"Try something?" Alex muttered, his attention turned back to the older man as he narrowed his eyes. "Listen, this isn't the time or place to test things out."
"Yeah~" Kamui agreed as he felt the carrier start to shake. "You're probably right, but~" He dragged on as he walked over to the young man. "If it's not done now, it might never get done." He stated, walking across from the young man and headed towards the next cart. "Come on, this works, I'll put in a little extra for you guys."
"Money isn't the issue here!" Alex grumbled as he looked at Rosa and saw her confusion was just as clear as his. Still, with little options left they started following the older man through the train carts and the fighting outside went on. "The issue is that if we stay we're probably going to…" Alex fell silent as the trio entered the next cart, one obviously reserved for Mobile Weapons… and what he saw hunched over in it was, without a doubt, a mobile suit.
Although it didn't look like any he'd ever seen before.
"What the hell?" He muttered, staring at the suit that several workers seemed to be working on.
"Kamui." A young man stated as the older man approached him.
"How's it looking, Luce?"
"Bad." The young man stated as he looked at the file on hand and seemed to frown. "This thing is in terrible condition, even with the last minute maintenance being taken care of, it's going to take a good while before it's ready to be deployed."
"So, we can't use it?"
"I never said that." Luce muttered, scratching his head. "This thing hasn't had maintenance in a long time and that's definitely going to affect its performance, but we can use it now." The young man stated.
"Perfect." Kamui stated as he noticed that Alex was staring at the strange mobile suit. "Hey kid, get over here will you?" Wordlessly Alex obeyed, getting shaken out of his stubber as he the transport shook.
"What is that?"
"It's what I want you to test out."
"What?" Luce and Alex said together as the former looked the latter over while Kamui just nodded his head.
"Him?" Luce stared at his counterpart. "You want this kid… to be its pilot?"
"Yep." Luce just stared at the younger boy as Alex stared back at him first in annoyance then in surprise and confusion.
'Hikaru?'
"That's a terrible idea." Luce muttered as he turned his attention to his counterpart. "This guy has no business piloting a mobile suit under Artemisia's control."
"Normally I'd agree with you." Kamui stated. "But~ don't forget Luce, the corps do loan mobile weapons to mercenaries in order to have them tested before they hit the market."
"So… a test run is it?" Luce grumbled. "Is that what you're going to tell the higher ups?" He grumbled looking back at Alex. "If that's the case, let me pilot it."
"If you pilot it, you might break it." Luce frowned as he heard the words. "An aged machine might break if you try stress testing it, '' this guy thought… this old dog might be able to hold itself together."
"And if it doesn't?" Luce asked.
"If it doesn't…" Kamui fell silent as he reached behind Alex and pushed him forward. "Well, what's life without a bit of risk?"
"Kamui…" Luce muttered, sighing to himself as he scratched his head again. "Fine… mercenary, follow me." Luce grumbled as he started walking towards the unit.
"Hey!"
"Come on, we don't have all day." Luce stated as Alex turned back to Kamui who started walking over to the cart he had come from.
"K-Kamui?!" Rosa chased after him, confusion and worry on her face as she looked at Artemisia's golden boy. "Are you sure about this?" She asked. "That boy isn't on the files we have for Ashbourne's Mobile Suit pilots. If he gets in that thing…"
"Have a little faith Rosa." Kamui stated as he looked back at the woman and smiled. "In times like this, it's all we have to hold on to."
"So what kind of Mobile Suit Frame is this?" Alex asked as Luce and his workers continued getting things together. "I've never seen it before
"I'd be concerned if you did." Luce admitted. "This here is something from the Calamity War." Luce stated. "We dug it up not that long ago and we're sending it back home to get cleaned up and analyzed."
"So you guys didn't make this one?"
"No." Luce stated as he continued working on something in the cockpit. "However, if I'm correct, Artemisia will try mass producing it once we complete its repairs and see its full potential." The young man continued as he frowned at something. "Anyway we're lucky we found it as we did. The frames' in one piece so there's little we'll need to work on outside the armor plating." He grumbled as Alex glanced at the left arm, noticing that there were indeed a few pieces of armor missing from it. "Now, normally I'd hand you a manual, but we haven't had time to piece one together just yet." He stepped out of the cockpit as he wiped his brow as turned to Alex. "Thankfully, you probably won't need it. This thing has an Alaya-Vijnana interface, and with a bit of rigging I should be able to get it to work with your port given that you don't have 'whiskers'. Wordlessly Alex felt the metal protrusion at the base of his neck. "I don't think we have time to go into a full explanation on how it works, but I can say this. The neural feedback from a Mobile Suit is a hell of a lot more different than that you get from a Mobile Worker. So don't expect this to be gentle."
"Right, I'll be careful."
"It's not about being careful. It's about knowing the risk." Luce stated as he tapped his head. "Best case scenario you get a small headache from the stress, going down the line though can give you anything from damaged cerebral nerves or you can turn into a vegetable." Luce grumbled. "Do you understand?"
"I do…"
"Alright, then get in." Alex did just that as he settled into the machine, the interface locking into place as he made certain it was steady. Without a word Luce started the machine up as something popped up on screen.
GUNDAM FRAME TYPE
BELIAL ASW-G-68
DEVICE 01 / UT 500
SYSTEM TABLE. V2.1 TBLE V5.8 TBLE V6.2
SYSTEM TABLE. V8.3 TBLE V1.0 TBLE V4.5
TYPE A: BEGIN TO START
TYPE B: NEXT THE CONTROL
DECLARE .. DEFINES REQUIRED SIGNATURE
DELEGATE VOID EDELEGATE [STRNG MESSAGE]
TYPE . AWG-68
PFD / POWER MAX [225400 20]
PAT / POWER MAX [7000 94]
IFF-E61 EXTING
/ INVOKE DELEGATE 01 - 01 PRESSURE
/ INVOKE DELEGATE 02 - 02 ALTITUDE
202 S EOP 203 PTR 3307PIR
DEVICE 02 / 01 0003
SYSTEM TABLE. V5.0 TABLE VO2 _ 0.1
SYSTEM: AWS G 68
COM - [02] [03] - SELECT EOP
COM - [03] [07 - 00
DEVICE 03 / 8T 50401
CAN WRITE'9" . REQUEST URL . "7" '1
CAN WRITE'0" / REQUEST URL REFERENCE . 11J0N7
TYPE PAT : 01 . 0003 UT:: 7008
NORMAL MODE START
TYPE PAT : 01 . 405.0 0102 200.1 uf: 33.07
ONE MODE START
FF- COM POWER SYSTEM
550 EOP 802 / BT 30.7 / BT
FF- COM START [00X23 C3001 ] 08F200140]
TYPE - AWS G- 68
MAIN SYSTEM [95700091
SUB SYSTEM [78200096]
"I have no idea what any of this stuff is saying." A ping went off as Alex froze, flinching as his body seemed to clench up he grit his teeth.
"God damn it…" Luce muttered as he stopped working for a moment and leaned over his counterpart. "Hey, I told you that the neural feedback wasn't going to be gentle with you." He grumbled as he stared into the boys eyes as they seemed to lose focus. "Hold it together kid, it'll pass soon… hopefully without killing you."He grumbled as he saw blood start to trickle down the young man's nose and past his lip. "Come on… come on…"
Gasping for breath Alex bent forward, tears clouding his eyes as he wiped the blood from his nose. "I'm ok."
"Bullshit." Luce muttered, pulling back as he took a sigh in relief. "Either way, you're in." He stated as he turned back to the young man. "You ready?"
BOOT SEQUENCE COMPLETED
GUNDAM BELIAL
ASW-G-68
"Yeah…" Alex muttered as he saw Luce nod his head before turning to the others. "I'm ready."
"What's your name kid?" He asked after a moment.
"Alex… Alex Fair."
"Luce Boundary." Luce muttered as he stepped away from the hatch and let it close up. Reaching for his comms he raised it to his ear as he started speaking to Alex and started getting some distance from the kneeling machine. "Listen this chamber can open up so that it's easier to move its top and pull its sides out, so the moment it does you'll get enough room to fully stand and you'll be right in the fight."
"Weapons?"
"Hate to say this but we don't have a lot for you to work with right now." Luce muttered as he turned to the machine. "That being said when we dug this guy up we did find a broken greatsword you can use. If that doesn't work for you, look for something else while you're out there, alright. Luce stated as he made a face. "Think you can work with those conditions?"
"Yeah…" Alex muttered as he took a breath. "Begin retinal projection." The machine responded by doing just that, sweeping a light across the cockpit as Alex tightened his hands on the controls. From this moment on, he'd be seeing everything from the Mobile Suit's perspective. "Let's go, Belial."
Kamui couldn't help whistling as saw the two mobile suits that were now in front of him. One of them with a giant blade stabbed forward and smashed into the other suit; perhaps smash was the wrong word, that massive weapon, more of a broken bladed maul than anything, punched straight into the Graze's nanolaminate armor and tore a hole straight through the cockpit and out the back..
"Looks like he was able to activate it." The new Mobile Suit took a minute to push their weapon forward and toppled the other suit backwards and onto the ground. That done it started to stand back and he could see its old joints creaking and shaking for a moment before steading themself.
"No way." Rosa whispered as she watched the mobile suit seem to stare out into the distance for a moment before starting to move." "That mobile suit… it's actually moving?"
"You got that right." Kamui whispered, watching the newly activated mobile suit start trudging away from the transport. He raised a hand to his ear. "Luce."
"I'm still here."
"Good. Now you the drill; I want all available cameras to start recording the Mobile Suits performance. We're going to need the footage for study when we get back to Artemisia."
"Consider it done."
"One step… at a time." Alex muttered as he saw another Mobile suit come to a stop before him and pointed their rifle at him.
"So that's Artemisia's new model huh."
A voice called out as Alex tightened his hands on the controls.
"Damn, no wonder Olympus wants it, that thing's definitely not something you see on the market."
The pilot continued as they adjusted their rifle.
"I'd hate to have to put a few dents in that thing before we bring it in, so tell you what, hand it over and I'll let you walk out of here."
"Thanks for the offer." Alex muttered, taking a moment to wipe some more blood away from his nose. "But I just got in this thing, so I'm gonna half to pass."
"Your funeral kid."
The mobile suit fired and Belial charged, using its thrusters to get close to the other mobile suit as the armor on its shoulder armor was blown off from the volley of fire. Getting in close, Belial swung its broken greatsword and metal scraped against metal despite the other suit managing to move to the side. "Missed…" Alex grumbled as his suit stopped itself with a rough slide that caused it to dig up part of the ground and turned. The other mobile suit took the moment to raise its axe and bring it down. Belial responded by catching the downward swing with its free arm, its manipulators wrapping around the other unit's wrist to bring it to a stop. It followed by making a swing with its broken weapon only for the opposing suit to block with their firearm, using it as a makeshift weapon/shield before it was forced downward. Alex made a noise in annoyance as he pushed the machine's controls, and Belial responded by moving.
"What the…?"
The other pilot found that their suit was losing in this deadlock, its servos screaming as they seemed to grind against each other. He noticed that the grabbed arm was starting to bend inward, the armor starting to cave into the underlying framework. Without warning they hit their thrusters, rocketing backwards as they tried escaping this deathgrip, only for Belial to lunge forward. His backward thrust turned into a short jump and then a diving crash into the ground ended with the suit on top of his own.
Staring up at the machine, the pilot couldn't help but get taken back.
From here, with this white and red machine on top of their own, it didn't look like a Mobile Suit at all.
'A-a… devil?'
The arm holding onto the axe was destroyed, its wrist all but becoming a piece of metal string as Belial crushed it in its grip. The arm and weapon not useless, Belial let go and reared back grabbed his cockpit as it started to crush it inward.
"Get off me!"
With its crippled arm the suit slammed it into the other unit in a vain attempt to get it off.
"I said get off!"
"Get off!"
"Get-"
The rest of the cockpit caved in as Belial crushed it. The arm that had been desperately waved went limp as the suit powered down and Alex took a breath.
"That's two…"
Alex felt a strange twitch run through him as he turned, had Belial get to their feet before using its thrusters to jump off the downed machine as an iron rod nearly tore through the machine.
"I missed…" Bellicrose's sniper, Menos, made a noise as they reloaded their weapon. "That thing's got some good reaction speed."
"Damn it, Carl…" Nier made a noise, his attention turning to the machine that had broken Carl's suit. "Great…" He muttered as he raced towards the unknown machine.
"Hey, where are you going?!"
Zelkova asked as he tried going after the mobile suit only to be forced to stop, move to the side as he dodged to the side. "Sorry, but I'm gonna leave this guy to you for now."
Turning, Zelkova saw that Gjallarhorn's commander was now focused on him.
"Get your ass back here!"
Hearing Zelkova's voice Alex turned his head, his attention turned to see that an unfamiliar mobile suit was charging at him. With a twist of the controls Alex dodged the massive axe that was coming down on him as it kicked up a bit of debris. He charged and swung his greatsword only for the mobile suit to grab the weapon arm and hold it steady. "What?"
"Too shallow."
The Mobile suit turned its axe hand and swung it again. This time having it go to the side as Alex pulled back, back and out of range before seeming to stumble before lunging back to range.
With its greatsword, Belial made a swiping motion as the other mobile suit blocked with its oversized axe, the weapon's shaft slamming into the weapon and stopping it. Without warning they swung their axe upward, the weapon tearing itself from the soil as it kicked up a wall of debris as Belial used a booster assisted jump to get out the cloud.
Without warning the massive axe found itself thrust through the makeshift smokescreen, and Belial had to dodge by moving to the side.
The thrust became a wide swing as the shaft of the weapon slammed into Belial and forced it back.
Without warning Belial grabbed the shaft of the weapon and started to squeeze, and Nier was surprised when he heard the metal start to groan in pain.
"That strength." He ripped his axe free, and got some distance. Belial simply gave chase, lunging forward as it tried getting within its desired range. Out of nowhere it darted to the side, kicked off the ground and completed its lunge. It's blade missed as Nier dodged, swung his massive axe only for the machine to jump into the air and come crashing down onto the ground a moment later in this huge pile of debris and dust.
"Did I get him that time?" Twitching Alex had Belial jump back only to be grabbed on the arm so he could be held onto.
"You don't have any experience piloting, do you?"
Alex grit his teeth as he heard the voice.
"It's one thing piloting a suit you're unfamiliar with, but I can tell you have zero experience with piloting a Mobile suit as a whole."
Alex swung his free arm at the Mobile suit only for the arm to be caught as well. "Yeah well, everyones gotta start somewhere."
"True, but what do you think you can do in a situation like this?"
"I can keep you distracted."
"What?"
Nier moved, breaking away from the mobile suit as he found a hole tearing through its right arm.
"Damn!"
"Damn, I missed." Raphael muttered as went back to hiding behind another wall of debris as he found a metal rod digging into it. "Well, can't really focus on the enemy commander until I get rid of this one I guess." He muttered pulling the tungsten rod out the debris and tossed it aside.
Nier backed away from the mobile suit as it started chasing after him again. Something popped up on radar as he moved to the side seeing another model trying to attack him from behind.
"Damn I thought I had him.."
"Hikaru?"
"Mind if I step in?"
"Actually I do." Alex muttered, smiling slightly as he started to move before another stream of blood started to fall from his nose. "Stay out of this."
"Looks like someone's eager to play with their new toy. Fine, I'll play along."
"T-thanks…"
"Hm? Alex? Alex?!"
Without much warning Belial's eyes went dark, the mobile suit's head seeming to drop as Nier and Hikaru stared at the unit.
'It shut down?' Nier thought before thinking. 'Of course it did, this one's never piloted a mobile suit, the neural feedback must have finally got to him.'
"Damn it." Hikaru grumbled. "I was afraid this might happen." Hikaru grumbled. "Oh well… I guess I'm taking over after all." He muttered, getting ready to engage the leader of Nier.
"Kamui."
"Yeah, Luce." Kamui asked.
"Hate to tell you this, but we got confirmation that the unit has fallen silent. The Ahab reactor has completely shut down."
"Already huh…" He made a noise, lowering the hand he had raised to his ear for a moment as he stared at the unit in the distance. "Damn, I was hoping for a longer show." He muttered.
"What do you want us to do?"
For a moment Kamui didn't say anything, instead just closing his eyes as he seemed to think.
"Kamui, we can't risk losing that machine." Rosa muttered as she stared at her superior.
"Put me through all available channels Luce." Kamui ordered as Luce did just that. He took a breath before speaking.
"Attention opposing mercenary faction."
Hikaru twitched slightly as he heard the line open up. Right after he narrowed his eyes.
"This is Kamui Boundary, Artemisia's Chief of Engineering."
"As it stands I don't know who you are, and I don't know who hired you; but I do know why you're here."
"And regardless of your intentions or alliance, I have a proposition for you."
"I propose a truce between you and our hired company."
"I ask that you assist in repelling the Gjallarhorn forces present in the immediate area."
"A truce?" Amalee muttered as she looked at the battlefield.
"Gjallarhorn is an enemy of all present parties."
"And if this battle continues on three fronts there is little doubt that they will emerge the victors."
"However, if you join forces, that won't be the case."
Menos made a face as they listened to the broadcast.
"I understand that doing so will still leave all parties in bad shape and with contracts still needing to be fulfilled."
But I believe that such issues can be resolved when the current one is put to rest."
So I ask you, please assist our hired company in assisting to repel Gjallarhorn forces."
Menos made a noise as they heard the voice. "What do you think, Nier?"
Alex woke up, and felt the air brush against him. At the same time he just found his gaze staring down at the cockpit of Belial. "What?"
"Hey you awake?" Looking to the side Alex found a familiar redhead staring at him.
"H…Hikaru?" he asked, staring at the redhead as his eyes started to focus before they managed to adjust.
"Sorry, but you got the wrong guy." Luce stated as he continued sitting at the edge of the cockpit and stared at the pilot.
"What… what happened?" Alex asked, his thoughts suddenly being filled with the sights and sounds of a battlefield. "The battle-!" He flinched, freezing barely a second after he tried reaching for the controls. "Gotta…"
"Easy." Luce stated as he put a hand on his arm and stopped him from starting up the Belial again. "The fightings over." He stated. "My brother got the Bellicrose company to ally with yours and push Gjallarhorn back." He explained. "After that, since all companies were low on supplies to continue fighting, Bellicrose decided to pull out for the day, in exchange for half the spoils as payment for helping us." He admitted.
"Will they be back…"
"Most likely they still have a contract to fulfill after all.." Luce muttered as he reached for the Alaya-Vijnana system and started unhooking it. "As for you; you passed out from the Mobile Suit's neural feedback. Thankfully that seems to be it, less you feel like something isn't working right." Luce stated as he looked back at the pilot.
"...how many died?"
"34 Mobile Worker pilots, and 49 more were found on foot." Luce didn't miss a beat as he revealed the numbers. Alex just grit his teeth as he heard it, tightening his fists as he started getting to his feet and stepped out the cockpit.
"I couldn't do anything."
"You took out two mobile suits, that's better than most who don't know what they're doing." Luce muttered as he and Alex started climbing down the Mobile Suit to reach the streets.
"So…" Zelkova muttered looking at the Black Tide and crossed his arms. "This looks terrible.." The transport was beyond banged up, there were tears where the hull had been ripped open, part of an entire ceiling had been blown off, the engine was fried and the interior got shaken up from more than a few impacts.
"Yeah, this old dog ain't gonna move anytime soon." Kamui stated.
"How are you gonna get back to Artemisia now?"
"I can make a call, see if we can get an airlift coming but it's gonna take a couple hours." Kamui stated as he looked at Zelkova. "Also, I'll need a safe place to make that call. Mind if we crash at Ashbourne Company?" Zelkova took a breath, rubbing his temples as he closed his eyes.
"Well, until you guys leave we're technically still on the clock." He muttered before opening one of his eyes to look at Kamui. "Just know, we're going to need to be paid extra for letting you use our house."
"Wouldn't have it any other way." Kamui smiled again as he started walking towards the destroyed transport. "I'll spread the word to my guys, you do the same to yours." "Well pack up what we need, and meet up with you when we're ready."
"Don't grab too much stuff, we got enough to carry back."
"I bet you do." Kamui stated as he walked up to one of the remaining train carts and hand ip open up to reveal that it was a trailer holding a number of smaller vehicles.
From the sidelines, Amalee just settled down as she watched the others go searching for the bodies. Or at the very least what remained of them. Sometimes they'd just find a hand, sometimes they' just find a piece of their Alaya-Vijnana system
Regardless of what they found, they needed to bring it back. They needed to bring their dead home.
That's how they did things in Ashbourne.
"How are you holding up?" Turning her head away from someone who was crying over the loss of one of their own, Amalee took notice that Hikaru was walking up to her, that ever impassive face of his just staring down down at her. "You in one piece?"
"More or less." She gestured to her left arm, to the prosthetic that she'd had for a few years. Honestly, it looked pretty normal, could pass for her real arm to be honest.
Zelkova paid more than just a pretty penny to get one that looked so authentic.
"I'm just glad it's over." She told him as Hikaru nodded his head.
"For now anyway."
"For now." She agreed as they both looked out at the scene before them. A destroyed city, with broken mobile weapons and plenty of dead.
There were far too many dead.
"So, what's the plan?"
"We go home." Hikaru shrugged. "Unfortunately we're bringing Artemisia's employees with us."
Ah~" Amalee grumbled as she leaned back against a wall.. "Is that really a problem?"
"Don't know." Hikaru muttered as he settled himself down on the floor. "All I can say is that I don't like strangers in our house."
"Well you're not the only one." Amalee admitted as she turned her attention to the sky and let a silence fall over the two.
Gjallarhorn
Jovian HQ Stationary Orbital Base
"You failed?" Evo Mundus, Chief of the Gjallarhorn's Jupiter Branch, tried to keep his composure as he heard the report. At his desk he saw that the screen showed him First Lieutenant Ramius reporting in from one of Gjallarnorn's Jovian Branch Surface Bases.
"Yes sir. While we were engaged in combat against the mercenary corp hired by Kamui's affiliated corporation a second group entered the battlefield. They formed an alliance in order to repel our forces. We lost roughly a third of our forces as well as five Graze. We were forced to retreat."
He reported in.
"Damn…" Evo took a breath, rubbed his temples and started tapping his foot against the ground. 'Knowing that our target was Kamui Boundary, this should have been expected. The Jupiter-side corporations are hunting him just like we are, so of course they would send a group to try and apprehend him as well…' He bit his lip, annoyance crossing his face as he put it in his palm. 'And they won't simply hand him over because we're after him as well.' Grinding his teeth together the man ran a hand through his hair as he took a breath. "Regardless, there's no doubt that he's going disappear again… to think we almost had him…" The man paused, seeming to think. "I'm still hoping you have some good news following all of this."
"I'm sorry sir."
"Well that just won't cut it, will it." Evo muttered, getting out of his seat as he looked to his right and saw the Gjallarhorn operative still standing at attention and waiting to be addressed. "How long until Specialist Major Creed arrive?"
"Three days sir." Was the automatic response he was given.
"Listen here First Lieutenant." Evo stated. "No matter what, you do what you must to capture Kamui by then." He ordered, messing with a tablet as he checked something. "We need to show results in order to maintain the faith entrusted into us by the Regulatory Bureau to show that we can handle things here." He stated. "I don't care what you have to do, if you have to engage the enemy in the cities with mobile suits, do it. I don't care how many bodies you need to put into the ground to do it, get me Kamui Boundary."
"That's…"
"What?"
Ramius clenched his fists as he listened to his orders. "Sir, I can't do that."
"Why not."
"If the battle spills into the cities - if it takes place in the city sectors, the number of casualties lost in the crossfire lost will only spur the civilians' hatred for Gjallarhorn." Ramius explained. "And during a time like this, with Kudelia's Independence Movement gaining traction, we can't risk turning all of Jupiter against us."
"You raise a valid point Lieutenant."
His superior muttered.
"In turn, allow me to raise one as well; I. don't. care."
Evo stated
"If you have to put civilian bodies into the ground, so be it. Let them be written off as martyrs, it won't change a thing. Just do your job, that's an order."
His chief stared at him from beyond the screen.
"Are we clear?"
Ramius simply grit his teeth at the words.
Jupiter / Independent Territory
Eosa Autonomous Region / Ashbourne Company Headquarters
"Alright I'll inform the others." An elder member of the Ashbourne Company, Anya Billows, ended the video call that had been sent her way before leaning back in her seat. With a sigh she raised her hands to her face, frowning slightly as she stared into space before getting to her feet. She made her way down the halls, her attention drifting to the halls as she ran a hand through her head.
"Anya." The woman in question glanced to the side, her attention turned to the man that was leaning against the wall not to far from her. "You get in touch with Zelkova yet?"
"Yeah, he and the survivors are heading back as we speak." The woman stated as she moved her hand, dropping it from her head and putting it at her hip. "They're also bringing guests back with them."
"Guests?" The man muttered with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah, Artemisia's transport was destroyed during the conflict, so they can't continue on they're way right now."
"So they're coming to crash with us until they get another pick up?"
"Fraid so." The woman shrugged. "We're going to need to make some space for them. Do we have any spare rooms they can use?"
"More or less." The man stated. "To be honest we're running out of rooms as it is, we're either going to have to work on an expansion, or we're going to need to find a bigger place."
"With how big the 'daycare' is getting, I'm not surprised." The woman admitted, moving a hand. "But it can't really be helped right now. Either way, I'll talk to Zelkova if you want, let him know about our options."
"I'd rather do it myself to be honest." The man admitted. "Given how much is on your plate most of the time, you might forget." He stated as he pulled himself up off the wall. "Anyway, how long till the boss gets back?
"I'd say give them an hour at most." She stated. "Green district isn't that far from us after all.
" On the road again~"
Kamui sang as he looked outside his transports window and smiled. Outside he saw that the world was just rolling by
"Just can't wait to get on the road again "
"The life I love is making music with my friends~"
"And I can't wait to get on the road again~"
"Please stop singing." Luce muttered as he sat across from his elder brother, a hint of annoyance on his face as he did so. "You're giving me a headache." Kamui pouted at his brother's words.
"Is my singing that bad?"
"No." Luce admitted. "I just don't want to hear you sing." The youth stated as he looked elsewhere, turning his attention to the setting sun. "It's annoying."
"Is it now?" Kamui smiled at his younger sibling. "Well, as the elder brother I delight in annoying you." He nudged Lusce only to have his hand batted away. "So what's eating you?"
"Nothing."
"You're lying~" Kamui sang. "Come on, what's up?" He nudged his brother again.
"I can't believe you let that boy pilot the mobile suit." Luce muttered as his brother sighed.
"That's what's eating you?" Kamui asked. "I told you, it was better to have him pilot it instead."
"Why?" Luce grumbled as he looked at his elder. "What made him special enough to pilot."
"Luce as far as I know there's nothing special about him." Kamui stated. "I just didn't want you to break it."
"I wouldn't have broken it."
"You totally would have broken it." Kamui chuckled before falling silent. "Your pilotting abilities are too far apart. And with a rusted machine like that it would have fallen apart just trying to keep up with your commands." He stated as he closed his eyes and smiled. "And i'd rather not explain to Artemisia that you broke another new toy." Luce didn't say anything, just grunting as he crossed his arms.
"I didn't intend to break it." He muttered.
"But you still did." Kamui stated. "You broke their latest high-performance prototype during its test flight, all because it couldn't keep up with what you wanted it to do; and let's be real, they're still kinda pissed about that." Kamui added with a chuckle. "Let's face it, if you broke that new model, image what an old rusted bucket of bolts like that one."
"It would have survived." Luce grumbled. "After all, it's -"
"Luce." Kamui's tone was uncharacteristically stern, his expression having lost all humor as he glanced at his younger brother. "No matter what model it is, a rusted machine that hasn't undergone maintenance is still going to break if we pilot it." Luce fell silent as he stared at his elder. "When the repairs are done, and its brought back to its full potential, then you may pilot it. If you so choose." Kamui stated as Luce fell silent. "Once that happens…"
"Things can finally start happening."
"Yes." Kamui's smile started to return. "That's completely true." he stated. "Till then, just relax will you."
"Fine." Luce grumbled before seeming to think. "I'll be patient."