The hangar was a massive room, and she figured it was about a kilometre long and wide. It had mecha suits of all sizes in it, many shapes, with different appendages and weapons. They were organized row upon row upon row, each mecha with a plate on it's docking bay that read the name of the pilot that flew it. She followed the three closely, and they eventually stopped in front of a long row of mecha suits.
"Choose one." Dilandau said to her, and she looked back up to the massive metal monstrosities. "You can make customizations to it later, once it's been chosen and registered." He continued. She nodded. "Yes, sir." She acknowledged and looked to her left. There was one that caught her eye. She started down the hallway after it.
"Lord, do you think it wise to let a girl into our squad and get a mecha on the first day? A new mecha?" Migel asked. Dilandau's body went rigid with rage. "You dare to challenge my authority and judgement?" He practically screeched, and Gabrielle whipped around just in time to see Dilandau land a punch on Migel's face.
A hand flew up to her mouth, and she ran back to where they were. Migel's eyes rolled up inside his head, and he swayed a few times before his legs gave out. She caught him before he hit the floor. He was heavier than her, and his sudden weight caused her to stumble. Migel was unconscious, and she made sure he was still breathing. His nose started to bleed a little. She looked up at Dilandau, standing tall above them, casting a shadow down on her.
"... Aren't you going to do something about him?" She asked. "Sir?" She added hastily. She looked up at him, standing so high above her. The very bottom of his left eye twitched. "N- Yesss..." He hissed. "Chesta... Go take Migel to the medic." he said slowly, keeping his fiery gaze locked on hers. "Sir?" Chesta asked, confused. "You heard perfectly crystalline what I said! Go take Migel to the medic! Now!" He barked. "I'll teach her how to fly myself!" He growled. " Chimps. I am working with chimps! If you want anything done correctly, do it yourself..." He muttered under his breath.
"Migel," She said quietly to him. His eyes flickered, then opened. "You're going to the medic." She said just as quiet. She knew his head would be ringing like anything after a blow like that. Dilandau's eye twitched again. Not from suppressed anger, but from a suppressed expression of confusement. Her actions seemed so familiar... The way she moved, the sound of her voice... Everything...
Chesta leaned down and helped Migel to his feet, casting Migel's arm around his shoulder. He hobbled off with Migel, supporting as much weight as he could. Wow... Thought Chesta. That was amazing. The way she spoke to him like that... And lived. I wonder if Dilandau is growing soft for her... Chesta wondered. Oh, I highly doubt it. It's probably just the fact that you're not supposed to hit girls... I don't know... He thought as he dragged Migel off.
Dilandau looked back at the girl. He couldn't believe himself. Why hadn't he struck her? What had held him back? Something deep inside him had told him not to hurt her. Rather, protect her. He studied her, and her beautiful blue eyes looked back at the floor. He looked at the colours of them. On the edges of the irises, they were very dark blue, like an ocean. The dark blue lightened as it drew closer to the pupil. There were some lines of silver that looked like lightning bolts going through her irises. He ripped himself away from staring at this mysterious girl.
"Choose you mecha suit. I need to check the operating systems and make sure they function." He said monotonously. "Yes, sir." She replied again, and turned smoothly from him and walked back down the row of mechs, looking for the one she had seen a moment before. After a long time of walking, she stopped in front of one. He followed her, and arrived there in half the time it had taken her to reach the same spot.
She was looking at the new model, the Red Dragon. It had been based off of the White Dragon that they were trying to capture, and furnished with the highest technology available. It looked just the same as the White Dragon, but this one was red and black, and lacked the option of transforming into the humanoid form that the other suits were capable of. He looked at the description panel. It had razor-tight controls, it was equipped with an invisiblility cloak, and it could reach speeds in the air of over eight hundred kilometres per hour. It's running speed was clocked at a speedy eighty five.
He followed her gaze up to the thing's 'face.' It had red jeweled eyes that gave the pilot a crystal clear view of what the head saw, as well as numerous more vision screens on the interior. From what he read on the panel, the pilot could control the mecha from either the interior or exterior.
"Put your hand up to the panel at the front of the mecha and stand very still." He instructed. "If the mecha turns on, this is the right mecha for you." He finished. He looked up at the head again, it's red eyes devoid of light, it's long neck bent in a smooth curvature... Like her body... He mentally slapped himself again.
She stepped on the floor up to the panel, the dark, quiet room echoing with her footprints. The panel glowed, and characters in a very strange writing system beeped and came online as she drew closer. She put her hand over the panel, over the drawn picture of one, and placed down her hand. Both of them watched.
There was a low metallic whine. The mecha's red eyes glowed a hot red, and the neck uncurved and moved downwards, towards Gabrielle. For a horrible moment, she thought that machine was going to open it's jaws and swallow her, but it stopped with a hydraulic hiss in front of her.
"Okay, now walk up to it's chest and place your hand on the crystal there." He said. She looked back at him, and then walked up cautiously to the crystal. It was large and blue.
"When was this made, Lord Dilandau?" She asked him. He referred back to the description panel. "Orange, ninth moon." He replied. "Why do you ask?" She raised her hand up. "... What's the month's number?" She asked curiously. She of course didn't recognize 'Orange' as a month. "Ten." He replied slowly. He must have thought she was an idiot. "This was made on my birthday!" She exclaimed as she placed her hand on the blue crystal on the red dragon's chest. "It was made at six hours and forty five minutes before sunrise." He continued. She was stunned. That was her exact time of birth!
Her hand sunk into the blue crystal like it had the density of water. It rippled around her hand as she held it in. She yelped. "Keep it in the crystal. It's reading you to make sure you really are right." He assured her, and surprised even himself in the gentle tone he said it in.
The massive metal head of the dragon lifted it's head back to the curved position, and it's eyes glowed even brighter. Gabrielle caught her breath at the sharp pain, and then the crystal ejected her hand from the crystal as it hardened. The appearance was the same, except it had a red pool at the base of the crystal. Gabrielle's blood. She clutched her hand. The palm was cut open, and she was bleeding quite a lot.
Her breath caught in her throat, and she stared wide eyed at it. The cut was gushing blood, and there wasn't anything she could do. A computerized female voice rang from the dragon mecha.
Libreia online. Registered pilot's serial number 68372. Please input username and password. Standby. It said. Gabrielle's head was beginning to feel light. Dilandau turned his head back to her, as he hadn't been watching. He'd been watching the door for Chesta's return. He looked once, and turned around on his heel.
She was holding her wrist, trying to slow the flow of blood by squeezing it and elevating it. Dilandau stood in front of her and he touched her hand to get a better look. All of a sudden, he saw an image in his head. It was of Gabrielle, but a long time ago... Too late, it was gone. He felt the strangest sensation on his back near his shoulderblades. It was a tight feeling that he couldn't really explain. His eyes widened and he backed off from her. Something drew him back to her, and he almost involuntarily snatched her hand again.
He didn't know how he did it, but the bleeding stopped on her hand. The cut was still there, but it was sealing over rapidly. He watched it dumbly. The strange feeling in his back intensified, but it died down quickly. There were clicking footsteps outside, and the door opened. Chesta walked in, and he saw Dilandau holding Gabrielle's hand. "W-what's going on?" He wondered out loud to himself. He looked at the floor, and saw there was blood. She looked shocked, and he couldn't see Dilandau's face. He cut her!? Chesta screamed inside his mind. Now he's gone too far! He shouldn't be trying to kill people in his own regiment!
"Dilandau!" Chesta yelled. Dilandau didn't hear him. A high pitched noise in his head had taken over all auditory input. Chesta took it as a sign of his malice. "Hey!" He yelled, and dashed in between Gabrielle and Dilandau, Chesta withdrawing his sword. "Now you've gone too far! You shouldn't hurt her, you... You.... Crazy idiot!" Chesta screamed, and put up a defensive posture around Gabrielle. Dilandau was stunned.
"What... Did you... Just call me?" He managed, trying to control himself from reaching out and snapping Chesta's neck. "You filthy ingrate!" Dilandau yelled, and smacked him. Chesta winced. "You! I give you a mech! I pull you off of the streets! I helped you! How dare you!?" He raised his voice, and it took everything he had in him not to just kick him.
"No, how dare you hurt her! She did nothing to you!" Chesta roared back. "Ooh, your audacity! I did nothing to her, either! If you will strip a few layers off of your incredibly thick skull and save yourself from jumping to conclusions, you will notice that I was helping her, you delusional fool!" He snapped, and Chesta blinked. "You idiot!" He snarled at Chesta. "I should just-" He began, and Gabrielle interjected.
"Woah! Guys, the mecha cut me, relax. I don't know how he did it, but Lord Dilandau stopped the bleeding and fixed the wound." She said rapidly, and Chesta blushed. "I-I-I Oh no. How can I explain this... I thought you had cut her hand, Lord Dilandau, I apologize, I jumped to conclusions! It'll never happen again, sir!" Chesta stammered, and Dilandau ground his teeth and clenched his fists. "Never, ever, ever speak that way to me again, or I will personally kill you!" Dilandau snapped, and raised his arm to hit Chesta again. Gabrielle gripped it. "Please, forgive me, Lord Dilandau, but please, don't hit Chesta. Please." She begged him. His gaze whipped around to stare her in those pretty blue eyes again. His tense arm relaxed. "Fine..." He growled. "But just this once. I have a flight lesson to teach." He hissed.
"Why didn't he hit you, Gabrielle?" Chesta asked her when Dilandau was a few metres ahead of them. Chesta trying to say it in a low voice so that Dilandau couldn't hear. "I didn't hit her, Chesta, because I do not hit angels that fall from the skies." He spat. The colour drained from Chesta's face. "I'm sorry, Lord, I was only curious as to why you hadn't-" He began. "Don't question me on that subject. Never ask me about that. There is not an answer that you need to know." He menaced, and then was silent. "Gabrielle, enter in your username on the computer interface," He said, suddenly calm.
"What computer interface?" She asked him, and hastily added, "My Lord." Dilandau looked back at the description. "Oh. There isn't one. It's voice control. Walk up and talk to it," He told her, and so she stepped up to it. The mech's eyes glowed. Please enter username and password. Visual unit recognition: Registered Pilot number 68372. The computer's female voice spoke.
She didn't know the correct command response. "Say, 'Registered Pilot number 68372 imprinting user name...' And then say what you want it to be." Chesta whispered to her. Gabrielle nodded.
"Registered Pilot number 68372 imprinting user name 'Gabrielle Leonhart.'" She said in a bold voice. The name sent chills down Dilandau's spine. He knew the name! But where? It was driving him crazy! Not that I have far to go there...He thought in his mind. "Password set as ... " She paused, thinking of a good password. She thought of the first word that came to her mind. "'Canada.'" She said, and the computer responded. Username and password set. Short term of username 'Gabrielle Leonhart'? It asked. She knew what to say. "Yes. Short term of username is 'Fox.'" Username and password verified. Thank-you. Libreia on standby.
"Okay, now you have to go in it." Chesta told her. "Libreia, requesting access. Password 'Canada.'" She said. Access granted. Chimed the voice, and she stepped up almost instinctively to the thing's chest, where the doors opened with a hiss.
She felt at home in the cockpit. There was a computer screen with a keyboard, a comfortable chair, several buttons, switches and dials, and a steering mechanism. She rapidly typed a command in the computer and four screens appeared. They were a view of outside, but different ones used heat recognition, infrared, and night vision. "Cool!" She exclaimed.
Outside the mech, Chesta turned to Dilandau. "Lord, don't you find it... Strange... That she knows how to operate this already?" He asked. "I find a lot strange about her. I find I know her from somewhere, but... Nevermind. I'm not going to talk about that." He said quickly. "She fell from the sky, so there obviously is something different about her... Yet familiar." He trailed off, unwittingly voicing his thoughts aloud. Chesta pretended to pay no notice.
"Fox, do you know what you're doing?" Chesta called out. "Um, yes and no!" She shouted back, and she laughed. "Primary functions online." She announced. They could hear her fiddling around with the gears and switches, finding out what weapons and gadgets the massive thing had on it.
"Nice!! This thing's got five different flamethrowers! Awesome! ... It also has ... Plasma radiation beams? O-kay... Laser beams, invisibility cloak! Um... Woah! Big enough sword? What the hell are liquid metal claws?" She looked through the system.
"Chesta, stay here. I'm going to get the mechas. We're going to take her flying." Dilandau said calmly. Chesta saluted to him, and stood watching her. Gabrielle had discovered the controls for the head, and she moved the dragons' face nose to nose with Chesta. "Hello." She said through the dragon's head. Chesta took a small step back. "Relax, I'm just speaking through the dragon. The voice doesn't sound too tinny, does it?" Chesta shook his head. "No, it sounds like you're inside the thing's mouth." He replied. The dragon opened it's jaw.
"It's the 'Libreia,' not 'thing.' She has a name." She said through it, trying to sound polite. The jaw shut. "Know what's weird?" She asked. "What's weird?" He asked her back. "I can control this thing mostly with my mind. I just sit in the chair, and two gauntlet thingies go over my wrists and ankles and then I control it. It's like I am a dragon. It's quite odd. But I like it!" She exclaimed through it.
She raised one massive dragon's arm up almost to the ceiling, and the claws opened. Out of the palm of it's hand, a massive curved blade emerged. She made it withdraw, and interchange back to the dragon's normal paw-like hand. "Watch out, Chesta. I'm turning around," She announced, and she made the mecha place the two claws on the ground to heave herself forward. The Libreia swung around, and she was careful to maneuver the tail out of Chesta's way.
The mecha began to walk on all fours, and she followed where she had seen Dilandau go and turn the corner. She saw him all the way down the hall, and she walked a little faster. She then stopped directly in front of him, who was just activating his and Chesta's mecha suits.
"Destruction mode." She said, mimicking perfectly the computer's voice. Dilandau whipped around to see her lift the dragon's arm and see the scythe blade emerge from it's hand. "Target acquired." "Ah! Gabrielle, stop the damned thing!" "Auditory input systems offline. Primary functions offline. Autopilot mode online." She said, still mimicking the computer's flat, explanatory voice. The blade swung forward at lightning speed, and Dilandau turned to run from it. The blade blocked him. He heard her laughter from inside the dragon.
"Squadron commander Dilandau identified as extremely gullible." She said between the laughter. "That's not funny." He said flatly. She laughed harder. He crossed his arms. He imagined how stupid he must have looked, and he controlled a small smile that was threatening to display some emotion. Her laughter died down, and she cleared her throat. "Don't do that again." He said, surprisingly still calm. "I'm sorry, Lord Dilandau. I couldn't resist. I must work on my self-discipline." She replied. He left it at that.
He activated the two mechas, and he climbed up into the red one she had seen earlier. A small bleep a few seconds later told her it was online. Chesta walked up from underneath her, and he climbed up into the blue one next to Dilandau's. They started a heavy walk in one direction, and she followed them. She noticed that her mecha sounded a lot lighter than them when it walked. The hydraulic noises coming from the Libreia were quieter, also. She was impressed by their mechas, however. They looked heavily armoured, and she could see that the red one had a variety of weapons on it at Dilandau's disposal. Chesta's looked similar, but his weapons centred more on blades than anything else.
She followed them to the launch bay, and she waited while Dilandau conversed with one of the operators. A moment later, there was a rumble as the door lifted away, revealing the open sky, thousands of feet in the air. They both walked up fearlessly to the edge, and Chesta waited for Dilandau to jump first.
"Choose one." Dilandau said to her, and she looked back up to the massive metal monstrosities. "You can make customizations to it later, once it's been chosen and registered." He continued. She nodded. "Yes, sir." She acknowledged and looked to her left. There was one that caught her eye. She started down the hallway after it.
"Lord, do you think it wise to let a girl into our squad and get a mecha on the first day? A new mecha?" Migel asked. Dilandau's body went rigid with rage. "You dare to challenge my authority and judgement?" He practically screeched, and Gabrielle whipped around just in time to see Dilandau land a punch on Migel's face.
A hand flew up to her mouth, and she ran back to where they were. Migel's eyes rolled up inside his head, and he swayed a few times before his legs gave out. She caught him before he hit the floor. He was heavier than her, and his sudden weight caused her to stumble. Migel was unconscious, and she made sure he was still breathing. His nose started to bleed a little. She looked up at Dilandau, standing tall above them, casting a shadow down on her.
"... Aren't you going to do something about him?" She asked. "Sir?" She added hastily. She looked up at him, standing so high above her. The very bottom of his left eye twitched. "N- Yesss..." He hissed. "Chesta... Go take Migel to the medic." he said slowly, keeping his fiery gaze locked on hers. "Sir?" Chesta asked, confused. "You heard perfectly crystalline what I said! Go take Migel to the medic! Now!" He barked. "I'll teach her how to fly myself!" He growled. " Chimps. I am working with chimps! If you want anything done correctly, do it yourself..." He muttered under his breath.
"Migel," She said quietly to him. His eyes flickered, then opened. "You're going to the medic." She said just as quiet. She knew his head would be ringing like anything after a blow like that. Dilandau's eye twitched again. Not from suppressed anger, but from a suppressed expression of confusement. Her actions seemed so familiar... The way she moved, the sound of her voice... Everything...
Chesta leaned down and helped Migel to his feet, casting Migel's arm around his shoulder. He hobbled off with Migel, supporting as much weight as he could. Wow... Thought Chesta. That was amazing. The way she spoke to him like that... And lived. I wonder if Dilandau is growing soft for her... Chesta wondered. Oh, I highly doubt it. It's probably just the fact that you're not supposed to hit girls... I don't know... He thought as he dragged Migel off.
Dilandau looked back at the girl. He couldn't believe himself. Why hadn't he struck her? What had held him back? Something deep inside him had told him not to hurt her. Rather, protect her. He studied her, and her beautiful blue eyes looked back at the floor. He looked at the colours of them. On the edges of the irises, they were very dark blue, like an ocean. The dark blue lightened as it drew closer to the pupil. There were some lines of silver that looked like lightning bolts going through her irises. He ripped himself away from staring at this mysterious girl.
"Choose you mecha suit. I need to check the operating systems and make sure they function." He said monotonously. "Yes, sir." She replied again, and turned smoothly from him and walked back down the row of mechs, looking for the one she had seen a moment before. After a long time of walking, she stopped in front of one. He followed her, and arrived there in half the time it had taken her to reach the same spot.
She was looking at the new model, the Red Dragon. It had been based off of the White Dragon that they were trying to capture, and furnished with the highest technology available. It looked just the same as the White Dragon, but this one was red and black, and lacked the option of transforming into the humanoid form that the other suits were capable of. He looked at the description panel. It had razor-tight controls, it was equipped with an invisiblility cloak, and it could reach speeds in the air of over eight hundred kilometres per hour. It's running speed was clocked at a speedy eighty five.
He followed her gaze up to the thing's 'face.' It had red jeweled eyes that gave the pilot a crystal clear view of what the head saw, as well as numerous more vision screens on the interior. From what he read on the panel, the pilot could control the mecha from either the interior or exterior.
"Put your hand up to the panel at the front of the mecha and stand very still." He instructed. "If the mecha turns on, this is the right mecha for you." He finished. He looked up at the head again, it's red eyes devoid of light, it's long neck bent in a smooth curvature... Like her body... He mentally slapped himself again.
She stepped on the floor up to the panel, the dark, quiet room echoing with her footprints. The panel glowed, and characters in a very strange writing system beeped and came online as she drew closer. She put her hand over the panel, over the drawn picture of one, and placed down her hand. Both of them watched.
There was a low metallic whine. The mecha's red eyes glowed a hot red, and the neck uncurved and moved downwards, towards Gabrielle. For a horrible moment, she thought that machine was going to open it's jaws and swallow her, but it stopped with a hydraulic hiss in front of her.
"Okay, now walk up to it's chest and place your hand on the crystal there." He said. She looked back at him, and then walked up cautiously to the crystal. It was large and blue.
"When was this made, Lord Dilandau?" She asked him. He referred back to the description panel. "Orange, ninth moon." He replied. "Why do you ask?" She raised her hand up. "... What's the month's number?" She asked curiously. She of course didn't recognize 'Orange' as a month. "Ten." He replied slowly. He must have thought she was an idiot. "This was made on my birthday!" She exclaimed as she placed her hand on the blue crystal on the red dragon's chest. "It was made at six hours and forty five minutes before sunrise." He continued. She was stunned. That was her exact time of birth!
Her hand sunk into the blue crystal like it had the density of water. It rippled around her hand as she held it in. She yelped. "Keep it in the crystal. It's reading you to make sure you really are right." He assured her, and surprised even himself in the gentle tone he said it in.
The massive metal head of the dragon lifted it's head back to the curved position, and it's eyes glowed even brighter. Gabrielle caught her breath at the sharp pain, and then the crystal ejected her hand from the crystal as it hardened. The appearance was the same, except it had a red pool at the base of the crystal. Gabrielle's blood. She clutched her hand. The palm was cut open, and she was bleeding quite a lot.
Her breath caught in her throat, and she stared wide eyed at it. The cut was gushing blood, and there wasn't anything she could do. A computerized female voice rang from the dragon mecha.
Libreia online. Registered pilot's serial number 68372. Please input username and password. Standby. It said. Gabrielle's head was beginning to feel light. Dilandau turned his head back to her, as he hadn't been watching. He'd been watching the door for Chesta's return. He looked once, and turned around on his heel.
She was holding her wrist, trying to slow the flow of blood by squeezing it and elevating it. Dilandau stood in front of her and he touched her hand to get a better look. All of a sudden, he saw an image in his head. It was of Gabrielle, but a long time ago... Too late, it was gone. He felt the strangest sensation on his back near his shoulderblades. It was a tight feeling that he couldn't really explain. His eyes widened and he backed off from her. Something drew him back to her, and he almost involuntarily snatched her hand again.
He didn't know how he did it, but the bleeding stopped on her hand. The cut was still there, but it was sealing over rapidly. He watched it dumbly. The strange feeling in his back intensified, but it died down quickly. There were clicking footsteps outside, and the door opened. Chesta walked in, and he saw Dilandau holding Gabrielle's hand. "W-what's going on?" He wondered out loud to himself. He looked at the floor, and saw there was blood. She looked shocked, and he couldn't see Dilandau's face. He cut her!? Chesta screamed inside his mind. Now he's gone too far! He shouldn't be trying to kill people in his own regiment!
"Dilandau!" Chesta yelled. Dilandau didn't hear him. A high pitched noise in his head had taken over all auditory input. Chesta took it as a sign of his malice. "Hey!" He yelled, and dashed in between Gabrielle and Dilandau, Chesta withdrawing his sword. "Now you've gone too far! You shouldn't hurt her, you... You.... Crazy idiot!" Chesta screamed, and put up a defensive posture around Gabrielle. Dilandau was stunned.
"What... Did you... Just call me?" He managed, trying to control himself from reaching out and snapping Chesta's neck. "You filthy ingrate!" Dilandau yelled, and smacked him. Chesta winced. "You! I give you a mech! I pull you off of the streets! I helped you! How dare you!?" He raised his voice, and it took everything he had in him not to just kick him.
"No, how dare you hurt her! She did nothing to you!" Chesta roared back. "Ooh, your audacity! I did nothing to her, either! If you will strip a few layers off of your incredibly thick skull and save yourself from jumping to conclusions, you will notice that I was helping her, you delusional fool!" He snapped, and Chesta blinked. "You idiot!" He snarled at Chesta. "I should just-" He began, and Gabrielle interjected.
"Woah! Guys, the mecha cut me, relax. I don't know how he did it, but Lord Dilandau stopped the bleeding and fixed the wound." She said rapidly, and Chesta blushed. "I-I-I Oh no. How can I explain this... I thought you had cut her hand, Lord Dilandau, I apologize, I jumped to conclusions! It'll never happen again, sir!" Chesta stammered, and Dilandau ground his teeth and clenched his fists. "Never, ever, ever speak that way to me again, or I will personally kill you!" Dilandau snapped, and raised his arm to hit Chesta again. Gabrielle gripped it. "Please, forgive me, Lord Dilandau, but please, don't hit Chesta. Please." She begged him. His gaze whipped around to stare her in those pretty blue eyes again. His tense arm relaxed. "Fine..." He growled. "But just this once. I have a flight lesson to teach." He hissed.
"Why didn't he hit you, Gabrielle?" Chesta asked her when Dilandau was a few metres ahead of them. Chesta trying to say it in a low voice so that Dilandau couldn't hear. "I didn't hit her, Chesta, because I do not hit angels that fall from the skies." He spat. The colour drained from Chesta's face. "I'm sorry, Lord, I was only curious as to why you hadn't-" He began. "Don't question me on that subject. Never ask me about that. There is not an answer that you need to know." He menaced, and then was silent. "Gabrielle, enter in your username on the computer interface," He said, suddenly calm.
"What computer interface?" She asked him, and hastily added, "My Lord." Dilandau looked back at the description. "Oh. There isn't one. It's voice control. Walk up and talk to it," He told her, and so she stepped up to it. The mech's eyes glowed. Please enter username and password. Visual unit recognition: Registered Pilot number 68372. The computer's female voice spoke.
She didn't know the correct command response. "Say, 'Registered Pilot number 68372 imprinting user name...' And then say what you want it to be." Chesta whispered to her. Gabrielle nodded.
"Registered Pilot number 68372 imprinting user name 'Gabrielle Leonhart.'" She said in a bold voice. The name sent chills down Dilandau's spine. He knew the name! But where? It was driving him crazy! Not that I have far to go there...He thought in his mind. "Password set as ... " She paused, thinking of a good password. She thought of the first word that came to her mind. "'Canada.'" She said, and the computer responded. Username and password set. Short term of username 'Gabrielle Leonhart'? It asked. She knew what to say. "Yes. Short term of username is 'Fox.'" Username and password verified. Thank-you. Libreia on standby.
"Okay, now you have to go in it." Chesta told her. "Libreia, requesting access. Password 'Canada.'" She said. Access granted. Chimed the voice, and she stepped up almost instinctively to the thing's chest, where the doors opened with a hiss.
She felt at home in the cockpit. There was a computer screen with a keyboard, a comfortable chair, several buttons, switches and dials, and a steering mechanism. She rapidly typed a command in the computer and four screens appeared. They were a view of outside, but different ones used heat recognition, infrared, and night vision. "Cool!" She exclaimed.
Outside the mech, Chesta turned to Dilandau. "Lord, don't you find it... Strange... That she knows how to operate this already?" He asked. "I find a lot strange about her. I find I know her from somewhere, but... Nevermind. I'm not going to talk about that." He said quickly. "She fell from the sky, so there obviously is something different about her... Yet familiar." He trailed off, unwittingly voicing his thoughts aloud. Chesta pretended to pay no notice.
"Fox, do you know what you're doing?" Chesta called out. "Um, yes and no!" She shouted back, and she laughed. "Primary functions online." She announced. They could hear her fiddling around with the gears and switches, finding out what weapons and gadgets the massive thing had on it.
"Nice!! This thing's got five different flamethrowers! Awesome! ... It also has ... Plasma radiation beams? O-kay... Laser beams, invisibility cloak! Um... Woah! Big enough sword? What the hell are liquid metal claws?" She looked through the system.
"Chesta, stay here. I'm going to get the mechas. We're going to take her flying." Dilandau said calmly. Chesta saluted to him, and stood watching her. Gabrielle had discovered the controls for the head, and she moved the dragons' face nose to nose with Chesta. "Hello." She said through the dragon's head. Chesta took a small step back. "Relax, I'm just speaking through the dragon. The voice doesn't sound too tinny, does it?" Chesta shook his head. "No, it sounds like you're inside the thing's mouth." He replied. The dragon opened it's jaw.
"It's the 'Libreia,' not 'thing.' She has a name." She said through it, trying to sound polite. The jaw shut. "Know what's weird?" She asked. "What's weird?" He asked her back. "I can control this thing mostly with my mind. I just sit in the chair, and two gauntlet thingies go over my wrists and ankles and then I control it. It's like I am a dragon. It's quite odd. But I like it!" She exclaimed through it.
She raised one massive dragon's arm up almost to the ceiling, and the claws opened. Out of the palm of it's hand, a massive curved blade emerged. She made it withdraw, and interchange back to the dragon's normal paw-like hand. "Watch out, Chesta. I'm turning around," She announced, and she made the mecha place the two claws on the ground to heave herself forward. The Libreia swung around, and she was careful to maneuver the tail out of Chesta's way.
The mecha began to walk on all fours, and she followed where she had seen Dilandau go and turn the corner. She saw him all the way down the hall, and she walked a little faster. She then stopped directly in front of him, who was just activating his and Chesta's mecha suits.
"Destruction mode." She said, mimicking perfectly the computer's voice. Dilandau whipped around to see her lift the dragon's arm and see the scythe blade emerge from it's hand. "Target acquired." "Ah! Gabrielle, stop the damned thing!" "Auditory input systems offline. Primary functions offline. Autopilot mode online." She said, still mimicking the computer's flat, explanatory voice. The blade swung forward at lightning speed, and Dilandau turned to run from it. The blade blocked him. He heard her laughter from inside the dragon.
"Squadron commander Dilandau identified as extremely gullible." She said between the laughter. "That's not funny." He said flatly. She laughed harder. He crossed his arms. He imagined how stupid he must have looked, and he controlled a small smile that was threatening to display some emotion. Her laughter died down, and she cleared her throat. "Don't do that again." He said, surprisingly still calm. "I'm sorry, Lord Dilandau. I couldn't resist. I must work on my self-discipline." She replied. He left it at that.
He activated the two mechas, and he climbed up into the red one she had seen earlier. A small bleep a few seconds later told her it was online. Chesta walked up from underneath her, and he climbed up into the blue one next to Dilandau's. They started a heavy walk in one direction, and she followed them. She noticed that her mecha sounded a lot lighter than them when it walked. The hydraulic noises coming from the Libreia were quieter, also. She was impressed by their mechas, however. They looked heavily armoured, and she could see that the red one had a variety of weapons on it at Dilandau's disposal. Chesta's looked similar, but his weapons centred more on blades than anything else.
She followed them to the launch bay, and she waited while Dilandau conversed with one of the operators. A moment later, there was a rumble as the door lifted away, revealing the open sky, thousands of feet in the air. They both walked up fearlessly to the edge, and Chesta waited for Dilandau to jump first.