks and flying drones.
"All right, grunts fall back and continue cover fire. Striders, advance and we'll keep up the-" Leon said before he saw car fly over his tank and crash into a drone.
While Leon was in shock, Kazu jumped over the Striders and began to fight then with his own holon hands. Lifting a spider tank up and slamming it into the other by the leg, taking out the Union grunts along with it.
"Oh, Kazu. We have got to talk to you about collateral damage." Leon said as he saw the unnecessary damage that he caused, while the globe Kazu roll over rolled by them.
"All clear over here." Chase said as Yaz walked by him.
"Alright then, even converge on the Ether outpost." Leon said as Chase looked around the area.
"That's strange, shouldn't there be more resistance?" he asked as everyone assembled around the Ether building.
Once the Vanguard arrived, they sent in armed drones to check the interior of the building just in case there were any nanobots inside. After a few minutes, the soldiers reported in.
"Negative contact. No signs of life or ordinance." he said.
"Command, orders?" Leon asked.
"Take the building." Marin said as Leon nodded.
"You heard the commander. Two by two, grunts move in." he said as the grunts got into form.
"Moving in." a Vanguard soldier said as they moved into the building.
"Striders, secure inner perimeter. Holon team, patrol the outer perimeter." Leon said as his team began it's patrol.
"Huh? Do what?" Cammie asked through the radio.
"Hang back and split up, keep your eyes open too in case anything comes up." Chase said as the holon team split up to patrol the city for anything.
The team did as Chase suggested as they covered an area of the city by themselves as everything seemed to be too quiet. Valentina still keep an eye in the sky view from their sniper position and Cammie was scouting an area on the outskirts until something came into her scanners. It looked as tall as a holon with purple smoke trailing behind it as it slowly walked towards Cammie.
"OH hey!. Ya startled me there, I almost shot ya." Cammie joked as she expected a response but got nothing. "Kazu? Jaune? Is that you?"
"What?/何？" Kazu said in confusion.
"Cammie, I'm a block and a half away. Who are you seeing?" Jaune asked through the coms.
"I don't know. They're not replying and their camo is off." Cammie said as she saw the mysterious robot continuing towards her.
Chase grew curious at this and pull up a map of the area to see where everyone was and no one was walking up to Cammie, so what was she seeing?
"Cammie, open fire. Jaune, head to Cammie's position." Chase said through the coms.
"On it." Jaune said as he began to skate towards Cammie's positon.
"What? You want me to sh-" she replied until Chase cut her off.
"Cammie, just shoot the damn gun!" he said as he began to head towards Cammie too.
The eared holon decided to do as she was ordered and shot the robot but it did nothing as she got a better visual of it. It was a humanoid mech with a primarily black color scheme with dark red highlights, matching the general color scheme for the rest of the Union, slim, and about a head taller then Cammie. It's had large, triangular shoulder pads with the Union symbol on the left one with long clawed arms on it and a single eye that glowed red. Cammie grew afraid of this mech as the purple smoke began to follow it, continuing to shoot at it with her gun.
"Ugh! Ugh!" she let out in worry as she took steps back. "Jaune, where are ya?!"
"Almost there! I'm getting your visual n-" Jaune said through the coms before seeing the lanky mech approach Cammie as it suddenly reveal two more arms from it's back! "WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?!"
"I got no idea!" Cammie said before the Union mech raised it's back arms and commanded the smoke to move around it and Cammie, who tried to run. "But it's got nanotech!"
"Hang on! I'm coming in hot!" Jaune said as he skated faster, lowering his body to get to his friend quickly as the dome of nanobots was closing.
Just by the skin of his holon, Jaune made it just in time and position himself in front of Cammie as the mech kept walking towards them. Too bad from the, the nanobot dome was now blocking their signals and coms as Dr. Weller and Colonel Marin examined a map of he city.
"Jaune? Cammie? Do you copy?" he aksed but got only static. "Chase, get there and get them out of there!"
As the leader of the holons was skating to them as face as he could, Jaune was holding his gun out and firing at the Union mech as Cammie looked over the nanobot field.
"Can we just got through it? Are our holons protected?" Cammie asked Jaune and through the coms but got static on the latter.
"The nanos must be blocking our coms! We got no choice but to fight!" Jaune said as he kept shooting but his shots did nothing. "Move!"
Turning around, Cammie saw the Union mech reaching for them before Jaune tackled her out of the way and sent them rolling until Jaune got off her.
"Ugh, thanks." Cammie said as she got up.
"No problem, we just gotta hold out until the others get here." Jaune said as he got up and handed his gun to Cammie. "Give me some cover fire, I'll try a frontal assault."
Cammie gave a small nod as Jaune got into his fists up and locked towards the Union mech.
'Alright, ugly. Let's see what you got!' Jaune thought as he charged as at it.
Jaune threw a punch to the mech, which it dodged, before throwing a kick, which it caught before throwing Jaune to the side. He rolled into the throw and got on his knees before charging at it again, this time the mech charging at him as Jaune jumped to throw a kick but the mech dodged to the side before grabbing his head and slamming him into the group.
"AAH!" Jaune screamed as the mech began to mount him before Cammie began shooting at it's back.
"Get your arse off him!" she shouted as she fired both guns, trying to provide cover fire as her shots bounced off it's armor.
The Union mech acknowledged the shots as it grabbed Jaune's leg and threw him into Cammie, sending them both crashing to the ground it at charged at them.
"Ugh!" Jaune groaned before he was suddenly kicked away and the mech turned it's attention to Cammie.
It violently slapped the guns out of her hands before grabbing her head and beginning to pull it off.
"AAAHHHH! AAAAAHHHH!" Cammie screamed as it also held her arms down to prevent her from struggling.
"CAMMIE!" Jaune shouted as he rushed to stop the mech but he was too late.
It ripped her holon head fully off before clawing at her chest, right where the cyber brain was. It made it through the first layer of arm before Chase came jumping in, dropping the mech off of Cammie.
"Chase!" Jaune said in relief as Cammie's removed head was thrown out of the nanotech field for Yaz and Kazu to see.
"Cammie!" Yaz said before she and Kazu rushed in, the Japanese holon grabbing a car and a motorcycle to use as weapons before they went through the field.
From behind them, the Striders were watching from the distance as they recognized the nano field.
"Oh crap!" Jodie said as he saw it.
"It's smoke, seal up." Leon said as he and the Strider pilots activated special masks on there helmets to cover their noses and mouths.
Back inside the nano barrier, the Union mech charged at Chase as he began shooting at it before ducking, leaning back, and blocking it's strikes but it was able to grab Chase before punching him in the side. It lifted him up by the head before punching him in the chest and tackling him to the ground.
"GRR!" Chase growled at the mech tried to rip off his head like he did to Cammie, until...
"Think again, you son of a bitch!" Jaune shouted as he rushed and tackled the Union mech off of Chase, rolling along the ground before it grabbed Jaune and lifted him up by the head.
Before it could do anything, Yaz and Kazu attack as the former shot at it with two guns and the latter charged at it with his "weapons."
"HYAH!" Kazu screamed as he striked the mech but it blocked both attack be moving it's head in a glitch like fashion, knocking the car away before throwing Jaune into him.
Both tumbled along the ground before they managed to get on their knees and face the mech.
"Chase, Kazu, Yaz! Together!" Jaune said as they all charged at the mech with Yaz still shooting at it.
Kazu went for a flying kick that was deflected, Chase went for a slide that was dodged, Jaune went for a jab that was blocked, and Yaz jumped over the mech wile still shooting all at the same time. It then charged at Yaz but she flipped to dodge before shooting at it again. The Union mech blocked the bullets before it was punch by Chase.
"Yah!" he let out before double punching it and making it stumble back.
"Hiyh!" Kazu let out as he punched it in the back to make it stumble forward.
"HUH!" Jaune said as he delivered a high knee to it and made it stumble away from them.
"RAH!" they all three charged at it with a punch but the mech stopped all of their punches with it's extra arms and right arm.
The Union mech knocked Chase away before kicking Jaune back and throwing Kazu into a building, before he slumped to the ground.
"Kuso." Kazu said as he shook his head before getting up, yanking a large pipe off the building and holding it like a sword.
He charged back at the Union mech and swung but it dodged and caught the pipe before tossing Kazu away again.
"Ahh!" he screamed as his back hit another building.
The Union mech was then shot at again before Yaz charged to attack it.
"Gruh!" she grunted as she gave a spin kick that was blocked, ducking under multiple swings while taking shots before she blocked and kicked the pipe away with her legs.
She jumped and gave another kick while shooting to knock the pipe complete out of the mech's hands before it grabbed both her arms and they struggled against each other. The Union mech was about to use it's other arms to rip Yaz's head off before Chase came in with is gun again, grabbing it's remaining arm before he and Yaz began firing at it. The mech was left with no choice but to twists all of it's arms to knock their fire up before pushing them both away. As the battle raged on below, Valentina had moved to a closer sniping position on a new building and was aiming for the union mech. They had to wait until the right moment to get a shot before it was held down by Chase, Jaune, and Kazu. Valentina took the shot and hit it right in the red eyes, knocking it to the group as everyone stood ready for more. The nanotech came down as Miranda came to the gen:LOCK team in her Strider.
"What happened? Are you guys alright?" she asked them as the Union mech turned to them, seeing their reinforcements.
It decided to retreat as the nanotech smoke followed it as the group calmed down.
"Cammie!" Jaune said as he rushed to her body, seeing it reaching around for something before Jaune grabbed it. "Cammie, it's alright! That thing is gone, you can calm down!"
"But I can't see! I'm blind!" she said as she reached for where her head should be.
"Jaune, listen to me. You need to open a to your optical sensors so Cammie can share your eyes." Yaz said as she and Valentina moved towards them. "Cammie, connect to that port and you'll be able to see again."
"Okay, okay." Jaune said as he focused, opening the port in the GL network so he could share his eyes with Cammie. "Cammie, what do you see?"
On his holon display, Jaune could see the connection going through in the top right corner of his screen.
CONNECTION ESTABLISHED
LINE TYPE: SECURE
SECONDARY USER: MACCLOUD
STATUS: ACTIVE
"I-I-I see my body but...where's my head!?" Cammie asked as Jaune helped her body sit up.
"Yes, the mindshare worked!" Yaz said with glee as Valentina looked at her in confusion.
"Why do you sound surprised? Have you not done this with Chase?" they asked her as Yaz turned to Chase in the distance.
"Strider Unit to Anvil Command. The Data Center is secure." Leon said as he looked to where the Union mech ran. "Last bogie seems to have retreated."
"Re-establish the perimeter while breakers get the data center operational again." Marin said as she looked over the model city of Dallas with Dr. Weller and Able on her sides.
"Cammie's mind is still racing. If we don't get them back, she'll burn through all her uptime." Dr. Weller whispered to her as he watched over the team's uptime.
"gen:LOCK one, secure your Holons on the transports and prepare for download." Marin said as and Valentina helped Cammie up and back to the carrier plane with Kazu behind them.
Chase and Yaz stayed behind to look over the perimeter a bit more before Chase walked up to the Striders.
"You guys got this?" he asked them as he looked down to them.
"Yeah, we're good. Go take care of your teammate." Leon said as Chase nodded and they headed for the transport.
"What the hell was that thing anyway?" Jodie asked as everyone thought the same thing about that strange and powerful Union mech.
Once the holons were secure and they downloaded back into their bodies, the GL team went to check on Cammie and see if she was alright mentally. When she came to in her body she was breathing heavily and looking around in fright before Jaune helped calm her down, for the rest of the trip back to base he comforted his closest friend on the team as she clung to him like a security blanket.