The sun hangs high in the bright lavender sky as our cruiser flies towards its destination, moving fast over the forested lowlands of Steralin.
Ray Gunn looks back at us from the cockpit. "The clothes fit, right?" He calls.
"Of course they fit," Bebe says.
"I'm surprised they have uniforms this small," I tell them. "You know, considering…" Well, they know as well as I the absolute state of an aeronaut's height. Something about big things in small packages? I dunno.
"No one will question it as long as you don't out yourself," Ray replies. "Let's just say we've had child agents in the past." With that, he tosses me a Qinn Industries hat.
"Meh," I mutter, undoing my twintails. As I shake out my straight light-blue hair, I notice Marc staring. Then he sees me staring back and quickly turns away.
"Coming in for a landing. Uh, this is the place, right? I don't see anything down below." Jetta is in the cockpit, flying us on the final stretch.
"You're right on target. Bring us down," Ray instructs.
"Roger." Our altitude begins to decrease. This whole time, Hal has been looking out the window, being uncharacteristically quiet.
"Alright, who's dropping first?" I ask as the other aeronauts join me at the side door.
"This isn't a fight," Rurin reminds me. "Well, not yet." Despite being grounded, he's just as determined as the rest of us to put an end to things. Maybe even more determined, since it's personal. He's got a war grip on his energy pike.
Diantha nods, hands on her battle targe. Her iceblade is expertly concealed under her belt. "We've gotta lay low for as long as possible," she says. She sounds calm, but like all the rest of us, she looks very eager for action.
The last aeronaut with us doesn't say anything – well, Angelina doesn't normally say much, so it's fine. The massive chargebolt rifle on her back is glowing slightly, indicating a precharge. Any sign of things going south, and she'll be blasting guards to bits… honestly, I'm starting to worry we'll just blow our cover right away. Though I guess it would be on brand.
As the cruiser comes in for a landing, the underground hangar lets us in with no issue. Then we follow Ray and Bebe down the ramp, trying to keep calm. So far, so good…
A minute later, a correspondent walks up to greet us.
"Verification complete… wait, I thought Qinn was supposed to check in the cruiser," he says.
"I'm an AE, aren't I? Hardly makes a difference," Ray shrugs. "And anyway, Qinn himself has other matters to oversee."
The correspondent rolls his eyes and sighs. "You twins and your arbitrary decisions… Boss isn't going to appreciate this. He's already miffed about your refusal to wear the armors."
"He wants to complain, he can say it to our faces," Bebe replies with a glint of her glasses. "Come on, crew. Where are the acrobuggies, by the way?"
"The north subgarage. Don't bother until routine maintenance is done," he replies, walking back to his post.
"Noted." We walk into the headquarters, casual as can be. Then Ray gives a thumbs-up. "All right, let's get to it."
I move towards the north wing with Marc, Zoë and Hal. So far, so good, though this place is a tad bigger than I expected. We aren't really on a timer though, so maybe it's fine?
As we walk through a connecting room, a squad of four bulky men enters from the other side – earthmovers!
"Oh, hey!" The leader stops us.
"What is it? I'm busy," Marc irritably replies.
"Some intruders are starting to raise a ruckus in the south wing," Earthmover1 explains. "The twin AEs told us to spread the word."
"Yes, yes. I'll keep a lookout," Marc dismissively replies. "By the way, the subgarage is this way, right?"
"Uh…" Earthmover1 scratches his head.
Earthmover2 punches him. "Come on, Bork, I thought you remembered."
"Shut up! We can't even drive, what's the point?"
Earthmover3 points to the door they entered through. "Straight down this hall, behind the big gate at the end."
"Thank goodness Warf remembered," Earthmover4 mutters. "Makin' us look bad here."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Earthmover1 glares at him.
"Y'know, I don't think I've seen this AE before," Earthmover2 remarks. "Is that new armor?"
I start tapping my foot. "This is boring. Can we crush them now?"
"Seconded." Zoë rests a hand on her ice gun.
"W-wait!" Marc clears his throat, trying to maintain his decorum.
"One blast, Marc. Do it," I insist.
Earthmover1 raises an eyebrow. "Do what? What're you guys talking about?"
Marc sighs, then raises an arm.
VHOOSH – a burst of cosmic energy blows two of the earthmovers into the wall, knocking them out instantly.
"Yes! Yes!" I pump my fists. Hal gives me a funny look, but remains silent.
"Uh-oh." Earthmover3 goes for his comm, but Zoë shoots him, the frozen dart ripping straight through his neck. Sheesh, compared to when Rurin had it, that ice gun is practically a different weapon.
Earthmover4 comes at me with a massive fist, but it's not quite fast enough to catch me. In a quick motion I'm on top of his extended arm, his fist stuck in the ground. "You won't take me alive," he growls, glaring at me.
"Okay? Suit yourself," I shrug, then kill him with a slash of my vibroblade.
"Found the gate," Hal calls from down the corridor. "Not too big, but it's locked."
"Tch." I start running down the corridor, then shoot past Hal with a flying kick – BAM! The gate's left door caves nicely, making a decent-sized opening.
Marc catches up. "Hey, cool. I was gonna blast it, but…"
"Oh! Go right ahead, I won't stop you," I hastily reply. "The, uh, opening I made isn't very big anyway—"
CLA-BANG. The caved-in door falls off completely. Marc gives me a look.
"W-well… if we're trying to draw out the bigwigs, we should cause as much destruction as possible," I tell him. "Just blast anything that looks valuable!"
"Wait… this isn't the subgarage, just another restricted area," Hal observes. "Though it might just be further down…"
"I remember Marc saying you're smarter than you look," I say to him. "Does that mean you act like an airhead on purpose?"
"No comment," he replies.
"Come on! I won't blab."
"It's not about that." Hal shakes his head. "Seriously, don't worry about it."
A Delta rounds the corner, then sees us.
"Unauthorized access detected. Intruders detected. Biometal detected. Reassessing," it says, raising its guns and lowering them.
"Hm? Verni isn't…" My gaze lands on Marc and Zoë. "Oh. Never mind. Marc, blast it!"
"You're getting way too excited about this," he mutters. Then, VHOOSH – The Delta is blown apart.
"I found a map," Zoë reports. "The subgarage is at the end of this corridor."
"Huh, so he wasn't lying," I note, kicking down a door.
"He didn't strike me as clever enough to be anything but honest," Hal states, then destroys another door with a splash bomb.
"There you guys are," a familiar voice says.
"Wah!" Marc flinches as we turn to face the voice's owner.
"How rude." Mami Lee adjusts her cloak with an annoyed look.
"Hi, Master Lee," Hal says. "I thought you were still at the safe house."
"You sensed the distress call, too, didn't you, Hal? I've been trying to source it for hours now," Lee replies. "To think it would be here of all places. This entire sector is new to me."
"How'd you get here, though?" I'm curious too.
"It's easy to warp to places you're familiar with," Lee absently replies, now looking at Zoë.
She meets her gaze for a moment, then says, "Aha. Neocon, right? I remember you."
"And I've heard a lot about you, Cryos. Though I'll admit this is my first proper introduction," Lee states.
"Don't call me Cryos. I'm Zoë."
"Apologies, Zoë. We can catch up later, yes? The source isn't far, I don't think."
"Um, but… our mission," I feebly inject.
"It'll be easier to just split up," Hal suggests. "Me and Zoë and Master Lee to the signal, Marc and Kit to the subgarage."
"What? You're coming with us too. Zoë and Lee are more than enough by themselves."
"What, and I'm not?" Marc raises an eyebrow.
"Fair point," I agree.
"Anything to see Marc pop off more, huh? Respect," Hal nods.
"Shut up! Come on, Marc."
Marc sighs. "That's the Kit I know…"