The War: Re-Ignited
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Disclaimer: I do not make money from this.
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Chapter One : Prologue.
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The twin bladed helicopter was a sturdy and reliable work horse, but that did not make the ride any more comfortable for Yamada Karachi.
Beeps and alarms suddenly went off in his ride.
“Missile lock is on us, sir.” The Pilot informed him, and the forty-something man gave a soft grunt.
“I’ll be walking the rest of the way, youngster.” Yamada used to not make a habit of calling people half his age youngster, but he found it therapeutic nowadays. The government official knew that he was just reminding himself that there were still young men and women around, and he didn’t try to reject it. There were far too many, less healthy ways of coping. “Just set down right where we are.”
“We’re still in the canopy of trees sir.” The pilot stated and Yamada took a deep breath.
“Check again.”
“The tree’s aren’t going to just go away…”
Yamada took an idle glance out of the slanted port window of the twin-blade and gave a small chuckle. The middle-aged man imagined the number of motors needed to power the system of tarps, and knew well enough that it was probably dozens of times more efficient than what they had in stock.
Not to mention that the man he supposed made all of it was standing there as well, holding a decidedly unimportant-looking device in his hand.
The helicopter barely touched down before Yamada let himself out, he nearly sprained his ankle on the small drop. The man’s experience in politics still allowed him to keep a straight face while his ankle throbbed.
“Is it safe to assume you still feel some national respect, given we are still alive?” Yamada inquired, both as a joke and a serious question. The man before him was clad like a fisherman like the rest lounging about the trees. The small arms and blades on the dozen or so men told a different story to the jokes running rampant, but the one before him was doubtlessly the most dangerous of them all. “Emiya-san?”
The dull eyes of the man became intensely sharp, and the clearing suddenly became deadly silent. Yamada’s eyes glanced towards the numerous fighters around him, as they were most certainly not soldiers. His thoughts idly reminded him about the reports of the resistance movement in the Caribbean, and that those fighters were doing a grand job of holding off the US marines.
Kiritsugu Emiya regarded him, making Yamada feel like a piece of meat in the process. Yamada accepted that fact with remarkable calm, he knew of disposability well enough. The man gave a small wave, and the silence died as the many men began to chatter once more. Yamada gave them a cursory glance that he meant for Kiritsugu to see.
“You trained them well.” Yamada noted as he quickly followed the man in question. “That bodes well for my proposition if that’s the finished product.”
Kiritsugu stopped so suddenly Yamada felt himself stiffed in preparation for death. The man didn’t even turn, before emitting a slow whistle. The younger of the two men’s gazes fell on Yamada’s chest, and the man in question followed with his own.
A red dot flitted away from his heart a mere second his gaze landed upon it.
“I gathered them together.” Emiya Kiritsugu stated suddenly, “They’re all that remains of this country’s military.”
Yamada gave a small chuckle.
“It must have been difficult ferrying them all here.”
They passed by another twin-rotor helicopter, an old US Chinook if Yamada remembered correctly. It was well maintained, though the lack of windows made it apparent that it was no longer to fly at the altitudes it was supposed to.
“Not as difficult as you’d think.” The dull-eyed man stated dryly. Yamada would’ve thought it a joke, but it sounded too much alike a statement of fact to be one. “Their navy may have been annihilated by yours, but their airlift capabilities certainly saved their lives.”
Yamada’s small smirk faltered ever so slightly, there would be problems abound if the man had problems about Japan’s expansions. Many citizens were abhorrent to the fact, even though Japan’s hyper-dense population centers had effectively turned many areas into wastelands. The higher the population in an area, the more it was effectively destroyed.
“So how have you been?” Yamada inquired, ignoring the sharp jab into the more controversial aspects of his work, as any good politician did. “Have you been enjoying yourself here?”
The look he was given questioned his sanity, but Yamada kept up his facsimile good nature.
“I suspect that this place survived much better than most.” Kiritsugu afforded him a small amount of sarcasm. Yamada ignored the fact that his target effectively knew his game, but knowing he was actively pressing even the smallest of buttons made him far more confident about his mission. “But enjoyment is a rather strong word.”
“We’d like to help you in that regard.” Yamada stated good naturedly, eyeing the suspiciously large number of concrete buildings. “Our supplies in terms of the rest of the world, is far more than our population requires.”
Thirty percent more than what was required actually, Japan enjoyed first world amenities and a small population. The only other countries that actually had a surplus of infrastructure was Cuba, America, and Australia. The amount of requests and threats coming from the rest of the world were staggering.
Needless to say, the simple statement changed the entire atmosphere of the conversation.
“What do you want from me?” Yamada was immediately asked by one of the deadliest men in the world. To Yamada’s credit, he still kept his winning smile on his face.
“You are aware of the initiatives being taken by all the countries regarding Magi?” Yamada inquired, and the man before him shook his head. They were heading into the heart of the concrete village, and they were now before one of the many cube-like houses. This one, Yamada noted, had a Radio antennae atop it. “We are gathering all the children with an aptitude for magic, and searching for a teacher for them.”
“One country shouldn’t have a monopoly over such things.” The man stated with a frown.
“Which is why we’re happy to let you stay here with your son, Emiya-san.” Yamada stated politely and he watched the man tense like a wire. “In exchange for supplies and anonymity, we would like you to impart your methods to the next generation of Magi.”
“What if I refuse?”
Yamada gave a smile.
“We know you won’t Emiya-san.”
…
My hermetic seals were acting up again, being decidedly uncooperative as I did my best to fix them. Granted they were three months old, the wear and tear of their usage prescribing them a mere week in the battlefield, but I was confident I should be able to squeeze another month out of them.
“Need some tape?” The soldier sitting next to me inquired. The man was quite burly, and the pack that he set between his legs equally large. “I have some extra if you need it, sir.”
I shook my head, giving a small sigh as I reached into the over-the-shoulder pack attached to my harness. The new seal in the bag easily connected between the seams of the glove and the rest of the suit. A quick check of all areas, and I connected the air extractor to the generator resting in the small of my back. The suit stiffened and I allowed myself a sigh of relief as I was once more safe from the atmosphere mere feet away.
“Do you need some cells for your power pack?” The same soldier inquired once more, and I tried to remain oblivious to the amount of mumbling form the other six soldiers in the group. The man was obviously the newest of the lot, and unused to working with people like myself. “I have a few spares…”
“Rookie,” The gas mask sealed upon the Lieutenant’s face muffled her voice slightly, out of the entire group she was the only one wearing her mask inside the sealed environment of the armored personnel carrier. The woman was paranoid, something I could understand as I could estimate how much combat she’d been. “Don’t bother the people who could rip your head off with their pinkies.”
There was a smattering of chuckles in the carrier, and the man’s face reddened.
“Given his lack of experience.” I smoothly cut in, the smaller mask I was utilizing didn’t muffle my voice in the slightest. My air filter was connected right to the mask, instead of looping into chamber cut into armor like the soldiers. Their muffled voices was a combination of the travel required of the sound, and the thickness of their largely inefficient filters. “It would do best to explain why, rather than let him wallow in his ignorance.”
The man probably looked to me gratefully, but I truly didn’t pay attention due to the mere fact I was going over the rest of equipment.
Unlike the ceramic vests my company was utilizing, mine was integrated right into my under-suit. It provided me mobility, but wasn’t nearly as strong as my companions. Where they had protection up to rifle-rounds, mine stopped at submachine guns. My own abilities allowed me to enhance the armor to the effect of anything short of a tank round, but any breaches would significantly lower my capabilities.
The left abdomen panel sported a hole the size of a large coin, and I wasn’t at all surprised to find it. I was bruised there the last I checked, as my skin stopped the round short of puncturing my skin. I briefly remembered sealing my under-suit with heated adhesive and some of the extra fabric I was afforded, but I was more relieved at finding the opening than angered at my forgetfulness.
A quick application of alteration and the armor was sealed once more, albeit a tad thinner than it used to be. I would merely have to concentrate on providing more energy on in later on.
The personnel carrier came to a rickety halt, the old design giving it an age somewhere between ten to twenty years before my birth. The over-pressure system of the carrier was a scant few weeks before they failed completely. I made a note to tell the engineers once we returned to base, they most likely did not know about the large amount of build-up within the machine.
“Boots on the ground, ladies.” The lieutenant was already at the hatch, hefting her wooden-stocked rifle with practiced ease. The other in the group were going through their checks, most focusing largely on connecting the hermetic seals of their masks to their under-suits. “Remember to take all the ammunition you can carry, APC’s set to come back around two hours from now.”
“Have to make some pickups from the next town over.” The driver declared over the radio, it was far more difficult to comprehend than the muffled voices of the soldiers. “I’ll be back with a few cases of beer so feel free to feed a ghoul or two, mean more for me!”
The lieutenant probably cursed under her breath, but she hit the button to open the hatch and white dust flew in.
“Snow?” The rookie inquired dubiously, and I had to actually withhold my grim chuckling. Though the rest of his squad didn’t have my self-control and allowed themselves to do so. “Why is it grey?”
“It’s your first time out isn’t it?” One of the soldiers remarked, pulling up the hood on his great coat before following the rest of the small squad out. “Never seen corpse dust have you?”
I plucked one of the slowly falling flakes, imaging the grainy texture as it stained the white of my gloves. The cold of winter caught me off guard for a moment, before I shrugged on my own jacket, pulling up my hood as well.
I heard a whistle come as I made my way out of the vehicle. The soldiers were unloading the sides of the vehicle, carrying the massive amounts of ammunition they would need for their mission.
“Class A.” The man gave a satisfied grunt as he looked me up and down. “Fur trimming too? Goddamn I could only imagine what sorts of hell you’ve been through, sir.”
“I wish it was that pleasant.” I stated with a small nod, eliciting a guffaw from the second largest man in the group. The first of that distinguished ranking belonged to the rookie, but the man slapping his knee was a close second. “Those beasts were quite hard to kill.”
A sudden pain erupted in my chest, and I stumbled…
I looked at my chest, a brilliant edge sticking out of it.
What the…
…
“Seem’s I’ve found that missing reconnaissance group from three years ago.” Shirou Emiya stated dryly as he withdrew the knife from the mobile husk. The lack of liquid gave off the apparent age of the being in question. “An A-rank mage too, doesn’t bode too well with our adversary.”
“Is it because he can somehow control mages, or because he’s been around for three years?” The static-interrupted drawl of his handler let itself be known from his earpiece. They were certainly less space-consuming than his last communicator, but their quality wasn’t nearly as good as he was used to. “Enlighten me, All-Powerful Magus”
“I’d hazard to guess it’s a combination of the two.” Shirou checked the body, making note of the age of equipment. It was certainly congruent with the time they disappeared, soldiers sported surplus gas masks and the mage was wearing a bulky turn-of-the-century mask. Nothing even to say about the hermetic sealing on the suits. “The fact that he could’ve only gone up from enthralling Class-A mages is what worries me.”
“He didn’t attack you though.” His handler pointed out, to emphasize the fact the screen over his left eye replayed the small amount of resistance he had to fight through. The bulky forms of the soldiers lumbered clumsily while he outmaneuvered them, but the mage-clothed one did not move. “Maybe that means he wasn’t controlled? Just stuck or something?”
“Or something.” Shirou Emiya stated with no small amount of distaste, touching the system attached over the left of his face. The device’s three camera’s whirred as he went through all the spectrometric fields they gave him. “Didn’t I tell you to stop doing that? Going through three thermal, UV, and electric too fast gives me a headache.”
“Suck it up.” Came the succinct reply, before the communication line dropped suddenly.
The blizzard outside must’ve picked up again, Shirou absently noted as he gazed at the sheet of grew on the windows. The best course of action was to wait it out in the ruins of the building he was in, but that would hamper his ability to track what they’ve been searching for months.
Despite being a magus, Shirou still knew better than to try and brave the storm outside. The city’s close proximity to the coast, and the season of winter created a rather destructive force of nature. The storm season was supplemented by the nearly ever-present winter since the event more than a decade ago.
Well if supplies weren’t an issue, Shirou Emiya pondered as he checked his gear.
The hunter clipped the pack off the harness that surrounded his body, dropping it to the floor. The loss of weight was alien, but satisfying at the same time. It had been days since he’d last taken it off, and the time span blurred his memories of his-
A growling noise emanated from the hallways, and he quickly re-clasped up the pack and re attached it to his back. A moment passed without intervention, and Shirou took the supplementary straps of the bag and latched it over his stomach. The growl was a familiar one, and having loose objects wasn’t the wisest of ideas with the enemies he was about to face.
Shirou quickly withdrew the knife from its sheathe on his shoulder.
The magus quickly re-honed the knife’s edge into a mono-molecular structure with an application of Alteration. The knife glowed softly as it took the excess energy and transferred it to the small gem within the handle. An absent check on the gem confirmed that he’d have enough energy to ignite the tempered steel should it be required.
Unfortunately, the knife drew the attention of his enemies. The subtle golden glow more than enough to reveal him to his foe.
A figure clad entirely in gray, did not hide well in a dark room while bathed in light.
The large lungs of the beings immediately made Shirou reflexively reinforce his eardrums. The human lacking in any sort of sexual organs, maybe even any others, caught his gaze and its lungs swelled to enormous sizes, almost touching the ceiling.
A scream tore through the building, so strong that Shirou was blown out through the window.
It was a testament to the techniques ingrained to his body, that he quickly took the nine-millimeter pistol off the nearest corpse and shot the thing in its lungs. The two shots precisely took out the being’s specialized organs, deflating them and making the being crumple lifeless. The person who created it obviously tied it’s life with the specialized organs.
Still the damage was done, and Shirou Emiya was in the blistering cold as he heard the lumbering of beasts in every direction.
Given the fact he knew that he was very low in ammunition, the confrontation was not pleasing in the slightest.
Escape was the best option.
At that thought, Shirou’s hand immediately reached for the miniaturized engine on the small of his back. The object was tied to his harness and it’s most central implement, it powered all the tools necessary to survive and outwit the massive forces he faced.
Taking out a cord that un spun easily, Shirou plugged it into the port that powered his two grapplers and aimed himself upward.
A lumbering roar made itself known, and he quickly ducked out of the way of a creature that resembled a giant ape with no fur or skin. Multiple bones protruded from its forearms, and a menacing tail almost gutted Shirou as he pushed himself off the ground with his hand. The beast lunged after him in dizzying speed, and Shirou immediately fired his grapplers into the wall opposite of him.
The magnetically fired cords whipped out and gored right through the beast’s grossly miniscule torso. The split second it took for the attachment devices to connect allowed a single scratch on Shirou, by a protrusion of bone, before he was speeded into the direction he had been given.
Unfortunately, that was right into the beast’s torso.
Quick thinking stopped Shirou Emiya from being crushed to death by massive arms. The fact that the thinking was done as he was being sped off only emphasized his reaction time. Though subconsciously reinforcing his blood to carry more oxygen may have done its fair share of work, the plan was fairly fast in it’s production.
Shirou emptied the clip of the pistol into one of the beast’s shoulders, the gun barely loading another round before the trigger was pulled. The beast lacked legs, and dragged itself around on its arms and tail. Shirou bared his knife and cut through the beast’s arm…
Only to have the favor reciprocated as a second tail cut deeply into his left, making it limp and making him drop the empty gun.
Shirou gritted his teeth, but he was no stranger to pain. A quick reach towards the container in his pocket and he withdrew a squeezable syringe. A quick administration quickly relieved him of the haze of pain, and clotted the wound immediately.
If he was lucky the beasts would think he’d have left, and his camouflage would do its job.
More roars shook him, and the rumblings of monsters thundered upon the street below. A quick glance around the area depicted a grim end for him. The ‘city’ was largely composed of suburbs and small businesses, the grapple was the most useful in the realm of old-world structures.
He needed a distraction, at least until he could contact his transport.
A chunk of cement the size of his head nearly crushed the aforementioned organ, and he quickly disengaged the grapples and flipped himself back. Another firing of the life-saving tool stuck him to the building opposite. The spikes didn’t find purchase upon the wooden home, or the tiles and habit rose as Shirou attempted to grab hold, only to almost slip off.
A quick check on his left arm, shocked him. His bone was cut, only the muscle fibers of his bicep were connected to the rest of his body. They managed to cut him despite the reinforcement he applied to his bones, making them harder than steel.
If they could cut steel…
Shirou disengaged the locking mechanism, un-plugging the launchers from their source of energy. There was plenty of time to retrieve the weapon he was searching for, as he landed on the roof opposite of the house.
Grabbing the stock of the gun with his hand, Shirou held the power cord between his teeth. There were several regulations towards holding something of such high voltage between teeth, but applications of such things could be ignored in his current situation. Shirou likened to think that he was in far more danger from the monsters, than accidentally licking a hydrogen generator.
It was a mystic code, no doubt could be said about that particular fact, but it’s creation would’ve been impossible a decade ago. The resources required to provide a weapon equal to the scale of the one in his hands and hundreds of others would’ve been insurmountable to even the wealthiest of magi. The main body of the mystical code was housed in the fortress state of Hawaii and guarded by the only international force to exist anywhere in the world.
The generator attached to the small of his back heated up as it provided energy to the cooling mechanisms. The gun was already reacting to the power being transferred from the main Conduit, as it did every time he took it out of its bounded container. The cylinder the size of his forearm covered in dozens of runes spun and glowed, arcing bolts of lightning barely caught by the two prongs it levitated between.
The gun began to shake violently, making it impossible to be wielded by a normal man. Shirou Emiya was not normal, even by his own kind’s standards. The weapon should’ve been held by both hands, but Shirou Emiya’s decision to gain the ability to wield it in one came through majestically as he held the machine still.
The six charge containers filled easily between the weapon that hardly looked anything more than a stubby spear launcher and it’s wielder took a deep breath as pieces of concrete began to rain upon him.
One arm needed to recovered, along with the weapons embedded in it. Shirou reminded himself as he tightened his grip on the weapon.
“-zzzt come in, come in.”
“I’m here.” Shirou stated, as he coolly rose from his cover. Noting the three dozen aberrations of nature before him, he immediately caught sight of the arm he lopped off and made a note to not aim in that direction. “Set the drone to hover over me for exfiltration, I need to leave immediately.”
“Your arm!” Ayako’s voice strained his ears considerably, “Are you using the rail gun with one hand again?”
Shirou didn’t deign than worthy of an answer as he pulled the trigger.
The cylinder between the two prongs spun, becoming a disc of shining metal as it fully charged.
Shirou fired, the power of the shot nearly dislocating his elbow with ease. The shot was a bolt of electricity, tearing through a straight line of the creatures. They were tossed about like ragdolls, as Shirou guided the disk of energy within their lines. The magus knew he could only alter direction six times, and planned accordingly.
He held his body, as if he would as sword and began to move. The weapon, alike many made by magi, required exorbitant amounts of skill to utilize. This particular weapon was commonly utilized alike a sword, as the disk did not travel beyond ten meters, and could return to any distance between.
Shirou Emiya was quite good at using swords.
The creatures ran from the direct assault of the disk, and they tracked its wake with frightening clarity. Against a normal utilizer of the weapon, they would have survived to maybe even retreat. Three movements left, and Shirou had them all clustered, even if they didn’t know about it themselves.
A flick of the wrist sent the hyper-dense disk into the air, and the last movement sent it careening down.
The impact of the mighty weapon shattered the foundations of the street, collapsing the beasts into a sinkhole into the sewer system. Their arms dug deep gauges into the ruined asphalt.
The heat generated from the friction of the weapon ignited the gas lines and a brilliant flame interrupted the sheet of grey in his vision. Out of the dense smoke, and even denser snow, the pillar flew out and settled itself back into its groove. A quick un-attachment of the power cord, and the stopping of his own ready supply of magical energy, allowed him to place it back into its container.
The burst of a cannon rang out and the creature that managed to flank him crumpled over, dead with a whole the size of wheel within its tiny torso.
“You’re welcome.” Ayako sniffed as the drone hovered in the air. “Shit, you have to get rid of your arm right now.”
“It’s graying?” Shirou inquired with no small amount of distaste. A quick application of his knife and the arm was useless upon the floor. A small usage of the power built up within allowed him to burn the limb to ash.
“Going black, more like it.” Ayako stated, the worry in her tone apparent. “Not enough, you’ll need to get rid of most of the shoulder as well.”
“That shouldn’t be possible.” Shirou stated with a furrowed brow as he followed his direction. Even with an open wound in the hazardous atmosphere, it shouldn’t rot so quickly. The creation of the monsters however… “These monsters are created to self-replicate using the corpses of their victims!”
“That doesn’t sound too good.” Ayako admitted and the four rotor drone the size of a small car covered dubiously above the corpse. “I’m going to harness it for study, hurry up and seal up your… torso.”
A dry snort came from the magus as he withdrew a can of sealant. The foam held enough antibiotics to render a komodo dragon clean, and hardened fast enough to seal away what remained of his arm.
“Done with that yet?” Shirou inquired as he packed away his things, a tad more difficult with only one arm. A small part of him disliked losing the limb, but a larger part knew that packing would be far more difficult dead.
“Just waiting on you to finish your trim.” Shirou’s handler quipped and the silence was deafening. The airframe lifted off with the carcass, and then lowered itself off the side of the roof. “Bit early?”
“Try again next week.” Shirou stated with no small amount of snark. The young man set his pack within the large rectangular container installed in the side, careful to latch close the seals or the decontamination unit wouldn’t function. The harness would stay on, along with the generator as those were mandatory at all times outside of a safe zone. “You’ve got the correct location of the nearest Forward Base right?”
The airframe rumbled as he sat himself on it, the four rotor-wings moving the large mass of the vehicle upward and onward. The snow buffeted him quite a bit, but he was used to the feeling too much to be bothered by it. Riding a Reaver through the snow was always much better than going through water anyways. Snow didn’t have a tendency to soak you enough to compromise mobility.
“I told you three times that was an error on their part, not mine!” Ayako fumed and Shirou chuckled lightly. “How long are you going to lord that over me?”
“Just long enough so I can be sure that I will never get sent into a White Zone when I’m expecting some R&R.” Shirou stated with no small amount of exasperation. He wouldn’t admit it, but he was quite glad that there was something in the way of the monotony of riding through a blizzard. Though he was sure that his handler knew it well enough because of the dedicated satellite uplink he’d splurged for.
“You gained hundreds of licenses for that!” Ayako stated with no small amount of dismay. “I didn’t see a single one of those too!”
“Because I managed to clear out a heavily infested zone with only my Volt.” Shirou rattled off his achievement that particular day with an odd pride. The number of mages to pull off that particular feat summed up to one. “All you did was put a zero instead of a one.”
“…you’re going to be okay right?” The question they both knew was waiting to be asked revealed itself with all the grace of a beached whale.
“I’ve been shot through the heart before.” Shirou sighed as he prepared himself for the same round of questioning he received at the end of each mission. “That kept me down for what… three minutes?”
“You cannot simply bank on your healing factor at every fight, Emiya!” Shirou noted the usage of his last name, and wasn’t all too pleased to note the edge it carried. “You’re trained to dodge bullets yet you’re always caught by surprise! I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to test that healing factor with a lobotomy!”
“I can’t always be on the ball, Ayako.” The wind was letting up, the storm was finally letting up for once. The hurricane was estimated to last for at least four weeks, so Shirou knew he was most probably heading into the eye of the storm. A good location for a forward base, he had to admit. “One day I’ll make mistakes, and I’m not nearly as important as some of my colleagues to get some of their treatment.”
“Un-scheduled Reaver, please provide a valid authority code or prepare to be fired upon.” A deep, male voice intruded upon their transmission. Ayako immediately rattled off a set of numbers and letters, as the drone lowered itself. Shirou thought about looking through the ice with his thermal, but the snow cleared before he could do so. “I see then, enjoy your stay Magus.”
The Land Carrier was a massive affair. Part Ship, part tank, it rolled on treads and acted as the mobile bases of Asia-Pacific Republic. Born from desperation, technological prowess of the Japanese, and the manpower of the remains of China, it was given the title of most powerful thing to thread upon the land.
Seeing as it was crushing houses under its treads as it advanced onward Shirou could not held but agree as he approached the veritable mobile castle.
Then something exploded on the mobile bases’ frontal hull.
“Magus please acknowledge verification of knowledge that we are currently on a reclamation mission.” The massive turrent emplacements upon the caterpillar treads opened fire, shockwaves of force impacting Shirou’s body even at his high altitude.
The arcs of the shells were minimal, due to the close proximity of the target.
And what a target it was.
The few cities that stayed above ground were domed by lattices of solar paneling and fiber glass armor. Something that would’ve been impossible without the knowledge of Magus metallurgists, but used in the few dozens of above ground cities thought the world. The dome’s supports was a massive affair that was as tall as the six-story amphibious behemoth approaching it, and was one of the few Walls in the Pacific.
“I acknowledge.” Shirou stated more than slightly perturbed as his handler began to whistle. Ayako tended to do so whenever she made an error. “request for a docking on the rear hanger, and a doctor on standby captain.”
“You wounded soldier?”
“Only a flesh wound.” Shirou grunted as he made my way into the mobile base. Klaxons began to sound off within the city, and he tried not to think about the damage that was about to be inflicted on his fellow man.
…
“Well I’ve cleaned it as best as I’ve could, but I had to remove what was left of you collar bone in the process.” The doctor admitted as the scalpel hit the pan, along with said bone. Black tar was already seeping from it. “I can only imagine how the affected area would have looked before your emergency amputation.”
“We’ll find out as soon as I get to the corpse and analyze it.” Shirou assuaged whatever fears the doctor had, his goal to make sure that the doctor didn’t begin to doubt herself. It would not do to doubt oneself in the middle of a surgery or something else as life threatening. “By all means the new carcass will probably give some insight into what attacked me.”
The doctor gave a small sight, running a callused hand through her trim hair. Very people lacked calluses, mostly because they trained in one way or another. Shirou noted that the doctor before him was probably quite adept at using a rifle, and not one of the larger battle rifles either. The woman was probably an expert in Anti-Armor warfare.
Given the fact she was the military, and studying a branch of the military was necessary to earn any sort of accreditation for one’s chosen doctorate, this didn’t surprise Shirou much.
The doctor met his eyes.
“Most of your upper torso is fine, but that is a massive wound. Try not to do anything heart-pounding before it clears up.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Shirou acknowledged, making a move to salute before realizing the arm he intended to use was gone.
“Cute.” The doctor chuckled before tossing him a clean set of clothes.
“Get some rest and start saving the world in a lab-approved way after eight hours of sleep, Number Twenty-One.” The doctor quipped before vacating the room. Shirou gave a dry chuckle at the joke, and immediately turned on the telecommunications package on the desk his communicator was attached to.
Ayako gave a shriek of terror and the screen suddenly turned black, just as he caught sight of the familiar blouse and jacket.
“Put some clothes on y-you idiot!” The answer to the question about to leave Shirou’s mouth was received. The young man in question began to dress himself while minding his bandages. The shoulder less chest covering that he had been given, was the most comfortable clothing he’d ever worn. “Jeez I don’t want to stare at your ugly chest all day.”
“You’ve seen me naked many times.” Shirou pointed out dryly, he wasn’t particularly perturbed by was starting to get worried that his handler was being prudish. Ayako was a trained physician as well, and he wanted a second opinion. It wouldn’t do well for something as tame as her preference for women to complicate their relations. “I would like you to set up a request for a prosthetic limb immediately.”
Well that was actually his particular line of thought, the young man’s handler was simply acting the same way a young woman would do towards someone she shouldn’t… touch in any way.
“Alright, show me the wound.” Ayako began her examination as Shirou did his best to show the wound at every angle. “Seems easy enough, though the boys should get excited at making a shoulder.” The straight haired young woman gave a chuckle. “Maybe they’ll put some pauldrons on it for you if you ask nicely.”
“I’m going to get some sleep.” Shirou simply rolled his eyes at the inopportune joke. The young magus was more than used to his handler’s way of attempting to settle his nerves.
Besides, they worked. So who was he to complain about it?
…
Originally Posted by Kyte
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