Writer’s spot: Greetings friends! The Mission is almost complete!

SO, this arc is almost coming to a closing, once again I’m delaying Gaz’s new body and now I have to think what will happen next. But that’s a problem for another day, for now, let’s just enjoy the 2,4K words story!

BESIDES, I’m not sure whether I will be able to update tomorrow, as I might have or not have a truckload of classes tomorrow, it’s still uncertain, so no promises there, for either Insania or Reinstall. Same thing for Friday and maybe even Saturday, but after that I get a shipload of free time, so a whole week with updates!

BESIDES(II), some crazy guy declared war on me and my candy-baiting tactics, all because it’s similar to his cookie-baiting tactics. Weird guy, huh?

Beep, and enjoy your story!

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The group quickly finished gathering up the lunch’s equipment and put it back on the truck. Sorius offered to take over driving duties from Volgoff, but the troll shook his head and said that he was still fine, so the elf didn’t bother with it anymore. He still went to the front cabin so that he could work as a spotter for potential threats.

Gaz couldn’t help them gathering things up even if he wanted, and seeing that Red was in a similar situation, he quickly got her attention with a poke and got her to come over the drones bodies. He pointed at some parts to her, making the young Morfian look at him confused for a moment, before finally understanding what he meant and starting to dismantle the drone with the help of her shape-shifting hands and some of Ross’ tools.

While he worked on it, the little robot couldn’t help but notice that Red would steal a glance at him every few seconds while frowning slightly. But seeing that wondering about it would lead nowhere else, he didn’t bother too much and set himself to work on disassembling the bodies.

With some help from Ekis, Gaz somehow managed to quickly disassemble the drone and start working on his new body. This one was a much more delayed process, as he had to carefully analyze what each circuit he found did before starting to use them.

It was only after analyzing all the circuit boards, motors and other mechanism individually that the goddess finally offered him the blueprints for his new body. But as he read them, he sighed inwardly.

[This… Is going to take a long time… Right?] He asked her, and heard a dry laugh in response.

[Well… It’s the price to pay for looking cool…] She said dryly, and Gaz nodded in his mind.

[But do we even have all these pieces? I mean… There are some things here that I don’t remember seeing in the dismantling.] He said a bit worriedly, but he felt as the goddess shook her head.

[These are for when we get them. They are minor additions for later.] She said with a proud tone. Gaz nodded in his mind and set himself to work, barely noticing as Red joined him midway and started to help him even without the two exchanging words.

And without noticing, the two spent a few hours working on the new body as the truck rode through the road.

…

Once the group decided to take a more direct road, the remaining travel time reduced from a couple of days to one day, as Volgoff blazed through the main highway straight to the city. Luckily, the only other blacktrigger roadblock they found wasn’t commandeered by anyone important, so Sorius and Yllivia finished them before they could call for reinforcement.

They quickly reached the city this way, just as the sun started to go up in the following day. After some quick help by asking around for directions, Volgoff took them to the target building and contacted the contractor, waiting for him to come down.

Meanwhile, Lunn was waking Red up, who had stayed up most of the night helping Gaz build his body. And during all that time, they had barely finished preparing the core piece. There was only so much they could do while inside a truck with only a cable-tool and some morphing fingers instead of other proper tools.

At least, they did leave a good part of work done, so it wasn’t all a waste. And thanks to having the goddess in his mind, he could leave the software working to her and he could focus solely on working on the building parts.

And after Red went to sleep, he even started to work on something of his own, so that his wolf body wouldn’t look too bleak. So he started cutting down some unused metal and welded them into angular shapes that reminded him of a wolf’s head.

Or at least should.

[It’s still a work in progress, so don’t say anything.] He said in an angry tone before Ekis could say anything.

[I didn’t speak a single word!] The goddess said with a slightly mocking tone. [But I am willing to offer some help…]

In the end, he reluctantly accepted her help, and saw as a plan appeared in his mind in such a way that it even showed a way to connect with the body once it was done. Gaz sighed loudly in his mind before giving a quick glance around.

[Now, we just have to wait for Yllivia to let go of me before I start working…] He said with a sigh.

The lynnian had grown jealous of the attention that Gaz was giving to Red, so she had hogged the small robot all for herself one hour ago. Thankfully, his shape and size made it so that it was a bit difficult to hug him while standing up, so when the truck stopped she reluctantly let him go.

It still took one or two minutes of waiting as whoever it was that they were waiting for came down from the tall skyscraper. Red used this time to quickly wash her face to wake up a bit more and quickly checked if her hoodie and pants were still looking fine.

As the group waited a bit anxiously, the door from the building opened, and a tall but thin black-furred troll wearing a contrasting white suit appeared from the door, looked around in wonder for a moment before settling his eyes into the group and smiling.

He quickly approached the group with his long strides and extended his hand towards Sorius, who was standing in front of the other mercenaries.

“Greetings. If I’m right, you must be Sorius, right?” He asked, and the elf nodded in response. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. My name is Gorgoff Whiteye, leader of the R&R division from Arcon Tec.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you too, sir.” Sorius said with a nod before turning to Red. “And here is the VIP we were hired to bring.”

“I see…” The troll said with a nod while looking at Red for a moment, before looking back to the elf. “I thought you planned on taking a longer route?” He asked confused.

“Aye. But we ran into some Blacktriggers on the way. Thought it would be better to not dilly-dally too much after that.” Ross said with a shrug, receiving a surprised look from the troll, who nodded.

“I will warn the authorities then, and put some of our men on the lookout. Never hurts to be extra careful with these people. Thanks for your service.” He said, receiving a nod from the elf. He then turned towards the girl, who was coming back from the trailer. “Professor! It’s good to see you again!” He said with a wide smile appearing on his face.

“Gorgoff…” Red said slightly surprised, before nodding. “Hmm… It’s good to see you too.”

The mercs looked at the girl a bit surprised for a moment. The man with one of the highest ranked positions within Arcon-tec was calling this girl professor? And she was referring to him casually? Just what the hell is going on here?

Well, while that was what the mercenaries were thinking, Gaz’s minds were into something completely different.

[Hey! That shop is selling some robot parts! Maybe we can buy something good!] He said to Ekis, and felt as she agreed with him cheerfully.

However, with the lack of decent locomotion methods, he decided to not get too far from the group, and simply look at some of the store-front goods on the lowest floor of the Arcon-tec building, where they were showcasing pieces from various range.

Sadly, Gaz had no idea on how much the currency of this world was worth, so he had no idea whether these things were expensive or cheap, so he could only watch them in wonder. Seemingly noticing the small robot as he rolled around nearby, Gorgoff stopped and looked at him surprised.

“Is that a new work of yours, professor?” He asked surprised. Red blinked surprised for a moment before shaking her head.

“No. He was found out by Sorius and the others.” She said while denying the troll. He looked surprised for a moment, before standing up and taking out his wallet and turning towards the elf.

“Excuse-me, but how much would you be willing to sell that robot to us?” He asked with a slightly excited tone. “Even when damaged, having a new study subject like that is incredibly lucky for us.”

As the troll happily took out what Gaz guessed that would be similar to a check of this world, he saw as everyone else’s face became pale, with the exception of one person. Sorius cleared his throat briefly to get the Troll’s attention.

“Sir… I fear that… She might not be willing to sell Beepy…” He said while pointing towards the Lynnian.

“I see... Then how much would I…” The troll started to speak, before meeting eye-to-eye with a demon in Lynnian form. He stopped for a full ten seconds, before smiling widely and storing the wallet away. “I see… Sorry, I won’t pry too much then…” He said with a business smile. “And as soon as I get back there, I’m running for the bathroom.”

The group smiled a bit awkwardly as the last words escaped the troll.

Sighing loudly, Red turned towards the troll and got his attention.

“Gorgoff, since we got here earlier than expected, do you think we could hurry up the preparations a bit?” She asked with a slightly worried tone, but to her surprise, the Troll nodded widely.

“Yes. Taking too much of our time here would probably gather the blacktriggers attention.” He said with a nod. “I’ll see with my secretary, but I think I can work this for… After tomorrow afternoon. Is that fine with you?” He asked after a brief thought.

Red turned towards Sorius and the others, who all nodded.

“It’s fine then.” She said briefly.

The Troll nodded satisfied as he got a radio from his waist and spoke with someone. After a few seconds, he turned back to Sorius and the others.

“Thanks for guarding the professor up to now. And I hope you don’t mind sticking with her a bit longer” He said with a thankful tone. The group all nodded seriously. “I’ll arrange an even more suitable reward for you once this is finished.”

“It was our pleasure, sir.” Sorius said seriously.

“Ya! The lass is a funny person to have nearby.” The dwarf said cheerfully. “Could eat a bit more meat, though.” He finished with a sigh.

“And she’s soooo huggable!” Lunn said as she snatched Red from behind and hugged her tightly, resting her cheek on the girl’s head. “Ahh… I’m addicted to this…”

Gorgoff smiled a bit awkwardly, and after some quick arrangements, they decided that the group would stay at Red’s house, a couple of hours away from the city, for the time being. It’s in a fairly isolated place, so the chances of someone finding them there would probably be very low.

And since they were also going to be hired by the girl as bodyguards afterwards, it was a good chance to see where they were going to live for the time being.

Just before the group bade their goodbyes to the R&R department chief, he suddenly stopped them for one last time, leaving them curious as for the reason.

“Say… Would it be too much if I were to ask you to get some better clothing for the professor?” The troll asked with a slightly awkward tone, but when he saw the others looking confused he explained. “You see, she’s always wearing those hoodies and pants...”

“But these are practical and easy to use. What’s the problem?” Red said a bit confused while blushing slightly from Lunn’s hug.

“Well, professor… When you look like that you… look too tomboyish and informal. Some people may have some trouble taking you seriously.” The troll said with a genuinely worried tone.

“Hmm… But… I know nothing about clothing.” Red said while pouting lightly.

[Oh god… She should NOT have said that.] Gaz commented on his mind.

[Why?] Ekis asked confused, and Gaz slightly tilted his camera upwards. [Oh…] She said suddenly understanding. [I never knew that Lunn could look so…]

[Dangerous? Feral? Perverted? Predatorial? Hungry? Savage?]

[… There’s a weird word in the middle, but yeah… Something along these lines…] The goddess said with a slightly worried tone.

“Then leave it to me, sweet cheeks!” Lunn said while gently petting the Morfian’s head. “I’m going to pick some reaaaaally good clothes for you.” The elf said with a cheerful tone.

“Hmm… Maybe we could also buy some parts for Beepy on the way.” Red added as an afterthought. Yllivia’s ear perked up at that, and the Lynnian nodded while approaching the duo.

“Well… I’m staying here and catching up with my sleep.” Volgoff said, as he went back into the trailer.

“I’m going to scrounge around for some replacements for my armor. See ya later!” Ross said cheerfully as he walked away, Sorius followed after him, probably to make sure he wouldn’t cause too much trouble.

Deciding to stick around with Yllivia and the others, Gaz slowly rolled besides them, noticing that they were keeping a slow pace to help him keep up. He felt slightly annoyed, but still thanked them within his mind as he followed behind them.

The first shop they stopped was a second-hand parts store, where he and Red quickly scavenged around the shelves in search for a piece that they could use for his new body, but after looking around, the only thing they found that would work was too damaged, so the group quickly thanked the shopkeeper for the service before going away.

They roamed the streets for a bit longer, finding many such shops along the streets. With some luck, it seemed that they would manage to find the lacking parts before they had to come back, but before then, they reached the front of what looked like a mall, with many people walking around and many stores lined up in a gallery.

Seeing the sheer amount of people, Red gulped loudly, probably feeling uncomfortable in the middle of such a huge crowd. She tried to turn around and walk away from there, but was stopped when Lunn grabbed her arm.

“We are going to buy you clothes, do you remember?” The elf asked with a strange tone.

Finally noticing this, the Morfian looked waryly towards the elf, only to find her licking her lips with expectation. The young tinkerer paled at the scene, but even after she tried to free herself from the elf’s grip, she was unable.

The mercenary happily dragged Red through the mall towards the nearest clothing store while humming a happy song. Behind them, Yllivia, Gaz and Ekis wished fervently that the young girl would be able to survive the ordeal.

And during all this time, Mirage had been sleeping lazily above Gaz’s motor, as if not caring for her master's situation.