The Ride Home (Hits a Wall) (Mission)

Wilhelm had signaled the pilot to come back around. Their fourth agent (left on the plane previously) was relieved to see the tiny girl hadn't been smashed to pieces from that jump. Steeler would have had his head for a fuckup like that. Now it was just a matter of crossing the country and getting home.

She boarded the vessel, feeling exposed without her hood to cover the top of her head. Her arms were in poor condition, too, making it more or less impossible to do anything until repairs could happen. Taking a seat near the hatch, she awaited takeoff. In a few hours, this would all be over.

Megali had approached the large aircraft with confident, strutting steps while basking in the glow of her most recent victory. However, that obnoxious confidence gradually began to fade as she drew closer to the plane, a little more concern entering her body language with each step. Swallowing her fears, she entered the craft with shaking steps, still entirely skeptical of the very notion of aerial transportation. Of course, it would be a cold day in Hell before she would willingly admit such a thing. Without a word of complaint, the Greek woman took a seat and stretched out her legs before closing her eyes as if attempting to sleep. In reality, she was simply trying to avoid any wayward glances out the window during takeoff in a desperate attempt to convince herself that they had not truly left the comforting embrace of mother Earth. For a while, it was quite successful with Megali even entering a relatively peaceful sleep.

Until everything started exploding over an hour later.

The first loud blast of fire from the front of the plane awoke her, her bleary eyes blinking towards the smoking front of the plane while Wilhelm unbuckled himself from his own seat to investigate the extend of the damage. The plane had already begun to dip towards the Earth and despite her initial attempt to do so, Wilhelm shouted back to her and STR to remain buckled in to their seats for their own safety. Considering their abilities, it was a rather silly warning which she had no intention of obeying but before she could do much about it, a second small explosion thundered through the plane. Letting loose a shrill scream, Wilhelm was devoured by a gout of flame and smoke obscuring him from view. With no crew left to properly pilot it, the plane continued its crash course into the wilderness.

Everything was collapsing around them. Considering she couldn't physically buckle her belt and no one around her had thought twice about it, she was flung to the floor during the first blast. Struggling to get up with only her left arm to help, the second blast actually managed to knock her upwards and onto her feet. Then it was impact.

The world felt like spinning and her ears rung with a high-pitched whine. At the last moment, she'd braced her arms forward (left, at least) to absorb the impact. The right, shock absorbers destroyed in the dragon battle, had been broken off, laying in a pile of wreckage a few feet away. The left held strong, but was still damaged. A bloody cut on her temple obscured her vision in her right eye. Despite the flames, smoke, and burning bodies around her, she couldn't get her mind together long enough to move, laying prone on the ground.

To its credit, the safety harness had held up well through the crash, only coming loose when the seat itself was wrenched from the side of the cargo hold and launched towards the front of the cabin. When Megali finally awoke, her world was a haze of pain and numbness. Gradually, she began a slow inspection of her injuries. Numerous cuts covered her body and her right arm was limply bent at an odd angle. Considering the lingering soreness throughout her chest, she could only assume that her injuries had originally been much much worse before her healing abilities kicked in.

She groaned while unbuckling the safety belt with her good hand and pushed herself to her feet, leaning against the wall for support. The front of the plane had been reduced to nothing more than a smoldering lump of slag along with the soldiers that had accompanied them on their dragon hunt. The rear of the plane had also been torn open, offering a restricted view of a thick forest outside. Towards the center of the cargo hold was the mechanical girl known as STR, lying still as the grave.

"Ch-child...are you alive?" she asked, quickly finding the task of breathing to be far more difficult than it should have been. There was no answer from the smaller girl save for the slightest sign of breathing. Steeling herself, Megali pushed off the wall and staggered over to STR before stooping down with another groan of soreness to slip her good arm under the Japanese girl's remaining appendage. An experimental tug confirmed that she was indeed far too heavy for Megali to simply carry out of the wreckage. The Greek woman grit her teeth and did the only thing she could for the smaller girl, slowly hauling her across the floor towards the rear opening. The sound of her metal arm scraping along the floor was grating to say the least but little by little, Megali's injuries were already healing, gradually decreasing the burden of dragging STR until the twosome finally exited the craft.

Her mind was in a haze until the moment sunlight broke overhead. Blinking slowly, red-caked eye staying closed from stinging blood, she twisted and fought against the grip of the other woman on reflex. Kicking her in the side to slip through the one-armed hold, her balance betrayed her almost immediately and resulted in a face plant into the dirt. Struggling to get up, her fingers not gripping the ground or providing her even a hold into the surface, she continued to slip and flop against the earth to no avail. "Arm," she said, trying to crawl back into the wreckage and reclaim her lost appendage.

For the first time in a long time, she felt fear. She was helpless, unbalanced, with only one arm that didn't work. This wasn't a mission; there were no orders. She didn't know what to do, not even what finding the broken hunk of metal would do for her. It couldn't be reattached out here, and it would only be dead weight. Even if she did locate it (wherever it would have gone after snapping free from her body), she wouldn't even be able to pick it up, assuming she could even stand with her weight so disproportionately to one side.

She tried to hide behind her hood, but it was gone. The gash on her head had stopped bleeding now, but her face was a mess. No way to clean up, not even with two arms, so she was effectively down an eye, as well.

With each passing section, Megali could feel her aches and pains fading away. Unfortunately, a brand new bolt of pain appeared in her side without warning when the mechanical girl abruptly kicked her in the floating ribs. Taken flatfooted, Megali tumbled backwards onto the ground, nearly having her breath knocked out of her. Anger flashed across the dark haired woman's features and without thinking, she was rising to her feet and hurling herself onto the back of the panicking girl to pin her down, a task that would be monumentally easier considering STR's current one armed status.

"You must stop! Our allies are dead and your limb is lost." Pausing a moment to catch her breath, Megali's momentary anger at the sudden strike faded as she came to understand the true state of the mechanical child. She was terrified, injured, and apparently unsuited to this strange environment. Wincing at the girl's plight, Megali, shifted her weight to a less aggressive posture. "You fought beside me. I will help you. This I swear."

She continued to fight, but quickly went limp once more. There was no more point. Whatever happened at this point on didn't matter. They would die here. Maybe that was for the best. Neither of them belonged in this world. She'd killed enough things similar to the woman to know that, and she, herself, was barely even a person to begin with. Her mission would be a failure, but she honestly didn't care. She never did.

The mechanical child had ceased her struggling at last, evidently succumbing to the idea of defeat. It was a depressing sight, but not one that Megali was entirely unfamiliar with. Granted, most of her experience had been instilling that sensation into those opposing her but that was neither here nor there. What did matter was that this child was a comrade who had stood beside her against a powerful foe and now lay gravely wounded before her. As a matter of pride alone, Megali could not simply abandon her here to eventually be devoured by the elements.

Pushing herself up to a kneeling position, Megali once again scooped up STR's mechanical arm and draped it across her shoulders like a squat bar. Her injuries were all but gone by this point, making the task of shouldering the weight far easier. She gave a little grunt of effort and lifted with her legs, rising to a standing position before beginning a steady march through the woods. Despite not knowing the area, she had at least paid enough attention to know the general direction in which their plane had been going before disaster struck. Sooner or later they would reach civilization or be tracked down by the other agents of VWAT. For now though, there was little to do but trudge on.

While long marches weighed down with metal were nothing new to Megali, the awkward silence became a bit unnerving after a while. Clearly the child was in no mood to talk so it appeared that it fell upon Megali to break the silence. Unfortunately, she found herself hard pressed to find common ground with a small child built from metal and technology that she couldn't begin to understand. Left with no other options, the Greek woman began to speak on the topic she knew best; herself. Beginning from her birth, she began a excited, if long winded, rendition of her life story, brimming with exaggerations and boasts at almost every turn. Honestly it could have elicited groans of annoyance from a fair number of listeners but despite it all, her heart was at least in the right place.

She gave no resistance to being hoisted. Losing the will to fight, she stepped and hopped along as she was guided through the forest. The immortal began talking about something she wasn't paying attention to at one point. The blood across her eye had dried now, becoming a sticky, crumbly mess sealing her vision shut. She hadn't noticed it at the time, but her radio was also destroyed when she hit the wall. The constant buzz in her head was gone. It was refreshing, actually.

All things considered, it wasn't the worst hike she'd ever been on. Compared to a particularly frustrating jog through the wilderness during which Patroclus somehow managed to stumble over every rock in Greece, this was a relaxing exercise session consisting of a a weighted march. Droning on for roughly forty five minutes, the Greek woman paused in her story long enough to set STR down in a sitting position before squatting down herself to readjust her vest. Finally getting a clear look at STR's face without the mechanical girl struggling, Megali noticed the caked blood across her eyes. The revived Greek licked her thumb before gingerly rubbing it across STR's sealed eyes, breaking up and slowly removing the dried blood.

"You should have told me of your discomfort. Even Ajax had the sense to let his wounds be tended," she said, finishing up the rudimentary medical treatment by patting the small girl on the head. Megali exhaled softly while looking skyward and found that, thankfully, they still had plenty of daylight left to work with. Comfortable once more, she immediately hoisted STR across her shoulders once more and continued her march and one sided conversation. "I wish to know your name, your true name. Then you may share in the glory of my story as well," Megali exclaimed, sending a satisfied smile in STR's direction, clearly pleased with herself.

Being sat on the ground, she looked at her feet as the other woman went about her business. She inhaled sharply and jumped back as the wet finger touched her face. Soon enough, though, she could see again, pale eyes opening back up to the world at large. A headache plagued her now that her senses had returned to her, still able to feel the little bits of plastic and wiring torn through the side of her head from where the radio used to be inside her body.

She didn't know who Ajax was. No one taught her Greek mythology at the compound. Or Greek history, all things considered. Hoisted back up, she continued the walk-skip to try and keep pace. She nearly tripped when the question was asked. For as long as she could remember, no one had ever asked for her name. Either they knew it from the start or just didn't care. It was supposed to be a secret, too. But they were going to die out here, anyway, so what harm could it do?

Looking ahead for the first time since the start of the walk, she composed herself before saying in the most confident way she could muster, "Yuu." It was satisfying for some reason.

She got a response. She got a response! What a glorious turn of events, she was finally able to coax the mechanical child into joining the conversation. Still smiling with her signature, self-satisfaction, Megali pulled Yuu a bit closer as they progressed deeper into the forest and ever closer to their final destination. "It is a good name. You may call me, Megali," she responded, quietly content that she had not stumbled over her new name this time. With her thoughts drawn towards the significance of her own name, Megali experienced a brief flash of empathy regarding the Japanese girl beside her. Why had she not heard the girl's name before now? Why did the others only call her STR? She had hesitated in handing over her true name afterall. Perhaps they were so altogether different. The Greek woman's broad smile shrank a bit but retained her air of contentment throughout the hike. "Yuu, I do not know these lands. How far are we from home?"

People had interesting names here. It was an interesting development for them to have names at all. Back home, it was just "doctor" or "sir" all the time, the exception being Hokuto. She felt selfish now. Having resigned to death, she didn't put any thought into what that would do for her doctor. He'd likely lose his job if she weren't alive to go back to Japan. It wasn't fair for him to have to suffer just because she was selfishly giving up.

Returning to reality, she was now asked a question. There was no answer to give, though. "I've never been here. I don't know." This was the first time she'd ever seen a forest, let alone whatever part of this country they were in. For all they knew, they could be heading back to the dragon's den they just left. No directions, no map, no orders. It was going to be a great time getting back.

Megali pursed her lips a bit at Yuu's response. She had hoped that the mechanical girl would be able to shed a bit more light on their current location but in the end it didn't matter all that much. "That is fine. It shall be an adventure then," she said, raising her chin ever so slightly while adjusting to a more upbeat walking cadence. For a few moments, they were once again in silence until Megali suddenly glanced towards her pocket as if looking for something. Fumbling about inside it for a moment produced exactly what she was looking for; the strip of embroidered cloth that she had taken from the fallen dragon back at the cave. In the excitement of the crash, she had completely forgotten about her prize but thankfully, it had remained secure throughout the chaos. "You took no spoils from the drakon. Why?" she asked with a sidelong gaze, genuinely curious as to how Yuu intended to immortalize their latest conquest without some form of trophy for her efforts.

It was disappointing not to be of any help. Weird. She didn't feel that way normally. Might just be the 100% success rate with things up until now. 99% wasn't too bad, though. The next question was very strange. "Why would I take things?" she asked with furrowed brow. She had no use for anything that dragon had. Should she have taken a big brick of cement she tore out of the ground with her? That didn't seem like it would be very useful, especially now. It was very confusing.

From behind, a loud bang reverberated through the forest. It was likely the plane had just exploded. And it was doing so good about that. On the plus side, it might attract attention and a search part would appear. On the other hand, the surprise caused the tiny girl to stumble with a squeak, falling forward and into the dirt. Explosions weren't anything strange to her, but she could at least predict or brace for them other times. That vehicle was long forgotten by the time they'd hiked to where they were now.

Yuu's response was yet another reminder as to how much society had changed since her era. When she had first walked the earth, few things were more important than one's legacy. Death came quickly and without warning each day, instilling a desperation in every member of humanity to find some way in which to be remembered. Today though, those worries seemed to be things of the past. Everyone was so focused in the present that the immortalization of the past for the sake of the future was hardly ever a concern. "You triumphed. You have a right to take your spoils to help remember the vict-" Megali began before the sudden explosion in the distance cut her off. Sensing the sudden shift in Yuu's weight, Megali slipped her own foot forward while rotating to face the smaller girl and block her fall with her free arm. Though her mechanical parts gave her a fair bit of weight, by lowering her center of gravity and widening her stance, the Greek woman was able to halt her nonetheless.

She took a moment to glance back in the direction of their crashed plane and as expected, black smoke was already rising above the trees. Yet another reason to avoid the flying deathtraps. Honestly, why did everything in this day and age have to explode?

"Are you alright? Do you require rest?"

Collecting herself from the near-fall, she stood back up and shook her head. They had to go on. At least until there was something resembling civilization. The Americans could come pick them up then if they just found a way to contact the base. Her radio was no good, still randomly protruding from her skin at various places. Did that collar do anything? She'd seen several people wearing it before she left for the mission. "What does that do?" she asked, doing her best to look directly at the piece of metal around the woman's neck.

Yuu's response came as a welcome break of good luck in their train of otherwise bad luck. Apparently, the mechanical girl was finally feeling a renewed spark of motivation regarding their rescue. Picking oneself up from the depths of despair was no easy feat. Megali herself had struggled long and hard to once again find her own will to live during her battles at Troy. In fact, the mechanical girl's renewed vigor had initially been just enough to warrant a rather uncharacteristic act of generosity from the Greek woman. For a moment, Megali had been ready to give up a portion of her own spoils from the battle with the dragon to Yuu. Granted, it would have only been a small piece of the trophy cloth Megali still carried (her own ego could only bend so far) but it was the thought that counted.

Or at least it would have if her attention had not suddenly been drawn to the collar around her neck. Instinctively touching it with her free hand, Megali's slight smile disappeared entirely as frustration momentarily overwhelmed her features. "It is a collar to keep my chained," she responded, not overly inclined to elaborate on her sad state of affairs as little more than a slave to VWAT.

She could relate to that. For most of her life, she hadn't known anything but constant supervision and killing forced on her by the government. This wasn't the time or the place to mull over the futility and pointlessness of her existence, though. "Can you call them?" she asked, figuring that anything used to keep someone under control would have the ability to relay information.

It was strange. She'd never been one to think things through like this. It was always point and shoot in a direction until there was nothing left - no need for thought there. But maybe something was different now. What that could be, she had no idea. Maybe she was actually kind of smart. Probably not, though. She was just a gun.

"I do not believe we are close enough. My voice cannot carry far," she responded in total seriousness. With all of her focus on learning a new language so she could at least communicate with around her, Megali had yet to fully grasp technology. However, ignorance aside, she was not so slow as to completely miss Yuu's intention. "Oh! Oh, you speak of this..." the Greek woman exclaimed, motioning to her collar. Despite the small bit of pride she felt in catching Yuu's meaning, Megali was unfortunately unable to off any good news in response. "I am sorry. I do not know how. Are you able to speak with them?"

"My radio is broken. I can't." With no form of contact to the base, they really were going to be trapped here. If there was a way for them to track their positions, they could hope for a rescue, but there was no certainty. Maybe they could boost the signal somehow. How, though, was another question entirely. Regardless, it seemed like their best option would be to continue trying to find a town. "We should keep going," she said, giving up on the idea of communication.

Though not quite sure what a radio was, Megali was able to get by on context clues well enough and simply nodded in response. If nothing else, Yuu's sudden conviction to continue moving towards civilization was a welcome change. After adjusting the mechanical girl's large arm across her shoulders to a slightly more comfortable position, they were off at their steady march once more. However, it was not long before Megali once again felt the need to drive off the lingering silence of the hike. "You do not speak like the others. Are you not from here?" she asked, vaguely curious about Yuu's distinct accent when speaking English.

Someone was asking about her life. This was another first for her. "I am Japanese," she said, confirming her foreign heritage. Whether or not that meant anything to this woman, she wouldn't know. They might have had no contact with her country whenever she was alive before. "My country is far away," she explained. "They sent me to work with the organization because they are allies." She'd never been outside the prefecture, let alone the country, before the transfer. If she'd thought too much about it before, she might have been afraid. This place was full of people with guns, and dragons, and 24 hour tanning salons. It was so unlike where she was born.

Megali was silent for a bit, mentally turning over Yuu's response to make sure that she fully understood the meaning behind the words. In the centuries since she had perished, the very concept of government had vastly changed. Kings, once the undisputed rulers of territories, were not essentially figure heads for their people. Even the manner in which those territories were divided had changed, expanding into vast empires before gradually shrinking back into smaller countries that still dwarfed the city states of her day by far. That being said, the general interactions were familiar enough.

"So you fight on behalf of another land. I know what it is you feel." By the time the words had left her mouth, Megali was already beginning to see just how wrong she could have been. Did she really understand this girl? In the end, she had chosen to fight for foreign kings on the beaches of Troy for her own glory. But this girl did not seem to share the same pride in victory that the Greek did. "Or perhaps I do not. You did not choose to fight for them, did you?"

She stayed quiet for a moment. "I had an accident when I was little. My parents didn't want me after that, so they gave me away. Then the organization fixed me and made me a weapon." She lingered on the middle. How her parents didn't want her anymore. The scientists had told her that over and over. No one wanted her. She was just their tool. Imagine what they'd have done if they saw her in this broken state, confiding in some immortal monster the Americans captured and put to work for them. Probably throw her away and start over. She didn't feel much like talking anymore.