Chapter Text
ACT ONE
It almost seemed like the whole city went quiet to stare at the sight. Red Five Plus descended from the sky, backed by the sun, its form and hateful eyes silhouetted by light. After a second that seemed to stretch out forever, the machine shot forward in a blur of motion and slashed its sword straight through a building. An explosion echoed through the streets, and the city resumed its life, as panic and screaming began to resound from all over.
Smoke and noise and terror choked the air. The machine flew above it all and perched itself on a building. Four other figures descended, backed by the same stark sunlight, and perched alongside it. Its siblings. Gold Four, Rose Three, Purple Two, and Blue One.
They waited. Perfectly still, they waited. And for four minutes and fifteen seconds, they didn’t move while the city was evacuated below. And then the first military plane flew into city borders, and was blown out of the sky by Gold Four. If there was any illusion of calm, it was completely shattered as the five machines sprang to life. Military planes were cut in half by Red Five Plus and Blue One, while Gold Four and Purple Two opened fire and shot down several more. Rose Three meanwhile blitzed through the city, crashing into planes and buildings alike. In one minute and thirty-seven seconds, the battalion had been wiped out to the last man.
And then the five machines flew off into the sky, vanishing from sight.
~~~~
Ange practically kicked the door down. The three sets of eyes in the room turned to them.
“Ah, you’re here,” Rin Suzukaze said from her desk, the office as poorly lit as ever, her eyes pensive. “Welcome back Ange.”
“Fucking save it. What the fuck is happening?!”
“Ange, please, calm down—” Teoria began, taking a step towards them.
“Calm down?! Are you fucking kidding me?! How the hell can you be calm right now?!”
“Trust me Ange,” Chandra said, putting his hand on their shoulder. “We’re not.”
Ange finally saw past their own anger, and looked into Chandra and Teoria’s eyes.
Concern, confusion, hurt, fury— it might as well have been a mirror Ange was looking at.
“...Sorry,” Ange said, their demeanor shifting. “I suppose I should watch my tone better now that I’m only a civilian. You’re a Captain in rank now, correct?”
“I am,” Suzukaze replied, “but I’m not one to get caught up in that. Especially not with old allies. I might be the head of the MJP now, but that doesn’t mean I’ve changed that much.”
“Even still…” Ange said, before saluting her. “I believe a ‘Sir’ is in order.”
“Heh. At ease, Ange.”
Ange dropped the salute, and got a proper look at Chandra and Teoria. The six years since the end of the war had clearly been kind to Chandra, he was well kept and his guest pass looked right on his simple suit.
Teoria hadn’t changed at all, but that didn’t really surprise them.
“You two seem well,” they said.
“As well as you can be, considering,” Chandra replied with a sad smile. “We got here just a bit before you did.”
“Indeed, I am thrilled to see you again, Ange,” Teoria said. “I simply wish it had been under different circumstances.”
“Yeah. Then let’s save the catching up for later,” Ange said. “And though I’m going to be more polite about it, I’m going to ask again: what happened?”
“...Ange, I was truly hoping you could tell me,” Suzukaze finally replied, putting a lollipop in her mouth. “When was the last time you spoke with your former teammates?”
“Hold on, you seriously think this was them?” Ange asked.
“Yes,” Suzukaze replied, her eyes growing cold. “That’s why I got in contact with you three— when you left the service, you’re the ones who stayed in contact with them the most.”
“Wait, have you been monitoring us?” Chandra asked.
“Yes, obviously,” she replied dismissively. “So once again, when was the last time you spoke with them?”
“Are you kidding?” Ange said incredulously. “You served alongside them— all of you! How can any one of you possibly consider that they did this?!”
“The Juria System, Ange,” Teoria said, quietly answering them off. “It had to be them. The AHSMBs would only ever respond to them.”
“Oh, fuck off with that!” Ange yelled, their demeanor shifting yet again. “There had to have been a way to subvert the system. There had to. How can you doubt them more than a goddamn computer program?!”
“Ange, you know it’s more than that!” Teoria snapped back, raising her voice for what seemed to be the first time ever as far as Ange could tell. “If there was any other possibility, don’t you think that’s what I’d be considering right now?!”
“...Where were the five AHSMBs stored?” Chandra asked, turning to Suzukaze. “What were you even doing with them?”
“I was going to get there,” she replied, taking the lollipop out of her mouth. “But I was hoping you were getting it out of your systems first.”
“It’ll be out of my system when everyone knows my friends are innocent!” Ange yelled back. “So answer the goddamn—!”
Suzukaze cut them off by slamming her fist on the desk.
For a moment, they all stood in silence.
“Before any of you say anything else, I want all three of you to see this.”
She typed for a few moments, and the screen behind her came to life, showing a hangar. The five AHSMBs were there, with a few members of each mechanic team doing some basic check ups on the machines.
“This is security footage taken five days before the attack. Highly classified.”
She leaned forward, the motion hiding her eyes in shadow.
“...Brace yourselves.”
The footage showed the mechanics working away, all the while chatting amongst themselves, before a wave of excitement passed through them as they saw someone enter the hanger. The footage changed angles and zoomed in on the new arrivals.
Izuru Hitachi, Toshikazu Asagi, Kei Kugimiya, Tamaki Irie, and Ataru Suruga. Unmistakably and undeniably. They were dressed in casual clothing, and had guest passes.
“What the hell…?” Ange asked no one in particular, their eyes wide.
The two groups on screen approached each other, all of them looking happy and excited. They cheerfully spoke, and approached the AHSMBs. The mechanics pointed at the machines, clearly pointing out all the various additions made to each of them since the last time they’d been in the cockpit. The former Team Rabbits listened, some of them more intently than they ever had. One by one, the mechanics finished showing off the machines, and when the last group finished, those showing Suruga Gold Four, he gave the rest of his team a signal with his hand.
After a few more moments of cheerful conversation, the Rabbits drew pistols on the mechanics. Ange felt their heart stop in their chest. The mechanics all froze. The Rabbits’ faces were ice cold. Each spoke and gestured, but the mechanics didn’t move. Izuru fired a single shot by the foot of one of his mechanics, making them all jump. They gestured with the pistols again, prompting one mechanic from each group to join them on the lift up to the cockpits. The camera angle changed again, showing each mechanic hesitantly unlocking the pylons holding the AHSMBs in place. Each pilot then swiftly shot their respective mechanic in the leg before boarding their AHSMBs. Blue One was the first to move, slashing an opening into the hangar doors as the others gathered the massive cases of stored extra equipment, before they all left through the opening.
The footage stopped, and Ange was left completely speechless. Chandra likewise was staring slack jawed at the screen. Teoria held back tears as what she already knew was confirmed in the worst possible way.
After a long silence, Ange incoherently yelled and punched the wall.
“WHAT THE FUCK?!”
“I… I don’t understand…” Chandra said. “Those five… they’re good kids… this makes no sense…”
“Izuru…” Teoria said to herself. “What has become of you…?”
“Do you all want a minute?” Suzukaze asked, perhaps more coldly than she intended.
In an instant, Ange had crossed the room and grabbed her by the collar.
“Do we want a minute?! This isn’t a fucking little league game!” they yelled in her face.
Two armed guards burst into the room, startling Chandra and Teoria but leaving Ange and Suzukaze completely unphased.
“BACK AWAY FROM THE COMMANDER!” the first one yelled.
But Suzukaze raised her hand, and the two guards stood down. She locked eyes with Ange.
“Ange Kuroki. Do you really think this isn’t affecting me either?”
Ange stared into her eyes. And finally saw the same look that had been in Chandra’s, and Teoria’s, and their own. And beyond that, a deep well of sadness.
They let go of her collar.
“...I’m sorry,” they finally said. They glanced over to the guards. “With how quickly they got here, I’m guessing I’m under suspicion?”
“Unfortunately so,” Suzukaze replied, offering Ange a lollipop, which they took. “As the only former member of Team Rabbits we can actually locate, we had no choice but to watch your carefully.”
“Yeah, alright,” they replied. “I can accept that. But if you want an alibi for where I was that day—”
“Your job,” Suzukaze replied. “We already checked. I wouldn’t have even been able to let you onto the base until we had. Frankly, there’s no evidence that you’re tied to this at all, but even still, I am not the only one the MJP answers to. So we need to be as cautious as possible.”
“Are we also getting the same watchful eye?” Chandra asked, side-eyeing the guards.
“Not as closely, but as known associates, yes. My apologies for that.”
“Daneel thought we were being followed…” Teoria mused. “I had merely thought him paranoid. I suppose I should trust his instincts by now.”
“Yeah. Anyway, I’ll ask again,” Suzukaze said. “When’s the last time any of you spoke to them?”
“It’s been about a year for me I think,” Chandra said. “I dropped by Kei’s bakery for me and Anita’s anniversary. While I was there, we talked and Anita and I ended up having dinner with her and Suruga since he was in the area.”
“And everything seemed normal?” Suzukaze asked.
“As far as I could tell,” he replied. “It was a year ago, so it’s not like I remember it all too well. But they both seemed to be getting on just fine. And it didn’t seem like there was any… growing hatred of that city in particular, if that’s what you’re fishing for.”
“Yes, my last experience was similar,” Teoria said. “It was… about six months ago? Yes, six months I believe. I had called Izuru, and we ended up meeting for lunch. He seemed well. He was very busy with his work, but he was happy. We spoke… and he was normal.”
“I see,” Suzukaze said. “What about you, Ange?”
“I guess this means I spoke with them the most recently,” Ange said, thinking back. “It was four months ago— on the third.”
“That’s… oddly specific,” Chandra said.
“Well, every year we get together on that day— the six of us.”
“A Rabbits reunion, huh?” Chandra asked.
“Yeah. I couldn’t make it this year— I was in the hospital with some kind of bug, and frankly, I was pretty out of it. But I still called them. Actually, I think my phone records all my calls…”
They pulled out their phone and unlocked it, before handing it to Suzukaze who cast it to the screen behind her. She handed it back to Ange, who scrolled through their recorded calls— about a dozen of which were calls to their teammates that didn’t go through from very recently— before finding the call from that day.
“...I don’t remember it being a video call…” Ange said to themselves, before playing back the recording.
On screen, it showed both sides of the video— one was Asagi holding his phone in his apartment, and the other was Ange lying in a hospital gown.
“Heeeeeeey guys,” the recorded Ange said, voice distant and clearly delirious.
“Oh,” the present Ange said, realizing why they didn’t remember it being a video call.
“Ange! Are you alright?!” Asagi asked. His panic caused all the other Rabbits to practically leap into frame and start crowding him much to his chagrin, all of them asking if Ange was okay as well.
“Heh heh… I’m fiiiiiiiine,” Ange said, smiling. “I got a… what wazzit again doc?”
“A severe flu in your stomach and lungs,” a doctor said from offscreen. “Your friend will be okay, but they’re currently hopped up on a lot of pain medication,” he added, directed at the Rabbits.
“Thanks doctor,” Kei said. “Looks like you won’t be making it then, Ange.”
“Yep,” Ange replied. “You know, you’d thiiiiiiiiink that being genetically engineered for space and war and shit would make you better at not getting sick, but noooooooooooo…”
“That’s rough buddy,” Suruga said. “Anyway, just how much medication are you on right now, man?”
“I dunno… a lot?” Ange said before bursting out into a fit of giggles.
“Yeah I figured that somehow,” Tamaki deadpanned.
“Well, we hope you get better soon, Ange,” Izuru said. “It really sucks that you can’t make it, so call us when you’re out of there— you might not be able to get all of us at once, but I’d be happy to see you.”
Everyone nodded and agreed.
“Aww… you guuuuuys…” Ange said, tears starting to form.
“Oh my god they’re crying,” Suruga muttered. “We did it team, tradition upheld.”
“In any case, we’ll talk to you later, alright?” Asagi said.
“You got it man!”
Asagi smiled, and the call ended.
Everyone viewing the call looked back to Ange, who was currently desperately avoiding eye contact and blushing profusely.
“If it’s alright, I’d prefer that what we just saw never leave this room,” they said.
“You have my word,” Chandra said with a chuckle.
“Human medicine is fascinating,” Teoria mused.
Suzukaze simply offered Ange another lollipop, while trying to hide her smile. Ange swiped it with exasperation.
“In any case… that’s the last time I saw them,” Ange said finally. “If… one can qualify that as ‘seeing them’.”
“Still, they seemed… fine,” Chandra said. “So what the hell?”
“They all have jobs, yes?” Teoria said. “What about the places they work? Surely they were the last ones to see them individually?”
“I’m having some people look into that as we speak,” Suzukaze said. “In the meantime, I invite you all to stay on the base tonight. With what has happened, I want to make sure the three of you remain in a safe location.”
“And to make it easier to keep an eye on us, right?” Ange asked.
“Obviously.”
“And we can’t refuse.”
“Obviously.”
Ange sighed.
“Can you at least send someone to feed my cat?”
“I’d also like to call my wife,” Chandra added.
“And I should most definitely contact Daneel,” Teoria said, “lest he have the Wulgaru equivalent of a heart attack.”
“Make your calls, and I’ll send out a cat sitter.”
“Thank you,” Ange said.
“You seem to be taking all this well,” Suzukaze said.
“Oh trust me, if it were anyone but you, I’d be already out the gate,” Ange said. “But I trust you. I know you’re trying to do right by me and my friends. And I know that you’ll be hunting the truth.”
Suzukaze nodded.
“I give you my word.”
“Good enough for me,” Chandra said. “I was really hoping to never have to step foot in another military base, but I can manage this much.”
“Indeed, perhaps we’ll take this chance to catch up,” Teoria said.
“Show them to their quarters,” Suzukaze said to the two guards, still in the room.
“Ma’am.”
~~~~
They were gathered in Teoria’s room, a spacious, luxurious suite.
“It seems,” she said, pouring tea for all of them before sitting down, “that they have given me diplomatic quarters.”
“You are technically foreign royalty,” Chandra pointed out as he took a sip.
“Ah, that is true I suppose!” she said, before taking a sip herself, and looking down into her tea.
She went quiet, and the room followed.
“...I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to bring up your home—” Chandra said, realizing his misstep.
“No, it’s alright,” Teoria said, cutting him off. “It is quite alright.”
“...But you do miss it, don’t you?” Ange said, staring at their own tea. “Your home.”
Teoria sat still for a moment.
“Yes. I do. I didn’t think I would, there was so much wrong with my home, and practically everyone I knew hated me or was scheming to kill me, but… I miss the sky. I miss the waters. I miss the people, even still. I miss the warmth of the air, and the chill of the rivers, and—”
She caught herself.
“Apologies! I seem to have started rambling,” she said, wiping her eyes. “And this must be an awfully cruel ramble for the two of you.”
“Cruel? Why?” Chandra asked.
“...Because we don’t have childhood memories?” Ange asked.
“I… yes. And I don’t want to seem like I’m rubbing it in or anything—”
“Teoria, you’re fine,” Chandra said. “I’ve got a life now that I am a pretty big fan of. I don’t dwell on the past like that.”
“Yeah,” Ange said. “You’re alright. And among friends, I’ll add.”
“Thank you.”
“I’m curious though,” Ange said. “What have you been doing on earth? We haven’t really had many chances to talk…”
“Yes, it’s been quite unfortunate. I myself have been keeping busy by trying to use my knowledge of Wulgaru science to advance humanity with Daneel’s help. We’re focusing on medical fields at the moment, though we’ve also dabbled in transportation and food production.”
Ange and Chandra both stared at her.
“...What?”
“Sorry, it’s just that anything we could possibly say after that will seem way less impressive,” Chandra. “I’ve just been working as a humble salaryman, putting food on the table for me and Anita. Which… isn’t saving the world one alien invention at a time.”
“I wouldn’t go that far—”
“Teoria, how else could it be described? That’s incredible. What you’re doing is incredible,” Ange said.
“It… it is nothing…” Teoria said, clearly blushing.
“‘Nothing’. Sure,” Ange said with a smile. “Anyway, I’m a librarian these days. It’s not much, but it’s simple and it’s quiet. And that’s all I wanted after I left the service.”
“I certainly understand that,” Chandra said.
“Indeed,” Teoria said. “But you must tell me about this. We didn’t have libraries at home.”
“Really? Uh, alright…”
And the three chatted into the late hours of the morning.
~~~~
Teoria was the last to join the others in Suzukaze’s office.
“Apologies for being late,” she said. “It would seem I am not as adapted to a military’s schedule as everyone else here.”
“Makes sense,” Chandra said. “Best skill I got from the MJP was being an early riser.”
“Agreed,” Ange said. “Anyway, now that I’ve had time to think about it, I’ve got a few more questions about all this.”
“And I’ll answer them to the best of my ability, but first there are some updates I’d like to give you, in hopes of ringing any kind of bells.”
“Alright, what do you have?” Chandra asked.
“First and foremost, their jobs,” she said. The screen flashed to life behind her. “We’ll start with Izuru. This is an e-mail he sent to his publishers, requesting his story go on hiatus for several months as he worked through a family emergency.”
“How the hell did that guy become a mangaka…?” Chandra muttered.
“He’s famous, meets his deadlines, and is nice to everyone,” Ange replied just as quietly. “And he’s had a lot of practice, so he’s… almost decent now.”
Suzukaze cleared her throat, bringing the two back.
“This email was sent on March Seventh.”
“Four days after the reunion…” Ange said.
“Asagi’s is similar,” she said, pulling up another email. “He sent this on March fifth to the parents of his students that kendo lessons would be on hold for a while. He apologized for the extremely short notice. Same explanation: family emergency.”
“It’s the one thing no one would question,” Chandra said. “It’s a useful little excuse like that.”
“I’ll have to remember that,” Teoria said to herself.
“And here’s the e-mail Suruga sent to his boss at IPS-N. Again, family emergency, and he would be unable to work for several months. A few apologies, and it seems his boss was understanding. He must’ve built up a lot of goodwill there.”
“That… genuinely surprises me,” Chandra said. “I would’ve thought that he would be a walking HR complaint.”
“He’s been getting better,” Ange said. “And besides, they must love him there, engineering comes second nature to him. Especially for weapons like what IPS-N makes. When did he send this though?”
“Also March Seventh,” Suzukaze replied. “As for Kei, that’s harder to put a date on.”
The screen now showed a sign hanging from her bakery’s window.
‘Closed For The Spring And Summer’
‘Family Emergency’
‘Thank You For Understanding’
“We know that this was put up in her shop sometime in early March."
“Works as well as an e-mail,” Chandra said.
“Wait, weren’t Kei’s cakes…?” Teoria fished around for a polite word.
“Inedible?” Ange provided.
“Yes, that.”
“Well, practice makes perfect,” Ange said. “And we made sure she had a lot before she even got close to opening this. Which meant… eating a lot of her cakes.”
“You have my sympathies,” Suzukaze said. “Moving on…”
“Tamaki…” Chandra said. “To be honest, I have a hard time picturing her working a nine to five.”
“Yeah, that’s why she became an influencer,” Ange said.
Instantly Chandra understood perfectly and Teoria looked very confused.
“An… influencer? I’m… not sure I know what that is.”
“She makes videos and content for the internet, basically,” Ange said. “Hers focused on skits, fashion, and food.”
“Yeah, that… sounds about perfect for her,” Chandra said. “Has she given up on her quest for the perfect man?”
“Are you kidding?”
“Yeah, heard it the moment I said it.”
“Well, that all sounds rather fun and irreverent,” Teoria said.
“Not entirely,” Suzukaze said. “She also did a lot to encourage body positivity, and support/charity networking for people suffering from PTSD or who had been displaced by the war. That, plus her already sizable audience from being a war hero, made her pretty damn popular.”
“Wow,” Chandra said. “Go Tamaki.”
“Yes. Which is why her audience was very understanding when she posted this video on March twenty-seventh.”
A video played on the screen. It showed Tamaki Irie, in a dimly lit space, clearly holding back tears.
“Hey, Tamaki Nation,” she said. “It’s Tamaki. I’m, um…”
She trailed off and looked to the side. She took a few deep breaths.
“I’m just letting everyone know that I’m not gonna be posting for a while. There’s… there’s been—”
Ange, Teoria, and Chandra all said “a family emergency” at the same time she did.
“I just wanted you all to know that I’m okay… but this is gonna take all of me. I don’t know the next time I’ll post, but I promise it’ll be something special. Until then… Tamaki Irie, signing off.”
The video ended.
“Well… that’s… something,” Chandra said.
“Definitely something,” Suzukaze said. “And I’d love to know what.”
“So aside from Tamaki’s video, I was the last person to see them…” Ange said. “Well, I can say one thing for certain. All of that— those emails, that sign, that video, that was all bullshit.”
“The fact that they were suspiciously similar leads me to agree,” Teoria said.
“More than that,” Ange said. “A ‘family emergency’. What fucking family? The six of us, we were all we had— maybe if there was a problem with you Teoria, but that’d only apply to Izuru, and you’re clearly fine. And a problem with Commander Simon would only apply to him and Asagi.”
“And I assure you, I am alive and kicking.”
They all spun around to see Simon Gato walk into the room. Ange and Chandra reflexively snapped into a salute.
“At ease. You’re not military anymore and neither am I.”
He gestured to the guest pass on his jacket.
“All the same, Admiral,” Suzukaze said, “you are owed some respect.”
“Admiral? Congratulations, sir,” Ange said.
“Promoting me was the only way they could get rid of me,” he replied casually. “And now I’m retired.”
“You’d never know it with how much time you spend on base,” Suzukaze said, almost inaudibly.
“Something to add, Captain?”
“Not at all, sir.”
“Well…” Chandra mused. “The more things change I suppose.”
“Now then sir,” Suzukaze said, “did you have something for me?”
“Yes. Black Six and Teoria’s unit have arrived, and what little remains of White Zero is en route.”
Everyone but Suzukaze was very surprised at that.
“Good.” She looked over to the others and saw their confusion. “After the frankly embarrassingly easy theft of those AHSMBs, we’re having all other AHSMBs and unique units moved here, even if most of them are inoperable. It’s far more secure.”
“About that,” Ange said. “That was something I wanted to ask— what were you even doing with the AHSMBs?”
“To be honest, not much,” Suzukaze replied, grabbing a lollipop. “Once your team left, we didn’t have any use for them. We were keeping them at that base more or less for archival purposes. We weren’t going to scrap them, especially not after having to rebuild Blue One from scratch basically, so we kept them there, studied them, and maintained them. The only ‘upgrade’ they’ve received in years was being fitted with Black Six’s automatic repair functions to make all that simpler.”
“And on a day where there were people there to check on them… this happens,” Chandra said. “That’s not a great look.”
“No, it isn’t,” Suzukaze replied bitterly. “They were under low security because only five people could use them. I suppose we didn’t count on those five people actually doing it.”
“Of course not,” Teoria said sadly. “Who could’ve predicted this…?”
A pained silence hung in the air.
“...Did you have any other questions, Ange?” Suzukaze finally said, breaking it.
“Yeah,” Ange said, snapping back to reality. “I take it that every time the AHSMBs fled, they were being tracked?”
“Yes,” she replied. “And we always lost them in the upper atmosphere. When they leave visual range, after about thirty seconds they disappear from radar, both after the initial theft, and the attack.”
“That raises more questions than answers,” Chandra said.
“Now I have a question,” Teoria said. “What is the MJP’s plan, should the AHSMBs strike again?”
Suzukaze and Simon’s faces both became a touch more grave.
“...No…!” Teoria said with realization.
“There was nothing I could do to overrule it,” Suzukaze said. “The government was very clear— the Rabbits are to be killed on sight.”
“Are you being serious?” Ange said. “ARE YOU BEING FUCKING SERIOUS?!”
“I don’t like it any more than you do,” she replied.
“Oh somehow I doubt that shit!” they shot back. “These are the only people in the world I would call family, and NOW THEY’RE MARKED FOR DEATH!”
“HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE ARE DEAD, ANGE!” Suzukaze yelled back. “Maybe thousands! Of course they’re marked for death!”
“Don’t you dare say ‘of course’! Nothing about this is any kind of normal! So why the fuck—!”
“Ange.”
Simon’s voice brought the room to dead silence in one cold word.
“These are my two sons and three of their closest friends we’re talking about. We. Do not. Want this.”
Ange’s face faltered.
“...Isn’t there something we can do?” they finally settled on, as tears dropped down their face.
“I’ve been asking myself that again and again,” Suzukaze said, turning around in her chair. “I don’t know if it will change anything… but I want to find out why. Why the hell did this happen? Why did those five turn into goddamn mass murderers?!”
She turned back and slammed her fist down on her desk.
“That’s the only question that matters to me right now!”
“...But you never did really answer Teoria’s question,” Chandra said quietly. “What’s the plan should they attack again? ‘Kill them’ is a start, but how? Last I checked, those five were the best in the whole damn MJP.”
“They were,” Suzukaze said, “but they haven’t touched their AHSMBs in over five years. And we have on our side people who have still been keeping sharp that whole time. So the primary fire team to take them on will be Team Fawn.”
“Those guys?” Ange said. “I suppose that makes sense. They weren’t half bad, considering.”
“Considering what?” Teoria asked.
“Considering how hard they got thrashed,” Ange replied casually. “But they’ve had a long time to get better. Unfortunately… they just might be up to the task.”
“Is it possible to see them?” Chandra asked. “If nothing else, I’d like to talk to Patricia again. See another friendly face.”
“I’ll send her your way after training today,” Suzukaze replied.
“Thanks.”
Just then, a soldier entered the room.
“Commander, there’s been a data breach!”
“What?!” Suzukaze said, standing up.
The soldier was about to speak, but caught himself and looked around at all the technically-still-civilians in the room.
“It’s fine. I trust them.”
“...Yes ma’am. The security footage from the hangar when the AHSMBs were stolen has been leaked. The public at large now knows the identities of the culprits.”
“Oh hell…” Suzukaze said, already nursing a headache. “Do we have any idea how this information became public?”
“No Ma’am.”
“Then what are you doing still standing here?!”
“Ma’am!”
He saluted and left the room, leaving Suzukaze to think.
“...Ma’am,” Simon said, “if I were in your position, I wouldn’t be so quick to trust civilians. Myself included. I would confine us to quarters until you have confirmation that none of us are the source of the leak.”
“And what good would confirming what I already know do me?” Suzukaze said.
“But you don’t know,” Teoria said. “I thought I knew Izuru, and all the others, but… something has changed, clearly.”
“...I can acknowledge it would be the right decision,” Chandra said, “but I can’t accept being forced to do nothing if I can do something!”
“I’m with him,” Ange said. “This leak might not even have been internal for all we know! If… if we accept that it is them, I wouldn’t put it past Kei to be able to get past whatever firewalls we have with Purple Two.”
“But it’s just as likely to be internal,” Simon replied. “And what would you even be able to do? Your personal accounts have turned up little, and our presence will merely lead to the Captain’s objectivity being put into question.”
No one had an answer to that. Suzukaze sighed.
“Once again Admiral… you’re right.” She pressed a button on her desk, and two guards entered the room. “Until we confirm the source of the leak, I’m confining the four of you to quarters, where you’ll be under watch and guard. I’ll allow you access to the internet, but anything you send out will be so heavily scrutinized that I wouldn’t bother. It’s mostly so you don’t lose your minds.”
“I mean… you could’ve given us books,” Chandra said.
“Chandra, why are you trying to get our internet privileges revoked?” Ange asked, completely baffled.
“I’m not, I’m just saying that the internet isn’t the only source of entertainment we could use, you know?”
“But it is the most practical,” Teoria chimed in. “It is unlikely that a military base would have books ready for prisoners or guests at any given moment.”
“Actually, I did for such occasions,” Simon said. “You didn’t get rid of them, did you?”
“Of course I got rid of them. Is that why the storeroom was stocked with books?!”
“Of course it was. What do you mean, ‘got rid of them’?”
“They were donated through Tamaki’s network of charities for displaced colonists.”
“...Alright, that’s acceptable.”
Ange, Teoria, and Chandra shared a much needed chuckle.
“Anyway,” Suzukaze said with a sigh, “guards?”
The men saluted, and escorted four of them to their rooms.
~~~~
Ange lay in bed, listlessly scrolling through a news feed, looking over the world's reactions to it all.
Every comment made their stomach sink a little further, but they couldn’t bring themselves to stop.
more like majestic murderers
I didn’t think rabbits were the kind of animal that needed to be put down, but here we are
how long until you guys make memes out of the biggest tragedy in recent memory lol
→already started my mam
→→man*
Damn and I thought Tamaki was kinda cute
→ bruh she was 14
→→That’s why I said cute, not hot. Cute as in adorable, not sexually attractive. Perhaps you should step up your reading comprehension
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i always said the mjp was shady as fuck and i hate that this is how we found out i was right
→in hindsight, the child super soldier thing was a red flag
→→only in hindsight?
→→→at the time, the alien invasion was the bigger issue
→→→→touche
That was another recurring trend they noticed. A lot of scrutiny was being sent the way of the MJP itself. Reports were being dug back up of how their soldiers were engineered for a war, given lives for a few years, and then had those lives wiped away before they were inducted into said war.
When it was laid out like that, Ange couldn’t exactly blame the public. The thought had occurred to them a few times as well.
Their phone pinged. Chandra was starting a video call, which they accepted.
“Hey,” he said, “you got time to talk?”
“Like I’ve got anything else to do,” Ange replied. “Just so long as you remember that some random asshole is gonna be listening in to make sure we’re not spreading military secrets.”
“They were probably going to be doing that no matter where we stayed tonight,” Chandra said.
“...True,” Ange admitted. “Anyway, what’s up?”
“Have you been seeing what people have been saying?”
“Yeah. Can’t say I’m enjoying it.”
“No kidding.”
“I… I just don’t understand,” Ange admitted. “I don’t understand what happened to them, Chandra. They’re not killers. They’re not! None of us left the MJP on bad terms either… what the fuck is going on with them?!”
Chandra sighed.
“I… I don’t know. I’m just as confused here.” He paused. “Hey, why did you leave? I was always under the impression that you wanted to stay as career military. Same for Asagi and Suruga, too.”
“Ah, well…” Ange said, getting quieter. “As you probably know, piloting an AHSMB can be… hazardous for your health. Hazardous for your head.”
“...So it was PTSD,” Chandra said.
“A little bit, yeah. There were definitely some nightmares and flashbacks that eventually started coming… but more than that— remember how AHSMBs can start imposing their personalities on you?”
“Yeah?”
“And remember how I have a…” Ange struggled for a way to describe it. “A thing going on with my brain?”
“What do you— oh.”
“Yep. My most persistent gift from my AHSMB. Dissociative Identity Disorder, or something fairly close to it. The two of us had been co-fronting for most of our military career anyway. And well, once there was an official diagnosis there, my options remaining in the military became very limited.”
“Yeah, that makes sense. So they gave you an honorable discharge?”
“Yeah. And I wanted one, to be honest. By that point, I hoped that stepping away from it all would give me some peace, some distance from the nightmares.”
“...Did it?” Chandra asked apprehensively.
“...Eventually. Anyway, what about you? I know you were always planning to leave to be with Anita. How soon did you get out?”
“Oh, not too long after the war ended. And more or less through the same path as you. A little early thanks to an honorable discharge.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. I… also had some memories from the war stick around in ways I’d not prefer.”
“I understand…”
“Yeah well, my survivor's guilt wasn’t going to resolve itself, so I left, married her, and tried to get some counseling. And I am doing better, for what it’s worth.”
“I’m glad to hear it. At the very least, you’re doing well enough staying on the base.”
“Yeah, you too. But I think this is about as far as I can go.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m never getting back in one of those damn things again.”
Ange could see a dark look in his eye that they’d never seen on him before.
“I understand that too, and I doubt anyone would ask you too. I think you’ve given enough.”
“...And some people have given more,” he muttered quietly.
Ange couldn’t say anything to that.
“And anyway,” he continued, “I think you’ve given enough too, Ange. And the AHSMB has certainly taken enough.”
“...But I’d still go back in,” Ange said.
“What?”
“I’d go back in. Not on a whim, and not lightly— but if it means I can help this… help them… then I’d get back in Black Six in a heartbeat.”
“...I hope you don’t have to.”
“Me too.”
They both didn’t say anything for a minute, before Ange’s eyes went wide.
“Wait, I know how that sounded, person listening in on us! I didn’t mean help them with the mass murder or the evading justice or whatever! I meant… I don’t know what I meant.”
“...We’re gonna get executed,” Chandra mused sadly.
“You know… when you put it like that, maybe everyone’s mad at the MJP for a reason,” Ange joked, far beyond caring.
Then they shot up.
“Oh my god it’s about the MJP,” they said.
“What?”
“No, think about it— beyond my friends, who is the whole world mad at right now?”
“...The MJP?”
“And whose practices of recruitment have made its way fully into the news?”
“...And what would bring more scrutiny to a system than its stars going rogue and killing thousands with no discernable purpose…” Chandra said with the same dawning realization. “After that same system was embarrassed by the easy theft of five unstoppable weapons, which was leaked to the public!”
“This isn’t about my team, or the city they attacked, or the people they ended up killing— I think the one and only target of this whole thing… was the MJP’s reputation!”
A new person joined the call without their input.
“That’s definitely an interesting theory,” Suzukaze said from her desk, “but that’s all it is right now— a theory. Until we can get more information regarding the Rabbits themselves, we don’t have a way to confirm that.”
“Captain, were you the one monitoring this call?” Chandra asked.
“No, but I was keyed into it after the ‘help them’ thing Ange poorly tried to backpedal.”
“Yeah, that makes sense,” Ange said to themself. “Anyway, can we get Teoria and Captain— sorry, Admiral Simon in this call? I want to compare notes with them over this.”
“It’s your call, literally.”
“Fair enough…”
After a few more moments, the two did join, and Ange spent a moment sharing their theory.
“The MJP was the target…” Teoria said. “I don’t understand. Admiral Simon and Captain Suzukaze are heroes— they saved countless lives during the war.”
“Just because there are good people in a system doesn’t mean everyone’s going to like the system,” Chandra said. “Surely you, of all people, get that?”
“Ah… yes, I suppose I do.”
“Hell, if it weren’t for said good people, I’d want nothing to do with this place anymore,” Ange said. “But I doubt my friends felt the same way enough to commit mass murder. I still think there’s something we’re missing. Another party. Does the MJP have any other enemies? Anyone who has a reason to really, really hate it.”
Everyone thought.
“We haven’t gotten any reports of the Wulgaru returning in any way,” Suzukaze said.
“And Daneel and I were the only ones who had long term access to the energy we use,” Teoria said. “Any leftover forces from the invasion would’ve passed within days of the war’s end.”
“Then we’re looking at human enemies,” Chandra said. “Anyone on the council have the guts to try to pull something this big?”
“No,” Suzukaze said.
“Some things never change,” Simon muttered.
Then his whole demeanor shifted. No one could quite read his face past his mask, but he clearly had a thought and he didn’t like it.
“Captain,” he said, “in the files about persons of interest, there should be one labeled ‘Moriko Sawai’. She has the motive and the skills to pull off something like this.”
Suzukaze nodded, and began typing. Her eyes widened as she clearly read something.
“...Admiral… what did you do…?” she asked in shock and anger.
“What I had to. I’m not proud of it, but you would’ve done the same.”
“Is there any chance we can get context sometime soon?” Ange said.
“During the events of the war, Moriko Sawai was a journalist. A good one. She was investigating the MJP, and she learned just about everything there was to know about us. Even parts that would’ve made our jobs much harder with how much our public relations were struggling as it was. We couldn’t afford to lose the good will the Rabbits had earned us.”
“...You didn’t try to have her killed, did you?!” Chandra asked in a low, shocked tone.
“No. Though I suppose what I did wasn’t much better. I used some pull to have her completely blacklisted. And when that didn’t deter her, I had her imprisoned at a blacksite. She wasn’t released until a week after we were certain the war was over, and her blacklisting wasn’t undone until a month afterwards, though by then, her life was very much destroyed. She’s not the only one, but out of the fourteen people I did this to, she is the only one who didn’t commit suicide during or afterwards.”
Everyone was dead silent.
“Judge my actions all you like. I did what I thought was necessary.”
“...Necessary?” Ange said, with a small laugh. “Necessary?”
“Private Kuroki, I—”
“Oh, just shut the fuck up.” Ange’s face was twisted with anger, but they never raised their voice. “Human life really doesn’t mean dick to you, does it? I mean, wow. I really had forgiven you for the shitshow that the MJP made of my life, but I guess I just forgot that you had a black fucking hole in your chest instead of a heart. Now that it’s well and truly established that we’re all pig shit to you, I can’t help but wonder how many other people you’ve tossed to the side and left to choke. You were all ‘oh, I don’t want my sons to die’ but you’re the one who gave them lives, and then brought them back to the MJP, remember? You built the MJP on cruelty after cruelty, and you hide behind that ‘necessary’ bullshit like the chickenshit coward you are when your actions come crawling back to flay you. And I hope they do, because I would love nothing more than to peel back that skin and see what’s under there, since it obviously isn’t human flesh. Are you a robot? A collection of maggots and rot with a limp? I bet there’s nothing there at all— because strip away your rank and you are just a small man who somehow convinced everyone he’s a hero. You’re not a hero. You don’t deserve to be breathing.”
The silence continued.
“...Agreed on all counts,” Simon finally said before leaving the call.
“...I'll follow up on this lead,” Suzukaze then said before also leaving the call.
Leaving just Ange, Chandra, and Teoria in the call.
“Ange… are you alright?” Teoria asked.
“Never. Better.”
“...I apologize, that was most likely an insensitive question…”
Teoria left the call as well.
“...What are you going to do?” Chandra eventually asked.
“I… I don’t fucking know, man,” Ange said. “I want to scream right now.”
“I’d settle for a chance to break the Admiral’s jaw,” Chandra replied.
“Oh, that’d be so nice. But I’m pretty sure he would accept it, and that takes out all the fun.”
“Yeah…” Chandra sighed. “All this… with the Rabbits, and learning about that journalist, and being locked in here because of the leak… I just want to be with my wife.”
“...I just want my fucking friends back,” Ange finally said. They hung up on Chandra, and stared at the ceiling, before screaming into a pillow.
~~~~
Suzukaze looked through the mass of surveillance footage her men could pull on every hypothetically important date at every hypothetically important location. She had twenty-two pairs of eyes already studying all of it.
But she figured a twenty-third wouldn’t hurt, so she was looking at the closest footage they could get to Asagi’s apartment complex on March third, which was unfortunately a block away. She wasn’t expecting much.
Which is why she was quite surprised when she caught a familiar face at the corner of her eye.
~~~~
Simon looked at the image from the cameras, zoomed in on a person driving the van of an electrical repair company.
“Yes… that’s her.”
She had short hair and glasses. She was, in truth, rather plain looking.
“That’s Moriko Sawai.”
“And that isn’t a coincidence,” Suzukaze said.
“You ran a check on the electrical company, I presume?”
“We would’ve, if it actually existed.”
At that moment, Teoria, Chandra, and Ange were brought into the room by armed escorts.
“...Is that her?” Chandra asked.
“Yes,” Suzukaze replied. “We are looking at the face of Admiral Simon Gato’s greatest failure.”
“Enjoying the memories, sir?” Ange asked bitterly. Simon said nothing.
“But perhaps more important than who… is the where and when,” Suzukaze continued. “That being three blocks from the apartment of Toshikazu Asagi, on March third.”
That got a reaction out of everyone who didn’t already know.
“Then she must be tied into this,” Teoria said. “But… how?”
“I don’t know exactly,” Ange said, “but I’ve never seen this woman in my life. If she crashed our reunion, she did it as an uninvited guest.”
“Captain,” Chandra said, “is it safe to assume that there’s a warrant for her arrest out now? Or is she also a ‘kill on sight’ target?”
“Arrest. We can’t definitively link her to this, despite her… ample motive.”
“Speaking of her ample motive,” Ange said, “is there anything else you can tell us about the woman you ruined to keep up appearances, sir?”
Simon stared at the image of her, before finally speaking.
“She was a polymath, through and through. She was resourceful, and a technical wizard. Good with people, too. That, more than anything, was what made her a good journalist. She didn’t deserve what I did to her, and if she is the one who instigated this, then everything that made her a good journalist has potentially made her the most dangerous woman alive.”
“...And you’re saying that with these two in the room?” Chandra asked, gesturing to Teoria and Suzukaze.
“Yeah, he is,” Suzukaze said, taking the joke completely seriously. “Whatever I can do, I do with oversight. Teoria is limited by what Wulgaru technology can be incorporated into earth technology.”
“Yes,” Simon said. “If she instigated this… there isn’t a shred of moral restraint left in her. Nothing is holding her back, and she’ll never stop.”
“And who’s fault is that?” Ange said.
“I’ve never denied that what I did was an evil act. But we couldn’t—”
“The truly remorseful don’t try to justify themselves at every turn,” Chandra said, cutting him off and leaving him without an answer.
“Wait, you said she was a ‘technical wizard’?” Teoria said.
“He did,” Suzukaze said, “which is our current theory as to how that data leaked. Hacking definitely falls into that skill set. Hence why we’re allowing you to leave your quarters.”
“But we’re not completely in the clear,” Chandra said, glancing at the armed guard at his back.
“Yes. Like I said, it’s a theory, and if it’s proven wrong, then—”
“Back to our quarters, yeah yeah,” Ange said. “Tell us something we don’t—”
“Captain!” a voice yelled from her computer. “They’ve appeared!”
“What?! Put it on screen!”
And on Suzukaze’s screen was camera footage, showing the five AHSMBs gently touching down outside a city.
“Where are they?!”
“Ten miles from here, Ma’am!”
“WHAT?!”
A dread filled silence fell.
“...It’s a challenge,” Simon finally said. “They’re this close but not attacking, so they must be waiting for our response.”
“They’ve thrown down the gauntlet…” Chandra said.
“And we don’t have much choice but to answer,” Suzukaze said, standing up and preparing to go to the base’s command station. She opened the intercom. “Team Fawn, prepare to launch!”
“Captain, we shouldn't be here,” Simon said. “You can’t risk any blow to your credibility now. Return us to our quarters.”
“No. You deserve to see this.”
She walked away, moving with purpose and an armed escort.
“I know,” Simon said to himself. “But I don’t think I want to.”
~~~~
It only took a few minutes for Team Fawn to get out on the field. And the moment they did, the fight broke out in force.
Rose Three and Magenta Ten clashed first, blitzing past each other before they both rocketed into the sky. Blue One and Orange Seven followed right behind, clashing blade to blade while Red Five Plus and the Rhinos Plus exchanged bursts of gunfire and clashes of blades alike. Gold Four kept all of Team Fawn on their toes with precise shots, while Silver Eight did the same with a barrage of munitions. All the while Purple Two and Green Nine hung back, clearly keeping both their teams apprised of the battlefield and in sync.
“This… this is insane,” Chandra said as he watched it all play out, breathing heavily, the situation finally truly hitting him. “This is absolutely… insane…”
No one in the room, Chandra, Ange, Teoria, or Simon, wanted to see what they were looking at, but no one could look away. The battle on the screen was fast and mesmerizing.
“They’re perfectly matched,” Teoria said. “At this rate…”
“No,” Simon replied bluntly. “They aren’t. The Rabbits are holding back right now. This will go one of two ways. If this continues as it is… the Rabbits will die.”
Those words felt like a hand grabbing Ange’s heart. But they could tell he was right. It wasn’t easy to catch in the chaos, but Silver Eight’s attacks were clipping every one of their opponents, while Gold Four in comparison was getting far fewer hits. Magenta Ten was faster than Rose Three, and Blue One was struggling against Orange Seven. It seemed like the only battle the rabbits were winning was between Red Five Plus and the Rhinos Plus. But it wasn’t enough. Team Fawn even started slowing down, fighting with less speed and accuracy, but that wasn’t enough either.
The only words echoing through Ange’s mind were ‘Am I going to watch my friends die?’
“What’s the other possibility?” Teoria asked Simon.
“That’s dependent on one thing only.”
And suddenly, it happened.
Blue One woke up.
Simon grabbed the communicator Suzukaze had left them.
“Captain, get them out of there!”
“All units, fall back!” Suzukaze could be heard yelling from the other end.
But it was too late. As Blue One’s armor expanded, ribbon-like trails emerged from all across its back, two of them curling under its feet to act as platforms. It gracefully walked on the air towards Orange Seven.
There was a blur of motion, and Orange Seven was diagonally cut in half through the midsection. Both parts of it fell to the ground with a crash.
“...I’m going,” Ange said. “Don’t try to stop me.”
Ange dashed out of the room, with one of the guards about to pursue, but Suzukaze spoke through the communicator.
“Let them. We may very well need them for this.”
As Ange ran down the hall, internally they pulled a chair up to the imaginary table they used to discuss matters with someone else.
“I know we don’t always see eye to eye,” they said, “but I think you’ve been taking this about as badly as me… and I really need your help here.”
“No shit,” their alter replied, pulling up a chair of their own. “I’m the better pilot. And I haven’t lost my edge, no matter how long we’ve spent as a fucking librarian.”
“I know. That’s why I’m going to intentionally give you the wheel here. But I need you to promise me something.”
“Yeah?”
“Promise me you won’t—”
“Are you stupid, shit-for-brains? Don’t answer that. Of fucking course I’m not gonna kill them. You know those fuckers mean as much to me as they do to you.”
“...Thank you. Thank you so much.”
“Oh, don’t get all mushy on me. Now come on— we’ve got some shit to do!”
By the time the conversation was over, they were already in the hangar, where Black Six was waiting for them.
“You’ve got clearance,” one of the mechanics said, “go!”
“I know, dumbass!” Ange yelled back, getting on the lift, and climbing into Black Six.
The machine came to life, and Ange felt it flow through them in a way they hadn’t felt in a long time.
“Heh… like riding an ugly, soul eating bicycle. Ange Kuroki, Black Six, launching!”
Black Six shot out the hangar doors.
~~~~
Meanwhile, Rose Three had managed to herd Magenta Ten towards Blue One, and Blue one had to do almost nothing to let its own momentum slice a huge part of it off, sending it crashing into the hills. Rose Three then smashed into Green Nine, sending it to the ground, before launching a dozen missiles at its prone form to take it down. Red Five Plus took advantage of the distraction, and smoothly cut the Rhinos Plus’ head and limbs off before kicking it to the ground. Silver Eight didn’t even get a chance to start retreating before a blast from Gold Four completely disabled it.
“...Like dominos…” was all Chandra could manage as he looked at the screen, horrified and lost in another time.
~~~~
By the time Ange arrived at the battlefield, it was already over. All of Team Fawn had been routed.
“You're too late Ange, fall back!” Suzukaze yelled over coms. “If they go all out on you, you won’t stand a chance!”
“Yeah, well, I’m kind of counting on it that they won’t!” Ange yelled.
They set up an open communications channel.
“HEY, FUCKBIRDS!” they yelled at the AHSMBs. “GUESS WHO?!”
By now, Blue One had gone back to its regular state, and swiped at Black Six with a few swings of its katana, seemingly only testing the waters. Ange parried them easily.
“Yeah mulchbreath, it’s your old pal Ange, and they really want to know what the FUCK is going on!”
A barrage of missiles and sniper fire from Rose Three and Gold Four were dodged effortlessly.
“You sons of bitches listening?! I know it's you! The way you demolished those fawn fuckers? Couldn’t be anyone else!”
Red Five Plus moved in to duel Black Six, but it wasn’t moving like it had been before. Purple Two seemingly wasn’t doing anything— Ange couldn’t tell if it was scanning them or just being passive.
“So what the hell is going on?! You’re not fucking killers! I don’t think Tamaki could hurt a fly— I’ve seen her try to use a fucking flyswatter, it was pathetic! So what the hell is going on?”
“Why are the people who saved my life doing this?!”
“WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH MY FAMILY?!”
Suddenly, all communication was cut off. Everything, from their line to the AHSMBs, to command’s line to them.
“What the…?”
“Ange Kuroki… If anyone else deserves an explanation for this, I suppose it would be you.”
The voice that came over their speakers was female, and quiet.
“Who the fuck is this?!”
“That’s not really important right now— besides, I’m sure you can guess.”
“...Moriko Sawai!”
“Ding ding ding. In any case, we don’t really have a lot of time here. And you’re the biggest threat to what I’ve got planned. But before you die, I want to reassure you: your friends did not betray of their own free will.”
“What the hell are you talking about?!”
“Sorry, like I said, not a lot of time. Also… I genuinely apologize for what’s about to happen.”
“What?”
There was a click as the line was opened for all the AHSMBs.
“My Majestic Princes… Kill Ange Kuroki.”
Ange reacted on instinct, which is good, because they didn’t have enough time to react with thoughts. They parried a strike from Blue One and ducked around Red Five Plus’ barrage of slashes. They had to keep mobile as missile after missile hit where they were a split second ago, all the while avoiding and blocking melee strikes. They saw a brief break in the barrage of missiles, and raised their weapon for a counterattack—
And Black Six’s right arm was blown off by Gold Four. Who almost certainly knew exactly where it would be because of Purple Two. As it reeled, Blue One cut off its left arm, and Red Five Plus cut off its right leg. Gold Four shot off its left leg, and Blue One cut off its head. Finally, Rose Three crashed into its torso, smashing them both into the ground below, leaving Rose Three unharmed, and Black Six completely annihilated among rubble. After a moment more of surveying their kill, the five remaining AHSMBs flew into the sky and vanished from sight.