Seventh Game

[break_the_nine]

[1]

[One would expect Leos to be absolutely devastated when you find him after the mission. With who died... who went missing and how badly he fared. The screaming and crying all the way through... that he would be an inconsolable mess. Yet instead when you find him, he's humming cheerfully as her walked through the base with several packs of pudding. A little too cheerfully. Something was worrying about this.]

Oh... hey! One minute...

[He snaps off a pack and places it in your hand, giving you an almost heartrendingly sunny smile.]

Friendship pudding now. Just so I don't forget like I did a lot of times before.

I've got a meeting with Progtech that Lana's taking me to so I won't be back until waaaay later.

[2] [Later that day...]

[It was closing onto midnight and still no Leos. One would almost be worried as to what was happening to him... but he's a grown dude. He can take care of himself right?]



H... elp....h...help...m..me...

[Except that belief would be refuted. Utterly. Walking down an intersecting corridor was a horrifically bloodied Leos with a frighteningly vacant look in his eyes from the absolutely gigantic amount of pain he was feeling before he just collapsed into the ground and bled there.]

[3]

[The good news first: Leos isn't in any danger of dying. The bad news: All those wounds and injuries? They weren't random. They were surgical scars. It was less about what could have been removed... but more about what was put in. Specifically it seems that Leos was now the proud owner of a large amount of cybernetics. Ones that in theory could allow him to literally interface with machinery and link his mind to it.]

...

[The surgery itself was horrifically invasive and traumatic as Leos can attest to. Diagnosis revealed that a minimal amount of anesthetic was used in order to ensure that the cybernetics were properly linked to his body. As he recovers in the infirmary you can see Lana sparing the Raven a glance before walking away.]

[Could she... and by extension PROGTECH be responsible for this...?]

[As Leos is still in no state to be visited... Discuss this matter with others/Confront Lana?]

Comments

[keep_your_dignity]

WHETHER HE HAS THE PATIENCE OR NOT IS NOT HIS CHOICE, NIELSEN.

HE IS A SOLDIER AND YOU ARE HIS XO. IT'S YOUR JOB TO KEEP HIM FROM KILLING HIMSELF. THAT MEANS YOU TIE HIM TO THE BED UNTIL HIS REHABILITATION IS DONE IF YOU HAVE TO AND HE DOESN'T GET TO HAVE AN OPINION.

YOU LIKE CLEAR SUMMARIES, SO LET ME SUM THIS UP FOR YOU. BY THE TIME HE GOT TO THE INFIRMARY HE HAD SEVERE INFECTIONS IN HIS OPEN WOUNDS DUE TO FALLING ON THEM AND WAS THIS CLOSE TO CIRCULATORY SHOCK. HAD HE NOT BEEN FOUND UNTIL THE MORNING YOU WOULD HAVE LOST YOUR ASSET. WITH THE AMOUNT OF MONEY A CYBERIZATION COSTS, EVEN ONE AS AMATEUR HOUR AS THE ONE KLEIN HAS, I HAVE SEVERE DOUBTS YOUR BOSSES WOULD BE PLEASED WITH THAT.

LEARN TO DO YOUR FUCKING JOB, NIELSEN. PERHAPS THEN THE REST OF US WON'T HAVE TO CONSTANTLY WORRY THAT YOUR PROGTECH IS PLACING TICKING BOMBS AMONG US.

[break_the_nine]

Perhaps. But irregardless of the circumstances he is still alive. And that is all that should matter to everyone concerned for his well being isn't it?

[Lana didn't even look phased at hearing just how close to death Leos was. However it seems that some of what Kagura had said had irked her just a bit.]

And I am doing my job. Though I wonder just how many organizations in the Unity Group are even capable of doing as such given how things are going at this moment.

The PPDC, Graveyard, The GDF, The Japanese Second Division. I could keep going really.

[Did Lana really just go there?]

[keep_your_dignity]

[Kagura stays silent for a moment, while the Executors behind her narrow their eyes. She then finally speaks]

DO YOU KNOW THE PROBLEM WITH THIS VOICE BOX, NIELSEN?

[break_the_nine]

Go on then Major. Enlighten me. Just what is the problem with it.

[keep_your_dignity]

IT'S NOT PROGRAMMED FOR LAUGHTER. I'M LAUGHING AT YOU, BUT IT'S NOT REGISTERING. DO YOU KNOW WHY IT'S SO HILARIOUS?

THE PAN PACIFIC DEFENSE CORPS, NIELSEN, WAS GIVEN THE TASK OF STOPPING CREATURES THAT COULD KILL YOUR ENTIRE ORGANIZATION, AND DID SO. GRAVEYARD WAS GIVEN THE TASK OF KILLING THINGS THAT LITERALLY CAN'T DIE, AND WE SUCCEEDED. THEY HAVE BOTH SAVED BILLIONS OF PEOPLE.

BUT YOU? NEWSFLASH, NIELSEN: YOU'RE A RAVEN. YOUR ORGANIZATION IS A PACK OF INBRED, EASILY MANIPULATED MERCENARY HICKS THAT BASE THEIR RANKINGS ON DICK-MEASURING GLADIATORIAL FIGHTS AND APE POSTURING. YOU'RE MOOKS FOR CRIMINAL ORGANIZATIONS, STUNTS FOR MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES, ENTERTAINMENT CLOWNS FOR THE BORED RICH. TO THE WORLD, YOU AREN'T EVEN PEOPLE. YOU'RE TOOLS.

SEE, NIELSEN, PROGTECH HAD TO PAY AN EXORBITANT SUM OF MONEY TO GET A RAVEN INTO UNITY GROUP. IF ANYONE EXPECTED YOU TO BE ABLE TO DO YOUR JOB, DO YOU THINK THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN NECESSARY? DHOW MANY OF THE REST OF US HAD TO SPONSOR THIS ORGANIZATION TO BE ALLOWED TO BE HERE? WHY DO THINK THAT IS?

AND NOW YOU, IN YOUR LITTLE HIGH PROFILE THUG MARKET, WITH YOUR LACK OF UNDERSTANDING OF HOW A SOLDIER OUTFIT WORKS, COME HERE AND TRY TO TELL ME THAT THE ORGANIZATIONS WITH LISTS OF SUCCESSES LONGER THAN YOUR ARM ARE DOING IT WRONG? I JUST HAVE TO LAUGH.

SOME THINGS WORK AND SOME DON'T, NIELSEN. LOOK TO THE ANTECEDENTS AND SEE WHICH ONE SEEMS TO HAVE A BETTER TRACK RECORD.

[break_the_nine]

And yet when all is said and done, my Organization will outlive yours. And I find it interesting that you call those of us in its employ tools when it so happens you literally just that.

Its interesting to see you acting as if you were a living, thinking being when you're nothing more than circuitry and programming.

[keep_your_dignity]

I'M FAR MORE THAN A TOOL, NIELSEN. I BECAME MORE THAN THAT YEARS AGO. DID YOU?

[One of the executors, a young man, coughs and signals Kagura as if asking for permission to speak]

OH, RIGHT. YES. THERE WERE TWO THINGS MORE, NIELSEN.

[break_the_nine]

And just what might those be? I presume your soldiers have their own gripes against me as well?

[keep_your_dignity]

YES. THEY ARE BOTH RELATED THINGS.

FIRST, MY MEN ARE CYBORGS THEMSELVES, AND WANTED TO MAKE THEIR OPINION OF KLEIN'S SURGERY FORMALLY KNOWN. SERGEANT JAMES ALLENSBY, FORWARD.

[The young man that coughed walks forward, disciplined, and stands in front of Lana, almost a head taller than her, looking at her to begin speaking]

AND SECOND. I WANTED TO CHECK SOMETHING.

[And on the word "check", James, fast as a cobra, launches a brutal kick right at Lana's stomach.]

[break_the_nine]

[And it hit something pretty solid, Lana was moved yes but not by much as she just forced herself to remain upright. Her face was most definitely a study in cold and unadulterated hate. If anything Kagura very clearly had obtained her answer. She merely glares at the Sergeant before moving her gaze at Kagura.]

Satisfied then?

[Her voice now had a definite edge to it.]

[keep_your_dignity]

[James bounces back looking at her between surprise and suspicion]

"Major, I think you were wrong, she's not-!"

I HEARD, ALLENSBY. STEP BACK.

"Yes'm"

[While the Executor reurns to the line, the massive form of Kagura just stands where it is in front of Lana, impassively, for a few moments. This close it's hard to forget that what Kagura has there are mech-class guns and how in a corridor she could vaporize whatever she has in front of her. Finally, she speaks]

YES. I KNOW MOST OF WHAT I WANTED TO KNOW NOW.

IF YOU WANT TO STOP BEING A TOOL, NIELSEN, OR WHATEVER ELSE IS YOUR NAME, LEARN WHAT YOU HAVEN'T LEARNED YET. UNTIL YOU DECIDE TO, GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY SIGHT.

MEN, WE'RE LEAVING

[And with that, they turn away and begin leaving]