Chapter 45 - The Second Day
By Cille
The morning of the second day of battle dawned as if gradually drawing back a curtain on a forlorn landscape. The first spring thaw had left the ground muddy, and it had only gotten worse after a day of being trampled by men and machines. The expanse of the Enbeforlocke Woods was marred by patches of missing and charred trees, and the corpses of both men and giant robots lay scattered around the wilderness.
The rebels had managed to salvage a decent amount of equipment and most of their fallen comrades overnight. Roxie found herself once again overseeing a morgue, grimly instructing her helpers to bag and tag each corpse before depositing them into a converted meat locker for storage. Many injured fighters were brought in off the battlefield too, and those working in the infirmaries were kept on their feet the entire night.
The leaders' strategy meeting had lasted until the wee hours of the morning. It was agreed that the most important thing they needed was a higher level of overall organization, to keep their people from running around haphazardly fighting against Ozzal's more regimented forces. Taking into account the first day's casualties, new unit assignments were put together, and the military leaders did their best to draw up battle plans for the next day. Invaluable insight was provided by Eric Ominae, who had more historical knowledge about military strategy than the rest of them put together.
Even as Hikki and his exhausted comrades finally went to sleep, there were others still working in and around the bunker who wouldn't see their beds at all that night. When morning came, everyone in the base wished they could just turn the sun off for a few more hours, but they knew they couldn't put off facing the day and its coming battles for long.
**********
Michelle Ozzal had gotten a good night's sleep, and was up bright and early to go over battle plans. Alone as usual in her control room, she sat in her cushy chair surrounded by monitors and papers.
The monotony was broken by a knock at the door.
"Come," she commanded.
The door opened and one of her men walked in accompanied by a stern-looking female soldier.
"Head Governor, there's someone here to see you ma'am," the man said.
"Who is it?" Ozzal asked without looking up from her papers.
The woman snapped into a salute. "Major Makina, reporting for duty, madam."
Ozzal turned to look at her. Makina was an imposing woman in her crisp uniform and beret. The steel in her eyes matched the steel of the blade that hung from her belt.
"Ah yes, my new Security Chief. Shouldn't you be back at Comdot, you know, securing the place?"
Makina looked confused. "I'm answering your summons, madam."
"Summons?"
"Yes... After the attempt on your life, I received instructions to report here and act as your personal bodyguard. Under the current circumstances, your personal protection is much more important than patrolling Comdot Estate."
"Yeah, well, I hope you do a better job here than you did at Comdot."
Makina stiffened. "Of course, madam, that was a grievous oversight on our part. But be assured, the persons responsible for allowing the breach have been... reprimanded."
Something in the way Makina said that last word, and the way she subconsciously placed her hand on the hilt of her sword as she said it, made Ozzal feel better about having the Security Chief there. Clearly this was a woman who took no s**t from anyone, and perhaps had the same penchant for doling out punishments that Ozzal herself did.
Ozzal hadn't spent much time with Makina since she'd had her hands full with the botched Comedian invasion and those blasted rebels. Dewey had hand-picked her to be the new Security Chief after Taredan had submitted his resignation, so at least she could trust his judgment. And she liked what she'd seen of the soldier's no-nonsense attitude.
Ozzal didn't remember sending any summons, but it was probably one of her advisors getting panicky after the body double bought it back at Comdot. It probably wasn't a bad idea, all things considered. As safe as she'd been feeling in her undisclosed location, there was always the possibility that a mole or something could work their way in. At least that's the way it usually happened on those suspense dramas she watched.
A clever idea passed through her mind, and she smiled a little cruelly. She could test Makina's loyalty and root out the moles at the same time.
"All right, Security Chief, here's your first assignment. I want you to go through all of the personnel at this facility, and report anyone who qualifies as a security threat. If you can't ensure my safety in my own little hidey-hole, you don't deserve to call yourself my bodyguard."
"Very good, madam. I'll request a personnel list and begin interrogations immediately."
Ozzal nodded, and Makina curtly turned and strode out of the room along with the other soldier.
Ozzal turned her attention back to her papers. "All righty then, who wants to die today..."
**********
There were new arrivals that morning at the Syndicate base too.
Cougar had left the base before dawn, and returned with three of his old friends. Elian, Urizane, and Scheris had been persuaded to leave their isolated life behind to come and aid the rebellion after hearing about the steep odds they were facing.
When Cille arrived at the command room, she found Elian and Aoi already setting up their new control center. Elian was in the center of an elaborate arrangement of monitors and keyboards, his upper body enclosed in a transparent greenish dome. He gave Cille a brief smile and nod when he saw her, and then immediately went back to his work. Meanwhile, Aoi had his own computers set up, and had already begun looking for army network systems to hack into.
While Cille was trying to take all of this in, Cougar appeared behind her.
"Not bad, eh?" he said with a grin.
"That's an understatement," she answered, raising an eyebrow. "I didn't know Elian would be joining us."
"Heh, neither did he, until a few hours ago. Scheris and Urizane are here too. They're helping out in the infirmary right now, I think. I told them we needed all the help we could get, and they thankfully agreed to come do what they could for us."
"That's wonderful. I can already see that Elian's going to be invaluable for monitoring the battlefield," Cille said.
"That's the idea," Cougar replied. "We've already done some scouting outside so he should have a good idea of the area layout. You'll be able to see whatever's going on out there, and we're working on a communication system too. It should make your job a lot easier in here."
"That's good," Cille said with a slightly worried look. "I'm already feeling a huge amount of responsibility."
"You'll do fine," Cougar said, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Just remember your research and everything you've learned from Eric."
Cille nodded. "I'll do my best. For now I guess I'd better get started working with Elian and get our plans worked out."
"Sounds good," Cougar said, starting off down a hallway. "Oh, and don't forget the meeting in half an hour."
**********
The morning meeting of the Syndicate troops convened with a brief pep talk from Mustang, which only sort of managed to wake up the groggy and sore fighters. Fortunately Kamina took over and succeeded in rousing much more enthusiasm for the day of battle to come.
The next half-hour or so was spent in giving the troops their new assignments based on the reorganization that had been done the night before. The ground forces were divided into relatively small units, each one with a leader and a second-in-command. It was hoped that small units would remain cohesive while having enough flexibility to move around the battlefield as needed.
"All right, the name of the game today is focus," Mustang instructed them once his list of assignments had been read. "We're expecting Ozzal to hit us with a wave of ground troops today, so running around haphazardly just isn't going to cut it. They'll be organized and focused, so we have to be organized and focused too. You work as teams or you get cut down alone. That also means you watch your teammates' backs. We don't need any hotdogging out there."
Some of the GAR Streeters groaned, but they all got the point.
"We'll be working more closely with command central today too," Mustang continued. "We've got a new communication system that I'll explain in just a moment. Cille will be here at the base monitoring the fighting, and she'll be able to send and receive messages as needed. That should help us stay much more on task today."
Mustang turned to the row of people seated behind him.
"We need a status report on the mech situation. Is Lloyd here?" he asked.
"No, he could not be bozzered to leave hees lab," Hikki said with a slight edge of resentment. "But Larry ees here."
"All right then, Larry, where are we at with these mechs?" Mustang asked, gesturing for him to come forward.
Larry nervously took a deep breath and then stood up to address the group. "Well um... we're still working on stuff, but uh..." He consulted a clipboard he was carrying. "Kittan and Kamina's mechs are in okay shape, and we've already briefed them on what they need to be careful about. Clarice's lost an arm, but I think that'll at least be patched up so she can still use it today. It'll just have limited functionality with only one arm, obviously. Um... Cid and Proof's dual-pilot machine lost its legs, but Matrix says he has some... uh... ideas for it." He shuddered at that last thought. "And um..." he glanced apprehensively at Hikki, "the other dual-seater is pretty much out of commission. At least until we get some time after the others are ready to go."
"So three mechs to go out today, one more on standby, and one more on hold until further notice?" Mustang clarified.
"Yeah, that sounds about right," Larry answered.
"That'll be fine. Good work on those repairs," Mustang said, gesturing to him to sit down.
As he took his seat, Larry seemed happy to have gotten some actual praise.
Hikki, meanwhile, looked a little worried. He hadn't necessarily expected his mech to be repaired already, and he wasn't sure he could even pilot it without Samson, but now he wasn't sure what else he was supposed to do. He stood up and raised his non-broken arm before Mustang could launch into his next agenda item.
"Pardon, but what ees my assignment?" Hikki asked tentatively. "I deed not hear my name on your leest."
Mustang gave him a cursory glance. "You'll be in command central with Cille. You can use her to relay orders."
Hikki furrowed his brow. "But... shouldn't I be weez ze troops, fighting?"
Mustang raised an eyebrow. "With your arm in that sling? I don't think so."
"Eet's only a flesh wo-"
"Don't even say it," Mustang interrupted. "You're physically compromised, and your mech is trashed. You're not going out there, end of discussion."
Mustang turned back to his papers, leaving Hikki to pout. But rather than just quietly sit down, Hikki worked up his determination to say what needed to be said.
"Weez all due respect, General Mustang, I cannot accept being kept eenside while ozzers fight and die on ze battlefield," he said assertively. "I am zeir leader, and eet ees not feeting for a leader to order men to zeir deaths from ze safety of a fortress."
"Oh really?" Mustang said, amused. "Do you see Ozzal out there risking her life with her troops? She's probably safe and sound at home, or in some bomb shelter somewhere."
Hikki set his jaw. "Zen zat shall be one of many deeferences between us. I actually care about my people, and eet matters to me when zey suffer or die." He thought of Samson, and might have started tearing up if he hadn't been so resolute. "Eef zey cannot fight on, zen I weel fight for zem."
"Can you even fight without your mech? Have you trained at all in hand-to-hand combat?" Mustang asked skeptically.
"I'm a Frenchman, I have a rapier," Hikki replied.
Mustang sighed, but he could see that he wasn't going to be able to talk Hikki out of this.
"All right, have it your way," he relented. He consulted his personnel assignment list, and then turned to address the troops.
"Elizabeth! Spike! Ishida! Senji!" he called out.
The four of them stepped forward as their names were called.
"You guys have a new assignment. You're going to be Hikki's guard. Stay with him at all times. If you're doing your job, nobody should get close enough to Hikki for him to fight."
The four of them nodded, and Elizabeth called out "You got it!" while Senji and Spike grinned.
"Will that be acceptable, leader?" Mustang asked Hikki.
"Oui, sank you," Hikki said, grateful that Mustang had taken him seriously. He returned to his seat as Mustang went on with the agenda.
"All right, the next order of business is communication," Mustang said. "We've been joined by an Alter user named Elian who will be providing surveillance and radio interfacing with Cille in the base. She'll be able to see what's going on around the battlefield, and she'll use Elian's powers to get messages to whoever needs them."
He gestured to Solomon, who stepped forward holding an open box.
"Unit leaders, come forward!" Mustang ordered. As the appointed men and women lined up in front of him, he continued. "Because of the strain on Elian's Alter abilities, we won't be able to have constant two-way communication between ground forces and command central. We have a limited number of devices that can be used to alert Cille that you need to talk to her. She'll have Elian open a line with you so you can talk to each other. Unit commanders will keep them; if a unit commander falls, the second-in-command should retrieve the device."
"You can pin them to the front of your uniforms," Solomon added. "To activate them, just give them a tap. It'll send a signal to command central."
"Hey, can we use these to contact the Enterprise?" Larry quipped. The others just gave him quizzical and/or disapproving looks. "Nevermind..."
"This will conclude our briefing," Mustang announced. "Does anyone have any questions?"
There was silence for a few moments, and then Kenpachi spoke up from the midst of the crowd: "Yeah, when do we get to go kick some ass?"
The rest of the troops broke out in cheers and laughter, and Mustang smiled. "Right about now," he answered. "Just remember - stay focused, stay organized, and stay alive."
**********
After the meeting broke up Clarice went to the infirmary to see Samson one more time before she headed out. She arrived to find that Hikki was already there.
The two of them nodded to each other awkwardly, and then awkwardly stood next to each other looking at the still unconscious Samson. The heart monitor beeped slowly, proving that he was still clinging to life. Whatever either of them might have wanted to say to him had to remain unsaid as long as they were both there.
Finally Hikki gave up and turned to go.
"Hikki," Clarice stopped him. He turned back to her, expecting more awkwardness.
"Will you really be okay going out there today?" she asked, looking genuinely concerned. "I mean, you're still hurt, and... Samson..."
Hikki had had plenty of time to think about Samson overnight. The truth was, if he had his way, he'd spend the rest of the war by Samson's bedside until his friend was well again. But he also had to remember everyone else who needed him, and what it was that they were all fighting for to begin with. What Samson had nearly given his life for. If their cause was worth losing so many people, wasn't it worth doing everything he could for it, even if it meant risking his life too?
He tried to give Clarice a reassuring smile. "I'll be out zere fighting for Samson," he said. "Zat ees more zan reason enough, ees eet not?"
She smiled back, understanding his feelings. "When you put it that way... yeah, that is a good reason."
Hikki felt a little wistful, knowing that Clarice would be the one who would return to Samson's arms, but it didn't stop him from wanting to do what he could for his friend.
They wished each other luck, and then headed off to their respective assignments.
**********
Ozzal's troops were already waiting in their ready positions when the rebel units began emerging from various pockets of the woods.
"Finally," Ozzal said in her control room, leaning forward and rubbing her hands. "I was starting to wonder if those Syndicate noobs had turned chicken."
She soon observed that the Syndicate troops seemed to be moving with more purpose than they had the previous day, and were faring relatively well using guerrilla tactics against her regimented formations.
As she watched the action, she began feeling more and more like it was awfully... boring. Feeling a sudden wave of impatience, she opened a line to her commanding officer.
"Yes, Madam?" General Zoltron answered over the comm.
"Battle report, General?" Ozzal requested curtly.
"As you can no doubt see, our forces have been engaging the rebels for nearly two hours," Zoltron responded. "We're making steady progress weakening their numbers."
"It looks to me like a lot of back-and-forth with not a lot of actual advancement," Ozzal complained.
"It's early yet, Head Governor. Don't forget that we still retain the overwhelming advantage in numbers and military power."
"You do remember your two major objectives, don't you?" Ozzal asked.
"Of course. We are to capture or kill Hikki Follet and determine the location of the entrances into the Syndicate base."
"Annnnnd?"
Zoltron sighed at Ozzal's impatience. "We've dispatched scouts, and our men have been briefed on Follet's appearance and the importance of locating him on the battlefield. It's only a matter of time before their base and their leader are ours. But in the meantime, we do have a regular old battle to fight."
"Fiiiiiine," Ozzal grumbled. Deep down she knew that this mundane sort of fighting was necessary, and in fact it had been her plan all along to wear down the Syndicate's forces through a battle of attrition, but she still felt kind of crabby that she couldn't have what she wanted RIGHT NOW.
"Will that be all, Madam?" Zoltron asked, obviously wanting to get back to her actual job.
Ozzal pursed her lips for a moment, and then an idea came to her. "Actually... I have an idea that might speed things along a little. You said there was one more mech pilot available on reserve?"
"Um... yes, but as I explained, we have severe reservations about using him. He's very unstable, and -"
"I don't care about that, you said something else that was much more interesting. You said that pilot has it out for Hikki Follet, isn't that right?"
"Yes, Head Governor. He's gotten more and more insistent that we let him out onto the battlefield to find him."
Ozzal smiled. "All right, since none of your people seem to be able to put their hands on Anti-Citizen One, let's see what this crackpot can do."
"Then you want us to..."
"Turn him loose, General."
**********
In the Syndicate base, Cille and Elian had been busy at their station in the control room "bubble" all morning. They were assisted by Eric, who was seated behind them and offered observations and advice as Cille relayed notices and orders to the troops who needed them.
Once the adrenaline had kicked in, Cille hardly remembered how exhausted she was. The monitors that Elian had set up gave her something to focus on, and her senses were all on high alert as she watched for trouble spots and formulated strategies to deal with them. She discovered, to her relief, that she recognized a lot of the army's formations and troop movements from her study of the Order of Glass' collection of intel on Ozzal.
As Eric watched her, he couldn't help being impressed with how she was handling her stressful position. She'd certainly grown a lot in the short time that he'd been away, and he almost couldn't believe that this was the same naive girl he used to know.
From time to time other members of the group came wandering through the control room, and some hung out for a while and watched the monitors while they didn't have anything better to do.
Just as Cille was starting to relax and think that things might not be so bad today, Cid and Proof popped up on each side of her from the spots where they'd been sitting.
"Hey what's that?" Cid exclaimed, pointing at a far corner of a screen.
"Yeah it looks like what we were driving yesterday," Proof added. Immediately both of them said "awwwww" and looked sad at not being able to drive their mech anymore.
"Elian, can you zoom and enhance?" Cille asked. He complied, and they all moved closer for a better look.
"It's a mech, all right," Eric said.
"I thought we took out all of their mechs yesterday," Cille said, suddenly very worried. "Don't tell me they had another whole unit left?"
Eric put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't get ahead of yourself. It's just one mech so far. Doesn't mean they've got a whole unit."
"Ooh it's moving really fast," Cid said. "I want one like that next time."
Cille furrowed her brow. "It does seem to be moving kind of... erratically, doesn't it?"
She watched for another few moments, and then went back into mission mode. "Give me the location and status of whatever mechs we've got out there. Whoever's closest will have to take this guy out before he can do any damage."
"Clarice and Kamina have already had to bring their units in for repairs," Aoi commented. "It might be a little while before they can go back out."
"Heeee this guy is funny," Cid giggled, still watching the monitor.
"Yeah he's not even watching where he's going!" Proof laughed.
"Cille, are you seeing this?" Eric asked. "He's just rampaging around like he's in berserk mode or something. I'm pretty sure he just stomped on some of his own men."
Cille turned her attention back to the screen just as the mech started swinging its giant sword around, smashing an army tank to smithereens.
"Whoa, it's actually helping us?" Cille asked incredulously.
"Well... maybe not entirely..." Eric answered, as they saw a small group of Syndicate fighters running away from the flailing sword.
"So... what do you think we should do?" Cille asked.
Eric thought for a moment. "If this thing can do more damage to Ozzal's side than it does to us, then it's not a bad thing to have it out there. I think we should let it go for now and just keep an eye on it."
"Right," Cille said, understanding his reasoning. "And I'll alert all of our people in the area to stay clear and avoid its berserk mode."
"Sounds good," Eric encouraged.
Cille and Elian set about communicating their plans to their comrades on the battlefield, and then the whole group settled in to continue the day's grind.
**********
A few hours later, Hikki and his unit were moving around the battlefield quite efficiently, all things considered. Despite having only one functional arm, he was feeling more confident with his rapier, and his cohorts had been vigilantly picking off enemies with their various weapons. As long as this kept up, they might actually have a pretty good day out here.
Suddenly a small speaker materialized out of the ground next to him. "Hikki, come in," Cille's voice said.
"Oui, I am here," Hikki responded.
"It's about time for your unit to come back in for some rest and food," Cille said. "Fall back when you get a chance."
"Understood. We'll be zere een a few meenutes. We're kind of on a roll." Hikki grinned as Ishida showered an approaching enemy unit with spirit arrows.
"All right, but don't push yourself - wait..." Cille said, suddenly sounding alarmed.
"What ees eet?" Hikki asked apprehensively.
"Incoming, Hikki, incoming. It's moving fast. Everyone prepare for engagement -"
Whatever else she said was drowned out by the sound of rapidly-approaching mechanical stomping and a guttural scream that seemed to go on forever.
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNGE!!!!"
Everybody in the immediate area stopped their fighting and looked around, totally bewildered.
"There you are! I've found you at last, HIKKI FOLLET!" roared a mechanical voice, as if it were coming from a loudspeaker.
Hikki whirled around, finally locating the source of the noise. As it broke through the haze, Hikki found himself face-to-face - well, more like face-to-knees, until he looked up higher - with the very mech that had been rampaging around the battlefield all day.
The pilot inside was grinning with insane delight. "You don't know how long I've been waiting for this, Follet. I, Jeremiah Gottwald, will be the one to personally crush you. PREPARE FOR YOUR ULTIMATE DEFEAT!"
Hikki was almost paralyzed by fear and not knowing what the hell was going on, but fortunately his comrades were quicker on their feet. They leapt in front of Hikki, brandishing their weapons.
"Like hell we'll let you touch our leader. You'll have to get through us first," Elizabeth challenged.
"Oh please, I have no need to waste time with the likes of you. HE'S the one I want," Jeremiah scoffed, pointing his Knightmare's arm at Hikki.
"Um... hi... uh, Jeremiah, was eet?" Hikki asked tentatively. "Pardonnez-moi, but... have we met?"
"Not in person, but I know all about you. I know everything I need to know that YOU ARE MY ENEMY!"
The Knightmare took a threatening step forward, and Hikki felt an overwhelming urge to try to talk out their differences before he found himself in hand-to-hand combat with a giant robot.
"Okay, okay, but eef we can just talk seengs out for a leetle while, I seenk you'll find zat I'm really a very nice person..."
"Ha, not likely. You are Anti-Citizen One. Of course you'd be the sort of person to WEAR AN ORANGE TIIIIIIE!!"
Jeremiah brought down his mech's giant sword. The rebels were just barely able to jump out of the way before it slammed into the ground where they had been standing.
"What the hell, he wants to kill you because he thinks you're wearing an orange tie?" Senji asked.
"Jebus, Hikki, take off the damn tie already!" Elizabeth exclaimed.
"I AM NOT WEARING AN ORANGE TIE! I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT HE EES TALKING ABOUT!" Hikki shouted. Honestly it would have made more sense if the guy just wanted to take out the Syndicate's leader, but either way it looked like he meant business.
"YOU WON'T GET AWAAAY!" the mechavoice roared. As it raised its sword again, Hikki's comrades scattered and surrounded the mech.
"Senji, you cover Hikki. We'll have to pick this guy apart from a distance," Elizabeth commanded.
"Right," Senji said, positioning himself in front of Hikki and extending his Crow Claws.
Hikki feebly held out his rapier, although it was mostly to make himself feel tough. There was no way he or any of them would be able to touch the mech without a ranged weapon.
Unfortunately, it didn't look like the crazed pilot was going to be distracted by the decoys around him. Once he had Hikki back in his sights, he headed straight for him. Even more unfortunately, the impact of the bullets and arrows being shot by the rebels hardly seemed to bother him.
"You gnats are just wasting your time!" he taunted.
"Looks like we're gonna need to fall back," Senji said gruffly as the mech bore down on them. Hikki didn't need to be told twice, and started running as Senji tried stretching out one of his blood blades to impale the giant robot. But the mech just grabbed the outstretched blade and snapped it off.
"Ha! Nice try!" Jeremiah mocked.
As the mech charged away from her, Elizabeth swore and shoved her guns back into her hip holsters. "All right, hotshot, let's see if you can feel this!" she shouted, pulling out a bazooka from god knows where.
"You've been carrying a bazooka this whole time?" Spike asked incredulously.
"What, you don't?" Elizabeth said, only partly joking.
Spike just watched her with disbelief and a little bit of admiration as she ran off after the mech, and then he and Ishida followed behind her.
Once she got within range, she squared herself and hoisted the bazooka to her shoulder. "Cover your ears," she instructed the others, and then let the rocket fly. It hit Jeremiah's mech squarely in the back. The mech stumbled, nearly falling over, and then stood up straight again and turned around.
"Oh, so this little gnat has a sting, does it? Well I suppose I can take the time to squash you. I don't think my real prey is going to go too far while I do."
Hikki was grateful for the distraction, since the mech had been almost close enough to run him and Senji over. Unfortunately, it looked like the rocket's explosion hadn't hurt the mech too badly, and it was still fully operational.
"See if you can get us some backup," Senji told him, and ran toward the mech to try to help the others.
Hikki nodded and then felt around on his chest until he found the communicator button. He patted it frantically, and a speaker materialized in front of him.
"Hikki, how are you holding up?" Cille's voice said.
"Not good, we're seriously outmatched here. We need some backup now," Hikki shouted anxiously over the sound of crashing and explosions. He had to put his head directly over the speaker to even hear Cille. "Can you send us anozzer mech?"
"Kittan's mech is the only one operational right now, but he's engaged on the other side of the battlefield," Cille said. "We're working on it, though. Just try to hold out a little longer."
"We'll... try..." Hikki said uncertainly. The speaker disintegrated, and Hikki looked up to see how his teammates were faring against the mech. To his shock and horror, he saw Spike and Elizabeth lying in a crumpled heap together, and Senji knocked out against a tree. Ishida was still on his feet, furiously shooting spirit arrows as he hopped around dodging the mech's attacks.
"Hikki! Get the hell out of here!" Ishida shouted over his shoulder. But this brief distraction was all the agile mech pilot needed, and he swung the mech's arm to swat the Quincy out of midair. Ishida went flying off to the side and landed in a mass of brambles.
"Mon dieu..." Hikki murmured, not believing that these strong fighters could be knocked out so easily.
The mech drew itself back up to its full height, as if taking a victorious breather after defeating its enemies. Then it abruptly turned and looked straight at Hikki, taking a moment to look intimidating before starting to march slowly toward him.
A faint cackling emerged from the mech's loudspeakers as it slowly approached him, gradually growing into ever more crazed laughter.
Hikki just stood there watching with wide eyes, trying desperately to think of what he should do.
"I mustn't run away..."
As the mech pounded closer and closer, his legs felt like jelly. But then, they started feeling like they wanted to move.
"EFF ZEES, I'M RUNNING AWAY!"
Hikki whirled around and started running, fueled by sheer terror. He didn't even bother trying to hold onto his rapier, and the weapon went clattering into the bushes somewhere.
The mech pilot just laughed harder, not even picking up his pace to catch up to Hikki.
"How delicious!" he crooned. "The great leader of the Blacken Syndicate, peeing his pants and fleeing like a little girl! Do you really think you can escape me? Or are you that determined to stretch out your pathetic life a few seconds longer? WHERE IS YOUR ORANGE TIE NOW, HMMMM?"
Hikki almost wished he were wearing an orange tie, just so he could tear it off and fling it on the ground as a peace offering. But there seemed to be nothing he could do to stop the terrible march of that metal death machine.
Just as he felt that his legs were about to give out, something that looked like a giant watermelon appeared out of nowhere in front of him. Not knowing if this was a friend or foe, Hikki stopped short and subconsciously reached for his missing rapier. Almost instantly the watermelon seemed to evaporate away, and in its place stood a goofy-looking fat guy with a long braid.
"Hey there, I heard you needed some backup?" the man said jovially.
"Uh... oui, but... who are you?" Hikki asked, not recognizing his rescuer.
Before Hikki could get his answer, the man saw something over Hikki's shoulder that alarmed him. He pushed Hikki aside and held out a fist toward the approaching mech. A watermelon formed around his fist, growing in size until he flung it toward the mech. It exploded on impact, sending the giant robot reeling.
"Name's Urizane," the man said, looking back over his shoulder at Hikki with a crooked grin. "Cougar dragged me out here because he said you folks needed help. I guess it's a good thing I showed up."
"Oui..." Hikki said with a grateful smile.
But they weren't safe yet. The mech, momentarily disoriented by the blast, had once again righted itself and seemed more determined than ever to run them down.
"DAMMIT, WHY DO YOU INSECTS KEEP GETTING IN MY WAAAAAY??!?!" the mech pilot roared. He started full-on charging toward Hikki and Urizane, not about to lose his opportunity to take down his hated rival.
"You'd better get moving," Urizane said, starting to grow another watermelon around his fist. "I'll need to slow him down a little more before I can grow a teleport melon. Get some distance between you and him and I'll catch up with you."
Fortunately the little bit of rest had been good for Hikki's legs. He nodded and started running again as Urizane braced himself and fired off his exploding watermelon. The explosions started coming faster behind Hikki, and he couldn't help turning around to see how Urizane was doing. Despite the bulky Alter user's size, he was deftly using his melonbombs to propel himself around in addition to inflicting damage on the mech.
Jeremiah was growing increasingly irritated, and was wildly swinging the mech's arms and sword around trying to smack Urizane down. But as Urizane dodged his attacks, the mech instead ran into the melonbombs he left behind. Slowly but surely, the mech was being blasted apart bit by bit.
Finally the giant robot lurched forward and crashed to its knees, supporting its upper body on what was left of one of its arms. Finally getting the break he needed, Urizane turned around to follow after Hikki - only to see that the Frenchman had barely gotten anywhere. Hikki realized with a start that he had been so busy watching the intense fight that he had forgotten to keep running.
"Hey, didn't I tell you to get a move on?" Urizane chided as he ran to Hikki. He was definitely out of breath by the time he reached his comrade, showing the physical toll the fight had taken on him.
"I'm sorry, but... zat was amazing," Hikki said.
Urizane grinned. "Yeah, you shouldn't underestimate the power of a watermelon."
He glanced back at the mech, which was struggling to stand up. "Now let's get you out of here, Fearless Leader."
The Alter user took a few deep breaths to steady himself, and then held out both hands. As he concentrated, Hikki could see small rainbow-colored particles rising from the ground and streaming into a large sphere.
"We'll have you home in no time," Urizane said with a reassuring smile. But just as the sphere started to solidify into its watermelon form, they heard a resounding mechanical crash. The mech had somehow lurched to its feet again, and was careening around trying to regain its balance. One arm hung limply at its side and the other had been blown off past the elbow.
"You're a pesky fellow, aren't you?" Urizane said, turning to face the mech again.
"I could say the same about you, Fatso," Jeremiah taunted.
"Quick, get in!" Urizane shouted to Hikki. "I just need a few seconds, and-"
"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Jeremiah raged, charging toward them with everything he had left. But it was too late - Hikki hopped into the protective sphere, and a moment later it was gone.
"DAMN YOU!!" Jeremiah was more furious than he'd ever been in his life. "I will have my revenge! Whatever you or the rest of your little orange-loving loser club try to do, FOLLET WILL BE MINE!!!"
"Well then, I guess I'll just have to stop you right here," Urizane shot back. "You've already made me do way more work than I'm accustomed to. I don't need you causing any more trouble around here."
"If you didn't want trouble, you should have stayed home in your easy chair," Jeremiah sneered.
"Yeah, you're probably right," Urizane said. "But now that I'm out here, I'm starting to remember how much fun we used to have back in HOLY. I think it's about time I really flex my muscles."
Jeremiah grinned in spite of his anger. "Bring it on, fat boy."
**********
Cille, Elian, and the group of onlookers in the control room all breathed a collective sigh of relief after seeing Hikki disappear into the transport melon. It had been a harrowing several minutes watching him and his comrades face down the mech. But they couldn't totally relax yet.
"What about Urizane? Shouldn't he get out of there too?" Cille asked.
"I think..." Elian said, looking intently at the monitor, "...that he's going to stay. I think... he's having fun."
The Alter user and the mech renewed their attacks on each other, but it was obvious that they were both struggling physically even as their will to fight was stronger than ever.
"Wait, where's Hikki?" Cille asked, alarmed. "Shouldn't he be appearing here or something?"
"It takes a little bit of time," Elian answered. "Especially if he's not teleporting things to himself. And he's focusing most of his power on his fight, so your friend might kinda be in limbo for a little while."
"'Kinda in limbo'? 'A little while'? When are we going to get our leader back?" Cowboy demanded.
"Just relax, Urizane will take care of things," Elian said confidently. "I know he may not look like it, but he's pretty tough."
The group turned their attention back to the monitor. The fight continued, with lots of explosions and yelling and bright frooty colors.
Urizane was pummeling the giant robot with a steady stream of small explosions. He was obviously focusing on the mech's legs, trying to debilitate it as quickly as possible. Jeremiah tried to anticipate his movements to counterattack, but with the mech's arms hopelessly damaged and his controls going haywire, he was having a hard time keeping up despite Urizane's fatigue.
Finally, after a few close calls, the mech's legs gave out. It staggered around as Jeremiah tried vainly to regain control, and then fell to its knees as Urizane jumped back out of the way.
"Well then! Not such... a tough guy now... are ya?" Urizane huffed and puffed. "I guess... you won't be... going anywhere... after all."
An unintelligible growling was all that came out of the mech.
Starting to catch his breath, Urizane let himself relax a little bit. "Now then, do you want to come out of there and surrender peacefully, or do I have to blow more bits off of your cockpit and pull you out?"
The growling ceased, and the mech was unnervingly silent for a few moments. Then a low chuckle began emanating from its speakers, gradually growing in dark intensity. "Actually... I have something else in mind," Jeremiah said mischievously.
Urizane tensed himself for another round of fighting, but he could hardly prepare for what happened next. Suddenly a tentacle shot out from the mech's lower torso directly toward him. He instinctively tried to jump out of the way, but he was too slow. The tentacle grabbed him, pinning his arms to his sides and throwing him onto his back.
"Urizane!" Cille cried, as the others generally freaked out.
The tentacle dragged Urizane's large body toward it, until he found himself looking straight up at the mech's looming visage.
"Baha! Didn't see that one coming, did you?" the mech pilot exulted. "I never liked this vulgar appendage, but I guess it came in handy after all!"
"That was a cheap trick, you bastard," Urizane growled, clearly in a great deal of pain.
"You can cry all you like, but this is the end for you, Tubby! All you've done is waste my time!'
"Damn it, I guess I should have kept up with my exercises," Urizane said, breathing hard. "I really have gotten soft."
"I suppose I should say something noble about you being a worthy opponent, but you've pissed me off too much for that," Jeremiah said. "So I'll just finish you off and get back to finding that blasted Frenchman again."
"We'll see about that," Urizane said, a sort of grim determination in his eyes. Beneath him, a sphere of green started growing.
"Oh hell no, you're not teleporting away this time," Jeremiah said, rearing back to strike the death blow with the stub of his arm.
Urizane unflinchingly looked up at the mech with a badass grin. "It's not a teleport melon."
And as the jagged metal rushed toward his head, Urizane detonated his final melonbomb.
The group in the control room stood stunned, watching the monitor in silence until the smoke started to clear. All that was left was a crater in the mud, surrounded by chunks of metal wreckage.
As the inevitable realization sank in, there were murmurs of "my god..." and "wtfbbq..." along with a few sniffles. Elian in particular seemed to be a little shell-shocked, and Cille put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.
After a few moments Elian was the first one to speak.
"He must have had a good reason for it... if he thought he had to go out that way," he said thoughtfully. "He must have believed... that what you guys are fighting for is really important." He paused, and seemed to be strengthening his resolve. "Which means... it's important for us to keep fighting until we win, right?" He looked up at Cille, as if his young eyes were pleading for confirmation that this was how he should cope with their friend's death.
Cille nodded with understanding in her eyes. "I think that's right. We have to keep going as long as we can, for all the people we've lost. So that... it means something in the end."
Elian nodded, and turned back to the monitors. A somber sense of purpose fell over the group. Then Aoi spoke up:
"Hey guys... if the melon guy is gone... where's Hikki?"
**********
Hikki had been floating in a strange warm darkness for what seemed like quite some time. He wasn't sure he liked it, but at least it was better than being chased by a psycho in a giant robot. As time stretched on, though, he had to wonder how long this would last and where he would be when it let him out.
Suddenly it seemed that the bubble around him burst, and he went plummeting several feet to the ground. He landed hard on his back in a mushy pile of mud and slush and brambles, which only sort of helped cushion his landing.
The fall left him disoriented, and it took a minute for him to come around. He discovered that every part of him hurt. He could barely move, and in that state he wasn't even sure he wanted to. He wondered if this was how Samson felt after the terrible blow that left him on death's doorstep.
Ah mon cher Sammie, eef only you were here to geev me le baiser de la vie... he thought as he began to slip into unconsciousness.
As his mind drifted away, it was almost as if he could feel that very same kiss on his lips. It was warm... and slobbery... and involved a lot of tongue... and it didn't seem to really be aiming for his lips... and as he came around enough to think more about it, it kinda smelled like ass...
"Ugh... Sammiechu, what have you been eateeng?" he muttered, turning his head away and raising his arm to wipe his face.
But what his hand came down on wasn't quite shaped like Samson. Hikki groggily turned his head back again and raised it a little, to see a Corgi dog with its front paws propped on his chest, looking back at him and panting contentedly with its tongue hanging out.
For a moment Hikki just stared back at it, and then he started to sit up, pushing the dog away and wiping his face with renewed vigor.
"Blech, you eensufferable mongrel, get away! I am not yet a corpse for you to feast upon!" he growled, although his voice was mostly muffled by his sleeve.
Just then he heard something and froze. It was the sound of men talking, and they were coming closer. Hikki realized with a sudden wave of panic that he could have very easily just given himself away to a couple of Ozzal's soldiers. He hunched himself over the best he could and tried to be inconspicuous. Beside him the dog had perked its ears and was also listening intently. It had even stopped its panting, which Hikki would have appreciated if he hadn't been too focused on the approaching soldiers to notice.
"...over in this direction. Sounded like something moving around," one of them said in a low voice. Hikki could hear the men moving through the underbrush as they came closer. He was sure he was a goner, and he was just about to start searching desperately around him for a gun or something when suddenly, next to him, the dog started barking.
It took all of Hikki's self-control to choke back what he wanted to yell at the dog, and instead he just kind of gurgled through his clenched teeth and tried to shake his head NO at it without actually moving. But the stupid thing just kept right on barking, and then it trotted right out through the bushes directly into the path of the soldiers.
Hikki sat petrified with fear, just barely able to see them through the brambles.
"Aww geez, it's just a mutt," one of the soldiers said, looking down at the dog.
The dog just stood there panting nonchalantly, looking up at the men exactly the same way it had looked at Hikki.
"It probably wants a handout," the other soldier said.
The dog barked once, as if agreeing that yes, that is what it wanted.
"Get lost, you little beggar. Go find a rebel corpse to chew on if you're hungry," the first soldier snarled, kicking the dog aside. It went flying with a yelp, and the other soldier laughed.
"All right, that's one mystery solved," he said. "Now let's get back to the unit, I'm hungry too."
The two men ambled off the way they came, still making snarky comments about the worthless dog.
Hikki was dumbfounded for a while after they left. Still not wanting to move until he was sure the coast was clear, he found himself staring at the likewise motionless body of the poor dog. It was still lying on its side in the spot where it had landed. Then, just as Hikki was wondering if he should go over and see if it was still alive, the dog rolled slowly onto its stomach, gingerly stood up, and then shook itself off from head to tail. Then, apparently fully recovered, it turned around and ambled back through the bushes toward Hikki. As if nothing had happened, it looked up at him, panting and wagging its tail.
Hikki couldn't believe what he had just seen. Did that dog just... help him? On purpose? Or was his jumbled mind still making things up?
In spite of himself, tears began welling up in his eyes at the thought that this humble dog might have made a noble sacrifice on his behalf. Either that, or it was the stupidest creature on the planet. It only lasted a moment, though, before the hopelessness of his situation came back to him.
Eh... not zat eet really matters... I'm just going to die here anyway... he thought miserably, flopping back onto the ground. He closed his eyes, ready to give up again, and then felt a cold wet dog nose nudging the side of his face.
"Aaagggghhhh... why can you not leave me to die een peace?" Hikki complained, once again pushing the dog away with his good arm.
This time the dog backed off, and just sat next to him panting into his ear.
As Hikki lay there, mostly feeling sorry for himself, the words he had just spoken sank into his consciousness. Dying in peace... it almost seemed like not such a bad deal, to drift off and leave all of this craziness and heartache behind. No more battles, no more losing friends, no more responsibility. Just... leave it all behind, and let everybody else deal with it.
Everybody else...
He thought of Samson, clinging to life in his infirmary bed. And Clarice, and Cille, and all of their other friends. People who had become a sort of family during their difficult times together. Hadn't he said just that morning that he wanted to fight for those people? Would he really want them to have to take on all of his responsibility and keep fighting without him, mourning him as one of the lost?
His lip trembled. Of course not, he couldn't burden them with all of the responsibility and sadness, when he still had even a little willpower and strength left. Even if it really really sucked, he had to at least try to find a way to get back to them.
He took a deep breath. Whether it was because his mind was starting to clear or because he wanted to put off moving for as long as possible, he decided he should come up with some kind of plan for getting back to the base before he did anything else. For one thing he had no idea where he was or where to find the base. He'd also have to avoid any enemies that might be in the area. His rapier was long gone, and he hadn't taken a gun with him that morning, so he was pretty much defenseless.
But wait, he had taken a communication device, which he could use to call Cille and get some help. All he had to do was tap the button on his chest... right there on his chest...
Except that as much as he tapped on every inch of his chest, there was no button. It must have fallen off at some point during the fighting or his fall.
Suddenly desperate to find the device, he mustered up all of his newfound determination and pulled himself into a sitting position. His body still felt like it had been hit with a truck, but at least he could struggle through it.
He looked all around where he was sitting, feeling around in the mud and parting the weeds around him, but there was no sign of the device.
"Okay zen... I guess I'm on my own," he said, looking down at the dog. It had perked its ears when he started moving, and it seemed to be encouraging him with its dumb happy expression.
He sort of rolled to one side and eased himself onto a knee. He felt a little dizzy, so he had to take a few more deep breaths and collect himself again. Once he felt ready, he steadied himself and lunged to his feet.
And then a paralyzing wave of agonizing pain shot through his whole body and he collapsed.
The dog whimpered and tried nudging him again, but to no avail. This time Hikki was out cold, unable to withstand the sheer excruciation that had overtaken his body.
**********
After he finished operating on Angel, Matrix had spent most of the night in the mech workshop helping with emergency repairs. But with only an hour or two of sleep, the next morning he was summoned once again to help tend to the new wave of injuries. It was exhausting work, but at least he felt needed in a way that he hadn't in a long time.
There didn't seem to be as many casualties coming in the second day, but the medical staff was still kept plenty busy. Bruce Herman and Jean Pierrot, who had stuck around the bunker despite not being active Syndicate members, volunteered to bring in wounded fighters. They drove around in a camo-painted golf cart looking for injured troops and getting directions from Cille.
Her latest instructions for them were to bring in what was left of Hikki's guard unit. Ishida had been able to get up after being knocked out briefly, but Senji unfortunately hadn't survived his encounter with the mech. Both Elizabeth and Spike were in critical condition, so Bruce and Jean hurried out to retrieve them and get them back to the base for treatment.
Matrix and Scheris met them at the main entrance to the bunker. The men unloaded the two stretchers from the cart, and Scheris knelt down next to them to check their vital signs. Jean and Bruce watched her, concerned about their friends, but Matrix was distracted by something in the woods near them. He could swear there was somebody there watching them - and he was right.
The man saw Matrix looking at him, and tried ducking down out of sight. When that didn't work, he turned and took off running away from the bunker.
"Dammit, that's one of Ozzal's soldiers! You idiots led him straight to our front door!" Matrix yelled. "He's probably going back to report on us right now!"
Bruce and Jean looked startled, and then they both started running after the soldier. "Don't worry, he won't get very far!" Bruce said.
But the man must have been pretty quick on his feet, and already had a good head start on them. Matrix could tell that his burly associates wouldn't catch up to him before he got lost in the trees.
"Wait, stop! Get down!" Matrix called to them. Looking confused, the two men obeyed and hit the deck.
And then Matrix's crotch exploded.
At least that's what it looked like to Scheris. She only saw it out of the corner of her eye as she knelt next to the patients. But there was a definite burst of light, and then when she looked at him the entire front of his pants had been blown off, exposing something sticking straight out and glinting in the sunlight...
She turned scarlet and clapped her hands over her mouth to stifle a gasp when she realized what she was looking at. Matrix, who had been looking for the escaping soldier in the distance, noticed her reaction, and hastily tucked the thing into what was left of his pants.
"Oh, uh... heh... nothing to see here, miss..." he said, trying to sound nonchalant.
Bruce and Jean had stood up in the meantime. "What the hell was that?" demanded Jean.
"Nevermind that, go see what happened to that soldier," Matrix replied. "If we're lucky you'll find him with a hole through his backside."
Bruce and Jean exchanged glances and went running off again. Soon they returned, reporting that the soldier had indeed been shot dead in his tracks, and it looked like he'd been hit from behind by a laser beam or something.
"Good, hopefully he didn't have a chance to report in to his cronies," Matrix said. "Get these people into the infirmary, and then see about getting some extra patrols out here to guard the entrance. And for god's sake pay attention to who's following you back here next time."
Bruce and Jean grumbled a little bit, probably not happy about having to take orders from a scrawny scientist, but they picked up the stretchers and followed Scheris into the base.
Matrix took another look around before following them inside - partly to make sure there weren't any other enemies about to ambush them, but also to bask a little in his first battlefield victory. Being all authoritative and feeling in control of his surroundings for once felt pretty great, and finally getting to use his laser-shooting cyberdick to totally blow a dude away was fantastic. He felt so badass that he even briefly considered telling Mustang to turn him loose on the front lines.
Then something exploded not too far away, and he decided that maybe his place was inside after all.
**********
As the day's battles appeared to be winding down, Ozzal was feeling quite grumpy after having no leads on infiltrating the Syndicate base and hearing that her crazy mech trump card had outright failed to take out Anti-Citizen One. Even betching out General Zoltron hadn't improved her mood much.
A curt knock on the door just annoyed her even more. "What the hell do you want?" she yelled at the door.
Makina came into the control room pushing a very freaked-out soldier, whom she was holding onto by the hair on the top of his head. She forced him to his knees in front of Ozzal.
"Madam, I've come to submit my personnel report," she said tersely, ignoring the man's weak attempts to resist.
"Oh? All right then, let's hear it," Ozzal said, intrigued.
"This man's brother used to frequent a place called the GAR Street Bar. A number of its regular customers joined up with the Syndicate just before they moved into their bunker. It is a known hotbed of dissent."
"Please, I have nothing to do with them!" the soldier exclaimed desperately. "I haven't even talked to my brother since those guys joined the rebellion. I don't even know if he's with them!"
"Any connection to the rebels can't be discounted, madam," Makina said.
Ozzal looked from the man's face, stricken with terror, to the face of her Security Chief, as steely as ever but slightly more vindictive than usual.
"All right, Security Chief, I'll trust your judgment on this one," Ozzal said. "Now show me how you deal with security threats."
As if she had only been waiting for the command, Makina unsheathed her sword in one quick motion. She gripped the man's hair tighter and placed the blade at his throat. Then, before making the fatal cut, she looked back up at Ozzal.
"Apologies, madam, how concerned are you about getting blood all over your control room?"
Ozzal was so caught up in the moment that she almost wasn't sure how to answer. "Oh, whatevz, I'm sure we've got some Lysol somewhere," she said impatiently.
"Very good, madam." Without another moment's hesitation, Makina pulled the man's head back and cleanly sliced through his throat. As expected, blood spurted everywhere, including onto Ozzal and the display behind her. Ozzal was so impressed that she hardly noticed and cared even less.
Makina wiped her blade on the unfortunate man's sleeve before tossing his body aside. "I'll get somebody in here with the Lysol right away, madam. I'd suggest you clean yourself up as well."
Ozzal looked at her Security Chief with a newfound appreciation. "Yes, well, good work, soldier. I suppose that I can expect you to have my back as long as you're here."
"Of course, madam," Makina responded. "My sword is at your service for as long as you'll have me."
Ozzal nodded. "Excellent. Then I'll leave the cleanup to you." She stepped over the dead man's body, giving it one more appraising look, and left the room with a satisfied smile.
**********
As the sunlight began dwindling, Hikki was still out cold - and growing colder - in the spot where he had fallen. The dog was sitting on his chest with its head propped on its paws, looking forlornly at him and waiting for some sign of life. But after more than two hours, he hadn't yet stirred, and his slow and regular breathing was the only sign that he was still alive.
The dog looked up suddenly as a dark figure approached them, coming through the trees behind Hikki. It jumped up and ran to place itself between the intruder and Hikki and started growling.
The stranger silently came closer, holding his hands up as if to show that he wasn't a threat. The dog kept growling until the man stopped moving, and then it approached cautiously and started sniffing at him.
Suddenly its mood completely changed, and it started panting and wagging its tail as if nothing was wrong.
The stranger, appreciating the dog's apparent endorsement, lowered his hands and turned his attention to the unconscious figure on the ground. He slowly came toward Hikki and knelt next to him, closely watched by the dog. He felt for a pulse, and then cautiously examined his torso and limbs.
He looked at the dog, who looked back at him expectantly. As if answering some unspoken question, the dog yipped once and then happily started running in circles.
The man raised his eyebrows and sighed. Then he carefully lifted Hikki's body in his arms and started walking.
**********
"But where is Hikki? Where the hell is Hikki?" Clarice demanded, crossly pacing around the control room.
"Like I said, his teleport melon must have burst before it could get back to the base. At least that was Elian's explanation," Cille answered.
Command central had been closed off to all but a few of the Syndicate's leaders. They were trying to take stock of the day's action, but the more immediate concern was the whereabouts of their commander in chief.
"And did he explain where the thing must have burst? Can't he use his special hax powers to find him out there? How the hell do you just lose somebody you've been watching the whole day?" Clarice shouted angrily.
"Calm down, Clarice," Solomon advised.
The others were all surprised that Clarice of all people would be the one freaking out the most about Hikki, but she'd had a stressful day on the battlefield too and was probably feeling pretty edgy - especially after her mech had been declared wrecked after being hit with shells by a tank.
"Elian's exhausted after using his Alter all day," Cille said. "I told him to get some rest. He'll hurt himself if we push him too hard."
"Well then what are we supposed to do?" Clarice asked impatiently.
"We've got several search teams out looking for Hikki," Cille pointed out. "Don't worry, they'll find him."
"And what if they don't find him?" Clarice exclaimed. "What if he's just gone? What if he got sucked into some kind of black hole? What if he's dead? What are we supposed to do then?"
Mustang put a calming hand on her shoulder. "Then we'll continue on the best we can, same as we've been doing all along."
"You know, Clarice, you really should try to keep a cool head," Holland said. "If Hikki and Samson are out of commission, you're pretty much next in line to be our leader."
"You think I haven't thought of that?" Clarice said, with a certain edge in her voice. "I wish I could sit there and say 'yeah sure, it'll be the same as always' but I don't get that luxury now, do I?"
The others looked at each other, wanting to be sympathetic but knowing they also needed to stay focused on solving their current crisis.
An electronic crackle and a disembodied voice interrupted them. "Hey! Hey Cille, are you there? Or... Eric? Or anybody?"
Cille reached for the walkie-talkie she had left on a table. "This is Cille, I'm here. Raef, is that you?"
"Yeah, listen. We captured somebody outside. He was right at our front door."
"Was he one of Ozzal's soldiers?" Clarice demanded, moving toward Cille and the walkie-talkie.
"And you're not gonna believe this," Raef continued, not having heard Clarice. "He had Hikki."
"Hikki?!" Clarice shouted, grabbing the walkie-talkie from Cille. "Is he okay? Is he alive?"
"Yeah, he's... I mean he was conked out, but I guess he's pretty much okay. They're taking him to sick bay now."
"I'll be right there!" Clarice said, pushing the walkie-talkie back into Cille's hands. "You people take care of things!" she called over her shoulder as she rushed out of the room.
The others just looked at each other.
"So, um... What do you want us to do with this guy?" Raef asked.
"Well who is he?" Cille asked. "Is he one of Ozzal's men?"
"I don't think so, at least he's not in uniform. He looks kinda like a hobo honestly. He won't tell us his name. But he's not causing any trouble for us or anything. He pretty much just surrendered when we brought him in."
"How did he know where to bring Hikki?" Mustang asked, moving closer to Cille to speak into the walkie-talkie. "Could he be one of our agents and you just don't recognize him?"
"I dunno..." Raef said uncertainly. "We asked him how he knew we were here and he just said 'I followed your dog.'"
Cille and the others exchanged confused glances.
"Search him for weapons and any electronic devices, and then find someplace to confine him," Mustang said. "Our first priority is taking care of Hikki and making sure this guy isn't an immediate threat."
"We already patted him down, he had a gun but he didn't complain when we took it. He looks clean otherwise. Well I mean... aside from really needing a shower."
"All right, just put him in a room somewhere under guard and we'll get to him when we can," Mustang instructed.
"You got it," Raef answered.
Cille put down the walkie-talkie and turned back to the others.
"Our first POW, eh?" Holland said. "We haven't really planned for prisoners here."
"Yeah, I haven't been looking forward to dealing with this," Mustang said. "At least it's only one guy and not a whole platoon."
"What do you think we should do with him?" Cille asked. "Do we have prison facilities here?"
"Well first I'll need to talk to him and find out what his story is. Then we can go from there," Mustang answered.
"I'll radio Cougar and the other search teams and bring them in," Cille said. "And make sure all of our other people are in for the night."
"I'll get our overnight retrieval units prepped," Holland offered.
"All right," Mustang said. "Let's go."
**********
A short time later Hikki was in a warm bed in the infirmary, and the stranger who had brought him in was sitting in an empty room being guarded by Kamina and Kittan. The two of them had put on their Garhalla Vice shades and were trying mostly unsuccessfully to interrogate the taciturn man.
Raef's description of the man as a hobo was pretty accurate. In the light he looked especially haggard, as if it had been a long time since he'd seen the comforts of home. He wore a gray zippered hoodie, and unkempt strands of longish black hair stuck out from the raised hood. He remained entirely passive during the emphatic questioning, but his eyes had a keen wariness to them, as if he were constantly looking for an escape route.
By the time Mustang got there, Kamina and Kittan had given up on their interrogation and were standing outside the room making badass poses. They briefed Mustang, who then went in to try his luck with the prisoner.
**********
Meanwhile, Clarice was finally getting a breather after overseeing Hikki's transfer into the infirmary. Kira had determined that aside from his previously-broken arm, his injuries amounted to extensive bruising and a wrenched ankle. More alarming was the mild case of hypothermia that could have been much more serious if Hikki had remained outside much longer after dark.
The dog had also accompanied them, refusing to leave Hikki's side and barking incessantly whenever anyone tried to carry it away. Once inside the infirmary, it was entirely well-behaved and made itself comfortable in a corner of Hikki's room.
Clarice was feeling better after being reassured by Kira that Hikki would be okay with plenty of rest and warmth, but as the medical staff moved on to the next patient, she stayed behind to watch him a little longer. The conflicting feelings of the day were all swirling around within her, and she wasn't quite sure what to make of them yet. But one thing was certain: she'd never been so relieved to see that annoying Frenchman again.
Cille opened the door to let her know that Mustang wanted to see her, and the two of them went to meet him outside the prisoner's room.
**********
Mustang was pacing in the hallway when they arrived, but his mood brightened when he saw the women arriving.
"Good, now we can get down to business," he said.
"What's going on?" Clarice asked.
"We need you to go in and deal with this guy. He says he'll only talk to the person in charge."
"Well Hikki's unconscious," Clarice said. "He should know that, he's the one who carried him in."
The others looked at her expectantly.
"Oh... right," she said sheepishly, realizing that she wasn't off the hook just because Hikki was back inside the base.
"Well who even is he? I feel like I should know who I'm dealing with before I go in there," she said, feeling kind of uneasy again.
"He just says he's someone who can help us," Mustang said. "He refuses to say any more than that until he can talk to the person in charge."
"We're just supposed to let him help us when we don't even know who he is?" Kittan asked disapprovingly. He was still a little grumpy about the man being so uncooperative.
"I know who he is," said Cougar quietly. He had returned quickly from his called-off search mission, and was looking through the small window in the door.
"You can tell from there?" Mustang asked.
"He looks very different from when I saw him last, but I recognize him," Cougar said, coming to join the others.
"Who is he, then?" Mustang asked.
"His name is Kenzou Tenma. He was the top brain surgeon at Turner Memorial Hospital."
"I remember hearing about him. He was fired for insubordination or something, wasn't he? After he let a patient die?" Cille said.
"That was the official story," Cougar replied. "What really happened was that he chose to operate on a senator who had spoken out against some of Ozzal's policies, instead of another patient who was a big donor to her fund. Tenma's patient lived and Ozzal's man died, so they had him blacklisted. He probably would have been arrested but he managed to get away before they caught him. He's been on the run ever since. I've heard rumors from time to time about him doing underground surgeries and the like."
"And somehow he ended up here?" Clarice asked.
"Yeah. We're still not sure how he made it through the battlefield alive, but he says he wants to help us," Mustang said.
"How do we know we can trust him? If he got through that easily maybe he's a mole," Cille said.
"From what I know, he's a good man," Cougar said. "He's certainly no friend of Ozzal. We should at least listen to what he has to say."
"Okay... let's do this then," Clarice said, feeling like she could handle this now.
Clarice went into the room followed by Mustang and Cougar.
"Hello, Mr. Tenma," she said confidently. "I understand you want to talk to someone in charge here."
The man flinched only slightly at hearing his name, and then put his hood down and sat up straighter. "Yes... you must be... Ms. Rowe?"
Clarice narrowed her eyes. "What makes you think that?"
Tenma smiled indulgently. "I know a little about your organization too. I was expecting to see Mr. Monroe, but I understand you're part of the leadership here too."
"So what do you have to say that you couldn't say to these men here?" Clarice asked.
"Well I was trying to stay incognito for as long as possible, for one thing," Tenma replied. "But I see my reputation precedes me, somehow." He glanced at Cougar. "If you know who I am then you probably know the precarious situation I'm in. I have to be very concerned for my safety, especially if the wrong people find out about me."
"What makes you think we're the wrong people? We're all fighting Ozzal here," Cougar said.
"I know." Tenma looked down. "I just... need to be careful." He looked back up at Clarice. "I want assurance, some kind of guarantee, that I'll be safe if I stay here with you. I can help, I've seen some of your people's injuries. I'm sure you have a doctor here, or something, but if there's anything serious I can handle it. I just need to know that I'll be protected here."
"Is that it?" Clarice asked, surprised. "That's why you wouldn't talk to anyone but me?"
Tenma smiled sheepishly. "Now that you mention it, I probably went a little overboard with the secretiveness. It's a hard habit to break."
Clarice looked at Cougar and Mustang, and they both nodded. "Well from what I've heard it sounds like you're not going to be a threat to us. If you're willing to join us, you're welcome here. I can't promise it'll be entirely safe though. We are kinda at war after all."
Tenma nodded. "I understand. As long as the war stays out there and I can stay in here, I'll be fine."
Clarice extended her hand. "You have my promise then. We won't sell you out. And of course we'll expect the same from you."
Tenma took her hand and gave it a shake. "Of course. And whenever I can be of service, just point me in the direction of the operating room. I expect Mr. Follet's ankle has already been taken care of?"
"Yes, actually," Clarice answered, surprised once again at his perceptiveness.
"Good, and he'll be getting warmed up too. I have to say, you should thank Ein for taking such good care of him."
"Ein? Who's that?" Mustang asked.
"Your dog," Tenma answered, slightly confused. "That's what it says on his collar tag, isn't it? He's a very loyal dog. I'm pretty sure he tried to keep Mr. Follet warm until help came."
"Oh..." Clarice said, not quite sure what to make of this since the dog had just appeared along with their guest.
"Well for right now I think you've earned a hot bath and a good night's sleep," Cougar said kindly. "I'll find a room for you and see if we can get you something to eat."
"I'd appreciate it," Tenma said gratefully. "It'll certainly help me be ready to go tomorrow when the fighting starts again."
"Yes... speaking of which, we still need to go over today's battle assessment," Mustang said to Clarice and Cougar. They didn't look thrilled about it, but nodded.
"I'll leave that to you two," Cougar said. "Cillie can fill me in later."
They all agreed, and went their separate ways.
**********
After the battle meeting, Clarice was totally exhausted. The emotional strain of the day had added to the usual physical and mental tiredness, and she just wanted to close her eyes and turn it all off for a while. But first she wanted to check in on Hikki again, just to make sure everything was okay.
The infirmary was fairly quiet. As Clarice passed by Samson's room, the door opened and Anne slipped out.
Clarice raised her eyebrows. "Shouldn't you be in bed, young lady?"
Anne started a little, apparently not expecting to be caught. "Um... that's where I'm going now. I just lost track of time while I was sitting with Sammie."
Clarice smiled at her. "Well I'm sure he appreciates having you there. I know I feel better with you keeping an eye on him."
"Yeah..." Anne said softly. "I know I can't do much around here, but I'm trying my best to help."
Clarice was proud of Anne, but her heart ached a little for her too. Not only was her brother in rough shape, but she'd been exposed to far too much violence and bloodshed for someone so young.
"Well go get some sleep. I'm sure you could use it," Clarice said gently.
"You too," Anne said. She started down the hallway and then turned back to Clarice.
"Hey Clarice..."
"Yeah?" Clarice answered.
"Do you think... I mean, sometime when you're not too busy..." the girl began uncertainly. "Do you think we could maybe go over some lessons sometime? Like we used to? I still have my books in my room."
Clarice's heart sank a little. It had been months since she last tutored Anne back at the cafe. "I would love to. It's just... I might be busy for a while."
Anne looked disappointed but nodded. "I understand. I just mean when all this is over and you don't have to fight anymore. Whenever that is."
Clarice tried to smile. "I'll look forward to it, okay?"
Anne smiled back and nodded. "Okay," she said, and turned to go to her room.
Clarice watched her go, feeling a lingering sadness. How long would it take for things to be like they used to be?
She took a deep breath and snapped herself out of it, knowing that pining for the past wouldn't make facing the future any easier. She continued to Hikki's room and knocked softly. Not hearing an answer, she opened the door and went in.
Hikki was lying in bed, fast asleep and looking rather peaceful. His heart monitor was beeping slowly but regularly. He didn't move as Clarice opened and closed the door, but over in the corner Ein the dog woke up and perked its ears when she came in.
"Hey there, Fearless Leader," she began, trying to sound casual.
Hikki didn't respond.
"Crazy day today, huh," she tried again.
There was no sign that Hikki had heard her. He must have still been totally conked out.
"Well the good news is we did a lot better today than we did yesterday," she said, resigning herself to a one-way conversation. "We still lost some people but not anywhere near as many as we did yesterday. And there were fewer injuries too."
She sighed. "Of course they did a number on our mechs today, stupid tanks. I think Kamina's is the only one we can still use. You should have been there when mine got dragged back in, Lloyd threw a fit." She said this humorously, but then reconsidered. "Well maybe you wouldn't have wanted to see that. But Mustang says we'll just have to bolster our ground forces so we're not so reliant on the mechs. So I guess he's got things figured out."
She stood lost in thought for a few moments. She'd had some time to sort through the jumble of emotions of the last few hours, and she thought she finally understood what she had been feeling.
"I guess I also need to say I'm glad to have you back. I bet that's the last thing you'd expect to hear, if you were actually listening to me right now." She watched him, blissfully oblivious to the world, and shook her head. "It's probably better you're not listening, you'd think I was going all soft on you or something."
She crossed an arm in front of her and held her other arm.
"It's not that it would be sad if you died or something - I mean it would, but that's not what really got to me." She paused. "I just... need you here. To do what you do. I may think you're an idiot most of the time, but at least when you're making the decisions it's technically your fault if something goes wrong."
She sighed ruefully. "When I say it out loud, it sounds kinda selfish, doesn't it."
She wasn't sure if she should feel reassured or condemned by his silence.
"I guess I'm just scared. Yeah, sure, I can say it. I know we're all in this together and stuff, and we knew people were going to die when we signed up for this, but it's different when it's all on you to call the shots. It's like you're the one who's telling them to do it. And that's scary as hell. But I guess you've already learned that, haven't you."
She knew it without needing his confirmation. "And... I guess I should give you credit for that. For an idiot, I guess you handle this stuff better than I would."
She stood for a few moments just watching him, thinking about everything he must have gone through as their leader. Then, feeling like she needed to not actually get too soft, she took a deep breath and got down to business again.
"Okay, I'll make a deal with you. I'll try to suck it up and do my best to run this thing while you're out of it. And you do your best to not die so you can come back and I can blame you for everything again. Okay?"
She almost would have preferred hearing him actually accept the deal, but just saying it out loud somehow made her feel like this was how things should be. And really it was an awful lot easier to say all of this knowing that he couldn't really hear her.
With that settled, she nodded authoritatively and then turned to leave.
"Well... I'll see what I can do..." said a sluggish voice behind her.
Clarice froze. She turned around slowly to see that Hikki was still lying motionless with his eyes closed.
"So um... you're awake, aren't you," she said.
"I seenk... maybe? Eet's kind of hard to tell," Hikki mumbled.
"And... you've been awake this whole time, haven't you," she said wryly.
"I seenk... actually I don't... how long ze time..."
As she was about to point out that he was making even less sense than usual, she realized that he was probably on some pretty powerful pain meds and was probably still pretty much out of it.
"Well, if you heard anything that sounded like me complimenting you it was probably the drugs talking," she hedged.
"Drugs... drugs are niiiice..." he drawled.
"Yes, yes they are," Clarice agreed. "You go ahead and enjoy them, and I'm going to sleep."
"Oui... le sommeil est le petit déjeuner des champions..."
Clarice gave him an "okay, crazy person" nod and reached for the doorknob again. Satisfied that he was drifting safely back into his slumber, she took her leave and headed for her room.
Whether Hikki had actually absorbed her confession or not, strangely enough just having the one-sided conversation left her feeling a lot calmer than she'd been all day. As she reached her room and finally collapsed into her bed, she was ready to welcome the respite of sleep.
Chapter 45 author's notes:
Recurring characters:
Roxie Goldsmith - anime_goddess05
Michelle Ozzal - Mike Lazzo
Eric Ominae - OMNI-Enforcer
Hikki Follet - Kohikki
*Major Tom Taredan - Metatronda
Cille Compton - Cille
Larry Zorin - LAZY17
Clarice Rowe - QueenoftheDorks
Cid - cidthekittyisfun
Proof - NoProof
Professor M. Matrix - matrixman124
Samson Monroe - MasterSamson
Elizabeth Saurie St. Gaurdsmen - EdSpikeSesshyGirl
General Bernice Zoltron - SwimMod_Beezo
Cowboy - CowboyCadenza
Bruce Herman - bherman
Jean Pierrot - pierrot-le-fou
Raef Compton - Maenos
Anne Monroe - herself
*Dewey Novak - Eureka seveN
Straight Cougar - s-CRY-ed
Elian - s-CRY-ed
Urizane - s-CRY-ed
Scheris Adjani - s-CRY-ed
Aoi - Ghost in the Shell
Roy Mustang - Fullmetal Alchemist
Kamina - Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann
*Lloyd Asplund - Code Geass
Kittan - Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann
Uryuu Ishida - Bleach
Solomon Goldsmith - Blood+
Kenpachi Zaraki - Bleach
Jeremiah Gottwald - Code Geass
Holland Novak - Eureka seveN
Izuru Kira - Bleach
New characters:
Major Makina - Deadman Wonderland
Spike Spiegel - Cowboy Bebop
Senji - Deadman Wonderland
Ein - Cowboy Bebop
Kenzou Tenma - Monster
*Characters marked with an asterisk are mentioned in this chapter but do not have an active role in the story.
French language notes:
le baiser de la vie - the kiss of life
le sommeil est le petit déjeuner des champions - sleep is the breakfast of champions
The morning of the second day of battle dawned as if gradually drawing back a curtain on a forlorn landscape. The first spring thaw had left the ground muddy, and it had only gotten worse after a day of being trampled by men and machines. The expanse of the Enbeforlocke Woods was marred by patches of missing and charred trees, and the corpses of both men and giant robots lay scattered around the wilderness.
The rebels had managed to salvage a decent amount of equipment and most of their fallen comrades overnight. Roxie found herself once again overseeing a morgue, grimly instructing her helpers to bag and tag each corpse before depositing them into a converted meat locker for storage. Many injured fighters were brought in off the battlefield too, and those working in the infirmaries were kept on their feet the entire night.
The leaders' strategy meeting had lasted until the wee hours of the morning. It was agreed that the most important thing they needed was a higher level of overall organization, to keep their people from running around haphazardly fighting against Ozzal's more regimented forces. Taking into account the first day's casualties, new unit assignments were put together, and the military leaders did their best to draw up battle plans for the next day. Invaluable insight was provided by Eric Ominae, who had more historical knowledge about military strategy than the rest of them put together.
Even as Hikki and his exhausted comrades finally went to sleep, there were others still working in and around the bunker who wouldn't see their beds at all that night. When morning came, everyone in the base wished they could just turn the sun off for a few more hours, but they knew they couldn't put off facing the day and its coming battles for long.
**********
Michelle Ozzal had gotten a good night's sleep, and was up bright and early to go over battle plans. Alone as usual in her control room, she sat in her cushy chair surrounded by monitors and papers.
The monotony was broken by a knock at the door.
"Come," she commanded.
The door opened and one of her men walked in accompanied by a stern-looking female soldier.
"Head Governor, there's someone here to see you ma'am," the man said.
"Who is it?" Ozzal asked without looking up from her papers.
The woman snapped into a salute. "Major Makina, reporting for duty, madam."
Ozzal turned to look at her. Makina was an imposing woman in her crisp uniform and beret. The steel in her eyes matched the steel of the blade that hung from her belt.
"Ah yes, my new Security Chief. Shouldn't you be back at Comdot, you know, securing the place?"
Makina looked confused. "I'm answering your summons, madam."
"Summons?"
"Yes... After the attempt on your life, I received instructions to report here and act as your personal bodyguard. Under the current circumstances, your personal protection is much more important than patrolling Comdot Estate."
"Yeah, well, I hope you do a better job here than you did at Comdot."
Makina stiffened. "Of course, madam, that was a grievous oversight on our part. But be assured, the persons responsible for allowing the breach have been... reprimanded."
Something in the way Makina said that last word, and the way she subconsciously placed her hand on the hilt of her sword as she said it, made Ozzal feel better about having the Security Chief there. Clearly this was a woman who took no s**t from anyone, and perhaps had the same penchant for doling out punishments that Ozzal herself did.
Ozzal hadn't spent much time with Makina since she'd had her hands full with the botched Comedian invasion and those blasted rebels. Dewey had hand-picked her to be the new Security Chief after Taredan had submitted his resignation, so at least she could trust his judgment. And she liked what she'd seen of the soldier's no-nonsense attitude.
Ozzal didn't remember sending any summons, but it was probably one of her advisors getting panicky after the body double bought it back at Comdot. It probably wasn't a bad idea, all things considered. As safe as she'd been feeling in her undisclosed location, there was always the possibility that a mole or something could work their way in. At least that's the way it usually happened on those suspense dramas she watched.
A clever idea passed through her mind, and she smiled a little cruelly. She could test Makina's loyalty and root out the moles at the same time.
"All right, Security Chief, here's your first assignment. I want you to go through all of the personnel at this facility, and report anyone who qualifies as a security threat. If you can't ensure my safety in my own little hidey-hole, you don't deserve to call yourself my bodyguard."
"Very good, madam. I'll request a personnel list and begin interrogations immediately."
Ozzal nodded, and Makina curtly turned and strode out of the room along with the other soldier.
Ozzal turned her attention back to her papers. "All righty then, who wants to die today..."
**********
There were new arrivals that morning at the Syndicate base too.
Cougar had left the base before dawn, and returned with three of his old friends. Elian, Urizane, and Scheris had been persuaded to leave their isolated life behind to come and aid the rebellion after hearing about the steep odds they were facing.
When Cille arrived at the command room, she found Elian and Aoi already setting up their new control center. Elian was in the center of an elaborate arrangement of monitors and keyboards, his upper body enclosed in a transparent greenish dome. He gave Cille a brief smile and nod when he saw her, and then immediately went back to his work. Meanwhile, Aoi had his own computers set up, and had already begun looking for army network systems to hack into.
While Cille was trying to take all of this in, Cougar appeared behind her.
"Not bad, eh?" he said with a grin.
"That's an understatement," she answered, raising an eyebrow. "I didn't know Elian would be joining us."
"Heh, neither did he, until a few hours ago. Scheris and Urizane are here too. They're helping out in the infirmary right now, I think. I told them we needed all the help we could get, and they thankfully agreed to come do what they could for us."
"That's wonderful. I can already see that Elian's going to be invaluable for monitoring the battlefield," Cille said.
"That's the idea," Cougar replied. "We've already done some scouting outside so he should have a good idea of the area layout. You'll be able to see whatever's going on out there, and we're working on a communication system too. It should make your job a lot easier in here."
"That's good," Cille said with a slightly worried look. "I'm already feeling a huge amount of responsibility."
"You'll do fine," Cougar said, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Just remember your research and everything you've learned from Eric."
Cille nodded. "I'll do my best. For now I guess I'd better get started working with Elian and get our plans worked out."
"Sounds good," Cougar said, starting off down a hallway. "Oh, and don't forget the meeting in half an hour."
**********
The morning meeting of the Syndicate troops convened with a brief pep talk from Mustang, which only sort of managed to wake up the groggy and sore fighters. Fortunately Kamina took over and succeeded in rousing much more enthusiasm for the day of battle to come.
The next half-hour or so was spent in giving the troops their new assignments based on the reorganization that had been done the night before. The ground forces were divided into relatively small units, each one with a leader and a second-in-command. It was hoped that small units would remain cohesive while having enough flexibility to move around the battlefield as needed.
"All right, the name of the game today is focus," Mustang instructed them once his list of assignments had been read. "We're expecting Ozzal to hit us with a wave of ground troops today, so running around haphazardly just isn't going to cut it. They'll be organized and focused, so we have to be organized and focused too. You work as teams or you get cut down alone. That also means you watch your teammates' backs. We don't need any hotdogging out there."
Some of the GAR Streeters groaned, but they all got the point.
"We'll be working more closely with command central today too," Mustang continued. "We've got a new communication system that I'll explain in just a moment. Cille will be here at the base monitoring the fighting, and she'll be able to send and receive messages as needed. That should help us stay much more on task today."
Mustang turned to the row of people seated behind him.
"We need a status report on the mech situation. Is Lloyd here?" he asked.
"No, he could not be bozzered to leave hees lab," Hikki said with a slight edge of resentment. "But Larry ees here."
"All right then, Larry, where are we at with these mechs?" Mustang asked, gesturing for him to come forward.
Larry nervously took a deep breath and then stood up to address the group. "Well um... we're still working on stuff, but uh..." He consulted a clipboard he was carrying. "Kittan and Kamina's mechs are in okay shape, and we've already briefed them on what they need to be careful about. Clarice's lost an arm, but I think that'll at least be patched up so she can still use it today. It'll just have limited functionality with only one arm, obviously. Um... Cid and Proof's dual-pilot machine lost its legs, but Matrix says he has some... uh... ideas for it." He shuddered at that last thought. "And um..." he glanced apprehensively at Hikki, "the other dual-seater is pretty much out of commission. At least until we get some time after the others are ready to go."
"So three mechs to go out today, one more on standby, and one more on hold until further notice?" Mustang clarified.
"Yeah, that sounds about right," Larry answered.
"That'll be fine. Good work on those repairs," Mustang said, gesturing to him to sit down.
As he took his seat, Larry seemed happy to have gotten some actual praise.
Hikki, meanwhile, looked a little worried. He hadn't necessarily expected his mech to be repaired already, and he wasn't sure he could even pilot it without Samson, but now he wasn't sure what else he was supposed to do. He stood up and raised his non-broken arm before Mustang could launch into his next agenda item.
"Pardon, but what ees my assignment?" Hikki asked tentatively. "I deed not hear my name on your leest."
Mustang gave him a cursory glance. "You'll be in command central with Cille. You can use her to relay orders."
Hikki furrowed his brow. "But... shouldn't I be weez ze troops, fighting?"
Mustang raised an eyebrow. "With your arm in that sling? I don't think so."
"Eet's only a flesh wo-"
"Don't even say it," Mustang interrupted. "You're physically compromised, and your mech is trashed. You're not going out there, end of discussion."
Mustang turned back to his papers, leaving Hikki to pout. But rather than just quietly sit down, Hikki worked up his determination to say what needed to be said.
"Weez all due respect, General Mustang, I cannot accept being kept eenside while ozzers fight and die on ze battlefield," he said assertively. "I am zeir leader, and eet ees not feeting for a leader to order men to zeir deaths from ze safety of a fortress."
"Oh really?" Mustang said, amused. "Do you see Ozzal out there risking her life with her troops? She's probably safe and sound at home, or in some bomb shelter somewhere."
Hikki set his jaw. "Zen zat shall be one of many deeferences between us. I actually care about my people, and eet matters to me when zey suffer or die." He thought of Samson, and might have started tearing up if he hadn't been so resolute. "Eef zey cannot fight on, zen I weel fight for zem."
"Can you even fight without your mech? Have you trained at all in hand-to-hand combat?" Mustang asked skeptically.
"I'm a Frenchman, I have a rapier," Hikki replied.
Mustang sighed, but he could see that he wasn't going to be able to talk Hikki out of this.
"All right, have it your way," he relented. He consulted his personnel assignment list, and then turned to address the troops.
"Elizabeth! Spike! Ishida! Senji!" he called out.
The four of them stepped forward as their names were called.
"You guys have a new assignment. You're going to be Hikki's guard. Stay with him at all times. If you're doing your job, nobody should get close enough to Hikki for him to fight."
The four of them nodded, and Elizabeth called out "You got it!" while Senji and Spike grinned.
"Will that be acceptable, leader?" Mustang asked Hikki.
"Oui, sank you," Hikki said, grateful that Mustang had taken him seriously. He returned to his seat as Mustang went on with the agenda.
"All right, the next order of business is communication," Mustang said. "We've been joined by an Alter user named Elian who will be providing surveillance and radio interfacing with Cille in the base. She'll be able to see what's going on around the battlefield, and she'll use Elian's powers to get messages to whoever needs them."
He gestured to Solomon, who stepped forward holding an open box.
"Unit leaders, come forward!" Mustang ordered. As the appointed men and women lined up in front of him, he continued. "Because of the strain on Elian's Alter abilities, we won't be able to have constant two-way communication between ground forces and command central. We have a limited number of devices that can be used to alert Cille that you need to talk to her. She'll have Elian open a line with you so you can talk to each other. Unit commanders will keep them; if a unit commander falls, the second-in-command should retrieve the device."
"You can pin them to the front of your uniforms," Solomon added. "To activate them, just give them a tap. It'll send a signal to command central."
"Hey, can we use these to contact the Enterprise?" Larry quipped. The others just gave him quizzical and/or disapproving looks. "Nevermind..."
"This will conclude our briefing," Mustang announced. "Does anyone have any questions?"
There was silence for a few moments, and then Kenpachi spoke up from the midst of the crowd: "Yeah, when do we get to go kick some ass?"
The rest of the troops broke out in cheers and laughter, and Mustang smiled. "Right about now," he answered. "Just remember - stay focused, stay organized, and stay alive."
**********
After the meeting broke up Clarice went to the infirmary to see Samson one more time before she headed out. She arrived to find that Hikki was already there.
The two of them nodded to each other awkwardly, and then awkwardly stood next to each other looking at the still unconscious Samson. The heart monitor beeped slowly, proving that he was still clinging to life. Whatever either of them might have wanted to say to him had to remain unsaid as long as they were both there.
Finally Hikki gave up and turned to go.
"Hikki," Clarice stopped him. He turned back to her, expecting more awkwardness.
"Will you really be okay going out there today?" she asked, looking genuinely concerned. "I mean, you're still hurt, and... Samson..."
Hikki had had plenty of time to think about Samson overnight. The truth was, if he had his way, he'd spend the rest of the war by Samson's bedside until his friend was well again. But he also had to remember everyone else who needed him, and what it was that they were all fighting for to begin with. What Samson had nearly given his life for. If their cause was worth losing so many people, wasn't it worth doing everything he could for it, even if it meant risking his life too?
He tried to give Clarice a reassuring smile. "I'll be out zere fighting for Samson," he said. "Zat ees more zan reason enough, ees eet not?"
She smiled back, understanding his feelings. "When you put it that way... yeah, that is a good reason."
Hikki felt a little wistful, knowing that Clarice would be the one who would return to Samson's arms, but it didn't stop him from wanting to do what he could for his friend.
They wished each other luck, and then headed off to their respective assignments.
**********
Ozzal's troops were already waiting in their ready positions when the rebel units began emerging from various pockets of the woods.
"Finally," Ozzal said in her control room, leaning forward and rubbing her hands. "I was starting to wonder if those Syndicate noobs had turned chicken."
She soon observed that the Syndicate troops seemed to be moving with more purpose than they had the previous day, and were faring relatively well using guerrilla tactics against her regimented formations.
As she watched the action, she began feeling more and more like it was awfully... boring. Feeling a sudden wave of impatience, she opened a line to her commanding officer.
"Yes, Madam?" General Zoltron answered over the comm.
"Battle report, General?" Ozzal requested curtly.
"As you can no doubt see, our forces have been engaging the rebels for nearly two hours," Zoltron responded. "We're making steady progress weakening their numbers."
"It looks to me like a lot of back-and-forth with not a lot of actual advancement," Ozzal complained.
"It's early yet, Head Governor. Don't forget that we still retain the overwhelming advantage in numbers and military power."
"You do remember your two major objectives, don't you?" Ozzal asked.
"Of course. We are to capture or kill Hikki Follet and determine the location of the entrances into the Syndicate base."
"Annnnnd?"
Zoltron sighed at Ozzal's impatience. "We've dispatched scouts, and our men have been briefed on Follet's appearance and the importance of locating him on the battlefield. It's only a matter of time before their base and their leader are ours. But in the meantime, we do have a regular old battle to fight."
"Fiiiiiine," Ozzal grumbled. Deep down she knew that this mundane sort of fighting was necessary, and in fact it had been her plan all along to wear down the Syndicate's forces through a battle of attrition, but she still felt kind of crabby that she couldn't have what she wanted RIGHT NOW.
"Will that be all, Madam?" Zoltron asked, obviously wanting to get back to her actual job.
Ozzal pursed her lips for a moment, and then an idea came to her. "Actually... I have an idea that might speed things along a little. You said there was one more mech pilot available on reserve?"
"Um... yes, but as I explained, we have severe reservations about using him. He's very unstable, and -"
"I don't care about that, you said something else that was much more interesting. You said that pilot has it out for Hikki Follet, isn't that right?"
"Yes, Head Governor. He's gotten more and more insistent that we let him out onto the battlefield to find him."
Ozzal smiled. "All right, since none of your people seem to be able to put their hands on Anti-Citizen One, let's see what this crackpot can do."
"Then you want us to..."
"Turn him loose, General."
**********
In the Syndicate base, Cille and Elian had been busy at their station in the control room "bubble" all morning. They were assisted by Eric, who was seated behind them and offered observations and advice as Cille relayed notices and orders to the troops who needed them.
Once the adrenaline had kicked in, Cille hardly remembered how exhausted she was. The monitors that Elian had set up gave her something to focus on, and her senses were all on high alert as she watched for trouble spots and formulated strategies to deal with them. She discovered, to her relief, that she recognized a lot of the army's formations and troop movements from her study of the Order of Glass' collection of intel on Ozzal.
As Eric watched her, he couldn't help being impressed with how she was handling her stressful position. She'd certainly grown a lot in the short time that he'd been away, and he almost couldn't believe that this was the same naive girl he used to know.
From time to time other members of the group came wandering through the control room, and some hung out for a while and watched the monitors while they didn't have anything better to do.
Just as Cille was starting to relax and think that things might not be so bad today, Cid and Proof popped up on each side of her from the spots where they'd been sitting.
"Hey what's that?" Cid exclaimed, pointing at a far corner of a screen.
"Yeah it looks like what we were driving yesterday," Proof added. Immediately both of them said "awwwww" and looked sad at not being able to drive their mech anymore.
"Elian, can you zoom and enhance?" Cille asked. He complied, and they all moved closer for a better look.
"It's a mech, all right," Eric said.
"I thought we took out all of their mechs yesterday," Cille said, suddenly very worried. "Don't tell me they had another whole unit left?"
Eric put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't get ahead of yourself. It's just one mech so far. Doesn't mean they've got a whole unit."
"Ooh it's moving really fast," Cid said. "I want one like that next time."
Cille furrowed her brow. "It does seem to be moving kind of... erratically, doesn't it?"
She watched for another few moments, and then went back into mission mode. "Give me the location and status of whatever mechs we've got out there. Whoever's closest will have to take this guy out before he can do any damage."
"Clarice and Kamina have already had to bring their units in for repairs," Aoi commented. "It might be a little while before they can go back out."
"Heeee this guy is funny," Cid giggled, still watching the monitor.
"Yeah he's not even watching where he's going!" Proof laughed.
"Cille, are you seeing this?" Eric asked. "He's just rampaging around like he's in berserk mode or something. I'm pretty sure he just stomped on some of his own men."
Cille turned her attention back to the screen just as the mech started swinging its giant sword around, smashing an army tank to smithereens.
"Whoa, it's actually helping us?" Cille asked incredulously.
"Well... maybe not entirely..." Eric answered, as they saw a small group of Syndicate fighters running away from the flailing sword.
"So... what do you think we should do?" Cille asked.
Eric thought for a moment. "If this thing can do more damage to Ozzal's side than it does to us, then it's not a bad thing to have it out there. I think we should let it go for now and just keep an eye on it."
"Right," Cille said, understanding his reasoning. "And I'll alert all of our people in the area to stay clear and avoid its berserk mode."
"Sounds good," Eric encouraged.
Cille and Elian set about communicating their plans to their comrades on the battlefield, and then the whole group settled in to continue the day's grind.
**********
A few hours later, Hikki and his unit were moving around the battlefield quite efficiently, all things considered. Despite having only one functional arm, he was feeling more confident with his rapier, and his cohorts had been vigilantly picking off enemies with their various weapons. As long as this kept up, they might actually have a pretty good day out here.
Suddenly a small speaker materialized out of the ground next to him. "Hikki, come in," Cille's voice said.
"Oui, I am here," Hikki responded.
"It's about time for your unit to come back in for some rest and food," Cille said. "Fall back when you get a chance."
"Understood. We'll be zere een a few meenutes. We're kind of on a roll." Hikki grinned as Ishida showered an approaching enemy unit with spirit arrows.
"All right, but don't push yourself - wait..." Cille said, suddenly sounding alarmed.
"What ees eet?" Hikki asked apprehensively.
"Incoming, Hikki, incoming. It's moving fast. Everyone prepare for engagement -"
Whatever else she said was drowned out by the sound of rapidly-approaching mechanical stomping and a guttural scream that seemed to go on forever.
"OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNGE!!!!"
Everybody in the immediate area stopped their fighting and looked around, totally bewildered.
"There you are! I've found you at last, HIKKI FOLLET!" roared a mechanical voice, as if it were coming from a loudspeaker.
Hikki whirled around, finally locating the source of the noise. As it broke through the haze, Hikki found himself face-to-face - well, more like face-to-knees, until he looked up higher - with the very mech that had been rampaging around the battlefield all day.
The pilot inside was grinning with insane delight. "You don't know how long I've been waiting for this, Follet. I, Jeremiah Gottwald, will be the one to personally crush you. PREPARE FOR YOUR ULTIMATE DEFEAT!"
Hikki was almost paralyzed by fear and not knowing what the hell was going on, but fortunately his comrades were quicker on their feet. They leapt in front of Hikki, brandishing their weapons.
"Like hell we'll let you touch our leader. You'll have to get through us first," Elizabeth challenged.
"Oh please, I have no need to waste time with the likes of you. HE'S the one I want," Jeremiah scoffed, pointing his Knightmare's arm at Hikki.
"Um... hi... uh, Jeremiah, was eet?" Hikki asked tentatively. "Pardonnez-moi, but... have we met?"
"Not in person, but I know all about you. I know everything I need to know that YOU ARE MY ENEMY!"
The Knightmare took a threatening step forward, and Hikki felt an overwhelming urge to try to talk out their differences before he found himself in hand-to-hand combat with a giant robot.
"Okay, okay, but eef we can just talk seengs out for a leetle while, I seenk you'll find zat I'm really a very nice person..."
"Ha, not likely. You are Anti-Citizen One. Of course you'd be the sort of person to WEAR AN ORANGE TIIIIIIE!!"
Jeremiah brought down his mech's giant sword. The rebels were just barely able to jump out of the way before it slammed into the ground where they had been standing.
"What the hell, he wants to kill you because he thinks you're wearing an orange tie?" Senji asked.
"Jebus, Hikki, take off the damn tie already!" Elizabeth exclaimed.
"I AM NOT WEARING AN ORANGE TIE! I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT HE EES TALKING ABOUT!" Hikki shouted. Honestly it would have made more sense if the guy just wanted to take out the Syndicate's leader, but either way it looked like he meant business.
"YOU WON'T GET AWAAAY!" the mechavoice roared. As it raised its sword again, Hikki's comrades scattered and surrounded the mech.
"Senji, you cover Hikki. We'll have to pick this guy apart from a distance," Elizabeth commanded.
"Right," Senji said, positioning himself in front of Hikki and extending his Crow Claws.
Hikki feebly held out his rapier, although it was mostly to make himself feel tough. There was no way he or any of them would be able to touch the mech without a ranged weapon.
Unfortunately, it didn't look like the crazed pilot was going to be distracted by the decoys around him. Once he had Hikki back in his sights, he headed straight for him. Even more unfortunately, the impact of the bullets and arrows being shot by the rebels hardly seemed to bother him.
"You gnats are just wasting your time!" he taunted.
"Looks like we're gonna need to fall back," Senji said gruffly as the mech bore down on them. Hikki didn't need to be told twice, and started running as Senji tried stretching out one of his blood blades to impale the giant robot. But the mech just grabbed the outstretched blade and snapped it off.
"Ha! Nice try!" Jeremiah mocked.
As the mech charged away from her, Elizabeth swore and shoved her guns back into her hip holsters. "All right, hotshot, let's see if you can feel this!" she shouted, pulling out a bazooka from god knows where.
"You've been carrying a bazooka this whole time?" Spike asked incredulously.
"What, you don't?" Elizabeth said, only partly joking.
Spike just watched her with disbelief and a little bit of admiration as she ran off after the mech, and then he and Ishida followed behind her.
Once she got within range, she squared herself and hoisted the bazooka to her shoulder. "Cover your ears," she instructed the others, and then let the rocket fly. It hit Jeremiah's mech squarely in the back. The mech stumbled, nearly falling over, and then stood up straight again and turned around.
"Oh, so this little gnat has a sting, does it? Well I suppose I can take the time to squash you. I don't think my real prey is going to go too far while I do."
Hikki was grateful for the distraction, since the mech had been almost close enough to run him and Senji over. Unfortunately, it looked like the rocket's explosion hadn't hurt the mech too badly, and it was still fully operational.
"See if you can get us some backup," Senji told him, and ran toward the mech to try to help the others.
Hikki nodded and then felt around on his chest until he found the communicator button. He patted it frantically, and a speaker materialized in front of him.
"Hikki, how are you holding up?" Cille's voice said.
"Not good, we're seriously outmatched here. We need some backup now," Hikki shouted anxiously over the sound of crashing and explosions. He had to put his head directly over the speaker to even hear Cille. "Can you send us anozzer mech?"
"Kittan's mech is the only one operational right now, but he's engaged on the other side of the battlefield," Cille said. "We're working on it, though. Just try to hold out a little longer."
"We'll... try..." Hikki said uncertainly. The speaker disintegrated, and Hikki looked up to see how his teammates were faring against the mech. To his shock and horror, he saw Spike and Elizabeth lying in a crumpled heap together, and Senji knocked out against a tree. Ishida was still on his feet, furiously shooting spirit arrows as he hopped around dodging the mech's attacks.
"Hikki! Get the hell out of here!" Ishida shouted over his shoulder. But this brief distraction was all the agile mech pilot needed, and he swung the mech's arm to swat the Quincy out of midair. Ishida went flying off to the side and landed in a mass of brambles.
"Mon dieu..." Hikki murmured, not believing that these strong fighters could be knocked out so easily.
The mech drew itself back up to its full height, as if taking a victorious breather after defeating its enemies. Then it abruptly turned and looked straight at Hikki, taking a moment to look intimidating before starting to march slowly toward him.
A faint cackling emerged from the mech's loudspeakers as it slowly approached him, gradually growing into ever more crazed laughter.
Hikki just stood there watching with wide eyes, trying desperately to think of what he should do.
"I mustn't run away..."
As the mech pounded closer and closer, his legs felt like jelly. But then, they started feeling like they wanted to move.
"EFF ZEES, I'M RUNNING AWAY!"
Hikki whirled around and started running, fueled by sheer terror. He didn't even bother trying to hold onto his rapier, and the weapon went clattering into the bushes somewhere.
The mech pilot just laughed harder, not even picking up his pace to catch up to Hikki.
"How delicious!" he crooned. "The great leader of the Blacken Syndicate, peeing his pants and fleeing like a little girl! Do you really think you can escape me? Or are you that determined to stretch out your pathetic life a few seconds longer? WHERE IS YOUR ORANGE TIE NOW, HMMMM?"
Hikki almost wished he were wearing an orange tie, just so he could tear it off and fling it on the ground as a peace offering. But there seemed to be nothing he could do to stop the terrible march of that metal death machine.
Just as he felt that his legs were about to give out, something that looked like a giant watermelon appeared out of nowhere in front of him. Not knowing if this was a friend or foe, Hikki stopped short and subconsciously reached for his missing rapier. Almost instantly the watermelon seemed to evaporate away, and in its place stood a goofy-looking fat guy with a long braid.
"Hey there, I heard you needed some backup?" the man said jovially.
"Uh... oui, but... who are you?" Hikki asked, not recognizing his rescuer.
Before Hikki could get his answer, the man saw something over Hikki's shoulder that alarmed him. He pushed Hikki aside and held out a fist toward the approaching mech. A watermelon formed around his fist, growing in size until he flung it toward the mech. It exploded on impact, sending the giant robot reeling.
"Name's Urizane," the man said, looking back over his shoulder at Hikki with a crooked grin. "Cougar dragged me out here because he said you folks needed help. I guess it's a good thing I showed up."
"Oui..." Hikki said with a grateful smile.
But they weren't safe yet. The mech, momentarily disoriented by the blast, had once again righted itself and seemed more determined than ever to run them down.
"DAMMIT, WHY DO YOU INSECTS KEEP GETTING IN MY WAAAAAY??!?!" the mech pilot roared. He started full-on charging toward Hikki and Urizane, not about to lose his opportunity to take down his hated rival.
"You'd better get moving," Urizane said, starting to grow another watermelon around his fist. "I'll need to slow him down a little more before I can grow a teleport melon. Get some distance between you and him and I'll catch up with you."
Fortunately the little bit of rest had been good for Hikki's legs. He nodded and started running again as Urizane braced himself and fired off his exploding watermelon. The explosions started coming faster behind Hikki, and he couldn't help turning around to see how Urizane was doing. Despite the bulky Alter user's size, he was deftly using his melonbombs to propel himself around in addition to inflicting damage on the mech.
Jeremiah was growing increasingly irritated, and was wildly swinging the mech's arms and sword around trying to smack Urizane down. But as Urizane dodged his attacks, the mech instead ran into the melonbombs he left behind. Slowly but surely, the mech was being blasted apart bit by bit.
Finally the giant robot lurched forward and crashed to its knees, supporting its upper body on what was left of one of its arms. Finally getting the break he needed, Urizane turned around to follow after Hikki - only to see that the Frenchman had barely gotten anywhere. Hikki realized with a start that he had been so busy watching the intense fight that he had forgotten to keep running.
"Hey, didn't I tell you to get a move on?" Urizane chided as he ran to Hikki. He was definitely out of breath by the time he reached his comrade, showing the physical toll the fight had taken on him.
"I'm sorry, but... zat was amazing," Hikki said.
Urizane grinned. "Yeah, you shouldn't underestimate the power of a watermelon."
He glanced back at the mech, which was struggling to stand up. "Now let's get you out of here, Fearless Leader."
The Alter user took a few deep breaths to steady himself, and then held out both hands. As he concentrated, Hikki could see small rainbow-colored particles rising from the ground and streaming into a large sphere.
"We'll have you home in no time," Urizane said with a reassuring smile. But just as the sphere started to solidify into its watermelon form, they heard a resounding mechanical crash. The mech had somehow lurched to its feet again, and was careening around trying to regain its balance. One arm hung limply at its side and the other had been blown off past the elbow.
"You're a pesky fellow, aren't you?" Urizane said, turning to face the mech again.
"I could say the same about you, Fatso," Jeremiah taunted.
"Quick, get in!" Urizane shouted to Hikki. "I just need a few seconds, and-"
"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Jeremiah raged, charging toward them with everything he had left. But it was too late - Hikki hopped into the protective sphere, and a moment later it was gone.
"DAMN YOU!!" Jeremiah was more furious than he'd ever been in his life. "I will have my revenge! Whatever you or the rest of your little orange-loving loser club try to do, FOLLET WILL BE MINE!!!"
"Well then, I guess I'll just have to stop you right here," Urizane shot back. "You've already made me do way more work than I'm accustomed to. I don't need you causing any more trouble around here."
"If you didn't want trouble, you should have stayed home in your easy chair," Jeremiah sneered.
"Yeah, you're probably right," Urizane said. "But now that I'm out here, I'm starting to remember how much fun we used to have back in HOLY. I think it's about time I really flex my muscles."
Jeremiah grinned in spite of his anger. "Bring it on, fat boy."
**********
Cille, Elian, and the group of onlookers in the control room all breathed a collective sigh of relief after seeing Hikki disappear into the transport melon. It had been a harrowing several minutes watching him and his comrades face down the mech. But they couldn't totally relax yet.
"What about Urizane? Shouldn't he get out of there too?" Cille asked.
"I think..." Elian said, looking intently at the monitor, "...that he's going to stay. I think... he's having fun."
The Alter user and the mech renewed their attacks on each other, but it was obvious that they were both struggling physically even as their will to fight was stronger than ever.
"Wait, where's Hikki?" Cille asked, alarmed. "Shouldn't he be appearing here or something?"
"It takes a little bit of time," Elian answered. "Especially if he's not teleporting things to himself. And he's focusing most of his power on his fight, so your friend might kinda be in limbo for a little while."
"'Kinda in limbo'? 'A little while'? When are we going to get our leader back?" Cowboy demanded.
"Just relax, Urizane will take care of things," Elian said confidently. "I know he may not look like it, but he's pretty tough."
The group turned their attention back to the monitor. The fight continued, with lots of explosions and yelling and bright frooty colors.
Urizane was pummeling the giant robot with a steady stream of small explosions. He was obviously focusing on the mech's legs, trying to debilitate it as quickly as possible. Jeremiah tried to anticipate his movements to counterattack, but with the mech's arms hopelessly damaged and his controls going haywire, he was having a hard time keeping up despite Urizane's fatigue.
Finally, after a few close calls, the mech's legs gave out. It staggered around as Jeremiah tried vainly to regain control, and then fell to its knees as Urizane jumped back out of the way.
"Well then! Not such... a tough guy now... are ya?" Urizane huffed and puffed. "I guess... you won't be... going anywhere... after all."
An unintelligible growling was all that came out of the mech.
Starting to catch his breath, Urizane let himself relax a little bit. "Now then, do you want to come out of there and surrender peacefully, or do I have to blow more bits off of your cockpit and pull you out?"
The growling ceased, and the mech was unnervingly silent for a few moments. Then a low chuckle began emanating from its speakers, gradually growing in dark intensity. "Actually... I have something else in mind," Jeremiah said mischievously.
Urizane tensed himself for another round of fighting, but he could hardly prepare for what happened next. Suddenly a tentacle shot out from the mech's lower torso directly toward him. He instinctively tried to jump out of the way, but he was too slow. The tentacle grabbed him, pinning his arms to his sides and throwing him onto his back.
"Urizane!" Cille cried, as the others generally freaked out.
The tentacle dragged Urizane's large body toward it, until he found himself looking straight up at the mech's looming visage.
"Baha! Didn't see that one coming, did you?" the mech pilot exulted. "I never liked this vulgar appendage, but I guess it came in handy after all!"
"That was a cheap trick, you bastard," Urizane growled, clearly in a great deal of pain.
"You can cry all you like, but this is the end for you, Tubby! All you've done is waste my time!'
"Damn it, I guess I should have kept up with my exercises," Urizane said, breathing hard. "I really have gotten soft."
"I suppose I should say something noble about you being a worthy opponent, but you've pissed me off too much for that," Jeremiah said. "So I'll just finish you off and get back to finding that blasted Frenchman again."
"We'll see about that," Urizane said, a sort of grim determination in his eyes. Beneath him, a sphere of green started growing.
"Oh hell no, you're not teleporting away this time," Jeremiah said, rearing back to strike the death blow with the stub of his arm.
Urizane unflinchingly looked up at the mech with a badass grin. "It's not a teleport melon."
And as the jagged metal rushed toward his head, Urizane detonated his final melonbomb.
The group in the control room stood stunned, watching the monitor in silence until the smoke started to clear. All that was left was a crater in the mud, surrounded by chunks of metal wreckage.
As the inevitable realization sank in, there were murmurs of "my god..." and "wtfbbq..." along with a few sniffles. Elian in particular seemed to be a little shell-shocked, and Cille put a sympathetic hand on his shoulder.
After a few moments Elian was the first one to speak.
"He must have had a good reason for it... if he thought he had to go out that way," he said thoughtfully. "He must have believed... that what you guys are fighting for is really important." He paused, and seemed to be strengthening his resolve. "Which means... it's important for us to keep fighting until we win, right?" He looked up at Cille, as if his young eyes were pleading for confirmation that this was how he should cope with their friend's death.
Cille nodded with understanding in her eyes. "I think that's right. We have to keep going as long as we can, for all the people we've lost. So that... it means something in the end."
Elian nodded, and turned back to the monitors. A somber sense of purpose fell over the group. Then Aoi spoke up:
"Hey guys... if the melon guy is gone... where's Hikki?"
**********
Hikki had been floating in a strange warm darkness for what seemed like quite some time. He wasn't sure he liked it, but at least it was better than being chased by a psycho in a giant robot. As time stretched on, though, he had to wonder how long this would last and where he would be when it let him out.
Suddenly it seemed that the bubble around him burst, and he went plummeting several feet to the ground. He landed hard on his back in a mushy pile of mud and slush and brambles, which only sort of helped cushion his landing.
The fall left him disoriented, and it took a minute for him to come around. He discovered that every part of him hurt. He could barely move, and in that state he wasn't even sure he wanted to. He wondered if this was how Samson felt after the terrible blow that left him on death's doorstep.
Ah mon cher Sammie, eef only you were here to geev me le baiser de la vie... he thought as he began to slip into unconsciousness.
As his mind drifted away, it was almost as if he could feel that very same kiss on his lips. It was warm... and slobbery... and involved a lot of tongue... and it didn't seem to really be aiming for his lips... and as he came around enough to think more about it, it kinda smelled like ass...
"Ugh... Sammiechu, what have you been eateeng?" he muttered, turning his head away and raising his arm to wipe his face.
But what his hand came down on wasn't quite shaped like Samson. Hikki groggily turned his head back again and raised it a little, to see a Corgi dog with its front paws propped on his chest, looking back at him and panting contentedly with its tongue hanging out.
For a moment Hikki just stared back at it, and then he started to sit up, pushing the dog away and wiping his face with renewed vigor.
"Blech, you eensufferable mongrel, get away! I am not yet a corpse for you to feast upon!" he growled, although his voice was mostly muffled by his sleeve.
Just then he heard something and froze. It was the sound of men talking, and they were coming closer. Hikki realized with a sudden wave of panic that he could have very easily just given himself away to a couple of Ozzal's soldiers. He hunched himself over the best he could and tried to be inconspicuous. Beside him the dog had perked its ears and was also listening intently. It had even stopped its panting, which Hikki would have appreciated if he hadn't been too focused on the approaching soldiers to notice.
"...over in this direction. Sounded like something moving around," one of them said in a low voice. Hikki could hear the men moving through the underbrush as they came closer. He was sure he was a goner, and he was just about to start searching desperately around him for a gun or something when suddenly, next to him, the dog started barking.
It took all of Hikki's self-control to choke back what he wanted to yell at the dog, and instead he just kind of gurgled through his clenched teeth and tried to shake his head NO at it without actually moving. But the stupid thing just kept right on barking, and then it trotted right out through the bushes directly into the path of the soldiers.
Hikki sat petrified with fear, just barely able to see them through the brambles.
"Aww geez, it's just a mutt," one of the soldiers said, looking down at the dog.
The dog just stood there panting nonchalantly, looking up at the men exactly the same way it had looked at Hikki.
"It probably wants a handout," the other soldier said.
The dog barked once, as if agreeing that yes, that is what it wanted.
"Get lost, you little beggar. Go find a rebel corpse to chew on if you're hungry," the first soldier snarled, kicking the dog aside. It went flying with a yelp, and the other soldier laughed.
"All right, that's one mystery solved," he said. "Now let's get back to the unit, I'm hungry too."
The two men ambled off the way they came, still making snarky comments about the worthless dog.
Hikki was dumbfounded for a while after they left. Still not wanting to move until he was sure the coast was clear, he found himself staring at the likewise motionless body of the poor dog. It was still lying on its side in the spot where it had landed. Then, just as Hikki was wondering if he should go over and see if it was still alive, the dog rolled slowly onto its stomach, gingerly stood up, and then shook itself off from head to tail. Then, apparently fully recovered, it turned around and ambled back through the bushes toward Hikki. As if nothing had happened, it looked up at him, panting and wagging its tail.
Hikki couldn't believe what he had just seen. Did that dog just... help him? On purpose? Or was his jumbled mind still making things up?
In spite of himself, tears began welling up in his eyes at the thought that this humble dog might have made a noble sacrifice on his behalf. Either that, or it was the stupidest creature on the planet. It only lasted a moment, though, before the hopelessness of his situation came back to him.
Eh... not zat eet really matters... I'm just going to die here anyway... he thought miserably, flopping back onto the ground. He closed his eyes, ready to give up again, and then felt a cold wet dog nose nudging the side of his face.
"Aaagggghhhh... why can you not leave me to die een peace?" Hikki complained, once again pushing the dog away with his good arm.
This time the dog backed off, and just sat next to him panting into his ear.
As Hikki lay there, mostly feeling sorry for himself, the words he had just spoken sank into his consciousness. Dying in peace... it almost seemed like not such a bad deal, to drift off and leave all of this craziness and heartache behind. No more battles, no more losing friends, no more responsibility. Just... leave it all behind, and let everybody else deal with it.
Everybody else...
He thought of Samson, clinging to life in his infirmary bed. And Clarice, and Cille, and all of their other friends. People who had become a sort of family during their difficult times together. Hadn't he said just that morning that he wanted to fight for those people? Would he really want them to have to take on all of his responsibility and keep fighting without him, mourning him as one of the lost?
His lip trembled. Of course not, he couldn't burden them with all of the responsibility and sadness, when he still had even a little willpower and strength left. Even if it really really sucked, he had to at least try to find a way to get back to them.
He took a deep breath. Whether it was because his mind was starting to clear or because he wanted to put off moving for as long as possible, he decided he should come up with some kind of plan for getting back to the base before he did anything else. For one thing he had no idea where he was or where to find the base. He'd also have to avoid any enemies that might be in the area. His rapier was long gone, and he hadn't taken a gun with him that morning, so he was pretty much defenseless.
But wait, he had taken a communication device, which he could use to call Cille and get some help. All he had to do was tap the button on his chest... right there on his chest...
Except that as much as he tapped on every inch of his chest, there was no button. It must have fallen off at some point during the fighting or his fall.
Suddenly desperate to find the device, he mustered up all of his newfound determination and pulled himself into a sitting position. His body still felt like it had been hit with a truck, but at least he could struggle through it.
He looked all around where he was sitting, feeling around in the mud and parting the weeds around him, but there was no sign of the device.
"Okay zen... I guess I'm on my own," he said, looking down at the dog. It had perked its ears when he started moving, and it seemed to be encouraging him with its dumb happy expression.
He sort of rolled to one side and eased himself onto a knee. He felt a little dizzy, so he had to take a few more deep breaths and collect himself again. Once he felt ready, he steadied himself and lunged to his feet.
And then a paralyzing wave of agonizing pain shot through his whole body and he collapsed.
The dog whimpered and tried nudging him again, but to no avail. This time Hikki was out cold, unable to withstand the sheer excruciation that had overtaken his body.
**********
After he finished operating on Angel, Matrix had spent most of the night in the mech workshop helping with emergency repairs. But with only an hour or two of sleep, the next morning he was summoned once again to help tend to the new wave of injuries. It was exhausting work, but at least he felt needed in a way that he hadn't in a long time.
There didn't seem to be as many casualties coming in the second day, but the medical staff was still kept plenty busy. Bruce Herman and Jean Pierrot, who had stuck around the bunker despite not being active Syndicate members, volunteered to bring in wounded fighters. They drove around in a camo-painted golf cart looking for injured troops and getting directions from Cille.
Her latest instructions for them were to bring in what was left of Hikki's guard unit. Ishida had been able to get up after being knocked out briefly, but Senji unfortunately hadn't survived his encounter with the mech. Both Elizabeth and Spike were in critical condition, so Bruce and Jean hurried out to retrieve them and get them back to the base for treatment.
Matrix and Scheris met them at the main entrance to the bunker. The men unloaded the two stretchers from the cart, and Scheris knelt down next to them to check their vital signs. Jean and Bruce watched her, concerned about their friends, but Matrix was distracted by something in the woods near them. He could swear there was somebody there watching them - and he was right.
The man saw Matrix looking at him, and tried ducking down out of sight. When that didn't work, he turned and took off running away from the bunker.
"Dammit, that's one of Ozzal's soldiers! You idiots led him straight to our front door!" Matrix yelled. "He's probably going back to report on us right now!"
Bruce and Jean looked startled, and then they both started running after the soldier. "Don't worry, he won't get very far!" Bruce said.
But the man must have been pretty quick on his feet, and already had a good head start on them. Matrix could tell that his burly associates wouldn't catch up to him before he got lost in the trees.
"Wait, stop! Get down!" Matrix called to them. Looking confused, the two men obeyed and hit the deck.
And then Matrix's crotch exploded.
At least that's what it looked like to Scheris. She only saw it out of the corner of her eye as she knelt next to the patients. But there was a definite burst of light, and then when she looked at him the entire front of his pants had been blown off, exposing something sticking straight out and glinting in the sunlight...
She turned scarlet and clapped her hands over her mouth to stifle a gasp when she realized what she was looking at. Matrix, who had been looking for the escaping soldier in the distance, noticed her reaction, and hastily tucked the thing into what was left of his pants.
"Oh, uh... heh... nothing to see here, miss..." he said, trying to sound nonchalant.
Bruce and Jean had stood up in the meantime. "What the hell was that?" demanded Jean.
"Nevermind that, go see what happened to that soldier," Matrix replied. "If we're lucky you'll find him with a hole through his backside."
Bruce and Jean exchanged glances and went running off again. Soon they returned, reporting that the soldier had indeed been shot dead in his tracks, and it looked like he'd been hit from behind by a laser beam or something.
"Good, hopefully he didn't have a chance to report in to his cronies," Matrix said. "Get these people into the infirmary, and then see about getting some extra patrols out here to guard the entrance. And for god's sake pay attention to who's following you back here next time."
Bruce and Jean grumbled a little bit, probably not happy about having to take orders from a scrawny scientist, but they picked up the stretchers and followed Scheris into the base.
Matrix took another look around before following them inside - partly to make sure there weren't any other enemies about to ambush them, but also to bask a little in his first battlefield victory. Being all authoritative and feeling in control of his surroundings for once felt pretty great, and finally getting to use his laser-shooting cyberdick to totally blow a dude away was fantastic. He felt so badass that he even briefly considered telling Mustang to turn him loose on the front lines.
Then something exploded not too far away, and he decided that maybe his place was inside after all.
**********
As the day's battles appeared to be winding down, Ozzal was feeling quite grumpy after having no leads on infiltrating the Syndicate base and hearing that her crazy mech trump card had outright failed to take out Anti-Citizen One. Even betching out General Zoltron hadn't improved her mood much.
A curt knock on the door just annoyed her even more. "What the hell do you want?" she yelled at the door.
Makina came into the control room pushing a very freaked-out soldier, whom she was holding onto by the hair on the top of his head. She forced him to his knees in front of Ozzal.
"Madam, I've come to submit my personnel report," she said tersely, ignoring the man's weak attempts to resist.
"Oh? All right then, let's hear it," Ozzal said, intrigued.
"This man's brother used to frequent a place called the GAR Street Bar. A number of its regular customers joined up with the Syndicate just before they moved into their bunker. It is a known hotbed of dissent."
"Please, I have nothing to do with them!" the soldier exclaimed desperately. "I haven't even talked to my brother since those guys joined the rebellion. I don't even know if he's with them!"
"Any connection to the rebels can't be discounted, madam," Makina said.
Ozzal looked from the man's face, stricken with terror, to the face of her Security Chief, as steely as ever but slightly more vindictive than usual.
"All right, Security Chief, I'll trust your judgment on this one," Ozzal said. "Now show me how you deal with security threats."
As if she had only been waiting for the command, Makina unsheathed her sword in one quick motion. She gripped the man's hair tighter and placed the blade at his throat. Then, before making the fatal cut, she looked back up at Ozzal.
"Apologies, madam, how concerned are you about getting blood all over your control room?"
Ozzal was so caught up in the moment that she almost wasn't sure how to answer. "Oh, whatevz, I'm sure we've got some Lysol somewhere," she said impatiently.
"Very good, madam." Without another moment's hesitation, Makina pulled the man's head back and cleanly sliced through his throat. As expected, blood spurted everywhere, including onto Ozzal and the display behind her. Ozzal was so impressed that she hardly noticed and cared even less.
Makina wiped her blade on the unfortunate man's sleeve before tossing his body aside. "I'll get somebody in here with the Lysol right away, madam. I'd suggest you clean yourself up as well."
Ozzal looked at her Security Chief with a newfound appreciation. "Yes, well, good work, soldier. I suppose that I can expect you to have my back as long as you're here."
"Of course, madam," Makina responded. "My sword is at your service for as long as you'll have me."
Ozzal nodded. "Excellent. Then I'll leave the cleanup to you." She stepped over the dead man's body, giving it one more appraising look, and left the room with a satisfied smile.
**********
As the sunlight began dwindling, Hikki was still out cold - and growing colder - in the spot where he had fallen. The dog was sitting on his chest with its head propped on its paws, looking forlornly at him and waiting for some sign of life. But after more than two hours, he hadn't yet stirred, and his slow and regular breathing was the only sign that he was still alive.
The dog looked up suddenly as a dark figure approached them, coming through the trees behind Hikki. It jumped up and ran to place itself between the intruder and Hikki and started growling.
The stranger silently came closer, holding his hands up as if to show that he wasn't a threat. The dog kept growling until the man stopped moving, and then it approached cautiously and started sniffing at him.
Suddenly its mood completely changed, and it started panting and wagging its tail as if nothing was wrong.
The stranger, appreciating the dog's apparent endorsement, lowered his hands and turned his attention to the unconscious figure on the ground. He slowly came toward Hikki and knelt next to him, closely watched by the dog. He felt for a pulse, and then cautiously examined his torso and limbs.
He looked at the dog, who looked back at him expectantly. As if answering some unspoken question, the dog yipped once and then happily started running in circles.
The man raised his eyebrows and sighed. Then he carefully lifted Hikki's body in his arms and started walking.
**********
"But where is Hikki? Where the hell is Hikki?" Clarice demanded, crossly pacing around the control room.
"Like I said, his teleport melon must have burst before it could get back to the base. At least that was Elian's explanation," Cille answered.
Command central had been closed off to all but a few of the Syndicate's leaders. They were trying to take stock of the day's action, but the more immediate concern was the whereabouts of their commander in chief.
"And did he explain where the thing must have burst? Can't he use his special hax powers to find him out there? How the hell do you just lose somebody you've been watching the whole day?" Clarice shouted angrily.
"Calm down, Clarice," Solomon advised.
The others were all surprised that Clarice of all people would be the one freaking out the most about Hikki, but she'd had a stressful day on the battlefield too and was probably feeling pretty edgy - especially after her mech had been declared wrecked after being hit with shells by a tank.
"Elian's exhausted after using his Alter all day," Cille said. "I told him to get some rest. He'll hurt himself if we push him too hard."
"Well then what are we supposed to do?" Clarice asked impatiently.
"We've got several search teams out looking for Hikki," Cille pointed out. "Don't worry, they'll find him."
"And what if they don't find him?" Clarice exclaimed. "What if he's just gone? What if he got sucked into some kind of black hole? What if he's dead? What are we supposed to do then?"
Mustang put a calming hand on her shoulder. "Then we'll continue on the best we can, same as we've been doing all along."
"You know, Clarice, you really should try to keep a cool head," Holland said. "If Hikki and Samson are out of commission, you're pretty much next in line to be our leader."
"You think I haven't thought of that?" Clarice said, with a certain edge in her voice. "I wish I could sit there and say 'yeah sure, it'll be the same as always' but I don't get that luxury now, do I?"
The others looked at each other, wanting to be sympathetic but knowing they also needed to stay focused on solving their current crisis.
An electronic crackle and a disembodied voice interrupted them. "Hey! Hey Cille, are you there? Or... Eric? Or anybody?"
Cille reached for the walkie-talkie she had left on a table. "This is Cille, I'm here. Raef, is that you?"
"Yeah, listen. We captured somebody outside. He was right at our front door."
"Was he one of Ozzal's soldiers?" Clarice demanded, moving toward Cille and the walkie-talkie.
"And you're not gonna believe this," Raef continued, not having heard Clarice. "He had Hikki."
"Hikki?!" Clarice shouted, grabbing the walkie-talkie from Cille. "Is he okay? Is he alive?"
"Yeah, he's... I mean he was conked out, but I guess he's pretty much okay. They're taking him to sick bay now."
"I'll be right there!" Clarice said, pushing the walkie-talkie back into Cille's hands. "You people take care of things!" she called over her shoulder as she rushed out of the room.
The others just looked at each other.
"So, um... What do you want us to do with this guy?" Raef asked.
"Well who is he?" Cille asked. "Is he one of Ozzal's men?"
"I don't think so, at least he's not in uniform. He looks kinda like a hobo honestly. He won't tell us his name. But he's not causing any trouble for us or anything. He pretty much just surrendered when we brought him in."
"How did he know where to bring Hikki?" Mustang asked, moving closer to Cille to speak into the walkie-talkie. "Could he be one of our agents and you just don't recognize him?"
"I dunno..." Raef said uncertainly. "We asked him how he knew we were here and he just said 'I followed your dog.'"
Cille and the others exchanged confused glances.
"Search him for weapons and any electronic devices, and then find someplace to confine him," Mustang said. "Our first priority is taking care of Hikki and making sure this guy isn't an immediate threat."
"We already patted him down, he had a gun but he didn't complain when we took it. He looks clean otherwise. Well I mean... aside from really needing a shower."
"All right, just put him in a room somewhere under guard and we'll get to him when we can," Mustang instructed.
"You got it," Raef answered.
Cille put down the walkie-talkie and turned back to the others.
"Our first POW, eh?" Holland said. "We haven't really planned for prisoners here."
"Yeah, I haven't been looking forward to dealing with this," Mustang said. "At least it's only one guy and not a whole platoon."
"What do you think we should do with him?" Cille asked. "Do we have prison facilities here?"
"Well first I'll need to talk to him and find out what his story is. Then we can go from there," Mustang answered.
"I'll radio Cougar and the other search teams and bring them in," Cille said. "And make sure all of our other people are in for the night."
"I'll get our overnight retrieval units prepped," Holland offered.
"All right," Mustang said. "Let's go."
**********
A short time later Hikki was in a warm bed in the infirmary, and the stranger who had brought him in was sitting in an empty room being guarded by Kamina and Kittan. The two of them had put on their Garhalla Vice shades and were trying mostly unsuccessfully to interrogate the taciturn man.
Raef's description of the man as a hobo was pretty accurate. In the light he looked especially haggard, as if it had been a long time since he'd seen the comforts of home. He wore a gray zippered hoodie, and unkempt strands of longish black hair stuck out from the raised hood. He remained entirely passive during the emphatic questioning, but his eyes had a keen wariness to them, as if he were constantly looking for an escape route.
By the time Mustang got there, Kamina and Kittan had given up on their interrogation and were standing outside the room making badass poses. They briefed Mustang, who then went in to try his luck with the prisoner.
**********
Meanwhile, Clarice was finally getting a breather after overseeing Hikki's transfer into the infirmary. Kira had determined that aside from his previously-broken arm, his injuries amounted to extensive bruising and a wrenched ankle. More alarming was the mild case of hypothermia that could have been much more serious if Hikki had remained outside much longer after dark.
The dog had also accompanied them, refusing to leave Hikki's side and barking incessantly whenever anyone tried to carry it away. Once inside the infirmary, it was entirely well-behaved and made itself comfortable in a corner of Hikki's room.
Clarice was feeling better after being reassured by Kira that Hikki would be okay with plenty of rest and warmth, but as the medical staff moved on to the next patient, she stayed behind to watch him a little longer. The conflicting feelings of the day were all swirling around within her, and she wasn't quite sure what to make of them yet. But one thing was certain: she'd never been so relieved to see that annoying Frenchman again.
Cille opened the door to let her know that Mustang wanted to see her, and the two of them went to meet him outside the prisoner's room.
**********
Mustang was pacing in the hallway when they arrived, but his mood brightened when he saw the women arriving.
"Good, now we can get down to business," he said.
"What's going on?" Clarice asked.
"We need you to go in and deal with this guy. He says he'll only talk to the person in charge."
"Well Hikki's unconscious," Clarice said. "He should know that, he's the one who carried him in."
The others looked at her expectantly.
"Oh... right," she said sheepishly, realizing that she wasn't off the hook just because Hikki was back inside the base.
"Well who even is he? I feel like I should know who I'm dealing with before I go in there," she said, feeling kind of uneasy again.
"He just says he's someone who can help us," Mustang said. "He refuses to say any more than that until he can talk to the person in charge."
"We're just supposed to let him help us when we don't even know who he is?" Kittan asked disapprovingly. He was still a little grumpy about the man being so uncooperative.
"I know who he is," said Cougar quietly. He had returned quickly from his called-off search mission, and was looking through the small window in the door.
"You can tell from there?" Mustang asked.
"He looks very different from when I saw him last, but I recognize him," Cougar said, coming to join the others.
"Who is he, then?" Mustang asked.
"His name is Kenzou Tenma. He was the top brain surgeon at Turner Memorial Hospital."
"I remember hearing about him. He was fired for insubordination or something, wasn't he? After he let a patient die?" Cille said.
"That was the official story," Cougar replied. "What really happened was that he chose to operate on a senator who had spoken out against some of Ozzal's policies, instead of another patient who was a big donor to her fund. Tenma's patient lived and Ozzal's man died, so they had him blacklisted. He probably would have been arrested but he managed to get away before they caught him. He's been on the run ever since. I've heard rumors from time to time about him doing underground surgeries and the like."
"And somehow he ended up here?" Clarice asked.
"Yeah. We're still not sure how he made it through the battlefield alive, but he says he wants to help us," Mustang said.
"How do we know we can trust him? If he got through that easily maybe he's a mole," Cille said.
"From what I know, he's a good man," Cougar said. "He's certainly no friend of Ozzal. We should at least listen to what he has to say."
"Okay... let's do this then," Clarice said, feeling like she could handle this now.
Clarice went into the room followed by Mustang and Cougar.
"Hello, Mr. Tenma," she said confidently. "I understand you want to talk to someone in charge here."
The man flinched only slightly at hearing his name, and then put his hood down and sat up straighter. "Yes... you must be... Ms. Rowe?"
Clarice narrowed her eyes. "What makes you think that?"
Tenma smiled indulgently. "I know a little about your organization too. I was expecting to see Mr. Monroe, but I understand you're part of the leadership here too."
"So what do you have to say that you couldn't say to these men here?" Clarice asked.
"Well I was trying to stay incognito for as long as possible, for one thing," Tenma replied. "But I see my reputation precedes me, somehow." He glanced at Cougar. "If you know who I am then you probably know the precarious situation I'm in. I have to be very concerned for my safety, especially if the wrong people find out about me."
"What makes you think we're the wrong people? We're all fighting Ozzal here," Cougar said.
"I know." Tenma looked down. "I just... need to be careful." He looked back up at Clarice. "I want assurance, some kind of guarantee, that I'll be safe if I stay here with you. I can help, I've seen some of your people's injuries. I'm sure you have a doctor here, or something, but if there's anything serious I can handle it. I just need to know that I'll be protected here."
"Is that it?" Clarice asked, surprised. "That's why you wouldn't talk to anyone but me?"
Tenma smiled sheepishly. "Now that you mention it, I probably went a little overboard with the secretiveness. It's a hard habit to break."
Clarice looked at Cougar and Mustang, and they both nodded. "Well from what I've heard it sounds like you're not going to be a threat to us. If you're willing to join us, you're welcome here. I can't promise it'll be entirely safe though. We are kinda at war after all."
Tenma nodded. "I understand. As long as the war stays out there and I can stay in here, I'll be fine."
Clarice extended her hand. "You have my promise then. We won't sell you out. And of course we'll expect the same from you."
Tenma took her hand and gave it a shake. "Of course. And whenever I can be of service, just point me in the direction of the operating room. I expect Mr. Follet's ankle has already been taken care of?"
"Yes, actually," Clarice answered, surprised once again at his perceptiveness.
"Good, and he'll be getting warmed up too. I have to say, you should thank Ein for taking such good care of him."
"Ein? Who's that?" Mustang asked.
"Your dog," Tenma answered, slightly confused. "That's what it says on his collar tag, isn't it? He's a very loyal dog. I'm pretty sure he tried to keep Mr. Follet warm until help came."
"Oh..." Clarice said, not quite sure what to make of this since the dog had just appeared along with their guest.
"Well for right now I think you've earned a hot bath and a good night's sleep," Cougar said kindly. "I'll find a room for you and see if we can get you something to eat."
"I'd appreciate it," Tenma said gratefully. "It'll certainly help me be ready to go tomorrow when the fighting starts again."
"Yes... speaking of which, we still need to go over today's battle assessment," Mustang said to Clarice and Cougar. They didn't look thrilled about it, but nodded.
"I'll leave that to you two," Cougar said. "Cillie can fill me in later."
They all agreed, and went their separate ways.
**********
After the battle meeting, Clarice was totally exhausted. The emotional strain of the day had added to the usual physical and mental tiredness, and she just wanted to close her eyes and turn it all off for a while. But first she wanted to check in on Hikki again, just to make sure everything was okay.
The infirmary was fairly quiet. As Clarice passed by Samson's room, the door opened and Anne slipped out.
Clarice raised her eyebrows. "Shouldn't you be in bed, young lady?"
Anne started a little, apparently not expecting to be caught. "Um... that's where I'm going now. I just lost track of time while I was sitting with Sammie."
Clarice smiled at her. "Well I'm sure he appreciates having you there. I know I feel better with you keeping an eye on him."
"Yeah..." Anne said softly. "I know I can't do much around here, but I'm trying my best to help."
Clarice was proud of Anne, but her heart ached a little for her too. Not only was her brother in rough shape, but she'd been exposed to far too much violence and bloodshed for someone so young.
"Well go get some sleep. I'm sure you could use it," Clarice said gently.
"You too," Anne said. She started down the hallway and then turned back to Clarice.
"Hey Clarice..."
"Yeah?" Clarice answered.
"Do you think... I mean, sometime when you're not too busy..." the girl began uncertainly. "Do you think we could maybe go over some lessons sometime? Like we used to? I still have my books in my room."
Clarice's heart sank a little. It had been months since she last tutored Anne back at the cafe. "I would love to. It's just... I might be busy for a while."
Anne looked disappointed but nodded. "I understand. I just mean when all this is over and you don't have to fight anymore. Whenever that is."
Clarice tried to smile. "I'll look forward to it, okay?"
Anne smiled back and nodded. "Okay," she said, and turned to go to her room.
Clarice watched her go, feeling a lingering sadness. How long would it take for things to be like they used to be?
She took a deep breath and snapped herself out of it, knowing that pining for the past wouldn't make facing the future any easier. She continued to Hikki's room and knocked softly. Not hearing an answer, she opened the door and went in.
Hikki was lying in bed, fast asleep and looking rather peaceful. His heart monitor was beeping slowly but regularly. He didn't move as Clarice opened and closed the door, but over in the corner Ein the dog woke up and perked its ears when she came in.
"Hey there, Fearless Leader," she began, trying to sound casual.
Hikki didn't respond.
"Crazy day today, huh," she tried again.
There was no sign that Hikki had heard her. He must have still been totally conked out.
"Well the good news is we did a lot better today than we did yesterday," she said, resigning herself to a one-way conversation. "We still lost some people but not anywhere near as many as we did yesterday. And there were fewer injuries too."
She sighed. "Of course they did a number on our mechs today, stupid tanks. I think Kamina's is the only one we can still use. You should have been there when mine got dragged back in, Lloyd threw a fit." She said this humorously, but then reconsidered. "Well maybe you wouldn't have wanted to see that. But Mustang says we'll just have to bolster our ground forces so we're not so reliant on the mechs. So I guess he's got things figured out."
She stood lost in thought for a few moments. She'd had some time to sort through the jumble of emotions of the last few hours, and she thought she finally understood what she had been feeling.
"I guess I also need to say I'm glad to have you back. I bet that's the last thing you'd expect to hear, if you were actually listening to me right now." She watched him, blissfully oblivious to the world, and shook her head. "It's probably better you're not listening, you'd think I was going all soft on you or something."
She crossed an arm in front of her and held her other arm.
"It's not that it would be sad if you died or something - I mean it would, but that's not what really got to me." She paused. "I just... need you here. To do what you do. I may think you're an idiot most of the time, but at least when you're making the decisions it's technically your fault if something goes wrong."
She sighed ruefully. "When I say it out loud, it sounds kinda selfish, doesn't it."
She wasn't sure if she should feel reassured or condemned by his silence.
"I guess I'm just scared. Yeah, sure, I can say it. I know we're all in this together and stuff, and we knew people were going to die when we signed up for this, but it's different when it's all on you to call the shots. It's like you're the one who's telling them to do it. And that's scary as hell. But I guess you've already learned that, haven't you."
She knew it without needing his confirmation. "And... I guess I should give you credit for that. For an idiot, I guess you handle this stuff better than I would."
She stood for a few moments just watching him, thinking about everything he must have gone through as their leader. Then, feeling like she needed to not actually get too soft, she took a deep breath and got down to business again.
"Okay, I'll make a deal with you. I'll try to suck it up and do my best to run this thing while you're out of it. And you do your best to not die so you can come back and I can blame you for everything again. Okay?"
She almost would have preferred hearing him actually accept the deal, but just saying it out loud somehow made her feel like this was how things should be. And really it was an awful lot easier to say all of this knowing that he couldn't really hear her.
With that settled, she nodded authoritatively and then turned to leave.
"Well... I'll see what I can do..." said a sluggish voice behind her.
Clarice froze. She turned around slowly to see that Hikki was still lying motionless with his eyes closed.
"So um... you're awake, aren't you," she said.
"I seenk... maybe? Eet's kind of hard to tell," Hikki mumbled.
"And... you've been awake this whole time, haven't you," she said wryly.
"I seenk... actually I don't... how long ze time..."
As she was about to point out that he was making even less sense than usual, she realized that he was probably on some pretty powerful pain meds and was probably still pretty much out of it.
"Well, if you heard anything that sounded like me complimenting you it was probably the drugs talking," she hedged.
"Drugs... drugs are niiiice..." he drawled.
"Yes, yes they are," Clarice agreed. "You go ahead and enjoy them, and I'm going to sleep."
"Oui... le sommeil est le petit déjeuner des champions..."
Clarice gave him an "okay, crazy person" nod and reached for the doorknob again. Satisfied that he was drifting safely back into his slumber, she took her leave and headed for her room.
Whether Hikki had actually absorbed her confession or not, strangely enough just having the one-sided conversation left her feeling a lot calmer than she'd been all day. As she reached her room and finally collapsed into her bed, she was ready to welcome the respite of sleep.
Chapter 45 author's notes:
Recurring characters:
Roxie Goldsmith - anime_goddess05
Michelle Ozzal - Mike Lazzo
Eric Ominae - OMNI-Enforcer
Hikki Follet - Kohikki
*Major Tom Taredan - Metatronda
Cille Compton - Cille
Larry Zorin - LAZY17
Clarice Rowe - QueenoftheDorks
Cid - cidthekittyisfun
Proof - NoProof
Professor M. Matrix - matrixman124
Samson Monroe - MasterSamson
Elizabeth Saurie St. Gaurdsmen - EdSpikeSesshyGirl
General Bernice Zoltron - SwimMod_Beezo
Cowboy - CowboyCadenza
Bruce Herman - bherman
Jean Pierrot - pierrot-le-fou
Raef Compton - Maenos
Anne Monroe - herself
*Dewey Novak - Eureka seveN
Straight Cougar - s-CRY-ed
Elian - s-CRY-ed
Urizane - s-CRY-ed
Scheris Adjani - s-CRY-ed
Aoi - Ghost in the Shell
Roy Mustang - Fullmetal Alchemist
Kamina - Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann
*Lloyd Asplund - Code Geass
Kittan - Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann
Uryuu Ishida - Bleach
Solomon Goldsmith - Blood+
Kenpachi Zaraki - Bleach
Jeremiah Gottwald - Code Geass
Holland Novak - Eureka seveN
Izuru Kira - Bleach
New characters:
Major Makina - Deadman Wonderland
Spike Spiegel - Cowboy Bebop
Senji - Deadman Wonderland
Ein - Cowboy Bebop
Kenzou Tenma - Monster
*Characters marked with an asterisk are mentioned in this chapter but do not have an active role in the story.
French language notes:
le baiser de la vie - the kiss of life
le sommeil est le petit déjeuner des champions - sleep is the breakfast of champions