Chapter 44 - Aftermath
By Cille
Beep – beep – beep – beep – beep – beeeeeeeeeep...
"Sam - Sammie? …Chu?" Hikki whimpered, hoping that long beeeeep didn't mean what he thought it meant.
Clarice was less restrained. "SAMSOOOOONNN!!!" she shrieked, rushing to Samson's side and desperately shaking him.
"Hang on, guys, don't do anything rash!" Roxie admonished. She had been standing by as part of the medical team, and she had enough experience with bodies to know how to deal with one sensibly.
Clarice backed off, and Roxie bent over Samson's limp body to check his pulse and look for other telltale signs. Then she slowly stood up, and the others could tell what was coming from the look on her face.
"I'm really sorry, guys," she said somberly. "I think he's go-"
Before she could finish, a guttural wail erupted from Hikki's throat. "COME BACK TO LIIIIIIIIIFE!" he cried out, grabbing Samson's head on both sides of his face and planting an ubersmooch right on his mouth.
The others just stood frozen, watching in shock and horror. Then all of a sudden Samson's eyes jolted open, and he began flailing around wildly and vainly trying to get away from his molester.
"Jebus, Hikki, you'll give him a heart attack!" Clarice shouted, pulling the Frenchman away from her fiance.
"Actually... a shock to the heart might have been just what he needed," Roxie suggested, taking a closer look at Samson as he started to settle down. "I never saw anything like this at the coroner's office..."
"Then... he wasn't actually dead?" Clarice asked, loosening her stranglehold on Hikki just a little.
"Well if he was... it was only mostly dead. Which means he was still slightly alive, which means he probably sensed what was going on... and his subconscious DO NOT WANT reflex must have kicked in."
"Zen... I actually saved hees life?" Hikki asked, brightening a little.
"Well I can't be sure, but you might very well have," Roxie answered.
"Good god, that's just the kind of encouragement he doesn't need," Clarice muttered. She couldn't really be upset, though, and soon any remaining irritation had melted into relief that Samson was still with them.
He had lapsed back into unconsciousness, but at least the heart monitor was back to its regular - if slightly accelerated - pattern of beeps.
"Oh, Hikki, your arm!" Roxie said. "If you're done crashing up mechs, you'd better let me set that for you. And Clarice, we'd better get you bandaged up too."
The two of them nodded, and soon Roxie and her efficient helpers had tended to their injuries.
"Hikki, Clarice," Elizabeth called, suddenly appearing at the doorway, "Mustang needs you for a meeting to go over today's battle."
"Um... I'd like to stay with Samson, if that's okay," Clarice said, looking at Hikki with uncertain eyes.
Hikki thought for a moment, and then sighed. As much as he wanted to be the one to stay with Samson, he knew that this time he needed to be the leader and let Samson's fiancee be his companion. "Fine, we can feel you een later," he said. Clarice nodded gratefully.
Hikki followed Elizabeth to the control room, where Mustang stood in front of a group of Syndicate, Glass, and GAR Street Bar leaders.
"Ah, Hikki, it's good to see you all in one piece... well, mostly," he said, glancing at the sling holding up Hikki's broken arm. "What about Samson? Did he pull through all right?"
"Well... he has been better, but he could also be worse," Hikki replied.
"That's about all you can ask for on a battlefield," Mustang said matter-of-factly. "Now that you're here, let's proceed with our briefing."
Hikki nodded and took a seat next to Kamina and Kittan.
"Now I have good news and I have bad news," Mustang began, addressing the whole group with an authoritative tone. "The bad news is that we got smashed up pretty badly out there. Most of our mechs are either completely inoperable or heavily damaged. Lloyd and his team of mechanics are working on repairs, but we probably won't have time for anything other than cobble jobs before our next altercation."
He paused and looked around expectantly, as if waiting to see if everyone had absorbed this information. Hikki nodded and gestured for him to continue.
"Our ground forces fared a little better, but not by much," Mustang went on. "I would estimate that we lost around 20% of our fighters, and as many as 30 or 40% more were injured. Fortunately most of them were redshirts, but with a force as small as ours was to begin with every loss is significant."
He glanced over at Solomon and Aoi, who were the lone representatives of the Order of Glass contingent. "Of course..." he continued somberly, "some losses are more significant than others. Father Sadar is one of those who fell on the battlefield today."
"Père Sadar..." Hikki murmured, amid gasps and sniffles from those around him. He might have wanted to cry too, if his emotions hadn't started to go numb after so many hours of strain.
"We'll be working with the intel he left behind, and of course the rest of our Glass colleagues still have valuable resources," Mustang said, once again stoic. "So this is not the time for action to give way to grief. We've taken stock of our losses, so now we figure out how to move forward with what we've got left."
Kittan warily raised his hand.
"Yes?" Mustang snapped.
"Yeah, uh... you said there was good news?" Kittan asked.
"Oh, yes. There is," Mustang said, a hint of a grin appearing at the corners of his mouth. "The good news... is that we didn't get totally slaughtered out there. In fact for all intents and purposes, we won the battle. The enemy forces were driven back, and we managed to take out more of them than they took out of us."
There was a communal sigh of relief, and a few people turned to congratulate each other.
"Don't forget, though, that this isn't over. Not by a long shot," Mustang added before anybody could get carried away.
"The forces we were fighting seem to have scattered, but they're probably just regrouping at this point. And don't forget that we haven't even seen the bulk of Ozzal's army. She's got a lot more men at her disposal than what she threw at us."
"Zen... zere's even more out zere?" Hikki asked, sounding worried.
"Of course," Mustang said. "I'm actually surprised she hit us with so little. It looked like she was banking an awful lot on her mechs, and it's possible she didn't realize how far along our Knightmares were. But it's also possible she was just testing us, to see how much we had before she sent in her main force."
"That sounds like what she did in the battle of ITN in Babblstan," Cille spoke up. She was sitting next to Cougar and Eric, and had seemed quite subdued until that point.
"I read about it in Glass' files," she continued. "Her regiment was vastly outnumbered, but she sent in her strongest squad first - essentially as a sacrifice wave. They were wiped out, but they took out a good chunk of the Babblstani unit, including some of their best fighters. And then when the remaining Babblstani troops went after what they thought was left of Ozzal's men, her bigger group was waiting to ambush them."
"I remember that," Eric said. "It worked because the Babblstanis got cocky. They assumed she had nothing left and didn't plan properly before they charged in. She was lucky, but she also played her hand perfectly."
"Zen zees was only ze beginning..." Hikki asked, wearily rubbing his eyes.
"I'm afraid so," Mustang said. "Very few wars are won in a single battle. We signed on for this thing, so we've got to see it through for the long haul. We can take heart from the fact that we made it through this first fight. But we need to do everything we can to make sure we get through whatever else is coming."
Mustang looked around again. Some of his comrades still looked unsettled, or upset, but many of them were nodding and looking determined.
"So what do we do now?" Kamina asked.
"At this point I'd like to confer with some of you to take a closer look at what happened today - what worked, what didn't, what we saw from the enemy - and discuss our options moving forward. I'll need Hikki, of course, and Charles as our ground troop leader, Kamina on the mech side, Cougar and Cille for intel, and... Captain Ominae, it's good to see you, sir." The two military men exchanged respectful nods. "If someone can get us a report on progress with the mech repairs, and... where is Kaia?"
"Last I knew she was helping in the infirmary," Elizabeth said, "but when I went to get her I couldn't find her anywhere."
"She has her own issues to dwell on right now, I think," Aoi said.
"Understood," Mustang said. "And I gather that Clarice is otherwise occupied too?"
Hikki nodded.
"All right then... The rest of you, help oversee things in and around the base for the night. Obviously we need to make sure the wounded are attended to, and keep a steady and vigilant watch over the whole area. We don't want the enemy sneaking up on us in the middle of the night. Retrieve whatever equipment and fallen personnel you can from the battlefield. And anyone who isn't needed for immediate work... get some sleep."
With the general meeting thus adjourned, the attendees began going their separate ways.
"Hikki, do you have a minute?" Cille said, approaching him tentatively.
"Well... we are about to go eento our strategy session, but eef eet won't take too long..."
"It won't, I just want to say something before we move on." She took a deep breath. "I just... I want to apologize. To you, and I guess to everyone. I don't know what got into me, thinking I should be out there on the battlefield, but... if I had been in here helping to coordinate things like I said I was going to do, we might not have -"
"Lucille," Hikki cut in firmly. "I have learned better zan anyone here zat eet ees pointless for one person to blame heem- or herself for what happens out zere. Eef you want to be any kind of a leader, zat ees a lesson you must learn. Eet can be hard, and you may have to keep reminding yourself zat eet eesn't your fault..." His voice began to falter, and he took a few moments to compose himself. "But eef you want to have any chance of being able to leeve weez yourself," he continued more gently, "you must remember zat you have only to learn from your meestakes and go on doing ze best zat you can. Zat ees all you can do."
She looked at him sympathetically and nodded. As their leader, he had the biggest burden of guilt to bear for the people they had lost. But he was right... to wallow in remorse would only keep them from continuing forward toward the goals that their friends had sacrificed their lives for.
"I understand," she said. "I'll do my best from now on to support everyone... wherever you need me to be."
Hikki nodded, and the two of them joined the others talking to Mustang.
Hikki was not really looking forward to this. He was worried about Samson. He was exhausted and wiped out. And he was noticing, now that the adrenaline had worn off, that his broken arm really freaking hurt. But all that had to be put aside for now. As long as the people around him were forcing themselves to stay awake and keep going, so would their leader.
But it was gonna be a long night.
**********
Police Chief Q was having a long night too. Although it had been more like two weeks now. She had been in plenty of jails, but this was the first time she found herself on the wrong side of the bars.
She probably should have known that her snooping around would bite her in the bum sooner or later. She'd gotten too close to the Order of Glass and the Syndicate to avoid being noticed by Ozzal's watchdogs. But perhaps she'd gotten too complacent, or had even felt too safe with a MI-6 operative by her side.
Not that he could have done anything to stop what had happened to her. On what had felt like a normal day of work, Inspector Lunge and his IA black suits had barged into the station, taken both Q and her two subordinates into custody "for questioning," and confiscated their cell phones and whatever files looked incriminating enough.
The next day she had been formally charged with treason, for contacting and aiding certain unspecified members of the Blacken Syndicate. Fortunately, for the most part Ozzal's henchmen had seemed too preoccupied with the upcoming clash with the rebels to do much besides keep her locked away. They didn't even keep a guard posted, and the only people she had seen for the last two weeks were the underlings who brought her food and took her out for potty breaks and the janitor who came to silently clean the floor every few days.
And there he was, right on schedule, dragging his clunky bucket and mop behind him. At least there's one regular Joe whose life hasn't been turned upside down by this war, Q thought cynically.
He set about swishing his mop, ignoring her as usual, and Q went back to her thoughts. This time, though, instead of his usual sullen silence, he began whistling. Q thought it was a nice change to break up the monotony. It was a familiar tune, although in her distracted state she couldn't quite place it, and before long she found herself humming along absentmindedly.
Nowhere man, please listen, you don't know what you're missin'...
Now why did that seem kinda familiar?
She blinked a few times and then her eyes shot wide open and she jolted forward to take a better look at the janitor - who, she now found, was looking back at her from the corner of his eyes.
The lips pursed in a whistle softened into a smile as he saw that she had finally caught on.
"You -" she began excitedly, until he placed a finger to his lips to shush her.
"What are you doing here?" she continued in a more cautious whisper, as her English friend casually mopped his way closer to her cell. "How the hell did you get in here without anyone seeing you?"
"I'm a spy, m'dear. Getting into places I don't belong is what I do," he said with a sly grin. "And the nice man who usually cleans your floors was quite happy with the paid holiday I offered him. I'm just sorry it took so long to get to you. Hasn't exactly been easy with no way to contact you for the last two weeks."
"Oh god... you haven't been calling my cell phone, have you?"
"Only once. Someone who wasn't you answered it, and seemed way too interested in finding out who I was. That was when I destroyed my phone, had my number erased from the system and set about trying to track you down."
"Jebus... this is quite a mess, isn't it?" She certainly hadn't wanted to get him mixed up in her little snafu.
"Well you haven't been drug out into the street and shot yet, so there is a bright side."
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right. So what are they saying about us out there?"
"Just that the chief of district two and her immediate staff have been relieved of duty pending an investigation into their conduct. That was all I could get out of anybody."
"Really? There hasn't been any big scandal? No big expose about the traitors being rooted out of the police department?"
"I know, I was a little bit surprised too. But it seems they're keeping this one quiet. Maybe they don't want the spectacle when they're trying to keep the public's trust in the establishment."
"Eh, maybe. I've given up on trying to figure out how these people think."
"So that's what they've officially booked you on? Being a traitor?" he asked.
"Yeah, but it's kind of bizarre. They keep harping on this idea that I've been secretly in league with Syndicate people and helping them out. But I can't quite figure out what they're on about."
"The priest?"
"I don't know. That was my first thought, but they kept saying something about a call I made to one of the Syndicate's leaders, and I've certainly never called Sadar. Hell, you know he never even gave us a number. I told them I had no idea what they were talking about, but they said it was right there on my cell phone."
"You didn't wipe the records?"
"Well of course I did for your calls, but everything else on there should have been clean. For all I know they're just making crap up to slander me. As if they need real reasons to arrest people these days."
"Hmm. Well if they think you're actually working with the revolutionaries, maybe there's more cause for concern than I thought..." Hill said, sounding a little worried.
"I really don't know," she replied. "I'm trying not to think too much about that. They haven't done anything with me since they first interrogated me, and nothing really ever came of that."
"You didn't tell them anything..."
"Of course I didn't, I'm not a noob," she shot back, a little insulted that he could think she'd crack that easily.
"Just checking. I know these people have some pretty harsh techniques when they get serious. And... it's hard for me to think about you going through something that painful."
Her irritation disappeared. "Then it's a good thing I'm such a tough cookie," she said teasingly. "And now that you're here to bust me out, you won't need to worry about it at all."
He cleared his throat. "Yeah, well... about that... I'm actually not here to bust you out."
"What?!"
"Getting in here was tricky enough. Getting out with another person would be suicide. This place is crawling with security right now. I'll be lucky if I don't get strip searched on the way out."
She raised an eyebrow, but thought better of making the obvious suggestion. He shot her a disapproving look, as if he could tell what was going through her mind, but they both knew he didn't really mean it.
"I hope you're not angry," he continued. "But I can't risk what might happen to both of us if we're caught sneaking out. I just needed to see you and make sure you're okay. I hope you understand."
"Yeah, I do. And... I feel a lot better having seen you. Hell, I could practically kiss you right here."
"Well... as much as I hate to discourage the notion... unless you're in the habit of snogging the maintenance staff, that may not be the wisest idea. You never know who might be watching in here. And I still have to make it out without anyone catching on."
She sighed and smiled ruefully. Of course he was right. She hadn't noticed any security cameras, but you never knew in a place like this.
Another thought suddenly occurred to her. "Hey, do you know anything about Keith and Allen? They were taken in the same time I was. I haven't seen them since."
"Yeah, they're here too. Haven't gotten in to see them, but from what I hear they've gotten along by playing stupid."
"Sounds about right for them," Q snarked. "Well good then, as long as they're not taking the fall for me."
"I'm sure they'd be touched to know you're concerned for them," Hill said. "And I'd probably better make myself scarce before someone comes along and wonders why I'm doing such a thorough job washing this particular floor."
He had continued mopping throughout their hushed conversation, and as he turned to dunk the mop into the bucket of sudsy water, he did a little shuffle move with one leg. Something small dropped from the leg of his uniform trousers, and with a deft motion he subtly kicked it toward Q.
"Don't pick that up until I'm gone," he instructed. "Keep it on you someplace safe, and if anyone discovers it smash it before they can take it. That thing will allow me to track you if you're taken out of here. I wish I could give you a comm device, but it'd be too risky if they found it and traced the signal."
"I understand," she said. "Thank you."
"Least I could do," he said, cracking another wry smile over his shoulder. "Take care of yourself, Q. I hope we meet soon under happier circumstances."
"You and me both," Q replied. Their eyes met longingly one last time, and then he was gone, hauling his bucket along behind him.
Q waited another minute or two and then casually swept her hand along the cracked tiles until her fingers closed around the small device that Hill had left for her. She squirreled it away in a pocket, and stretched out against the wall behind her.
It was still gonna be a long night, but at least now she had something nice to think about until she drifted off to sleep.
**********
In an undisclosed location somewhere in Lower Actonia, a dark room was illuminated only by the glow from several television monitors. Most of them showed views of a charred wasteland, littered with the remnants of a recent battle. Others displayed aerial views of Orly, including a few closeups of Comdot Estate.
The lone occupant of the room, who was sitting cross-legged in a cushy rolly chair with a bowl of salty snacks in her lap, seemed most engrossed in a single monitor off to the side, which was broadcasting a much more lively picture.
"You'd better not pick that skank Molly, Jason. OH YOU WHORES ARE NOT GOING TO COMMERCIAL BREAK -"
A sudden ring from the red phone on the table next to her startled her, and the bowl of Taquitos went flying. After flailing around for a few moments, she managed to grab ahold of the receiver.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT???" she bellowed into the phone.
"...Head Governor? Are you all right?" said a bewildered-sounding female voice on the other end.
"Do I sound all right? The Bachelor just went on commercial break right before he makes his final choice, and now I'm getting random phone calls."
"Well it's... it's General Zoltron, madam. I was leading your forces in the battle against the Blacken Syndicate today."
"Oh. Yes. I saw it. Nice work out there, soldier."
"I'm sure you were monitoring the battle, but I wanted to check in with you now that our forces have pulled back. Perhaps a brief report..."
The Head Governor sighed irritably. "Fine, but be quick about it. If I miss the last rose I'll be pissed."
"Well as expected, we suffered severe casualties. Remaining ground troops are regrouping but there's not much left of them."
"Mmm, just as planned. And my Knightmares?"
"Completely decimated. The only one we have left is the one we didn't send out."
"That crackpot who keeps shouting about Hikki Follet's orange tie?"
"That's the one, Jeremiah Gottwald. Between his unstable mental condition and the bizarre state of his mech, we thought it'd be safer to keep him grounded for now."
"Why, what's wrong with his mech?"
"It's... well, it's one of Professor Matrix's designs. So it's a little... strange."
"Can't Rakshata fix it up?"
"She said that there wasn't time to redesign it and retrain the pilot."
"Well, whatever. We can keep him in our back pocket in case he becomes useful. It's too bad the rest of them got busted up, but that's for Rakshata to cry about. We've got plenty more to throw at them before we're through. And we gained some very valuable information from this battle, so I'd say we came out well ahead."
"Yes, madam. Your strategy was brilliant as always."
"That goes without saying, doesn't it. Now if you don't have anything else..."
"Actually, I have some... unfortunate news to report. Zeus and Kay El broke back into the Estate, and... well, your body double met with a bad end."
"Seriously? After all the money we spent on those prosthetic bodies? Could you people at least pretend to have some security in that dump?"
"We are beefing up the security forces, yes. And the backup cyberbody has already taken the other one's place. Nobody should know that anything happened."
"Well good then. And where are those two losers now? You did apprehend them, didn't you?"
"Well..."
Ozzal facepalmed. "Well just... tell them to make sure there aren't any more 'unfortunate' events. And make sure nobody else calls me tonight. I've had a long tiring day and I deserve some mindless entertainment before I go to sleep. I'll call you tomorrow to discuss our next move."
"Yes, madam. Enjoy your quality programming." The line went dead.
Ozzal hung up the phone and slouched back in her chair with a weary expression. Then she began chuckling.
"Did those morons really think they could do me in that easily? Especially now that I'm finally getting to have some fun?"
Her gaze settled on a single monitor that, at first glance, showed a rather unimpressive long-distance view of what appeared to be a massive brush-covered mound of earth. Upon closer inspection, though, one could make out figures moving around and what looked like a large metal door.
"Yes..." Ozzal crooned, looking at the screen with a satisfied smile. "My fun is just getting started. Sleep well tonight, kiddos. In a few days you'll all be sleeping in your graves. MUAHAHA - Ooh! It's back on!"
She spun her chair around and grasped for what was left of her bowl of Taquitos, her lust for world domination momentarily superseded by the allure of reality television.
Chapter 43 author's notes:
Recurring characters:
Samson Monroe - MasterSamson
Hikki Follet - Kohikki
Clarice Rowe - QueenoftheDorks
Roxie Goldsmith - anime_goddess05
Elizabeth Saurie St. Gaurdsmen - EdSpikeSesshyGirl
Father John Sadar - FurionTassadar
Michelle Ozzal - Mike Lazzo
Cille Compton - Cille
Eric Ominae - OMNI-Enforcer
Kaia Namek - namek_kaia
Chief Q Holmes - Q_chan
Jude Hill, aka "Nowhere" - fool_on_the_hill
Keith Douglas - k_dawg_3484
Allen Black - AlastourBlaque
General Bernice Zoltron - SwimMod_Beezo
Professor M. Matrix - matrixman124
Zeus - zeus_the_angry_god
Kay El - Kagomes_Luver2789
Roy Mustang - Fullmetal Alchemist
Kamina - Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann
Kittan - Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann
Lloyd Asplund - Code Geass
Solomon Goldsmith - Blood+
Aoi - Ghost in the Shell
Straight Cougar - s-CRY-ed
Charles Beams - Eureka seveN
Inspector Lunge - Monster
Jeremiah Gottwald - Code Geass
Rakshata Chawla - Code Geass
New locations:
ITN - "in the news" - popular type of thread in Babbling
You all can pick out the anime and pop culture references yourselves. :p
Beep – beep – beep – beep – beep – beeeeeeeeeep...
"Sam - Sammie? …Chu?" Hikki whimpered, hoping that long beeeeep didn't mean what he thought it meant.
Clarice was less restrained. "SAMSOOOOONNN!!!" she shrieked, rushing to Samson's side and desperately shaking him.
"Hang on, guys, don't do anything rash!" Roxie admonished. She had been standing by as part of the medical team, and she had enough experience with bodies to know how to deal with one sensibly.
Clarice backed off, and Roxie bent over Samson's limp body to check his pulse and look for other telltale signs. Then she slowly stood up, and the others could tell what was coming from the look on her face.
"I'm really sorry, guys," she said somberly. "I think he's go-"
Before she could finish, a guttural wail erupted from Hikki's throat. "COME BACK TO LIIIIIIIIIFE!" he cried out, grabbing Samson's head on both sides of his face and planting an ubersmooch right on his mouth.
The others just stood frozen, watching in shock and horror. Then all of a sudden Samson's eyes jolted open, and he began flailing around wildly and vainly trying to get away from his molester.
"Jebus, Hikki, you'll give him a heart attack!" Clarice shouted, pulling the Frenchman away from her fiance.
"Actually... a shock to the heart might have been just what he needed," Roxie suggested, taking a closer look at Samson as he started to settle down. "I never saw anything like this at the coroner's office..."
"Then... he wasn't actually dead?" Clarice asked, loosening her stranglehold on Hikki just a little.
"Well if he was... it was only mostly dead. Which means he was still slightly alive, which means he probably sensed what was going on... and his subconscious DO NOT WANT reflex must have kicked in."
"Zen... I actually saved hees life?" Hikki asked, brightening a little.
"Well I can't be sure, but you might very well have," Roxie answered.
"Good god, that's just the kind of encouragement he doesn't need," Clarice muttered. She couldn't really be upset, though, and soon any remaining irritation had melted into relief that Samson was still with them.
He had lapsed back into unconsciousness, but at least the heart monitor was back to its regular - if slightly accelerated - pattern of beeps.
"Oh, Hikki, your arm!" Roxie said. "If you're done crashing up mechs, you'd better let me set that for you. And Clarice, we'd better get you bandaged up too."
The two of them nodded, and soon Roxie and her efficient helpers had tended to their injuries.
"Hikki, Clarice," Elizabeth called, suddenly appearing at the doorway, "Mustang needs you for a meeting to go over today's battle."
"Um... I'd like to stay with Samson, if that's okay," Clarice said, looking at Hikki with uncertain eyes.
Hikki thought for a moment, and then sighed. As much as he wanted to be the one to stay with Samson, he knew that this time he needed to be the leader and let Samson's fiancee be his companion. "Fine, we can feel you een later," he said. Clarice nodded gratefully.
Hikki followed Elizabeth to the control room, where Mustang stood in front of a group of Syndicate, Glass, and GAR Street Bar leaders.
"Ah, Hikki, it's good to see you all in one piece... well, mostly," he said, glancing at the sling holding up Hikki's broken arm. "What about Samson? Did he pull through all right?"
"Well... he has been better, but he could also be worse," Hikki replied.
"That's about all you can ask for on a battlefield," Mustang said matter-of-factly. "Now that you're here, let's proceed with our briefing."
Hikki nodded and took a seat next to Kamina and Kittan.
"Now I have good news and I have bad news," Mustang began, addressing the whole group with an authoritative tone. "The bad news is that we got smashed up pretty badly out there. Most of our mechs are either completely inoperable or heavily damaged. Lloyd and his team of mechanics are working on repairs, but we probably won't have time for anything other than cobble jobs before our next altercation."
He paused and looked around expectantly, as if waiting to see if everyone had absorbed this information. Hikki nodded and gestured for him to continue.
"Our ground forces fared a little better, but not by much," Mustang went on. "I would estimate that we lost around 20% of our fighters, and as many as 30 or 40% more were injured. Fortunately most of them were redshirts, but with a force as small as ours was to begin with every loss is significant."
He glanced over at Solomon and Aoi, who were the lone representatives of the Order of Glass contingent. "Of course..." he continued somberly, "some losses are more significant than others. Father Sadar is one of those who fell on the battlefield today."
"Père Sadar..." Hikki murmured, amid gasps and sniffles from those around him. He might have wanted to cry too, if his emotions hadn't started to go numb after so many hours of strain.
"We'll be working with the intel he left behind, and of course the rest of our Glass colleagues still have valuable resources," Mustang said, once again stoic. "So this is not the time for action to give way to grief. We've taken stock of our losses, so now we figure out how to move forward with what we've got left."
Kittan warily raised his hand.
"Yes?" Mustang snapped.
"Yeah, uh... you said there was good news?" Kittan asked.
"Oh, yes. There is," Mustang said, a hint of a grin appearing at the corners of his mouth. "The good news... is that we didn't get totally slaughtered out there. In fact for all intents and purposes, we won the battle. The enemy forces were driven back, and we managed to take out more of them than they took out of us."
There was a communal sigh of relief, and a few people turned to congratulate each other.
"Don't forget, though, that this isn't over. Not by a long shot," Mustang added before anybody could get carried away.
"The forces we were fighting seem to have scattered, but they're probably just regrouping at this point. And don't forget that we haven't even seen the bulk of Ozzal's army. She's got a lot more men at her disposal than what she threw at us."
"Zen... zere's even more out zere?" Hikki asked, sounding worried.
"Of course," Mustang said. "I'm actually surprised she hit us with so little. It looked like she was banking an awful lot on her mechs, and it's possible she didn't realize how far along our Knightmares were. But it's also possible she was just testing us, to see how much we had before she sent in her main force."
"That sounds like what she did in the battle of ITN in Babblstan," Cille spoke up. She was sitting next to Cougar and Eric, and had seemed quite subdued until that point.
"I read about it in Glass' files," she continued. "Her regiment was vastly outnumbered, but she sent in her strongest squad first - essentially as a sacrifice wave. They were wiped out, but they took out a good chunk of the Babblstani unit, including some of their best fighters. And then when the remaining Babblstani troops went after what they thought was left of Ozzal's men, her bigger group was waiting to ambush them."
"I remember that," Eric said. "It worked because the Babblstanis got cocky. They assumed she had nothing left and didn't plan properly before they charged in. She was lucky, but she also played her hand perfectly."
"Zen zees was only ze beginning..." Hikki asked, wearily rubbing his eyes.
"I'm afraid so," Mustang said. "Very few wars are won in a single battle. We signed on for this thing, so we've got to see it through for the long haul. We can take heart from the fact that we made it through this first fight. But we need to do everything we can to make sure we get through whatever else is coming."
Mustang looked around again. Some of his comrades still looked unsettled, or upset, but many of them were nodding and looking determined.
"So what do we do now?" Kamina asked.
"At this point I'd like to confer with some of you to take a closer look at what happened today - what worked, what didn't, what we saw from the enemy - and discuss our options moving forward. I'll need Hikki, of course, and Charles as our ground troop leader, Kamina on the mech side, Cougar and Cille for intel, and... Captain Ominae, it's good to see you, sir." The two military men exchanged respectful nods. "If someone can get us a report on progress with the mech repairs, and... where is Kaia?"
"Last I knew she was helping in the infirmary," Elizabeth said, "but when I went to get her I couldn't find her anywhere."
"She has her own issues to dwell on right now, I think," Aoi said.
"Understood," Mustang said. "And I gather that Clarice is otherwise occupied too?"
Hikki nodded.
"All right then... The rest of you, help oversee things in and around the base for the night. Obviously we need to make sure the wounded are attended to, and keep a steady and vigilant watch over the whole area. We don't want the enemy sneaking up on us in the middle of the night. Retrieve whatever equipment and fallen personnel you can from the battlefield. And anyone who isn't needed for immediate work... get some sleep."
With the general meeting thus adjourned, the attendees began going their separate ways.
"Hikki, do you have a minute?" Cille said, approaching him tentatively.
"Well... we are about to go eento our strategy session, but eef eet won't take too long..."
"It won't, I just want to say something before we move on." She took a deep breath. "I just... I want to apologize. To you, and I guess to everyone. I don't know what got into me, thinking I should be out there on the battlefield, but... if I had been in here helping to coordinate things like I said I was going to do, we might not have -"
"Lucille," Hikki cut in firmly. "I have learned better zan anyone here zat eet ees pointless for one person to blame heem- or herself for what happens out zere. Eef you want to be any kind of a leader, zat ees a lesson you must learn. Eet can be hard, and you may have to keep reminding yourself zat eet eesn't your fault..." His voice began to falter, and he took a few moments to compose himself. "But eef you want to have any chance of being able to leeve weez yourself," he continued more gently, "you must remember zat you have only to learn from your meestakes and go on doing ze best zat you can. Zat ees all you can do."
She looked at him sympathetically and nodded. As their leader, he had the biggest burden of guilt to bear for the people they had lost. But he was right... to wallow in remorse would only keep them from continuing forward toward the goals that their friends had sacrificed their lives for.
"I understand," she said. "I'll do my best from now on to support everyone... wherever you need me to be."
Hikki nodded, and the two of them joined the others talking to Mustang.
Hikki was not really looking forward to this. He was worried about Samson. He was exhausted and wiped out. And he was noticing, now that the adrenaline had worn off, that his broken arm really freaking hurt. But all that had to be put aside for now. As long as the people around him were forcing themselves to stay awake and keep going, so would their leader.
But it was gonna be a long night.
**********
Police Chief Q was having a long night too. Although it had been more like two weeks now. She had been in plenty of jails, but this was the first time she found herself on the wrong side of the bars.
She probably should have known that her snooping around would bite her in the bum sooner or later. She'd gotten too close to the Order of Glass and the Syndicate to avoid being noticed by Ozzal's watchdogs. But perhaps she'd gotten too complacent, or had even felt too safe with a MI-6 operative by her side.
Not that he could have done anything to stop what had happened to her. On what had felt like a normal day of work, Inspector Lunge and his IA black suits had barged into the station, taken both Q and her two subordinates into custody "for questioning," and confiscated their cell phones and whatever files looked incriminating enough.
The next day she had been formally charged with treason, for contacting and aiding certain unspecified members of the Blacken Syndicate. Fortunately, for the most part Ozzal's henchmen had seemed too preoccupied with the upcoming clash with the rebels to do much besides keep her locked away. They didn't even keep a guard posted, and the only people she had seen for the last two weeks were the underlings who brought her food and took her out for potty breaks and the janitor who came to silently clean the floor every few days.
And there he was, right on schedule, dragging his clunky bucket and mop behind him. At least there's one regular Joe whose life hasn't been turned upside down by this war, Q thought cynically.
He set about swishing his mop, ignoring her as usual, and Q went back to her thoughts. This time, though, instead of his usual sullen silence, he began whistling. Q thought it was a nice change to break up the monotony. It was a familiar tune, although in her distracted state she couldn't quite place it, and before long she found herself humming along absentmindedly.
Nowhere man, please listen, you don't know what you're missin'...
Now why did that seem kinda familiar?
She blinked a few times and then her eyes shot wide open and she jolted forward to take a better look at the janitor - who, she now found, was looking back at her from the corner of his eyes.
The lips pursed in a whistle softened into a smile as he saw that she had finally caught on.
"You -" she began excitedly, until he placed a finger to his lips to shush her.
"What are you doing here?" she continued in a more cautious whisper, as her English friend casually mopped his way closer to her cell. "How the hell did you get in here without anyone seeing you?"
"I'm a spy, m'dear. Getting into places I don't belong is what I do," he said with a sly grin. "And the nice man who usually cleans your floors was quite happy with the paid holiday I offered him. I'm just sorry it took so long to get to you. Hasn't exactly been easy with no way to contact you for the last two weeks."
"Oh god... you haven't been calling my cell phone, have you?"
"Only once. Someone who wasn't you answered it, and seemed way too interested in finding out who I was. That was when I destroyed my phone, had my number erased from the system and set about trying to track you down."
"Jebus... this is quite a mess, isn't it?" She certainly hadn't wanted to get him mixed up in her little snafu.
"Well you haven't been drug out into the street and shot yet, so there is a bright side."
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, right. So what are they saying about us out there?"
"Just that the chief of district two and her immediate staff have been relieved of duty pending an investigation into their conduct. That was all I could get out of anybody."
"Really? There hasn't been any big scandal? No big expose about the traitors being rooted out of the police department?"
"I know, I was a little bit surprised too. But it seems they're keeping this one quiet. Maybe they don't want the spectacle when they're trying to keep the public's trust in the establishment."
"Eh, maybe. I've given up on trying to figure out how these people think."
"So that's what they've officially booked you on? Being a traitor?" he asked.
"Yeah, but it's kind of bizarre. They keep harping on this idea that I've been secretly in league with Syndicate people and helping them out. But I can't quite figure out what they're on about."
"The priest?"
"I don't know. That was my first thought, but they kept saying something about a call I made to one of the Syndicate's leaders, and I've certainly never called Sadar. Hell, you know he never even gave us a number. I told them I had no idea what they were talking about, but they said it was right there on my cell phone."
"You didn't wipe the records?"
"Well of course I did for your calls, but everything else on there should have been clean. For all I know they're just making crap up to slander me. As if they need real reasons to arrest people these days."
"Hmm. Well if they think you're actually working with the revolutionaries, maybe there's more cause for concern than I thought..." Hill said, sounding a little worried.
"I really don't know," she replied. "I'm trying not to think too much about that. They haven't done anything with me since they first interrogated me, and nothing really ever came of that."
"You didn't tell them anything..."
"Of course I didn't, I'm not a noob," she shot back, a little insulted that he could think she'd crack that easily.
"Just checking. I know these people have some pretty harsh techniques when they get serious. And... it's hard for me to think about you going through something that painful."
Her irritation disappeared. "Then it's a good thing I'm such a tough cookie," she said teasingly. "And now that you're here to bust me out, you won't need to worry about it at all."
He cleared his throat. "Yeah, well... about that... I'm actually not here to bust you out."
"What?!"
"Getting in here was tricky enough. Getting out with another person would be suicide. This place is crawling with security right now. I'll be lucky if I don't get strip searched on the way out."
She raised an eyebrow, but thought better of making the obvious suggestion. He shot her a disapproving look, as if he could tell what was going through her mind, but they both knew he didn't really mean it.
"I hope you're not angry," he continued. "But I can't risk what might happen to both of us if we're caught sneaking out. I just needed to see you and make sure you're okay. I hope you understand."
"Yeah, I do. And... I feel a lot better having seen you. Hell, I could practically kiss you right here."
"Well... as much as I hate to discourage the notion... unless you're in the habit of snogging the maintenance staff, that may not be the wisest idea. You never know who might be watching in here. And I still have to make it out without anyone catching on."
She sighed and smiled ruefully. Of course he was right. She hadn't noticed any security cameras, but you never knew in a place like this.
Another thought suddenly occurred to her. "Hey, do you know anything about Keith and Allen? They were taken in the same time I was. I haven't seen them since."
"Yeah, they're here too. Haven't gotten in to see them, but from what I hear they've gotten along by playing stupid."
"Sounds about right for them," Q snarked. "Well good then, as long as they're not taking the fall for me."
"I'm sure they'd be touched to know you're concerned for them," Hill said. "And I'd probably better make myself scarce before someone comes along and wonders why I'm doing such a thorough job washing this particular floor."
He had continued mopping throughout their hushed conversation, and as he turned to dunk the mop into the bucket of sudsy water, he did a little shuffle move with one leg. Something small dropped from the leg of his uniform trousers, and with a deft motion he subtly kicked it toward Q.
"Don't pick that up until I'm gone," he instructed. "Keep it on you someplace safe, and if anyone discovers it smash it before they can take it. That thing will allow me to track you if you're taken out of here. I wish I could give you a comm device, but it'd be too risky if they found it and traced the signal."
"I understand," she said. "Thank you."
"Least I could do," he said, cracking another wry smile over his shoulder. "Take care of yourself, Q. I hope we meet soon under happier circumstances."
"You and me both," Q replied. Their eyes met longingly one last time, and then he was gone, hauling his bucket along behind him.
Q waited another minute or two and then casually swept her hand along the cracked tiles until her fingers closed around the small device that Hill had left for her. She squirreled it away in a pocket, and stretched out against the wall behind her.
It was still gonna be a long night, but at least now she had something nice to think about until she drifted off to sleep.
**********
In an undisclosed location somewhere in Lower Actonia, a dark room was illuminated only by the glow from several television monitors. Most of them showed views of a charred wasteland, littered with the remnants of a recent battle. Others displayed aerial views of Orly, including a few closeups of Comdot Estate.
The lone occupant of the room, who was sitting cross-legged in a cushy rolly chair with a bowl of salty snacks in her lap, seemed most engrossed in a single monitor off to the side, which was broadcasting a much more lively picture.
"You'd better not pick that skank Molly, Jason. OH YOU WHORES ARE NOT GOING TO COMMERCIAL BREAK -"
A sudden ring from the red phone on the table next to her startled her, and the bowl of Taquitos went flying. After flailing around for a few moments, she managed to grab ahold of the receiver.
"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU WANT???" she bellowed into the phone.
"...Head Governor? Are you all right?" said a bewildered-sounding female voice on the other end.
"Do I sound all right? The Bachelor just went on commercial break right before he makes his final choice, and now I'm getting random phone calls."
"Well it's... it's General Zoltron, madam. I was leading your forces in the battle against the Blacken Syndicate today."
"Oh. Yes. I saw it. Nice work out there, soldier."
"I'm sure you were monitoring the battle, but I wanted to check in with you now that our forces have pulled back. Perhaps a brief report..."
The Head Governor sighed irritably. "Fine, but be quick about it. If I miss the last rose I'll be pissed."
"Well as expected, we suffered severe casualties. Remaining ground troops are regrouping but there's not much left of them."
"Mmm, just as planned. And my Knightmares?"
"Completely decimated. The only one we have left is the one we didn't send out."
"That crackpot who keeps shouting about Hikki Follet's orange tie?"
"That's the one, Jeremiah Gottwald. Between his unstable mental condition and the bizarre state of his mech, we thought it'd be safer to keep him grounded for now."
"Why, what's wrong with his mech?"
"It's... well, it's one of Professor Matrix's designs. So it's a little... strange."
"Can't Rakshata fix it up?"
"She said that there wasn't time to redesign it and retrain the pilot."
"Well, whatever. We can keep him in our back pocket in case he becomes useful. It's too bad the rest of them got busted up, but that's for Rakshata to cry about. We've got plenty more to throw at them before we're through. And we gained some very valuable information from this battle, so I'd say we came out well ahead."
"Yes, madam. Your strategy was brilliant as always."
"That goes without saying, doesn't it. Now if you don't have anything else..."
"Actually, I have some... unfortunate news to report. Zeus and Kay El broke back into the Estate, and... well, your body double met with a bad end."
"Seriously? After all the money we spent on those prosthetic bodies? Could you people at least pretend to have some security in that dump?"
"We are beefing up the security forces, yes. And the backup cyberbody has already taken the other one's place. Nobody should know that anything happened."
"Well good then. And where are those two losers now? You did apprehend them, didn't you?"
"Well..."
Ozzal facepalmed. "Well just... tell them to make sure there aren't any more 'unfortunate' events. And make sure nobody else calls me tonight. I've had a long tiring day and I deserve some mindless entertainment before I go to sleep. I'll call you tomorrow to discuss our next move."
"Yes, madam. Enjoy your quality programming." The line went dead.
Ozzal hung up the phone and slouched back in her chair with a weary expression. Then she began chuckling.
"Did those morons really think they could do me in that easily? Especially now that I'm finally getting to have some fun?"
Her gaze settled on a single monitor that, at first glance, showed a rather unimpressive long-distance view of what appeared to be a massive brush-covered mound of earth. Upon closer inspection, though, one could make out figures moving around and what looked like a large metal door.
"Yes..." Ozzal crooned, looking at the screen with a satisfied smile. "My fun is just getting started. Sleep well tonight, kiddos. In a few days you'll all be sleeping in your graves. MUAHAHA - Ooh! It's back on!"
She spun her chair around and grasped for what was left of her bowl of Taquitos, her lust for world domination momentarily superseded by the allure of reality television.
Chapter 43 author's notes:
Recurring characters:
Samson Monroe - MasterSamson
Hikki Follet - Kohikki
Clarice Rowe - QueenoftheDorks
Roxie Goldsmith - anime_goddess05
Elizabeth Saurie St. Gaurdsmen - EdSpikeSesshyGirl
Father John Sadar - FurionTassadar
Michelle Ozzal - Mike Lazzo
Cille Compton - Cille
Eric Ominae - OMNI-Enforcer
Kaia Namek - namek_kaia
Chief Q Holmes - Q_chan
Jude Hill, aka "Nowhere" - fool_on_the_hill
Keith Douglas - k_dawg_3484
Allen Black - AlastourBlaque
General Bernice Zoltron - SwimMod_Beezo
Professor M. Matrix - matrixman124
Zeus - zeus_the_angry_god
Kay El - Kagomes_Luver2789
Roy Mustang - Fullmetal Alchemist
Kamina - Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann
Kittan - Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann
Lloyd Asplund - Code Geass
Solomon Goldsmith - Blood+
Aoi - Ghost in the Shell
Straight Cougar - s-CRY-ed
Charles Beams - Eureka seveN
Inspector Lunge - Monster
Jeremiah Gottwald - Code Geass
Rakshata Chawla - Code Geass
New locations:
ITN - "in the news" - popular type of thread in Babbling
You all can pick out the anime and pop culture references yourselves. :p