Gone Wild (after Oriental Sentinels)

[sixteenthgun]

[Once the Wildschwein is safely docked, Cobray exits it and descends to the hangar floor. He doesn't immediately behave like there's anything wrong. However, he does take one good look at the machine he just piloted.

The Wildschwein, like some other units using the TC-OS, uses preset patterns for maneuvers. Somehow, he couldn't help but feel some familiarity with the ones programmed into this unit...

Even more mysterious was how confident he felt about it, and then there was the biometric lock...]

Ingram...was it...?

Comments

[deathflag_survivor]

[When the remnants of Team Jelba leaves their machines too, two of them are too distracted by these revelations with Viletta to have noticed. But fortunately there's Albhard to point out what needs pointing out.]

I didn't know we'd managed to crack the lock on the Wildschwein.

[sixteenthgun]

...It wasn't cracked.

The lock is still functional.

[prismphantom]

[Well how about that.]

Well how's that for timing. We just came from a conversation regarding Balmarian agents in the ESUN and clones of Ingram.

[sixteenthgun]

I'd like to know what is going on, too.

There was just no point adding to the confusion during the mission.

[deathflag_survivor]

We'll start with the easiest things to confirm.

Elma, if it's at all possible, check to see if that blue-haired woman... "Viletta" I think her name is, has an alibi for the same time as Mission Doll.

And Cobray, if you'd be willing I think a blood test might be in order.

[sixteenthgun]

It won't be a problem.

But before that, there is something I would like to know.

[prismphantom]

[She nods.]

I'm all ears.

[sixteenthgun]

The one who piloted this unit before...Ingram Plisken...

...Who was he?

1/2

[prismphantom]

That's the million dollar question. He was a Balmarian plant in the ESUN, one who'd been here for a very long time. He was around during the infancy of Personal Trooper development and lead the PTX Team, and after that was the leader of the SRX Team, helping both the Steel Dragons and after that the Unity Group.

We'd thought he was a traitor after an incident last year in Warsaw, but that wasn't the case. He helped us multiple times after that anonymously, most notably thwarting the Lady's Good Men, and it's likely the "Ingram" we fought in Warsaw was his clone Calico McCready.

And more than anything else...

2/2

[prismphantom]

After seemingly turning traitor, Captain Symphonia still trusted him enough to have Team Jelba act as a proxy for him, to try to help keep the Earth safe from the Balmarians.

[sixteenthgun]

[This is a lot to digest, and Cobray does so slowly.]

Then that woman, the Wildschwein, even me...

[All of these were connected through this one person no matter how you look at it. And he doesn't enjoy that fact...]

[prismphantom]

It's a tangled web to say the least.

[And Cobray's not the first person she's worked with who's wound up just being a game piece for a much greater power.]

Though with Ingram missing and likely dead, we're in the dark about what he'd say about this.

[sixteenthgun]

...

[Untangling that web won't be an easy task, and Cobray knows this. Still, getting to the bottom of this will be his priority from now on.]