Hidden Machinations (Takeshi & Chesha)

Cliffside Ruins:

It was around midday when the uniquely black and blue zoid had reached the place. Aedan’s glowing green eyes would scan the area before relaying the map to the monitor. Inside the cockpit, Kael studied the algorithms processing in one of the screens as a 3D layout would begin to render in another. He was curious to see just what about the ruins in this cliffside that had gotten his old guardian all interested. Though as far as he could remember, there was something along the lines of “an unknown territory that was suddenly spotted in the map after heavy bombarding during the war had cause for one of the cliff to give way”. In other words, this could be ancient.

“I can’t believe I actually agreed to this,” said Kael as he watched the rendered image on his monitor, eyes sharpening. “Not only does this bring back memories, it’s almost too obvious that something is going to happen.”

「Well then, shall we call the general and call it off? It’ll be another day before the expedition actually arrives. We can tell him the ground is too dangerous or that the ruins is too damage for any clear exploration.」said Aedan, a message bubble prompt suddenly appearing on screen with the zoid’s own chibi image lingering in the sides. Kael smirked at the thought. Since when did his zoid learn to make up excuses like this? He was certain Aedan was still a pup who would be more than willing to brave the dangers and explore. Then again, it has been years since they’ve been together and perhaps some of his qualities have rubbed off on the zoid.

“No need. If anything, it’s best they get a hold of this site. It’d be far too dangerous for other parties to find this and get a good hold of it,” replied the pilot as he would save all the information they’ve gathered and sent it through a secured communication link. The expedition team, a group of scientists, both from the military’s R&D division, would be arriving by nightfall. They’ll be setting up base camp near the edge of the cliff before workers would begin to drill tunnels downwards. “Which means, potential invaders would either have to come from the sky or be daring to meet with the rest of the expedition forces at the campsite. At least, we wouldn’t have to worry about the sea.”

Aedan gave an agreeing snarl of some sort. He didn’t like the idea of facing off with any water zoid. Last time they did, Aedan couldn’t get out of the water and he and Kael almost drowned. Poor zoid. Well, he still loves running along the shoreline, but battles that would take him further into the water are strictly a NO-GO. It was something the pilot understood very well, so Kael was also a bit relieved that this mission would not have his zoid diving into the seaside.

But still, it was strange that the land formation in this vicinity allowed for a cliff to appear in the middle of a canyon. Perhaps, in ancient times, this was a river bed, or even quite drastically, a part of a large-scale ocean. That could be the only reason why civilisation would be in the area right? The basics of the basic - food and shelter. But who knows? As for Kael, he was just concerned with making sure this expedition would run smoothly. The general would have his hide should there be any problems, and though he was an adult now, he knew the general would always think of him a child. “Probably best to say this would be the last time,” he added as he would steer the zoid towards the large open grounds on top of the cliff. He’ll be waiting from there.

「Ne, Kael? Are we really cutting all ties?」

“We have no choice. Things have gotten complicated,” answered the pilot as he and his zoid would stand watch over the barren horizon, hoping that by some chance, the expedition actually arrives earlier than expected. “I wouldn’t really be bothering with this, but I have a feeling, the Institute will be showing themselves again. And when they do, there’s no turning back.”

「I’ll keep you safe, Kael. To me, you’re my Kael.」

“Thanks.” And as he said that, Kael was working on something else in the cockpit. A few encryptions through some tight security database and then everything seemed to be wiped out. “That’s all of our records. No link whatsoever to the Bransa Base or the Valens of Adelprade. We’re officially mercs hired for this.”

「Somehow, the general will still know.」

“Fussy old man, but he did agree. So don’t expect the expedition knows anything about us. Keep wary. And most of all, tag all the zoids for safekeeping.” Just then, a mail arrived and it earned Kael quite an annoyed look. “Crap. Looks like Takeshi is listed amongst those called for the job along with some new names. The last thing I want is to get him involved in my problems. Oh well. I’ll just have to give him a heads up.”

At that, Kael would send a quick encrypted message to Takeshi Kimari of Highguard:
「It appears fate will bring us together again. However, I would advise you to refrain from calling to him so casually. This is a commissioned expedition from the military, and I know you don’t want anything to do with them either, so please, if you would, address me “Drifter” the next time we meet. That said. Do come on time.」

That done, Kael would sit back on the pilot’s chair as he reviewed the list of names once more. It couldn’t help to be cautious since he had once ran into a spy of the Institute who had been pretending to be a soldier. Most notably, however, were certain new names that were unknown to him. Except for one. A certain Xia seems to jog his memory. Perhaps a few run-ins with some mercs telling him about a certain underground doctor who could patch him up should he needing any. Ah, but Kael had always been stubborn for the last year of so, often than not, stitching his own wounds if needed. Still, the name was familiar. He’ll have to keep an eye out for the person then.

Light shone upon the skull as a solitary hand held it outside the cave. Shadows skittered into the eye sockets and slithered between crude teeth, unwilling to brave the rays for even a second.

”Alas, poor-“

”Oh my gods, Chesha! Are you playing with a skull?! We’re not supposed to disturb anything!”

A shrill voice cut through the somber tones, the sphere tumbling from a twitching hand and landing with a solid ‘thunk!’ Quickly the small wave of dust settled around its new abode as bored, golden eyes turned towards panicky green. ’So quick…’ she thought, watching as the woman all but flailed at the fallen “friend” on the ground, unwilling to touch it out of fear and yet unsure if it should be left, moved to the outside of the cave. Complaints and reprimands went ignored as the girl instead focused upon her mother’s hair, unable to help admiring how golden and glimmering it appeared in the sunlight. It radiated, gaining life in a way her’s refused. Fingers slid through her smooth, raven hair, contemplating how it only seemed to absorb light in such a greedy way…

”Are you even listening to me?!”

Her mind refocused, pupils boring into the other woman until she calmed a little. ”It’s not a real skull…I carved it with another rock. If you’d just taken a closer look…” It was hard not to smirk as the blond had enough grace to blush.

”Sorry, sorry,” Xia grumbled, hand rubbing her head as she often did when embarrassed, ”they were just really insistent on not disturbing the site and all…if they find out we’re messing things up then they’ll dock us pay.”

It hurt a little, the idea that Xia believed she might do such a thing, but the girl quickly huffed through her nose. It was easily sighed away: Xia worried. She never meant it personally so Chesha never dwelt on it.

Money came easily and quickly to those with the right skills, but as Chesha learned in their years of hiding it came with trouble too. Necessary in some circles as it may be a lot of people liked to keep things “official.” This meant names and they couldn’t afford to really toss those around willy-nilly. It’d given her another reason to like the nickname a group of nomads gifted her. While the underground liked monikers they generally ran with nicknames, thriving off them. Xia hadn’t taken to it quite as easily, though she held reasonable attachment to her original name since it’d been a present from her parents. For that reason and that reason alone Chesha wouldn’t openly admit to disliking Xia’s previous name since it made her feel more distant to the pilot.

They’d arrived a bit early if only due to luck though, offered the job while in a town not too far off. Xia’s name came on whispered lips from those who didn’t seek out proper medical establishments, willing to perform surgeries and cook up medicine. She stuck to some code of decency though, usually trying to help those with addiction problems rather than feed them for easier money and refusing anything she couldn’t guarantee a seventy-five percent success. Maybe retaining some morals made people trust her a bit more even in the darker parts of society? Chesha couldn’t rightly say.

If only because of her did they allow Chesha the opportunity to help with “protection” – but she knew it was more glorified than anything. They mostly viewed the pilot as decoration to the operation, allowing Xia’s “kid” to “help out.” There hadn’t even been a request to demonstrate any skill, merely the plea to “not shoot the ruins or other pilots. Oh, and stay out of their way too sweetie!” Well it mattered little to her as long as it meant a little bit of extra cash on top of what they promised her mother for simply being here in case something happened to a pilot or a researcher.

”I’m going to check up on Mynstrelle. Let me know when it’s dinner time.”

”Why did you carve that rock into a skull?”

Her mother long outgrew trying to convince the girl to socialize with other pilots – maybe in part due to the crowd they sometimes mingled with – and turning around it was hard not to feel a spot of affection. The way the fair-skinned blond held a hand to her mouth in innocent curiosity…it was hard to imagine her nearing forty. That habit turned her back into the twenty-something year old who ran constant check-ups while chatting with Chesha, ensuring some level of human contact and affection. Better to avoid the mistakes in Mark I and Mark II.

”To see if their researchers can figure out it’s a rock and not a petrified skeleton, of course.”

Turning about, Chesha didn’t have to see to know Xia would blink a few times before pursing her lips. The older woman would no doubt find some amusement and likely watch the skull with curiosity when the research team showed up now. Later the pilot would remind the scientist to not accidentally give it away, but for now snorted when she’d made it a safe enough distance away.

Beautiful deep red greeted the girl as she turned a corner, finding her latest friend crouched and asleep. Mynstrelle’s main color made her think of low sunsets and early sunrises, a bloody birth and death to the sun each and every day soon followed by the moon as they contested for the spotlight. Somehow they harmonized on the fox and yet…sometimes Chesha dabbled with the thought that maybe the silver wanted to turn her fox into a ghost of its former self and replace the red for a ghastly white. Maybe she was over-romanticizing it though…

”Sorry, but it’s time to wake up. Bit early to peek out too much, but who knows when we’ll get a visit, eh?” Screens lit up as the cat-eyed pilot murmured to herself. A low blue light encompassed her before a grinning, characterized feline face greeted her, head formed from magenta stripes and only the stripes of the tail curling beneath the head icon. Pixels twitched as it snickered and gave way to the operating system and finally her mechanical friend came to life with a small hiss, joints rolling as it rose a few feet and then stretched its forelegs out, rump rising into the air. ’Always like a cat with you…well, no matter.’

There was blood everywhere, so much blood; it covered his hands and chest. Several deep wounds creased his torso, though oddly he felt no pain, just the warm wetness of blood running down his side. There were flames everywhere, the heat blasted him, he could feel the searing heat turning his exposed skin red, and the skin of his knuckles had peeled back from his repeated punches. All around were corpses and the twisted metal of Zoids that had had their cores destroyed. Takeshi leaned back against the broken form of his Lightning Saix, his spare hand clutched at the grip of an empty pistol, he was exhausted. Breathe ripped from him in ragged pants, the exhaled air turning into puffs of steam in front of him.

A click broke his reverie, a black figure in a helmet raised a gun at him, the Rifter said something, Takeshi didn’t know what, but it sounded like a barked order. The pilot from Zi raised his hands as if in surrender, only to throw his useless pistol at the helmeted head of the foe. As the black figure blocked the projectile Takeshi was on him, a rock had appeared in his hands as he brought it down on the thing’s, he couldn’t bring himself to think of it as a man, helmet. Again and again the stone fell, until the Rifter stopped moving, hot blood that was not his own covered Takeshi’s hands.

He shook his head to clear the fog, this was all so wrong, the Rifters were gone, and Flash was destroyed by bandits, not in the war. Yet there he lay, the life ebbing away slowly as his lifeblood pumped out onto the ground, his own heart turned traitor as it sped up the process, this was how he ended…

Takeshi sat up straight in his bed with a scream, the naked form next to him moved, disturbed by the Pilot’s rude awakening. She was a small figure, her red hair splayed out over the pillow, dark shadows hung below her eyes, in her half asleep state she reached out for him, but Takeshi simply batted the hand away as he turned to sit on the edge of the bed in the Captain’s quarters. His feet hit the ground and scattered a few of the glass beer bottles with several clinks. The bleary eyed pilot reached across to the bedside table to lift a half filled glass of scotch, the liquor hit his lips and his eyes closed as the comforting wetness hit his throat.

The war had left its scars, not just the red puckered lines across his ribs and back; there were those that ran deeper. His sleep hadn’t been deep in years now, and he was rarely free of the liquor’s hold, in fact he was only sober for official team business and battles, otherwise he was usually six shots deep with almost as many beers. The Highguardian was a wreck and the façade was beginning to crack now that he’d thrown everything into rebuilding the team. Takeshi finished the last of the scotch before straightening up, he was clad in only a pair of blue silk boxer shorts, they were emblazoned with the red logo of Phoenix Apparel, and they had at least finally found some sponsors.

The woman in the bed stirred, mumbling something about where he was, the pilot turned towards the bed with a dispassionate look, “Your money is on the dresser.” He spoke with the same level of enthusiasm, her services had been rendered and she was now of no use. The pilot stepped into his walk in wardrobe and grabbed the day’s clothes; jeans and a tank top would suffice. His boots buckled up and the pilot left the room with his team jacket over one shoulder. He’d received a message from Drifter and was in the cockpit of the Lightning Saix before he’d spoken another word that day.

“Alright Flash, let’s go, it’s been too long since we ran together.” He spoke almost lovingly to the Lightning Saix, though the effect was ruined by the bottle of scotch that sat between his legs on the cockpit’s seat. He tapped out a quick text to Kael, it was simple; be there soon.

It wasn’t long before the R&D arrived, along with their escorts. Kael made sure to keep an eye out as the escorts would begin to put up main camp along the cliff. Some of the coat-wearing men were already hurrying towards the cliffside to get an assessment of the location of the ruins. With the information from the scan that he and Aedan had sent before, he wouldn’t be surprised if they would want to start exploring before dawn.

For a moment, he thought of just sleeping and taking some time to rest. With Aedan on a full lookout, he could pretty much leave the rest to his trust zoid. Still, there were some things he had to figure out. As the monitor came to life once more, this time of faces of the people included in the convoy and the R&D, he came to stop along the picture of a woman who had caught his attention. If memory serves him right, this person had made a name for herself amongst mercenaries, to say the least.

“Sven will have to explain more when I return,” he sighed as he waved a hand and the monitor screen slid to the side, revealing the response message of the Highguardian. Well, if Takeshi was more than willing to go by his way, Kael was glad. And so, with a pat on the dashboard, he would make his intentions clear. Aedan’s cockpit would as the zoid would lower its head, allowing Kael to jump out. Rubbing a hand along the zoid’s metallic face, he would whisper, “Call me when something’s up. Keep note of all the zoids around.” A response would just appear on the interface of his watch.

He would then lift the hood of his black jacket and cover his head, providing some shadows to cover his face. He would then walk across the grounds, half looking at the men trying to set up the base camp, half looking at the zoids parked, and half looking at where he would find the invited locals. There was only one thing in his mind, and that was to find that Xia person. If he knew one thing, it was that whenever someone from the underworld was mixed up with military work, it could only spell potential trouble.

(OOC: sorry for late reply. stuff happened. also still trying to look for the third for the team, along with my friend who is quite late. i'll try my best to reply within 3 days.)

More people began arriving, the red fox watching from a safe distance. As far as they were concerned she was little more than a young upstart pretending to keep the perimeter secure, but the girl hardly minded. Let them think what they wanted as it let her go unperturbed. They held the Shadow Fox’s registration information, knowing not to take aim at the very least and she could watch as the Gustavs hauled in equipment and people alike. Idly she wondered what they hoped to find here, no doubt backers hoping for weapons or rare Zoids while the researchers merely wanted historical finds and things to boost their titles. At least that seemed to be the world in a nut shell: noble goals atop personal gain.

However the vantage point allowed her to watch the incoming Zoids, a small pleasure to her. There wasn’t a lot of variety, a few Command Wolves, a Cannon Tortoise, and a pair of Pteras for the sake of aerial coverage and patrols. ’I could’ve sworn they mentioned a Saix coming though…’ She’d keep an eye out on with a hope to see it truly charging rather than trudging alongside the caravan of supplies. It may not go max speed, but she could certainly appreciate the gait to its run.


Xia sighed as the box huffed into place. ”That should be good for now…where did she get off too though…” The woman laughed, realizing belatedly how silly of a question that’d been. Almost immediately she’d recalled the twinkle in Chesha’s eyes at the mention of a Lightning Saix, having never seen one in person, that the blond hadn’t been able to mention something called a “Rayse Wolf” before she’d more or less started talking about the panther Zoid. ’Probably for the best, she might hound them for details…’ Absentmindedly studying her organized work space, the woman sighed. Life on the run remained far more complex than she’d initially realized, having wanted to offer the girl a proper life and yet here they worked for odd pay in order to keep their names off of any proper lists. ’She should be free to socialize without worry…’

As the hustle and bustle seemed to grow louder with more excited scientists arriving and others setting up a larger camp Xia forced such thoughts down. The more she worried about these things the more problematic it became, though at some point the blond would need to call her “daughter” back to the camp. For now she wanted Chesha to enjoy a small dream even if it’d have been nice to have the pilot’s help setting up the medical tent, but the doctor couldn’t allow the younger woman to wander too far out of her grasp either.

The desert may not be a particularly pleasing aesthetic to most people, but to Takeshi is was paradise, the one place where he felt there was enough room for himself and his Lightning Saix, the only place in the world he didn’t feel closed in. He glanced around at the landscape and breathed in the warm dry air as Flash loped steadily on towards their goal, the feline Zoid cutting a graceful figure as they crossed the arid wasteland. The pilot reclined in his seat, content to watch the world pass by, giving over most of the control to Flash himself, moving to a one-handed grip on the controls Takeshi took a swig from his bottle of scotch, giving a satisfied sigh as the burning liquid hit his throat.

The Highguardian Captain watched as his destination pulled into view, a mound of old ruins, while Takeshi knew such things were prized by others and highly sought after, personally he didn’t see the appeal. The Ancients may have been powerful and knowledgeable about the ways of the Zoids and the world at large, but all he saw now were fragments, whatever secrets they’d known it hadn’t been enough to save them from the inevitable destruction and decay that was the doom of all civilisations. He looked up as he saw the distinguished form of the Rayse Wolf take shape before him, his reverie broken as they came into close proximity of their friends.

The Lightning Saix crashed to a halt, skidding forward slightly on its forepaws, the cockpit opening with a hiss and the jacket clad Takeshi fell to the ground, his knees bending slightly to take the impact. As the pilot stretched to his full height, a not insignificant six feet and five inches, cracking his back with audible pops, he raised a hand in greeting to his friend, “Hey Drifter, what can I help you with today?” he asked with a wry grin, hoping his easy manner would distract from the slightest hint of a drunken slur, desperately hoping there was no scent of the scotch on him that the other man would pick up on. For all that Takeshi drank and drank heavily at that, he wasn’t so blind to his problems that he couldn’t see the problem with his coping mechanisms, and he didn’t want his friends to see it, he didn’t need to burden them with his faults.