'Thinking'

"Speaking"

"[Intercomms/Radio Transmission]"

*noises*

======

Museum Estate - Inner Courtyard
Commander (Y/n) "Ranger" Schmitt - Gray Raven
1305 Hours

"LT, I see an opening!" One of the CBRN soldiers pointed to the left. There's still Corrupted pouring in from that side, but not as much from the other side. That'll do.

"Alright, you heard him." (Y/n) said. "Let's move!"

(Y/n), as usual, took the lead and shoots every Corrupted that would cross his vision. The rest followed after as they formed a circular perimeter, making sure that every side is covered and no blind spots would be left unnoticed.

Sword slash, laser shots, and bullet pings resonated around them as they continued to shoot every Corrupted that would get near them. They continued the run and gun tactic until they reached an open area, leaving the horde behind. As they reached an open area, they noticed a large uncorrupted mechanoid fighting off the Corrupted that were trying to get it, and the Corrupted's attention were quickly drawn to it. They stopped and hid behind a wall, carefully observing it.

"That massive one... That's a combat customized heavy agricultural machine. I know these well..." Lee said.

"Righto! I mean, just look at it. It makes me want to wrestle with it!" Kamui enthusiastically remarked.

"If it comes to pure physical strength, Kamui might be able to win." Liv added.

"Really?" Kamui's energy shot up after hearing Liv's words. "That just makes me want to wrestle with it more!"

"Shh!" Jerome shuts Kamui up.

"Commandant, what do we do?" Liv called out, waiting for his orders.

"..." (Y/n) didn't reply and instead continues to observe the mechanoid.

"That was probably the mechanoid that got bound by an electromagnetic device for some reason." Kamui said.

"And you released it when you placed the devices earlier." Jerome concluded.

"It dashed into the main hall..." (Y/n) muttered.

"It's where the Corrupted signal is dense." Liv confirms.

"And it will also draw the attention of the Corrupted from both sides as well." A CBRN soldier spoke.

"Well, we're in luck! We just have to run away in the meantime." Kamui suggested.

"Commandant, I have a proposal." Lucia said.

"Go on." (Y/n) answered, his eyes still fixed on the mechanoid.

"The machine is structurally simple, but it wasn't infected by the Punishing Virus. It might have some unique technology from the estate. It we leave it, it will eventually get controlled by the virus. And a mechanoid with this prowess..."

"I get your point." (Y/n) said. "Let's get its memory once the number of Corrupted lowers."

They followed (Y/n)'s instruction. They followed the mechanoid and waited for the Corrupted's number to lessen. A few moments later, the mechanoid fell down to its knees, calling out for someone named "Emma". Its rusty body already had several holes in various areas and severed electrical wires that were giving off sparks, showing the chaos it had been through. There are still Corrupted nearby. Kamui rushed in, eliminated the enemies present with (Y/n) and the CBRN soldiers providing cover fire, and removed the memory shell. Once done, they made their escape before they would be overrun again.

They jumped through a broken window and ran away from the Museum Estate, hoping to find the transport spacecraft that would rescue them. But...

"Motherf..."

A smoke in the distance. A bad sign.

The team rushed towards the location of the smoke, and their fears were confirmed — it was the transport spacecraft that was supposed to pick them up. Its impact on the ground caused its parts to scatter around it. Its wings and engines were barely running and were on fire, and the one that caught their attention the most were the now dead pilots with gaping holes in their chest, viral fluids dripping from them.

"Damn that Roland..." (Y/n) uttered, gripping his rifle more tightly. "Jerome, grab their dogtags."

The mentioned soldier did so, offered some prayers, and placed the dogtags inside his pockets. The medics followed after him to check on the dead pilots, and the closer inspection made them cringe.

"Shit... the bastard really fucked them up." One of the medics said.

"The consequences of letting Roland slip away." Lee brought up.

Kamui looked at Lee with furrowed eyebrows and was about to speak, but (Y/n) abruptly cuts them off.

"Lock it down, both of you!" (Y/n) ordered. "What happened, happened. It's no use dwelling on it."

Lucia suddenly reacted. "There's Punishing Virus activity beneath the sand! Liv!"

"Got it! Marking Corrupted location..." Liv said. "It's too fast!"

"Everyone, spread out!" (Y/n) orders as everyone ran at things they could use as cover.

A pair of mechanical arms thrusts outward the sand and grabbed Kamui's legs, causing him to trip as the arms tried to pull them in. He managed to shake it off and quickly took his sword, bringing it down to the assailants.

"Liv, where is it?" (Y/n) queried.

"[It... disappeared, Commandant.]" Liv informs.

"Let get the hell out of here. We need to keep moving." (Y/n) said, then contacts Celica. "Raven 1 to Raven Actual. Do you read?"

"[Raven Actual copies.]" As usual, Celica heeds the call. "[What's the status? Are you all alright? How's Kamui?]"

"We're fine. Kamui is not showing any signs of corruption. But now need air support, ASAP. Possible Vassago attack on play." (Y/n) relays the information, having a clear knowledge of the identity their attacker.

"[Vassago?]" Celica asked, bewildered.

"Yes. I've encountered one of them before, so I know it's a Vassago if I see one." (Y/n) explained.

"[Understood. I'll contact Warhammer for CAS. We'll also send a spacecraft to pick you up.]" Celica said.

"Roger. Raven 1 out." (Y/n) replied, then radios the others. "We need to move. Can't let the bastard catch us. Let's go."

The squad then headed westward. As they continued on, they would occasionally come across small groups of Corrupted, but they would just steer away from them to avoid unnecessary fights. While traveling, Liv located an abandoned military base ten kilometers away from their location, with the foreign organization "Forsaken" occupying it.

"Let's just hope that they'll greet us nicely." (Y/n) said.

"Forsaken... I think I've heard of them when I was still with Kurono." Lee added.

"Commandant, I've heard your conversation with Celica earlier. What is this 'Vassago'?" Lucia brought up.

"Allow me to explain." Jerome volunteers to do the talking. "Vassago is a bionic mechanoid that is a high-level experiment project, and is violent in nature. It has very good sensors all over its body, so it's very sensitive to movement, heat, smell, and shortwave communication signals. However, its visual sensors are just average, so if we want to avoid the bastard, we need to set up a lure."

"They're basically giant robot centipedes." (Y/n) added. "Those things are a massive pain in the ass."

"Have you encountered them before, Commandant?" Lucia asked.

"When I was still on my lone wolf days, yes, I do encounter those things from time to time." (Y/n) said. "They're a tough nut to crack, so I would usually avoid them as much as possible."

"But we don't have a lure right now." Liv said.

Lee then looks at Kamui. "Unless..."

Lucia looked at him with a face of dismay. "Lee, stop."

"I was just joking." Lee replied.

Just then, they felt a tremor stronger than before. Liv shouts that the enemy is approaching them rapidly from one o'clock.

"Prepare for combat!" (Y/n) ordered.

They quickly scattered around. (Y/n) grabs a frag grenade from his vest, pulled the pin, and tossed it far away from them, hoping that it would lure out the enemy.

*boom*

The grenade exploded, sending shrapnel and sand in the air. Seconds later, the Vassago emerged from the sand, then roared at the Gray Raven and Strike Hawk operators. The roar was powerful enough to shake the ground and blow air towards them. The other half of its body is now shown — a combination of metal legs, metal trunk, and a large white head with red glowing eyes.

(Y/n) immediately fired at Vassago, and the rest of the ranged operators soon followed. The volley of bullets and laser beams didn't faze it even a bit. Lucia and Kamui drew their swords and heads towards Vassago. They went in for a slash, but their swords only made shallow cuts.

"Eat it!" The second CBRN soldier yelled.

(Y/n) reloads his rifle. "Jerome! Protect the medics!"

"Roger!" Jerome replied, and went in front of the medics as he continues to fire his MP7.

The CBRN soldier who brought a rotary grenade launcher aimed at Vassago's head and unleashed a volley of grenades at it. Vassago roared once again as the cartridges made impact — this time, it was much more stronger, forcing Lucia and Kamui to jump back and cover their faces.

It reeled back before slamming itself on the ground, catching everyone off-guard as they got thrown a few meters because of the force of the hit. It repeated the action five more times, shaking the ground in the process as well as throwing off their aim.

"Bastard!" Jerome cussed at the mechanoid.

Once the onslaught stopped, Kamui and Lucia went for a head-on attack once again. The others supported them like earlier. The blade wielders slashed and slashed, the gunners fired relentlessly, but all it did was to annoy the thing. It retaliated by attempting to bite them. However, the two simply rolled out of the way, avoiding the jaws of death. The swordsmen took the chance and stabbed its eyes, breaking one-third of its visual modules as sparks of electricity got out from the damaged spot. It roared in pain and shot a burst of air, sending them flying back once again. (Y/n) braced himself and managed to catch Lucia, barely keeping himself from falling down due to her weight.

"T-Thank you, Commandant..." Lucia expressed her gratitude, a little embarrassed due to her position.

At the same time, the CBRN soldiers catched Kamui, though they were the ones truly fell down. Well, that was understandable in Kamui's case since he's a Tank-type Construct.

"Heavy bastard..." The fourth CBRN soldier muttered in pain.

"Hehe. Thanks, guys!" Kamui said while giving them them a thumbs up.

"Commandant, it dove back to the sand!" One of the medics alerted.

"[Gray Raven, Strike Hawk, be advised. Warhammer is approaching your location, one minute out.]" Celica radioed at the same time.

(Y/n) suddenly broke off from the team and dashed to the opposite direction, surprising the rest with his rather suicidal move.

"Commandant!" Lucia cried out and followed after him.

"You stay there!" (Y/n) yelled, stopping Lucia in her tracks.

After gaining distance, he dove to the side, just as Vassago emerged from his previous spot. It roared at the Ranger, but he ignored it. (Y/n) walks backwards, shooting at Vassago's head at the same time.

"Come get some, you ugly-ass!" (Y/n) taunted.

Annoyed, Vassago prepared an energy attack by charging the weapon on its mouth, but stopped halfway and looked at the sky. It then saw the AC-130 circling above, and designated it as its new target. It locked on it and prepare to fire an energy attack, not noticing that (Y/n) had already ran back to his team. However, before it could fire, munitions of various calibers rained down on it, piercing its body with great lethality. The hail of bullets caused the sand to fly high up in air, covering Vassago in it.

Once the volley stopped, they waited for the sand to clear, then saw the wreckage of Vassago lying in the sand riddled with bullet holes and cannon blasts.

"[Positive on impact — that's a hit. Merry Christmas.]" Warhammer's voice came in the comms.

(Y/n) smiled a little. "Raven 1 confirms. Nice shot, Warhammer."

"[Call us if you need something to go FUBAR, Raven 1. Warhammer, RTB.]" Warhammer circles around for the last time and lets out a volley of flares, showcasing its elegance as the Angel of Death.

After Warhammer disappeared, the Gray Ravens and Strike Hawks approached it, looking at its shell.

(Y/n) breathed the sigh of relief. "Lee, take out its memory shell. It might have valuable data in it."

Lee did so, placing the memory shell on his jacket. After a minute of waiting, they received a transmission from the pilot of the spacecraft, saying that that they're approaching their location. The spacecraft soon arrived. Everyone boarded the vehicle and sat down on the unoccupied seats, finally managing to get a breather. The CBRN soldiers removed their gas masks, finally showing off their faces to the Gray Ravens and Kamui. They went to the side and played some card games to pass the time.

"Jerome, when we get back, escort Kamui to the Science Department. We need to make sure that Kamui is really fine." (Y/n) spoke.

Jerome nodded. "Got it, sir."

"There's no need to, Commandant! I'm fine, see?" Kamui disagreed with the suggestion.

"It's Captain Chrome's request, not mine." (Y/n) retorted, showing Kamui the transmission he got from the Strike Hawk leader.

Kamui just sighed, knowing that Chrome will not budge no matter how much he tries to convince him.

"Commandant, please don't make any moves like that again." Lucia said, looking at (Y/n) seriously. "That was suicidal."

"You would do the same to protect your teammates, right? Lee did it once." (Y/n) stood his ground.

"Well, yeah... but, we're Constructs, Commandant. We have no problem switching to another body if our current gets destroyed." Lucia shot back. "Why would you go that far for us Constructs? We're meant to be expendable."

"Not to me." (Y/n) remarked, surprising her. "I'm not like your previous commanders who are reckless about your lives. You, Lee, and Liv are important to me, so don't say anything like that, okay? But if you're still angry at me, I'll make it up to you."

"O-Okay..." Lucia said, feeling a strange sensation in her chest. 'What is... this... Why am I feeling like this...?'

Liv giggled. "Thank you for taking care of us, Commandant."

"You're being overly dramatic, Commandant." Lee said with a slight smile. "Still, thank you."

(Y/n) yawned. "I need to take a little nap. Wake me up once we arrive."

(Y/n) fell asleep almost instantly. Although hesitant at first, Lucia mustered her courage and pulled (Y/n) closer to her, letting his head rest on her shoulder. She took it even further and caresses his hair, and for some reason, she felt nostalgic, as if she was caressing her little sibling's hair.

Liv looked at them and smiled, but she felt another emotion. An unpleasant one. Was she perhaps... jealous?

Liv's face turns into a slight frown. 'But... why?'