Shirogane Takeru
December 10, 2001
Briefing room
"This exercise is meant to determine how good my rewritten XM3 OS is compared to the prototype that you're used to. All TSFs here have already been converted to that XM3 excluding our squad and the Valkyries, that is. One Platoon from every Armoured Unit on this base will undergo the same performance evaluation and see the results of it. So we'll all be competing against each other." My Company gathered in the briefing room after their breakfast. I was just going over some of the details for the trials.
"All the TSFs participating in the exercise will have the new OS…? Sounds tough."
"Welp, that's how things are going to happen, Mikoto. There are some changes between their more designed version and our concept vision. But it's not significant enough for me to mention it. No one will have any accumulated data for this so in some ways it's purely a contest of skills. The difference in versions is just an excuse for this test to take place."
"So this exercise is also meant to see how well first-time Eishi can adapt to and make use of the XM3." Class rep picked up another point easily.
"Yeah, that too. Our squad will be participating as developmental test pilots since that's who we are; so this fact, along with the name of the inventor, me. And the fact that you all were cadets until yesterday was given out to all units. It's just in case we suck shi—" Sumika shot me a glare which stopped my cursing.
"Just in case our score is bad. But that won't matter, I want you girls to downright crush the scoreboard and destroy any opponents you clash with. As the elite squad in making of the A-01 Task Force, this is the time for us to show our true strength and power."
"Yes, sir!" The morale was high amongst the female soldiers, their role in saving this world was just beginning.
"Alright, Sergeant Jinguuji. Please explain the rules and details."
"Yes, sir. Three evaluations will take place —measuring TSF reaction speeds on Training Ground No. 1, measuring changes to the burden on movement control system on Training Ground No. 2 and finally a combat test…" I shoved my task to Marimo-chan once again, she went through in detail all of the valuations for our assessment.
"So basically, the first test is for your accuracy, second one is for your movements, and the final is mock combat. As you would think, combat test against veterans is the most important trial here. There will be no room for slacking off during battle. If we want people to truly understand how much more capable the new OS is, we need to beat those Eishis who are so used to the old OS. Of course, we'll also be wrecking anyone that attempts to overtake our score anyway."
"So brutal, Capt. Takeru… I like it." Ayamine showed her approvement.
"Are there anymore questions?" Marimo-chan only received silence as answer.
"In that case, I'll take my leave." She exited to give the team some time alone.
"Listen up, team. The odds this time is what you call stacked, and stacked hiiigh up there. We got three teams with a two-man Element running against veterans who just refuse to die even if they get fed rat poison. So the obvious thing to do here is to win, win like it's your natural instinct." The crew shared some looks with each other.
"We have nowhere else to go but up, we have nothing else to take but victory. This is when we don't have a choice, right now, we must come out triumphant and that's what we'll do from now on till forever."
"The only path for us… is a road for a champion, huh? I see you have quite some high expectations of us."
"And we were only cadets until yesterday too! Awawa… this is so… big! All of a sudden!" Including Meiya and Tama, the rest of the girls were also nervously excited for their future.
"Guess so, hum? Again, we— I mean you all may have been cadets until recently but that changes nothing, the enemy won't care for your rank when fighting. So we'll go out there and crush the others, l want nothing less from any of you."
"Yes, sir!" I sought no other answer from them and they gave me none.
"Alright, I'll give out our new callsigns since I totally forgot yesterday." That change of mood took place in a fraction of a second.
"That's Takeru, alright! He always forgets the most important parts!" Mikoto's crack brought some laughers from the others.
"The order starting goes from 1 to 8. Starting from me, then is Sumika, Kasumi, Class rep, Meiya, Mikoto, Ayamine and finally Tama. Any questions?" I was denied in the form of silence and shaking heads.
"Good, good. Let's hit the PX for some fast food and get ready to battle. No use standing around the place."
Training Ground No. 2
"—this is Archangel 5, Bandit 4 spotted by D-21. Pursuing now."
"—Archangel 1 copy, currently engaging Bandit 2." I wasn't really fighting the veteran Gekishin, it was more like I was toying around with it until I get bored.
I got paired up with Meiya for our battle, Sumika teamed up with Class rep and Mikoto while Kasumi led Ayamine and Tama. Normally a three man team was the preferred setup, but being a player short wasn't making that much difference for the duo of us.
I shot around the Gekishin and forced it to evade behind several old buildings. It wasn't as exciting as I had hoped the mock combat to be, the gap between me and any normal Eishi was just too large. I hadn't taken any opponents seriously to this day.
"—Archangel 5, splashed Bandit 4." Meiya was done with her prey already, which took away my only excuse to play around.
"Copy that, I'll just end it fast." I charged in to flush out the last target.
The only aggressor Gekishin dashed around its cover and jumped above me to try and catch my back. With the XM3, I instantly reverse boosted behind it while in midair, performed a 180 degrees backflip, sliced its rear cover flawlessly while up-side down and landed with a perfect ten from the judges that weren't there.
"Splashed Bandit 2."
"—fictional enemy unit annihilated… evaluation complete. All units return to hanger and stand by for further instructions." Marimo-chan announced over the comms the end of the combat exercise.
"Archangel 1, copy."
"Archangel 5, copy that."
Hanger
"Nicely done, Meiya. That should be the fastest clear at 3 minutes and 14 seconds." I patted Meiya's back when she joined me on the upper walkway.
"Thank you, Takeru. Your instructions were very clean and on point."
"And whoever can understand orders and execute them this precisely is also a first-class Eishi. Be proud of yourself, Meiya. We got an equal amount of kills, after all." She nodded with confidence. I was glad that our atmosphere wasn't at all awkward, all thanks to whatever Sumika convinced Meiya of this morning.
Our first session was a piece of cake, to a bit of my surprise; Meiya was shockingly skillful with her maneuvers and accuracy. We wiped the floor clean off with those guys who I assumed to be overflowing with salt, or very impressed by our performance.
"…I wish to discuss another matter, Takeru. Is that alright with you?"
"About this morning? Yeah, sure." I had nothing to hide at this point.
"I… I just want to ask a single question…" If there was something Meiya wanted to know, she had everything right to hear it.
"Sure, go ahead."
"Takeru, if I were to lose favour with you. Will you still treat me the same way?" It took some time until I came up with an answer that should satisfy Meiya.
"I know that I love you, Meiya. But it's different from the normal kind of affection that you would think. I fell in love with you a long time ago, so I can't say that's what I'm feeling, but I also had the chance to fall in love with others in our squad… It's an abnormal experience, really. I'm from a different past, a different world." Giving out too much could endanger whatever causality crap that entangled me for all this time, however I knew Meiya wanted the truth more than anything.
"I don't expect you to accept me for who I am, or even understand my rambling here. Still, know that my feeling for you will never recede. You are and will be the most important person in my life." After those words, Meiya retracted deep into her thoughts, no doubt considering her own emotions on this matter.
"I see… I have kept you waiting long enough, Takeru. You deserve an answer to both of our feelings." That would be nice.
"Then go ahead, Meiya." After mentally preparing herself one more time, Meiya faced me straight on with determination clearly blooming from her appearance.
"I too, wish to be of your support. This feeling of mine, I am still unfamiliar with how I am supposed to adapt from now on. However, I do understand that my heart yearns to be with yours, Takeru. So please, love me as well." Meiya's firm reply was all the strength I'll need.
"Of course, Meiya. My feelings are one with yours." Having received both of our answers, Meiya blushed brightly while I laughed from the bottom of my heart.
It was not a grand confession we shared, it was certainly not like how I first loved Meiya back in my old world. We had so many options back then, there was no need to cherish that life we enjoyed. Now was different; our emotions for each other were limited by the overbearing duty we shouldered, but nobody ever said love had to be a presentation. I love Meiya and I know she loves me back, this was everything that matters to me, I am satisfied just understanding that she will be there for me.
—
"Ah! Takeru-chan! Over here!" I saw a dumb girl waving her hand in my direction five meters out.
Having finished our short discussion, both Meiya and I relocated to the leaderboard where the score was posted.
"Yeah, thanks Sumika. Because you know, that I'm blind to stupidity. Your hand signal really assisted me there." She would never understood the insult anyway, no need to add in logic.
"Mou! Takeru-chan is such a meanie! But anyway, look! The scoreboard!" She pointed to the panel that displayed our results. Kasumi's team also gathered by us to review the numbers.
The Company returned from their skirmishes as triumphant victors. My Element toped the scoreboard followed by Sumika's team who was only slightly behind, Kasumi's group closed the gap even further between our three Platoons.
"Everyone got A+? I must say that I'm relatively impressed by this. Good job, team!" Some high-fives were handed out to the crew. A confused Meiya got even more confused when I traded hand gestures with Kasumi.
"But Takeru-san still got the highest individual score!"
"Takeru… too pro, good job."
"And he only had Meiya-san as a teammate, too! You two must be very skilled!"
"That is not the case, Yoroi. Takeru led the charge and I only followed behind."
"Meiya-san did very good too. I saw the video recording."
"That's right. Mitsurugi certainly carried her own weight here."
"Then everyone did super good! We took the top eight spots on the leaderboard!" The team congratulated one another for our performances.
"What're the afternoon teams, lads?"
"I think it's Mitsurugi-san with Sakaki-san and Yoroi-san." Tama energetically replied first.
"That's right, me and Tamase are with Squad leader…" Ayamine reported the second team with a smug look.
"Ah, that means I'm with Kasumi-chan! Yaay!" Kasumi was forced into a bear hug by none other than the box of pure hype.
"—Mechanic Team 4, begin your inspection of STF 13th Squadron for the afternoon trial… repeat, Mechanic team 4…" The overhead speaker brought up some uninteresting news.
"We're already a Special Task Force now! This is so exciting!" Shared Mikoto.
"Hehe, we do this two steps at a time, girls. Go grab some food and prepare yourselves for the afternoon." I waved them off as the train all moved to the PX.
"Huh? Takeru-chan! Are you not coming?" Sumika took notice of my absence within the group.
"Me? I got this—"
"Hey, Capt. Shirogane, right? You're the only guy I see here." At that moment, I got called by another Eishi with hilariously blond hair.
"Got to deal with these guys first, it won't be long."
"If you say so, Takeru-chan. I'll get you some food then." With a little worry inside her, Sumika left while herding the rest of my squad along.
"Yep, I'm the Captain here. What you want?" We casually shared salute before the man spoke again.
"Come talk with us if you're free, got a few questions." That was among the lines I predicted.
"Yeah, sure. Lead the way."
—
"—Hey… I found him." When the UN Eishi called me to tag along, I once again met up with his team.
"Usp, Capt. Shirogane of the Archangel Squadron." I saluted relaxingly as they did the same.
"Huuuh… so you're Shirogane? Got a greeeat face, I'll give you that." Bandana applauded my appearance without respect.
"This guy? I guess he does look pretty good." Then gorilla just publicly judged me.
"He was the only man in that squad. It's definitely him."
"He does look really handsome, unlike the gorilla we have here. How do you pilot a TSF, anyway?" Being the last one to speak, Twister Head came off with the expected joke.
"Gyahahaha!" Overdose Dye and Bandana laughed a bit together. I allowed them to go back and forth a bit since I found the conversation quite nostalgic too.
The conversation drove all over the place while I put my mind on auto-pilot.
"So you seriously are that Abyssal Phantom guy, then? I can actually kinda see that." That extremely chuunibyou byname caught my attention.
"Wait, what did you just call me?" Maybe I exerted a bit too much force into my words as the four Eishis suddenly flinched from my question.
"Huh… ah. No, no, Capt. Shirogane. It's just a dumb nickname some teams came up with. Please don't worry too much."
"Ah, no. I didn't mean it like that, sorry but I'm actually curious about this nickname." They calmed down after my instinctive menace wore off.
"Well, you and your squad are piloting a Type-97 today, right? I think cause rumours said that the team leader of 207th's got a pure black TSF that nobody else has seen before, so my best guess it the ghost part came from there." Bandana explained easily to me.
"Really now? What about the 'Abyssal' part then?" She became clearly uncomfortable with telling me the continuation.
"Come on now, we can say it. It's not like anything bad." Twister Head took my side in this little discussion.
"Ah, you all are so slow, I'll tell you, Captain. It's just your person, the others say that you're quite hollow." What Gorilla exposed was somewhat shocking to me.
"Me, hollow? What does that mean?"
"Aaar, it's just your feature, Capt. Shirogane. Nothing to get worked up about."
"Yeah, it's nothing, really." After the others also reassured my common being, I lost interest in a mere stupid nickname. Sure, it was uncomfortable as hell, but nicknames were a sign of respect most of the time, like this one.
—
"Hahaha! Anyway, so I told her to make the jump, right? But she ended up falling face first right into the ditch. It was just that great of a moment!"
"Gyahahahaha!" The current topic was about some of my team's hilarious blunders.
After the short chat about whatever Eishis out there were calling me these days, the subject was brought back to its origin; my XM3 and crazy piloting skills. Then we side-tracked easily onto some more random crap.
"Ahaa… but Captain. You're quite a genius yourself to have come up with that OS." The theme once again switched back to the XM3 after some time.
"It's really just my experience. There are times when you absolutely need the TSF to move as you wish."
"True that, we're called veterans. But with that OS and your skills, there's really no comparison. Maybe one day we can be somewhere on your level." Bandana commented on the gap between me and other normal soldiers.
"Then that's a goal for you all to concentration on. Once you guys get your hands on the OS, make sure to use it to its full power. Our enemies are the BETA, and we're the spearhead of mankind. There is no good reason to hold back at any time, don't forget that."
"Yes, sir!" They all saluted me after a little lecture. Being high ranking was so satisfying in any cases.
"Feels kind of weird to be lectured by someone younger than me though."
"Aaaa-hahaha!" We joked around some more until they had to exit due to their duties.
—
"Eyes up, Takeru!"
"Don't even need to." A sandwich sailed through the air and I caught it singlehandedly without looking. Because pro, that's why.
"Woow, so coooool, Takeru-chan!" Sumika walked in with Meiya and leaned on the railing in front of me, overseeing the hanger.
"Are you not going to join the rest of us in the PX?" Meiya unwrapped her own food once she was beside me.
"Nah, got stuff to complete here. I say that, but nobody is even around right now."
"Kei-san wanted a piece of Yakisoba so I gave her one, that okay?"
"Yup, I got to feed my pets, right?" Two disapproving looks were shot my way.
"Huhu, Takeru… you are just…"
"Taaakkeeruu-chaannn… never gonna change…" Got that right.
"So then, other than being completely let down by me, what else is going on?"
"We're on lunch break as well so me and Meiya-san came to visit you!" I was in no mood to correct Sumika's grammar.
"Indeed, we are free as of the time being."
"That's nice… oh, I just remembered, do I look empty as a person to you two?" Since I still had a strong impression on that title thingy, I asked my most trusted girls for judgement.
"Errrm… Takeru, you are actually quite a bit… un—"
"Do you look empty? I can't see it." Sumika cut off Meiya with her own view right before she was about to give hers.
"Huuuh? What you think, Meiya?"
"A-aaha, you are fine as is, T-Takeru." She was surprisingly scratchy when answering me.
"Welp, if you two say so. I don't care either way. People seem to be giving me nicknames and such…" Ending that topic with a whisper, we finally dug into our meals that were no longer fresh.
—
The three of us watched the mechanics on the bottom floor work around all the frames that were to be sent for the afternoon mock exam. A solid black YF-23 was transported to the slot next to Meiya's Takemikazuchi.
"Takeru, is that not your unit during the coup?"
"Yep, courtesy of American's intelligence agency, I got that TSF free of charge. Also no strings are attached because they couldn't connect any." I admired my Custom Arondight from a distance.
It felt almost alien besides a Type-00R, Meiya's version that was specially designed for the Shogun. This was the power of the UN, bringing together Eishis from all around the world. We just took our TSFs along, that's all.
"What do you plan on doing with that unit?"
"I'll use it when I need to. Can't really put it to full effectiveness right now. I still need backup parts and replacements, stuff like that. They'll arrive soon enough, I hope."
"I believe that to be wise as well. You are the man that said to use any tools provided, were you not?"
"Yeah, did say that." We talked about nothing in particular until an idea flashed passed my head.
"Hey, why don't you transfer the Slave System control for your Type-00 onto your Fubuki?"
"Huh…? I do not mind doing that if you have a good reason." It wasn't difficult to change the remote function of a TSF, just time-consuming.
"I want to test the effectiveness of the XM3 under Slave Mode. You know, for science. You can try it out after the mock battle this afternoon."
"Ah, alright then, I will get to it once we are done here." Meiya was so obedient these days. I didn't complain because that's how I liked them.
"Don't waste the mechanic's time by removing the weapons; live rounds can't hurt anything if it doesn't shoot."
"Of course, they must be busy preparing for the afternoon exercise as well."
"Welp, might as well end things now. You have anything else you want to bring up?" That was the last thing I wished to speak to Meiya about.
"Nothing on my mind as of now, I shall exit myself first, if you do not mind."
"Alright, later, Meiya."
"Bye, Meiya-san! Good luck on the afternoon's battle!"
"Goodbye, Takeru, Sumika. I wish you both fortunes during your exercise similarly." With that, Meiya turned and headed elsewhere.
"You were abnormally quiet, Sumika. What? Your time of the month?"
"Wawwa! Actually, I won't even say anything to that! Humph!" Her puffed cheeks presented her upset perfectly to me.
"Not denying me, woman? Then I must be right." When her comeback was not delivered, I detect a gloomy mood over Sumika's mind.
"You'll save her this time, right? Marimo-sensei." This must been the cause of her sorrow.
"Yeah, obviously. That isn't even a question."
"…Okay." It was also unusual that my words didn't cheer up Sumika.
"Hey, what's wrong? Like really." Sumika hanged her head over the railing for a short while before sloping herself alongside my side.
"I'm… a bit scared for this afternoon." So it was this after all.
"You don't have to worry, Sumika. Just be yourself, it'll work out." With my right arm wrapped around her shoulder, I comforted Sumika like a good boyfriend, if I could still call myself that.
"I… don't know. I haven't been in contact with any BETA yet."
"You're fine, Sumika. Believe in me, it's not your fault that you act like that."
"But… but I won't even be myself when that happens!" Her point was a valid one without a doubt.
"Come on, now. You know I accepted and will accept any part of you, Sumika. I love you, all of you, for that matter." With those cheesy lines, I pulled Sumika in close for a kiss.
"I… thank you, Takeru-chan. My urges… they are harder and harder to control these days…"
"It'll be okay. Besides, I don't even see it as anything bad." While still unsure of herself, Sumika became much more jolly after being comforted by me.
"Then I will go all out, Takeru-chan. I'll kill them all, for you."
"Thank you, Sumika." And there was nothing to commune about after that.
—
"Hey, Captain. You done in there?" A mechanic called out to me on the cat-walk above my cockpit entrance.
"Yeah, I'm good. Is this thing's weapon loaded?"
"Can confirm. The assault rifle has around 1800 36mm and five 120mm armour-piercing left. The sword's condition is good, but without anything to work with, it's not a smart idea to bring that into combat." The details pleased me to an average amount. I wanted everything to be a hundred percent, which was not nearly close to possible right now.
"How about the XM3, got that installed?"
"Sure did, took us some time figuring out the American system. But it was an easy nut to crack in the end."
"Alright then, thanks for your help."
"No problem, Captain. If you don't mind me asking, why you checking on the Black Widow now? Nothing changed from the day you brought this thing back." This engineer was in charge of looking after the Arondight, so I wasn't alarmed by his knowledge.
"We'll be testing the Slave Mode and its compatibility with the new OS." I pulled myself out of the controls and onto the same walkway.
"I see, well then. I'll be getting out of here for some food. Call me if you need me, Captain." The mechanic ran off after handing me the PDA with all the data.
—
"Oh! Tsukuyomiiiii-channn!"
"Captain… Shirogane. What is your business?" An ominous glare was held back to the best of Tsukuyomi's ability.
I found Tsukuyomi just wandering around in our hanger this afternoon, she was probably looking for Meiya or something, not like I cared all that much.
"What do you think of our performance so far?"
"The OS certainly has its merit. However I cannot be convinced without any personal experience." Just like Tsukuyomi, she refuted anything that she didn't try herself.
"But you have seen our recording, right? We demolished the other team."
"I cannot tell if that is due to the skills of your subordinates or just the ability of the OS."
"How about this then, here." I handed over a mobile device much to her confusion.
"Captain… is it the new OS?" Nice guess, the right one too.
"Yep, go to town this that thing." Tsukuyomi gauged me with eyes full of doubt, I just lazily flashed a smile in response.
"Very well then, I shall trust your words, Capt. Shirogane." Finally changing her mood from a menacing one to a slightly less, but still menacing smirk; Tsukuyomi judged my attitude before turning to leave.
"Much appreciated, First Lieutenant." And we just dismissed each other without a word of send-off.
—
"Yuuko-sensei, we'll be deploying soon."
"I know, how is it being all famous now?"
"It's doing me quite good. I like the popularity of being recognized."
"Then that's good, you want to move up the ranks quickly, right?"
"Don't think it'll go any faster than this, but thanks anyway."
"Then you also know what that means, right? Here, you asked for this."
"Yeah, I know. The blood will be on my hands."
Training Ground No. 3
"Bandit 1… splashed." Ayamine cornered the final target and gave its outside armour a new paintjob.
"Alright, nicely done, Archangel 7. All targets neutralized, prepare to RTB."
"Archangel 7, copy that."
"Archangel 8, copy that." Tama and Ayamine's faces disappeared off my screen after we disconnected. We just beat another team of Gekishins running the old OS, that was our third flawless win in a row. The optimism was high for the trio of us, however that was about to be meaningless in another or so minute.
Within my hands, I firmly gripped a detonator, a spark plug that was fated to doom the lives of many of my comrades. Yuuko-sensei delivered me this tool before my departure, per my requested yesterday. But even if this was an unavoidable sacrifice, the souls that I'll wipe out with these hands still pained me to consider. I cannot go back now, maybe I could never go back from the start.
'Forgive me… lives that I must deduct for our future. I will carry this burden to the end of hell and never forget those names.' A single press of a button was all it took to start this new inferno.
—
The mechanical gates of hell unleashed our nightmares that took physical form as our invaders called BETA. They rushed out, eager to destroy property and lives like an organic wave of tsunami-wave; obliterating anything in their path as they followed nothing else but animal instinct.
"—that was from Area 2…"
"—Eh…?! Explosion? There's no one using live rounds in this exercise, right? Could it be an accident?" A second one went off as Tama and Ayamine observed the situation. The three numbers that represented our most hated foes appeared over my displays.
"Code 991! Repeat, a Code 991 has occurred in Area 2!"
Following that bright red flash on top of my display, the ever sentimental beeping of my alarm fuelled me with a feeling of evocative dread; it was a constant, never stopping warning signal. Accompanied by the rush of messages, orders and confusion induced yells all burst onto the public channel at once, my blood boiled as an unexplainable excitement filled my sentiment.
This was the melody of war, the music of my life.
"—HQ to Hornet 3. Give me a sitrep." Hornet flight was closest to ground zero when I unleashed the BETA force.
"—Hornet 3 to HQ! Code 991 has occurred in Training Area No. 2. I have a visual on three enemies! I know nothing else!" More shouts echoed through the comms. It was impossible for a single flight to hold off the advancing BETA, but HQ had no choice other to order their delay while the backup switch to combat loadout.
"HQ to Hornet 3. The Quick Reaction Force is being armed, hold off the incoming enemy."
"Hornet 3 to HQ! We only got paintballs here! Let us retreat to the hanger!"
"Negative, Hornet 3. Continue evading the enemies." Nobody was in a good spot right about now.
"—HQ to all units. Moving to DEFCON 1. Repeat, moving to DEFCON 1. HQ to all units participating in the exercise. The exercise has been cancelled. Units Sword, Cracker and Storm are to rendezvous with Hornet and block the enemy advance into Area 2." Headquarters was able to respond fast enough to prevent the aliens from pouring into our area. Still, not cleaning up my own mess was just bad manners.
"All units on standby in Hanger 23, switch to combat gear. Units Axe, Lancer and Swath go to Hanger 27 and switch to combat gear." As shouts of panic and fear overtook our radio, I knew it was time for me to take some responsibility. As cold-hearted as I was, letting fellow Eishis meet their demise without at least an attempt at rescuing them was not an option.
"—Archangel 1 to Shark and Falcon Units. Rendezvous immediately and retreat to Hanger 37. Bring every weapon over there and halt the enemy advancement into Area 1. Archangel Unit will reinforce friendlies in Area 2." I gave out orders being the highest ranking officer in command.
"—Shark 1, copy that."
"—Falcon 1, copy that."
"Archangel unit, we don't have time to dilly-dally now. Follow after me and backup Hornet Flight in Area 2." My team was the only ones still a little shocked, hopefully the upcoming combat will change their views.
"—Archangel 5, c-copy that!"
"—Archangel 3, roger."
"—Archangel 2, understood!"
"Archangel 5, use the Slave System and call out your Type-00. Load as much weapon and ammo onto it as you can." There was a reason that I asked Meiya to install the remote controls previously.
"Archangel 5, copy… weapons are being loaded now!" I activated my own Arondight and called it to the front lines.
"Archangel 1 to all Archangel units. This is it. This is the end of our training. We have been sitting in pods and running around like idiots all for this moment. Show those freaks from space that humanity isn't going to just lay down and take it! I know we're all tense and maybe scared of our first ever engagement. Nevertheless, you all have to remain calm and remember your training, with that the first eight minutes will pass in a flash. All units, advance forward and crush those extra-terrestrial bugs!"
"Copy that!" Even if the girls were afraid by our overwhelming enemies, they had no alternative now other than to combat against immense odds to retain their own lives and the lives of their fellow comrades.
—
"—Hornet 3 to HQ! We can't keep running like this! Let us retreat to the hanger!" As the Hornet Flight's futile attempt to contain the BETA failed, a request for retreat was inputted again.
"—HQ to Hornet 3, we can't allow that. Do whatever you can to buy us some time."
"—Sword 1 to HQ! Requesting artillery support! Here are the coordinates!" It was Sword flight's turn to ask for support.
"—HQ to Sword 1. Procuring artillery. Wait ninety seconds."
"—where are the rapid response teams!?" The unwinnable battle escalated quickly as more and more BETA poured out from every direction.
—
"—SHIT! Hornet 2! Watch your back!"
"—This is Hornet 4! I can't hold on any longer! We need to pull back now befor— ARGHAa!" A Gekishin was knocked down to the hard ground and trampled by the incoming Destroyer-class without mercy.
"FUCK! Hornet 4! You fucking assholes!" More rounds aimed at the hard shells of the Destroyers fired only to be bounded off with no damage done.
"Damn it HQ! We seriously cannot hold on any longer here!"
"—Sword 1, taking heavy casualties! Requesting permission to retreat! Where are the choppers!? I need that artillery support! Now!"
"—HQ to Sword 1. Only saturation bombing would be effective. Buy us more time." Everything sounded so simple with words. Sword unit was losing their men like mad.
A broken TSF was smashed down by a Grappler-class and finished off with the charge of a Destroyer-class before the eyes of its teammates.
"This is sword 2! We need to fall back now! We can't hold this line any long—" The attacking BETA cared not for what the Eishi's cry for help and only pushed even stiffer than before.
The pilots engaging in this frantic battle against the BETA was not going to come out on top without any help.
"—Arghaaa! NO! STAY AWAY!" Another Gekishin was about to fall prey to the threat that was the BETA.
As luck would have it, reinforcement presented itself in the form of a single frame.
"—Wha! That's a…!" A black American 3rd generation fighter surfaced as it crossed the horizon of above the BETA. Halls of bullets collided with the right side of the BETA Destroyer-class frontline. A dozen of the monsters were put down in an instant before the surface fighter laid its payload of 120mms into a crowd of Grappler-class to maximum effect.
"—this is Captain of the A-01 13th squadron. Hornet and Sword units fall back to area 3 and rearm. Cracker and Storm units are to retreat to Area 1. This place is no good, give us your weapons and we'll try to box them in for now!"
"Wait! HQ ordered for—"
"This is by my orders! Just get going! Archangel Squad will hold this line!" Two flights of Fubukis rushed behind the Gekishins and took their assault rifles around the field without even stopping their momentum. Meiya's Type-00 also appeared at the nick of time and delivered us supplementary stock.
"Alright, Sword 1, copy! Thank you, Captain!"
"Hornet 1, copy! You saved us big time here!"
"Cracker 1, copy. Retreating now. Thanks for the help."
"Storm 2, roger that. Don't die on us now!" The remaining members of the four Platoons pulled out and allowed the Archangel Squadron to take center stage.
—
"—Takeru-chan, Takeru-chan! The BETA! I see them! There're so many! They're everywhere!"
"—believe it or not, I see them too."
"Then that means… I can kill them, right? I can kill them all?!"
"Yeah… they're all yours."
"Yaay! I'm gonna kill every single one of those aliens!"
—
"—Archangel 3, give me a weapon count!"
"—three assault rifles and three PB-Blades leftover, four assault rifles and two PB-Blades from supply." A calm, corrected rundown by Kasumi was greatly appreciated.
"Archangel 1, 2, 5 and 7 grab the swords! The rest will handle the firearms! Have two guns at the ready and just fire the paintballs if you run out!" Now was not a time for the team to question me so nobody did. Everyone member focused solely on my orders and cleansed their minds of any distraction.
"Archangel 3, 4, 6 and 8 will provide cover fire on all Grappler-class. They're the crab looking guys. Shoot the fleshy parts of the head and body! I'll take Archangel 2, 5 and 7 to engage the Destroyer-class. They look like a moving charging triangle, but their ass is very weak and can't slowdown in time. Just don't get rammed and you're good! Finally, the tank class looks like red spiders, their fast but weak, shoot them last but never let them get close. The extra units are to be put on either remote or auto-pilot and support us as well!"
"—Roger that!" My Fubuki drew a sword from the supply container that was left among the rest of the ammunition.
Once everyone was prepared, I led Sumika, Meiya and Ayamine as the forefront against a wave of Destroyers. The aliens that shielded themselves with their hard shells appeared out of nowhere, right in front of us.
"That… is the BETA."
"They… look scary." It appeared that Meiya and Ayamine were still calm enough to state the obvious.
"You three, boost on my mark." From the monitors that scanned the condition of my team I could clearly discern a sudden change in heart rate from the three Eishis that flanked my sides. Meiya and Ayamine's reason was logical and easy to understand, fear.
They were afraid, they must had been. The brutal, merciless force that pushed against us and threatened the very existence of humanity stood— crawled right before their very eyes.
"Ahhr…"
"Where's my answer, girls!" Yet, still they had to face them, they must fight back for our survival.
"Ah, —copy!" We inched closer and closer towards the aliens that trembled this earth, they were out for our blood, what they didn't know was that we were the same.
"Come on now… 3… 2… 1… forward boost! Thirty metres off the ground!" As a team, we executed the maneuverer flawlessly, they followed my movements and we boosted over the first line and shot behind their tremendously solid shells for lethal kills.
"Nice kills! Second wave incoming!" Our conflict raged on with blood drying the outside of our mechanical tools of warfare.
"Archangel 4, 6, 8. Grappler incoming, fire on my mark." Behind me, Kasumi instructed the firing team was her usual composure and peace. Even when the setting was a war-torn battle ground, she never once lost her tranquil self.
My remote controlled Arondight was back with the rest, providing support fire like I ordered. The PB-blade in my hands sliced through layers of BETA tissues and stained my frame in their reddish blood.
"Archangel 5, reduce your altitude! Flight ceiling is still in effect!" We had already hopped over half a dozen of charging Destroyers, yet the supply of these bugs were literally infinite.
"Archangel 5, copy that!" Meiya's Fubuki lowered itself before it could become target practice for the Laser-class.
—
It was a battle of life and death, a war of controlled chaos. We fought on, slaying any foes that dared to oppose the soldiers. Ayamine and Meiya were tense, as they should be; but they were efficiently killing the BETA under my command, which was all that mattered in this battle.
Nonetheless, there was another person that I was immensely interested in.
From the corner of my sight, I could clearly spot Sumika ripping apart groups of Destroyer and Grappler-Class alike. She always wanted this; maybe it was revenge, or just pure hatred for those things that took everything from her.
"AHAHHA! This is so much fun! They're all dying so quickly!" Sumika's screams of euphoria as she massacred waves after waves of BETA were concealed by the constant frantic shouts over our comms.
Her blissful aspect shined marvellously as seen from my retinal projection. In some ways, we all had that switch for combat; once flipped, the everyday personality goes out the window and our military personas take over our bodies. Sumika was much more drastic compared to how Kasumi and I acted in this regard; she was always out for their blood.
At this point, simulation wasn't enough to satisfy that strange hunger. This battlefield was one of a few rare instances when she could enjoy to the fullest her desire for alien corpses.
"Archangel 2, I'll watch your back so keep up the ratio."
"HAHAHA! I'll KILL EVERY LAST ONE of YOU!" A fascinating sideways dash was followed by a deadly yet beautiful carve of her sword. Sumika waved her PB-blade in an arc followed by red fluid covered her Fubuki.
"Archangel 2, you copy?" I called out again since Sumika failed to reply the first time.
"HAHAAAAH— Ah, thanks, Takeru-chan!" I left Sumika to her own device as the cold edge of her sword slashed monsters the size of buildings to bits. Whether this was healthy or not, the potency of Sumika's rampage was an undeniable asset.
"YOU RIFFRAFF! ALL OF YOU! DIE, DIEDIEDIE!" A wicked, yet breathtaking smile beamed across her distorted features. A silence scream mixed with lunatic laughter echoed within Sumika's cockpit.
Two Grappler-class fell under her murderous blade before she reached behind to grab another saber, Sumika already switched target to the group of four Destroyers that flanked her. Administering her Boost Units to full effect, her Type-97 spun beautifully around the first Destroyer while dodging its charge and adding her stab in its place.
Next, two Destroyers on her opposite sides both rushed at amazing speed in an attempt to crush her still frame. What they didn't foresee was for Sumika to jump up at the last second causing the duo of aliens to crash each other head on, Sumika temporary stood on top of their hard shells for only a brief second. But that segment of time was all she required to switch her PB-Blades into reverse grip and spear down the BETA deep in their unprotected rears.
"HAHAHA! You IDIOTS!"
The fourth and final Destroyer-class was not smart enough to notice the deadly aura surrounding Sumika and gunned for her all the same. As one would expect, it was put down mercilessly by two clean cuts from behind.
"Don't get your DISGUSTING blood OVER ME! YOU MUTTS!" Jumping away before the blood could spray over her machine, Sumika quickly swiped off her swords and geared up with guns of the fallen instead.
—
"This is Archangel 3 to Archangel 4, incoming grappler. Move five metres to your left in three seconds."
"Archangel 4, r-roger that!"
"Archangel 7, avoid that group running for you! A quick jump up and stay in air for twelve seconds!"
"C-copy that! Thanks, leader."
"Support team concentrate your fire by my designation, shoot to the right of those buildings!"
"Understood!"
—
One way or another, the fierce battle continued with no end in reach. No matter how many of those bugs we cut, shoot or just simply kill off, they were still somehow pulling reinforcements out of their ass.
"—HQ to Archangel 1. Saturation bombing in twenty seconds. Clear your team from Area 2." Finally, a ray of hope shined upon my team in the shape of ordnance from Headquarters.
"—Negative, HQ. They got Laser-class back there. Hit our exact coordinates!" If we were dropping bombs, got to make sure they are adequate.
"HQ copy that, retreat to Area 3."
"—Archangel 1 to all units, pull back! This place will be bombed in twenty!"
"—Copy!" I was missing a reply from one of my member.
"Sumika! Get your dumb butt out of there now!" My mental message seemed to pull Sumika out of her trace.
"HUU— Ah, are we done already? There're still so much BETA to kill here!" Putting Sumika on an encrypted channel was absolutely a good idea.
"Yeah, we're done! Leave the rest for our bombs!"
"Uuun, but… but there're still so much of them left!"
"My orders, Sumika. We're going. NOW." Her reluctance to withdraw forced out my demanding attitude.
"Er— Archangel 2, copy. Pulling back." Sumika hauled herself together after replying like her normal self.
I sliced another Grappler in half before surfacing to a safe distance along with my teammates. At the same time we were evacuated the sense, a disabled Gekishin caught my attention when its IFF tag reactivated. The possibility of a stranded soul forced my hand and reversed my heading.
"You gotta be kidding me. —Archangel 1 here, all units just keep going. I'll catch up." I inverted my boost system and dashed back toward the downed TSF.
—
"Hey you! Are you still alive in there!?" I ripped open the armour outside the frame to reveal an Eishi inside.
"AHHAA! You're… you gotta help me here!"
"What do you think I'm trying to do!? Your TSF is only scrap now! Hurry up and get out!" My robot arm reached down and torn up another hole big enough for the pilot to exit.
"Just climb on the arm! We don't have time to put you in my cockpit!" I grabbed her body as gently as a twenty meter android was capable of. With careful movements and well-timed jumps, we seemed to be clear from the blast zone in another ten seconds.
"Ahhhaa. Thanks for your help—"
"Don't talk, stupid! You could bite your own tongue here!" My travel speed was greatly limited thanks to the extra passenger aboard. I could only float my frame without putting my famous maneuvers to action.
"—HQ to all units in Area 2. Commencing Saturation bombing in 3… 2… 1… Confirming effectiveness." Surges of heat and debris chased my back as I narrowly avoided the kill-zone.
The BETA just behind me was either lit up or blown into smithereens. However, that was only speaking for their vanguard. The Laser-class that emerged out of the blue shot down all missiles aimed toward the back of Area 2.
"Archangel 1 to HQ. Their front line just collapsed but the Laser-class behind there are shooting down all the artilleries."
"—HQ copy. Next bombardment will not be effective until the Laser-class are cleared out." Under the cover fire from my squad. I regrouped with them who was waiting for me outside Area 3.
"Alright, Second Lieutenant. Switch seat with me here and pilot the Fubuki." The cockpit hatch opened for me to climb out.
"EH? But what'll you use?"
"Don't worry, I got my frame right here." The black YF-23 pulled up beside me and reached out its mechanical arm. Without a beat behind, I opened up my cockpit and ran along the left limb of my Fubuki.
"Eh…? Is that your Raptor, Captain?!" I leaped over to the YF-23's hand and remotely unlocked the entry into the control.
"Yup! Just take that Fubuki and regroup with your flight! It's got the XM3 installed so be ready for that." The female Eishi hesitantly slid into my old seat.
"So you're the Phantom—"
"Don't be bringing that up now! Just getting going already!" The nickname alone was embarrassing enough. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to sack the guy that came up with this crap.
"Thank you, Captain! Thank you very much!" My Type-97 flew off into the distance carrying a life that I salvaged from this chaos.
"—HQ to all units. Additional BETA forces are detected underneath Area 1. All units pull back to Area 3 and Hanger 7." Another flood of BETA burst of from under the curst and engaged Cracker and Storm Flight when they withdrew again for Area 1.
"Damn it! We're just on the run like this! You girls all doing okay back there?"
"This is Archangel 2! No problems!"
"Archangel 3, nothing wrong."
"…Archangel 4, I'm… okay…"
"Archangel 5, no problems."
"T-t-this is Archangel 6! They're really scary but I'm f-fine!"
"Archangel 7… hanging on."
"Ahha… t-this is Archangel 8, I'm good!" Everyone's vitals were clearly shaken up, but it wasn't severe enough for any hypnosis hint. To be honest, they fared quite well considering this was their first ever engagement against the BETA, hopefully the time during the coup helped their piloting abilities.
"Archangel Company will fall back to Area 3 and delay all BETA advances. Don't go any further or the Laser-class will fry your ass!"
"Copy that!" My team moved as one, we temporary fled the field for a better chance at counterattacking.
—
"—damn it! There's just too many of them!"
"—Cracker 1 to HQ! We need supply by Area 3! They're swarming us!"
"We need reinforcements!" The aliens from Area 2 were pouring into Area 3 by the hundreds. Support would be highly appreciated at any time, currently.
"—damn, does she not have a watch or something? I didn't hand over my XM3 for it to collect dust." I muttered under my breath about the unwelcomed delay.
"—this is Blood 1 of the Imperial Royal Guard. Here to reinforce Area 3." She was late. Even if she appeared right when I called, I called late.
Four Type-00s flew to our sides in fashion, not even taking a second off; their hot metal rained down upon the closest of the BETA.
"Welcome, 1st Lt. Tsukuyomi. I don't have time to cracks jokes right now so just shoot at anything that moves, except for us; don't shoot us." With an entertained snort from Tsukuyomi, the squad of Takemikazuchis took forward position against the charging BETA and let loose their ammo.
Their support evened the odds for our side. Yet, as if the BETA had immeasurable numbers, those monsters charged with absolutely no intention to slow down. My American assault rifle was empty after continuous fire for so long that I couldn't recall. With no way of resupplying a weapon that wasn't even supposed to be here, I pulled by sword in an offensive rush.
"I see that you are still operating that American F-22A, Capt. Shirogane." An effort at small talk reached my ears above all the shouting and yelling in the comms from everyone around us, with this conversation started by Tsukuyomi, no less.
"It's an YF-23, not a Raptor, okay? Besides, this champ serves me better than the training units we have here." I sliced through multiple Grappler-class as I kept the chitchat going.
"Is that so? I do not care much for the difference myself." That was pure salt down my throat.
"Ahha, my feelings, Tsukuyomi. I shall let you know that this machine is the best, ever."
"Humph, preposterous. Takemikazuchi cannot be beaten by a mere machine from the States." She really, seriously forgot how she got knocked the fuck out during the coup.
"Then why did it take your team so long to reach here?"
"Hehe… that is quite the cas— Blood 2! Watch your four!" Halfway through our conversation, a sudden gang of Destroyers ambushed Kamiyo of the Imperial Guards. She dodged the first wave and maneuvered around four Destroyers but was blind to the second push by another five.
"Hu— Aha!" Her frame stalled when she was about to land. It appeared that Tsukuyomi didn't distribute the XM3 to the rest of her Platoon. It would be quite ironic if someone from the Honour Guard was too lose their life due to that silly mistake.
Fortunately, another Takemikazuchi, one painted in the Shogun's colour. Shot the BETA dead with pinpoint accuracy, saving one of the three idiots in the process.
"Kamiyo. You have been careless, are you alright?" The actual frame carrying Meiya paralleled itself beside the Type-00.
"Ah… Meiya-sama! My apology! And thank you very much!"
"Now is not the time for gratitude nor pardon. Pay attention in the battle instead!"
"Yes, ma'am!"
—
"HQ to all units. Artillery fire is unavailable due to the Laser-class BETA in Area 2. Another BETA Battalion is detected to be heading for Hanger 27." There really was a countless quantity of these bitches.
"Archangel 1 to HQ! My squadron will take out the Laser-class BETA!"
"Negative, Archangel 1. Your team is to hold the line and prevent the enemy from reaching Hanger 37. The personals on site have yet to evacuate." My request was denied for a good reason.
"—this is Valkyries 1 to HQ. I'll take my team and silence the Laser-class." Captain Isumi finally decided to join the party as well.
It was seven Shiranuis with the Valkyries emblem that rushed out from our side and pushed on in full force.
"Then I'll go along. I don't have any bullets left here. 1st. Lt. Tsukuyomi, take over command for me." Seeing the empty sign of my weapon, I thought up the best method to please everyone.
"Blood 1, copy that. Blood Flight and Archangel Squadron will hold the defense line." Tsukuyomi was kind enough to answer my demand.
"HQ all copy. Artillery support will target Area 2 and 3 after the Laser-class are eliminated."
—
"Someone give me a gun! One of the gun sweepers!"
"Ah, here, Captain!" Akane tossed me a rifle which I intercepted in midair. I couldn't ask my team for weaponry since we all only had a few guns with little ammo.
"Valkyries 1 to all units. Formation Arrowhead 1, we'll push to the left of Area 2 and flank the Laser-class from behind. There also could be other BETA strains around so don't let your guard down!"
"What about Shiroga— Capt. Shirogane? He just tagged along without his team!" Hayase may have only stated the truth, but somehow it still felt like an insult.
"I'm the wildcard here. I'm gonna steal everyone's kills. But mostly yours, Hayase."
"You challenging me, Capt. Shirogane!? Because I'll definitely accept!" While the argument was hot and alive between the MVPs, the rest of the Squad had already engaged the BETA forces.
"Yeah, I'll take you on. Hayase! Someone give me a sword!"
"Here, take mine. Capt. Shirogane. I'm secretly rooting for you. Be careful with Hayase these days, her sexual frustration is piling up since we lost our last battle." Munakata lobed her PB-blade my way while also throwing in a good joke for free.
"Thanks, Munakata. Let's go Laserjagding! By the way, is that a word?" Apparently Laserjagd means "Laser hunt" in German, not too sure how it translate to a verb, though.
"MU-NA-KA-TA! I'm going to get you later!" With that, the Vanguards charged head-first amongst the BETA Regiment.
—
'Come on! One… two… three… four… five… and… six.' The body of six Laser-class laid behind the path I just took.
We had pushed into their base and were killing all of their dudes, two Destroyer-class rounded the debris and met the deadly side of my blade without mercy.
"Ahh! Shirogane! Those are my guys!" A shout came from Hayase after I threw my sword at the last Heavy Laser-class remaining in a group of five.
"What're you talking about now!? I clearly cleaved that guy before you got to it." I drew the sword out of the corpse of the BETA before turning around and shoot another cluster of Grappler-class.
"Ahhaa! Damn you and your kill stealing!"
"Hahaha! I'm stealing Hayase's kills!" That was just too priceless for me to keep quiet.
—
"—that's the last one! Out of my way, Hayase!"
"—in your dreams, Shirogane! This is going to be the tie-breaker for us!" The final Heavy Laser-class that hid in an unnoticed corner was the last BETA left in Area 2. Also the only BETA that was left from its Division.
Both our guns were out of munitions long ago and our swords scared with marks of obliteration suffered by the BETA army. My final two weapons were the mounted dagger on my rifle and the last combat dagger I equipped from my arm sheaths. Hayase was sprinting full speed with half a sword.
"Your ass is mine!"
"Gonna fry you to the moon!"
We raced for the final kill on the Lux as it fired its puny laser in its final fruitless attempt to desperately attack us. Using the corpses and ruins around us as cover, both Hayase and I avoided its lethal eye-beam.
I spun my dagger and gripped it again with my fingers on the spine of this knife, a powerful and precise throw landed the blade right in the creature's eye. Hayase used her Jump Unit to close the gap instantly and stabbed her broken sword hard into the flesh on the side of the Magnus Lux. I finished the life of this alien monster with a final strike as I pierced the eye again with my bayonet.
"—that's it! We clear! Repeat, all clear!" Both Hayase and I shouted in our comms at around the same time.
"—this is Valkyries 1 to HQ. All Laser-class dispatched. You're clear for bombing."
"—HQ copy that. Saturation artillery strike will be delivered in thirty seconds. All TSFs clear Training Area 1, 2 and 3 immediately." The longest half a minute of the day was slowly ticking down as our squad withdrew from the frontline that was covered in BETA cadavers.
—
"Impact in 3… 2… 1… confirming effect." It didn't take a prodigy to observe the repercussion of the bombing attack. With their significant Laser-class already dead and ready to be buried, the rest of the BETA army suffered complete and total annihilation under the bombardment of our ordnance.
—
"—alright, good game everyone!" This could very much be the wrong way to approve an aftermath.
"—what are the scores? Anybody keeping track?"
"—what the hell do you two think you're doing…?" Captain Isumi was very judgemental about my after-action celebration with Hayase. After most of the aliens got their asses handed to them by a long range artillery raid, the order was updated to search and destroy any remaining survivors.
"—I actually kept count, wanna listen?" Two voices concurred to Munakata's suggestion.
"Let's take a look here… Hayase got the most kills during this with around 340 confirmed. Out of that is about 20 Laser-class and the rest are grapplers and destroyers. Shirogane got somewhere around 320 with about 30 Laser-class. But we should also remember that he saved the life of 2nd Lt. Tsukiji, can you second that, Second Lieutenant?" It was to everyone's surprise that Munakata was secretly quite proficient as an announcer of sorts.
"Eerrr…? Ah, yes! Capt. Shirogane saved me from a group of Tank-class that almost got me!"
"With our objective of removing all Laser-class in mind, and Capt. Shirogane's noble act of rescuing an Eishi in need. I think it's fine to say that if there was a match here, Capt. Shirogane is the winner with Hayase close in second." Some very lackluster applause of confusion spread through our comms.
"Nice! I'm the best!"
"Damn it, Shirogane! If only you didn't steal my Laser-class…"
"Ahaa… aren't you two enjoying yourselves?" The most obvious disapproval came from Isumi's dumbstruck sigh.
"Hahaha. Sorry, Isumi. We'll stop now."
"Thank you, Shirogane. —this is Valkyries 1, all units continue patrolling Area 2 and 3. Report and destroy any remaining BETA forces. Thank you for your assistance, Capt. Shirogane. Feel free to return to your squadron now."
"No problem, Valkyries. I'll catch you all later."
Area 1
"—this is Archangel 8 to Archangel 1. Patrol pattern Delta complete."
"—nicely done, Archangel 8. Move on to the next monitor location."
Three hours, three hours have passed since DEFCON 1 was lifted and all base personnel were free from lockdown. It was our absolute conquest over the BETA army. With our casualty limited to only single digits, this was the textbook example of a crushing victory.
Time was 4:50 PM, the afternoon sun painted our battlefield in shades of twilight. With the dusk of this day almost upon the Eishis who fought with their lives on the line. I stood my Arondight at an all too familiar spot, the one site that marked my first my biggest mistake, failure and regret. My team was still traversing the combat zone, searching for any leftover BETAs that weren't burnt to a crisp along with the rest of their filthy species.
"—Archangel 1 to all units. I'll be exiting my TSF for a little while. Archangel 2 will take over." The right time will never arrive, so there was nothing wrong with me taking the initiative.
"—Archangel 2, copy. Just be safe, okay, Takeru-chan?" Sumika probably knew my course of action, still she had no reason to stop me now.
"Roger that, exiting now." The metal door slid open for me to climb out of my cockpit and rope down to the ground.
—
'I know it's here somewhere…' My intention was clear to me alone. This might be another worthless act in the eyes of others. Yet to me, this history must be replaced no matter the cost.
My pistol was held in one hand with the other pointing a flashlight in the direction of my sight. The ruins around me enclosed my pathway, making it narrow and restrictive the more I traversed down this lane. It wasn't until fifty metres later that the space broadened up for me to catch some glimpses of the nightfall sky.
"So you're here, after all." The linear trail eventually led me to a crack between two buildings that survived the artillery. This was the final destination that I sought, within it was the very first creature that was forcefully implanted into my memory before my very eyes.
"I don't need this to kill you." My 9mm was tossed to the side with my combat knife replacing its old spot in my right grip. And I told myself this blade will be put to very good use right now.
—
Shirogane Archangel 1
Sumika Archangel 2
Kasumi Archangel 3
Sakaki Archangel 4
Meiya Archangel 5
Mikoto Archangel 6
Ayamine Archangel 7
Tamase Archangel 8
—
Author's note
Here you go, a long chapter just how you all liked them; or you didn't, and then it could be a problem. I surely thought about cutting this chapter in two but that would disrupt the flow, like a lot.
So hopefully you all liked this chapter, this is pretty much the end of the Yokohama Base Incident arc, one more chapter then we're officially done with canon for a short while. After this is the TE Arc, which is half-way done so that's good.
My writing has been slowing down due to 90 percent video games and 10 percent study. Playing a lot of Destiny these days, going to pick up some more games during Christmas and all. Then again, why am I telling you this? Nobody cares.
Thanks to everyone who favourited, followed and reviewed this fic, your support is greatly appreciated. I'm fully intending for this story to be among the famous ones of the Muv-Luv archive and I couldn't do this without your help.
So if you have any questions regarding the story, review or PM me and I'll either reply or address it in the next chapter. Oh, yeah, also favourite and follow if you haven't done so already, all that self-advertising stuff too, can't forget them.
BETA done by chad001, if you have a problem with I using I all over mine place, come get I.