There is a chance chapters beyond this point might be shuffled around, rewritten or deleted.
If you don't wish for your review of later chapters to become obsolete, consider writing them on Chapter 1.
You know, I never imagined I would live to see the day I'd be put in some sort of pseudo retirement. I thought I would go down to the eldritch horrors of the void, or gassed to death by the Scaldra's chems. I guess I was wrong.
Seems like this planet I got banished to has its own set of domestic issues. I don't know how bad things are yet, 'cause I only just got here, but I can guarantee that Höllvania has it much worse. It's utterly surreal seeing cars driving, and people actually walking around instead of bunkered down in whatever safe place they have.
Stores open, people chatting, and a complete lack of military presence... it's outright uncanny to me to see actual signs of life. It almost feels nice being stuck here in a functional society.
But it won't stay functional for long if a repeat of yesterday happens.
A lot of trust was placed in me when I got handed the keys to the city by Arona. I'm gonna have to be down there on the ground, instead of up in the Orbiter to make sure things will stay running and stable. The Orbiter is basically just a space station now, so... I'm making some preparations. Starting today, I'd be switching operations to the Schale office.
The first thing I needed to do was get the essential segments down there to my new office. Ferrying back and forth between my Orbiter and the Schale office was too time consuming, and I wanted the Orbiter to remain hidden and undiscovered for as long as possible. To start the moving process, I had Ordis forge me copies of the important segments with the Foundry, like the Arsenal platform and Mod segment. I managed to fund the material cost by scrapping some weapons I had intended to sell but no longer could (like the Stug and MK1 weapons I had sitting in storage for years).
With these segments, I returned to the Schale office, took some existing machinery and technology, crudely modified them to work with the segments and set up an uplink to my Orbiter. Kind of like whoever (presumably Entrati) set up the machines in the Backroom, but a hell of a lot worse. These abominations would have to do until I could make something more refined.
The only thing I didn't bring with me was a Foundry segment. This is because, very surprisingly, the Schale office already had its own Foundry. I accidentally found this out because I was going to put stuff in my desk drawer and found a manual within. That manual was on a contraption called the "Crafting Chamber", a big industrial machine in its own dedicated room on the basement level of SCHALE Tower. It required a resource called "Keystones" to operate, which I didn't find any of.
However... When I went down to the basement to actually mess with it because of curiosity, I found out it was also capable of functioning as a stand-in replacement for my foundry. And not only that, but it could also craft things in just an hour! Things that took my own foundry days to do could be crafting in a fraction of a fraction of the time using the Crafting Chamber.
Needless to say, that made my day already. Now I can clear a good chunk of my crafting backlog.
Anyways... I've spent most of the early morning jury-rigging the other segments to work. If it weren't for the fact that this whole mess was necessary to do my job, I'd have not bothered with it at all, given this was technically a government office. In another room adjacent to my office, I flicked the switch on the junction box I wired the whole messy setup up to. And to my great relief, it didn't immediately spark an electrical fire the moment some amps ran through it. With everything lit up, I called Ordis on the comms.
"Ordis, how's it looking up there?"
≪ The link is stable, Drifter. ≫ Ordis replies. ≪ Are there any additional segments the Drifter wishes to craft? ≫
"No. We're good enough here."
≪ Ordis is glad to hear that. The Drifter will be informed of any anomalies with the connection if they arise. ≫
Now that that was done, I had some free time. But then I realized one thing I forgot to do while up in the Orbiter.
Disposing of the Infested weapons.
All of the infested weapons I had were currently quarantined on a space junk pod aboard the Orbiter, and I already had plans to destroy them using this system's sun. Cephalon Cy's report contained a tiny but very important detail that compelled me to quarantine the ship the moment I read it: This planet is completely free of all Infested. There wasn't even a trace of them in the atmosphere, not a single spore, even after I went down there. Let me explain.
In the few times I've used infested weapons like the Bubonico, Sporothrix or Torid, I've never seen them actually spread Infestation or cause an Infested outbreak. It was probably safe-ish to assume their strain was benign. But to be truthful, I wasn't going to be taking chances. While there aren't any Infested spores in this planet's gravity well... if I dared to take an Infested weapon outside this ship, I could risk exposing this planet to those horrors.
They were now catastrophic biohazards that needed to be destroyed. All my infested shit must be destroyed. No exceptions.
Ordis and I spent the rest of yester-cycle decontaminating every single thing aboard the ship. Every surface was gassed with outright chemical weapons, every gun had its internals stripped bare and soaked in a chemical bath while I slept, while the weapons that didn't have serviceable parts like the Tenet Glaxion had those parts replaced with newly crafted ones. Every warframe was given the most thorough chemical cleaning they had ever seen, which made the Primes shine more elegantly then I've seen as a nice side effect. Even the sentinels were stripped bare and chemical dipped. Everything that was replaced was thrown into the pod for good measure.
Our borderline paranoia meant everything was cleaned to a factory-new sheen (and smelling like one too). Me and him have mutually agreed that nothing gets in or out of this craft without a thorough de-con from this point on, and no student will ever be allowed aboard this craft for any reason either - not until the risk of Infestation was completely gone.
Unfortunately... This whole biohazard problem also means it isn't just the Infested weapons I'm gonna have to dispose of.
I'm also gonna have to also destroy my Nidus Prime, who I've also gone and tossed into the disposal pod. It really hurts me to do that, destroying a perfectly good Prime warframe, but Kivotos will be better off for it. No amount of his usefulness can save him from his Infested nature, and that means he has to go. Plus, they're just better off not knowing what Nidus does.
As if destroying a Prime warframe wasn't enough, there's another thing I have to do that'll hurt me in the long term - the Helminth's fate also wasn't looking so good.
Its room was now sectioned off, with an actual course of action still in the works. I've also gone to excessive lengths to cut off it's influence from the rest of the Orbiter outside of that room. Every vent connected to it was gassed and sealed, and I took a bunch of other proactive measures. Even though I don't want to purge it... I will definitely have to. It does suck that the way I'll be repaying it's many years of service and behind-the-scenes maintenance of my Warframes will be through burning it alive with chems and scuttling that whole room into the sun.
Deimos and Höllvania was enough of a lesson on the dangers of lacking foresight. I will not let those mistakes be repeated.
...
At that moment, while I was lost in thought and deeply lamenting the inevitable fate of the Helminth, I heard Arona yawning from the tablet. A pretty cute yawn, I'll add.
"-long yawn-... What are you guys talking about?..." she asks, sounding like she hadn't fully woken up yet.
"Sorry, we wake you?"
"...No" Arona lazily replies. "This is when I usually get up..."
Thanks to Arona now being connected to my Orbiter's systems, she could hear the communications between me and Ordis. This also meant that if I muted my voice from my warframe, she would still be able to hear us. I didn't yet know if she could talk to us without others hearing her voice from the tablet.
"...Hmmm? What's this?" Arona suddenly asked, going quiet. She sounded at least a bit more awake now.
"What's what?"
"You're quite popular, Sensei!" Arona began. "We've received a lot of letters for help from students all over Kivotos! A lot of people are talking about what you did last night."
"Just like back home."
Really, it did sound like things just back home. Except instead of being directed to certain missions by the Lotus or the Hex, I was being hailed as if I were a lord of the land.
"...Sensei? We got a very peculiar letter." Arona noted with intrigue.
"Peculiar how, exactly?"
"Um... I think you should take a look at it for yourself, Drifter-sensei."
I step off the Arsenal platform and grab the tablet from my hip. "Alright, let's have a look then."
On the screen, Arona held up what appeared to be a physical letter. She opened it and a paragraph of words appeared on the screen. As Arona held it up, I began to read the contents aloud.
"To the advisor of the Federal Investigation Club: Hello. My name is Okusora Ayane, and I'm a student at Abydos High School. I'm writing this letter because I want to ask for your help. Our academy is being harassed. One of the local gangs has been tormenting us. It's a long story, but we think this gang is after the school building itself. The students are doing their best to stop them. It's only a matter of time before we run out of ammunition and supplies though. At this rate, the school will fall to them for sure. That's why I'm writing to ask for your help... Can you please help us, Sensei?"
...Besieged by a local gang? And they're after the school building. That does not sound too good.
The way I interpreted Rin's explanation yesterday, these schools are effectively the governing bodies of this entire metropolis, each one controlling their own district they have total autonomy over. This 'Okusora Ayane' of Abydos claims that the attacks on the school are bad enough that they might collapse under threat soon. If that happens, it could also cause a localized collapse of their district. I don't know how much the districts relied on their schools yet, but...
"...Arona, what do you know about Abydos High School?"
"Hmm... Abydos High School, huh?" Arona stopped holding up the letter, putting her index finger to her chin. "It used to be a large, thriving district, but it suffered severe climate change and things haven't been the same since. It was so big, people would even get lost in the middle of town!"
"What kind of climate change?" I ask more specifically.
Arona stroked her chin in deep thought. "Well, um... a couple years ago, a really bad sandstorm hit it. It was so bad that it buried most of Abydos under sand and forced people to leave."
"...That does sound bad. And while they've been dealing with that, the Abydos kids are getting harassed by opportunists. So naturally, they've got no choice but to appeal to me for help."
Those poor kids. I can picture what It'd be like to watch your home become a shadow of its former glory, with gangs trying to take over.
It's a common story in the Origin System: The Grineer or the Corpus roll up to a settlement, suppress them with overwhelming force, subjugate them to catastrophic ends, and the settlement asks the Tenno for help. We come in and free them - but often when that happens, there's no governing authority that replaces their oppressors, so the settlement just ends falling into anarchy without external intervention.
And then there's Höllvania. Enough said. And on top of that, these are just kids trying to keep the tide at bay.
I've gotta help them.
"Arona, what type of ammunition does Kivotos use the most? Start from the most popular and go down."
"Let me pull up a list..." Arona paused. Some lines rotating in a circle appeared in her eyes, like a loading screen circle. About 30 seconds later, she started talking again. "Ah,Here we go! -ahem-... So for pistols, almost everyone uses 9x19mm Parabellum, .45 ACP. and 5.7x28m. There's also .44 Magnum and 9x18mm Makarov, which are uncommon but some students swear by them. For rifles, the majority use 5.56x45mm, 7.62x39mm and 5.45x39mm. Students who like heavier hitting weapons use 7.62x51mm, 7.62x54mmR, and even 6.8x51mm or 12.7x55mm."
"What about shotguns, submachine guns and sniper rifles?"
"Everyone who chooses shotguns use 12 gauge, no exceptions. Submachine guns mostly use those first few pistol cartridges I mentioned, but there's also some who use specific stuff like 4.6x30mm, 9x21mm or 7.62x25mm. Finally, sniper rifles use 7.62x51mm, .338 Lapua, and a couple really heavy hitters use .50 BMG or... wow, 20x110mm? That's a huge round!"
"-whistle-... That's a lot of variety..." I say while leaning on the wall with one hand. "This Ayane kid says they're about to run out of ammo and supplies over at Abydos. I'm gonna bring them some ammo myself. Which do you think are the safest options to go with?"
"I recommend supplying them with 5.56x45mm, 9mm and 12 gauge."
I stop leaning off the wall. "Right then. Can you mark Abydos's location on my HUD for me?"
Arona's eyes lit up with glee. "Can do, Drifter-sensei!"
A couple seconds later, I see a yellow objective marker appear in my warframe's HUD. I look towards the direction it's at, and I do a double take.
"...1,500 kilometers? It's that far?"
Arona nods slightly. "Kivotos is a big place, sensei. It will take at least a good chunk of the day to get there by helicopter ride..."
I step back into the arsenal platform. "Not quite. I have a way to get there much faster."
"Eh? You do?"
"Yeah. This equipment won't do."
I unclip the Shittim Chest off my hip and place it on a nearby table, turn around and step back into the Arsenal platform. I swap my Soma Prime out for my fearsome Trumna Prime, with its ability to clear hordes like the garbage they are. I retain my Pyrana Primes, but swap my Stropha out for something I haven't picked up in a long time - my Reaper Prime.
Some Tenno tell me the Stalker's Hate is better. Other Tenno tell me the Nikana Prime strikes the truest. But the Reaper Prime is my old go-to, and it's done me right so many times that I don't care what's actually the best. That said...
Haloed individuals were extremely resistant to gunshots. Using that logic, I would probably be right to guess their skin could also shrug off bladed weapons. That's the actual reason I brought out the Reaper Prime; I wanted to test that for myself. Something about those halos conferred a lot of durability, and in my desire to Know The Enemy, I wanted to understand what I didn't yet know.
After equipping my choice of weapons, I also retired my Lavos Prime and swapped for one of two warframe fit for what I needed to do. The way the letter was written by that Abydos student, she made it sound like things were dire. In that case, the sooner I got there, the better.
This was a job for Gauss Prime.
"Huh...? Drifter-sensei, is all of your equipment this golden?" Arona asked as she watched me swapping equipment. "Wait... Oh my god! That's actual gold on your armor!? And is that a s-scythe...!?"
I chuckle at her response a little. "Feel free to marvel at all my stuff, but let's not get sidetracked right now. Do you know where we keep our ammo?"
"...T-The basement."
"...Fuck, I was just there earlier, how did I not see that?"
Grumbling at my lack of perceptiveness, I jogged out of the room with just a little bit of Gauss Prime's speed, prompting Arona to yelp in surprise. I also don't forget to flip the sign over to 'Out' and lock the door. Instead of taking the elevator, I take the stairs since it's much faster; I'm practically jumping down entire flights of stairs at once until I'm at the basement level, where I find myself back in the room I initially acquired the Shittim Chest from.
"Alright, we're here. Which one of these doors holds all the ammo?"
"Holy moly, that was so quick!" Arona sounded dazed as she said that. "Uh... do you see the door labeled 'Schale only'?"
"Yup. Opening it."
I jog to the specific door and open it. Behind it was a room containing shelves upon shelves of ammo, sectioned by caliber, and even some explosives at the very back. Before I entered the storage room proper, I paced around the one I was already in to look for something to carry all the ammo in. I see a chair with a backpack on it, and grab the backpack, quickly emptying all its current contents onto the desk it was next to.
Now with a good enough container, I promptly ran into the room and started packing as much 5.56, 9mm and 12 gauge as I could into the backpack until it was practically bursting out, making sure to favor the rifle and shotgun ammo over the pistol ammo. This was not a safe thing to do at all, stuffing all this ammo into a soft container, but I needed as much of it as I could carry with one sack. Anything more than this backpack would impede Gauss's movement, which would counteract the other thing I was trying to do; get to Abydos quickly.
"Whoa whoa whoa, Drifter-sensei! That's not very safe!" Arona said with a chastising tone. "You can only carry so much at a time!"
"I know, Arona." I counter as I'm putting the backpack on the front instead of the back, making sure to avoid any spikey bits of Gauss's body. "I don't have the luxury of time right now. I need as much ammo as possible for those Abydos kids to use."
"Ah... you're going to go help Abydos right away? You're really taking your job seriously, Drifter-sensei."
"Of course I am. I've seen settlements get the short end of the stick too many times. This hits close to home for me."
"What kind of settlements, Sensei?" Arona asks innocently.
"I'll tell you a different day."
Running back up the stairs to the first floor, I ran out of the lobby and onto the main street. When I exit SCHALE Tower, I notice most of the people staring at me. I walk over to a good spot and start stretching Gauss's limbs. Arms, legs, all that. And then I get down to the ground on my arms and knees, ready to start sprinting at high speed.
"WAIT!"
Right before I was to start charging energy, I heard a familiar voice calling to me. I look over my shoulder and see Yuuka running over towards me, waving her hand in the air. A couple seconds later, she is standing right behind me like she wants my immediate attention. Taking a muted breath, I get up from my ready pose and turn my body to face her.
"You're... Drifter-sensei, right?" she asks.
"Yeah."
"I didn't know you had more than one suit..." Yuuka comments, admiring Gauss Prime's golden embellishments. "...Um, anyways - did you read my application?"
I angle my head slightly in confusion. "What application?"
"You never even saw my Schale application!?" Yuuka shouts. "I made sure it was on your desk, it was very obvious! -sigh-... I even called a favor from Rin to let me into your office so I can make sure it was the very first one you'd see."
Oops. I think I accidentally stuffed that one into the drawer with the manual once I was done with it. I did not realize that was important.
"I'm sorry. I legitimately don't know what you're talking about." I shrug.
Yuuka puts a palm to her forehead. "Did Rin not tell you about how student applications work?'
I cross my arms behind my back. "I hate to sound like I'm irresponsible, but... no?"
"I suppose I'll have to be the one to explain, then..." Yuuka began, the annoyance palpable in her voice. She cleared her throat and started speaking more professionally. "You, as the head of Schale, have the authority to employ any student in Kivotos with helping you in whatever you deem fit. Whether it would be paperwork, manning any of the SCHALE Tower facilities, or assisting you in battle. We, the students, can also send in official applications to Schale ourselves for you to approve or deny."
"...Really?"
I never thought the students themselves would be able to chip in. I was fully ready and willing to accept the responsibilities of Schale by myself, considering I was gonna run things like I've always been. But if the students wanted to (or if I wanted to), I could hire them as employees to help with those responsibilities? Very interesting.
"Do you have a spare application and stationary on you? I'd be willing to approve it right now."
"I have a pen on me, but I don't have another copy of the application..." Yuuka admits with a slight frown. "But if you would grant me permission, I could go up to your office and fetch the one already on your desk."
"Yup. Here, take these."
I reach into a side pocket on the backpack, fetch the keys for my door and toss them to Yuuka, who almost fumbles the catch. While I was grabbing the keys, I felt my fingers brush up against something smooth and rectangular. I reached inside and picked up some sort of plastic rectangle from the bottom of the backpack. I didn't take it out of the bag, but I did flip it over: Curiously, the front of it carried the emblem of both Schale and the Shittim Chest, while the back was completely white save for a thin black strip end-to-end. There were some numbers printed on both sides, most of them being on the back.
Was this a... credit card, or a debit card? All of the ones I had seen in Höllvania were useless because central banking collapsed under the Techrot. And the market of my time doesn't need anything like this to carry out transactions.
"Sensei?"
Snapped back to reality, I dropped the card back inside the bag. "Sorry, I spaced out there for a moment. One more thing; you mentioned SCHALE Tower has its own facilities?"
Yuuka puts the keys in some bag she was carrying. "Uh, yes it does. SCHALE Tower has its own cafeteria, armory, shooting range and even its own dedicated Angel 24."
"Angel 24? What's an 'Angel 24?'"
Yuuka looked at me as if I were crazy, but then her eyes widened as appeared to realize something.
"...Oh, that's right. You're not from around here. Angel 24 is a convenience store that is open 24 hours of the day, 6 days a week. They stock a variety of stuff - food, magazines, electronics, over-the-counter medicine..." Yuuka paused for a moment. "...Guns, ammo, explosives... everything a citizen of Kivotos needs."
"A true one stop shop, huh?" I nod thoughtfully.
The things Angel 24 stocked would definitely raise some eyes in 1999. But in my time, a place like that would be an absolute dream for the common person... so long as it's not owned by the Corpus, which it absolutely would be. Sounds like my kind of place.
"Tell me; what currency does Kivotos use? Something tells me it isn't Credits."
"Credits?" Yuuka raises a questioning eyebrow. "What's a 'Credit'? No, Kivotos uses Yen."
...Ah, shit.
"...What about Höllars?" I ask, a little more desperate.
"Höllars?" Yuuka gives me a baffled expression. "What currency is 'Höllars'? I've never even heard of that."
I clenched my fists behind my back in a mix of anger and sorrow, quickly working to reign my excess emotions in before they affected my rationale. My Credits/Höllars were now only useful as raw material... all those many hundreds of millions of credits, now just paperweights! All those safes cracked open in Höllvania? Now they amounted to nothing!
"...Drifter-sensei? Sensei, are you there?"
I take a deep breath, recentering myself as best I can. "...Y-Yes, Yuuka. I am."
Yuuka was a bit perturbed by how I answered her, because she looked at me around where Gauss's eyes would be. "Are you sure, sensei? You sound like you just were told some bad news..."
I angle my head to look her dead in the eyes. "Would you like me to answer you honestly, Yuuka?"
"Um, yes?" she shifts uncomfortably under my gaze, despite the warframe's lack of eyes.
"You just effectively told me my many millions of currency are now worth nothing."
My words seemed to hit Yuuka like a truck. "What!? You were a multi-millionaire!?"
"Was. Now, It sounds like I have to start over from scratch."
"You can't just convert the currency?" Yuuka asked, agitated. "Even if your country isn't doing so well, surely you can-"
I hold up a hand to stop her from going on. "I hate to say it... but I can't, Yuuka. If you've never even heard of Credits or Höllars, then I doubt it's even worth trying. Plus, even if I could, my country's banking institutions collapsed years ago under the crisis."
Yeah yeah, I know - Höllvania is not exactly my home country. It was still a better excuse then 'hello, I'm from space'.
She looked at me as If I had just told her my dad passed away. It even seemed like tears were beginning to well up in her eyes.
"...No way... were you at least paid for your help yesterday?"
"I was supposed to be paid for that?" I answered her question with genuine bafflement.
To this, Yuuka's expression shifted from sorrow to rage. She walked over to me and grabbed my hand, forcefully leading me back inside SCHALE Tower. I was about to voice my protest, but Yuuka spoke before me, sounding like I just lit a fire under her ass.
"This is unacceptable! I bet you don't even have enough money to buy yourself any food...! Here, we're going to pay a visit to Angel 24 right now." As she walked, she reached into her bag and grabbed a card similar to the one I saw in my bag and handed it to me. "Here, take this with you. It's mine, so please don't spend too much... but however much you do end up spending, I'll bill the GSC for until you get issued your own card and bank account."
She then looked back at me while still dragging me by the hand past several kiosks. "And please don't take this as me trying to bribe you into accepting my application. I just... I can't bear the thought of Sensei starving to death with no money to his name."
I nod with genuine respect. "Thank you, Yuuka. I will remember this.."
Yuuka shook her head. "Don't repay me directly. Instead, I want you to pay it forward to the other students with that same care and consideration that you showed me, Suzumi, Chinatsu and Hasumi."
"Then I'll do just that... even though I was going to anyways."
We were now in front of this 'Angel 24'. The storefront was all glass, with various advertisements for things on the front and a whole bunch of deals. It wasn't long until I realized what exactly this place was - by Sol's light, it was a functional convenience store! Every single one in Höllvania was overrun with Techrot or already looted so badly that even the shelves were taken as raw materials. But this one? It was actually in business!
I've been wanting to see what one in operation is actually like for so long now. Finally, I'll get to do just that.
"I will wait out here." Yuuka said, crossing her arms. "Oh, and you can't go in the store with that backpack. They'll get suspicious."
I nodded and took off my backpack. I held it out to her. "Can you hold onto this for me?"
"Yeah, here... Whoa! How much did you put into this thing!?" Yuuka's face scrunched up, holding it up with one hand quite easily but still showing signs of struggle. She appeared quite strong for a woman, because most people wouldn't be able to lift up the amount of ammo stuffed in there so easily.
"A lot." I replied. "It'll be a couple minutes until I return. Just leave it on the ground if it gets too much."
I did not want to wait for her response, so I walked into the store, card in hand. The moment I stepped into the store, a frigid blast of air hit me. The interior was much colder than the exterior.
"Welcome to Ange- Hnng!?"
The moment the sliding doors closed, someone called out to me but stopped partway through, sounding like their breath got caught in their throat somehow. I look to my right and see a young girl with a halo behind a counter, wearing what I'm guessing is the uniform. She looked really young... like, as young as Nakak.
She was also looking at me like I was an occupying Grineer about to beat her for not meeting her work quota.
"Whoa easy, it's fine kid!" I say, raising my hands and trying to diffuse the tension. "I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm here to shop. I'm guessing you're the clerk here, somehow?"
"...Y-You're a c-customer?" the girl meekly squeaked out. Poor thing was shaking like a wet Kubrow and stammering... and I could barely hear her because she wasn't asserting herself whatsoever. "Y-yes I am! w-welcome to Angel 24... P-please don't be afraid to ask a-any questions..."
"Actually, I've got one. What's your name, miss?"
"S-Sora..."
"Hey, nice to meet you Sora. I'm the head of Schale."
"Y-you're Schale's sensei!?" Sora blurted out substantially louder than before. "Y-you look so much different from the videos!"
I tilt my head at that second part. "Videos? What videos? Also, that's just because I switched armor. I've got multiple of 'em."
"O-Oh." She replied bashfully. "Y-You haven't seen any of the videos all over the internet?"
"...On the Internet?" I parrot. The World Wide Web could host videos now? "No, I haven't seen these videos. But you're making me a little curious. Think you could show me one?"
"Uh, s-sure! One moment please..."
The girl reached into her apron's pocket and pulled out a small rectangular datapad, typing something into it. I noticed Sora was becoming a little more talkative as she got more into her job. I could also tell she was the nervous type that kept to herself. Perhaps she was the type who was quiet but could actually talk your ear off when they opened up.
"Here. This is the one that's been really blowing up."
Sora rotated the datapad around to show the screen to me. I got up closer to the counter to get a better look. The video played in its own window above a caption that said "BREAKING: Haloless man clad in golden armor destroys tank as Kivotos' state of emergency abruptly ends".
It was lightly edited footage of me engaging the band of criminals yesterday with those 4 girls, probably taken by a security camera. The video started off with tracking me jumping from roof to roof, followed by the part where I popped Lavos' Catalyze probes in the middle of their formation. After that, it cut to amateur footage filmed by one of the residents high-up in a building next to SCHALE Tower, seemingly filmed from their apartment inside. They captured me eliminating the large group of criminals behind the tank, followed by me destroying the tank from close range and getting launched into a dizzying roll, capping it off with me getting back up and walking into SCHALE Tower. They cut out my brief conversation in between that.
I am utterly amazed this video isn't buffering every second and choking like a bad phone line. This Earth was at least some number of years ahead of 1999. Question is... how many? 50? I know my time is potentially 10,000 years past 1999, but... Nevermind, questions for later.
"...I guess I see why those workers were afraid of me." I comment under my breath. I scroll the view down and see more text below. "...6,415,730 views? Wait, does that mean 6-and-a-half million people saw this video?"
"Y-yeah." Sora nods. "Kivotos has never seen an adult do anything like this without a halo..."
Sora put her datapad back into her pocket. She still looked at me nervously, but gathered her composure. "Because of that, It's led to most of Kivotos talking about you. E-everyone's a little afraid of you now..."
She winced a little when she said that, like I was going to slap her for daring to say that and she was bracing for it. I breathe in deep and expel an exasperated sigh, which makes her flinch in fear.
"...Yup, I should've expected that. I really hope the people don't think I'm gonna become after them personally, individually. Unless they give me a reason to go after 'em, I'm here to help, not hurt."
Sora breathes a sigh and I could physically see her release the tension. "T-that's a relief..."
I cross my arms. "I've got another question, Sora"
"Yes?" she replies without looking like a scared Kubrow.
"I see this place carries a whole bunch of stuff. I want to know if you stock MRE's or other types of rations."
"Yup. Right this way, please."
Sora walked around the counter and gestured for me to follow. I have to say, her nervousness mostly disappeared when we started discussing business. She led me down past an aisle of canned goods and down to the other end of the store. In the back was a shelf with a small section dedicated to some rations, most of which were indeed MRE's. A few of them were even military-grade.
But ignoring those, there was a strong chance that I was going to stay in Abydos for an extended period of time. If most of the district was buried in sand, then It would be smart to assume there's little to no stores left, and you'd have to go outside of Abydos to get essentials. Or, I could be overthinking things; either way, there was a little extra space in my backpack, enough left for maybe a few rations. Better safe than sorry.
"Here they are. Do you need anything else, Sensei?"
I reached up and grabbed a few of the rations with my free hand. "No, that's all I'm getting for now."
"Okay. Right this way, please."
We walked back to the front of the store, where Sora returned behind the counter and I placed the MRE's in front of her. She held them up above some sort of glass, and a computer probably dedicated to logistics.
"That will be ¥3,943 please."
I held out the plastic card I've been holding onto since I got in here. She took it and placed it in a narrow slot in the device.
I was actually shopping in a convenience store. Was it weird I was excited over this? Probably. But at least now I knew how those Höllvanian convenience stores ran before the Techrot fucked everything up.
While she seemed to be tallying up the total, I asked her a question. "By the way... you seem pretty young to be working here, Sora."
My observation flustered her a little as she handed me the card back, along with the rations in a plastic bag. "T-this was the only place that would hire a middle schooler. I, um, needed the money... and when I was getting ready for the first day, all of that happened, so the store was closed down for the week. Today's, um... my actual first day."
"Right. This place seems a bit... empty, if you know what I mean."
I declined to comment on the fact that a middle schooler was working a job. This shit isn't exactly uncommon in my time, but from what the Hex told me, this type of thing was completely unheard of on their Earth. In fact, it was even outlawed in pretty much all of their developed countries. But I don't really care as long as they're treating her fairly.
Sora sighed. "You're our first customer today. I've been told by the manager that not many people visit this store."
"Even though it's in SCHALE Tower?" I say, looking out the storefront windows into the lobby. I found this hard to believe.
"Yeah."
I look back to Sora. "Hopefully that doesn't bankrupt the place. If it's any consolation, you'll be seeing more of me eventually given this place is underneath my office. I'll see ya later, kid."
"Oh, okay! Thanks for shopping at Angel 24!" Sora said, bowing as I left the store for some reason.
The moment I exited the store, I was hit with hot and humid air. The lobby of SCHALE Tower wasn't air conditioned whatsoever? Now that's a problem I would take care of personally. This stale heat was absolutely ridiculous.
"Oh! You're back already?"
Yuuka spoke up from where she sat on a nearby bench. I walked over and handed her credit card to her, which she returned to her bag as I grabbed the backpack sitting next to her. I also noticed a form and a pen sitting next to said backpack on the bench.
Yuuka smiled earnestly. "What did you buy, Drifter-sensei?"
"Rations."
"Rations?!" Yuuka was caught off guard by my response and that smile immediately disappeared. "But you could've bought ready-made lunches! Are you sure that was a good idea...?"
"I have a good reason for that, Yuuka." I clap back. "I'm going out on my first mission as a part of Schale right after I approve your form. Speaking of which, let me see it."
"Already?" Yuuka questioned as she handed me the form and pen. "You're not gonna rest or anything?"
"Nah. This is how I've done things for years. This whole 'Schale' business won't really be any different."
I took a look at the form. It had a golden design and all her basic details, like the school she attended, her age, birthday, height, the club she attended and her hobby. At the bottom was a spot to sign - I drew a basic version of the Tenno logo, and handed the form back to her.
"Welcome to Schale."
"The pleasure is mine." Yuuka bowed. "I will begin work immediately. Your office is in an unacceptable state."
"Tell that to the GSC, It was like that when I got there." I replied, walking in the direction of the entrance.
Yuuka quickly got up and followed. "They couldn't even be bothered to clean it? Well, there's still those weird devi-."
"Don't touch them." I cut her off with the utmost seriousness, which startled her. "They might look like an eyesore, but they're essential to do my job. Don't even move them."
"O... kay?" Yuuka replies with some confusion. "They look so repulsive though... The engineering department could do better..."
I ignore that comment she made under her breath. "Oh, right. I told this to Rin, but I'll say it again to you; I've been a field agent for years already, and that's what I'm gonna be doing as the head of Schale. I'm not gonna devote much time to paperwork, so I'd appreciate your help on that."
Yuuka smiled confidently. "Of course! Just leave it to me."
"Alright... I'm going to be away for a while. I'll be counting on you."
Yuuka's smile, once again, disappeared almost instantly. "Is it because of your mission?"
"Bingo."
"In that case, please take this." Yuuka reached into her bag and grabbed a datapad similar to the one Sora used. She then handed it to me. "You'll need your own smartphone. I had a feeling you didn't have one, so I bought one for you."
She handed me the datapad that was apparently a... phone? I promptly placed it inside one of the backpack's few empty pockets where it wouldn't get crushed. At the same time, I also grabbed the MRE's from the plastic bag and put them in a separate pocket from the ammo.
"So that's a phone, huh. Thanks, I didn't get one yet."
"Don't mention it. I'll be in the office if you need me before you go."
"Nah, I'm leaving right away." I crumple up and throw the plastic bag in a nearby trash can. "But if anything needs to be escalated to me, send me a message and I'll look it over when I get a chance."
Yuuka smiled. "Good luck on your mission, Drifter-sensei!"
We parted ways after that, Yuuka heading to the elevator while I went back outside. I adjusted the backpack to make sure it would be secure, also making sure the Shittim Chest attached to my hip was firmly attached. As I walked out onto the sidewalks, bystanders once again looked at me with a mix of curiosity and fear, but at least now I knew why I was getting those looks. I repeated my stretching and got down to the ground on my knees and palms.
"Arona, you better get ready."
≪ Get ready for what? ≫ Arona replied innocently.
"I'm about to start running at speeds that might overload your processors."
≪ Huh!? Uh, okay! ≫ Arona replied, sounding like I caught her off guard.. ≪ ...Just one more sec... okay, i'm ready! ≫
When she signaled she was ready, I got back down to my hands and knees like before. I flexed my neck back and forth, and began counting down.
"In 5... 4... 3... 2... 1..."
The moment the countdown ended, I took off in Mach Rush towards the objective marker. I passed by buildings, traffic vehicles and people with the incredible speed of Gauss Prime as if anything moving was standing mostly still. However, I limited myself to running at transonic speeds because we were still in the city. Once I start seeing some desert or abandoned buildings, then I'll really haul ass.
...
If only this place wasn't this far. I would've loved to roll out on my ZeVILa MK III instead of super-sprinting.
To most people, doing exercise while under the beating desert sun would be suicide. Heat stroke was deadly to everyone, and halos couldn't stop illness like they could bullets.
Shiroko was not 'most people'.
To her, riding her bicycle under the desert sun was just another Tuesday for her. She rode past a row of buildings coated with a thick layer of dust and sand, and a few more that were partially buried under said sand. There were once people living in these, but now they were just relics.
While absentmindedly looking at these husks of civilization, she reached down to her frame and grabbed her bottle of water, flipping open the cap with one hand while keeping her other hand on the handlebar to maintain balance. A couple swigs of water later, the bottle was right back where it was. She wondered if she could try and break her record tomorrow.
-WHOOSH-
A person ran past her so fast that the gust of wind almost knocked her off the bike from the force. With split second thinking, she counteracted a death wobble that would've had her on the ground, and she managed to regain control. Once she regained her bearings, she also saw that their wake left behind a vacuum that drew in the surrounding sand - like a mini artificial sandstorm that disappeared almost as fast as it manifested.
...What in Kivotos could move at such a speed...?
"...Sol. This looks so much worse than I thought."
I had reached the Abydos district. I ran pretty close to Gauss's top speed for most of the journey, but when I reached the outskirts of this place, I noticed something very peculiar. The moment I entered Abydos, I was instantly hit with a massive temperature and humidity gradient. It was so sudden that I thought it was because of my speed as Gauss Prime.
I wanted to make sure it was me and not something else, so I backtracked a little; I exited the Abydos outskirts at a significantly slower pace, and the temperature and humidity still instantly changed. It was something else. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to investigate, so I turned around and ran back into Abydos.
A couple minutes inside this strange desert, and I was already sightseeing while I ran; buildings half buried under the sand. Some so completely swallowed whole that only their angled roofs can be seen. Dunes that stretch as far as the eye can see. Roads that were cracked by exposure to the heat of the sun, only for sand to fill the cracks and meld together with the near-melted asphalt.
And worst of all, abandoned businesses and residences. This place was forsaken by Mother Terra herself. Because as if all this shit wasn't enough, it was roughly 41°C in this hellhole. Combined with this arid humidity and complete lack of life... only a fool would willingly settle here... or, the ones who are left are too hard up on resources to escape.
I had expected Arona to pipe up by this point. Confused about why she hadn't, I grabbed the Shittim Chest off my hip and switched it on while I ran. Instead of seeing her standing, sitting or doing something, I saw her sprawled out on the flooded floor with cartoon stars orbiting her head.
That explains her uncharacteristic silence.
She must've been unable to keep up and she got overloaded. That's about what I expected - the only ones who can keep up with Gauss is Volt, or a Cephalon like Ordis or Cy.
I clipped the tablet back to my hip. My warframe's HUD was telling me I was still about 350km away. I think I should be upping my pace so I can get there faster.
As I closed the distance, I noticed that the squalor seemed to get better as I got deeper into the Abydos district. I was starting to see a few (emphasis on few) trees, some intact businesses, and less and less sand-buried buildings. This made me think; were these schools the literal hearts of the districts? It would explain why the outskirts were so dead, at least.
Maybe the Abydos kids will have the answers.
...
"...Oh shit. Finally."
Abruptly, at about 46km to go, I saw someone in the distance. Someone crazy enough to be riding a cycle in this hellish heat.
I managed to slow my momentum enough in time to not cause a sonic boom right as I passed them. Gauss's wake would still cause problems, though.
While I passed them, I looked over my shoulder and saw that they were a female student with grey hair and... Kubrow ears?
I still can't get used to the fact that these kids have animal features on them, and that they weren't decoration. Yet I also saw something else that grabbed my attention; This kid had a student ID on her clothes, with the logo of Abydos on it.
Once that clicked for me, I stopped about 7 kilometers ahead and waited for her to catch up to my position. It took about a couple minutes or so. When I did catch sight of her through the desert haze, I raised my arms and shouted in her direction.
"WAIT UP A SECOND, MISS!"
The Abydos kid came to a gradual stop a couple persons length away from me, deploying the kickstand on her bike as she dismounted it. As I walked up to her, she looked at my warframe up and down, tilted her head and gave me a confused look.
"...Did the statue just shout at me?"
"Yes, the statue did shout at you." I replied deadpan.
Her eyes widened a little in surprise. "A talking statue?"
"Just to make things clear... I'm actually the head of Schale." I place my arms behind my back. "And I'm here because someone from Abydos asked me for help. You wouldn't happen to be a student there? You're heading in the same direction as me."
"...Nn. I am." The girl nods after seeming to process my words. "Shiroko. Sunaookami Shiroko. Nice to meet you."
"I go by Drifter."
I walk up to her and inspect her a little closer. Her level was pretty high, being roughly 560, and her rifle looked well-maintained. That makes her the second-strongest person I've seen so far. While I internally evaluated her capabilities, Shiroko reaches down to her bike's frame and grabs a blue bottle - presumably, it contained water or some other refreshing liquid... and it was probably horribly lukewarm. Before she took a swig, I reached my hand out and gently stopped her.
"Hold on a sec, kid. Can I see that bottle for a second?"
She looked to me, to her bottle and then back to me. She paused for a good 15 seconds until finally speaking. "...Where's your mouth?"
"Uh, I'm not actually gonna drink it." I tell her, as I look her in the eyes. "I just wanna see it for a second. The design seems interesting."
Giving her a bullshit reason, I hold out my hand. She looked at my warframe's head, scrutinizing it again for some reason. She reluctantly hands me the water bottle after a dozen seconds of staring.
"Alright. Here's a token of good will."
Using Gauss Prime's ability to interact with temperature, I strip the heat from the water bottle and vent it to the surrounding air. In turn, this rapidly cools the bottle for a very small temperature increase to the air around us, leaving a much more refreshing drink of whatever's in there for her. I handed the cold bottle to her, feeling a bit prideful about that minor good deed.
"...Nn? It's cold." She looks at the bottle and then at me in disbelief. "How?"
"My suit of armor has abilities. This is one of them." I gave her the same boilerplate response that I used yesterday. "I'd do the same to cool you down, but you look like you handle the heat well, given you're riding a damn bicycle in this desert sun."
"Nn." Shiroko nods proudly.
She opens the bottle and takes a drink. Shiroko appears to really enjoy my 'token of goodwill', because she proceeds to chug most of the bottle in one go. I couldn't tell if she was dehydrated or because she liked feeling cooled down.
When she finished drinking most of the bottle, I restarted the conversation.
"Now then. You're headed to the school right?"
"Nn." she replied non-verbally.
"I'll join you. I can keep up with your bike."
Shiroko does yet another "Nn" and hops on the bike without much fanfare. She takes off with a bit more gusto, and I'm already jogging alongside her not even half a second later. Once again using Gauss's temperature management, I chill the immediate vicinity around us and store the energy for later. This time, I was doing it for myself first, with the added benefit of it affecting her too.
Noticing the cooler air, Shiroko looks over slightly and gives me another appreciative nod. The silence while we journey to the school isn't uncomfortable, it's just that neither of us feel like talking. It remains this way for the rest of the trip.
"We're here."
Shiroko guides me through the open gates of the academy. We come to a stop at the front doors of the building itself, and while she parks her bike and attaches it to something, I look around the front courtyard and process what I'm seeing. I can see a parking lot with sand half-burying the completely empty spaces. There's some sort of playground area off to the side, but it looks like it's been repurposed as a makeshift storage area.
The vibe here is... different. Familiar. I can feel it in the air; it's like this place is still holding some last gasp of normalcy that it refuses to exhale. For the first time since I've been banished here, I can truly resonate with my surroundings.
"Sensei?"
I heard Shiroko calling me. I looked back over my shoulder and saw that she was waiting in front of the door, finishing up with chaining her bike to a nearby pillar. I took one last look behind me at the desolation at this school's doorstep, then shuffled over to her.
"Lead the way, Shiroko."
"Nn."
Together, we entered the school building. I was immediately hit with an extreme temperature gradient. It's a good 20 degrees less than the outside. Sol, the energy cost of that must be insane. I looked around at the sights as I followed Shiroko down the hallway.
"...Pristine..."
In stark contrast to the outside, the interior was in a lot better shape. Lights on, a lot less sand, and even a few signs of life here or there. Various notes that look recent, windows that weren't shattered and this ridiculously effective air conditioning make the building feel like it's taken care of. I could hardly believe how nice this place was compared to other parts of the district.
But it also seemed like it came at some sort of price.
It was quiet in here. Eerily quiet. The only thing I could hear were our footsteps echoing in the hallways and the buzzing of overhead fluorescent lights. Couldn't even hear the wind outside because there simply wasn't any.
"Nn. We're here."
Eventually, she led me to a room on a higher floor. I could already hear a few muffled voices coming from the other side of the door. Couldn't tell what any of them were saying, though. Shiroko opened the door, walking inside with me following after.
"Ah, Shiroko. Welcome ba... ck?"
A girl with black Kavat ears - no wait, those aren't Kavat ears... what are they? - and twintails greeted Shiroko as we entered. I looked at the other two in the room, a girl with short black hair and red glasses, and a bigger girl with tan hair.
Unrelated to these girls, something near the window caught my eye. A huge 6-barrel firearm that looked like an Archgun was perched up on the windowsill and I had to stop myself from whistling in admiration.
That was a damn fine gun... wonder if I could get one of those for myself.
"Eh? Who's the statue?" the girl with tan hair spoke up.
In response, I grabbed the backpack off my torso, holding it with my left hand while greeting them with my right.
"Nice to meet you girls. I'm the head of Schale."
This got a combined, loud mix of surprised 'Eh!?"s from all present, sans Shiroko. This reaction greatly surprised me. Did this really warrant such shock and surprise?
"Y-you're the head of Schale!?" the girl with short black hair was the first to speak.
"W-wait!" The girl with twintails immediately spoke after her friend. "Y-you meant to tell me you actually read Ayane's letter!?"
I nod. "Yeah. Your letter was the first official request I've gotten."
"This is great news! Our request for aid finally went through, Ayane-chan!" the girl with tan hair got up, dragging the short hair girl up with her while interlocking hands. "Isn't that wonderful news!?"
"Yes!" the girl with short hair reciprocated. "Finally... We'll finally receive the aid we need!"
"Speaking of your aid, girls." I spoke up, which got their attention. I walked up to the table and dropped the backpack on it with an audible, heavy thump. "I may have overdone it, but I packed a fuckton of ammo in here. I didn't know what caliber your guns take, so I chose the safe option and packed a variety."
"Is that so? We appreciate it, Sensei." the girl with twintails smiled.
"We have to tell Hoshino about this. Where... is she, anyways?" the short haired girl asked aloud.
"Probably the usual place." the twintailed girl shrugged. "I'll go get her."
And like that, the twintailed girl was gone. She got up and left the room with surprising speed, leaving the rest of us gazing at the door. Shiroko turned around first, and was also the first to break the brief silence.
"By the way, Sensei... We haven't introduced ourselves yet. You already know who I am. The student who left was Kuromi Serika."
The tan haired girl tilted her head and smiled. "I am Izayoi Nonomi, a second-year student."
The short haired girl bowed. "Nice to meet you, Sensei. Okusora Ayane, a first-year student."
I look at Ayane, bringing a hand to the warframe's chin. "Ah. So you're the one who wrote the letter."
"Correct." she smiled and nodded.
"By the way, Sensei." Shiroko cut in. "There's one more. The president of the Foreclosure Task Force, Takanashi Hoshino. There are five of us in the Abydos Foreclosure Task Force."
"Foreclosure Task Force..." I parrot.
I look at the three of them, now standing next to each other, and take this brief moment to evaluate Nonomi and Ayane. Nonomi was roughly level 490, and Ayane was a mere level 100. I've noticed that some students around Kivotos tend to have unique haloes, like these three, while most civilian students had the same basic design of a white unremarkable halo. I don't know why this is, and I also don't have a hypothesis yet. Sooner or later, I'm hoping to find out if this is important or not.
"Serika-chan~! Can't you be a little more gentle to Oji-san?~"
I heard a new voice from the other side of the door, which was getting closer by the second.
"What are you talking about?" Serika asked from outside the room, followed by the door sliding open. "As the president, you better well behave like one!"
Serika dragged in a girl with long, pink hair who had an airy nature about her. The girl was smiling drowsily, and she appeared pretty much half asleep.
"Nya-nya~ I'm Takanashi Hoshino. Nice to meet you."
I grabbed one of the free chairs and pulled it out, sitting in it. "Same here. I'm the head of Schale, and I go by Drifter."
To this, the girl opened her eyes somewhat. She had heterochromia - her right eye was yellow, and her left blue. She went from appearing dopey to a little surprised. I looked up at her halo, noting it was a near identical shade of pink. But then I saw her level.
Level 2000. By Duviri itself...
It has been years since I've encountered someone anywhere near Level 2000. The last time I killed an enemy this high of a level, I had to re-sharpen my Pangolin Prime. I don't know how or why, but if my HUD was reporting her as Level 2000? I would have to take her seriously if we were to become enemies. Sol-damn...
And her eyes. When she opened them, they flicked from point to point on my Warframe. Her face, voice and body language portrayed a dopey persona, but her eyes told a completely different story - she scanned me like she was analyzing a threat, and they seemed cold and hardened. She implicitly distrusts me for some reason.
Now what could I do to earn some of her trust...?
"...Would you min-"
-BANGBANGBANG-
Right as I was about to ask more about Abydos's predicament from the head honcho, a series of gunshots rang out from outside the school, making all the students except Hoshino flinch. A firefight? Ayane ran up to the window to get a better look, something I felt wasn't that smart.
"TO EVERYONE AT ABYDOS HIGH SCHOOL, WE'RE GONNA TAKE OVER YOUR SCHOOL TODAY!" A voice outside yelled eagerly.
"Who the hell are they?" I ask, getting up from the chair I just pulled out.
"They're the Kata-Kata Helmet Gang!" Ayane replied seriously. "This is really bad timing!"
"Actually, it isn't." I reached over and opened the backpack, as the girls were getting up to grab ammo from a box labeled 'PLEASE USE CAREFULLY!'. "In this bag is 5.56, 9mm and 12 gauge ammo. Take as much as you need, If you run dry I'll get your more as soon as I can. Use as much as you want to, not as much as you have to."
"Nice!" Serika was the first to grab some boxes of 5.56 and began rapidly stuffing her mags. "We were this close to running completely dry! Thanks Sensei!"
Nonomi walked over to the sill and grabbed the 6-barreled gun with remarkable ease, while Hoshino grabbed the 12 gauge rounds from the backpack and loaded her shotgun (and shell holders on the receiver). Ayane remained at the window, pulling out a tablet, and Shiroko loaded a mag into her rifle. The grey-haired girl walked up to the window and opened it, stepping into the sill.
"Whoa there, where do you think you're going?" I ask, walking up to her. "You're not starting the party without me, are you?"
"...What?" Shiroko looks at me, genuinely baffled for some reason.
"Eh? Sensei, don't tell me... are you going to join us? You'll get hurt!" Serika pipes up loudly, and I look back to see her giving me a concerned look. "You don't have a halo. Just stay here."
Next to her, Nonomi gives me a very worried look, as if she were an older sister worried about her younger brother. I pan over to Hoshino, whose face is a mix of slight worry and concern diluted with that drowsy airiness. But as I look into her eyes, they tell more of her true thoughts then her face - she did NOT like what I said... but not from a place of distrust.
"...That worried, huh?" I fold my arms. "Don't worry. This suit of armor is built to withstand tanks. It can take as much punishment as you kids, if not more. I've been through a lot more situations then you might think."
"...Are you sure?" Shiroko muttered worriedly next to me, still worried. "We can withstand this, so..."
"-sigh-... would this help convince you all?"
I reach behind my back and grab my Trumna Prime, revealing its Entratri-crafted splendor to all present.
"E-Ehhhh!?" Ayane cries out in surprise. "W-what is that?"
Ayane and Serika marvel at my rifle. Shiroko gives a slow nod of respect at the weapon, while Nonomi looks down at her own in comparison. Even Hoshino seems a little interested, because I catch her silently analyzing it.
"I-is that actual gold!?" Serika shouts loudly as she stares at my weapon in shock. Then, she stares at my warframe. "Wait... is your armor also made of gold!? I thought it was just painted steel or plastic or something!"
"Yes. Yes it is." I replied deadpan.
"Uhee~" Hoshino gives a carefree smile, hand to her chin. "That's gotta be pretty expensive, Sensei... how much did it cost?"
"...A lot of time and effort. If you all are really so interested, I'll tell you more later. Right now, though? I think a live demonstration is in order."
"B-but-"
"Just trust me, alright?" I cut off Nonomi. "All of you. That's all I ask. The only thing I want from you kids is your trust in me to help you directly."
To this, the group finally holds their tongue. But I still haven't seemed to convince them, because they're all still giving me looks of heavy apprehension. There would be no way they'd trust my safety until I'd show them that I didn't need to be defended.
With my Trumna in hand, I bullet-jumped past Shiroko out of the window and down to the ground. I landed with a hard landing, forcing me to brace myself with my free hand and knees. After I recovered from the hard landing, I heard someone else land next to me - Shiroko. I looked over my shoulder, and despite her apprehension, she gave me a trusting nod. And then I heard Hoshino land next to me, followed by Nonomi and Ayane. Together we all ran to some nearby cover through suppressive fire.
"Damn! They're fired up today!" Serika flicks off the safety on her rifle, and takes some pot shots at the enemy. She hits a few of the gangsters in the head, but only one goes down. The enemy redoubles their focus on our position. From behind cover, I assess their composition - a good 20 or 30 of them, all of them averaging level 70, plus-or-minus 30.
'WHAT'S THE MATTER, ABYDOS!? HIDING LIKE SORE LOSERS!?" one of the gangsters taunts. "MAYBE YOU SHOULD JUST GIVE UP!"
"Grr..." Shiroko clenches her rifle tighter. "I'll sho- Sensei?!"
Before Shiroko finished her sentence, I vault the cover and bullet-jump straight into the air, laying down some aerial fire on the enemies. Each shot that lands causes a mini explosion, which makes the enemies hit by the rounds stagger. I focus fire on a few of the gangsters, taking out roughly 2 before I hit the ground.
"W-WHAT!? WHO'S THAT!?" a gangster cries out.
The enemies redirect their fire from the Abydos kids to me, causing me to take a few shots and deplete a good chunk of my shields. In response, I backflip into some cover and holster my rifle, leaving my hands empty - from cover, I reach out my hands and dramatically increase the temperature of a group of enemies, lighting them on fire instantly. The ones alight scream out in pure terror, which distracts their unaffected comrades.
"W-what the!? HOW DID HE DO THAT!?"
From one of my flanks, I hear footsteps. I expect to see a gangster trying to get the jump on me, but instead I see Serika and Shiroko approaching my position, who then finish off most of the burning enemies for me. At the same time, the distracted enemies are attacked with a hailstorm of bullets, courtesy of Nonomi and that glorious gun I absolutely need in my life.
≪ Sensei! Watch your left side! ≫
I suddenly hear Arona's voice through my comms. I look to my left and see a group of reinforcements approaching, and most of them were aiming for me squarly. I immediately duck beneath cover, avoiding about 8 guns worth of automatic fire aimed right where my head used to be.
"Good warning, Arona."
≪ It's no worry, Sensei! ≫
Looks like she was finally awake again. Her warning saved my shield from being shredded, and allowed me to regather myself.
"Sensei, are you okay!?" Serika got next to me, laying down some suppressive fire with Shiroko and forcing the reinforcements to seek cover themselves. "You almost got your head taken off!"
"I still would've survived." I say, tapping my warframe's head. "Where's Hoshino?"
Right as I asked that, I saw her approaching with a thick ballistic shield drawn in the open. The enemies not currently firing on us refocused their attention on Hoshino, but her shield gracefully shrugged off the punishment. She returned fire with a shotgun in one hand, taking out a few in one load before she was forced to slow her advance to reload her shotgun. Nonomi remained in the backline, covering Hoshino's advance with suppressive fire.
Unfortunately, I then saw something fly in the air. A grenade, heading right for Hoshino and Nonomi.
"OH NO YOU DON'T!"
I utilized Gauss's extreme speed to intercept the grenade, catching it and throwing it as fast and far as I could. The grenade exploded harmlessly a kilometer away.
"Holy moly!" Hoshino smiled in surprise. "You're pretty fast~ Me and my shield can take a good rumbling or two, but thanks anyways."
"Yeah, I can tell you're a strong girl. But a little help goes a long way." I reply, laying down heavy suppressive fire with my Trumna Prime. But with my next 'kill', I heard a familiar clicking sound that made me smirk. I vault behind Hoshino and use her shield as cover.
"Uhe~? Bunking with Oji-san?" Hoshino raises an eyebrow, continuing her advance and laying her own suppressive fire with her shotgun. "Not sure if I've got room, though~"
"Hold steady for a sec." I ask, crouching behind the shield. Hoshino stops pushing forward and reinforces her position, allowing me to get next to her and brace the Trumna on the top of her shield.
"Eh? What are you doing, Sensei?" she asks, genuinely confused about my move.
In response, I click a button on the receiver of the rifle. The Trumna Prime launches a grenade that lands behind some of the enemy's cover, taking out 3 right away. The grenade then bounces and randomly hits the helmet of another gangster, and then veers off into a group of exposed enemies. In total, the grenade took out 8 of them in one go.
"Whoa! Good shot, Sensei!" Nonomi shouts from behind in the backline. "We've taken out about half of them now!"
"You're all doing a good job as well, girls. I'm impressed!" I respond immediately, taking my Trumna off Hoshino's shield. "Thanks for the assist, Hoshino. Your shield is pretty damn sturdy."
"Thanks for the compliment~" Hoshino gives a dopey smile. But it quickly gives way to serious determination and a smirk of her own. "Oji-san can't let her juniors have all the fun~"
She folds her shield and jumps into cover, changing tactics to a more aggressive cover-to-cover advance. Nonomi also pushes up a little from her cover, bracing her archgun(?) on a shipping crate and continuing her suppressive fire. These two can handle themselves - especially Hoshino - so I myself also adjust tactics and hoister my Trumna. From my lower back, I grab my Reaper Prime, and run straight towards the enemies.
"I-IS THAT A SCYTHE!?" one of them shouts out in fear.
This gets the attention of almost every single Kata-Kata gangster, and upon confirming that I was holding a scythe, all except 2 of them immediately decided I was the highest priority threat. I am promptly targeted by extremely heavy fire, which I block and deflect by spinning my Reaper with one hand while continuing to walk towards them.
"Ohoho.. I am going to enjoy this." I remark darkly to myself, my voice muted.
≪ S-sensei? ≫ Arona voices meekly. ≪ I-is that a melee weapon? ≫
"Yes."
≪ Oh, u-um...! ≫
I grunt under the duress of sustained fire. "This is a bad time, Arona. Whatever you have to say, make it quick."
≪ Ah, um, it's nothing! ≫ Arona replies sheepishly. ≪ I-it's just that... ≫
"Just what?"
≪ ...How are you deflecting bullets!? ≫
"Because I know how. It's standard Tenno training."
≪ This is standard in your time!? ≫
"Yes, now can we please save this for later?"
≪ O-okay! ≫
Most of the enemies stop firing, having expended their mags and being forced to reload. I capitalize on this and jump at the first enemy, slashing at their weapon and managing to cut it in half. I then slash at their helmet, also slicing it clean in half and exposing their face to the world. The student, another girl, promptly blushes and flees the battle for some reason.
"H-HE SLASHED CLEAN THROUGH HER HELMET!?" a gangster asks in shock. "I-IS HE REALLY A HALO-LESS HUMAN!?"
I move on to another enemy with immediate haste. But this time, I slash at one of their shoulder. The blade travels effortlessly across their clothes and skin as if it weren't even there. To my great surprise, the blade pierces their skin and leaves a gash beneath their collarbone that starts bleeding. The gangster cries out in pain and drops their gun, bringing their hand to their wound and dropping to her knees.
Also to my great surprise, the battle comes to an immediate and abrupt halt. Both the Kata-Kata gangsters and Abydos students stopped firing, staring at the badly wounded student and then at me.
"H-holy shit..." one of the gangsters is the first to speak with utter fear. "He... he actually wounded her...!"
"N-no wait! P-please don't hurt me!" another spoke, sounding like she was on the verge of crying.
I panned around to look at the gangsters who, with each member I laid eyes upon, dropped their guns as if they lost their grip strength and stared at me shaking with fear. I also looked at the Abydos students, who slowly lowered their weapons and themselves looked at the wounded student with surprising compassion.
"S-sensei..." Shiroko mutters, but doesn't follow it up with anything else.
I looked down at the wounded student, who was bleeding profusely.
...
Something about this felt wrong. And It was bothering me badly.
Most enemies when faced with a blade did not have a reaction like this. They either ignored it or they tried to put some distance between them and me. But these gangsters? They immediately stopped fighting when I wounded - not killed - their comrade. And as I look down at the bleeding kid, it finally clicks why that is.
These are just kids. They're only kids, not soldiers or robots.
When I realize this, I slowly lower my Reaper Prime, as both the gangsters cautiously shuffle into a group and grab their other wounded, unsure of what I will do. I then clear my throat and project my voice for all to hear.
"Let this be a lesson. I don't know why you're here or why you're starting shit with Abydos. You see your friend here? This could be you next time. But there doesn't have to be a next time. Take your guns, take your wounded and just... walk away. Go back to whatever home is waiting for you, and forget all this happened. If you do that, you'll never see this blade draw blood again. And we can all pretend today was a nightmare you all woke up from."
I reach down and grab the wounded girl by the arm, helping her up. She was still bleeding; and if she could bleed, she had a limited amount of blood. The other gangsters watched me uneasily, as did the Abydos kids.
"W-wait! Wh-what are you gonna d-do with me?" the wounded girl asked between pained grunts.
"Treat you." I told her simply, as I reached behind my back to grab a cross-shaped device and dropped it next to the ground.
"Y-you're gonna treat me? After you h-hurt me? A-and what is that?"
About 5 seconds later, the device expanded into a circle and started pulsing energy every couple seconds. With the first pulse, the wounded gangster stopped bleeding. With the second, the wound itself closed up and sealed as if it were never there in the first place. With the third, her strength seemed to return to her as she stopped requiring my arm for assistance. By the fifth, it completed its task and folded back up, prompting me to grab it and return it to behind my back where it de-manifested.
"I... I'm f-fine...?"
"You are." I let go of her, allowing her to stand on her own two feet and sheathing my scythe. "Now go. All of you."
The formerly wounded gangster uneasily walked back to her group, occasionally looking back at me as if I were going to try something. When I was certain I wouldn't, she and the rest of the Kata-Kata gangsters made their brisk and absolutely dead silent escape, taking their wounded with them.
The only thing left in their wake was a crushing silence.
...
That was the first time I used a Tactical Restore on an enemy. I still have no idea how those things work, and neither does Ordis. But under these circumstances? Saved me from making a mistake I'd regret for the rest of my life.
"Sensei..." Ayane was the first to break the silence.
The rest of the Abydos students emerged from their cover and walked up to me, looking at me warily.
"Your school is safe." I began. "I hope they got the message. If nothing else, they'll remember this place as the site where one of their own got badly hurt."
None of them said anything. Each of them was conflicted about what I did, and they all had judgemental stares boring a hole right into me.
I don't think any of them have probably seen that amount of blood themselves. During that tense situation, the Abydos kids watched the wounded gangster with worry and compassion, as if they were no longer enemies at that moment. All except one of them looked deathly uneasy during that ordeal.
Hoshino was that exception. For someone who had such an airy nature, her eyes gave a lot more away then she wanted.
And what they said was this: she has most certainly seen death at some point, and she did not want to see it ever again.
The others, though? They've probably never even seen that much blood in their lives.
This silence was absolutely fatal. I had to break it.
"What happened here should remain in the past. The Kata-Kata gangsters should hopefully know better by now. I feel genuinely bad for what I did. I... hope I never gonna use that against students again."
"Good." Hoshino replied dryly, being the first person to speak up. "Please don't."
The others appeared to be caught off guard by her sudden seriousness, because they looked to her instead of me. She paid this relatively little mind.
"I promise. Let's shake on it."
I stepped up and held out a hand to Hoshino. It was clear that words wouldn't be enough. I had to give them definitive proof I wouldn't do that again. And what better proof than an agreement?
She looked at my head seriously, and then my hand. She slowly outstretched her hand and took it. "Deal."
We shook hands with a firm grip. She appeared to lighten back up after the handshake was done, but not enough to return to her dopey act. I let go of her hand and looked at the other four.
"So... ignoring what just happened, I was hoping all of you could tell me more about your situation. Would you mind telling me more about Abydos, and how your district got to this point?"
...
"..."
"Argh, fuck... Worst hang-over ever..."
I woke up with a splitting headache. A pretty killer one, too... reminds me of that time when I had expired meds 'cause we ran out. Anyways, I look around and see I'm not in Höllvania anymore. I kick myself to my feet, and feel the sun shining on my hair. I look up to see there's a great big hole in the roof. Did I do that?
This room is also so sandy. Haven't seen this much sand since I was still living in Libertaria.
"Urgh..."
"...Oh shit."
I hear someone grumbling next to me. Who I see laid out on the floor like a fallen cardboard cutout is none other than Arthur. I jog over and get down to my knees and snap my fingers in front of his face.
"Rise and shine, Arthur... Wake up, and smell the... sand, I guess?"
"What are you talking about, Amir...?"
I help Arthur up to his feet with a hand. He, too, looks around this room with the same confusion as me.
"...Amir, where are we?" Arthur asks.
I shrug, "Dunno. No, I'm serious, genuinely don't know. Sorry man."
Arthur looks to his side, and I follow his gaze automatically. He walks over to a window and peers out of it, to which I do the same out of a sense of boredom.
Well, uh... that boredom flies right out of the window. Get it? Just me? Uh... anyways, what we see outside is a whole bunch of buildings buried under sand. And a whole lot of sand too.
"What in hellfire..." Arthur mutters under his breath in confusion. "...Höllvania doesn't have any sand. Amir, did you take us out of Höllvania?"
"No, I swear to you Arthur." I reply seriously. "I woke up literally right before you. I don't know why we're here."
Arthur puts a palm to his face and runs his hand through his beard. "...Wait. Could that earthquake have something to do with it?"
"What the hell could that have to do with it?" I ask, genuinely baffled.
Arthur shakes his head, grabbing his AX-52 off his back. "Nah, just a thought. Doubt either of us have any sodding clue what's going on here."
"Yeah." I grab my Vekesk off my hip in kind.
To explain what we're yappin' about; an Earthquake hit Höllvania Central Mall right as we were clocking out for the day. We were tallying up food supplies, diesel for the generator, all that boring but important shit. It was so bad that the roof started caving in, which Aoi barely managed to stop. Once Mother Terra stopped throwing a tantrum, I heard - and I swear on my Caliber Chicks 2 high score, everyone else as well - this strange deep voice from the walls of the mall. It said "Lock, Tock, Ten-hock" or something.
Wait. Now that I am consciously retracing all that again, I just picked up on something.
"Hey, Arthur." I look out of the window again absentmindedly.
"Yeah?"
"I know I might sound crazy, but... do you remember when everyone plus Marty came face-to-face with Entrati and Rusalka?"
Arthur ran his left hand through his beard again. "Yeah... what about it?"
"I think..." I trail off, trying to organize my thoughts. "...It might be that thing's fault? The Indifference, he called it? Uh, whatever that thing was that whisked those three away in thin air. I mean, you heard that deep voice in the walls after the earthquake, right? It sounded exactly like what that thing said when it did that."
Arthur goes quiet, moving his hand from his beard to his forehead. After a good 12 or something seconds of processing my words, he finally says something.
"...Motherfucker. You might be right. Then that means it wants something to do with us now."
"Man, I did not put 'getting teleported to a parallel world' in my bingo card this week."
Arthur frowned. "Well, this is a sodding nightmare then. Stuck in the middle of some desert with just one of my fellows. Er, not that you're bad company, Amir."
"Uh... thanks?" I tilt my head slightly.
"Anyways." Arthur turns around and walks to the only door in the room and opens it. There's a lot more sand in the hallway which blows into both of our faces, making both of us cover our eyes. "Argh, bloody hell!... -grunts-... as I was going to say: We better get a move on. Whatever caused this situation, we're here regardless. We need to do some intel-gathering and figure out where in Sol we are."
"Right behind ya, Arthur."
We both ditch the room and start walking through the sandy hallways. Man, this building was really messed up. Sand everywhere, holes in the roof like rusted sheet metal, doors falling off their hinges. And the thing with this building is that it looks kinda recent. In fact, it looks like it's from the future... not that far, maybe about a decade or so? But it already looks so absolutely messed up.
The buildings outside, too. It's like a big 'ol freak sandstorm rolled through here and left only ghosts behind. Spooky scary ghosts. Wonder If I'd find any in 'em if I went investigating?
...This probably ain't the best time for all that. If I were a guessing man, I'd be guessing that Arthur's probably beating himself up over how we're not there to help the Höllvania civvies. That kinda sucks, but... If I'm completely honest with myself? It feels nice to be somewhere that isn't Höllvania. Finally outta Hell-vania.
Boy, I hope the monkey's paw didn't curl a finger on my wish. Now that'd be really bad.
-Postscript-
So normally, I wouldn't explicitly explain things or the reasons why I do them out-of-story. But in the case of this chapter, there's 2 things that I feel I really do need to explain that require further commentary. Let's begin.
First: The Reaper Prime and bladed melee weapons in general.
This is the first major case where I had to take a potentially extreme creative liberty. I believe melee weapons of all types are core to Warframe's character as an IP and as a game. But at the same time, I haven't found much yet on if halos can deflect bladed weapons like they can bullets. However, even if they could fend off bladed weapons, I am willingly choosing to enforce the case of "they cannot, but there will be consequences if you draw blood". I feel the Drifter should be able to slice clean through a student if he had a strong enough warframe (or unique enough weapon) and cause exsanguination, but his choice would cause immense problems if he uses them like he would in the Origin System or Höllvania.
Second: The Hex.
I will level with you reader; I struggled pretty hard with how I wanted to handle them. I wanted them in the story because they make the Drifter 1000% better, and I struggled for a couple days straight on the ending of the chapter because I kept flip flopping between ideas. This is the one I'm happiest with: Amir and Arthur will be in this story, and only them. I reveal this here from the get go, instead of through the story, so I can temper your expectations before they grow. I cannot include all of the Hex on top of the Drifter without compromising on quality. Amir and Arthur are the two I understand best, and they're my personal favorites of the 6. I like the rest as well - especially Quincy - but I have to draw a line somewhere or I'll be lost in the sand.
And yes, I realize the Hex are technically Infested, and me including them kinda renders the Drifter's paranoia moot. I have accounted for this.
That is all for now.
-llJaysimll
