[IC][Story][Arc 1] Time Away

[robkelk]

Club Lofts, Windsor, ON, Canada
December 27, 2016
4:44 PM

The fog around the building's roof cleared to reveal the three invading robots ripped limb from limb, inert pieces of humanoid chassis scattered all over the roof. Ami sighed. "That didn't slow anybody down, did it?"

"It would have if we relied on vision," that gruff male voice they'd heard earlier replied - from the mouth of what appeared to be a black panther.

Mahoro nodded in agreement. "But Ryuga-san, Slash," she gestured toward the panther, "and I don't need to rely on vision. We all have other combat sensors that we can fall back on."

"And I could hear them," Minawa added.

Ami turned to Mii, who said, "And my esper power lets me see through your fog, so I could avoid their attacks. But I think it wasn't a waste to use your Shabon Spray - at least we don't need to explain a life-and-death combat to the next-door neighbours."

Ami smiled slightly as she reached down and picked up one of the robot heads. "There is that."

Slash scowled as he watched Ami. "Taking souvenirs from a battlefield is an amateur move."

Ami looked annoyed for a brief moment, then forced herself to calm down as she answered Slash. "I'm not taking a souvenir - I'm going to scan this and ask people at other residences whether they recognize this kind of robot. There were three of them, so it's reasonable to assume there are more; maybe even a mass-production line making them somewhere." Ami put the head on top of a fence pole, pulled out and opened the Mercury Computer, and proceeded to run her scans.

"And the more we know about them, the easier our future fights against them will be," added Mii. "Let's clean up this rooftop, then go back inside and do an after-action debriefing."

Slash's scowl disappeared. "Finally - somebody who's a professional."

While the others picked up the wreckage of their opponents, Ami continued to scan the robot head ... and then scanned her hosts. She realized that Kuroko Shirai's attitudes regarding potential combatants had started to take hold in her as well, but that didn't stop her.

The only one to notice Ami's scans was Slash - who assumed she was scanning the robot parts that the others were gathering up.

---

Fifteen minutes later, Mii and Ami walked back into their room, Ami reading an email that had just arrived on the Mercury Computer. "Take a look at this," she said to Mii as she turned the palmtop so they could both see the screen.

She read the message, and grunted in surprise. "Of all the people to reply, I wouldn't have expected Meg Deckard to be first. What's a '55C'?"

Ami typed a few keys, and after a moment, footage from an anime started to play. "It appears to be a combat robot model from the same universe as the 33-Stars," she replied.

They both watched the footage for a few minutes.

Finally, Mii spoke. "The ... 'Boomers', was it?" Ami nodded. "The ones we fought flew in. Those ones" - Mii pointed at the screen - "don't have any flight capability."

Ami nodded solemnly. "Which means either the robots we fought weren't Boomers, or ..."

"... or somebody upgraded them. And their attacks matched the ones in the anime."

Ami went pale. "Oh, dear."

"We're alone, Ami."

"Oh, fuck."

"Exactly. You call Rob, I'll call Ben." They both reached for their phones and moved to opposite ends of the room.

The San Antonio call connected first. "Hi, Ben. It's Mii. No time for pleasantries. I'm visiting the Windsor residence right now, and we were just attacked by Boomers."

"Wait. You're sure it was Boomers?"

"Meg Deckard says they were 55C models."

Ben swore, then replied, "Let them know to expect Washuu-chan in a few minutes. The priority on the implementation of their Good Neighbor System just hit top-level."

"Will do. And thanks. I'll talk with you again later." She hung up and turned to Ami, just in time to see her hang up as well. "Washuu-chan's on the way. What did Rob say?" Mii asked as she put her phone in her pocket.

"He was worried about two possible foes joining forces. And he asked for a written report that he could share with the other apartment managers." Ami suddenly smiled. "And he said he already misses both of us."

Just then, there was a knock at the door, followed by Miyuki's voice. "Mahoro asked me to tell you that dinner won't be until 6:30."

Mii, being closer to the apartment door than Ami was, walked over and opened the door, just in time to see Miyuki about to open the stairwell door. "Thanks! And I have some news - you're about to get another visitor, from San Antonio."

Miyuki turned, said "I'll let Norgarth know," then turned back to the stairwell and headed downstairs.

Mii closed the apartment door, turned to Ami, pulled out her phone, and commented, "Our talk will have to wait until after dinner - I have an after-action report to write for Rob."

Ami offered the Mercury Computer to Mii. "Would you prefer something with a keyboard?"

Mii put her phone down and took the palmtop. "That would make it easier, thanks."