GAMA: Episode 2 "Last in Line" [IC] [OPEN]

[Ulvenes]

"That doesn't really answer my question.." Kaya said with a whimper. She then proceeded to pile all of the other weapons back on to the cart. She pushed the cart back to the man at the armory and returned them all, deciding to keep the SCAR which was black in color. "Can I get some optics and gear for this?" She asked and he replied with "Jawohl." He replied and gave her a list of different types of gear and rail accessories. She looked over the list, "I'll take a x4 zoom, a holographic sight, an infra-red laser sight, a tac-light, a bipod, and an angled foregrip." She said. The man nodded and gave Kaya what she asked and she proceeded to put them on her rails. She then returned to her firing lane and loaded a few mags so she could sight in her new rifle.

[Towers]

“I can do interface work.” He confirmed with a nod “Play with it, get the reaction times down to with any luck. We can chat about lighter matters, now I’ve never been here before so you should probably lead the way.”
While technically none of what he had just said was untrue Grossman had memorised the base layout ages ago from messages and floor plans Erica had sent him, but Lorelei didn’t need to know that, so Grossman just indicated his arm politely toward the interior.

"That's exactly what I'm hoping to do." Dr. Jarnefeldt said as she stepped past her colleague. "Surprises happen all to often on the battlefield, and the faster one can react the less of a chance that such surprise attacks would succeed. Don't you agree?" Dr. Jarnefeldt asked.

She led Dr. Grossman to a separate hangar that she had commandeered and subsequently locked down for the Guardian's construction. Was it a gross abuse of her position as head of Gama R&D? Perhaps. Was it necessary, given that there was a mole lurking around and her son's safety is on the line? Well she had no doubt in her mind on the answer to that question. As they approached the hangar, a lone guard saluted and stepped aside to allow them inside. No doubt he recognized her by now given how many times she had been in that hangar in the past few days. Inside the Valk stood inactive in the center of the hangar and close by underneath sat the revamped ANGEL system she had been working on putting in. "I thought the matte black color scheme would help make it a bit harder to identify on night ops." Dr. Jarnefeldt said matter of factly as she introduced the VALK to Dr. Grossman. "The system that I've been tweaking is the patented neural interface that I developed. This VALK was designed to move at higher speeds and increase the general acrobatic maneuverability while in the air, so not only does it require shorter user interface response time but shorter reaction times from the user themselves."

“On the topic of our beloved user how is he after his little encounter in the air? Erica told me he was a bit shaken by the whole affair, wouldn’t want him losing his confidence now would we?"

Striding up to VALK Grossman flipped open a thick multi-tool he had produced from his coat, bristling with all sorts of functions. Climbing up to the cockpit he dipped inside and poked about a bit before finding what he was looking for, the neural interface giving off its distinctive blue glow.
“Now the most common problem I see with the see in these sort of units…” he narrated as he opened the interface and began poking around with the muti-tool in the delicate nerve tissues that served as wiring for the interface.
“Ahh gotcha,” He exclaimed in quite a self-satisfied way, “Coiling of the nerve tissues as they expand, inhibits transmission and negates the benefit of cultivating such tissues in the first place. They’re not quite set yet though so if I just,” The manipulators of the tool extended, “very gently,” and unwrapped the strands, “there we go.”
Turning back to Lorelei and flashing his brilliant, self-satisfied grin he explained, “A rather brilliant young man from Devon published a paper on all the emerging issues of these sorts of interfaces last year, great reading.”

[Monfrox]

Alexandra fumed internally as the words "Proteus tunrcoat" reached her ears. A defector? Why? She didn't want to trust this girl at all. For all she knew, they were trying a different method of infiltration. And yet, she had to. They were on the ropes, and she needed all the help she could get. Even if it came from the most unlikely sources. Still, she wondered how the others would take to it. Not well, she feared. She looked to the two guards. "If any of you breathe a word about this, I'll make you wish you were stationed down in South Africa, got it? Make sure everyone else who saw her knows that as well. As far as your concerned, she was never hear. And go to the supply officer and get me a standard uniform, now." She ordered. If she could keep the lid on the fact that this girl was from Proteus, she could hopefully avoid conflict in the team.

---

"Hon, I don't have the slightest idea how to work computers, I hate to tell ya. You're better off asking the techies over in communications. They love being around computers all day." Mary said back.

[Qeno]

Alexandra fumed internally as the words "Proteus tunrcoat" reached her ears. A defector? Why? She didn't want to trust this girl at all. For all she knew, they were trying a different method of infiltration. And yet, she had to. They were on the ropes, and she needed all the help she could get. Even if it came from the most unlikely sources. Still, she wondered how the others would take to it. Not well, she feared. She looked to the two guards. "If any of you breathe a word about this, I'll make you wish you were stationed down in South Africa, got it? Make sure everyone else who saw her knows that as well. As far as your concerned, she was never hear. And go to the supply officer and get me a standard uniform, now." She ordered. If she could keep the lid on the fact that this girl was from Proteus, she could hopefully avoid conflict in the team.

---

"Hon, I don't have the slightest idea how to work computers, I hate to tell ya. You're better off asking the techies over in communications. They love being around computers all day." Mary said back.

Sierra Tanique

"Yes ma'm, we will return shortly" The leader said as he took one of the more talkative guards and walked away then around the corner before snapping a quick salute, leaving two others with the commander to watch over the turncoat. The two moved so quick that Sierra looked at the leader and opened mouth but instead of words a sigh came out knowing that they wouldn't hear her protest to be relieved of the cuffs that bound her hands. She rolled her eyes to the side of the teenage commander and puffed one of her cheeks in annoyance of having her desires ignored after proving that she had not interest in re-joining Proteus.

"I know that this is odd and borderline questionable but...is there anything you would want or even need me to do right now?" Sierra asked. Back at her old station with Proteus she often got herself a pile of tasks to do just by asking her commanding officer if he wanted her to do something even if it was not mission related and sometimes the man said odd things like passing out correspondence to other offices on the base. She found the irony in her military record of first being enlisted in GAMA before being captured by Proteus and shortly conscripted into their service then returning to GAMA after the notable deeds she accomplished in Proteus. The other two guardsmen looked at each other in surprise; While they were around her she never asked to do something for GAMA and only remained silent in their company.

---

"Okay, Where would I go to find communications?" Rei asked the red haired Chief Engineer before getting ready to start moving after being told where the communications room was.

[The BranRiech]

"Emergency ejection seats with explosive bolts along the main mountings and housings for the cannon. That way even if the main automated parts are damaged, you can just jettison pieces of the gun until enough has cleared away," a smile spread across the young man's face as he thought about actually being able to use explosives for something either than himself for once.

"Gun's worthless compared to a pilot. In fact, I hear they're in short supply these days." Anna chuckled. "It's end up looking like the gun gets ejected too, kind of funny. Now, do I get like, a parachute, or at least landing rockets? like those old spaceships did?" She asked, wondering how she'd survive being thrown from the VALK in an emergency.

[Kassaran]

"Emergency ejection seats with explosive bolts along the main mountings and housings for the cannon. That way even if the main automated parts are damaged, you can just jettison pieces of the gun until enough has cleared away," a smile spread across the young man's face as he thought about actually being able to use explosives for something either than himself for once.

"Gun's worthless compared to a pilot. In fact, I hear they're in short supply these days." Anna chuckled. "It's end up looking like the gun gets ejected too, kind of funny. Now, do I get like, a parachute, or at least landing rockets? like those old spaceships did?" She asked, wondering how she'd survive being thrown from the VALK in an emergency.

"Indeed, or rather, instead of being launched, it could just open up your cockpit anyways for an emergency evacuation. My VALK only has an escape pod because of what it was originally designed to do. Installing a similar system on yours could be much more difficult and dangerous than just having an emergency break-away hatch.

[The BranRiech]

"Indeed, or rather, instead of being launched, it could just open up your cockpit anyways for an emergency evacuation. My VALK only has an escape pod because of what it was originally designed to do. Installing a similar system on yours could be much more difficult and dangerous than just having an emergency break-away hatch.

"As much as I don't want to climb out of an exploding VALK with my own soft and squishy human body, it seems like that'd be the only way to do it. How about fuck it, alright? If the VALK's about to blow, I'd rather go down with it, than get thrown out while on fire or something." Anna sighed, hearing stories about pilots climbing out of a flaming VALK only to succumb to the flames moments later. Anna, while she wanted to be cremated when she died, didn't want a cremation in that sort of style.

"Ain't burning to death." She repeated to herself, audibly this time.

[Kassaran]

"Indeed, or rather, instead of being launched, it could just open up your cockpit anyways for an emergency evacuation. My VALK only has an escape pod because of what it was originally designed to do. Installing a similar system on yours could be much more difficult and dangerous than just having an emergency break-away hatch.

"As much as I don't want to climb out of an exploding VALK with my own soft and squishy human body, it seems like that'd be the only way to do it. How about fuck it, alright? If the VALK's about to blow, I'd rather go down with it, than get thrown out while on fire or something." Anna sighed, hearing stories about pilots climbing out of a flaming VALK only to succumb to the flames moments later. Anna, while she wanted to be cremated when she died, didn't want a cremation in that sort of style.

"Ain't burning to death." She repeated to herself, audibly this time.

"And you won't. We've got proper suppression systems back in the A-U to keep that from happening in the tanks alone. You're more likely to die of a shockwave than the heat. If you survive, then the suppression gear will kick in and fill the cockpit with enough fire retardant foam to make an emergency damage control crew jealous. Trust me, I'm not going to let anyone die a death like that, especially if I'm dealing with their VALK in as intimate a way as yours." It was true, excessive combat casualties to incendiary rounds fired from Proteus VALKs in the wars down below the equator between the AU/NZ Gama forces and the zealots themselves had resulted in tanks usually carrying excessive amounts of anti-ballistic penetration gel layers and fire-suppressing foam dispensers. Such dispensers naturally carried enough simple anti-biotics and soothing coolants to safely deal with basic burn wounds too that had formed in the .38 seconds available on average for the system to kick in.

[Tsuyoi Tekikoku]

"Mhmm."

There was something to her accent. That, and she said "motherland."

"You're Russian, aren't you?", Shirley asked. "I'm just guessing. Anyway, you really don't like whoever that is. I'll just have to meet her to make my own judgement."

"It is to easy to tell that comrade!". Anako gave Shirley a playful punch to the shoulder. "Im a only child..So,sense I had no sibling,I got asument out of fighting the beasts that live without the motherland! Currently,I'm waiting for my chance at the Yeti!". She chuckled once more and started off the tour of the base by walking towards the kitchen and hoped that she could make friend with this new girl. But that was all dependent on time.

[Xing]

"That doesn't really answer my question.." Kaya said with a whimper. She then proceeded to pile all of the other weapons back on to the cart. She pushed the cart back to the man at the armory and returned them all, deciding to keep the SCAR which was black in color. "Can I get some optics and gear for this?" She asked and he replied with "Jawohl." He replied and gave her a list of different types of gear and rail accessories. She looked over the list, "I'll take a x4 zoom, a holographic sight, an infra-red laser sight, a tac-light, a bipod, and an angled foregrip." She said. The man nodded and gave Kaya what she asked and she proceeded to put them on her rails. She then returned to her firing lane and loaded a few mags so she could sight in her new rifle.

A slight pang of confusion flashed across Charlotte's face when the girl felt like she didn't get an answer. She honestly thought that she had answered the question truthfully. She didn't really show favorites out on the battlefield, whatever was there was what she used. And because of that she didn't really feel that she had the right to be picky. However as she thought about it there were a few favorites that stuck out in her mind. She walked over to the armorer. "ACR?" She asked plainly. The man stepped back from the counter and went to work finding the rifle and loading a few magazines for her. She walked back to the stanchion next to the girl and began to load up the magazine. "Well seeing as what I said apparently wasn't a good enough answer for you I'll elaborate. A lot of what I like is adaptability. For me the ideal gun would be usable in nearly all situations. That being said the SCAR you have there and this ACR both fit that category fairly well. I'm also a big fan of heavy caliber anti-materiel rifles as well. There's just something about having that much power in you hands that's invigorating."

“On the topic of our beloved user how is he after his little encounter in the air? Erica told me he was a bit shaken by the whole affair, wouldn’t want him losing his confidence now would we?"

Striding up to VALK Grossman flipped open a thick multi-tool he had produced from his coat, bristling with all sorts of functions. Climbing up to the cockpit he dipped inside and poked about a bit before finding what he was looking for, the neural interface giving off its distinctive blue glow.
“Now the most common problem I see with the see in these sort of units…” he narrated as he opened the interface and began poking around with the muti-tool in the delicate nerve tissues that served as wiring for the interface.
“Ahh gotcha,” He exclaimed in quite a self-satisfied way, “Coiling of the nerve tissues as they expand, inhibits transmission and negates the benefit of cultivating such tissues in the first place. They’re not quite set yet though so if I just,” The manipulators of the tool extended, “very gently,” and unwrapped the strands, “there we go.”
Turning back to Lorelei and flashing his brilliant, self-satisfied grin he explained, “A rather brilliant young man from Devon published a paper on all the emerging issues of these sorts of interfaces last year, great reading.”

"I'm sure I've got it laying around somewhere. I just have yet to read it and see what he has to say." Dr. Jarnefeldt admitted. She carefully watched over Dr. Grossman's work. The ANGEL was her personally designed system and she didn't want to take the chances of someone else tampering with it or taking it apart and analyzing how it worked. "And with my son he's been shaken up by it, but I don't feel like its going to discourage him. Or at least I would hope not. He isn't used to failure so when it does happen he tends to take it pretty hard. In a way its my fault for doing everything in my power to ensure his success, but my hopes in doing so is that he never does fail and it doesn't become an issue. Part of the problem I've run into with him though is the way that he'll just block out things that happened. I haven't found out for sure if he's intentionally trying to forget it, or if its a subconscious way of coping with his shortcomings."

[The Carlisle]

Will looked at Gilbert and gave him a smile. "Yes, I did," he said, sighing,"It wasn't a good day to get to know here. Although in saying that, I did get to know her, just... not in the way I expected..."

He looked around for the waitress. He spotted her and called her over. "I want to change my order. I want a hot tea instead of an iced one." She nodded and went back to what she was doing.

[Razzgriz]

Sierra Tanique

"Yes ma'm, we will return shortly" The leader said as he took one of the more talkative guards and walked away then around the corner before snapping a quick salute, leaving two others with the commander to watch over the turncoat. The two moved so quick that Sierra looked at the leader and opened mouth but instead of words a sigh came out knowing that they wouldn't hear her protest to be relieved of the cuffs that bound her hands. She rolled her eyes to the side of the teenage commander and puffed one of her cheeks in annoyance of having her desires ignored after proving that she had not interest in re-joining Proteus.

"I know that this is odd and borderline questionable but...is there anything you would want or even need me to do right now?" Sierra asked. Back at her old station with Proteus she often got herself a pile of tasks to do just by asking her commanding officer if he wanted her to do something even if it was not mission related and sometimes the man said odd things like passing out correspondence to other offices on the base. She found the irony in her military record of first being enlisted in GAMA before being captured by Proteus and shortly conscripted into their service then returning to GAMA after the notable deeds she accomplished in Proteus. The other two guardsmen looked at each other in surprise; While they were around her she never asked to do something for GAMA and only remained silent in their company.

---

"Okay, Where would I go to find communications?" Rei asked the red haired Chief Engineer before getting ready to start moving after being told where the communications room was.

As Rei was talking to the engineer John hung back looking at everything that was going on in the hanger. He figured that he wasn't needed for the initial start of the conversation and decided to look around more to get a better feel for the base. However it wasn't long before he noticed Rei was headed his way. "So what happened?" he asked still looking around.

[Torsiedelle]

"Mhmm."

There was something to her accent. That, and she said "motherland."

"You're Russian, aren't you?", Shirley asked. "I'm just guessing. Anyway, you really don't like whoever that is. I'll just have to meet her to make my own judgement."

"It is to easy to tell that comrade!". Anako gave Shirley a playful punch to the shoulder. "Im a only child..So,sense I had no sibling,I got asument out of fighting the beasts that live without the motherland! Currently,I'm waiting for my chance at the Yeti!". She chuckled once more and started off the tour of the base by walking towards the kitchen and hoped that she could make friend with this new girl. But that was all dependent on time.

"The Yeti, huh?", Shirley replied, her own country drawl somewhat evident, although she was trying to conceal it. "I ain't never seen a yeti, but I have once thought about searching for the Florida Ape-man. Too bad I never got to go to the marches, but I wouldn't mind seein' the yeti."

The scent of food and clean tabletops made there way to the new girl. She sniffed and hummed as they walked along. "What's the food like? It's been forever since I've had food like back home. Man, I'd love to cook some cornbread, or fry up some chicken, or even make a nice, fatty dinner from whatever pork I can find.", She chuckled, patting her chest. "It's not good for the heart, but the soul loves it."

[The BranRiech]

"And you won't. We've got proper suppression systems back in the A-U to keep that from happening in the tanks alone. You're more likely to die of a shockwave than the heat. If you survive, then the suppression gear will kick in and fill the cockpit with enough fire retardant foam to make an emergency damage control crew jealous. Trust me, I'm not going to let anyone die a death like that, especially if I'm dealing with their VALK in as intimate a way as yours." It was true, excessive combat casualties to incendiary rounds fired from Proteus VALKs in the wars down below the equator between the AU/NZ Gama forces and the zealots themselves had resulted in tanks usually carrying excessive amounts of anti-ballistic penetration gel layers and fire-suppressing foam dispensers. Such dispensers naturally carried enough simple anti-biotics and soothing coolants to safely deal with basic burn wounds too that had formed in the .38 seconds available on average for the system to kick in.

"Well shit, not enough for me to drown in, I don't want that foam to be the end of me." Anna chuckled, trying to make light of the prospects of dying in a VALK. She didn't really care much how she died in the end, as long as it wasn't in this shitty war, or it wasn't in some terribly painful way that would leave her wanting death more than nothing else. She wanted to die and not know it, to go in her sleep, or to go instantly in battle, or of old age. "

[Kassaran]

"And you won't. We've got proper suppression systems back in the A-U to keep that from happening in the tanks alone. You're more likely to die of a shockwave than the heat. If you survive, then the suppression gear will kick in and fill the cockpit with enough fire retardant foam to make an emergency damage control crew jealous. Trust me, I'm not going to let anyone die a death like that, especially if I'm dealing with their VALK in as intimate a way as yours." It was true, excessive combat casualties to incendiary rounds fired from Proteus VALKs in the wars down below the equator between the AU/NZ Gama forces and the zealots themselves had resulted in tanks usually carrying excessive amounts of anti-ballistic penetration gel layers and fire-suppressing foam dispensers. Such dispensers naturally carried enough simple anti-biotics and soothing coolants to safely deal with basic burn wounds too that had formed in the .38 seconds available on average for the system to kick in.

"Well shit, not enough for me to drown in, I don't want that foam to be the end of me." Anna chuckled, trying to make light of the prospects of dying in a VALK. She didn't really care much how she died in the end, as long as it wasn't in this shitty war, or it wasn't in some terribly painful way that would leave her wanting death more than nothing else. She wanted to die and not know it, to go in her sleep, or to go instantly in battle, or of old age. "

"Hence why it is called foam, it has air bubbles in it, and would slowly dissipate with time. I'm certain that everything would be fine. No need to worry, we'll make sure your perfectly capable of surviving such dangers." it had been a few minutes worth of travel time, and now the base checkpoint slowly appeared in the window, only to quickly pass by as the driver showed his security clearance papers and the needed documentation for his two passengers. Within another minute and they were slowly pulling into the motor pool and moving across the small enclosed area, Joshua reached over and opened the door," alright, looks like we're here. Ladies fir-"

The number one thing he'd forgotten was his own lack of strength or balance outside of his exo suit. Mostly balance, and a second later he felt the door give way, his own center of balanced compromised from reaching out now left him hanging over empty air, into which he promptly passed and a moment later he shut his eyes as the ground rushed up to meet him.

[Ulvenes]

A slight pang of confusion flashed across Charlotte's face when the girl felt like she didn't get an answer. She honestly thought that she had answered the question truthfully. She didn't really show favorites out on the battlefield, whatever was there was what she used. And because of that she didn't really feel that she had the right to be picky. However as she thought about it there were a few favorites that stuck out in her mind. She walked over to the armorer. "ACR?" She asked plainly. The man stepped back from the counter and went to work finding the rifle and loading a few magazines for her. She walked back to the stanchion next to the girl and began to load up the magazine. "Well seeing as what I said apparently wasn't a good enough answer for you I'll elaborate. A lot of what I like is adaptability. For me the ideal gun would be usable in nearly all situations. That being said the SCAR you have there and this ACR both fit that category fairly well. I'm also a big fan of heavy caliber anti-materiel rifles as well. There's just something about having that much power in you hands that's invigorating."

Kaya giggled softly. "Sorry but I thought that the answer you gave was fairly generalized and vague. Not a real answer, or at least an answer I was looking for. And while I can agree with the SCAR here, I'd have to disagree on that ACR. While it's a good assault rifle or maybe carbine, it can't extend in to the fields that this SCAR can. This SCAR can be a designated marksman rifle, a battle rifle, or even a light machine gun." She said, with a smile. Even though it was probably nothing, Kaya felt like she was actually somewhat bonding with this girl. Or at least making a friend at the very least. Kaya's ears folded up in excitement, enjoying her first real conversation with someone who wasn't a scientist egghead.

[Qeno]

As Rei was talking to the engineer John hung back looking at everything that was going on in the hanger. He figured that he wasn't needed for the initial start of the conversation and decided to look around more to get a better feel for the base. However it wasn't long before he noticed Rei was headed his way. "So what happened?" he asked still looking around.

"We'll have to go to communications and I think I remember going there...guess it's time to check on my friends" Rei said looking at John who was wandering around in the background. She blinked a couple times raising her fingertip towards the metallic ceiling overhead and began to walk deeper into the base before hearing the familiar voices of her friends. Once again the leader of the group was a tall young man wearing a tainted bright yellow lab coat with a cartoon looking onion patch on the cuff of the jacket. He was carrying a brown cardboard box with a conspicuous post-it note labeled in German hidden by a messy scrawl and the other young men carried trays of food walking behind him.

"Onion, why are you guys doing there?" Rei called over to the leader and the young man turned around with a smile on his face. His pace came to a sudden stop as he placed the cardboard box on the ground and unveiled a box filled to the brim with desktop computer parts then he said "Investing in the class server now that we start within the next couple of days. Did you know that in town we could access our bank accounts from America?"

"I didn't, but could you help me with something?" Rei asked with her eyes starting to sparkle a little and hid the destroyed section of her laptop behind her back then gave a charming smile making Onion befuddled.

"Uh sure, what is it?"

"Well I unplugged my laptop from the machine that I operate and the code needed to use the machine took out one of the hard drives along with the heat sink." Rei said brandishing her destroyed laptop and prompting Onion's pulse to drop at the destruction of what the monster wrought on the poor defenseless portable computer.

"Cheebus Christ!" Onion said as his eyes grew wide and picked up the young woman's laptop from her hands then looked at the gaping hole on the bottom of the machine. The charred motherboard could be seen from the damaged chassis and a spare hard drive was seen miraculously undamaged followed by the rest of the parts glued to the motherboard. "You are looking for what little parts to salvage my good woman like that spare hard drive in there and we'll have to be looking for a replacement altogether. Lucky for you I'll get that replacement to get you back for meeting us in Japan" Onion said almost squeezing a smile on his face and eventually bent back over to pick up the box again with the laptop sitting on the roof the the cardboard top then he gestured to Rei with head rolls.

"Come with, we'll get that hard drive out" Onion said and he began to lead the woman to the communication section of the base in which there was a secluded part of that section containing a desk with the two foot tall desktop sitting on top of it.

[The BranRiech]

"Hence why it is called foam, it has air bubbles in it, and would slowly dissipate with time. I'm certain that everything would be fine. No need to worry, we'll make sure your perfectly capable of surviving such dangers." it had been a few minutes worth of travel time, and now the base checkpoint slowly appeared in the window, only to quickly pass by as the driver showed his security clearance papers and the needed documentation for his two passengers. Within another minute and they were slowly pulling into the motor pool and moving across the small enclosed area, Joshua reached over and opened the door," alright, looks like we're here. Ladies fir-"

The number one thing he'd forgotten was his own lack of strength or balance outside of his exo suit. Mostly balance, and a second later he felt the door give way, his own center of balanced compromised from reaching out now left him hanging over empty air, into which he promptly passed and a moment later he shut his eyes as the ground rushed up to meet him.

Nodding as the explanation of foam soaked in (Hah, get it?), Anna stayed a bit quiet for the rest of the car ride as the SUV driver parked. Anna leaned forward and thanked the driver for his thankless job of lugging a bunch of much more important kids around wherever they wanted, and looked over to see Joshua reaching across her lap to open up the door, only to fall out with the opening of the door, hanging comically in the air for a few seconds, enough time for Anna to let out a surprised gasp as she leapt into action.

Diving out after him, Anna grabbed the door handle with one arm, and reached down for Joshua's collar with the other, grabbing ahold of it just before the boy's face would have had an unfortunate meeting with the pavement.

At least it worked.

At least it worked until Anna's grip slipped, letting go of the SUV door accidentally as Joshua's fall resumed, his chest hit the ground first, avoiding any real damage to his face, though the second impact came from the light Anna falling squarely on top of him . . .

[United Kingdom of Poland]

Yeah.. I guess you would remember.. Kaya thought as her iconic wolf ears flickered. She was starting to feel like the girl didn't really like her. Her feeling of the cold shoulder disappeared as she giggled at the girls comment that "muskets can still kill people." She was right, however bad the musket may have been, it was still lethal. "Well we all have our opinions right? Mine would be this here SCAR." She continued and took the rifle back. "What do you believe is the best available option, Fraulein?" She asked curiously.

"For me a lot of it comes down to whatever is available at the time." Charlotte replied. "For quite a while I was put in a situation where I didn't have the luxury of being picky about what weapon I used. When you're trapped in a dead city you take what you can get. That being said I usually went for the best battle rifle I could scavenge off of the dead personnel, quite often SCARs like this being the only thing I could scavenge. I found the semi-auto combined with the distance it gave me to be the most beneficial advantage I could get."

" That information leak is probably more of a problem for us then our duplicates. Considering the former is probably the root of the latter. I just hope it's not someone close to us." Gregory looked around. The restaurant seemed to be getting more crowded compared to when he had gotten there, and every new face could be a spy or Proteus sympathizer. "Oh Gilbert, speaking of information leaks, maybe its not in our best interests to be talking about our mothers new recipe in the middle of a crowded restaurant." Hopefully he got the hint to shut up.

"Its not like it matters, I don't even know what half of the things she's put into me are doing. She doesn't really tell me unless its absolutely necessary." Gil griped. When Will walked in, he quickly switched his attention to the sopping wet boy. "Dear lord, Will. What happened? Did you find her?"

"What can I say. You spent your childhood learning how to be Rambo, I spent it learning how to be James Bond. Though trust when I say that even the smallest details can lead to major problems." Gregory noticed Will about the same time a Gilbert. " So I see St. Jude's mission was as successful as I expected it to be."

[Kassaran]

Nodding as the explanation of foam soaked in (Hah, get it?), Anna stayed a bit quiet for the rest of the car ride as the SUV driver parked. Anna leaned forward and thanked the driver for his thankless job of lugging a bunch of much more important kids around wherever they wanted, and looked over to see Joshua reaching across her lap to open up the door, only to fall out with the opening of the door, hanging comically in the air for a few seconds, enough time for Anna to let out a surprised gasp as she leapt into action.

Diving out after him, Anna grabbed the door handle with one arm, and reached down for Joshua's collar with the other, grabbing ahold of it just before the boy's face would have had an unfortunate meeting with the pavement.

At least it worked.

At least it worked until Anna's grip slipped, letting go of the SUV door accidentally as Joshua's fall resumed, his chest hit the ground first, avoiding any real damage to his face, though the second impact came from the light Anna falling squarely on top of him . . .

"Oompfff," the sudden release of air from Joshua's lungs came rushing out as his chest took the initial force of the impact. While falling at a decently slow rate, he still had struck the ground with enough force for it to punish him with a blow to his chest. Then he felt pressure, and while it wasn't all that rough or much, it was certainly a presence. His knees slammed into the ground as the force of whatever was now on top of his back forced the rest of his body out of the SUV and onto the pavement next to it. Wincing from the slight sting of the pain, he turned his head to find himself looking at Anna Davenport now perched atop his back, also having fallen out on top of him.

Well, I'll bet we look like either a completely hapless pair of drunkards, or two kids whom have yet to learn how to toddle much less walk. It was a comical thought, and then he quickly realized why she now was out of the SUV and the rather unceremonious fashion in how it occurred," Oh! Davenport! Sorry, I didn't mean, well thank you, I'm sorry. I need to get going."

Extracting himself out from underneath the girl slowly, he paused as he waited for her to shift her weight off of him so he could truly make his way up to his feet," I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to make you fall out to. You honestly didn't need to help me, we heal so fast anyways it's hardly anything to trip like that.

[Monfrox]

The commander sighed to herself, grabbing the new uniform. "I'll be leaving soon to grab one of our other pilots for a quick minute. You are to change in my office and let the guards escort you to your room. Your old uniform will be confiscated if you don't hide it, for your protection. You are not, under ANY circumstances, to tell anyone about your previous affiliation with Proteus. I cannot guarantee your safety 24/7. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got one last thing to do." She said, walking out.

Alexandra ambushed Rei from behind when she caught her walking down the hall in front of her. "Ah, Ms. Nagase! There you are! I hope you weren't planning on skipping out on your big day~! No cold feet around here, not when the greater good is at stake!" She said, grabbing the girl and all but dragging her out. "We haven't much time. The scientists are wearing down Dr. Jarnefeldt's patience as I speak, and I'm sure she's wondering where I've been keeping you." She had a schedule to keep, and she'd rather not stand the Good Doctor up. Unfortunately for Rei, she was bringing her in whether she liked it or not and would not allow for protest. She made her way to the R/D wing of the base and popped into the operating room. "I'll give you a few minutes with the specialists to calm your nerves while I go talk with the others." She said, walking out.

The Captain made her way up top and popped in to see Grossman and Jarnefeldt. "Ms. Nagase is ready to begin the procedure, Doctor."

---

Allison soon ran out of magazines, and went to the armorer for more. She also grabbed her old pistol off the counter and slid it into her hip holster before walking away with the fresh mags. She repeated the routine of blind-firing, but she couldn't stop from seeing past flashbacks in the darkness that shadowed over her eyes. On her last magazine, she tore her blindfold off. For being so emotionless, she had a tranquil fury and misty eyes. She switched to full auto and tore the target up for eighteen seconds straight before she tossed her rifle aside, hopped the station barrier, and drew her pistol.

Safety regulations on the range be damned; she walked forward at her target, tearing it up even further. She pulled the trigger as many times as it did until the magazine was empty and the slide locked back, at which point she was about 10 feet away from it. She discarded the pistol, dashed forward, took her knife out and put the final stroke into it. When the blade had been lodged into what was left of the poor scrap that remained, she stopped and panted as she slowly came back to reality.

[Qeno]

The commander sighed to herself, grabbing the new uniform. "I'll be leaving soon to grab one of our other pilots for a quick minute. You are to change in my office and let the guards escort you to your room. Your old uniform will be confiscated if you don't hide it, for your protection. You are not, under ANY circumstances, to tell anyone about your previous affiliation with Proteus. I cannot guarantee your safety 24/7. Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got one last thing to do." She said, walking out.

Alexandra ambushed Rei from behind when she caught her walking down the hall in front of her. "Ah, Ms. Nagase! There you are! I hope you weren't planning on skipping out on your big day~! No cold feet around here, not when the greater good is at stake!" She said, grabbing the girl and all but dragging her out. "We haven't much time. The scientists are wearing down Dr. Jarnefeldt's patience as I speak, and I'm sure she's wondering where I've been keeping you." She had a schedule to keep, and she'd rather not stand the Good Doctor up. Unfortunately for Rei, she was bringing her in whether she liked it or not and would not allow for protest. She made her way to the R/D wing of the base and popped into the operating room. "I'll give you a few minutes with the specialists to calm your nerves while I go talk with the others." She said, walking out.

The Captain made her way up top and popped in to see Grossman and Jarnefeldt. "Ms. Nagase is ready to begin the procedure, Doctor."

"Very well commander" Sierra said as she bent down and slid her feet around the hand bound cuffs then stood up to hold onto the uniform that was presumably handed to her. She glanced to the men who were left to keep her restrained and asked "you don't happen to have a key do you?" then she watched as both of them shook their head before she jammed her boot between the door to the young commander's office. The woman soon slid herself into the privacy of the office and said to the two men left to watch over her "then find the two fools who left to get a uniform and bring them back".

"Oh and there they are" One of them said with a smile

"It's too late she already has a uniform"

"Then I suppose she's going to be needing the use of her hands" The leader said as he poked his head into the room and unlocked the hand cuffs on Sierra's wrists as she presented them to him with some shade of annoyance before slamming the door on his arm before actually closing the door.

She took some pleasure in hearing the man's yelp in pain as his arm recoiled from the doorway remembering how annoying he sounded the entire trip from an uninfected part of Russia in which she was held in some form of detention for returning back to GAMA in hand cuffs and with blood on her hands. "You guys can leave for now" Sierra called out of the room as she locked the door and began to unbutton her flight jacket which easily distinguished her as a proteus pilot then she folded it on top of the commander's desk. Outside the door the guardsmen simply waited outside with their backs to the wall to make sure of the highly unlikely chance that someone would come in and the area was almost silent until 'Rog' the talkative one asked one of his teammates.

"I wonder if Proteus has their female military personnel wear those types of bras that were meant for sport before the infection began" He said curiously and his teammate answered "I dunno that girl's bre-"

"You know that she could probably hear" The guardsman leader suggested.

---

"Okay I'll see you guys later!" Rei called to her friends as she was lead out of the communications area by the hand of the commander herself and she wasn't planning to avoid her fate of becoming a valkyrie but she wanted to hear the word of it coming. Instead she was working towards the commander's direction towards the R/D wing of the base and followed the teenage commander into the operating room. Upon further visual inspection she felt a chill down her back reminding her of how she loathed the operating table and most of her hatred was how uncomfortable it was to rest on the metallic surface.

[Vancon]

All was silent outside. Night had settled in and it was beginning to take shape. The sun was setting, lights were coming on, and Triela's VALK was standing majestically against the beautiful landscape, as per usual. Her trusty stallion's faint blue lights lit up the light fog that covered the runway. Tonight was a night for testing out her VALKs abilities, and making sure that everything was in tip-top shape. First things first, she had crouched her VALK down to allow her to insert her motorcycle in the rear storage compartment along with her coat and guitar case. She then got up and started to take the thing out for a spin. As the night fell even further into darkness, she made her VALK do a couple lengths of the runway. T'was the first of her trials for the night.

[The BranRiech]

"Oompfff," the sudden release of air from Joshua's lungs came rushing out as his chest took the initial force of the impact. While falling at a decently slow rate, he still had struck the ground with enough force for it to punish him with a blow to his chest. Then he felt pressure, and while it wasn't all that rough or much, it was certainly a presence. His knees slammed into the ground as the force of whatever was now on top of his back forced the rest of his body out of the SUV and onto the pavement next to it. Wincing from the slight sting of the pain, he turned his head to find himself looking at Anna Davenport now perched atop his back, also having fallen out on top of him.

Well, I'll bet we look like either a completely hapless pair of drunkards, or two kids whom have yet to learn how to toddle much less walk. It was a comical thought, and then he quickly realized why she now was out of the SUV and the rather unceremonious fashion in how it occurred," Oh! Davenport! Sorry, I didn't mean, well thank you, I'm sorry. I need to get going."

Extracting himself out from underneath the girl slowly, he paused as he waited for her to shift her weight off of him so he could truly make his way up to his feet," I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to make you fall out to. You honestly didn't need to help me, we heal so fast anyways it's hardly anything to trip like that.

"Didn't want the concrete to be your first kiss." Anna vaguely teased, sounding almost like a bigger sister at that point as she extracted herself from the boy's back, having fallen on him quite unexpectedly. She rose to her feet and helped the boy up as well with the reach of her arms, pulling him onto his own two feet as well. "It's no problem though, and really, the world is ending around us. who cares if we look like idiots? Who else is there to see it?" She offered. "And, Joshua, thanks for helping me with the VALK, can you send me the updated schematics? I'll need to put in a request for that kind of stuff, or you could come along with me when I actually request it?"

[Kassaran]

"Didn't want the concrete to be your first kiss." Anna vaguely teased, sounding almost like a bigger sister at that point as she extracted herself from the boy's back, having fallen on him quite unexpectedly. She rose to her feet and helped the boy up as well with the reach of her arms, pulling him onto his own two feet as well. "It's no problem though, and really, the world is ending around us. who cares if we look like idiots? Who else is there to see it?" She offered. "And, Joshua, thanks for helping me with the VALK, can you send me the updated schematics? I'll need to put in a request for that kind of stuff, or you could come along with me when I actually request it?"

Dusting himself off as he listened to the girl he was confused by her nice and generally un-aggressive behavior, you usually didn't expect to see that in someone whom had been forced out of their family and old life by the government and still remained with Gama. Cautiously smiling as he listened, not wanting to make her upset in case she misinterpreted his smile, he nodded in response to her statement. How true it is that this might just be the end, could this be all that we've been built to do, delay the inevitable? Then he felt his jaw go slack for a moment as he heard her thank him. Looking up into her eyes with a hint of surprise in his own, he nodded and moved to withdraw his datapad from his pocket, but finding it not there, he turned around and reached into the SUV to get it out. Then came the second most surprising part as he had his back turned to her," I'll need to put in a request for that kind of stuff, or you could come along with me when I actually request it?"

As he quickly brought the data-pad to bear, he whirled around and held it to his chest as he quickly responded," Um, yes ma'm- I mean Ms. Davenport. I'll go with you to help out if you need me to be there. I don't want to be just another stick in the mud to hold you back or anything though so whenever you decide to, I'll definitely go."

Why the hell am I bumbling like this? Get a hold of yourself Joshua, you're looking like another inept fool, just concentrate, focus, calm yourself. His internal berating only lasted a moment, but it was enough to make him pause as he looked at Anna and then he took a breath and smiled and finally spoke calmly," I'd be honored if you brought me along, but I'm certain you're more than qualified to do so yourself. We are VALKyries you know, and besides, with people like me, it's probably best if you don't try and make yourself seem too close, what with my father being a suspected traitor and all."