TWO DAYS AFTER THE BATTLE AGAINST GJALLARHORN…
Something was wrong.
Something was very, very wrong.
Aria might not have much on which to compare their current situation to, but even she knew Serena's current behavior was not normal, at all. Her creator was loud, boisterous, and confident, moving forward no matter what. Sure, it earned a few jokes at her expense regarding a specific scene featuring Orga from the Iron-Blooded Orphans show (a joke which the AI had an inkling had now lost all its humor, considering their current situation), but it was still something Aria felt pride in: the fact her creator never gave up on things she put her mind to… for better or worse.
Hence why she was significantly worried that Serena had disappeared into her room for two days straight.
Aria had tried to get in touch with her creator, obviously, oh did she try, but sadly nothing worked: her communicator was off, she wouldn't answer anyone at the door, and even the lock mechanism of her room had been tampered with to make it impossible to disengage from the outside.
Even when Kudelia herself had shown up to talk with the ex-Diver, there had been no results. The same thing happened when Argi and Liarina had tried the same, and in all three instances, Aria had found herself needing to overtake control of the Mobile Doll standing guard in front of the door for Serena's room, and bullshit some excuse about "exhaustion", and even then, the AI could tell the latter two did not buy the lie, but what could they do?
The answer was, sadly, nothing. Something which Aria could unfortunately relate to. It still did nothing to diminish the AI's ever-increasing dread over why her creator had decided to lock herself up for two days straight, however, and at this point, she was openly considering just breaking through the door using an automaton or breaching ram, consequences be damned.
It was with these thoughts in mind that Aria stared at the still-locked door in front of the M-Doll she had once more hijacked, hands clenching and unclenching as she considered knocking once more… or just outright tearing the whole thing out of the wall. If Serena put off gathering the others for the next Goetia meeting any longer, there'd probably be some serious questioning of her abilities.
Not to mention, Aria had already caught a glimpse or two of the Third Group children gathering for a few hushed, very treasonous-sounding meetings, not to mention the time some of the kids had broken into the infirmary to steal sedatives from the medical supplies, which meant the takeover by the to-be Tekkadan crew was coming up soon. And if Liarina and Argi weren't informed of it before it all went down… then things could get ugly. Very ugly.
"... Screw it, this ends today," finally said the AI with a tone of finality, even making a show of cracking the M-Doll's knuckles, regardless of how useless such a gesture was when done by a machine. "Enough moping, Serena, your emotional support is getting delivered the hard way!"
With said determined declaration, Aria stepped forward and punched in her access code into the door's control panel. A moment later, it slid open, revealing the darkened interior of the room. Of course, that fact mattered little to the AI, considering the body she was hitching a ride in had built-in night vision.
Which, in turn, meant Aria had a clear view of the absolute disaster that the room was currently in.
Clothes and baggage were strewn about haphazardly, tossed aside like a tornado had torn through the room. What little food was inside had clear signs of going old and stale, and was clearly untouched ever since it had arrived into the room, and the temperature inside was high enough that it was obvious that the air-conditioning unit hadn't been activated for the full two days.
But the most important thing of all to Aria and her worries was the figure sitting on the bed, wrapped in almost all the blankets the room was packed with, and staring blankly at the wall, was Serena herself.
Aria… didn't know what to think. She simply stood there, staring at the sullen, unresponsive Diver who was gripping the sheets piled over her body so tightly, her knuckles seemed locked in place, and with eyebags so prominent, they made the woman seem halfway to being a panda. Never, in all the time the AI had known her creator, had she seen Serena so… defeated. All the possible pep talks or uplifting comments she had readied for the moment
It was only after what felt like the longest moment of her life that Aria remembered to close the door behind her, plunging the room once more into total darkness, and isolating the two long-time companions from any interruptions. Uneasily, the AI stepped forward as slowly as possible, hands by her side as she approached the Diver. "... Serena?" she asked, just barely above a whisper, concern naked in her tone. When said woman still made no response to her name being called, Aria lowered herself and put one hand on Serena's shoulder, shaking her shoulder lightly. "Serena, please…"
It took much longer for the Diver to reply than Aria would ever have wanted, but to her relief, Serena did react to her touch. Specifically, the woman lightly turned her head to the side, and stared at her friend with those same dead, unfocused eyes, still the only thing visible amidst the many sheets atop of her.
"Aria…" came her downright croaked reply, Serena's voice as dry as the Martian desert. "... How long have I… been here…?"
"... Two days…"
"... I see…"
And just like that, Serena turned her head away, and once more started staring at nothing, as if Aria wasn't in the room anymore.
If the AI had an actual, physical heart, she was quite sure this was one of those moments where "a pang of pain" would have been involved. Instead, Aria knelt down, and stared eye-to-visor with her creator. "Serena, please. What happened to you? No one's seen you, no one's heard you, the soldiers' been doing nothing but patrol and I know that's because you haven't given them any orders… I-I'm worried about you. A lot."
Once more, silence reigned… until finally, it once more came to an end.
Because, slowly but surely, Serena's body simply sagged in place… and tears began dropping from her eyes.
"I-I… I killed someone, Aria…" came the sobbed-out words, the woman's voice cracking with every syllable. "H-He was right there, staring at me, I-I could have let him go, b-but he went for his gun a-and something just… I-I don't know what happened, I–!"
With every word, the desperation of Serena's voice kept rising, and her body's trembling grew stronger, the Permet markings across her skin flickering over and over, racing down her limbs in erratic patterns. The Diver hugged herself, gripping her biceps so tightly her nails broke through the skin and drew blood, only for her regeneration to immediately kick in and close out any scratch the moment they happened, and the AI could have sworn she saw Serena's pupils shaking violently.
"I shouldn't have killed him– I shouldn't have killed ANYONE out there, I-I should have done better. I-I can't help people like this, I–"
Until finally, Aria put a stop to it.
In a flash, the AI shot forward and wrapped Serena with the M-Doll's powerful arms, squeezing her creator down to still her. The cold touch of metal made the Diver jolt violently, to the point she actively tried to push Aria away, but the AI held firm, jostling and twisting her body in turn to match Serena's movements, to the point both of them soon fell off the bed and dropped to the ground, until finally, the oni woman gave in. Serena's arms slackened as they wrapped around Aria's borrowed body in a facsimile of a hug, her sobs once more filling the room.
It was a long while until Serena finally managed to calm herself down enough to speak coherently again, and even then, she still kept intermittently croaking out sobs, but at the very least, the ex-Diver relaxed enough that her entire body sagged against Aria's borrowed M-Doll, the AI thankfully having the strength to keep the large woman propped up easily.
"I-I… what am I supposed to do?" finally croaked out Serena, her voice now even softer and quieter than before. "I… Aria, I-I don't know if I can d-do this again…"
Aria, in return, did not reply. Not immediately, at least. Instead, she very carefully pondered her next words, choosing them precisely so as to not aggravate Serena anymore, before finally deciding to risk it all. "Serena…" she whispered softly, just loud enough to earn a minute twitch from her creator, confirming she was being heard. "... Why did you go out on that battlefield?"
The question actually seemed to catch Serena off-guard, the woman tensing up once more before slowly pushing herself away from the AI, her piercing red eyes staring at the M-Doll's visor in confusion. "... What?"
"I asked, why did you go out on that battlefield?"
"Wha… T-To fight Gjallarhorn, obviously!"
"Wrong."
Serena actively recoiled with how harshly Aria replied to her statement, only to be pulled back close by the AI's tight grip. "You didn't go out there for that. You went out to protect all the kids and Kudelia. You went out there to save as many of them as you could. You went out there to save lives, Serena." The AI took a moment of pause, watching her creator stare at her in a mix of confusion and still-present sorrow, before continuing on. "I know you didn't want to take lives. I know it's not something you ever wanted to do." Tenderly, Aria took Serena's hand on her own, tightening her hold faintly onto it.
"I… I talked once with the people from Kaluga Village." She tried to ignore the faint gasp that escaped from Serena, and instead did her best to quell the returned trembling of the ex-Diver's hand. "They told me about all you did for them, after the war. About all the times you… apologized to them. And you know what they told me? That regardless of what you think you did wrong, you saved their lives. Just like you saved everyone's lives here, when you went out there to fight!"
"If you hadn't fought, if you hadn't… hadn't killed those people… then they would have killed even more of the CGS children. Kids who would have been dead without you got to survive the night, because you fought for them."
Finally, Aria took her free hand, placed it on the back of Serena's head, and pulled the ex-Diver's head forward until her horns touched the M-Doll's forehead, holding her creator's head close to "her" own. "But most of all… please don't ever shoulder that burden by yourself," whispered the AI softly. "You don't have to… because I'm here to share it with you."
Once more, silence fell upon the room, the two locked in their faint embrace yet again, heads bowed against one another, until finally, it was ended by a new sound.
That of Serena's slow, quiet, but melancholic chuckles, the woman's shoulders shaking slightly with each one, until she raised her head once more and looked Aria straight in the visor. "When did you become a therapist, dangit?" she asked, voice still shaking with emotion, and with fresh tears threatening to fall from her eyes once more. Aria, in turn, let out a mirthful giggle of her own, the AI giving her creator a reassuring pat on the shoulder.
"Well, what can I say? Someone has to be the voice of reason in this ship!"
Again, Serena laughed, still a weak and fragile thing, but returned nonetheless. She then wiped her eyes with a corner of the blanket she had been wrapped with, before slightly straightening her posture. "Okay… guess we should… get all this shit sorted out, huh?"
"… Maybe," replied Aria softly, moving out of the ex-Diver's way a bit, but still keeping an arm around her shoulders. "If you wanna take some time, though…"
"... Yeah… maybe…"
And for a few hours, the two long-time companions simply sat together in the darkened room, keeping each other company and holding one another as close as they could.
The wounds in Serena's hearts may have deepened, in a way Aria may not really know how to ever fully fix… but at least they were soothed for now.
And like she promised, the Eldoran AI would be by her creator's side always, supporting her every step of the way.
It was the least she could do for the person who saved her village.
-O-
FIVE HOURS LATER, ISOLATED ROOM IN CGS' MAIN BUILDING…
Two hours. Argi and Liarina had been waiting for two hours already, and yet Serena still hadn't arrived at the meeting.
Granted, Liarina probably didn't mind waiting, but Argi certainly did. If the merc leader really was serious about this whole revolution business, she could at least keep to a schedule, especially since they still had to call up the others for it.
It sure was strange, though. Ever since the fight with Gjallarhorn, Serena had outright disappeared from sight. He figured she had just been tired from the ordeal, but still Argi hadn't seen hair or hide of the woman, which was quite a feat considering how big and loud she normally was. Even the soldiers couldn't give a good answer, though granted, they couldn't really talk a lot, so that was no surprise.
Still, this wouldn't do at all.
"If she doesn't show up in the next five minutes, I'll fetch her myself," grumbled Mirage, his prosthetic hand clinking against the top of the table he and Liarina were sitting around. "Where the hell is she?"
"She could be just tired, Argi," replied Liarina, the red-head shooting a stink-eye at her erstwhile bodyguard, who in turn let out a scoff.
"Sure, so was I the day we came here, and she still woke me up like the world was ending."
"And she apologized for it!"
"No she didn't!"
"... Right…"
With a defeated sigh, Liarina slumped against the table, staring at the screens currently displaying the sigils that represented each of their off-world members, while Argi returned to staring a hole at the wall, his prosthetic once more tapping away at the table.
Finally, however, after barely a minute had passed, the door to the room opened.
"Finally–"/"Oh, welcome–!"
Except, to their surprise, the Serena that walked in was not one looking as confident or as energetic as she always did. Rather, the Serena that walked into the meeting room looked decidedly haggard, with her clothes all ruffled and her hair thoroughly unkempt, and also clear bags underneath her eyes. Add to that the fact she was currently carrying a massive tray where a large pile of sandwiches was stacked atop of on one hand, and a mug of ludicrous proportions filled with what both Liarina and Argi could smell was very sweet coffee, and all in all, Serena looked more like an overworked mother than she did a mercenary leader with aspirations for revolution.
Even the M-Doll soldier shadowing her steps did not dissuade the current image she was portraying.
"Hey there, kids," mumbled the horned woman with a smile, as she set the tray down atop the table alongside her oversized mug. "Hope you've been good while mom was on break."
"Break? You were gone for days, what the hell were you even doing?" replied Argi incredulously, something that earned a whack on his arm by Liarina.
"Mind your manners, Argi!" hissed the red-head through grit teeth, giving her long-time companion the mother of all stink eyes. However, to their surprise, Serena merely chuckled in response to Argi's question, waving her hand dismissively.
"Nah, it's fine, he has a point," said the woman with a tired smile as she took a long swig from her coffee mug. Once she was done, Serena pulled a controller from her pocket, and hit a few buttons on it, which immediately made the screens around them shift to images of calls being sent out. "To answer your question, Argi, I was… dealing with some stuff."
Her reply earned a skeptical look from the mercenary, who leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. "'Some stuff'? What, more important than this entire thing?"
"... Somewhat related to it, actually…"
The softened tone of Serena's voice actually gave pause to the two, especially when they saw the ghost of… something… wash over Serena's face. However, as quickly as it came, it went, and the woman promptly sat herself down at the head of the table, motioning to the oversized pile of sandwiches. "You might want to grab one, by the way, food tonight won't be up to your tastes."
Before either of the confused young adults could voice their questions, the signals finally went through, and the screens came alive with the image of their fellow collaborators… or at least, some of them.
"I-I'm sorry, but Zaza isn't here," said Mina Zalmfort somewhat bashfully, the young girl clearly alone inside their apartment. "He's working security at a protest. I-I'll keep notes for him, though."
"And I'm the only one here today," added Wistario with a smile, the young boy just as alone inside what seemed to be a small office. "Everyone else is running maintenance and handling an inspection Gjallarhorn sprung on us out of the blue."
"Still trying to pin something on your head?" asked Serena with a smile, something that earned one in return from Wistario.
"Yep! Not like it'll help them anyhow."
"Well, if you're calling us, it means something's happened or is gonna happen," said Deira in turn, the woman herself nursing a mug of something that wafted smoke from within it. "I take it it's the former, considering you look like hell right now."
Once more, the chuckle Serena let out wasn't wholly cheerful, but again Liarina and Argi couldn't quite pin why. The others also seemed to have picked up on the fact, but likewise remained quiet due to a lack of knowledge. "Feel like hell, too," said the horned woman as she went ahead and picked up five sandwiches just for herself. "But you're right, something did happen: Gjallarhorn came knocking for Kudelia." Ignoring the gasp of surprise from Mina, Serena took an entire half clean off one sandwich with a single bite, and swallowed it down a moment later. "They hit the base pretty damn hard, even brought out an entire Mobile Suit platoon for it. Guess they REALLY wanted her dead…"
"Well, spoilers: we kicked their asses. Their Mobile Worker forces got trampled, and we even downed three of their Mobile Suits, so now we have an intact Graze, a damaged one, and one that's only good for the Ahab Reactor and some spare parts. With how badly they got their shit kicked in, I doubt Gjallarhorn will come knocking any time soon, so now we got some breathing room to handle things."
As she spoke, Serena continued to chew her way through her snacks, barely stopping to chew on them, and very soon, all five sandwiches were gone. In turn, the woman leaned back against her seat, calmly staring at the ceiling while all the others watched in silence. Finally, however, someone decided to continue the meeting, namely Volco grunting low before he raised a datapad for himself to look at. "Well, consider that breathing room to be long-lasting: the inspectors from the Earth branch will arrive in two days, so Coral will have to lay low for as long as they stick around," said the Warren heir, his eyes scanning over the contents of the pad at an almost unreal speed. "However, be aware they'll probably make planetfall to investigate either the battle site, or the area around it, so you'll have to be careful with your movements until then."
"An inspection unit…" muttered Deira, a hand cupping her chin in thought. "Any idea who the main inspectors are?"
"Yes, I already got their identities: Specialist Major McGillis Fareed, and Specialist Major Gaelio Bauduin."
While Mina gasped in surprise, and Deira seemed to choke on a frog, the others simply stared in surprise at Volco, chief of which was Liarina, who was almost as wide-eyed as Deira. "Why are two Seven Stars scions all the way out here on Mars?!" she borderline cried out.
To her surprise, however, the reply did not come from her companion, but instead from Serena, who gave a mirthful chuckle as she swung her body forward and propped her head atop her hands. "Why else? Daddy dearest wants McGillis away while he moves his pawns around, and Gaelio is here to make sure his sister's groom doesn't get into any accidents," said the horned woman with a blatant hint of sarcasm. "Plus, it gives Iznario an excuse to promote his son to a position where he won't cause any troubles." Once she finished, a predatory grin split Serena's face, bringing back at least some of the energy the others knew her for. "Unfortunately for him, McGillis being here means we can oust Coral for corruption a lot easier, and slander Gjallarhorn for playing god with Mars. We just have to play our cards right."
"Glad to have you back, Serena," said Wistario happily, the young boy's smile admittedly far more innocent than Serena's grin, but just as honest. "I take it you have a plan, then?"
"Of a sorts, yes."
"Well, don't keep us in suspense then!"
With another chuckle, Serena pulled out the remote once more, and hit a few more keys, bringing up on all screens a few choice recordings the Mobile Dolls had thankfully managed to make while she had been indisposed. In them, were the many images of members of CGS' Human Debris numbers, doing their very best to seem as casual as possible while grouping up in a subtly suspicious way, always away from the prying eyes of the First Group's adults, and more than once seeming like they were discussing something quite secretive, with the centerpiece of the mosaic being the image of Orga Itsuka standing on the empty field surrounding the base, alongside the kids Serena knew were his closest confidants, away from any prying eyes and ears.
"Let's talk first about something that has been brewing since the battle ended: the kids are planning a little coup of their own here at CGS. Either tonight or tomorrow, they'll be taking over the company from the adults." Ignoring the surprised gasps that echoed around the room, Serena simply kept going. "From what I gathered, they're gonna drug the First Group leadership with medicine, and from there… Well, whatever happens, happens."
"And you're just going to let it happen?" asked Deira with a quirked eyebrow. "They could very well come after all of you, as well."
"But… they haven't given any reason for it…" said Mina in turn, the young girl looking at Serena, Argi and Liarina almost pleadingly. "... Right?"
"Of course not!" answered Liarina in shock, the red-head whirling to stare at Mina with an incredulous expression. "We've been getting along just fine with the kids here! All of us!"
At her comment, Serena nodded, snapping her fingers towards Liarina while still keeping her attention on the screens. "Not to mention, the one leading this little upheaval, Orga Itsuka, has a much better head in his shoulder regarding business relationships than anyone else left in this hole. He won't risk the safety of his comrades by trying to get rid of us. At most, he'd ask us to leave… but well, it'd be Kudelia's decision if that happens or not."
"Then what's the plan?" asked Volco with a sigh, the Warren heir taking a data pad from someone offscreen, most likely Nanao. "We can't stay idle, but we also can't make a move without Kudelia."
"For now? We put everyone where they need to be or go. My ship will be arriving on Mars soon, and we'll leave with it instead of your Biscoe, so get ready to transfer the Adler and Astaroth aboard it." Serena then turned to both Argi and Liarina. "You two are going up to meet with Volco, so you can board the Red Comet once it gets here."
"Wait, what?" asked Argi, the young man perking up at the fact he was already getting shuffled around. "Why not let us stay here to help!"
"Because I need people up above to set everything up for us to leave Mars." Forestalling any questions, Serena hit another button on her remote, bringing up on the screens a simplified map of the travel routes to Earth. "Neither us or CGS have proper navigational knowledge to run the illegal routes to Earth, and the legal routes are obviously a no-go because of Gjallarhorn, so we need a guide to get us there. And considering the reputation of the people we're gonna be dealing with after the kids take over, we'll be beyond lucky if they don't try to backstab us to Gjallarhorn in return for a bounty, so we need an escape route secured."
"Even if you can plan out a proper escape, there's still the problem of isolation," said Deira, now leaning forward with her head propped atop her hands. "You're not going to survive the trip to Earth by yourselves, regardless of how much firepower you manage to scrounge up."
In turn, Wistario gave a nod of his own, his expression growing pensive. "You'd need a proper patron. Someone powerful, who'd be willing to take you in, and would have enough clout to make people second-guess attacking you."
Of course, Serena did know that, but she couldn't outright admit to it, or the fact she already knew they were going to cross paths with Teiwaz right after leaving Mars thanks to Maruba being such a petty asshole he would sic the Saturnian Mafia on a bunch of children just to get his ship back. Or at least, she had no way of explaining such a thing without sounding utterly crazy.
"... What about Teiwaz?"
Only to find herself caught just as flat-footed as everyone else in the meeting when her solution was preempted by, of all people, Mina.
"Zaza once did work for them, escorting supplies to the Jupiter Sphere," continued the young girl, her tone now surprisingly focused compared to before. "They're open to hiring out anyone who can prove themselves skilled enough, so… maybe we could get in touch with them?"
The silence that followed her suggestion was enough to make Mina halfway return to her more shy disposition, though thankfully to the young Zalmfort, she was spared the attention by Volco letting out a knowing hum. "She's not wrong… Provided we can show the leaders we're a capable force, we could perhaps negotiate a partnership, or perhaps even a membership with the organization. It'd give us at least some cover from other groups."
Suddenly, Liarina let out a low, almost imperceptible gasp, and her eyes widened just a fraction as she turned to stare at Volco. "... Uncle Leone joined Teiwaz, didn't he? We could ask him to vouch for us!"
"... That could work, yes…"
As the two talked, a faint memory flashed in Serena's mind, of a comment made in passing by a fellow player regarding GEKKO's story, brought forth by hearing the name of Liarina's apparent "uncle". Rosario Leone was to be the current owner of Gundam Vual, which was also carrying several of the frame parts from the Astaroth… and was also one of the villains of the manga, having betrayed Teddy Morugaton to Gjallarhorn, before being betrayed himself by Nanao. And while Aria's "scouting" hadn't dug up anything incriminating on the old man, it still made Serena wary of trusting Rosario in full, something that prompted her to turn towards Liarina for some confirmation. "Are you sure we can trust him, Liarina?"
In turn, Liarina gave a firm nod, followed by a small smile forming on her face. "I'm sure of it. Uncle Leone is the one who has been financing us before we came to you, he'd definitely help us out."
"... And does he know you're working for me?"
"Not yet, but we've kept contact between Rosario and us limited," interceded Volco. "The less proof exists between our activities and his funding, the better. I had plans to inform him once we left for Earth proper."
A good enough answer, in Serena's mind at least. She'd rather have handled such a thing beforehand, but considering all the other moving parts the ex-Diver had been busy with, something was bound to have slipped by. So with the matter mostly solved, Serena gave a short nod, before returning her attention to the screens. "There's another good reason for us to go to Teiwaz, as well: Gianmarco Salermo is with them." When the name failed to draw any meaningful response from Volco, Serena allowed her smirk to show. "He has Astaroth's wings with him."
The sounds that came from Volco's mouth would be something Serena would treasure 'til the end of her days, especially with how confused the others looked. So, before the Warren heir could try and demand an explanation, Serena instead simply snapped her fingers, and allowed Aria to display the mechanics of Gianmarco's current suit for the gathered to see. "STH-14/T2C Kallisto, a modified Hyakuren used by Salermo as his personal Mobile Suit. It had its main armaments replaced with the Variable Shoulder Blades that originally belonged to the Astaroth, for better melee combat. So if you want them back, Volco… you have to beat Gianmarco." After a long, pointed pause, she turned back to Argi, her amusement replaced with a more sedated eagerness. "Gianmarco's famous for being a pretty skilled pilot, and the Kallisto is no push over. Think you can handle him, kid?"
Naturally, Argi didn't have a reply ready. He instead turned from staring at Serena, to Volco, then finally to Liarina before settling on glaring holes at the table, his hands scrunching closed with quite a bit of force.
However, to Serena's relief, Argi then quickly raised his head, and stared resolutely at Volco, a new light in his eyes. "I'll do it," said the young Mirage firmly. "I'll get Astaroth's wings back from him."
It was a declaration spoken with such determination, with a firmness so hardly seen on Argi himself, that Liarina couldn't help but smile at seeing her companion, her friend, being so set and certain with his words. And of course, neither could Volco remain perfectly stoic, with the Warren heir instead letting out an aggravated sigh as he rubbed his temples. "... Fine then. I'll leave it to you, stray dog," said the man. "You better not fail when the time comes, then."
With the matter settled, at least for now, Serena dismissed the images of the Kallisto, leaving the screens clear once more of any obstruction. "Well, with that in mind, we all know our roles to play Mars-side, so now for everyone else: Deira, keep doing what you're doing."
"Sitting on my ass and waiting?"
"Obviously." Serena stifled her laugh as hard as she could, even while under Deira's unimpressed glare, and instead turned to Wistario. "Wistario, besides the Hajiroboshi, what other suits do you have?"
"A few Hloekk Grazes for self-protection, but those are for the colony's use only," replied the young boy. "Range has his own suit, the Enzo, but otherwise we have nothing else."
"It'll have to do, then. Load up the two aboard a transport and try to leave as soon as you can, head on over to Dort 2 to meet up with Zaza to wait for us to swing by." Once the boy gave a nod of confirmation, Serena turned to Mina, giving the girl a calm, friendly smile. "Mina, once Zaza is back, tell him to go looking for safe jobs, and to keep an eye out on the worker movements. Help out with supply distribution a bit, get to know the folks from the streets a bit, okay?"
"Volco, once Argi and Liarina get back to your ship, pack your things. We'll load it all aboard a pair of container shuttles at the public terminal and send you off to meet up with my ship mid-way to Mars. It'll help keep your transport and yourselves safe."
"Very well."
With one final nod, Serena rose from her seat, and looked at her comrades in revolution, her expression the softest it had been since she had entered the room. "Very soon, we'll be picking an active fight with Gjallarhorn. And we'll be doing so while making our way to their backyard, and on their backyard itself. The fact all of you have agreed to this… words aren't enough to express my gratitude for choosing to side with me." And right then and there, to the surprise of all those present, Serena bowed to them, her head almost touching the top of the table.
"Still… Thank you. To all of you."
After a short pause, Serena rose to her full height, and found herself staring at a group of happily surprised people, especially Wistario, who was looking at her with the widest smile he had shown so far. "Hey, with how earnest you sound when talking, how could we quit?" asked the young Venusian cheerfully, something he followed quickly with full-on laughter.
"Especially since we're now all accomplices to whatever craziness you pull," added Deira with a sigh, though the smirk that appeared on her face betrayed how she actually felt. "Do try not to leave me hanging for long once you make it to Earth, living in the Arctic gets boring."
"Don't worry, I'll make sure to pick you up in style to compensate."
"I'll hold you to that."
Letting out a sigh of her own, Serena clapped her hands together, then spread her arms wide to motion to the entire room. "Well, if that's all, guess we can adjourn the meeting for today. You all got your steps to follow, so let's make it snappy!" Just as she was about to turn to leave, however, the ex-Diver stopped herself, and pointed to the plate of sandwiches that had been ignored since the start of the meeting, missing a good chunk of its contents, but still quite filled. "By the way, don't let those go bad, you two. Good food's hard to come by nowadays."
And with that, Serena strode out of the room, just as the screens shut off, and the other two occupants began to rise from their seats. Behind her, the Mobile Doll that had remained silent throughout the meeting paced just as quietly as it had stayed, its steps echoing inside the hallways alongside Serena's own. Once they were a good distance away, however, the M-Doll's head turned towards the horned woman ahead of itself, at the same time its steps quickened so the machine was now side-by-side with its creator. However, before Aria could say anything, the two were met with quite an unexpected encounter amidst the hallway: Kudelia Aina Bernstein, dressed in the rougher work clothes CGS had provided to her, and pushing a cart filled with fresh ingredients and some utensils, no doubt headed for the nearby kitchen. The two, technically three, women stopped on their tracks once they caught sight of each other, silence quickly blanketing the hallway as they struggled to form the first words, out of veritable thousands, that the heiress and mercenary each wanted to say to one another.
Incidentally, it was Serena who managed to find said words first. And it was the ones she needed to say the most to Kudelia.
"I'm sorry."
Regardless of how off-guard such words caught Kudelia in.
"I know I disappeared for more than a day, and left you in the dark, and I apologize for that," continued the ex-Diver, her head lowered towards the still-surprised heiress. "I understand it was a completely unprofessional behavior, and I want you to know, it won't repeat itself."
The heiress stared at the much taller woman, her eyes wide and mouth slightly agape. Serena, in turn, remained bowed down, staring at the floor, still unwilling to face her contractor. However, after yet another pregnant pause, Kudelia schooled her expression, and took a step forward, placing her hand on the horned woman's shoulder. "Miss Durandal, please stand up," she said, her voice soft yet firm. In response, Serena straightened herself and rose to her full height, now once more staring down at Kudelia, some confusion clear in her expression. "Regardless of your absence, the fact is you've performed the task I've hired you for, so there's no need to apologize."
"... Furthermore… in a more personal note… Thank you."
And, to Serena's own shock, Kudelia Aina Bernstein bowed down to her, the girl's ponytail cascading around the side of her head.
"Thank you for saving so many of the children… and for keeping me safe."
Just as quickly as she had bowed, Kudelia straightened herself once more, her smile still present on her face as she stared at the mercenary leader. And just as quickly, the heiress took off once more, returning to her cart to push her before disappearing around the corner, leaving Serena, and an unknowing Aria, alone once more.
After a moment more of simply standing there, Serena took off walking once more.
And, to Aria's great relief, her creator's steps seemed a lot lighter than before.
-O-
THAT NIGHT…
CGS' OPEN CANTINA AREA, THIRD GROUP SECTION…
With a huff, Biscuit laid the stew-filled pot atop the counter, making sure it was within reach of his sisters. "Alright, make sure everyone gets a serving of this next," he said to Cookie and Cracker, who promptly stepped forward and lifted the large pot onto their food cart.
"Sure thing, big bro!"
"You can count on us, big bro!"
In turn, Biscuit watched with a smile as his sisters drove the cart in-between the tables towards the young woman who had taken upon herself to help serve food to all the children still around the cantina.
And even after more than a week with her helping out around the base, Biscuit still had to come to grips sometimes with the idea of Kudelia Aina Bernstein going as far as serving food to a bunch of Human Debris children.
As he watched the heiress and his sisters start to prepare bowls of stew for his comrades, Biscuit caught some movement on the corner of his field of view, a movement that revealed itself to be from an approaching Atra, slowly untying the cloth she had covering her head. "Thank you for the help, Atra," said Biscuit to the young girl as she turned to focus on him. "Warm food is always better than cold rations when it's this late."
Atra, in turn, let a giggle past her lips, her attention shifting towards the gathered children and young teens crowding the cantina. "It's no trouble, don't worry about it." As she scanned the gathered people, however, a crease formed on her face as the young girl scrunched her brow in thought. "It's weird that those other soldiers aren't here though… they never eat with everyone else."
Outwardly, Biscuit merely let out a hum of agreement. Inwardly, however, the elder Griffon sibling was not shy to once more ponder how suspicious the JSS personnel were: they never had meal times alongside anyone from CGS, they kept their bunks isolated from everyone else, and they never tried to mingle with the adults in any way. It was to the point that even the First Group members had started grumbling about the "elite snobs".
But always when they thought no one was listening to them, of course. Haeda's nose was still crooked from the last time he crossed paths with the other mercenary leader.
Some of the kids had brought up those concerns to Orga, but as always, the Third Group's leader waved everything off by pointing out the most obvious explanation: some people just didn't like to mingle with Human Debris like them. Which, while true, was not a perfect explanation. After all, if the soldiers didn't want anything to do with them, why did their boss seem so open to the kids? And why would Kudelia have hired them for such a job?
All in all, it just created too many questions, all of which Biscuit knew could only be answered by the horned woman that had been living with them for over a week now. The same woman who they hadn't seen in over two days.
Though to be fair, Biscuit had been busy with some more… urgent affairs. Same for most of the Third Group's leadership, and all of it in preparation for tonight.
Knock knock…
And speaking of which…
Without missing a beat, Biscuit turned towards the back of the kitchen at the same time Atra did, though only he wasn't surprised to see Shino and Eugene standing at the backdoor to the kitchen, the latter looking uncharacteristically serious as he nudged his head towards the outside.
"Sure, just give me a second," said Biscuit unprompted as he moved towards the stove, and grabbed two pots that had been sitting atop of the appliance, seemingly forgotten, and hauled them over to a cart that Shino and Eugene had brought along. Once both pots were in place, Biscuit turned to Atra, and gave her the friendliest smile he could muster. "Again, thanks for the help, Atra. We'll handle the last batch, so you can go get some rest."
And with that, the three young men exited the cantina, leaving a somewhat confused Atra behind as they headed towards the main dormitory carrying the food "specially" prepared for the First Group. From the outside, there was nothing inherently suspicious about what they were about to do.
Which is why, when the three saw the missing mercenary lady walking up to them, the three did not freeze up in any suspicious way, and instead merely slowed to a stop once the towering woman finally reached them. "Evening, kids," said the mercenary with a smile, before she motioned to the carts they were pushing. "I take it that's for the adults?"
"Yes ma'am," replied Biscuit, his voice perfectly calm, even as the woman took a step closer and opened the lid of one of the pots, letting some of the steam from the stew waft out of it. However, while he managed to keep his cool, Biscuit caught both Shino and Eugene tensing just slightly when the mercenary took a sniff of the pot. A few tense seconds passed, the young men's hearts slowly quickening in pace as they watched the horned woman close her eyes in thought, only for her to suddenly close the pot's lid yet again, and step away from the cart.
"Eh, stew's not really my kind of thing," she said nonchalantly with a shrug. With that non-sequitur answer, the woman then turned around and began to walk away, before suddenly stopping and turning back once more to the three child soldiers. "By the way, give a message to the boss and Kudelia if you can: I'm leaving for the night, but I'll be back as soon as I can, alright? Also tell Orga I'm taking a Graze and an Ahab Reactor for myself. Good luck!"
And thus, she finally left, walking off towards the other side of the base, leaving three confused, but relieved young men. Once she had put enough distance between herself and the Third Group members, the three young men gave a look to each other, before quickly taking off to continue their assigned task.
Tonight wasn't a time for mistakes. Orga… no, the entirety of the Third Group depended on their plan going off without a hitch.
Tonight, they took their fate into their own hands.
By the time the adults of the First Group were finally knocked out by the soporifics mixed into their dinner, and the Third Group members were dragging their knocked out and soon to be ex-superiors to an isolated wing of CGS' headquarters, Serena had already left the base aboard one of the APCs they had brought as an escort, alongside an entire team of Mobile Dolls, towards the open desert, while another APC carrying Liarina, Argi, and a second team of M-Dolls, headed towards Chryse proper.
Minutes later, an extra-large flat-bed truck left the base as well, carrying atop of it the half-wrecked Graze that had belonged to Orlis and the Ahab Reactor pilfered from Ein's Graze, and took off in pursuit of Serena's APC.
-O-
MEANWHILE
GJALLARHORN MARS BRANCH THIRD GROUND BASE, MAIN HANGAR…
If one were to lay eyes on the forces currently undergoing emergency repairs at the Third Ground Base's launch track and hangars, they'd be hard-pressed to believe the place was the site of the majority of Gjallarhorn's surface fleet. Rather than the dozens upon dozens of Mobile Workers and numerous Mobile Suits that'd normally be on stand-by, barely over a dozen Mobile Workers remained on the tarmac, beaten and battered like they never had been before, and of the four Grazes that had left the Third Base days ago, only one had returned, and was now kneeling on the tarmac while engineers hastily attempted to finish the necessary maintenance to make it one hundred percent operational.
Not to mention the fact that many, many soldiers that had been deployed to the operation had not returned the following day, and many that did had been confined to intense medical care so as to have their lives spared, leaving the rest of the base frantically running about trying to patch all the holes in manpower left by all the deaths. All in all, it was a downright pathetic showcase for what was supposed to be the organization safe-guarding humanity.
It was this chaos that served as the backdrop for the "meeting" happening between two of the few survivors from the failed attack: one who had just come to a fateful decision…
"You won't take any of the troops?!"
And the other who couldn't grasp why such a decision had been made.
"Correct," replied Crank Zent as he finished packing away all of his belongings into the duffel bag he had procured for himself, and also finished putting on his uniform. "There's no need for reinforcements, I'll be undertaking this solo."
"But that's insane!" cried out Ein Dalton, even as the sudden jarring of his body made his still-fresh wounds ache all over, drawing a wince from the young man which he quickly tried to school. "Even with four Mobile Suits, we couldn't fight those mercenaries!"
"That's because Orlis underestimated them. We all underestimated them, and because of that, both Orlis and Adam lost their lives, along with dozens of our comrades. I will not make such a mistake twice."
"Then at least take me with you!" pleaded the ensign in turn, the half-Martian even going as far as walking closer to Crank. "My Graze is still intact, I could–"
"In your current state, even if you could come with me, you'd be nothing but a liability."
Crank's voice remained controlled and focused, even as he brutally shut down Ein's rebuttal with a cold, but still cruel truth, one that made the ensign visibly recoil in surprise. However, to Ein's surprise, when the older soldier turned around, his expression was not that of anger or displeasure… but that of melancholy.
Of sorrow.
"To fight children…" continued the lieutenant as he solemnly raised a hand, staring down at it as he closed it into a fist. "I will do so myself. I will not allow your names as soldiers to be sullied like this, nor that of our fallen comrades."
And unbeknownst to Ein, there was a very hidden meaning in those words. One that, Crank hoped, the ensign would come to understand in the near future.
A future that belonged not to old men like him, but to the new generation that would inherit it.
With his resolve set, Crank opened his hand, and took one last look at the only item he'd be leaving behind before he set out on his last mission, then looked up at the last soldier he'd have trained for the organization he still wished to believe in.
"Ein."
One way or another, Crank would not leave any regrets.
-O-
GJALLARHORN MARS BRANCH'S ARES ORBITAL HEADQUARTERS
The hustle and bustle aboard Ares was not something one would usually witness, even with the many protests currently taking place on the surface. And yet, such was the case at the moment, with officers and grunts scuttling about like worker bees, in a dizzying array of movement that would leave one quite overwhelmed if they tried to keep up with everything that was currently happening aboard the orbital station.
Of course, all of this activity made much more sense when one took into account the Biscoe-class transport that had just docked with Ares station, bearing the emblem of the Regulatory Bureau, and the two prime passengers that had just disembarked from the small ship to be met with a small welcome party right out of the gate, led by none other than the head of the entire Mars Branch himself.
"Thank you for coming all this way, Specialist Majors Fareed and Bauduin," said Coral Conrad, the man putting on as welcoming and as polite an air as he could to the two Seven Star heirs standing mere steps away from him. In turn, Gaelio returned said welcoming airs with equal politeness and a small smile.
"It has been a while, Major Coral. I take it things have been well?"
"Most certainly! In fact, we've prepared a small banquet for your arrival. I hope it compensates for the chaos and crampedness of our humble station, and allows you and your crew to ease some of the fatigue from your journey."
This time, it was McGillis who replied to Coral's statement, a disarming smile clear on the Fareed heir's face. "Thank you for your hospitality, Major. We'll do our best not to abuse your hospitality."
Coral, in response, waved one hand somewhat dismissively, his expression quickly shifting to a somewhat self-satisfied smirk, his eyes closed.. "Nonsense, it is the least I could do. If I can be of any help to either of you, please, do not hesitate to ask me." As if sensing an opening of sorts, Coral pushed onwards. "In fact, if you'd allow, we'd be more than happy to prepare any data you'd require–"
However, to the major's surprise, when he opened his eyes to regard his newest guests, he was instead met with McGillis' raised hand hovering between the two, and the blonde's now decidedly serious expression. "Please allow us to conduct our inspection at our own discretion," said the Fareed heir with a much colder tone of voice. "We will welcome your full cooperation with our investigation, however."
To Coral's credit, the man recovered quickly from being so blatantly rejected, with only a slight tremble to his tone as he glanced to the side. "I-I see… in that case, feel free to look around at your leisure." With his introductions seemingly finished, Coral stepped aside and motioned deeper towards the station. "Now then, allow me to show you to the mess hall."
As the major stepped away into the corridor, muttering something or other to the aides flanking him, both Gaelio and McGillis took off in tow, their eyes and ears sharp as they took in their surroundings, especially the wild chaos currently occurring inside the hangar where their transport ship had docked. "There sure is a lot of hustle and bustle around here," muttered Gaelio amusedly, his eyes lingering on the view of the hangar's interior through the corridor's windows. "Could they make it any more obvious that they're hiding something?"
And while McGillis did not give any verbal replies to the comment, the stare he aimed at Coral's back was both enough to cause the branch head to involuntarily shiver, and to make it clear to Gaelio that not only did McGillis know… he was now committed to proving it.
-O-
THREE HOURS LATER…
HIDDEN EX-FORCE NEST, UNDISCLOSED COORDINATES ON THE MARTIAN DESERT…
The quiet inside of the Nest was somehow even more disconcerting than it had ever been. Even if Serena had always been a more solitary Diver, there was always a common buzz of activity to the underground hideout, whether it be from the machinery installed in it, the background music she'd sometimes play to set a mood, or even from her computer running scans or compiling whatever data she had scraped out of GBN's servers. Now, however, the Nest had fallen silent. All of the machinery lay shut-off, and the hustle and bustle caused by the dozens of Haros and Karels that'd be moving about maintaining everything was barely more than a faint buzz from the deeper parts of the Nest, where said machines were working tirelessly to unchain the Valefor from its current resting place, and instead replace it with the damaged Graze Serena had brought along with her.
Of course, there were issues with this choice of plan: by taking the reactor from Ein's Graze, it had left Tekkadan with one less Mobile Suit to take advantage their departure. And while it was unlikely Shino would actually want to pilot a Mobile Suit at this stage of things, an extra gun couldn't have hurt in the long term. Plus, while Serena was using two Ahab Reactors to replace Valefor's twin-linked ones, they were still standard Graze reactors, so their power output wasn't going to be out-speccing her Gundam's any time soon. In fact, it'd probably run at a lower power rate, even if just by a minimal margin.
But still, it was something that had to be done. Serena knew she couldn't just play it by the ear with limited resources. Gjallarhorn wouldn't play fair, so why should she?
Especially if she–
"Wanted to save more lives than you think you can?"
Perhaps it was a consequence of the reality she had been thrust upon, or perhaps it was the effects brought by the now-half-empty bottle of vodka she was holding in one hand, but when the voice of the thing that had put her in this situation echoed suddenly from behind her, Serena did not jolt in surprise. Instead, she merely looked over her own shoulder with a lazy, half-lidded glare, and lo and behold, the black Haro was right there, rolling from side to side as it stared at her with those rainbow-colored eyes of theirs.
"Don't you think it's a little early to start having breakdowns, miss?" asked the thing tauntingly, their voice dripping with condescendence. "Things barely started, after all, and you still got a loooooooooooooooooooooong way to go! If you start cracking this soon, how the hell am I supposed to have fun!"
However, rather than falling for the thing's taunts, Serena simply turned her head away from it, taking another long swig from the vodka before she started to walk towards where the transport truck had been parked, just to check if things were all set.
And yet the Haro hardly seemed bored by her indifference, instead simply switching from rolling around to standing on their small legs with their arms crossed. "Oooo, putting on the strong airs, then? Good to know! At least it'll make the moment you really snap all the better to watch!" Tauntingly, the Haro started to walk forward, lazily following the horned woman along. "Wonder when it'll first be? Probably depends on who dies first! Who knows, it could even end up being that program of yours–"
CRACK!
By the time the vodka bottle impacted the spot the Haro had been, the black sphere had simply disappeared completely, leaving the glass container to shatter uselessly against the ground into a million pieces.
Not like that it had been making that much of an effect on her. Turns out a healing factor doesn't properly allow you to get drunk, even when you chug alcohol like crazy.
Glaring daggers for a few moments more at where the bottle's remains lay, Serena clenched and unclenched her hands, the Permet marks across her body pulsing in time with her heartbeat and her eyes swirling brightly gold, before she turned back to the path leading to the truck, trudging her way through it with firm, heavy steps.
As she walked, power slowly returned to the Nest, the lights coming alight behind Serena's steps as she neared the vehicle hangar, and the background humming of all the machinery returned once more.
And when Serena finally reached the truck once more, and saw the prone form of her Gundam lying upon the truck bed, covered by so many tarps and chains, the resolve in her heart solidified tenfold.
She'd make it out of Mars. She'd get to Earth. And she'd change the future with her own two hands.
"Just watch me, you bastard… I won't stop."
"I won't ever stop."
~O~
Oh hey this took no time at all huh sure glad I didn't take almost three fucking months to put something out!
…
Yeah, I apologize for this shitshow of a wait. I have no idea what exactly happened, but the drive to write just… left me, for a good while.
Took me an inordinate amount of time to finally push myself to write again, and by the time I did, it still took a LOT of stubbornness to finally knuckle down and write for this thing.
And I'm pretty sure I only finished this because I got let go from work.
… Yeah that kinda happened.
I'm already looking for a new work spot, and I think I've found something already (technically already got accepted for a job spot, but there's another one I'm eyeing which is better in terms of freedom and ease of work), so it shouldn't be too long before I get back to work… hopefully. I need to start making money again.
I did consider opening the again out of panic, but at the same time, I didn't want to pull money from people when my output was less than zero.
In slightly happier news, I did manage to get art done of Serena as I rightly want her to be pictured as, so you all can have a definitive idea of what our horned revolutionary looks like!
If you wanna see it, FFnet readers, have a gander at SpaceBattles, Sufficient Velocity or AO3 to witness the full glory of the big lady.
God bless DeputyRust for that artwork, Serena looks amazing.
In any event, I will now double back to writing for Special Delivery, and get that fucking chapter finished already.
Small note to make: I also changed up a few things in previous chapters for Raise your Hell. Nothing truly earth-shattering like the rewrite was, just some clean-ups that I felt were necessary. You might also notice that mentions of Serena's ship have been changed, and they no longer reference the Red Comet being an Acidalium-class ship.
If you're curious about that, have a peep at SpaceBattles, everything will be made clear there. c:
AND I went back and re-did the specs sheet for the Valefor. God willing, it'll be the last revision I need to make of the Mobile Suit. Sadly, I have yet to hear news from the artist I commissioned to draw the Valefor, so I guess that drawing is never being made.
In related subjects, if anyone has any news regarding Saraki_Yukata, the artist I commissioned to do the drawing, I'd appreciate it.
Also, I'll need to do a quick rewrite of a previous chapter of Special Delivery to fix some continuity errors caused by a retcon I imposed on the fic, specifically by rewriting the test fight scene between the Courier and Heavy Warrior, but that's for another day.
Until then, fellas. Stay safe, stay cool.