©Rosayln Cross / MMO Gurl 2020-2022. All Rights Reserved. Do not replicate this intellectual property without obtaining my permission.

Akihiro awoke, looked down at Misaki's dark brown head of hair and ran his hand through the silky locks with a smile on his face. It was then that he felt what must have actually woken him up in the first place: a thump. Then another thump. The whole ground shook and there was only one thing that could cause that kind of tremor. He slid out of bed quickly, yelling, "Misaki, get up! Get dressed!"

She raised herself up on her arms groggily, "What?"

"There are mechas outside, get up NOW!" he yelled firmly at her.

Her eyes shot open as she felt the earthquake shake the house and she got out of bed in a flash, slipping back into her jumpsuit as fast as possible, and then stepping into her boots at the same time. "I'm good," she confirmed.

Aki had already been dressed and ready to go for a moment now and was checking outside the window of the bedroom to see if he could make anything out. There was nothing. This room didn't have a good view of the plains along the front side of the house though, so he moved cautiously out of the bedroom and down the hall. Misaki followed him, her combat knife drawn and at the ready.

They crept up to the side of the large windows in the living room, and Aki looked through the side of the curtains. He saw the backside of two mechs, a Kuroma and a Serval, making their way past the house. He was intimately familiar with the Kuroma since it was manufactured on one of the planets ruled by his family. It was not quite as small as a scout, but not much bigger either yet it packed a huge loadout of lasers.

He sighed with relief as he confirmed they were passing through and that there were no further enemy units accompanying them. When abruptly, he shouted out, "Shit!"

"What?!" Misaki asked worriedly.

"We have to move. Quick! Get some of that food together and I'll find a pack of some kind. We're going to follow them," Aki rushed.

"Follow them!? Why!? We should be happy they're not checking the house!" she cried.

"You want to live here forever?" he asked seriously.

"Not exactly.." Misaki answered trailing off.

"Then move it!" he urged her. She ran to the kitchen, grabbed some of the cans of the food as well as the can opener and brought them to the table. Aki had seen a tote bag earlier while he was looking through storage and brought it to the kitchen, shoving all of the cans into it.

"We're ready. Let's move out," he barked, his commander persona taking over again.

"Roger," Misaki answered as she fell into line.

They ran back to the trees that bordered the land around the cabin. Akihiro had noticed earlier that this treeline followed a good portion of the open plains it ran alongside of. He hoped they could follow the mechas under cover of the woods, and potentially find a base, or a radio... anything useful. He couldn't see the mecha anymore, but the slight tremors of their footfalls could still be felt, and the enormous footprints they left behind were easily visible.

--

The pair tracked the mecha for at least two hours. They kept following the huge tracks left in the field beside them since the quakes left by their footfalls had long since ceased. The terrain was surprisingly easy considering their path through the woods could have been much trickier in any other forest. The trees were relatively sparse here though and the forest floor covered with leaves. The worst part of traversing it was the inability to be even relatively silent because of the loud crunching sound of the dry leaves beneath their feet. Akihiro led their pace at a light jog and Misaki had little trouble keeping up.

The woods suddenly halted before them as a big long stretch of empty land intersected through. Akihiro was about to pull his binoculars out when he stopped, seeing the insanely obvious Kuroma standing near a tall building. The structure looked something like an old saloon from the wild west films he had seen as a child. It was just a single building instead of a row of them though as was typically depicted in the movies.

The Kuroma stood motionless in the back yard, the Serval not parked far from it. He decided to bring out his binoculars after all to check one crucial detail. Upon closer inspection, the cockpits of both mecha were open, but he could see no activity coming from the building. It seemed unlikely there were other people living at the place considering there was no other means of transportation visible anywhere.

He didn't recognize the colors on the mecha as belonging to any of the major powers either. His own people from the Matsudan Empire represented their faction with a red and white paintjob,. It sometimes had the sunburst of the rising sun which hearkened back to the days of mother Japan and its flag, but not always.

Most factions were like this as a matter of being able to differentiate other units visually. It was basically like carrying a banner around without having to do so. Mercenary groups and other military organizations like the Legion had their own colors too, even if they were often so faded that you could not tell what they were anymore. These mecha were not colored out of the factory and they were an olive drab.

The situation was perplexing, but trying to figure it out without more information wasn't going to help him improve their situation. The important thing was that whoever had been piloting those mecha had left them abandoned, likely for some sort of business inside.

"Ok, Misaki. This is luck we couldn't have hoped for! So, here's what we're going to do. We're going to run our asses over to that building and get the better of those two pilots. Then we're going to get their keys and take their mecha. That's going to put us in a good spot - way better than we are right now."

Misaki nodded, "How do you want to go about restraining them? They're probably armed."

"Well, you've seen what I can do with behemoths like Jirou. I'm confident we can take them down. Our best chance is to catch one with their pants down and then we can take the other without much trouble. Just try to be quiet so there's no alert to the other," he strategized.

"Hai," Misaki confirmed seriously. "I will cover you."

Aki nodded feeling confident in her abilities and looked through his binoculars again, scanning over all of the windows one last time.

"Let's get to that building first, and see if we can find a side door. I'd hate to walk right in the front, especially if they're immediately inside. Thankfully the front of the building is facing away from the woods, so we should be able to run unseen, making contact at the backside of the building." Akihiro eyed Misaki, trying to gauge how she felt about the plan. She didn't seem nervous at all. "You ready?"

"Yeah... But, isn't it strange?" she asked.

"What?" Aki questioned, not sure what she meant in regards to their mission.

"Where have all the people gone?" Misaki replied plainly. "Prophet's Reach could have been empty because of the battle. I figured they were probably evacuated. The cabin could have been a fluke, but there was also that abandoned outpost we landed by. That makes this the fourth abandoned settlement we've encountered. It can't be a coincidence."

She was right. With the threat of combat and survival, he hadn't even considered the absence of people. "I kind of figured all of the fighting had scared them off and they left their homes."

"I mean, I guess it's possible," Misaki said, her hand finding its way to her chin as she pondered the thought. "But then why was the cabin filled with dust? And look," she pointed at the building the mechs were resting outside of. "The grass hasn't been cared for at all and there are weeds growing everywhere. This place has been deserted for at least a month."

"Good observations. You don't think it's anything biological, do you?" he asked with concern.

"We're still breathing. And I feel just fine. Also those two pilots obviously had no issues," she said pointing towards the parked mecha. "Let's just keep it in mind going forward, OK?" She secured the pack tightly over her shoulder and prepared to make a run for it. "Oh," she said pausing as she looked towards the building, "and let's also consider there may be more than two people in that place."

"You're making me look bad, Misaki," he said with a fond smile. "I don't see any other vehicles, but we should always prepare for the worst. Are you ready?" he asked looking at her with an excited, yet determined expression.

She nodded sharply and waited for his signal. "Well, let's go then!" he said returning her nod and cutting his hand through the air towards the building in the distance.

They both took off at full speed across the open land. The ground to cover was at least a hundred feet, maybe more. By the time they finally reached the back of the premises, they were both panting heavily. There wasn't much time to catch their breath, but they couldn't go inside without the ability to be quiet and concentrate. Misaki leaned forward, her hands above her knees, trying to get back to her normal rhythm. A moment passed, and it had to be good enough; there wasn't any time to waste.

There was a back door and Akihiro tried it, silently attempting to twist the handle, but it wouldn't budge. Aki's eyes narrowed in annoyance, and he motioned for Misaki to stay put as he checked the other side of the building for another door. There were no other doors and the windows he could reach were latched.

Kneeling down close to the ground, he crept back to Misaki and whispered in her ear. "We have no choice but to go in the front. I want you to come with me, but wait until I give the go ahead to follow me in. We have no idea what we're walking into. I'm hoping they're off doing something else and not sitting in the front room waiting for us. I'm not sure what they are even doing here though so it's impossible to predict their whereabouts..." Aki's words trailed off as he looked away in thought, before returning quickly to a resolute countenance. "Just follow my lead implicitly."

Misaki nodded. They both took off around the backside of the building that was farthest away from the woods. At least then they wouldn't be seen creeping up from the road if anyone happened to come along. Akihiro reached the front part of the building; a long porch wrapped around it leading to the door. He crept up to one of the several windows, peering inside to see if he could make anything out. He gestured to Misaki that it was clear, but still kept himself below the windows as he passed them, crouching low to the ground.

He made it to the doorway without incident; the door was left slightly ajar so he was able to kneel beside it and check quickly for any movements before entering. Several tables had been overturned near the entrance and he quickly moved to hide behind one. Misaki crept up to the threshold and moved to cover behind a table on his right.

A quick glance around the room proved that this was indeed a bar, although Akihiro thought it was decorated much more nicely than the old ones were in the western movies. At least it had been at one point, but now it was approaching squalid. The room was large and open with a bar at the back end. It looked like a hallway passed behind the bar that ran the whole length of the back wall. Many of the tables were knocked over, but some remained upright in the corners of the room where it was less convenient to passersby to disturb them.

After listening for almost a minute, he could not make out any sounds whatsoever. He motioned to Misaki to hold her location so he could attempt to push forward. He knelt out from behind the table and into a low squat to keep as close to the ground as he could. Keeping down meant even if someone was there, they'd be less likely to see him if he wasn't at eye level.

He had just made it to the side of the bar when suddenly he heard something.

"I'm gonna go take a shit!" a voice yelled from out of sight. Aki could see a man's figure walk through the opening of the hallway that went behind the bar and disappear again. His footsteps were loud through the thin walls and Akihiro could hear a door slam shut somewhere past it.

Akihiro made eye contact with Misaki from across the room and motioned for her to cover him. He crept around the left side of the bar and looked past the wall to see what the layout of the new area was. There were a few doorways branching off from the short hallway, but only one of them was closed making it pretty easy to figure out which room the man defecating was in.

Just to be sure, Aki crept up to the opposite wall where all of the doors were located. The closest room looked like a pantry with stacks upon stacks of strangely pristine cans of various foodstuffs lining the shelves that were built into the walls. Crates and cardboard boxes sat in the corners of the room with more canned goods. Akihiro couldn't help but wonder why they had so much food stockpiled out in the middle of nowhere or why it was in such good condition compared to the rest of the building.

He reached the middle door, where he suspected the bathroom was, and looked past to the other room. It looked like more storage, but for things like cleaning supplies, napkins, extra cups and dishes, and things of the like that he could make out on some wrought iron shelves that lined the wall behind the open door.

Ok. So, this guy thinks he's alone with his friend. Thinks that he's safe. He's going to walk out of that room completely off guard and that's the best opportunity I'm going to have. But how do I do it quietly so that his friend doesn't know what's going on? Maybe making noise won't be a problem so long as I keep him from actually warning anyone. Then his friend will just hear a thump and come looking to see what it is. But if he hears a cry he'll come running with a gun. Aki considered the options in the span of seconds, weighing out all the possibilities.

He saw something move from the periphery of his vision, and shot his eyes towards it quickly. It was just Misaki thankfully; she had moved up to the side of the bar where he had been previously. Akihiro pushed his hand out flat ordering her to wait. She nodded in confirmation and held her position, looking on at him with only a twinge of anxiety showing in her face. He was surprised at how well she was holding it together, but knew from her actions so far in the heat of combat that he shouldn't have been concerned.

Settled in his decision on how to handle the situation, he remained crouched to the side of the door waiting for the man to leave the bathroom. Many minutes passed before finally he heard the telltale sound of the toilet flushing, some rustling of clothing as he likely pulled his pants up, and the water running from the sink as he washed his hands. It would be any second now, Akihiro readied his combat knife in his hand and gritted his teeth to keep the adrenaline from getting the best of him.

The door swung open loudly, the man's shadow filling the hallway momentarily as he walked out of the room. The shadow doubled its width for a brief moment as Akihiro sprung up behind him. His left hand grasped the stranger's mouth roughly and his right hand came in with the knife. He stabbed the man deeply in the heart and with an uncanny speed pulled the blade free and slit his neck open. The man likely had no idea what had even happened to him before it was too late and within ten seconds he was dead.

He gestured to Misaki who was staring at him with her jaw agape to come over. She hurried to him silently and Aki whispered for her to grab the man's legs and follow his lead. They carried the dead body to the storage room and dropped it down as soundlessly as they could. There was still a pool of blood on the floor where he had been slain, but at least it wasn't quite as obvious as a dead body laying out in the open.

Akihiro bent down over the man's corpse and frisked him for a weapon, patting lightly with his hands and cupping all the usual spots one might holster a gun. He found a pistol tucked snugly behind his right hip and slid it out carefully to see what he was carrying. Aki gasped in amazement as he realized what the gun was, his grip becoming more ginger as he looked it over. It was a Prismatic Laser Handgun; very expensive and incredibly powerful. A look of confusion consumed his face as he considered what these bandits would be doing with a weapon of this caliber.

Misaki looked on with confusion, not quite understanding his reaction. She leaned in to whisper, "What's the big deal?"

"Good find," Akihiro said abruptly, trying to keep the discussion to a minimum before he handed her the pistol. "These guys have money."

Her eyes grew wide as she took the weapon in her hands and the realization became apparent that it wasn't just a standard issue firearm, but a laser gun capable of great devastation. She nodded slowly before aiming the sights down the hallway the man had originally come from.

There was a door blocking the path forward, and Akihiro dared a quick instruction before attempting to open it. "Here's the plan. I'm going to walk in and pretend I'm the dead man returning from the crapper. Hopefully I'll catch him off guard, but if I don't and I'm seen at an inopportune moment...," he trailed off and motioned to the laser pistol.

"Then I make sure to finish the job for you," Misaki finished his thought.

"You got it," he said nodding in agreement. He pulled a finger to his mouth in a gesture of silence and then crouched down low beside the door.