Chapter Text
"Um...I can explain?"
The man looked to his left and right. The cuffs on his wrists seemed to grow ever so tighter as the men in green military-like uniforms stared at him in the cramped old car. The events that happened previously were a blur in his head. He recalled that he was simply in his room-
"Can you speak Japanese?"
One of the men in the car decided to stop staring and spoke to him in rather fluent English. He paused for a moment to try and wrack up the right words to say.
"Only... small.. a little bit?"
The man who spoke to him in English looked towards the other men. Quickly speaking in Japanese to them, he could only make out bits and pieces of what they're saying.
"..no.. yes.. a foreigner...do...alright."
The man that spoke to him in English would do so again, "Who are you and who do you work for?"
The man gulped and tried to run a hand through his head, but the cuffs made the gesture quite difficult and caused a few of the men to prepare to jump him. The one that spoke to him in English merely gestured to them to calm down.
"I suggest that you don't move your hands."
"Yes, sir!" He quickly put his hands back down and tried to adopt a more straightened posture.
The man once again asked about who he was and who does he work for.
"I...I..my name is Jordan Tyler. It's nice to meet you." Even if he had a little Japanese knowledge, introducing himself this way would probably make it easier on himself in the long run. Even introducing himself the way they would introduce themselves.
"I can assure you, that's it's not pleasant to meet you."
Admittedly, that kind of shot his heart just a little bit.
"You are on very thin ice, as they say, Mr. Jordan. I suggest you speak in English. My...colleagues as they say in English.. aren't too keen on keeping up this foolishness."
Jordan took another glance around the cramped car. The men besides the one he was speaking to gave him glares that could kill him. However, the English speaking man himself held a different posture. He was still suspicious of him as well, but he wasn't as on edge as the rest of them. In fact, Jordan noted that he said that for his own safety. Well, he hoped he did. Now that he got a good look at him, he looked almost vaguely familiar. Maybe it was something about his face and those glasses? He can't wrap his head around it now. The daggers being glared at him were too strong.
"I work for a company called MGD?"
"MGD?" One of the men repeated at him. The others started mumbling among themselves. If he had to guess, he could only assume what the hell he meant.
The English speaking man sighed as he looked at the mumbling men, "Ignore them. What is MGD?"
"Me-"
In that mere moment, the car was sent flying and Jordan's vision turned black.
..
When he came to, the sounds of mass panic could be heard all around. His eyes slowly opened to sight of the car he's in completely tilted over. The windows all smashed and two of the doors, seemingly just gone. The men that had occupied the car with him had all seemed to vanish. He coughed a couple times as his mind was racing a mile a minute. His voice let out a small groan as he tried to reach for one of the open doors, the handcuffs making themselves clear as day. His body ached all around, but at least he wasn't dead.
The unmistakable sounds of gunshots echoed from the outside. He shook his head as his eyes widened. Oh god! Was he in the middle of a firefight? Was that why the car was sent flying...no wait..something didn't seem-
More gunshots echoed in the distance. He had no time to think about this. The rush of adrenaline coursed through him as he powered through the aching just for a little bit. He shook his head for a moment, it was nothing short of a miracle that he didn't receive any head trauma. Even more so for the fact that his glasses managed to stay intact through all that.
As soon as he crawled through the door the first thing he saw was one of the men that interrogated him, face down on the ground. He took a baited breath as he slowly wormed his way over to the man.
"Please don't be dead." He muttered to himself. He didn't really care about the man all that much, but he wasn't looking forward to the his first up close dead body. Once he was close enough, he flipped the man over awkwardly. It was more akin to a roll over than a flip. It was the same man who spoke to him in English. He really didn't look any worse than he had before.
Jordan managed to get on a knee, the aching feeling almost subsiding. It was a quick, yet awkward measure to check the man's pulse. A faint pulse, but a pulse nonetheless. With a sigh of relief he slowly got onto his feet, the adrenaline allowing him to at least be able to limp slowly.
"Gah!" He collapsed to the ground once again as he felt a quick pain in his leg. The cuffs not helping as his wrists felt the brunt of the metal containers. He hissed as he tried to not cry out in absolute pain.
Once again the sounds of gunshots echoed. Based off the sounds..they were very close. He gritted his teeth and looked at the man that was on the ground.
"Shit."
He couldn't just leave him there could he? By all accounts he should just get out of there and try to make it out on his own. This man would probably just put him back in custody and it'd be like things didn't even happen. Yeah, yeah, yeah! What was he thinking? Helping the man would get both of them killed, and he wasn't too keen on dying.
He got back on to his feet and limped as quickly as he could.
"Just got to keep on going."
His first mistake was that he tried to get a look at the man, the second was looking back again, "GOD DAMNIT!"
His heart wouldn't allow it, he felt so stupid listening to it in this moment, but he felt an intense pang of guilt. He just knew that if he didn't do the right thing, even if it was to his own disadvantage, he would feel a weight on his heart that could never be lifted.
He limped back to the man as it slowly transitioned into a walk, "C'mon."
The cuffs did not help at all when he tried to drag the man. He was not in a state to try and drag anyone anywhere, but it was better than doing nothing. He collapsed on his rear as he tried to drag him. The aching had returned with a vengeance. Nonetheless, he powered through and-
"Holy shit." It was an understatement to what the hell he was looking at. A weird copper robot of sorts was staring him down. It's head almost resembling a diver suit helmet..wait no it wasn't staring him down. The helmet had its gaze squarely on the the unconscious man. Out of all things, a sword was held in its hands as it raised it above its head.
Time slowed to a crawl as the robot brought the sword down to the man and by extension himself. The blade inching ever so closer to put an end to the two men who had the misfortune to be in its sights.
Bullets ripped through the giant robot and it promptly fell to its side. A black machine of sorts rushed into view. It looked familiar to Jordan, but he couldn't immediately place where. A Scopedog? No that wasn't-
"Commander!" A woman's voice echoed throughout a speaker, but before they could continue another one of the copper robots had come into the fray and tried to slice open the black robot. The two promptly took the fight away from them.
Jordan shook his head once again, he needed to get out of there now! Giant robots are cool and real right now, but he was going to die!
Instead of dragging the man, Jordan would try to fireman carry him. He didn't have the luxury of waiting, he needed to get a move on! He couldn't run anytime soon, but a slow walk was better than nothing. He struggled just enough to get to an alleyway. It was better than being completely out in the open. Jordan collapsed on to one knee, still holding the man. He at least made the effort to position the man on the wall, even if it was as rough as possible.
As soon as the man was completely off of him he took as many quick and rapid breaths as he could. He could feel his legs screaming in agony. Why did the adrenaline have to wear off so quickly?!
"Take slower and..deeper breaths."
The man spoke to him in English, his eyes fluttering open as he did. When did he gain consciousness? Though, he would probably wake up too if he was being lugged around like a rag doll.
He did as the man instructed and took slower and deeper breaths. It helped ever so slightly. Unlike Jordan's own predicament the man seemed to move a bit more fluidly. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small key. Jordan brought his cuffs over without another word and the man unlocked it for him. A literal weight was off of him as they clunked to the ground and he rubbed his wrists.
"Why did you save me?"
"It just didn't feel right. To leave you there."
Jordan wanted to keep it simple and to the point. Though this had earned a chuckle from the man. His demeanor wasn't as intense as it was in the car either. "Out of anyone who could've saved my skin, it was the man who had all the reason to be hostile that saved me."
Jordan looked at the man in a quizzical manner, "What?"
"I'm not that great in English. Yet, it's much better than your Japanese."
"I'm just out of...knowledge...practice!"
The older man chuckled before violently coughing up a storm. The boy watched for a moment before patting a hand on his back in a vain attempt to help him. This gave him some time to think about everything that just occurred. Jordan was in his room, just playing video games like any other normal day, then suddenly he's surrounded on all sides by armed men, and everything about his surroundings was vaguely familiar. Not to mention this old guy...
"Yoneda." He said as it finally clicked in his head.
The man, Yoneda, looked at him. Almost inquiring him to continue speaking.
The boy shook his head as he realized he just said his name out-loud. His eyes darted towards a small patch on his breast pocket, "That's what it says on your...name tag. Right?" He forgot what the word was in Japanese for a moment and just said it in English.
Yoneda didn't respond right away and just glared at him for a moment. Then he extended his hand outward, "Get me up."
Jordan complied as he lifted the man back on his feet. He did some stretches to make sure all his faculties were in order.
"You up for going back the way we came? There's something I need to grab from the car."
"Seriously?"
"It's real important. Can't let anybody else get their hands on it."
Jordan cupped a hand to his ear, he could still hear the very distinct sound of fighting.
"You're kind of still in my custody. I mean you can run off if you want to. But I doubt you'll get very far. Especially if what you said before is true."
"Shit." Was his simple response.
The two had retraced their way back to the car. As soon as they rounded the corner the older man shot his arm out and pressed his own body against the wall. The boy took a peek around himself.
"Three of them." He simply stated as the hostile mechs from before were simply standing around the area.
Yoneda hummed in agreement before he took a larger assessment, "All surrounding the downed car."
Jordan of course also darted his eyes towards the flipped car, "You think they would be interested in the Ko- Mech" He caught himself before he could fully 'Kobu' he definitely knows for a fact that he is not supposed to know that.
Yoneda gave him a quick side glance before saying, "I can't ascertain what their goals are, but we might have to wait for them to be taken care of."
"What if they destroy the car?"
"That's fine. We just need the thing inside the car to not be in anyone else's hands."
Jordan had a feeling that if he asked he wouldn't get an answer at all. He looked at the scene once again, the enemy were slowly patrolling around...now that he got a good look once he wasn't in a panic there were quite a few things that he missed. There were smashed carts all around, some debris from buildings scattered all around, some cardboard boxes too. Honestly the car being in a better condition than everything else around made it stand out a lot more.
"Think we can sneak up to the car and grab the thingy." He said out-loud before he could think it through.
Yoneda's eyes widened as he looked at the boy like he was crazy, "What? No. I can't do that and I don't think you have the capabilities to do that yourself. Just wait it out."
The boy looked at the older man, "I want your trust."
"You already have it. Going on a suicide mission will not help at all. I don't want you to die doing something for me."
The boy shook his head, what the hell was he thinking?! He wasn't Solid fucking Snake.
"What made you think we can even get close?"
"Cardboard boxes" Was his simple, yet strange reply in English.
Yoneda looked a bit flabbergasted at him, "What? How? What's you're logic?"
"Could put it over your body," He motioned as if he was putting one over himself, "Go along the wall over there," He pointed towards the wall, "Then...just go towards the car."
Once he said it out-loud it sounded stupid as expected.
"That plan won't work..." Yoneda sighed, "Look whatever is in that car is not worth risking your life for. So just drop it."
"Okay."
Yoneda sighed as he weighed his options and the best one seemed to be the one that didn't involve the boy just trying to get himself killed for no reason.
"Follow me, we're getting out of here. Someone else can pick it up later."
"Alright."
The two carefully, yet quickly made their way out of the battle zone.
….
Jordan was sitting across from Yoneda...a bit flabbergasted at what he was seeing. Sure he knew of his habits because of the games, but seeing it happen right before him was more surreal to see. Out of his military uniform and in a more business like suit, the older man was downing Sake like it was no tomorrow.
He had a goofy smile on his face as he said, "Want a sip?"
However, he was honestly a bit peeved at what he learned a bit earlier, "I almost volunteered...to fetch you a bottle of ….alcohol..."
.