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Deep in the Strike Hawk preparation room, Chrome was speaking with Asimov and his father, Mr Smith. It was regarding a few details regarding his new frame that was being constructed with material from Project Winter. Serious stuff, so he had not thought he had heard ‘Chrome Chrooome.’ In the distance.
“Yes, I would like to see the full report on the risks, no matter how small, before I even consider co-signing this frame transfer…” Mr Smith states to Asimov. “No offence meant of course, I know you are the head of your field-”
“Mr Smith Junioooor~” The voice in the distance calls.
Ah. I definitely heard Commandant. Chrome thinks, as he switches on his radar to detect her position.
“Laaaangstoooooon~” Commandant sings, making Chrome crack a smile.
In the seriousness of their conversation, Asimov and Mr Smith do not even notice her voice even though it is much closer now.
Chrome’s radar lets him see Commandant put a hand on her chest with the other hand extended out, palm gesturing to the room they are currently in.
“Oh Romeo, Romeo! Wherefore, art thou Romeo?!” Commandant calls the line out dramatically.
Asimov and Mr Smith halt their discussion in utter confusion.
Upon hearing the line, Chrome chuffs at it. From the time they had put on a play for Kamui, they now sometimes recited random lines at each other for fun. “Please pardon me… I must respond to this call.” He nods at them before turning to Commandant’s direction and returns the line in a firm and loud voice. “Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?!”
“Ah, finally found you~” Ravi replies as she happily strolls into the room, before she spots Asimov and another well dressed gentleman. “I- I’M SO SORRY. I DIDN’T REALISE YOU HAD COMPANY!” The Commandant squawks at Chrome, her face now pink. “I’LL GO NOW!”
“That’s alright. We were just about done here anyway.” Asimov nods at her, nonchalant as always.
Mr Smith smiles at her. “Ah, this must be the famous Commandant I hear so much about. Yes, I insist there’s no need to worry, Asimov and I can continue the little left to discuss in my office.” As he walks out of the room, he pats one of Chrome’s shoulders. “Later on you must fill me in on how your ‘Juliette’ came to be … son.”
CHROME’S DAD??!! Commandant’s face has become a cherry shade of red now and she weakly waves goodbye to the leaving duo with her head still bowed in an apology. It did not slip past her, that the older Smith wanted to ensure she knew exactly who he was to Chrome. Her mouth is in a straight line and she wishes she was fighting eight consecutive swarms of Corrupted rather than being embarrassed in the safety of Babylonia right now.
“Commandant?” Chrome asks. “What did you need?”
“I need… to leave..” Ravi says as she turns towards the door.
“Ah! Wait, you just got here.” Chrome says grabbing her wrist gently. “It’s fine, really. Please stay.”
Ravi stops and looks over her shoulder to gaze back at his earnest eyes. Kind, azure eyes that promise not to judge at how small a thing she was seeking him out for, amidst what can be assumed was a fairly serious discussion, given the company.
“Well basically, I made an ass out of myself because I… just wanted to ask if you had any idea how to get this paint out. We fought a Nozzle yesterday and I’ve been fighting this stain ever since with detergent- but it hasn’t even made a dent.”
Chrome looks down from her face to see the back of her dark grey jacket which now has a splotch of purple on the Gray Raven insignia. “Oh. Not a problem at all. Arms up please.”
“Oh ok- ah!” Ravi exclaims as the jacket is pulled off of her. “Chrome, I said ‘Please give me advice.’, not ‘Go and wash this for me!’”
“I’m always happy to help, Commandant. I assist Kamui and Wanshi with this sort of thing all the time.” Chrome explains as he eyeballs the jacket for any other stains.
“Mama Chrome…” Commandant whispers.
“Hm?” Chrome hums, looking up from the jacket.
“Ah, it’s nothing. I’ve brought back the book you lent me, and I have one that I thought you’d like too!”
After a pleasant exchange of their thoughts on the book Ravi was returning, one of Edgar’s earlier works, they say their goodbyes leaving Chrome with the jacket.
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“What stubbornness.” Chrome remarks, as he looks at the still-stained jacket in his hands. He had used a toothbrush to scrub the offending purple splotch with acetone, but the stain had barely come off. If it doesn’t respond to acetone, does this mean it’s not an acrylic based paint?
He sniffs the splotch to try and identify the makeup of the paint. This is my error… I should have done this prior to the washing attempt, now I just smell acetone. He flips the jacket over and finds a small splash of purple paint where he hasn’t scrubbed with acetone yet on the inner lining. Ah, a saving grace.
Sniff, sniff, sniff.
Hm? It smells sweet and comforting? He thinks. Oh. I’m not smelling the stain at all.
“CAP-TAIN~” Kamui jumps out suddenly. “GWAGH!!” He screams as Chrome grabs his face with one hand, lifting him.
“Ah! Kamui!” Chrome exclaims, as he snaps out of his surprise and releases his hold of Kamui's face, mid wind-up to throw him into the nearest wall.
“WAAAAHH!” Kamui cries, as he rushes off to hug Wanshi, who has walked into the room like a normal person. “Captain almost yeeted me into a wall for nothing!”
“Kamui, I’m sorry. You took me by surprise, it was a reflex…” Chrome apologises sincerely, trying to soothe his teammate.
“There there.” Wanshi pats Kamui’s head. “You’re a Tank aren’t you? You would have been fine. Probably.”
“You don’t sound convinced at all!” Kamui exclaims.
“Anyway.” Wanshi continues, rolling his visible eye to their Captain. “Did Captain get scared because he was having some private fun with Commandant’s jacket?”
“Wanshi!” Chrome admonishes, face going a little red.
Kamui perks up as he is now curious. “Heh? What do you mean? What’s ‘private fun’ mean?”
Chrome takes a single step towards them, making them both take a step back.
“Just curious Captain!” Wanshi says, with his hands up in a surrendering motion “It’s not something you see every day.” Kamui was almost thrown into a wall by accident, but Captain looks like he’ll hurl him on purpose. Ah, please throw Kamui instead, I’m just a Support type. I don’t want to be hospitalised.
After explaining the predicament with identifying the stain, Wanshi and Kamui offer to help.
Chrome holds it up and Wanshi gives it a sniff. “Nope, just smells straight-up like Commandant to me.”
Kamui doesn’t even wait for Wanshi to step back and begins sniffing. “Hmmm it smells familiar, what is it?”
Camu walks into the preparation room, and before he can even ask what in the Red Tide they are doing, Kamui yells at him.
“Camu! Get in here! We need to smell what this stain is so Cap can wash this for Commandant!”
“Oh? Yeah my taste modules are enhanced, so my sense of smell is pretty good too.” Camu begins smelling the jacket.
Feeling a little useless, Chrome gives the main splotch of paint another go. Maybe the acetone smell has worn off by now?
Having just entered the room, Liv screams as she drops the book she is holding. “KYAAAAA!!!”
“Waaah.” Karanina is quaking next to Lucia. The sight is both surreal and horrifying to her.
Lucia's mouth is agasp and her irises shrink at the sight of four male constructs face-deep in her Commandant’s jacket. “I see, Commandant is nothing but kind to Strike Hawk, but you repay her by being perverts.” She draws her sword and a glint rolls down the blade under the room’s lighting. She is Commandant’s blade, she must defend her honour from these scum Constructs.
“Huh?” Chrome says as he looks at the new Constructs who have entered the room and then to his squad still semi-hunched and flocked around the jacket in his hand. “OH! No- NO- this isn’t what it looks like!”
“Save your words, creep!” Karanina shouts, as she takes out her bazooka to aim at them.
That comment stung, aimed at a perfect ‘Smith’.
“Mr Chrome, I never thought you’d be like… like this.” Liv says with teary, hurt eyes.
Ah, ok. This comment stings more.
Before Chrome can explain, Kamui opens his big mouth as he notices the new company. “Ooooi! Hey Lucia, Liv and Karen! Cap was having private time with Commandant’s jacket and we all decided to join him~”
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The hallway outside the Strike Hawk base is quiet with teams chatting as they stroll by. Suddenly, the room is illuminated and a series of deafening explosions erupt, accompanied by screams.
The Constructs and Commandants walking by shout and scramble for cover as smoke billows out of the doorway along with some debris.
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“Huh? An incoming transmission?” Ravi asks, as she stops brushing Nanami’s hair for a second to accept the message.
A stern, very annoyed looking man appears in the transmission. “Commandant 05122019, report to Strike Hawk headquarters and control your Constructs. If we receive any property damage reports to this degree from you again, we will impose a severe fine.”
“Wha-?!”
“That is all.” The call disconnects abruptly, leaving a very confused looking Commandant staring off into nowhere in particular.
She had remembered asking Liv if she wouldn’t mind delivering a book she thought Chrome would like to him, as she had forgotten to bring it earlier with the other one. Lucia was happy to go with her and Karenina had accused Lucia of running away, so naturally joined them as well. “They were delivering one book for me. HOW is property damage involved?!”
“This sounds FUN!” Nanami exclaims as she throws her arms up in the air.
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“BWAHAHAHAH!!” Nanami laughs thunderously holding her sides, when Lucia and Chrome finish telling their sides of their stories.
Ravi covers her mouth as she can’t help but laugh at how badly the situation has spiralled out. “Nanami, don’t laugh so much- it’s mean!” She says, wiping a tear out of her own eye like a damn hypocrite. She was doing her damndest not to laugh, but this was not possible. She had asked a dear friend to deliver a book to another dear friend. And now a ceiling beam was threatening to fall down.
Lucia’s expression has softened as her righteous fury has now left her.
Karenina has a pouty look on her face, now feeling guilty from contributing the most to the explosions as it was both anger against Strike Hawk and competition against Lucia.
Liv just looks horrified at herself. Had she known what she does now, she never would have released her Signature in a confined room, much less fired a single shot from her levi gun.
“Chrome.” Ravi says, wiping more tears of laughter out of her eyes with the back of her hand. “You should have just let me know if you couldn’t clean it…”
The Strike Hawk Captain looks down at the floor. “I have never lost to a stain before… and you relied on me for this… I didn’t want to disappoint you, Commandant.”
Ah, it’s a pride thing for Mama Chrome. I see, I see. “Oh, Chrome. You poor thing.” She smiles, as she pats some ash and debris off his now sooty blonde hair. “If you ever fail at something- I’d never be disappointed with you. I’m just really happy you tried for me.”
Chrome eyes flick up to look at her, eyes a little wide like a startled bird, frozen at her words. No one has ever said this to him before. Perfection was expected from him or criticism was given. He hears her words, and struggles to process the meaning.
Lucia smiles softly at the scene before turning to the other Strike Hawks. “As Captain of Gray Raven, we sincerely apologise for the misunderstanding. That being said, Wanshi please stop teaching Kamui weird phrases.” She goes over to start gathering some rubble to the side for disposal.
Wanshi scratches his head making dust fall off onto the floor. “Kinda my fault I guess, I’ll go get a broom.”
Liv smiles and makes a miniature black hole to swallow the pile of rubble Lucia has gathered.
“Hmph!” Scoffs Karenina. “I’m an elite in the Engineering Force, I’ll fix this place in no time.”
Nanami grins. “That’s good, because you made most of the damage~”
“GEH!” Karenina blushes angrily.
Kamui lets out a hearty laugh.
Chrome and Commandant share a gentle gaze with each other before Commandant looks over her shoulder. “Camu! Go put on some solid tunes, we’re gonna get cleanin’!”
“Comin’ right up!” Camu replies, somehow not annoyed about getting blown up several times anymore.
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“What the hell is going on in there?” Asks Noctis as the Cerebus squad walks past the Strike Hawk base.
“I was nearby earlier and there were lots of explosions inside.” 21 remarks.
Vera glances at the base, which has become a renovation site and a karaoke room. “Stay away from them. They’re all ****ing weird.”
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A couple of days later the Strike Hawk base had been returned to working condition, looking brand new thanks to restoration by Karenina.
Chrome and Commandant look around with ‘ooh’s and ah’s’.
“Hmph. It’d be embarrassing if I didn’t do at least this much.” Karenina says haughtily, with her arms folded as she basks in the praise. “Oh, and Chrome, here.” She throws a dark blue and yellow can with a red lid at him. “Try this on that stain.”
“Oh yeah, with all the fun we were having, I honestly, completely forgot about the jacket.” Commandant realises out loud.
Chrome glances down at Ravi with a smile before he takes out the jacket he had folded away. He reads the label of the can. “WD-40.” He sprays it on the stain and the toothbrush he uses to scrub with easily removes the purple stain.
More ‘ooh’s and ah’s’ follow.
“Karenina, please sell me a palette of these.” Chrome says.
Before Karenina laughs, Commandant adds. “Oh, he is being very serious by the way.”
“Geh! It’ll last you forever, trust me. Just visit the Engineering department and we’ll issue some more to you when you run out.” The hooded Construct assures him. “Anyway, your jacket is as good as new now, put it on, Commandant!”
Ravi sticks out her arms as Chrome puts it on her. However, it looks like Karenina’s bazooka has blown the left sleeve clean off and Liv’s energy Signature has sent the other sleeve into the next life. “... Not to sound ungrateful, but I’m not sure how I feel about the sleeveless look.”