A Pleasure To Burn
"Acchan, come help me with this do--"
BLAM
Takamina yelped, shaking her fingers rapidly even though her hand hadn't even been within range of aforementioned door. She had felt the heat of the impact as if she had been standing right next to it. Which she hadn't. Her eyebrows felt singed. Which was a damn sight better than the spanking new hole in the problematic door where the knob used to be.
"What was that?"
Acchan, or Maeda Atsuko, was admiring the spent cartridge from her shot with something approaching the reverence with which she usually regarded food.
"Yuko, you are awesome. What will I do without you?" After saying this, Acchan kissed the cartridge, then pocketed it. Her helmet sat next to her on some crates of ammunition they had dragged out into the central space, ready for pickup when the rest of the cavalry came. She turned her attention to Takamina, who was still gaping between the still smoking hole and her maniacal partner who had caused said hole.
"Did you say something?" Her sidearm went back to its holster, and Acchan clambered up to the top crate, scanning the horizon. "Miichan, where are you~ I'm hungry~"
Heaving a sigh, Takamina turned back to the now ineffective door. If she still had her armor, she could have just kicked the rest of it down in less than a minute, but reinforced steel didn't agree with flesh and bone. Atsuko was obviously too out of it to be of much help. It had not escaped the midget's notice how their ace tended to get really vague and/or eccentric after combat. If Acchan wasn't sleeping or looking for food, her attention span got incredibly selective after the adrenaline rush of battle. That was why they never let her out alone...much.
Scanning around for something that could serve as a prybar, Takamina finally settled on a large wrench before cautiously approaching the hole in the door. The steel around the hole actually seemed melted. Just what in the world did Yuko put into that bullet?
~*~*~
"Out on the road for forty days~ Last night on Mt Fuji~ damn was that a blaze~♪”
Wind in your face, your hair streaming behind you, the scenery a picturesque haze as you sped by. The dust cloud a solid wall in the wake of your passage. Your knuckles turning white as you clung on the handlebars. Your driver singing a jaunty tune while beating time on the wheel...while going at 200 miles an hour. And rising, if the speedometer was any indication.
"Up all night with Sasshi and co~ I'm telling you, don't play poker with Mariko~"
"Ne, Miichan, where do I turn next?" Was there really a need to turn your entire body while you talk to me? THE ROAD!! EYES ON THE ROAD!!!!!
If her grip was any tighter, her hand would exploded from the sheer pressure. That would have been messy. Fortunately, it didn't happen. Minegishi Minami even managed to answer normally, though her life was flashing before her eyes. Which reminded her, Sashihara owed her a beer from last night's poker game. Which she fully intended to collect...once she made it back alive.
"Right at the next crossroads and then head towards the valle--euugghhh"
Her stomach floated somewhere up to chest-level as they swung wide at the turn, bringing them dangerously close to a precipice as they drifted beautifully in a move that would have impressed a street racer.
"Acchan's probably hungry by now, don't you think?" The driver remarked offhandedly, a beatific smile on her angelic face. Miichan looked green in the face. Food was the last thing on her mind...but it had also been the first thing she had remembered to pack. She would rather let herself be driven around by this crazy devil for the next hundred years than face a post-battle Acchan without food.
"Yes Haruna..." Miichan's eyes widened to the size of saucers at what she saw next on the road. "Haruna we don't have to....aaggggghhhhhhh!!!"
The heavy transport vehicle soared over a gap in the road -- a gap that hid a hundred foot drop to the bottom of a gorge -- and landed with a screeching thud of rubber and dirt on the other side, teetering precariously to one side before settling back down on four wheels and blazing off towards their intended destination.
"Then we better hurry~ Acchan might just end up eating Takamina if she gets too hungry. That would be bad~♪” If only she wasn't smiling when she said that. It might even have sounded convincing.
"Tell me something Haruna." Miichan finally said after taking a moment to regain her breath (and her nerves).
"Mhmm?"
"You just wanted to do that, didn't you?"
"Un! I've tried it in the simulations, so I wanted to see if it really works~☆"
If Miichan had any hands free, her palm would be meeting her face already. So she improvised, and her forehead met the headboard instead, in complete resignation. She was going to have to have a long talk with Mayuyu and Yuko about letting Haruna play with those simulations too much...
"We're an underground band~ we're coming to town~ and we're gonna burn it all down~♪”
The valley came into view.
~*~*~
Acchan was outside scouting. After lending Takamina a hand with moving the rest of the supplies behind the door the chibi captain had pried open, the whimsical ace had put on her helmet and declared that she was going to go watch for Miichan. And find Sayaka and Sae while she was at it. Takamina didn't have the heart to stop her. After all, she wasn't really expecting Miichan for another hour at least, even with Miichan's blatant disregard for any kind of speed limit. And they did need to bring the Twin Towers back in. At least Sayaka would be able to help her sort everything out while Sae played with Acchan. It'd keep all of them usefully occupied.
So she was pleasantly (?) surprised when she heard the ace cheerfully yell "Miichan~" about 15 minutes later, accompanied by the tortured screech of rubber on gravel. The midget twitched when she heard a loud bang, and looked up to see a dent in the rolled down shutter door.
Her mood wasn't significantly improved when the door was ripped open, literally torn from its rollers, by an overenthusiastic Atsuko, who'd forgotten apparently that there was a switch to activate the mechanism. Then again, the girl had left through an open window on the second level earlier, so perhaps she really didn't know. At least Takamina hoped. Whenever Acchan started acting erratically, it was time to feed her and put her to bed. Otherwise she was a hazard to everyone around her. Not even Sae was quite that dangerous.
"NyanNyan~ You came too~" Came Atsuko's delighted voice, and Takamina looked up again through the destroyed entrance to see a fully armored Acchan literally lift one Kojima Haruna up with barely any effort at all. Behind them, a pale Miichan staggered out of the passenger seat, one hand still clinging to the door for support. Oh, that explained why they were ahead of schedule then.
Miichan was a speed demon, but she wasn't a stunt driver like Kojiharu was. Haruna, it seemed, regarded all physical obstacles as mere inconveniences and never took the long way around. Takamina felt a wave of pity for the other Minami, then blanched seconds later when she realized that there was a high possibility of Haruna driving them back later.
"What happened to your armor?" Was the first thing Miichan said the moment she came within speaking range. Takamina pointed at the wrecked heap smoldering in the corner. Miichan chuckled.
"Oh Yuko is so going to have a fit when we get back..." The small captain chuckled sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head. Miichan started pacing around their prospective loot.
"Sweet, I'm glad we brought our bigger transport, but damn, I think we'll need to steal a couple of their transports to fit all these...is that C4 I see?"
Miichan lit up like a child at Christmas at all the deadly goodies arrayed around them. Takamina chuckled, hooking one arm around the younger Minami's shoulder and pulling her into a loose hug as they continued their inspection.
"Hey where's the Twin Towers?"
"Somewhere. Knowing them, probably stripping the dead again. They really don't let anything go to waste." Takamina shook her head, slight distaste in her tone. She never did like the idea of doing that, even though she acknowledged the necessity of it. It wasn't like they could buy these supplies legitimately...or even illegitimately. The cartels were too heavily regulated for them to get a foot in. Hence these raids.
"Oh come on, you know where they came from. If they did anything less, they wouldn't have cut it as Jackals before they joined us." Miichan shrugged it off easily. She had seen the street kids at work, been part of them for a part of her life, but she had been lucky herself. Living as a street urchin on the fringes of a black market town was less difficult than being driven away from real settlements and the great citydomes where all the powerful people lived.
The 'Jackals' as she knew, was the nickname given to half-feral packs of older orphans who had survived the privation of their early years in the wild and had banded together to start raiding bigger targets. Usually, it was the trade caravans. Merchants quickly learned never to travel without armed escort. They might have been kids, but they were vicious. Vicious enough to continually renew their own hierarchy, since any sign of weakness of the leaders meant that the younger and more ambitious would literally kill to get to the top. Sae and Sayaka rarely spoke of their time among the Jackals, other than humorous anecdotes that Sae would occasionally bring up to spice up conversation.
"But enough about that. You guys secured the comms station from here?" Miichan was suddenly all business again. Takamina nodded.
"Our favorite duo knocked out the tower, and I shut down the panel from here just in case."
"Cool, show me the comms so I can page base. They need to know we're coming so they can meet us halfway. No way am I driving enemy vehicles all the way home. I don't have time to check for trackers on every single one." The two Minamis trotted off to the comms room, leaving Haruna alone with a happily eating Acchan -- yes, Haruna also knows well enough to feed their ace.
"Oi~ Sashihara~ You there~" Miichan drawled over the communications array after fixing it to the right frequency. No one in their right mind used radio waves anymore, what with the electromagnetic interference, but at a sufficiently low wave frequency they could still achieve subpar latency...enough for communication, anyway.
"Identification?" There was a bit of static, but it also sounded like papers were being shuffled. Miichan rolled her eyes. As if anyone else would be using this frequency...as if that dumb geek on the other end couldn't recognize her voice! But she appreciated the caution anyway.
"Stupid Sasshi, Minegishi here, code 03-245163, and you better not have been using the cameras to spy on girls in the showers, you stalker. Have you been taking down their 3 sizes again?"
Awkward laughter on the other end. "Now I know this is the real Miichan. An enemy wouldn't pick that to insult me with. What can I help you with?"
"I don't hear you denying what I said~"
A strangled cough, followed by some weak excuses. Next to Miichan, Takamina was staring in horror alternately at the comms station and at the nonchalant Minami next to her. That's it, she was sweeping her room for cameras when she got back. And she was never ever going to use the common showers again. Ever.
"Yuko-chan made me do it..." A whimper. Miichan laughed at the mental image of Sashihara cowering pitifully at her station. Takamina seized the mic.
"You could have told Mariko about it!"
"Are you kidding? Mariko-sama would have just made it an order and then blackmail me with it!"
Miichan cackled. "Whaddya know, even baka Sashihara can get it right sometimes." She patted the older Minami's shoulder. "Get used to it, Cap'n. We've got some really messed up people back home."
Sashihara coughed again to get their attention. "So, what's the problem? You can't have called back just to make fun of me."
Miichan turned back to the console. "Ah, yeah, just needed to let you know we'll be coming back with a motherload, so arrange for pickup at sector C5. Usual coordinates."
"Sure. ETA?"
"3 hours if Haruna's driving."
"I'll make it 4 then. Oh by the way guys, could you bring back the motherboard of the station for me since you're already there?"
"What's in it for me?"
"I'll tell you something really cool to do. And, ah, don't tell Takamina."
"What? What? What's this about?" The chibi leader squawked. Miichan calmly shoved the protesting midget out of the room and locked the door.
"This had better be good, Sasshi..."
"See, it goes like this..."
~*~*~
Takamina tromped back to the central room, only to have Kojiharu shush her and point at the peacefully napping Atsuko who was using her lap as a pillow.
Before the midget could get any closer though, the ace suddenly sprang up, eyes alert as her hands snatched immediately towards her helmet, buckling it in place. The sudden motion put the other two on immediate guard, their hands straying to their own weapons.
"Something's coming here. Something big." Atsuko's voice was terse. Without waiting for the other two, she bounded up to the second level and headed to the roof for recon.
Haruna and Takamina exchanged glances. Neither was strong enough to actually lift a bazooka to blast anything larger than their transport. A grenade launcher would just have to do. It was a strain even then for Haruna, whose primary talent hardly lay in brute strength.
Taking cover behind various crates, Takamina took up a pair of field binocs to scan the horizon. There was an incoming tank. A tank?! At that distance they couldn't yet feel the rumble very distinctly. It was amazing that Acchan had been able to pick it up...while sleeping at that.
"Minami." A tinny voice sounded over her headpiece, making the small captain jump. She had forgotten that she had clipped a spare commslink to her ear so she could keep in contact with Acchan earlier.
"That tank's smoking...it's seen combat before this." Acchan seemed fidgety even over the audio. "Permission to make contact?"
"Permission granted." Takamina grated. She didn't want to pick unnecessary fights. Just then, someone tapped her on the shoulder. She all but shoved her rifle into Miichan's face as she whirled around.
"Gee, you don't have to try killing me just because I forgot to return your underwear the other time..." Miichan grumbled, but otherwise nonplussed about having a gun at her nose.
"That was you?" Takamina blinked, then lowered her rifle. "We have an unknown incoming."
"Oh that's ours." Miichan waved it off. Takamina stared at her.
"How do you even know that?"
"Because I was on comms and Sayaka paged on the same frequency I was using to talk to Sasshi?" Miichan plucked the link that Takamina was using and beeped Acchan.
"Acchan~ Don't shoot~ Sae's driving~ Yup! You can come back down now!"
Takamina stared at the incoming tank as it rumbled closer. "I thought you said Sayaka paged you guys?"
"Did I say she was driving?"
"Well I assumed she was...did she tell you she wasn't?"
"Actually she didn't say anything about that. Just mentioned that they were coming in with a salvaged tank because they had too much stuff to move otherwise."
"So how would you know?"
"Takamina, it's a tank. Sae. Tank. Duh."
"I don't believe you. Does she even know how to drive one?"
"Wanna bet? One week's cleaning duty."
"You're on."
They shook on it. Outside, they heard a loud thud as Atsuko leapt straight down from the roof, knees bent and allowing her armor to take the impact. Haruna, having overheard the conversation, joined the ace outside. Within a few minutes, the tank was close enough to make visual contact without aid. Atsuko waved at it.
"Sae~ How did you guys nab a tank~" A mischievous head with short cropped hair peeked out as the massive vehicle rolled to a stop.
"Osu~ Acchan~ So good to see you~" The Genking pushed the hatch open and leaped out from the driver's seat. At the back, Takamina gaped while Miichan beamed smugly.
"How?"
"It's a tank. Sae likes big things that go boom. Sayaka doesn't care who drives as long as they get there in one piece. Conclusion? You're an idiot for taking the bet." Miichan patted the disappointed captain's head. "There there, I'll give you a chocolate bar. Thanks for volunteering to take my share of cleaning duty~"
Takamina whimpered.
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I have a few omakes to attach, but I have to rush off to work and those will have to wait! Ciao!
Topic: Castleful of Dreams [5/01 - A Pleasure to Burn] (Read 11434 times)