Chapter 47 - Roundabout
By Cille
By the fourth or fifth day of what historians would later call the Blacken Uprising, a harsh reality was beginning to set in for the Syndicate members and their allies. They were in the midst of war, and it was not something that would go away quickly. The exuberance of the first few days began to give way to weariness and unease, knowing that every day for the indefinite future that same army would be out there waiting for them.
Most of the GAR Streeters still looked forward to their full days of fighting, and the people with military experience already knew that this was what war was like, but many of the civilians-turned-revolutionaries had a harder time becoming accustomed to this new lifestyle. They had never pushed themselves so hard before, and there was very little respite from the physical and mental toil. As much as they believed in what they were fighting for, and looked forward to their eventual victory, they had to wonder how long it would take.
Some of them even began wondering if it were even possible for them to beat Ozzal's huge army. Others quickly reassured them that General Mustang and the strategists had things under control, and as long as they were fighting for something they believed in they could keep going for as long as it took.
But any way they looked at it, it was going to be a long haul.
**********
Three-plus days of intense fighting hadn't dampened Emiri's spirits any, and she was still tearing around the battlefield as fiercely as ever. She had initially objected to being put into a unit with other people, but at least they were big tough guys who could keep up with her. Or at least they tried, probably because the first thing she had said to them was, "If you get in my way or hold me back, I'll slice you up too."
Mugen and Sam Champlan were holding their own with their swords, taking out enemy soldiers along with Emiri. Joseph Joestar, however, was having some issues.
"My Hamon would work a lot better against zombies or vampires," Jojo complained. "Doesn't Ozzal have an undead unit or something?"
"No, but you'd better stay away from that Kirara chick," Sam advised.
"Just punch people if you can't use your special powers," Emiri said impatiently. "Or distract them with your big muscles while we take them out."
"Oh, you've noticed my big muscles, have you missy?" Jojo said proudly, striking a pose. Two enemy soldiers turned their guns toward him and were quickly taken down from behind by Mugen.
Emiri rolled her eyes. "Well you have to make yourself useful somehow, and you're obviously not here for your brains."
"I'll have you know I'm a master of strategy," Jojo pouted, as he ducked out of the way and two soldiers ended up shooting each other instead of him.
"Sure, whatever," Emiri said, tired of the pointless conversation when she could be killing people instead.
They quickly finished off the rest of the enemy unit.
"Make sure there aren't any left," Emiri instructed.
"Hey, we're pretty close to the entrance back here," Sam observed. "We should probably make sure none of these buggers get in there with us."
Emiri hadn't noticed it before then, but in the course of the day's fighting they'd been pushed toward one of the secondary entrances to the bunker.
"Make sure this spot is clear, and then we'll move toward the main battlefield," Emiri said. "We'll get more action there anyway."
They ascertained that there were no soldiers still moving, and then started heading away from the bunker. Before they got very far, though, they heard the sound of an engine and something crashing through the trees. It wasn't moving very fast, but it was big.
"Is that one of our mechs?" Sam asked.
A big dark boxy thing came into view. It was some sort of armored vehicle, and it didn't belong to the Syndicate.
"Dammit, a tank?" Emiri cursed.
"It doesn't have the big gun thing on it," Mugen said. "It just looks like a big box."
"Take cover for now," Emiri said. "Wait to see if it opens fire, and look for any weak spots where we can attack."
They took their positions behind trees and watched the vehicle.
"It ain't moving too fast," Mugen said.
"Probably because of all of these trees in the way," Jojo said.
A tree gave way and fell over, allowing the vehicle to pass through.
"...Or maybe the trees aren't that much of a problem," Jojo continued.
"Either way, it's still moving slow and not very mobile," Emiri said. "Surround it and attack anything that looks vulnerable. Just watch out for gunfire."
They spread out and darted around the vehicle. Fortunately it didn't try to shoot at them or even counterattack in any way. Unfortunately, if it had any weak spots they were awfully well camouflaged.
The four of them regrouped again.
"There's nothing to hit," Sam complained.
"Maybe it's unmanned," Emiri said. "It could be a scout drone or something."
"They make drones shaped like tanks?" Jojo asked.
"I don't know, but either way we need to come up with some kind of strategy for this thing," Emiri said tersely. "It might not be shooting at us, but that doesn't mean it's not dangerous."
"Well what are we supposed to do?" Mugen asked.
Emiri turned and looked straight at the vehicle. It was coming directly toward them but was still struggling to get through the trees.
"I have an idea," Jojo offered. "One of my super-secret strategies."
"Oh sure, the brainiac here is going to tell us what to do," Emiri said sarcastically.
"Hey, this strategy is super effective. It never fails," Jojo insisted.
"All right, hotshot, what is it?" Emiri asked.
"Well we just... SKEDADDLE!" Jojo shouted, turning and running toward the bunker door.
"Are you kidding me?" Emiri said incredulously, still glaring down the armored vehicle. "Who the hell do you think I am? Emiri does not run away."
Mugen and Sam looked at each other uncertainly, not sure whether to retreat to safety or stay with their commander.
"Hey Emiri, I think he's got a point," Sam said. "Let's cut our losses on this one. We can find somebody else to fight who won't make us work so hard."
"If you pansies want to run away, go right ahead. I'll take this guy down by myself if I have to."
Mugen and Sam exchanged glances again, and then looked at the vehicle, and then looked back at Jojo. He was already almost at the door and wasn't slowing down for anyone.
"You're one ballsy chick, I'll give you that," Mugen said. "But I ain't lettin' myself get squashed by something I can't cut. Good luck with that." He and Sam nodded to each other and started running for the bunker.
"Pussies!" Emiri spat after them. She dug her feet in harder and brandished her blades at the approaching vehicle. This wasn't anything she couldn't handle.
Of course there was the small matter of how to take down a fully armored tank with no visible weak spots. She could hit it repeatedly while it was slowed down by the trees, or blast it with kido, or find something to smash its windows, which were probably three inches thick...
Dammit, none of that was going to work. As loathe as she was to admit it, Mugen was right. There was nothing she could do.
Unfortunately, the moment she reached this conclusion was the moment the vehicle broke free of the last of the trees separating it from the bunker entrance. Which meant the only thing in its way now was Emiri.
As it started picking up speed toward her, she heard her comrades shouting at her. They were standing in the open doorway beckoning for her to come. She turned her back on the vehicle and started running toward them. Even without looking, she could tell that the tank was gaining on her, trying to run her down before she could reach safety.
As she got closer, her teammates started freaking out even more. Jojo watched her closely, trying to gauge her chances. She had a fiercely determined look in her eyes and was running as hard as she could, but she wasn't going to make it.
An idea flashed through Jojo's mind.
"Emiri!" he called, stepping into the doorway. "Throw me one of your blades!"
She furrowed her brows, but with the tank right on her heels she had no choice but to obey. She slung one end of her chainblade at Jojo, hoping he could catch it cleanly. But he wasn't even trying to be careful about it, and the blade pierced right through his palm. Grimacing in pain, he yanked as hard as he could on the chain and pulled her to safety just as the others succeeded in slamming the door closed. The vehicle smashed into the door and then was silent.
Emiri stood trembling against Jojo's chest, still held protectively by one of his arms. She was too shaken up to even tell him to let go of her.
She looked down at his hand with her blade still embedded in it. She placed her hand on his and whispered, "You dumbass, what are you trying to do?"
Jojo smiled. "Just doing what I gotta do to help a friend."
Seeing that Emiri was regaining her composure, he released her and took a step back. He held out his injured hand, palm-down, and supported his wrist with his other hand. He sucked in a deep breath, and yellow sparks of lightning began crackling around his hand. The blade slowly lowered itself from his palm and clattered to the floor. The lightning continued for a few more seconds, and then Jojo held up his hand and flexed his fingers. There was no trace of a cut or injury.
"Not bad, huh?" he said jovially, looking quite pleased with himself. "That's what my Hamon can do!"
Emiri looked a little bit relieved and impressed, but then a crash outside the door abruptly brought her back to her senses.
"Dammit, they're still trying to get in here," she said crossly, as the vehicle repeatedly slammed against the outer wall. "This door had better hold."
"It looks pretty solid," Sam said, looking at the door and wall closely.
"Fine, but we need to let command central know this entrance is compromised," Emiri said, coiling up her chainblade. "You two stay here and keep this bastard occupied if he breaks through."
Mugen and Sam exchanged unenthusiastic looks and nodded.
"Let's go, Jojo," Emiri instructed, starting off down the hallway.
"So authoritative!" Jojo declared, hurrying to catch up with her. "But it's so sweet that you were so worried about me! Maybe sometime you'd like to go on a date with me?"
Emiri hit him on the head without even looking at him. "Dream on, meathead."
"Oh come on, you don't have to hide it anymore! Now you'll say, 'I was totally wrong about you, Jojoooo~! I'd love to go out with you!'"
"Like hell I will!"
"Blimey, you're one heartless broad!"
As their voices faded away, Sam and Mugen weren't sure which was scarier - Emiri or that armored tank still incessantly smashing itself against their door.
**********
"They escaped," Makina observed. "How unfortunate."
"Hrm, it was still worth it to see that bitch Emiri piss her little loli dress and go running off in terror," Ozzal said smugly. "That's what she gets for deserting me. I just wish I'd gotten to see her smashed like a bug."
"You did get that intel you wanted, though," Makina said encouragingly. "Our first door discovery."
On the monitor in front of them, the camera was still moving back and forth as the vehicle kept ramming into the door.
"Okay, that's enough," Ozzal said authoritatively into the comm. "Hold your position there, and be ready to force your way through if that door opens again. A backup unit will be there shortly."
"Roger that, General," the vehicle's pilot radioed back.
Ozzal sat back in her chair, feeling quite satisfied. "Hmm, if they're smart they won't be opening that door again. But if they do, we'll be ready for them."
"At the very least, that's one entrance they can't use anymore," Makina pointed out. "You're reducing their supply lines - and their escape routes."
"Quite true," Ozzal agreed. "That little assault vehicle gambit certainly paid off."
"A brilliant move on your part, madam."
"At this rate we might not even need Rakshata. She probably hasn't even moved from her couch," Ozzal said disdainfully. She flipped through several other scenes on her surveillance monitor. "Now let's see if the others can be just as successful."
**********
"A tank?" Cille asked, furrowing her brow.
"Not exactly, it was just a big armored box," Emiri explained, as Jojo practiced poses behind her. "It didn't have any gun turrets or any weapons at all. It just tried to run me over and charged the door."
"Let's get a visual, Elian," Cille requested. "Entrance D, on the east side."
The entrance and the unwelcome visitor appeared on a monitor.
"It's an armored recon vehicle," Eric said. "Non-combat, designed to get in places and observe without being infiltrated."
"That means Ozzal's serious about finding our entry points," Cille said. "She's probably trying to find our main entrance and stumbled on this instead."
"Or she may already know that we have multiple entrances," Eric pointed out. "A base this large and spread-out would need to have several ways in and out. It'd be in her best interests to plug up as many as she can find."
"We should probably station units at each one, in case she's still looking," Cille suggested.
"I don't know, that could be a dead giveaway that there's something there we don't want her to see," Jojo commented.
"Well we need to do something, we can't just leave that thing out there trying to blast its way inside," Emiri said, still irritated by her own inability to stop it.
"The walls are strong enough to withstand a bomb blast, they shouldn't have any trouble with a box on wheels," Cille said. "But we do need to find a way to counter these vehicles and protect our other entrances."
"What about your mechs?" Emiri asked.
"Aoi?" Cille inquired, looking over at the hacker.
Aoi looked up from his computer. "Nothing currently on the ground. Latest from the mech lab is that Kamina's mech might be operational sometime today, but that's it."
Cille sighed and furrowed her brow. "Is there anything else we can use against those recon vehicles, Eric?"
"Anything we have? I'm not sure," he answered. "My first idea is to find some way to cover up their visuals or jam their radio and radar signals. But physically... you'd need something pretty big to slow them down or break into them."
Cille sighed again. If only they still had a mech or two running around...
"For now I'd suggest stationing reserve troops inside the base at each of the entryways. You can monitor the area around those points and alert the troops if there's anything outside they need to deal with," Eric continued. "Aoi, put an encrypted lock on entrance D. Nobody goes in or out of there now that it's been discovered. And if you can figure out a way to hack into that black box out there, knock yourself out."
Aoi nodded and started tapping away at his keyboard.
"Okay, now that you've got that under control..." Emiri began, tapping Jojo on the shoulder and starting for the door. "Let's go collect Tweedledum and Tweedledee and find some people to kill."
"Okaaaaaay!" Jojo replied, following her out.
"All right," Cille said, taking a deep breath. It was a worrisome situation, but hopefully with Eric's quick thinking it actually would be under control. At least as long as it didn't get any worse...
**********
Down in the mech workshop, there was very little actual work being done on mechs.
The most productive member of the team on this particular day was Winry, who had taken an interest in Tres after the android had gotten a chunk of himself blown off by Kimbley. While the scientists pulled their hair out over the wreckage and argued about how to cobble the giant robots back together, Winry was putting her automail skills to use reconstructing Tres' missing arm and torso.
She had raided the stash of salvaged equipment, and had found several interesting and useful items to incorporate into Tres' redesign. The hard part, though, was getting it all to work together with Tres' sophisticated AI. Fortunately, being fully operational during the process, he was able to instruct her and even use his good arm to help with some of the tinkering, with periodic reboots to update his system.
By the time Winry was finally called to help with Kamina's mech, Tres was pretty much back to being in one piece, if not quite back to his old self. He wasn't quite sure about some of his modifications, but he was still grateful to the young mechanic for working so hard to put him back together.
**********
Clarice was still bummed about not being able to use her mech anymore, but working with her team the last couple of days had made her feel better about being on foot on the front lines.
It was an interesting group, to be sure. There was Kirara, who was doing her best to restrain her vampire bloodlust around the others but remained a deadly fighter; a swordsman named Kenshin Himura, who never seemed to actually kill anybody with his reverse-blade sword but whose desire to protect his friends made him unstoppable on the battlefield; and Jacob the Liar, the Order of Glass' resident con artist. At first glance they seemed kind of mismatched, but between Jacob's sharp eyes and nimble footing, Kirara's speed and strength, Kenshin's perceptiveness and unmatched sword skills, and Clarice's crack shooting, they'd been able to easily handle every enemy they'd encountered.
But now they found themselves encountering something that was freaking them all the hell out.
"AAH! A zombie!" Clarice shouted.
"AAH! A robot!" Kenshin shouted.
"AAH! A pirate!" Kirara shouted. Then she took a closer look at him. "Wait... a pirate?"
"Um... aah, a guy with a giant crazy arm?" Jacob said, not wanting to be left out.
But nobody else was even looking at the Alter user with the crazy arm.
"QUICK, SHOOT IT IN THE HEAD BEFORE IT INFECTS US ALL!" Clarice yelled, pointing her gun at the zombie's head.
"Wait!" Kirara called, holding a hand up to stop her.
At the same time, the zombierobotpirate said, "Yarrr, hold yer fire if'n ye please! If'n ye be Syndicate mates, we be friendly!"
"A friendly zombie? That's a new one," Clarice said suspiciously.
"Well not really, I knew this guy named Sid once..." Jacob commented.
"Just take it easy, I think I know this guy," Kirara said to Clarice.
Clarice lowered her gun a little. "You know this zombie?"
Kirara looked steadily at him. "Yeah... I think I do."
The pirate squinted his eyes at her. "Well I'll be a son of a barnacled sea hag... You'll pardon me missy if I can't quite remember yer name, but ye remind me of a lass from the ol' Gunsmoke pub."
"It's Kirara. And you're... Captain Yemman, aren't you?"
"Aye, in the flesh. Well... what's left of it now, anyway," he said sheepishly.
"That's more than I ever expected to see of you again," Kirara said.
"Well... erm... let's just say that Davy Jones' locker warn't quite ready fer me yet," Yemman replied with a self-conscious grin.
Kirara looked at him and just kind of nodded a little. Clarice glanced at her, wondering if they could all relax and be friends now.
Then Kirara abruptly raised her own gun and pointed it at the pirate.
"Does the name Wyatt Matthews ring any bells? You couldn't remember my name, but maybe you'll remember the name of someone you murdered."
Yemman flinched and the blood ran a little colder in his veins. So his past was going to catch up with him after all.
"Aye... I recollect what yer talkin' about all too well," he answered calmly, ready to take responsibility and plead his case. "An' if you recollect it the way ya seem to, I don't blame ya fer pointin' that gun at me. But if the word of an old seafarin' dog is worth anythin' to ya, I kin assure ya that the man I were then ain't the man I be now. Me head was all clouded up with angst an' rum an' voices sayin' me name backwards. I be past all that now, I found me some reckless fiyah and me soul's been properly drasticated. If'n ye'll only give me another chance, all I be wantin' is to join with me old mateys an' fight the good fight."
"Wyatt Matthews... he was killed during those riots, wasn't he?" Clarice asked.
"He was," Kirara answered evenly.
"And you're saying..." Clarice wasn't sure how to continue the horrible thought.
"He was killed by his own comrade," Kirara finished for her. "I was there, I saw what happened that night. I also know who started those riots in the first place."
Clarice gasped and looked back at Yemman, who was looking pained and avoiding their eyes.
"I got no excuses," he said sadly. "Only me word that things now ain't like they were back then. I thought I could take on the world meself, I didn't need no crew holdin' me back. I guess it took dyin' to see how wrong I were."
He looked up at Kirara and her gun. "I'll beg fergiveness if'n ye want. I just be wantin' a second chance ta prove meself."
Kirara pursed her lips. "I'm not the person you should be asking. Clarice here is one of our leaders. It's up to her whether to give you your second chance."
Yemman turned his pleading gaze to Clarice, and she felt a sudden rush of apprehension as she realized that she was going to have to make the decision.
"Well... I understand what you're saying..." she began uncertainly. "And if you've really changed, then I guess that's a good thing..."
Yemman looked hopeful, but Clarice didn't want him to get ahead of himself. "But betraying your own allies, that's not something we can take lightly. How can we be sure you won't do it again?"
"I'll give ya me solemn oath, on whatever honor I had as a man of the sea."
"No offense, but that's not much to go on," Kirara said.
"If I may say so..." Kenshin said quietly, "It is true that a man who has killed in the past may wish to atone for his sins, that he may. This man wouldn't be the first among us to do so."
Clarice didn't know much about Kenshin's history, but she had a feeling he was speaking from experience.
She considered the situation carefully, and then looked assertively at Yemman.
"All right, Yemman, you can join us. BUT -" she added quickly, seeing both the pirate's excitement and Kirara's disapproval, "- you won't be acting on your own anymore. You're going to be part of our squad from now on. That means you guys stick with us and don't do anything on your own. Follow my orders and don't do anything stupid. We'll be keeping a close eye on you. And if you do anything to harm any of our allies, I give Kirara my permission to stop you."
Yemman grimaced, not wanting to imagine what Kirara would do, but he was thankful that Clarice had granted him amnesty. He doffed his pirate hat and bowed as low as his robot body would allow.
"I thank ye, ma'am, and I promise ye won't regret it."
"Okay all this talking is boring. Are we gonna go fight some more?" Kazuma interjected, having finally gotten fed up with standing around being bored.
Clarice looked at him and raised her eyebrows, but she decided against asking any more questions about their other new teammate. "All right, let's move out," she ordered with a sigh.
Kazuma whooped and charged off in search of the next enemy to fight, and Yemman drew his sword and followed along behind him, equally excited.
Clarice and Kirara exchanged looks, both hoping that they could manage these two roughnecks, and then they and the rest of the team hurried to catch up.
**********
Raef was in charge of the base's operations and maintenance, so he'd been spending a lot of time looking at electrical wiring and making sure the bunker's climate control and water and air purification systems were working properly. Taking a much-needed break, he headed down to the mech lab to see if his old friend Larry was free for dinner.
"NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!!"
Raef paused, but then quickened his pace when he realized that the voice screaming in terror was Larry's.
"But it's a brilliant idea! You can't tell me it isn't!"
Raef turned the corner into the workshop to find Lloyd standing with his arms crossed looking skeptical, Matrix waving around papers that looked like drawings, and Larry under a table looking like he was preparing for an air raid.
"Um... what's going on in here?" Raef asked uncertainly.
"RAEF! You've gotta save me!" Larry cried, propelling himself out from under the table and cowering behind his friend. "It's horrible! It's sadistic! Don't let them do this to me!"
"Do what?" Raef asked, still perplexed.
"Raef, you're a smart boy," Matrix said confidently. He strode over to Raef and placed the drawings into his hands, prompting Larry to shriek and run off again.
"Um... what am I looking at?" Raef asked, trying to get his bearings with the diagrams.
"The salvation of our Knightmare program!" Matrix exulted.
"Hrmph," Lloyd scoffed. "Our salvation was the Knightmare program. But if your people can't stop ruining my mechs, I suppose some... extreme modifications may become necessary."
"So what do you think?" Matrix asked excitedly. "Is it not brilliant? And don't say it's not, because it totally is."
Raef didn't have an answer right away, because he was still having some difficulty telling what the sketch was supposed to be. It looked like a box with arms, which he guessed was supposed to be a mech. But it looked like the box was being carried by an octopus or something.
"Wait... are these... tentacles?" Raef asked incredulously.
"NO NO NO NO NO!!!" Larry screeched from wherever he was hiding.
"Yes!" Matrix exclaimed, ignoring Larry. "The perfect thing to revitalize this currently immobile Knightmare! It's brilliant!"
"You can carry a mech on tentacles? And where are we even supposed to get tentacles from?" Raef asked skeptically.
"I've been cultivating some in a little damp corner of the base I found," Matrix said proudly.
"WHERE ARE THEY I'LL BURN THEM!" Larry shouted.
"You will do no such thing!" Matrix shot back, finally starting to get annoyed at his former subordinate. "I've been growing them for exactly this sort of purpose, and they're exactly what we need here. They've finally grown nice and big, and ten or twelve of them ought to be able to support the body of the Knightmare frame. I haven't heard any better ideas from the two of you, so it's either this or let a perfectly operable Knightmare continue sitting there unused."
He gestured over to the mech that Cid and Proof had been piloting, which had indeed been just sitting there since losing its legs on the first day of battle.
"...You really haven't been able to come up with anything better than this?" Raef asked, leafing through the drawings.
"Well I suggested outfitting it with tank treads," Larry said.
"Too limiting to the mobility," Matrix said, shaking his head. "A mech has to stay agile; it can't just go in one direction and take ten seconds to turn."
"At least you know what treads are going to do!" Larry said. "How do you expect to control twelve of those things at once?"
"It's all about wiring up the nerve endings," Matrix said. "And if anyone is a pro at that it's me."
Even without seeing him, Raef could imagine Larry shuddering.
"I of course would prefer to just construct new legs for it," Lloyd said. "But that will of course take time to do right."
"And that's time we don't have, while my design can be implemented right now!" Matrix continued his sales pitch.
"Well... I guess it's a thing..." Raef said noncommittally. He studied the drawings more closely, until he realized that both Matrix and Lloyd were looking at him expectantly. Wherever Larry was, he was probably also waiting for Raef to make a pronouncement.
"Um... I guess it could work," Raef finally conceded. "I mean I can't give you permission or anything, but it at least seems like a possibility."
Matrix clapped and shouted "Yeah!" triumphantly, while Lloyd just went "hmph" and Larry started wailing.
"Raaaaeeef... how could yooouuuuu..."
"Oh, stop crying, you big baby, you don't have to help if you don't want to," Matrix said.
"I said I couldn't give you permission," Raef reminded them. "You still need to clear it with one of the actual leaders."
"Well congratulations, your idea wins," Lloyd said, not sounding entirely enthused. "Go present your proposal to Mustang so we can get -"
"NO!" Matrix exclaimed without thinking. The others looked at him quizzically. "Nooohohoho..." he continued, trying to play it cool. "The General has far too many very important things on his plate to be bothered with something trivial like this. I'll talk to somebody else. Like, um, Hikki, I guess..." Lloyd snorted, and upon consideration it occurred to Matrix that the Frenchman might be easily squicked out by tentacles. "Or Clari- uhhh... maybe Cil- umm... hey, isn't Kamina like the leader of the mech squad? I'll ask him."
Lloyd waved his hand indifferently. "Do as you like, it's your proposal. Just let me know when it's time to actually get to work. At the very least I should be able to get some interesting data out of this little experiment."
Raef handed the papers back to Matrix, glad to be washing his hands of the whole thing. "Good luck, Professor," he said.
Matrix beamed at him. "Thank you, my boy. If you're not too busy, come by later tonight to see the master at work."
"Uh... I think I'll be busy with some, uh... plumbing maintenance," Raef said evasively. "But I'm sure Larry can tell me about it later."
"Oh hell no, I'm not going to be anywhere near here until that thing is gone," Larry's disembodied voice said.
"Fine, take the night off if you're that much of a chicken," Matrix said, scowling. "I don't need you anyway."
"Well I didn't need you first," Larry retorted.
"Okaaaay," Raef said, before the obviously long-standing bitterness between them could go any further into "NO U" territory. "Larry, do you want to get some dinner? That's what I came down here for in the first place."
"Oh sure, now you want to pretend like you're my friend," Larry sulked.
"If you want I can just leave you in here with these guys..." Raef suggested, starting to walk away.
Larry suddenly appeared and headed straight for the door. "Dinner sounds fine, smell you guys later."
Matrix watched the two of them go and then turned back to his papers. He felt like he had just won a major victory. He didn't expect talking that lunkhead Kamina into going along with the plan would be too hard, and then he could spend the rest of the night playing.
Oh yes, it was going to be a fun night.
Chapter 47 author's notes:
Recurring characters:
Michelle Ozzal - Mike Lazzo
Emiri - _Boxers_
Sam Champlan - SamuraiChamplooFan
Kirara Amour - kiraralove
Lucille "Cille" Compton - Cille
Eric Ominae - OMNI-Enforcer
Clarice Rowe - QueenoftheDorks
Jacob the Liar - jakobtheliar12
Captain Yemman - myname
*Wyatt Matthews - Wyotech_material
Raef Compton - Maenos
Larry Zorin - LAZY17
Professor M. Matrix - matrixman124
*Cid - cidthekittyisfun
*Proof - NoProof91
*Hikki Follet - Kohikki
*Roy Mustang - Fullmetal Alchemist
Mugen - Samurai Champloo
Makina - Deadman Wonderland
*Rakshata Chawla - Code Geass
Elian - s-CRY-ed
Aoi - Ghost in the Shell
*Kamina - Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann
Winry Rockbell - Fullmetal Alchemist
Tres Iqus - Trinity Blood
*Zolf Kimbley - Fullmetal Alchemist
Kazuma - s-CRY-ed
Lloyd Asplund - Code Geass
New characters:
Joseph "Jojo" Joestar - Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
Kenshin Himura - Rurouni Kenshin
*Sid - Soul Eater
*Characters marked with an asterisk are mentioned in this chapter but do not have an active role in the story.
By the fourth or fifth day of what historians would later call the Blacken Uprising, a harsh reality was beginning to set in for the Syndicate members and their allies. They were in the midst of war, and it was not something that would go away quickly. The exuberance of the first few days began to give way to weariness and unease, knowing that every day for the indefinite future that same army would be out there waiting for them.
Most of the GAR Streeters still looked forward to their full days of fighting, and the people with military experience already knew that this was what war was like, but many of the civilians-turned-revolutionaries had a harder time becoming accustomed to this new lifestyle. They had never pushed themselves so hard before, and there was very little respite from the physical and mental toil. As much as they believed in what they were fighting for, and looked forward to their eventual victory, they had to wonder how long it would take.
Some of them even began wondering if it were even possible for them to beat Ozzal's huge army. Others quickly reassured them that General Mustang and the strategists had things under control, and as long as they were fighting for something they believed in they could keep going for as long as it took.
But any way they looked at it, it was going to be a long haul.
**********
Three-plus days of intense fighting hadn't dampened Emiri's spirits any, and she was still tearing around the battlefield as fiercely as ever. She had initially objected to being put into a unit with other people, but at least they were big tough guys who could keep up with her. Or at least they tried, probably because the first thing she had said to them was, "If you get in my way or hold me back, I'll slice you up too."
Mugen and Sam Champlan were holding their own with their swords, taking out enemy soldiers along with Emiri. Joseph Joestar, however, was having some issues.
"My Hamon would work a lot better against zombies or vampires," Jojo complained. "Doesn't Ozzal have an undead unit or something?"
"No, but you'd better stay away from that Kirara chick," Sam advised.
"Just punch people if you can't use your special powers," Emiri said impatiently. "Or distract them with your big muscles while we take them out."
"Oh, you've noticed my big muscles, have you missy?" Jojo said proudly, striking a pose. Two enemy soldiers turned their guns toward him and were quickly taken down from behind by Mugen.
Emiri rolled her eyes. "Well you have to make yourself useful somehow, and you're obviously not here for your brains."
"I'll have you know I'm a master of strategy," Jojo pouted, as he ducked out of the way and two soldiers ended up shooting each other instead of him.
"Sure, whatever," Emiri said, tired of the pointless conversation when she could be killing people instead.
They quickly finished off the rest of the enemy unit.
"Make sure there aren't any left," Emiri instructed.
"Hey, we're pretty close to the entrance back here," Sam observed. "We should probably make sure none of these buggers get in there with us."
Emiri hadn't noticed it before then, but in the course of the day's fighting they'd been pushed toward one of the secondary entrances to the bunker.
"Make sure this spot is clear, and then we'll move toward the main battlefield," Emiri said. "We'll get more action there anyway."
They ascertained that there were no soldiers still moving, and then started heading away from the bunker. Before they got very far, though, they heard the sound of an engine and something crashing through the trees. It wasn't moving very fast, but it was big.
"Is that one of our mechs?" Sam asked.
A big dark boxy thing came into view. It was some sort of armored vehicle, and it didn't belong to the Syndicate.
"Dammit, a tank?" Emiri cursed.
"It doesn't have the big gun thing on it," Mugen said. "It just looks like a big box."
"Take cover for now," Emiri said. "Wait to see if it opens fire, and look for any weak spots where we can attack."
They took their positions behind trees and watched the vehicle.
"It ain't moving too fast," Mugen said.
"Probably because of all of these trees in the way," Jojo said.
A tree gave way and fell over, allowing the vehicle to pass through.
"...Or maybe the trees aren't that much of a problem," Jojo continued.
"Either way, it's still moving slow and not very mobile," Emiri said. "Surround it and attack anything that looks vulnerable. Just watch out for gunfire."
They spread out and darted around the vehicle. Fortunately it didn't try to shoot at them or even counterattack in any way. Unfortunately, if it had any weak spots they were awfully well camouflaged.
The four of them regrouped again.
"There's nothing to hit," Sam complained.
"Maybe it's unmanned," Emiri said. "It could be a scout drone or something."
"They make drones shaped like tanks?" Jojo asked.
"I don't know, but either way we need to come up with some kind of strategy for this thing," Emiri said tersely. "It might not be shooting at us, but that doesn't mean it's not dangerous."
"Well what are we supposed to do?" Mugen asked.
Emiri turned and looked straight at the vehicle. It was coming directly toward them but was still struggling to get through the trees.
"I have an idea," Jojo offered. "One of my super-secret strategies."
"Oh sure, the brainiac here is going to tell us what to do," Emiri said sarcastically.
"Hey, this strategy is super effective. It never fails," Jojo insisted.
"All right, hotshot, what is it?" Emiri asked.
"Well we just... SKEDADDLE!" Jojo shouted, turning and running toward the bunker door.
"Are you kidding me?" Emiri said incredulously, still glaring down the armored vehicle. "Who the hell do you think I am? Emiri does not run away."
Mugen and Sam looked at each other uncertainly, not sure whether to retreat to safety or stay with their commander.
"Hey Emiri, I think he's got a point," Sam said. "Let's cut our losses on this one. We can find somebody else to fight who won't make us work so hard."
"If you pansies want to run away, go right ahead. I'll take this guy down by myself if I have to."
Mugen and Sam exchanged glances again, and then looked at the vehicle, and then looked back at Jojo. He was already almost at the door and wasn't slowing down for anyone.
"You're one ballsy chick, I'll give you that," Mugen said. "But I ain't lettin' myself get squashed by something I can't cut. Good luck with that." He and Sam nodded to each other and started running for the bunker.
"Pussies!" Emiri spat after them. She dug her feet in harder and brandished her blades at the approaching vehicle. This wasn't anything she couldn't handle.
Of course there was the small matter of how to take down a fully armored tank with no visible weak spots. She could hit it repeatedly while it was slowed down by the trees, or blast it with kido, or find something to smash its windows, which were probably three inches thick...
Dammit, none of that was going to work. As loathe as she was to admit it, Mugen was right. There was nothing she could do.
Unfortunately, the moment she reached this conclusion was the moment the vehicle broke free of the last of the trees separating it from the bunker entrance. Which meant the only thing in its way now was Emiri.
As it started picking up speed toward her, she heard her comrades shouting at her. They were standing in the open doorway beckoning for her to come. She turned her back on the vehicle and started running toward them. Even without looking, she could tell that the tank was gaining on her, trying to run her down before she could reach safety.
As she got closer, her teammates started freaking out even more. Jojo watched her closely, trying to gauge her chances. She had a fiercely determined look in her eyes and was running as hard as she could, but she wasn't going to make it.
An idea flashed through Jojo's mind.
"Emiri!" he called, stepping into the doorway. "Throw me one of your blades!"
She furrowed her brows, but with the tank right on her heels she had no choice but to obey. She slung one end of her chainblade at Jojo, hoping he could catch it cleanly. But he wasn't even trying to be careful about it, and the blade pierced right through his palm. Grimacing in pain, he yanked as hard as he could on the chain and pulled her to safety just as the others succeeded in slamming the door closed. The vehicle smashed into the door and then was silent.
Emiri stood trembling against Jojo's chest, still held protectively by one of his arms. She was too shaken up to even tell him to let go of her.
She looked down at his hand with her blade still embedded in it. She placed her hand on his and whispered, "You dumbass, what are you trying to do?"
Jojo smiled. "Just doing what I gotta do to help a friend."
Seeing that Emiri was regaining her composure, he released her and took a step back. He held out his injured hand, palm-down, and supported his wrist with his other hand. He sucked in a deep breath, and yellow sparks of lightning began crackling around his hand. The blade slowly lowered itself from his palm and clattered to the floor. The lightning continued for a few more seconds, and then Jojo held up his hand and flexed his fingers. There was no trace of a cut or injury.
"Not bad, huh?" he said jovially, looking quite pleased with himself. "That's what my Hamon can do!"
Emiri looked a little bit relieved and impressed, but then a crash outside the door abruptly brought her back to her senses.
"Dammit, they're still trying to get in here," she said crossly, as the vehicle repeatedly slammed against the outer wall. "This door had better hold."
"It looks pretty solid," Sam said, looking at the door and wall closely.
"Fine, but we need to let command central know this entrance is compromised," Emiri said, coiling up her chainblade. "You two stay here and keep this bastard occupied if he breaks through."
Mugen and Sam exchanged unenthusiastic looks and nodded.
"Let's go, Jojo," Emiri instructed, starting off down the hallway.
"So authoritative!" Jojo declared, hurrying to catch up with her. "But it's so sweet that you were so worried about me! Maybe sometime you'd like to go on a date with me?"
Emiri hit him on the head without even looking at him. "Dream on, meathead."
"Oh come on, you don't have to hide it anymore! Now you'll say, 'I was totally wrong about you, Jojoooo~! I'd love to go out with you!'"
"Like hell I will!"
"Blimey, you're one heartless broad!"
As their voices faded away, Sam and Mugen weren't sure which was scarier - Emiri or that armored tank still incessantly smashing itself against their door.
**********
"They escaped," Makina observed. "How unfortunate."
"Hrm, it was still worth it to see that bitch Emiri piss her little loli dress and go running off in terror," Ozzal said smugly. "That's what she gets for deserting me. I just wish I'd gotten to see her smashed like a bug."
"You did get that intel you wanted, though," Makina said encouragingly. "Our first door discovery."
On the monitor in front of them, the camera was still moving back and forth as the vehicle kept ramming into the door.
"Okay, that's enough," Ozzal said authoritatively into the comm. "Hold your position there, and be ready to force your way through if that door opens again. A backup unit will be there shortly."
"Roger that, General," the vehicle's pilot radioed back.
Ozzal sat back in her chair, feeling quite satisfied. "Hmm, if they're smart they won't be opening that door again. But if they do, we'll be ready for them."
"At the very least, that's one entrance they can't use anymore," Makina pointed out. "You're reducing their supply lines - and their escape routes."
"Quite true," Ozzal agreed. "That little assault vehicle gambit certainly paid off."
"A brilliant move on your part, madam."
"At this rate we might not even need Rakshata. She probably hasn't even moved from her couch," Ozzal said disdainfully. She flipped through several other scenes on her surveillance monitor. "Now let's see if the others can be just as successful."
**********
"A tank?" Cille asked, furrowing her brow.
"Not exactly, it was just a big armored box," Emiri explained, as Jojo practiced poses behind her. "It didn't have any gun turrets or any weapons at all. It just tried to run me over and charged the door."
"Let's get a visual, Elian," Cille requested. "Entrance D, on the east side."
The entrance and the unwelcome visitor appeared on a monitor.
"It's an armored recon vehicle," Eric said. "Non-combat, designed to get in places and observe without being infiltrated."
"That means Ozzal's serious about finding our entry points," Cille said. "She's probably trying to find our main entrance and stumbled on this instead."
"Or she may already know that we have multiple entrances," Eric pointed out. "A base this large and spread-out would need to have several ways in and out. It'd be in her best interests to plug up as many as she can find."
"We should probably station units at each one, in case she's still looking," Cille suggested.
"I don't know, that could be a dead giveaway that there's something there we don't want her to see," Jojo commented.
"Well we need to do something, we can't just leave that thing out there trying to blast its way inside," Emiri said, still irritated by her own inability to stop it.
"The walls are strong enough to withstand a bomb blast, they shouldn't have any trouble with a box on wheels," Cille said. "But we do need to find a way to counter these vehicles and protect our other entrances."
"What about your mechs?" Emiri asked.
"Aoi?" Cille inquired, looking over at the hacker.
Aoi looked up from his computer. "Nothing currently on the ground. Latest from the mech lab is that Kamina's mech might be operational sometime today, but that's it."
Cille sighed and furrowed her brow. "Is there anything else we can use against those recon vehicles, Eric?"
"Anything we have? I'm not sure," he answered. "My first idea is to find some way to cover up their visuals or jam their radio and radar signals. But physically... you'd need something pretty big to slow them down or break into them."
Cille sighed again. If only they still had a mech or two running around...
"For now I'd suggest stationing reserve troops inside the base at each of the entryways. You can monitor the area around those points and alert the troops if there's anything outside they need to deal with," Eric continued. "Aoi, put an encrypted lock on entrance D. Nobody goes in or out of there now that it's been discovered. And if you can figure out a way to hack into that black box out there, knock yourself out."
Aoi nodded and started tapping away at his keyboard.
"Okay, now that you've got that under control..." Emiri began, tapping Jojo on the shoulder and starting for the door. "Let's go collect Tweedledum and Tweedledee and find some people to kill."
"Okaaaaaay!" Jojo replied, following her out.
"All right," Cille said, taking a deep breath. It was a worrisome situation, but hopefully with Eric's quick thinking it actually would be under control. At least as long as it didn't get any worse...
**********
Down in the mech workshop, there was very little actual work being done on mechs.
The most productive member of the team on this particular day was Winry, who had taken an interest in Tres after the android had gotten a chunk of himself blown off by Kimbley. While the scientists pulled their hair out over the wreckage and argued about how to cobble the giant robots back together, Winry was putting her automail skills to use reconstructing Tres' missing arm and torso.
She had raided the stash of salvaged equipment, and had found several interesting and useful items to incorporate into Tres' redesign. The hard part, though, was getting it all to work together with Tres' sophisticated AI. Fortunately, being fully operational during the process, he was able to instruct her and even use his good arm to help with some of the tinkering, with periodic reboots to update his system.
By the time Winry was finally called to help with Kamina's mech, Tres was pretty much back to being in one piece, if not quite back to his old self. He wasn't quite sure about some of his modifications, but he was still grateful to the young mechanic for working so hard to put him back together.
**********
Clarice was still bummed about not being able to use her mech anymore, but working with her team the last couple of days had made her feel better about being on foot on the front lines.
It was an interesting group, to be sure. There was Kirara, who was doing her best to restrain her vampire bloodlust around the others but remained a deadly fighter; a swordsman named Kenshin Himura, who never seemed to actually kill anybody with his reverse-blade sword but whose desire to protect his friends made him unstoppable on the battlefield; and Jacob the Liar, the Order of Glass' resident con artist. At first glance they seemed kind of mismatched, but between Jacob's sharp eyes and nimble footing, Kirara's speed and strength, Kenshin's perceptiveness and unmatched sword skills, and Clarice's crack shooting, they'd been able to easily handle every enemy they'd encountered.
But now they found themselves encountering something that was freaking them all the hell out.
"AAH! A zombie!" Clarice shouted.
"AAH! A robot!" Kenshin shouted.
"AAH! A pirate!" Kirara shouted. Then she took a closer look at him. "Wait... a pirate?"
"Um... aah, a guy with a giant crazy arm?" Jacob said, not wanting to be left out.
But nobody else was even looking at the Alter user with the crazy arm.
"QUICK, SHOOT IT IN THE HEAD BEFORE IT INFECTS US ALL!" Clarice yelled, pointing her gun at the zombie's head.
"Wait!" Kirara called, holding a hand up to stop her.
At the same time, the zombierobotpirate said, "Yarrr, hold yer fire if'n ye please! If'n ye be Syndicate mates, we be friendly!"
"A friendly zombie? That's a new one," Clarice said suspiciously.
"Well not really, I knew this guy named Sid once..." Jacob commented.
"Just take it easy, I think I know this guy," Kirara said to Clarice.
Clarice lowered her gun a little. "You know this zombie?"
Kirara looked steadily at him. "Yeah... I think I do."
The pirate squinted his eyes at her. "Well I'll be a son of a barnacled sea hag... You'll pardon me missy if I can't quite remember yer name, but ye remind me of a lass from the ol' Gunsmoke pub."
"It's Kirara. And you're... Captain Yemman, aren't you?"
"Aye, in the flesh. Well... what's left of it now, anyway," he said sheepishly.
"That's more than I ever expected to see of you again," Kirara said.
"Well... erm... let's just say that Davy Jones' locker warn't quite ready fer me yet," Yemman replied with a self-conscious grin.
Kirara looked at him and just kind of nodded a little. Clarice glanced at her, wondering if they could all relax and be friends now.
Then Kirara abruptly raised her own gun and pointed it at the pirate.
"Does the name Wyatt Matthews ring any bells? You couldn't remember my name, but maybe you'll remember the name of someone you murdered."
Yemman flinched and the blood ran a little colder in his veins. So his past was going to catch up with him after all.
"Aye... I recollect what yer talkin' about all too well," he answered calmly, ready to take responsibility and plead his case. "An' if you recollect it the way ya seem to, I don't blame ya fer pointin' that gun at me. But if the word of an old seafarin' dog is worth anythin' to ya, I kin assure ya that the man I were then ain't the man I be now. Me head was all clouded up with angst an' rum an' voices sayin' me name backwards. I be past all that now, I found me some reckless fiyah and me soul's been properly drasticated. If'n ye'll only give me another chance, all I be wantin' is to join with me old mateys an' fight the good fight."
"Wyatt Matthews... he was killed during those riots, wasn't he?" Clarice asked.
"He was," Kirara answered evenly.
"And you're saying..." Clarice wasn't sure how to continue the horrible thought.
"He was killed by his own comrade," Kirara finished for her. "I was there, I saw what happened that night. I also know who started those riots in the first place."
Clarice gasped and looked back at Yemman, who was looking pained and avoiding their eyes.
"I got no excuses," he said sadly. "Only me word that things now ain't like they were back then. I thought I could take on the world meself, I didn't need no crew holdin' me back. I guess it took dyin' to see how wrong I were."
He looked up at Kirara and her gun. "I'll beg fergiveness if'n ye want. I just be wantin' a second chance ta prove meself."
Kirara pursed her lips. "I'm not the person you should be asking. Clarice here is one of our leaders. It's up to her whether to give you your second chance."
Yemman turned his pleading gaze to Clarice, and she felt a sudden rush of apprehension as she realized that she was going to have to make the decision.
"Well... I understand what you're saying..." she began uncertainly. "And if you've really changed, then I guess that's a good thing..."
Yemman looked hopeful, but Clarice didn't want him to get ahead of himself. "But betraying your own allies, that's not something we can take lightly. How can we be sure you won't do it again?"
"I'll give ya me solemn oath, on whatever honor I had as a man of the sea."
"No offense, but that's not much to go on," Kirara said.
"If I may say so..." Kenshin said quietly, "It is true that a man who has killed in the past may wish to atone for his sins, that he may. This man wouldn't be the first among us to do so."
Clarice didn't know much about Kenshin's history, but she had a feeling he was speaking from experience.
She considered the situation carefully, and then looked assertively at Yemman.
"All right, Yemman, you can join us. BUT -" she added quickly, seeing both the pirate's excitement and Kirara's disapproval, "- you won't be acting on your own anymore. You're going to be part of our squad from now on. That means you guys stick with us and don't do anything on your own. Follow my orders and don't do anything stupid. We'll be keeping a close eye on you. And if you do anything to harm any of our allies, I give Kirara my permission to stop you."
Yemman grimaced, not wanting to imagine what Kirara would do, but he was thankful that Clarice had granted him amnesty. He doffed his pirate hat and bowed as low as his robot body would allow.
"I thank ye, ma'am, and I promise ye won't regret it."
"Okay all this talking is boring. Are we gonna go fight some more?" Kazuma interjected, having finally gotten fed up with standing around being bored.
Clarice looked at him and raised her eyebrows, but she decided against asking any more questions about their other new teammate. "All right, let's move out," she ordered with a sigh.
Kazuma whooped and charged off in search of the next enemy to fight, and Yemman drew his sword and followed along behind him, equally excited.
Clarice and Kirara exchanged looks, both hoping that they could manage these two roughnecks, and then they and the rest of the team hurried to catch up.
**********
Raef was in charge of the base's operations and maintenance, so he'd been spending a lot of time looking at electrical wiring and making sure the bunker's climate control and water and air purification systems were working properly. Taking a much-needed break, he headed down to the mech lab to see if his old friend Larry was free for dinner.
"NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!!!!"
Raef paused, but then quickened his pace when he realized that the voice screaming in terror was Larry's.
"But it's a brilliant idea! You can't tell me it isn't!"
Raef turned the corner into the workshop to find Lloyd standing with his arms crossed looking skeptical, Matrix waving around papers that looked like drawings, and Larry under a table looking like he was preparing for an air raid.
"Um... what's going on in here?" Raef asked uncertainly.
"RAEF! You've gotta save me!" Larry cried, propelling himself out from under the table and cowering behind his friend. "It's horrible! It's sadistic! Don't let them do this to me!"
"Do what?" Raef asked, still perplexed.
"Raef, you're a smart boy," Matrix said confidently. He strode over to Raef and placed the drawings into his hands, prompting Larry to shriek and run off again.
"Um... what am I looking at?" Raef asked, trying to get his bearings with the diagrams.
"The salvation of our Knightmare program!" Matrix exulted.
"Hrmph," Lloyd scoffed. "Our salvation was the Knightmare program. But if your people can't stop ruining my mechs, I suppose some... extreme modifications may become necessary."
"So what do you think?" Matrix asked excitedly. "Is it not brilliant? And don't say it's not, because it totally is."
Raef didn't have an answer right away, because he was still having some difficulty telling what the sketch was supposed to be. It looked like a box with arms, which he guessed was supposed to be a mech. But it looked like the box was being carried by an octopus or something.
"Wait... are these... tentacles?" Raef asked incredulously.
"NO NO NO NO NO!!!" Larry screeched from wherever he was hiding.
"Yes!" Matrix exclaimed, ignoring Larry. "The perfect thing to revitalize this currently immobile Knightmare! It's brilliant!"
"You can carry a mech on tentacles? And where are we even supposed to get tentacles from?" Raef asked skeptically.
"I've been cultivating some in a little damp corner of the base I found," Matrix said proudly.
"WHERE ARE THEY I'LL BURN THEM!" Larry shouted.
"You will do no such thing!" Matrix shot back, finally starting to get annoyed at his former subordinate. "I've been growing them for exactly this sort of purpose, and they're exactly what we need here. They've finally grown nice and big, and ten or twelve of them ought to be able to support the body of the Knightmare frame. I haven't heard any better ideas from the two of you, so it's either this or let a perfectly operable Knightmare continue sitting there unused."
He gestured over to the mech that Cid and Proof had been piloting, which had indeed been just sitting there since losing its legs on the first day of battle.
"...You really haven't been able to come up with anything better than this?" Raef asked, leafing through the drawings.
"Well I suggested outfitting it with tank treads," Larry said.
"Too limiting to the mobility," Matrix said, shaking his head. "A mech has to stay agile; it can't just go in one direction and take ten seconds to turn."
"At least you know what treads are going to do!" Larry said. "How do you expect to control twelve of those things at once?"
"It's all about wiring up the nerve endings," Matrix said. "And if anyone is a pro at that it's me."
Even without seeing him, Raef could imagine Larry shuddering.
"I of course would prefer to just construct new legs for it," Lloyd said. "But that will of course take time to do right."
"And that's time we don't have, while my design can be implemented right now!" Matrix continued his sales pitch.
"Well... I guess it's a thing..." Raef said noncommittally. He studied the drawings more closely, until he realized that both Matrix and Lloyd were looking at him expectantly. Wherever Larry was, he was probably also waiting for Raef to make a pronouncement.
"Um... I guess it could work," Raef finally conceded. "I mean I can't give you permission or anything, but it at least seems like a possibility."
Matrix clapped and shouted "Yeah!" triumphantly, while Lloyd just went "hmph" and Larry started wailing.
"Raaaaeeef... how could yooouuuuu..."
"Oh, stop crying, you big baby, you don't have to help if you don't want to," Matrix said.
"I said I couldn't give you permission," Raef reminded them. "You still need to clear it with one of the actual leaders."
"Well congratulations, your idea wins," Lloyd said, not sounding entirely enthused. "Go present your proposal to Mustang so we can get -"
"NO!" Matrix exclaimed without thinking. The others looked at him quizzically. "Nooohohoho..." he continued, trying to play it cool. "The General has far too many very important things on his plate to be bothered with something trivial like this. I'll talk to somebody else. Like, um, Hikki, I guess..." Lloyd snorted, and upon consideration it occurred to Matrix that the Frenchman might be easily squicked out by tentacles. "Or Clari- uhhh... maybe Cil- umm... hey, isn't Kamina like the leader of the mech squad? I'll ask him."
Lloyd waved his hand indifferently. "Do as you like, it's your proposal. Just let me know when it's time to actually get to work. At the very least I should be able to get some interesting data out of this little experiment."
Raef handed the papers back to Matrix, glad to be washing his hands of the whole thing. "Good luck, Professor," he said.
Matrix beamed at him. "Thank you, my boy. If you're not too busy, come by later tonight to see the master at work."
"Uh... I think I'll be busy with some, uh... plumbing maintenance," Raef said evasively. "But I'm sure Larry can tell me about it later."
"Oh hell no, I'm not going to be anywhere near here until that thing is gone," Larry's disembodied voice said.
"Fine, take the night off if you're that much of a chicken," Matrix said, scowling. "I don't need you anyway."
"Well I didn't need you first," Larry retorted.
"Okaaaay," Raef said, before the obviously long-standing bitterness between them could go any further into "NO U" territory. "Larry, do you want to get some dinner? That's what I came down here for in the first place."
"Oh sure, now you want to pretend like you're my friend," Larry sulked.
"If you want I can just leave you in here with these guys..." Raef suggested, starting to walk away.
Larry suddenly appeared and headed straight for the door. "Dinner sounds fine, smell you guys later."
Matrix watched the two of them go and then turned back to his papers. He felt like he had just won a major victory. He didn't expect talking that lunkhead Kamina into going along with the plan would be too hard, and then he could spend the rest of the night playing.
Oh yes, it was going to be a fun night.
Chapter 47 author's notes:
Recurring characters:
Michelle Ozzal - Mike Lazzo
Emiri - _Boxers_
Sam Champlan - SamuraiChamplooFan
Kirara Amour - kiraralove
Lucille "Cille" Compton - Cille
Eric Ominae - OMNI-Enforcer
Clarice Rowe - QueenoftheDorks
Jacob the Liar - jakobtheliar12
Captain Yemman - myname
*Wyatt Matthews - Wyotech_material
Raef Compton - Maenos
Larry Zorin - LAZY17
Professor M. Matrix - matrixman124
*Cid - cidthekittyisfun
*Proof - NoProof91
*Hikki Follet - Kohikki
*Roy Mustang - Fullmetal Alchemist
Mugen - Samurai Champloo
Makina - Deadman Wonderland
*Rakshata Chawla - Code Geass
Elian - s-CRY-ed
Aoi - Ghost in the Shell
*Kamina - Tengen Toppa Gurren-Lagann
Winry Rockbell - Fullmetal Alchemist
Tres Iqus - Trinity Blood
*Zolf Kimbley - Fullmetal Alchemist
Kazuma - s-CRY-ed
Lloyd Asplund - Code Geass
New characters:
Joseph "Jojo" Joestar - Jojo's Bizarre Adventure
Kenshin Himura - Rurouni Kenshin
*Sid - Soul Eater
*Characters marked with an asterisk are mentioned in this chapter but do not have an active role in the story.