Could have gone a lot worse....

[actuallyselfish]

After the battle in Paradigm City, the Sol Machine known as ShelLancer trudges it's way back into the hanger bay, docks in a gantry, and powers down

A weary figure in mechanic's overalls clambers out of the cockpit, and after a bit of flailing, descends on one of the cherry picker platforms.

"What the heck was I thinking?" Dido groans, slumping down onto a bench. "I panicked, made stupid calls. And that Decepticon leader thinks I'm a turtle ninja transformer now...!"

She smiles. "...but Hot Damn, I saved some lives out there! Not bad, Dido. Not bad at–"

She looks up at ShelLancer...and finally notices the major damage it's taken: melted armor, broken off spikes, and an endless amount of scratches and dents. All of which needs to be fixed.



"–AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Comments

[herodrawing]

You're a hero!

[Izuru starts to sketch Shellancer, immortalizing damage it took.]

[actuallyselfish]

"No, I'm not!" Dido wails. "I'm not a hero! I'm really not a hero!"

She narrows her eyes. "What are you drawing?"

[herodrawing]

I'm drawing a picture of your mecha, as it returns from battle wounded but victorious!

It will be remembered the way it is now.

[actuallyselfish]

"Noooooooooooo...." Dido replies. "Please don'tttttttt...."

[herodrawing]

Why not? I think you deserve it.

[actuallyselfish]

Dido slumps down and screams into her lap for a few seconds.

She eventually comes up for breath with a grim expression on her face.

"You mech pilots just don't get it, do you?"

[herodrawing]

... Eh?

[Confused Izuru is confused.]

[actuallyselfish]

"You think that as long as you bring the upper torso of your mechs back to the hanger, it doesn't matter how bad they're damaged!" Dido says, clenching her fists and shaking them wildly.

"A leg got blown off? Eh, you don't need those in space!" She says in sing-song imitation. "While I'm at it, why don't I eject my booster pack into the enemy's face, then tear off my own arm to use as a club! The techs can fix it later!"

She points a shaking finger at Izuru. "You don't understand the feelings of mechanics! The sorrow we feel when you bring back a wrecked unit we'd maintained with love and care!"

[herodrawing]

No, it's not that! AHSMB takes a lot of maintenance and I know the mechanics are working hard!

[actuallyselfish]

Dido anger suddenly drains away from her, thanks to the realization that she's, like, shouting at a kid.

"Sorry" She mutters. "I shouldn't have mouthed off at you, Izuru. It's just...I feel like I've betrayed my principles as a mechanic–wrecking machines instead of fixing them, you know?"

[herodrawing]

It's... okay.

[Izuru sighs. That was close.]

But, you see, if a machine is all wrecked then that's good from where I stand. It means the pilot fought valiantly, and still managed to get back to base on their own.

Doesn't that mean your hard work was used well?

[actuallyselfish]

"...Maybe?" Dido says, rubbing the back of her head. "I mean, I'm not all that used to military actions, come to think of it. "

She nods energetically.

"Before I came here, massive mecha damage meant that a test pilot was doing something really stupid, or that a rookie screwed the pooch big time. But now, all the damage is coming from frightening, overwhelming enemies!"

[herodrawing]

Exactly! I mean... if you return, that's already good, right? It means you survived.

Unless you return in a barely working unit and then collapse dead right after delivering news of victory. That'd be bad, let's try to avoid that!

[actuallyselfish]

"Damn straight I will!" Dido says. "I mean, there's a reason the ShelLancer's an armored beast!"

She stares into space for a moment, then chuckles.

"You know what the freaky thing is about all this, Izuru?"

[herodrawing]

Freaky thing, what're you talking about?

[actuallyselfish]

"Back when I was on the design committee for ShelLancer, I pushed for it to be equipped with lightweight ceramic armor." Dido explained.

"Ceramic's cheaper and easier to replace, and I thought ShelLancer was just going to be a big publicity stunt for Solaris. You know, hauled out for disaster relief and Kaiju runts."

Sweat trickles down her temple. "If I hadn't been overruled that day, those Decepticons would have blown me to bits."

[herodrawing]

I guess we can't afford to take things not seriously. Everything's gotta be made combat ready and such.