LiM Ch10: The Storm Before the Tempest.
#10 of LiQUID METAL
If you don't like guys, girls, furres, sex or love, violence (Not in yiff) or if you're too young (18, 21 in some places, just ask the police "Hey, am I allowed to read sexy bisexual furre stories on the net?") or any of that, CLOSE TEH WINDOW NOWS! All characters are copyright me, Shinkada, and are used with my permission, with the exception of Coda, who is copyrighted to Coro, and used with his permission. This story is a bit mushy at times, so if you don't want lurve, buzz off. Anyone who bugs me "OMG MORE YIFF PLOX" will get castrated by Okhami himself. I put in enough of it already to get you off AT LEAST once per every few chapters. If you're still not satisfied take a cold shower. ***'s represent a change of scenery or time. ---'s represent a non-critical yiff scene, fan service to shut up the wailing masses. Please, sit back, relax, and enjoy the story without whining about it. It's a good story. I like it. A sidenote; if you'd like to write a story set in the same universe as this, by all means, feel free. As long as you give me credit for it, as long as you inform me that you're going to do it via e-mail ([email protected]), and as long as you don't try and mess with my, or Coro's character/s, I don't mind. In fact if someone good writes a story I'd be quite honoured. Just make sure you tell me first, and don't mess anything up. (I'm currently very angry with all of you. Yes, all of you. The fact that I can think this story through, actually put effort into it, and then get 300 views, whereas a run of the mill story can get 1,200 views and 12 favourites just because half the fucking content is yiffing, is nothing short of bullshit. Know that at the moment, I write this ONLY for myself. The only reason I put it on the site is for anyone with a brain who can actually appreciate a storyline. Ugh. This chapter took a while because of two things: 1: It's too dang hot. 2: A maelstrom of emotions over Vanguard. First I was ecstatic it was going into Open Beta. Then I was really, REALLY angry because I thought the beta was restricted to File Planet subscribers. Then I was happy again because I found out it was only temporary. Then I got angry again because it's actually restricted to US Citizens and Europeans. "What's an Australia?" Either way, I'm now waiting for it to go live. Bleargh. 2.5: On request by Ally, Bogga Zubba.) -Shinkada
LiQUID METAL
- * * ***CHAPTER 10: The Storm Before the Tempest*** The last day snuck up on us like the very Spec Ops stealth unit we were meant to be commanding. The last few days with Alex had been... Uneventful. We were both content to be going out, and to be dating, but something was missing, and that was obviously the spark of affection. With the war looming so close, who could possibly think of romances? We were only a few short days from being marched out to a Warfield. A real Warfield, no less. I'd played VR for a lot of my life but I wasn't so de-sensitized that I could forget that it was reality, here. "I'm not marching off to become some great war hero. Granted I have a better chance of that happening than others considering my unique abilities, but still, this is a real war. I'm as mortal as everyone else, when it comes down to it, and all's it would take is a single Sniper to blow a hole in my head and I'd be gone just like that. This isn't some glorious novel where I march off against all odds to become some incredible legend among fighters. This' reality, where I'm marching off to be in the crossfire between hundreds of trained soldiers, each of them just as accurate with a rifle as I am." Alex nodded back to me. "I'm not so much moping. I'm resigned, I guess. And I just feel like saying what I'm thinking." We were lying on my bed, her at the back (which I could deal with due to her size) as I lay down, resting my head against her stomach. "How'd you become so accepting, anyway?" she asked, idly scritching at my ears. I shut my eyes as my instincts told me to pant or purr happily, but ignored them. "I've been training for much longer than you, and I've seen a few small battles. I wasn't this hardened when I started up." "Before I came here I was a real troublemaker. The reason I got sent here actually was that I seduced my school psychologist with a little help from Jack," I said, making the universal drinking motion. Alex nodded, a smirk tugging at her lips. "But, before that, I was... Well, a straight-edge. A prodigy in school, I aced every exam that came my way. The only reason I didn't become one of those genius types and graduate in 3 years was because I hated it, never studied. Yet I still managed to ace each exam. I was against alcohol, sex, drugs, you name it. I..," I paused at this, as I hadn't told anyone about it for a while. Alex just listened, still idly scritching, doing more than words could to urge me on. "I used to want to be a singer. A famous one. I wanted to make my own style of music, something completely new, I wanted to take the world by storm and then, with all the influence I had, tell people to stop following the crowd, to stop being irresponsible, to stop being so immature and childish. I wanted to make the world grow up, to solve all the problems of corruption and violence by gaining influence through music. When I was 16, I finally got up the nerve to get a band together. I went out and found a group of decent people who played the instruments I needed, we got along well so that was no issue, and we recorded the best songs I'd written. The tracks ended up beyond my hopes, perfect in every way. I never would have dreamt they'd have turned out so spot-on to what I wanted. We got a deal with a good record company that sounded like a miracle - they only took 60% of the earnings, which is just an unimaginably low amount, and distributed it to both mainstream and alternative record stores." Alex continued to listen, although as I went on she tensed further, and I could tell she was waiting for the big, tragic climax. "We got put on to radio, TV, and we were even all set to do a tour. Everything was so perfect, I felt like my dream was right there, in front of me! I'd always said, 'I want to become more popular than The Beatles.' That was my goal, to surpass what was seen as unsurpassable. Yet after all that preparation, it looked like we could actually do it... We sold a total of 23 CDs in all of America. The record company, while nice about it, told us they never wanted to see us again. Everyone heard our music, and no one cared. Just like the initial success was better than I could have dreamt, the eventual failure was worse than any nightmare. I'd done exactly what I wanted. I couldn't blame the performers, I couldn't blame the advertising, I couldn't blame being ripped by the record company... The public just didn't like what I had. There is no, 'better luck next time.' I did my best and it failed. I was broken completely, so I gave up everything I'd fought so hard to uphold, and caved into the lifestyle of what I hated." Alex sighed softly - I was glad I couldn't see her expression, the same thing that gives Dragons the ultimate innocent look also gave them the ultimate sad look - and pulled me up to hug my form to her. I just laid there, staring into the air in front of me. Recalling the memories still brought back a lot of pain for me, and I was all too aware of how glazed my eyes probably were right then. It was interrupted, though - I'm only male, after all - by the feeling of Alex's claw scritching just to the side of my crotch, running talons softly down to my inner thighs. I turned to see her leaning over, looking at me with an innocent look that was obviously seeking approval. I paused for a moment, trying to muster it in me to accept, but I couldn't. My mood was shot and with the stress building towards the next day, I couldn't bring myself to imagine it as being anything other than apathetic and hollow. I shook my head sadly, and she gave a light nod, moving her claws away. "Sorry... Mood, and with tomorrow and all, I'm just not up for it," I explained to which she nodded again. "It's okay... When we get back, hm? Heh..," she asked, and the tone of her voice was obvious. She wanted to stay positive, but under the soft laugh, she felt as morbid as I did about our chances. *** One of the downsides of this war breaking out when it did was that I was so early through basic training. Granted I had LiM behind me, and thanks to that I was definitely a shoe-in for one of the better combatants with a blade (and being able to turn my paws into metal to keep a rifle perfectly steady was certainly an advantage), but my basics needed some work. This became painfully evident when I saw the ship that was to fly me and Alex to Korshal. "Holy CRAP! They're flying us over there in one of THESE?! This is the latest model Fighter! These things are completely unmatched in... Everything!" I said as I zipped around the sleek, advanced, almost alien-looking craft, practically drooling at its various thrusters, lasers, turrets and torpedo pods. Overall the craft looked like the stealth jets of old, only about the size of a troop carrier, and had that same kind of alien look that Energy Mercury did; the sky was reflected crystal-clear along its hull, and the ground against the bottom, although during flight the ground would also reflect the nearby sky, making it blend in perfectly. "Of course they are. We're really important, remember? Wouldn't want us being shot out of the sky before we even get there. These babies are nice though, I'll admit. Enough thrusters in various places to dodge even the best torpedoes, all of which can change direction at any time with a few button touches from the co-pilot. Four plasma-torp pods, four of the highest class lasers the military has, two manual laser turrets, and with all thrusters pointing back it has a maximum speed of, oh, about 10,000 miles an hour, heheheh." I was only half paying attention to Alex's professional recitation of its specs. I was having much more fun looking over the craft's form, running a paw softly over the metal, making sure not to leave any dirty paw prints. When I got to the back and almost literally stuck my head in an engine, I heard it begin to boot up and instantly shot back and lay to the ground. I heard a loud laugh from the direction of the craft's open door as the engine died not even a second later, and shot a glare at the small camera that captured everything that went on behind the craft and fed it to the pilots. After a bit more exploring, I was able to force myself inside the craft, and was hit by a few more surprises. I'd expected some rocket-esque plain silver interior, but instead I was met with typical military ingenuity: the inside of the craft was much more like a tank, dark, musky, with various pictures of naked, or near naked, furres dotted around the walls. I couldn't help but laugh at this as a door slammed open and a tall, female cheetah walked out of the cockpit, giving me a sharp salute before her posture caved into casualness. "Okhami Hibana, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Kira, and I'll be your pilot today," she said, taking on a typical flight attendant voice before giving a masculine snort. I chuckled at this - I always got along well with tomboys - and gave her a salute back. "Just don't use the emergency exits in the vacuum of space, right? Or at least cover your face when it blows up." *** The flight to Korshal was disappointingly quick. I was allowed to fly the craft when Kira recognized my Gamer Tag from Battlefield 2042: Modern Combat, since the military used that as virtual training anyway due to its accuracy. I can tell you, the temptation to just pour on the boost and blast through space in those things is unreal. It was fun though, until we entered Korshal's airspace and I was forced to hand controls back to Kira. Korshal's airspace was, quite simply, a death trap. Since the war was still fresh, the orbit was absolutely littered with destroyed crafts. I'd heard rumors of how bad the fight had been before our troops got to the surface, but seeing it first hand was just unbelievable. "I -could- pilot this, you know," I insisted to Kira with a stubborn grin. "In all likeliness, yes. You've sure kicked my ass a few times in piloting. But I'd rather not have my job on the shoulders of a runty little husky field grunt. Took me long enough to get promoted high enough to be issued one of these in the first place, if I even scratch it I'll be out on my ass." I laughed softly and stared back outside the front window. Korshal was, in a word, intimidating. The planet itself was a massive wasteland, a giant cold desert of red rock. Think Mars, only rougher, less sand. While a lot of the craft debris had plummeted to the planet's surface, the space around it was still very much cluttered. It was obvious that slowly the debris were beginning to converge around the planet - in about 50 years, the planet would be almost completely layered in craft remnants, and what was left in space would form a massive, metal, Saturn-like ring around the planet - the metal was already starting to slowly gravitate into a wide, thin ring, which we thoroughly avoided. "Depressing place, isn't it?" I notched my head to Kira's question, and shrugged. "I dunno. I find the whole place pretty foreboding and dramatic, myself. Which is the kind of place I enjoy." Kira grumbled and glared out the front of the ship. "Damn newbies. Always looking over how 'cool' the wreckage is, playing games that claim they try to re-create the experience... Yeah right. The games don't ruin you for life," she said, voice staying low, although icy cold. I, however, never gave much sympathy to anyone, and rolled my eyes as I leaned against the wall, running my claws through my tail to brush it a bit. "Hah, don't give me that. You admitted that you yourself play those games. I know the struggles of war. I know that it's hard and that it can screw you up. But I also know that moping about won't get me anywhere. You're here by your own choice; don't bitch at me for having your friends die when you all knew the consequences of entering the army. People die in war. I've accepted that and I try to make the most out of the good parts of the army, instead of whining about the bad." "What about the people who AREN'T here by choice, hm?" Kira shot at me, almost looking away from the screen. "Newsflash, I -AM- one of those people," I shot back just as quickly while raising a brow with an irritated look. Kira shut up as it sunk in, and we sat in silence for a moment. "So... You're here by force?" "Yep. But moping about the threat of dying won't get me anywhere. So I look at the good side." The rest of the trip was silent. *** By the time we landed I was dozing in one of the turret seats. While one of the turrets had someone in it, the other was empty - apparently the guy normally in it was busy with something else. Even the seats were overly comfy, for those long patrol runs. I was woken by Alex giving me a lick to the side of my snout, to which I blinked my eyes open and smirked at her. We'd both tried to remain optimistic, and so far I'd say we'd done a pretty good job, considering the circumstances. But what really blew me off my feet was the sight when we emerged from the craft. First of all, there was the planet itself. As I mentioned earlier, much of the debris from Korshal's airspace had plummeted to the planet. What started as a few large craters here and there had turned into something that looked like the entire planet had been carpet bombed... Which it had. But, more so. It was like a desert full of large dunes that were actually craters made from both bombs and ship parts, not to mention a good deal of the planet was already covered in rough, uneven metal. And that was only the half of it. What almost completely made me faint was the sight of the Earthen Army. I was grinning at a joke Alex had made on the ramp down, but as soon as the planet's 'plains' (the flattest surface the army could possibly find) came into view, my jaw dropped. Standing before us was, well, the entire Earthen Army. But it was, beyond a doubt, the most incredible sight I've ever seen. I literally couldn't see the end of the forces. Granted Korshal had a thin cloud of permanent red gasses in the air that eventually curtained the army, but that didn't happen for a long, long while. For the most part, I could see for a damn good few miles. Taking up the front lines were the Artillery Infantry, or 'Trench Lobbers'. These guys were a recent addition, and were outfitted with light armour for speed, massive, heavy shields reminiscent of Roman tower shields, and finally, grenade mortars. These guys would go in first and wipe out a huge amount of enemy troops - if the enemy had Mechs, they had plenty of EMP 'nades to spare. They were designed to move in, and quickly wipe out a good portion of the enemy troops, while defending our own side. Next up were the Pathclearers, although they'd retained the nickname of our previous tank models, the Mammoths. Standing at around forty feet tall and packing lasers on the front that would both neutralize enemy lasers and vaporize enemy soldiers, these guys would come in next when the Lobbers pulled back, leaving enough space between them for the lobbers to move back - everyone was highly trained for this procedure as it was a military favourite. Then, using both the laser grids at the front and the massive cannon turret, and anti-personnel laser turret on the top, they'd literally mow down through the enemy forces. Complimenting this was enough armour to withstand more rockets than any opposing army could possibly have. As for looks, picture a colossal beast with giant, spiked treads, that looks like something straight out of Warhammer 40k. Third in line came the pride of the Earthen Army: the Furies, or Berserkers*. While small compared to the tanks, they were still about twenty feet tall, and were essentially mecha; giant, mechanical suits for Furres to get into. They were outfitted with heavy armour, if not as much as the tanks, as well as Aircraft-grade boosters to either hover or just dash around. Weaponry is the users choice, although the popular weapons include miniguns, rail cannons, rocket pods and bazookas. They followed a bit of distance behind the Mammoths in a kind of a wide H formation, picking off anyone who slipped between the tanks or tried to move either side of them. All of these mechs had a couple of grunts accompanying them with assault rifles and blades in case there were any stealthers around trying to sneak in a cheap shot. (*For an idea of these guys, think the Holy-models from Phantom Crash) And, last but not least, a few of the army's Special Ops Sniper team, picking off anyone unsuspecting enough to be distracted by the main force from a safe distance. It almost looked like Grant's strategy had changed to exclude the Stealth Group, before Grant himself approached me and Alex. We both gave him a formal salute in unison, which he returned. Grant was in his usual army gear, although he had that air of authority around him that he always took when addressing the masses. "Okhami. Alex. It's good to see you two here. I trust you had a pleasant trip?" I was about to reply with a smartassed comeback when Alex beat me to it. "Marching off to a bloodbath is always a nice calm trip, Grant. Come on, let's get this over with." The gray mouse gave a chuckle and quickly shot a nod at me - I recognized it as a less formal greeting, and gave it back. "Very well. The plans have changed, although only slightly... At least, for most of us. They've changed quite dramatically for you two however. After our Artillery Infantry have moved in and cleared a decent amount, when they pull back, the Pathclearers are going to stay stationary and pick off enemies from the distance with their turrets. When the enemy forces start closing in, Alex, you'll remain here to raise a translucent metal sheet in front of us as defense. You'll be issued standard Mercury Injections to keep you going for a while." "Er, Mercury Injections?" I piped up, raising a brow. "Altered Energy Mercury that's injected into the bloodstream. While it has little use for normal soldiers other than keeping them hyperactive for about two weeks, for LiM users it's been shown to give them greatly increased energy for their manipulating. The downside is that it can be quite dangerous, and we haven't been able to test it much so it may have some unknown side effects. Dragons are much more resistant to... Well, everything, so we feel Alex will be fine with it. You however may show some problems, so you won't be issued it." And then it clicked. "Wait, so if Alex is staying here, then..?" "Yup. You'll be commanding the Stealth Unit, unless I decide you're incapable. You ARE up to it, right?" Grant asked, causing me to widen my eyes. I thought as fast as I could, scanning over everything I could think of, before giving a resolute nod. "... Yeah. I'm a bit psyched out now, heheh, but when the time comes I won't let you down," I said, allowing myself to stutter and sweat slightly. It was a huge responsibility, and I'd never received even basic Commander training, but if Grant thought I was capable of it then I'd be fine. "The reason we're randomly pulling you over for this is that we've decided to inform the Stealth Unit that you're a member of the LiM Project. Many of the Stealth unit are old veterans of the last war, and if they know you've come from the same group as Drake then they'll follow you to the grave if need be, much more than any other Commander." I nodded in acceptance of the theory; if the stories I'd heard of Drake's combat were true then I didn't blame them. "I understand, Grant. I'll do you proud, I swear," and saluted the mouse. He gave a light smirk, but saluted back anyway. "I'm sure you will." *** "Well, well. It seems that the good General of the Army has played a particularly nasty practical joke on me. I was informed I'd be receiving a stealth group to Command. Yet instead, here I am, faced with the contents of a Retirement village. How are we supposed to remain silent, I ask, when the enemy can hear the buzzing of the electric motors of your wheelchairs from miles away?" I retained the serious, angry glare for a moment, barked words lingering in the air, before I burst into laughter. The squad instantly did the same, and I knew I'd made a good first impression. "I kid, I kid. We're long past that training stage, yeesh. A full squad of seasoned veterans - Grant must have been feeling generous. As you've already heard, I'm a member of the LiM Project. That means that I'm from the same crop as the legendary Drake. I'm sure I don't have to mention how not following every order I make to the slightest detail will result in excruciating pain. I expect the best out of all of you, and I have no doubt that you'll each deliver every percent each of you have," I said with a smirk, looking over the group. Everyone was around the 30-40 bracket, but I had no doubt that these were the elites among elites. Everyone was scarred from the Drake Wars and the small campaigns in between then and now, and it looked like each of them had seen enough battle to last them well over a lifetime. The fact they were still here proved their skill and dedication, although the fact that everyone here had seen at least a few battles, and that I was meant to Command them, was a bit intimidating. "I don't feel the need to say much else because I expect nothing but professionalism. I don't feel the need to establish some kind of friendship link because we don't have the time. You've all already been issued all your equipment, so I have nothing else to say, other than this. I am Commander Hibana, welcome to my unit. Don't let me down," I said, and gave a hefty salute. There was a pause - I saw a few surprised looks, I didn't know why then - before the salute was instantly and unanimously returned. I smirked, and let the salute down, theirs following, and dismissed them as I walked back to the Commander's Tent. "Time to open it..," I mumbled to myself, proud of the link I'd already managed to set up with my squad. *** "PIECE OF CRAP!" I yelled as I got fed up with fiddling with the lock and slammed a spiked, metal paw into the top of the briefcase. It didn't budge. The whole briefcase looked like energy mercury, just like that top-secret meeting building on the RGMA campus. It was large, large enough to fit blades, had a black handle, and a 5-character combination lock on each side that consisted of both numbers and letters. I'd tried prying them open with my abilities, smacking it against walls, opening it as gently as possible, slipping a portion of my body inside the case to try and pry it open with a jack, even slipping my arm INSIDE the locks to try and figure them out - the combination locks seemed to be just for decoration as it didn't feel physically possible for them to open. I was just a split second away from going outside to ask one of the Mammoth Tanks to deal with it for me, before I heard a familiar giggle. I turned around with a playful glare and a smirk to be greeted by Alex. "I see Grant's handed down the dreaded suitcase to you," she purred at me with a smug grin which almost made me get angry again. "BAH! Cut the smugness! This is frustrating me to no end!" I whined, placing my paws on the locks again. "It's as if it's not metal at all! I can't seem to manipulate it in the least." "I'll give you the same hint that the man that gave those blades to Grant gave him. 'Cherish Thy Weapon'. And I'm not saying anymore than that! Have fun!" she said, and almost literally skipped off. I gave her a glare as she left and shook my head, mumbling something about how she can be so irritatingly smug, and thought over what she said. "Cherish Thy Weapon," I repeated to myself, paw pads drumming over the top of the case. I sighed and shook my head, pulling my tail up to brush through it with my paw-brush as I usually did, using it half as a way to think over the stingy hint. After a few seconds, I heard an extremely soft click, and looked around for a moment. The click had, clearly, come from the briefcase, but I never would have heard it if I wasn't paying so much attention. I tried to open it, but it didn't budge. Frowning, I repeated my previous movements, brushing my tail on top of the case. Sure enough, after a few seconds, another click. "Cherish Thy... Oh God," I grumbled and moved my tail aside and slowly ran a paw over the top of the case as if petting it. Another click. I laughed and shook my head, moving my paw quickly over the case; no click. That made me grumble as I realized it was probably based on speed, and continued gently petting the case. "God knows what this would look like if anyone saw me," I grumbled as I lovingly petted the cute little _briefcase_ that sat in my lap, being rewarded by more clicks. After a moment of looking around, I realized the clicks were coming from the combination locks - the petting was slowly moving the first character. *** And finally, almost an hour of loving petting later, the last character clicked into place and I heard a series of metallic clanks give way. It took me a while to notice it had finally formed the characters 'KSUC2KIT00' and moved my paw, gulping as I pulled open the lid. Greeting me were two massive blades - each one about three feet long - that certainly looked different to your average sword. I pulled one out to study it. First thing I noticed was that it was ridiculously light. Sleek, pure energy mercury coated most of the blade, rather than the thin translucent stuff they use for most blades, it was shiny and metallic, and matched up well with the Furies and aircraft outside. It had a bunch of tribal designs along it where the shiny, metallic coat parted to become translucent. I was about to switch the blade on to test how it looked, but when I put my paw around the hilt, I suddenly noticed a gun-like trigger between the hilt and hand guard. I slipped a digit in and used it to grip the blade, noting that if the blade was held correctly the trigger would be at an angle where it refused to slide in unless the user obviously wanted to pull it and moved their digit in a different way rather than the twist-like grip of holding a hilt. I'd try that out in a second, though. I switched the blade on to see how it would look, and a bright, neon-cyan light emitted from it, lighting up the tribal designs. I admitted, it looked freaking cool, not to mention I could feel the heat from all the way in front of me - this was much stronger stuff than the usual blades and could probably cleave a Mammoth in two. I nodded my head with a grin and stood up, taking the second blade to step outside. Aiming my right-handed sword to the sky, I clenched my eyes a bit and pulled the trigger down. The air around the sword began to glow the same blue as the sword itself, and I raised a brow, a bit worried as I felt the air begin to gradually heat up. The glow just increased more, until I let go of the trigger, and the glow converged at the tip of the sword for just a split second before firing out in a concentrated laser shot, leaving the sword de-activated. I gaped for a moment, a few people stopping what they were doing to stare at me, before I sheepishly laughed and slipped back into the tent, eye twitching as I closed the flap behind me. I quickly walked back over to the briefcase and looked into it. There was also a scabbard for each blade, heavily decorated with more tribal designs, as well as a small slip of paper that was previously beneath the blades that I hadn't noticed before. I put the blades on the table for now and picked up the note, leaning back on my tail as I read over it. "Dear Hibana, I've made the blades exactly as you ordered. Both would be able to slash through the ground itself, not to mention just cut any lesser blades in half, they're stealth-compatible, and I have a special surprise for you! The concentrating lens in the hilts are made from a new style of energy mercury that actually lets it gather more energy than necessary - this is done by pressing and holding the trigger in the hilt. This beam can be about as strong as a Sniper shot if you charge it for a second or so, and if you charge it longer you can effectively make long-range slashes. Finally, as a warning, if you charge the trigger for more than about half a second, or fire more than about 5 weak lasers in quick succession, when you release it the blade will shut down until it gathers enough energy from the air around it to re-activate. Enjoy, Grant." I blinked a few times at the confusing message, about to run for my blades, before the last section caught my attention. "P.S: They've also had print detectors put in so only you can wield them. If you drop them they'll de-activate, too, so they don't plummet to the center of the Earth, heheh." Shaking my head, I settled back down, before standing again, strapping the scabbards around my waist and sheathing the huge blades, pushing the briefcase under the makeshift desk I'd received, and walked out of the tent to find Grant and some answers. *** "There you are," I said as I saw Grant dismiss a few Commanders. He turned to me with a happy grin, about to greet me, before he saw the swords at my side. "Okhami, you opened it! My my, you solved that riddle much quicker than I did!" he said, grinning widely and obviously impressed. I smirked a bit and shrugged. "It was a bit of a fluke actually. I heard a click when I was brushing my tail on top of it, heh. Anyhow, that's not what I'm here for. That message in it was very, very confusing," I said, narrowing my eyes a bit. "Ahh, yes, the message. Well, that message was for their original user." "Which, in the message, is me. I didn't order any blade, and Alex said the case was handed down." "Indeed, it was," Grant said, a sly smirk on his muzzle. "That would be because their original user was none other than one Kaworu Hibana, and they were forged by my grandfather, Kliff Grant." My jaw dropped. "Wait... My old man knew your grandfather?" I said, absolutely floored. Grant just laughed. "He knows my entire family; he's been a family friend for a long time. He first ran into my father during his stay in the army, then after my dad died and I moved in, he was in the same squad as me. Those blades you now have were the last weapons my grandfather ever made, and his life's masterwork," Grant said with a smile that was both sad and reminiscent as he waved a paw over my blades. I looked down at the right blade, my paw idly resting on the hilt, a habit that was useful as it kept the blade at the exact right angle for a clean draw. "I..." I began and trailed off, but was interrupted as I heard a blast. I could already sense the metal in the air long before it hit and my first instinct was, thankfully, to intercept their path. As soon as I felt the two pellets of metal bounce off my now hardened chest, I drew a blade and fired off a quick blast in the direction the bullet had come from. Instantly a number of soldiers drew their weapons and laid some suppressing fire into the area around where I'd shot, eliminating the assassin's chance for survival. I re-sheathed my blade and turned to give Grant a wink and a smirk. He stared at me for a moment, the first I'd ever seen him taken aback, before he outright fainted. I quickly caught him and called out for a medic, thanking the fact that my slowness in conversations was completely absent in serious matters. *** "Heh... These swords are something else. Give your grandfather my regards won't you Faust?" "Of course, Kaworu. He was only too happy to make them for you, just as long as you use them right." "Oh, I will, I-.. SHIT, FAUST, GET DOWN!" "Wha-" *** Grant woke up to the splash of water on his face, to be met with the eyes of one of the Fury Commanders. "Great time to pass out, sir. The enemy got a nice surprise attack on us. The Lobber unit's moving to engage as we speak and Hibana's already taken his unit out to the side. Get the fuck up already." With a nod, the mouse shot up and began barking orders over his comlink to various Commanders. *** "Alright guys, looks like the tea party's been cancelled early. I know, I know, we didn't have time to crack open the pink-coated Ladycakes, but all's fair in love and war," I said as my squad quickly sprinted into formation. I gave them a smirk and a salute, which they returned, and we engaged our stealth suits and began silently marching slightly north of the direction of the opposing army, ready to ambush them whenever we got the signal. My hand never left the comfort of the blade at my side.