ZoidS: Battle Dawn
Chapter 2: The New Guy
by Silver
Author's Note: I want to thank all the people who read Chapter 1, and give special thanks to all the reviewers. I always love seeing that "Review Alert" e-mail from
I just want to answer a question from moguera from the last chapter. I came up with the name "Hancock" for the Chairman. It didn't seem rational to keep calling him "Chairman." I'm afraid that Zoids Zero was pretty short on depth. They didn't even give names to half the head honchos. I'll try to fill in as best I can, but most names will probably be my own inventions.
"12515! You did not destroy the target! What is the problem?" The angry man in a dark uniform bellowed. His coat covered his whole body, making him look like a block; a big block. He had to tilt his head all the way up to look the angry man in the face. "Why didn't you shoot?"
"I… I couldn't."
"Why not?"
He looked over at the Dark Horn, all busted and broken on the desert field. The Zoid's armor was cracked and big chunks rested on the sand next to his body. His joints stuck out from his insides and his eye kept staring out past the black horn on its snout. It felt like the Dark Horn—Thunder—was looking right at him, begging them not to hurt him. How could he shoot at something that hadn't done anything wrong?
"T… T-Tooth doesn't want to shoot." He glanced back at the smaller Zoid that stood hunched down with the top half of its head sticking up. The lid looked heavy, like it was trying to close. He knew Tooth didn't want him to climb in.
"Tooth? Who the hell is Tooth?"
"Tooth." He pointed over towards the Zoid he'd been assigned for the day. "He's standing right there."
"That's a Rev Raptor."
"I know. But he's got really shinny teeth, so I call him Tooth. I think he likes the name." He smiled, which only made the grown up even madder. He balled up his fist hit hard. The sand felt hot and stung the back of his neck as he hit the ground. He quickly stood back off, only to be struck down again. He stayed down on the burning sand this time.
Through his tears, he said to the angry man in black, "Tooth doesn't want to shoot Thunder, and neither do I!"
"Why do you keep naming Zoids? They're just hunks of metal!" His kick hurt even more than the punch.
"No they're not! They're alive! And Thunder didn't hurt anyone! You just wanna hurt him because you can't fix him."
"Call that thing by its proper term. It's a Dark Horn!"
"He's Thunder! His name is Thunder! He's not like the other Zoids, he's special!"
"How?"
"He just is! He's not like any other Zoid, even if he looks like them. He's special, so he deserves a name, just like Tooth and all the other Zoids!"
"Don't be stupid!" Another kick, this time to the ribs.
"It's not stupid!" he sobbed. "I hate not having a name, so the Zoids must not be happy either!"
"You can have a name when you prove yourself useful!" The angry man spat and picked up a shinny cylinder from his belt. "12516, come here." A large, red metal tiger appeared from underneath the sand. It shook all the dust off the big guns attached to its back. He marched towards them and stopped in front of the angry man. He leaned forward, like he wanted to step on the adult. It wasn't just the Zoid that wanted to do it; the pilot wanted the same thing!
12516 was piloting that Zaber Tiger. That was bad. He hated 12516 because the other pilot was always being mean to Zoids and following the angry men's orders. Wasn't he unhappy that he didn't have a name either?
"12516, show 12515 how a combat Zoid is used." The guns swiveled to target Thunder.
"NO!" He tried to get up and run to the Zaber Fang, but another punch knocked him back to the ground. The Zaber Fang fired three times, and all of them struck Thunder. The Zoid gave one final scream while chunks of it fell all over the ground and green fluid poured out of its body. The lights in its eye dimmed and faded away, and then its body began to go from black to pale gray. Thunder was dead.
"NOOO!" He cried. "Why'd you do that? Thunder didn't hurt anyone! Why'd you kill him?"
"Shut up!" There would have been more hitting if it hadn't been for the other explosion. Now Tooth was screaming, falling over and smashing into the sand and kicking up a big wave that covered everyone.
"12516! I did not order you to destroy the Rev Raptor! Cease and desist!" 12516 kept firing at the Zoids, who were already dead. He just kept blasting them over an over, sending more of their bodies flying away and breaking them into smaller pieces. Both Thunder and Tooth were gone now; why was he still trying to hurt them?
Two Zabats flew in from the sky. He could never figure out how they flew with those triangle-shaped holes in their wings. He also couldn't see how people could fly those Zabats. Their silvery ears were bigger than their black, round heads. And there weren't any cockpit windows, just two beady green eyes. These had to be Zabats that could fly themselves. Maybe the men were telling them how to fly from back at headquarters.
They both had cords dangling from their bellies, and there was a large disk attached to the cords. They swooped in and the disks grabbed onto the Zaber Tiger. The Zabats lifted it up into the air, and there was a shock of blue energy along the cords. The Zaber Tiger went limp, so 12516 must be asleep now too.
"You see?" He said to the angry man as 12516 was taken away. "You see how sad everyone gets when other people hurt Zoids? It's wrong! We shouldn't do this."
"Be quiet! How do you expect to become a solider with that attitude?"
"I don't want to be a soldier!"
"You will be a solider, you will pilot a Zoid and you will shoot to kill. Understand, 12515?"
"NO!"
"12515!"
"Stop calling me that!"
"12515!"
"That's not my name!" Leo sat bolt upright, drenched in a cold sweat. He panted a few staggering breaths before he worked up the courage to look around. He was in a Zoid hanger, with a large dark-grey fox standing before him. That's right… he'd fallen asleep in the Blitz Team's hanger after fixing some of their Zoids. He noticed that the security systems had been deactivated, and the Gun Sniper and Raynos were gone. Leo stood up on shaky legs and took a few uncertain steps. Those dreams were the hardest part of being somewhere new. He'd probably have one again after he said goodbye to the Blitz Team.
His steps grew steadier as he moved towards the hanger doorway, which now stood wide-open, letting in a flood of noon light. Leo squinted under the glare and gazed out at the surrounding mesas and rock formations. He'd slept more than half the day away, yet he still felt tired. Amazing how a dream could sap so much strength. He sat down and pressed his back to the metal. It felt as hot as the sand in his dream, but it quickly cooled against his spine and allowed him to enjoy the sun's warmth. The chill of his own sweat had made him shiver.
12516… I wonder what ever happened to that bastard.
"You okay?" Brad Hunter emerged from the hanger. "I heard shouting and thought someone was breaking in."
Leo stood up, "No, just a bad dream." Brad nodded, apparently not intrigued enough to ask about the dream itself. Leo was mildly amused since most people displayed a little more curiosity. "So, where is everyone?"
"Gone off to run an errand. I'm not supposed to say anything until they get back."
Leo frowned, but nodded, "Does that mean you'll be taking me back to get my Zoid?"
"Nope. They also said for me not to let you leave before they got back."
"Somehow, you don't strike me as a person who likes to deliver messages."
Brad shrugged again. "Not too fond of it, but they are the ones who write my paycheck, so it's not like I can say no. By the way, thanks for fixing the Fox. What was wrong with it?"
Leo grinned. 'Haven't done much maintenance in my life,' he says. "The joint on the right back leg had a crack in it. That crack caused friction against the actuator. That was what was causing the squeak."
Brad frowned, the first sign of emotion so far. "But the squeak was coming from the right front leg."
"Yeah, but the regulator between the two legs had to hold the right front leg back in order to keep it in sync with the rear leg, hence the squeak. The crack that was causing the problem was pretty small, so I'm not surprised it went unnoticed for a while."
Brad arched an eyebrow. "Didn't think of that. How'd you find out?" "Shadow told me."
"Shadow?"
"Seemed like a fitting name for the Shadow Fox. Shadow just about sums him up."
"And the Fox told you all this?"
"Well, he didn't tell me in words, but he shifted once or twice during the night so I figured he was trying to say something."
Brad stared at him for a moment, apparently unsure how to respond, an all-too-familiar expression. "Zoids twitch all the time. It's in their nature. What makes you think he was trying to tell you something?"
"What makes you think he wasn't?" Leo countered. There was no hostility behind these words, merely a different viewpoint. Brad let it go without another word. Leo was disappointed. He liked to debate with people about Zoids, even if they refused to believe him.
Brad looked up, "They're back." A moving plume of dust on the roadway signaled the return of the hover-cargo. Leo was impressed by the speed of the transport. It was definitely faster than any Gustav. It glided along the road's path, never really touching the ground. He would have liked to have ridden in it. Technology like that was way better than wandering everywhere inside Fang.
The Hover-Cargo pulled to a stop in front of the base and its passengers disembarked out the lower hatch below the bridge section. Leena, Doc, and Jamie's smiles made Leo a little hesitant.
"Hello, Leo." Doc greeted him. "Have a good sleep?"
"Yeah. Pretty good…"
Doc didn't appear to register the hesitation in Leo's voice. "I have to say you caught us all off-guard this morning. It was a real shock to the system to see most of our Zoids fully repaired. And you did it while avoiding the security system as well. That's a rare talent." He slung his arm around Leo's shoulders and guided him back towards the Hover Cargo. "We were so impressed that we thought of making an offer."
"Offer? Wait, let me guess. You want me to become your mechanic, full time."
Doc's cheery demeanor melted into stunned silence. Leena and Jamie weren't smiling either. Doc whirled around. "Brad! Did you tell him?"
Brad shook his head. "Not me."
"No one told me. It's pretty easy to guess. Everyone asks me to be their mechanic when they see how good I am at repairing Zoids. The thing is that I don't want to be a mechanic. Not full time."
"Why not?" asked Leena.
Leo answered with another question. "When's the last time you ever heard of an ace mechanic? Zoid warriors get all the credit. Mechanics are left soaking in oil and grease while the warriors are out celebrating. That's no life for me."
Jamie said, "It's true that mechanics don't get as much fame as Zoid warriors, but it's not as if they don't matter. Warriors would be helpless without mechanics to help them."
Leo waved his hand. "Fact still remains that I don't want to be a mechanic. Sorry, but the answer's no."
"NO?" Leena stomped forward and pressed her face in front of his. "What do you mean, 'no?' We're giving you the offer of a lifetime! Do you have any idea how much money a Class S team makes? You could buy a brand new Zoid in barely a month!"
Leo tried not to back away from Leena's intimidating face. She had surprisingly sharp teeth, and they were very close to his throat. "Class S may award a lot of prize money, but even if I joined your team that money would be pretty slim. You'd have to divide the money six ways, and that's assuming I'd get an equal share."
"You would." Doc assured him.
"My answer is still- Urk!" Leo cut off as Leena yanked his arm and pulled him towards the Hover Cargo. "You don't take 'no' for an answer, do you?"
"Not when the answer's stupid!" She pulled him into the Hover Cargo's main hanger. The large blue cylindrical shell was hollowed out to make room for a rotating hanger bay. A series of platforms hung on a track grid lining the edges of the bay. Each platform could be rotated around the entire deck, making quick deployment an easy task. There were also four container bays on each side of the hanger. These were the storage compartments for what Leo had heard to be the Liger Zero's legendary combat armor system.
Leena pressed a button and the platforms began to rotate. The Raynos and Gun Sniper passed by on their respective perches and then rotated up towards the top of the hanger, so high up that Leo had to cant his head all the way back to even see their undersides. The next platform came to a halt, and Leo's mouth fell.
"Fang!" The white Command Wolf starred ahead with no sign of recognition, but Leo knew he was happy to see his pilot again. Leo hopped onto the platform and checked his Zoid over. No missing components, no new scarring on the armor. Some of the damaged parts had deteriorated even more, but that could be fixed. Leo smiled. His partner hadn't been touched. That smile faded when he remembered Leena's comments on how no one would want parts from an outdated Zoid like Fang.
He turned to her. "Thanks for bringing him back. This saves me a lot of time. I was planning on heading east, away from Noon Shine City."
Leena's eye twitched. "You still don't get it, do you? We got your Zoid back for you because we were sure you'd agree to this deal! It's a better chance than most people get and you're throwing it away!"
"Most people are content to stay in the backlight. Not me. Now, if you'll open the door, Fang and I will be on our way."
Leena didn't move. "Where will you go?"
"Somewhere. The season will be starting again soon, so there's bound to be someone looking for an experienced pilot."
"Experience in losing you mean. You couldn't even get into Class B. What makes you think that anyone would want to sign you on with a record like that?" Leo didn't respond. Leena smirked a look of triumph. "I tell you what, we'll sweeten the deal. Besides having a cut of our Class S winnings, having access to all our equipment to repair Fang, and getting to see a lovely woman like myself every day; Brad, Bit, and I will train you to be a better Zoid warrior. You can leave whenever you feel like you've learned enough. Come on, how many people get the chance to learn from Class S warriors?"
He was tempted. Sorely tempted. That was a good offer; better than anything he'd ever had in his life. But there was something inside him that quivered at the idea. It told him not to agree. Just take Fang and go and find something else. But what else was there? What could possibly be out there that was better than the chance he had right here and now? This was the chance to rebuild, to gain a fresh start. If these Class S winnings were as good as Doc Toros promised, Leo could repair and even upgrade Fang in less than a year. He'd be able to compete on the same level as modern Zoid, and be an even better pilot. This was too good to pass up. He could stand being a mechanic for a while. Besides, he'd be working on the Liger Zero and Shadow Fox! Who wouldn't want the chance to learn how those Zoids worked?
He nodded. "Okay, you sold me. I'm in."
"Took you long enough." She took his arm again and yanked him back towards the exit. "Let's go tell Dad the good news."
Going to sleep the new ZBC Commissioner had been a gratifying experience, but waking up as the Commissioner was even more invigorating! Content sleeps such as last night's were far too infrequent. Would that he could sleep so soundly every night. But soon, very soon, he would sleep as a king, securing in his power and with a queen by his side.
The irritating bleep from the video-phone interrupted Sen Vaez's rapture. He stood up and activated the sound system. It would not be proper for an underling to see his leader in a state of undress. "Vaez."
"It's me." said an electronically distorted voice.
"Status?"
"The Count is unaware of my activities so far, but I think he's becoming suspicious. He's retreated to the stronghold in the Pryderi wasteland. Coordinates are-"
"I know where it is. Let's not waste time discussing things were already know. Does he have the weapon?"
"No. He ordered it destroyed when he fled the Backdraft Headquarters. It would take too long to dismantle it."
Just as planned. At least it had made for a good bluff. Why bother resurrecting the Death Stinger when its tail was enough to send the masses into a panic? "What are his defenses?"
"There are only a few turrets on the base itself. His main guards are stationed here, as are a squadron of Zabats and a division of Iron Kongs and Dark Horns. All units are loaded with heavy weaponry. He hand-picked the soldiers here so that they could drive off a large enemy using a limited number of Zoids."
"What about his personal Zoid?"
"I'll disable his Guysack the day of the attack. The Count is not planning to move from this hiding place until the searches die down." Good. No digging out this time, and no rush.
"I'll arrive with a task force in two days. Keep the Count where he is and try to weaken his defenses any way you can. Be sure to sabotage those turrets on the day of the attack."
"Understood."
Vaez smiled. "Then I will see you soon."
"I look forward to it." The voice clicked off.
Finally! Vaez thumped his fist off his dresser in triumph. He finally had the old man cornered. After seven years he'd get to have the conversation he'd so carefully scripted out. Of course it would go the way he'd planned exactly, but close enough to give him that intense feeling of satisfaction, a feeling that surpassed his accomplishment from the night before! Two days. That's all it would take to alert the tribunal and dispatch a task force. This was going to be so gratifying.
Last night he'd been handed all the legitimate power on Zi. In two days, he'd be ruler of Zi's shadow world as well. It would be long before he controlled every facet of power on the planet. No one would lie beyond his reach.
Leo wiped his brow, leaving a greasy streak in its wake. After almost seven hours of work, the Shadow Fox was near complete recovery. Patching up the malfunctions and mistakes that Jamie and the others had missed was no small task. As unwilling as he was to keep this job, Leo had to admit he felt a tidal wave of pride at his accomplishment.
The metal and components needed to fully repair the Shadow Fox had arrived the prior day, just as Leo had settled into his new room. Fang was resting comfortably in the hanger bay, across from the Fox. Leo had spent most of the day polishing the Raynos and Gun Sniper, then used a few spare components that the Blitz Team didn't need to replace and even upgrade some of Fang's equipment. He was lucky that Brad used to pilot a Command Wolf himself. The extra parts came free and were more advanced than anything on Fang.
Leo had saved the Shadow Fox for last. It truly was a work of art, and a pain in the neck to fix. He'd cut and molded the metal parts as best he could, using designs archived by the ZBC. The Berserk Fury's attack had melted many parts, and so Leo had to both install the equipment and ensure that the Fox's repair system did not reject anything.
He could never explain why he was so good at repairing Zoids. It came like a second nature to him. He didn't even have to think about it; the solution to a repair problem just came to him instantly. In truth, Leo was sure that he didn't have any skills at all. It was the Zoids themselves who told him to affect repairs.
After all the melting, cutting, welding, polishing, wrenching, and calibrating, the Shadow Fox once again stood proud. Leo had taken special care to smooth out the welding marks. It would be a crime to tarnish a Zoid like this. Leo couldn't help but envy Brad for piloting the Fox. Its mixture of speed, camouflage, and attack power was uncommon for a Zoid this size.
Still, it wasn't Fang. Fang was a standard issue Command Wolf, but he was still his own unique individual. All of the Shadow Fox's glamour couldn't take away the fact that Fang was just as special.
"That should do it, Shadow." Leo regarded his own Zoid. "How do the new parts feel?" Silence. But it was a content silence. Leo knew that Fang was pleased. "Just you wait. In a little while, you'll be feeling like you've just been born."
He looked down at his grimy hands and smelled the stank of sweat and various mechanical fluids. Tired as he was, he really needed a shower.
Most of the Blitz Team was just waking up. They had the luxury of sleeping in while Leo worked repairs. He didn't mind too much, but it was a reason not to get too caught up in being a mechanic. Working on the Fox was great; but it wasn't worth a lifetime career.
"Good morning, Leo." Jamie called from the kitchen. He'd already started breakfast.
"Morning." Leo yawned. "I'll be in the shower. Could you please save some breakfast for me?"
"Sure. But Leena's in the…" Leo stepped into the shower room before Jamie could finish his sentence. Right now he didn't care what Leena was up to. He needed a shower, bad.
Stripping off his shirt, Leo stepped into the shower stall to warm up the water. That's when he saw her. She stood before him, completely naked with water pouring over her smooth skin. There was a slight blush on her face from the water's warmth, and she was humming a relaxing melody while she lathered herself in soap. Leo's jaw fell, as did Leena's when she saw him.
"Aaaaiiee!" She tossed the bar of soap and struck him dead center. Leo yelped and staggered backwards, slipping on the wet floor and falling on his butt.
"I-I'm sorry!" Leo covered his eyes with his hand.
"What kind of a pervert are you?" Leena demanded. "Do you always spy on your teammates in the shower?"
"I wasn't spying! I… I didn't take any pleasure from that. It was an accident!"
"That lump in your pants says otherwise!"
"I can't help that. It's a natural reaction."
"I'll show you a 'natural reaction.'" Leo heard metal ripping apart and risked a glance to see what was happening. Leena, now concealed behind a towel, was pulling a nearby bathtub off the floor and aiming it at Leo! He staggered to his feet and fled out the doorway with Leena in close pursuit.
Leo ran down the hallway, not paying attention to Jamie's "I tried to warn you." He sprinted for the hanger, passing Doc and Brad along the way. He glanced back and instantly wished he hadn't. Leena was running with amazing speed while carrying a large and cumbersome object over her head. Leo remembered his appraisal of her from that night outside the grocery store. Barbarian Woman.
And that barbarian was catching up to him. He wasn't going to reach Fang in time. Leo ran for the closest Zoid in the hanger, which happened to be the Shadow Fox. Leo charged up the stairs and leaped into the cockpit just as Leena was preparing to throw the tub. He closed the hatch and launched the Fox forward. The tub bounced off the Fox's armor, leaving a small dent as it fled.
He heaved a sigh of relief as the Fox emerged into the sunlight and bounded over the desert sand. It occurred to Leo that he never got his shower, and the pilot's chair and controls was now stained with all the grime and water he'd picked up. "Sorry, Shadow. I'll clean you up as soon as Leena calms down and I finally get a shower." It amazed him how smoothly the Shadox Fox moved. The Zoid ran in such a way that all four of its legs lifted off the ground at once. The front feet would touch the ground, then it would bound off its rear feet again. Yet it was such a smooth ride that Leo hardly felt a thing…
BOOM!
An explosion beside the Fox snapped Leo out of his revelry.
"Leo! You can't get away from me that easily!" Leena's Gun Sniper pursued them with its Vulcan cannons firing off round after round. Leo swerved to the side to avoid one barrage, just as another blossomed to intercept him. She's fast, he realized.
Leo frantically punched a request for the weapons readout. The screen answered his plea with a display pointing to the various weapons on the Fox's body. The laser Vulcan cannon would stop the Gun Sniper for sure, but that would hurt the Zoid and piss Leena off even more. The electro net was gentler, but again he ran the risk of increasing Leena's rage. The smoke discharger. That was the safest bet.
With a quick squeeze of the trigger, the Gun Sniper vanished from sight in a cloud of black smoke. Leo allowed himself an exhale and smiled as he heard Leena curse over the comm.
And then she was shooting at him again, clearly visible and even madder than before. For a moment, it seemed as if the smoke had never left the Fox's body. Then he saw the smoke cloud, blowing in the wrong direction, carried by the desert's cruel wind.
"What are you thinking?" the comm. demanded. "You never use a smoke screen when the wind's against you!"
"Brad?" Leo searched for a sign of salvation, but Brad was nowhere. "Where are you?"
"Hang on. I'm coming." There was an edge to his voice that almost made Leo resign himself to Leena's wrath, but the next explosion quickly changed his mind. Okay, smoke screen failed. Time to try something a little more aggressive.
The electro net was a wonder of non-lethal technology. After wrapping around the target, it unleashed a charge strong enough to short out the command and combat systems of any small to middle-sized Zoid. The Zoid survived undamaged, yet was rendered completely harmless in one short blast.
That was, of course, if one could get around the obvious flaw in the system. A flaw so subtle that most people never thought about it until after something had gone wrong. A flaw that Leo saw the moment he let the capsule fly out the Fox's tail blaster.
The electro net was only able to disable a Zoid if it was aimed properly and actually hit the target. Leo's shot lacked both requirements, thus the shot turned into a wild rocket that only succeeded in shocking the nearest sand dune.
Leo swore and kept running. Leena's shots were coming much closer now. What she lacked in aim she made up for in sheer numbers. The Gun Sniper was barely visible under the cover of missiles and bullets. Didn't that thing ever run out of ammo?
Only two weapons left: the Strike Laser Claw, a weapon of close range combat (and Leo had no desire to come one step closer to that barbarian woman), or the Laser Vulcan Cannon. Leo whispered an apology to the Gun Sniper and rubbed his thumb against the cannon control. He could hear servos winding and energy flowing through the Shadow Fox as the gun swiveled around to the rear. Leo tried to keep one eye on the targeting display and the other on the path ahead of him.
The gun swung into position, then passed it. Leo quickly swung the gun back again, only to overshoot his target again. This thumb pad was too damn sensitive! "Help out here, Shadow!"
Leo never knew if the Fox would have answered his call for help. Perhaps it would have taken pity on him, or maybe it was still mad about the stains on its cockpit chair. Either way, it was the desert that decided Leo's fate. A malicious sand dune sprung up and grabbed the Fox's leg, yanking it down to the ground and holding it long enough for Leena to catch up.
"You can't get away from me now, pervert!" She trained the two cannons on the Sniper's claws on him. Leo wished for a cigarette and blindfold. It would have completed the execution scenario. Instead he closed his eyes and awaited the explosion.
A loud blast did shake his cockpit, but there were no alarms blaring or lights flashing within the cockpit. And it was Leena's scream that answered the resounding boom. Leo opened his eyes in time to see the Gun Sniper tilting over, a large ploom of smoke coming from its right leg.
Leo quickly maneuvered the Fox back to its feet and prepared to run again when he saw a flash of white on the rear monitor. Fang's cannons were still hot from the blast they'd fired. For a moment, Leo thought that Fang had once again regained full control of his body and come to help his partner. Then Brad appeared on the comm. screen.
"You okay?"
"Um… y-yeah." Leo said meekly.
"Get back to the hanger. Now." The edge in Brad's voice could have cut through the cockpit itself. Leo sighed and trudged the Fox behind Fang. Leena's curses followed them all the way back to the hanger.
Several hours later, Leo was back in the Blitz team's hanger, sulking. Brad had nearly shattered glass with the sound of his voice.
"Don't you ever pilot my Zoid again! I can't believe what an amateur job you did! How could you put the Fox in danger like that? Do you have any idea how much damage Leena could have caused?"
Leo had done his best to completely avoid Leena as she returned to finish her shower and dress. He'd gone out again to bring in her Gun Sniper and repaired the damage to its right leg as a means of apology.
The leg hadn't been too damaged and only took a half-hour to repair. Brad had hit the support valve that held the Zoid up. One shot from Fang had crippled Leena's attack and saved Leo. That was perhaps the greatest wound of all.
All this time, Leo had thought that the main cause of his losses was Fang's outdated technology. All those missed shot, all those poor maneuvers. He'd always thought they'd been because of Fang. But Brad had proven him wrong. Even with poorly calibrated equipment, the Class S warrior had hit a precision shot; something that Leo never could have done.
Leo looked up at Fang, taking a break from installing new components; components that he now knew didn't make that big a difference. "I'm sorry, Fang. I'm sorry I'm such a lousy pilot. And I'm sorry I didn't admit this sooner. Everything's my fault."
A faint growl came from Fang. It was soft and unaccusing, and Leo knew he'd been forgiven.
"Still working?" Doc Toros had appeared on the service frame. He had a six-pack of beer with him.
"Yeah." Leo returned to updating his partner.
"We missed you at lunch."
"'We' as in you and Jamie?"
Doc shrugged. "Unfortunately, yes. Brad and Leena are still bent out of shape. I think you'll want to stay out of their way for a while."
"I was planning on it."
Doc sat down next to him. "Having second thoughts?"
"A few."
"I figured as much. You're not the first person we've hired as a mechanic. We tried one or two other applicants. Bit, Brad, Leena, and Jamie are all good with their Zoids but there are some things that they just don't know how to accomplish."
"What happened to the other grease monkeys? They catch Leena in the shower too?"
"Ha ha! No, but they did get put off by the way we operate. I know most teams try for order and cohesion, but we have a… different style. Everyone here does his or her own thing, and somehow it just all comes together."
"You're lucky." Leo grunted as he tightened a bolt. "Most teams I know would fall apart if they followed your style."
"You should see us in a battle. It's pretty fun to watch. Even Jamie and I don't know how the battle will turn out. We hardly ever get the others to follow Jamie's tactics." He pulled out a beer and handed it to Leo. "Here. Take a break."
"Thanks." Leo opened it and took a long slip.
"I've been meaning to ask you," said Doc, "where are you from?"
Leo tried not to think back to the dream he'd had that morning. "I… don't really know. I've been on the road most of my life. Just me and Fang."
"I see. A drifter just like Bit. He came to us as a loner and had a hard time fitting in as well."
Leo grimaced. "Did he get shot by Leena?"
"Still does. She gave him a good-bye explosion the day before he left."
"You serious?"
"Dead serious. I think that's why Bit is taking a prolonged vacation." He took a gulp of beer himself. "This is probably the most chaotic team in the ZBC, but it's a lot of fun to be in. Once you get past all the surprises, I think you'll like being here."
"You're assuming I'm going to stay for long. I'm here just long enough to get Fang fixed and learn a few new tricks. Then I'm going off on my own again."
"Still the loner?"
"Maybe. I'm just not used to being tied down."
"Well, we'll see." Doc stood up. "I have a feeling this team will grow on you if you give it a chance. You just need to spend some time with them." He stepped down the ladder and slid out of sight.
Leo glanced over to where Doc had been sitting. "Hey! You forgot your beers!"
"Keep them!" Doc's voice echoed from below. "That's another thing you'll need while you get used to our team."
Somehow, Leo knew that Doc was right.
Author's Note: Well, that's it for chapter 2. I'm not sure how fast I'll be posting chapter 3. I'm very bad about updating my stories.
In any case, I would greatly appreciate reviews and constructive criticism. Feedback is great motivation, and it lets me know people actually read my work. Thanks for reading Chapter 2!
