Chapter Text
—We already told them about the plans, so don't worry about it —Ayane told him as they walked to a small room nearby, however for Mark the concern he felt was not because of that, the academy he managed to see was full of sand, the entire first floor had been abandoned and was barely cleaned on the way to the main staircase, The rest of the corridors were with sand up to at least his knees, but for a little of his tranquility the second floor barely had sand at the corners of the corridors, some rooms seemed somewhat worn, some with broken windows and others totally empty, they were a heartbreaking sight for him.
—Sensei? —When Mark looked at the voice that pulled him out of his thoughts, he saw the same blonde girl who hugged Ayane and Shiroko this morning looking at him with concern.
—Excuse me, what happened? I dissociated a little.
—We're here, you can come in —the same blonde girl told him, offering him to go into a room that seemed quite recurring.
When Mark entered he noticed how full it was, on one side they had everything to serve snacks along with a sink, on the other a blackboard and multiple markers, at the back of the room there were drawers and in the center a table big enough for six people however there were only five chairs, it was then that he heard noise in the corridor and when he turned around he saw the black-haired girl carrying someone even smaller with pink hair and totally numb, it was then that he noticed something, that girl did not have a halo and when she looked at the rest he noticed how they all had, when the girl finished throwing the pink-haired girl he saw how after the blow a barely visible halo appeared on her head.
—Hoshino behave like a superior for a day, please!
—Here are the other chairs~
—Thank you Nonomi and Serika please, it's not time to fight, how about you sit down and we introduce ourselves?
—good~
—Good.
—Nn, do you want something to drink, juice, water or tea?
—For us water please —said the calmest among the pilots who if her memory won't failed him, was Tori and saw her friend happily nod next to her, on the other hand, Mark saw Ayane bring a blackboard closer and take out a couple of markers and start writing a couple of things while the rest settled around the room.
—Well, today we have a few guests, so we'll introduce ourselves, okay, I'm Okusora Ayane, first year of Abydos Academy —After saying that, Ayane looked at the girl with black hair and animal ears, who looked back somewhat startled and after a sigh the girl got up.
With a quick glance at Ayane, the girl was startled again and continued —I'm Serika, first year.
—I'm Izayoi Nonomi, second year~
—Nn, I'm Sunaokami Shiroko, second year too.
After that, all the girls of Abydos looked at the brushed girl who was at the table sleeping, or so it seemed, but her halo was visible, hardly, but there she was, and to her surprise she saw how Nonomi got up and placed herself behind and hugged her by the waist and lifted her up, leaving the pink girl straight in the chair.
—Hoshino it's your turn~
—Haaawwwn, Gooooodd. Hello. I'm Hooshino, third yeaaawwr —said the girl as she leaned back on the table, and before anyone reacted, they continued.
—Hi, I'm Hane, second year, I'm currently from Schale, although I was from Gehenna.
—I'm Tori, a second year too and also at Schale, and I was from Trinity, a pleasure.
—Well, I'm Mark a pleasure, I'm his new teacher, although I don't need to be called that.
—And why the armor?
—Seri-
—Hah, that's because of my old profession, I was an assault pilot.
—Oh, you drove helicopters at the front?
—no, I was a driver of titans, like Uriel, that mass of metal that's behind the plane outside.
—Uriel? —the the group call almost in unison
—Little Uriel, could you bring your drone here? —And after a couple of seconds the Ayane opened the window to Uriel's drone.
—Hello, Uriel, Vanguard-class Titan at your service for when you need help.
—So, were you a drone pilot, or is that just for him to follow you? —Serika asked her quite confused.
—In fact, yes, it's just so that he would follow me, although he can also do anything else with it, it's his decision —And after that everyone watched as the drone simply returned to the goblin.
—Well, girls, they only mentioned their names, but I'm their teacher, you know, what do you want to do in the future?
—What do you mean, sensei?
—Well, when I was little, I wanted to be a farmer, what about you?
To Mark's surprise, all the girls were thoughtful except for Hoshino who seemed to be watching him while pretending to be asleep —I want to save Abydos —Shiroko mentioned without any trembling in her voice.
—Little Shiroko, leave that to me, is there anything else? —And when Mark saw Shiroko frowning trying to find something, Mark remembered Shiroko's bike and said —Well, what about an Olympic competitor, don't you have something similar around here?
—Yes, although I don't think I'm that good.
—Hah, as if getting lost for a week to go all over the Circumkivotos was nothing.
—You did what? —Hare asked almost shouting.
—Shiroko that's more than a road cycling competition, even if you did it in a week it's excessively fast.
—Well, girl, I think you'd have a chance —Mark said to the surprised Shiroko, who began to think more seriously —And the res- —Mark cut himself with Uriel's voice on his transmitter and quickly activated his Aural implant looking towards the front of the academy and barely saw what appeared to be a silhouette when Mark jumped on Ayane who was the closest to the windows, just before they exploded, throwing pieces over the entire place.
The reaction of the girls was at least noisy for Mark, all Abydos got up and took their weapons, the duo of pilots took out a couple of pistols they had and Ayane looked at him scared, it was then that Mark noticed how hot his left shoulder was, when he checked he found something embedded, and when he took it out he noticed the piece of glass nailed which he simply discarded next to him, and gave Uriel´s the order to bring the Goblin over the window, When Mark felt it over the window he looked around and saw all the girls paralyzed, Serika was white looking at him, or rather at his shoulder, and she was not the only one, it was clear to Mark how unusual that kind of wounds were in kivotos.
—Girls it's not the time, now go up —he told them while the goblin's hatch would be over the window, the first to enter were the pilots, then Nonomi followed with a minigun and Hoshino, Serika had to be almost carried by Shiroko, and the last was Ayane who to Mark's surprise had a first aid kit in her arms.
When Mark climbed up, he gave the order to Uriel to raise the goblin at least fifty meters more, while Mark searched for his shotgun. When he felt his back being pulled, when he looked, he saw Ayane with the first aid kit —Girl, I'll be fine, we're not only advanced in mechanical technology —It was there that Mark found the Mastiff next to a bag of ammunition —Hane, Tori, you can keep the Goblin at this point, it's just kept the lever straight. Uriel deploy, I want guided missiles, and no thermite, it may be a desert, but most buildings look like flammable materials.
With that little sentence the goblin tilted momentarily and all the girls could see the Titan Mark was referring to when he introduced Uriel. And when Mark approached the tailgate, he opened it with a lock and turned —Girls, stay here well? we'll take care of it— And before anyone could complaint, Mark jump on Uriel, when he saw them how the girls who had attacked were standing in the entrance watching them, none dared to take another step, when he listen.
—What a helmet!
—Yoo, you're the sensei, aren't you, I saw you on TV.
—Yes, and that robot?
—Well, time to fight, Gir-
—what? have you seen that cannon? It looks like a tank!
—Yes!
—Well, tomorrow we will bring the rest! you won today sensei!
With a brisk step Mark saw how all the girls with helmets who were trying to assault the academy left, and with great surprise he simply decided to get off Uriel's back, when he felt how someone fell behind him, and when he turned around he saw Hoshino almost transformed, he had a piece of metal that looked like a shield in his left arm and a shotgun in his right, His posture was almost radically different from the lazy girl he saw a few minutes ago, she almost looked like an assault officer, her grip on the shield was firm but she would clearly abandon it as soon as necessary, as if it only weighed on her.
—And they're gone yet?
—Apparently, even though they'll be back tomorrow, or so they said, Uri, help me get to the goblin?
—Come —Uriel mentioned while lowering his left arm, and to Hoshino's surprise Mark climbed in, and seconds later Uriel threw him directly into the plane or as the new adult called it the “Goblin”, seconds later she saw him arrive almost perfectly at the gate through which she had jumped, and a few seconds later the —goblin— landed perfectly on the multi-court.
—Uri you stay! I have to go see the GSC, otherwise protect these girls at all costs, Victoria Prima Uri! Mark said, peeking through the hatch as his friends came down.
—Yes, Te videre in victoria Mark!
And just like that, all the girls of Abydos saw how the goblin rose and left in the direction of the city, while the sky was overshadowed by the metallic giant or at least that's how it was for Hoshino, who the more she looked at it the more she noticed how unusual it was, and how repaired it was, especially her forearms, which seemed to have a superimposed plate with about eight shiny cylinders slightly protruding, On the legs it seemed to have a slightly protruding box, which seemed to be able to open at the top, thanks to that it did not match its general design, otherwise it did not seem to have been more modified, even its paint was somewhat rough, with a color scheme classically attributed to urban areas, but for some reason it was pixelated, as if it helped him hide from something.
—I'll patrol the area —the metal giant mentioned to them as he deployed some drones from the roof of Abydos, which were strange to Hoshino.
—How long have those drones been there? Eh, Ur-Uri—
—Uriel, young lady, and we deployed them during the attack, I will be here manipulating the drones, if you need help do not hesitate to ask for it.
—I have a doubt, what are you exactly?
—I'm Uriel, a Vanguard-class Titan.
—And why are you so Modified —After saying that, Hoshino felt the gazes of his companions as he tightened his grip on his weapons.
—Some are combat repairs, some are upgrade kits, and a few are combat preference.
—Explain yourself —To that, Hoshino saw how the robot crouched in front of her and looked directly at her with what she assumed would be her eye.
—Young lady, I am a multipurpose assault titan specialized in the infiltration and devastation of both industrial and individual targets, thanks to the modifications that Mark has given me I can fulfill my four Protocols more efficiently, even if some are useless in combat, so fear not, I will fulfill my second protocol, complete the mission, and the current mission is to protect Abydos at all costs. So, fear not, I'm on your side, if you really care about Abydos and its citizens.
Before Hoshino could continue pressing, he saw how Nonomi stood in front of him while apologizing, before his sight the robot just stood up and disgustingly downplayed the matter, and out of pure disgust Hoshino decided to move away —Haaahhwwm, I'll go to sleep —he told them while yawning and retracting the shield.
—Take good care of Abydos while I'm sleeping.
—Yes.
—Well, we're here girls, do I just leave it here?
—If we take care of it.
—Go see President Sensei, she's been waiting for a while.
Mark could only feel the urgency of the girls, so he decided to leave the goblin with them, they already seemed quite used to it, although they were almost panicked when he left them minutes behind, while going down the stairs he ran into Nanami, who was going up to see him, who simply received him with a somewhat long hug to Mark's surprise who only managed to say —Are you very small?
After a few seconds Nanami replied —Yes, alone. No, it's nothing, I'm happy you're okay, and Plana please create a Momotalk account for him, he'll need it.
—Understood.
—Thank you, and Mark the SRT training plan —he said as he handed him a ream of printed sheets.
A quick glance at it Mark could notice a few similarities with his old training manual, from shooting stances to hand gestures, for some reason they matched, although the strangest thing he found was the uncanny similarity between the “new” combat doctrine proposed almost a year ago, focusing on the training of what they called specialized rapid deployment units, Their name indicated nothing more than their function, but all the representative images were clear, and even the very specific character of those they had to recruit was similar to a pilot, the minimum requirement was two rear wings strong enough to propel themselves with them.
—Well, I'll look at him more closely tonight, I'll give you the results the day after tomorrow at the latest.
—Thank you, and please take good care of yourself, and also this afternoon I will send you some files that you needily see, just you and Uriel —And flat obviously, it's important.
—Don't worry. We will.
—Good. I'm leaving, I have things to attend to.
—Shall I take you?
—No, it's close to me, thank you.
Minutes later Mark was ready to return to Abydos when he remembered the unmarked military bases, and seriously considering it would be a good idea to go now, Uriel would be protecting Abydos, Hane and Tori would be in charge of the Goblin and Tori already had half a notebook in important notes about the goblin and his controls, at least if his sight did not deceive him, so there would not be much danger, especially being two.
—Girls, we're going on an excursion, get ready, bring enough provisions for at least two days.
The girls looked at him strangely for a few seconds, but they obeyed, and so after ten minutes the girls had brought the last thing, which was surprising to Mark, because he saw them with long guns, something unbecoming for a pilot, and it was then that he remembered seeing them with guns, and he understood, they were preparing for the worst, and the first aid kit that Hane brought was indicative of it.