Writer’s spot: Greetings friends! Double release today!

SO, another fairly average-ish short chapter, with 1.7k words, released late because Youtube. But I released one earlier, so it shouldn’t be a problem, right? Hope not. Still, this is starting to get a slightly more serious tone to it than what I expected… Hope I can keep it good.

BESIDES, not much really to say here… So…

Beep, and enjoy your story!

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The voyage had gone pretty well and calm for the last two days. The girl, with her identity somewhat compromised after her curiosity outburst with Gaz, was much more at ease when carrying her notebook around and noting down everything that Gaz did within the trailer with a fervent curiosity. Only to suddenly remember she was around people and blush furiously, sit down and try to behave until the next time Gaz did something, where everything would start again.

Not even Yllivia was being much help by now, since she had noticed that the girl meant no harm and could actually help Beepy should he need it. The only time he actually had any peace of mind was when Lunn was awake, where she would take a hold of the girl and keep hugging cheerfully.

On another side, though, it seemed that the others didn’t notice the small cat, and said cat seemed to take a huge liking to Gaz, since it was now arbitrarily using the back of his soon to be turret as a napping place. Probably due to the heat of his furnace if his memory of how a cat works meant something. Well, according to Ekis, the cat was taking advantage of his natural heat emission to economize a bit on his own energy cost.

Not that he minded, though. He did appreciate the company, even if both were thought of as pets.

Besides these slightly uncomfortable moments where the girl would start examining him non-stop, the voyage had been surprisingly calm with nothing too big happening, much to his surprise. And that was how these last days had come and gone, and now they had already crossed almost half of the way to the city.

To tell the truth, the small robot had been worried almost all the voyage, since the group sometimes simply didn’t seem to care too much, with everyone going to sleep and leaving themselves open for ambushes. It was to the point that he had even decided to stay up and keep making rounds to check for possible attackers.

“Hmm… This should be everything…” Red said while nodding, bring Gaz’s mind back to the present. “Geez… With a body like this, I wouldn’t be surprise if someone said that he was sentient… It’s like it was made under demand…”

For the Nth time since she first started her usual exams slash analysis of the small robot, Gaz felt that he just had the closest to a virtual goosebumps that he could ever get. First it was when after some calculations, she guessed pretty much all his specs, from horsepower with all the motors working, to the pressure he could put behind his jumping pistons and the height he could get with it.

To call her a genius would be an understatement. And whenever she saw something she found interesting, she would start murmuring something that seemed to be upgrades for his body. It was to the point that even Ekis praised the girl’s knowledge.

She closed her notebook and simply kept there, watching him with sparkling eyes as if waiting for him to do something else that she would find interesting. However, Beepy was long since out of new tricks to show her, so he could only let out a long beep of relief.

Still, the girl kept looking at him for a good moment before noticing that he was out of tricks. But instead of simply sitting back into her corner, she started doodling other things on her little notebook.

Sighing inwardly, Gaz kind of expected to have to go through some other kind of inspection again, but his worries were shattered the moment that Yllivia suddenly stood up.

The Lynnian walked towards the front of the trailer and knocked on it a couple of times. It didn’t take much longer before the truck slowly came to a stop, parking on the side of the road. As he, Red and the stealthy cat looked around confused trying to understand what had just happened, the others quickly got up on their feet. Even Lunn who looked completely passed out on her bed rose in the blink of an eye.

“Beepy. Take care of Red.” The Yllivia said curtly while petting him slightly.

“Beep!...?” He answered, still a bit confused.

“How bad is it?” Ross asked with a raised eyebrow. Yllivia frowned slightly before shaking her head.

“More than a few… But not many.” She said curtly. “That’s all.”

“…What?” Red asked while tilting her head.

“Ylli’s sixth sense for that kind of thing is really scary.” Lunn said while hugging her from behind. “I don’t think she ever got ambushed her whole life. There was even one time she woke up because a poisonous insect got close to her!” She said with an impressed voice, making Yllivia blush slightly.

“Then… That means?” Red asked worried, while trembling slightly.

“Blacktriggers.” Ross said with a wicked smile as he opened the back door of the trailer. Then he suddenly got a worried face as he looked at the trailer. “Now let’s get da HELL out of here cause I don’t wanna see an angry Volgoff ever again.” He said as he walked away, putting on his armor’s helmet.

Yllivia nodded while Lunn gulped loudly, her face paling slowly.

[Two of the scariest things to see… The calm of an angry man, and the anger of a calm man… Huh?] He said with a wry smile in his mind.

[Is it really that bad?] Ekis said curious.

[Yup. As bad as it sounds.] He answered with a mental nod.

Gaz saw as Yllivia and Ross left the trailer before its door closed behind them, leaving the two behind. Red turned towards Lunn worried, wanting to know what the other two were going to do, but she simply shook her head telling for her not to worry.

They simply stayed there for a couple of hours, lying in wait doing nothing. Around two hours later, they heard footsteps coming from outside the trailer, and the three non-combatants became worried, but Lunn simply smiled in a calming way as the door opened, showing the slightly roughed-up Yllivia and Ross, who carried another dwarf they had never seen before.

“So? How was it?” Lunn asked curious.

“Meh. Scrubs.” Ross said annoyed. “Around ten of them, but not one higher than iron.” He said throwing the unconscious dwarf on the ground.

“Iron?” Red asked confused, and he smiled awkwardly.

“The Blacktriggers have a ranking system on how good ya are. Iron is the second one you get, right after copper.” He said with a sigh. “Pretty much canon fodder. Scouts at best.” He said annoyed.

“What does it means that we found these guys?” Lunn asked curious.

“Don’t know.” Ross said while kicking the guy awake. “Probably have a titanium or something ahead. Not much higher, though.” He said with a shrug. “Didn’t really expected for us to come here, I’d say.”

“Lots of merc's vehicles ahead. All of them were stopped and destroyed.” Yllivia added, landing a punch on the dwarf that tried attacking them, making him drop on the ground in pain. “Could take some answers from him.” She said while lifting the dwarf and throwing him towards Lunn.

The elf smiled a bit awkwardly before pushing Red towards the duo.

“Sorry, little one. It’s not good for you to see what will happen here. Wait a bit more ahead, ok?” She said, making the young Morfian nod worriedly.

[I… Don’t think I want to witness this…] Gaz said with a worried tone while following her.

[Why? What is going to happen?] Ekis asked confused.

[If I’m right… You might not want to know.] Gaz said while rolling away with Red, his tone a bit grim.

Luckily, Ekis kept quiet, taking on his tone. Yllivia closed the door behind them, leaving the dwarf alone with pink haired elf. Outside, the group found the other elf and the troll waiting for them, with Sorius immediately calling them to get some distance from the trailer.

Red looked back worried for one last moment before nodding, the cat running to get to her side, where it followed suit.

They walked almost fifty meters before Sorius finally called to a stop and turned to Ross.

“So, Ross. What are we going against here?” He said as if completely forgetting their usual banters.

“Hmm.. I’d say a mobile armor. Tier two if he’s a titanium.” Ross said while thinking deeply. “Besides that… I’d say around… Fifteen escorts? Numerous weaklings, to tell the truth…”

“I could go back and take another route. Time isn’t a problem, right?” Volgoff offered, but Yllivia shook her head.

“No. They also had noticed us and warned the superiors. Should be cutting our escape route.” She said calmly.

“…I could rush a bit…”

“We don’t want to traumatize our VIP, Vol.” Sorius said with a wry smile, and the troll laughed a bit before nodding. “What about passing the blockade? Think they could catch up?” He turned to Ross.

“…Depends on who the boss is.” He answered after some though. “I don’t think they would put a big-shot out here, so it shouldn’t be a problem. Ya, breaking here should solve our problem.” He said nodding. “Still, better wait for some answers from Lunn.” He said with a nod.

Sorius raised an eyebrow before nodding.

Gaz couldn’t help but find it strange that Sorius was leaving the final say to Ross. From the brief time he spent with the group, he had noticed that Sorius was the de facto leader of the group, yet he had been following Ross’ directions on this mission.

Still, he was unable to delve too much into it, so he decided to simply keep an eye out, as it seemed to be some kind of unspoken agreement to leave it to the dwarf this time. It took around half an hour before Sorius received a call from Lunn, he exchanged some serious words with her before shutting down his radio.

“We’ve got a name.” He said. “Dorran Blackhand.” Yllivia and Volgoff turned towards Ross, whose cheerful smile had become wicked.

“Ah… I remember that bastard. Was but a black iron last time.” He tapped on his chest plate, opening a compartment with ten black-shelled slugs with some white words on its side. “And I’ve got a shell with his name riiight here.”

Sorius sighed loudly at this, Volgoff gave an awkward smile and Yllivia nodded. Meanwhile, Gaz and Red couldn’t help but feel worried.