Chapter Text
If Alpha had to describe her current mood, it would be annoyance of the highest order.
The source of her annoyance was Roland, again. He just loved to get on her nerves with his constant rambling and monologuing.
"-Come now, what’s with that expression, my dear comrade? I am merely trying to lighten the oh-so-sour mood. After all, it’s not fun to be in the company of a stubborn, quiet fellow like yours-"
"Roland." Alpha interrupted him as they both jumped over another gap between buildings in the dead of night, the quiet sounds of the Corrupted on the streets faint as they passed by.
"Aye, amigo?" The ever-smug annoyance asked as he looked at her while they ran across rooftops, his differently colored eyes looking at her with amusement. Before briefly looking down, he noticed her Sakura being slightly drawn from her sheath.
"Shut it." She said with a deadpan expression, her mechanical thumb resting on the hilt of her trusty katana. Seeing Roland sigh and hold his hands up in mock surrender, she felt satisfied enough with his silence and sheathed Sakura, enjoying the brief quiet as they both jumped down from the building onto the street below.
Looking around, she saw that the number of Corrupted in the area had dropped significantly. They used to litter the streets of this city by the hundreds, yet their current numbers were far reduced. Luna’s not going to be happy, she was looking forward to this particular city.
Walking through the street, she noted that most of the destroyed Corrupted seemed relatively fresh, as indicated by their still-leaking fluids from their mechanical bodies and the constant twitches as they tried to get up despite their pitiful states. Kicking one to look it over, she assessed the damage.
Bullets clearly took out the left legs. Must have been something with a hell of a lot more punch than the standard-issue Babylonia guns, considering how torn up the area is. The right arm was clearly cut off, pretty cleanly too. Not that Alpha wouldn’t be able to do a better job, of course, but it was passable in her opinion.
"Judging our guests, hmm?" Roland's voice grated on her ears as he stood near her, looking at the Corrupted whose head was now under her heel. Before she applied pressure and crushed the head, causing sparks to fly out as the thing finally stopped its pathetic attempts to get up.
Sighing, she turned her attention to Roland, her hand lazily resting on her sheath as she faced him. "Found anything?"
His smile widened just a tad as he responded. "Why, I did. While you were busy inspecting this poor thing like a hyena would a corpse-" Alpha could feel her covered eye twitch as her desire to stab the prick rose. "-I happened to hear a couple of noises from a block or two down. Sounded like a bit of a scuffle, if you ask me," he finished, making an elaborate shrugging motion.
Ignoring his theatrics, she focused on her hearing. Sure enough, she could hear the faint sound of a rifle going off in the distance. Turning her head in the direction of the sound, she began walking, ignoring Roland’s blabbering.
The sound of the rifle, a sniper rifle, if she had to guess, grew closer as Alpha, alongside Roland, made their way into a nearby building.
The interior of the half-broken building wasn’t anything special, broken walls here, destroyed furniture there, the usual. It did, however, provide enough cover for them to stealthily observe the source of the noise.
"Well, this is quite the nostalgia trip, wouldn’t you agree?" Roland asked as they hugged the wall near a half-broken window, lowering the amount of Punishing Virus they emitted. Both of them remained on opposite sides as they looked at the commotion.
Even with one of her eyes covered, she could see clearly as day what Roland was referring to, or, more specifically, who.
Currently cutting through a Corrupted with a simple black katana was a Construct with black hair streaked with red highlights, wearing a jacket that matched her hair, though it was a little battle-torn in places. She also wore a black skirt with red highlights, complementing the rest of her outfit.
As the Construct slashed at yet another Corrupted, cleaving their head from their neck, Alpha felt like the universe was either screwing with her, or this was one gigantic coincidence.
Of course, while she was observing her youngest sister, she made sure to note the other two Constructs who accompanied her, a certain blond-haired Construct with a singular "horn" sticking out of his forehead as he crushed an airborne Corrupted with a greatsword, and a sniper rifle-wielding Construct with curly, white hair.
Mentally noting Kamui and Wanshi in her M.I.N.D., her attention was grabbed by the gray-haired human accompanying them. They were taking potshots at nearby Corrupted with a handgun. Their aim wasn’t half bad, but the fact that they were in the middle of an ongoing battle showed they were either stupid enough to be in the danger zone, or brave enough not to care.
But that wasn’t what caught Alpha’s attention. No, it was the rather familiar Gray Raven logo imprinted on their gear.
"So that’s their new Commandant…" Alpha muttered to herself as she watched the group, her M.I.N.D. going slightly haywire as memories of Ravenge bubbled to the surface… Pushing them down with a shake of her head, she focused back on the group as they cleared the last of the Corrupted in the area.
Hearing a hum, Alpha realized she had completely forgotten about Roland until he made that sound. He looked at her with his usual smug expression.
"My, if Gabriel saw you just now, he’d be quite disappointed, getting distracted like that." Roland spoke in a quiet, mocking tone.
"Tsk." Alpha turned her head away in annoyance, her left hand resting on her sheath as Roland continued speaking.
"Though… that blond one… he sure looks promising." He noted, placing a hand on his chin in thought. Alpha followed his gaze toward Kamui, raising an eyebrow.
The blond Construct was acting his usual cheery self, patting her youngest sister on the back while the new Commandant held her shoulder, nodding at the two Constructs before putting away their handgun.
For all that Alpha was not exactly the biggest fan of humans after Ravenge’s stunt, she will admit this new Commandant is already leagues above their predecessor ¨for at least having the balls to fight alongside Constructs.
Though… she wasn’t exactly sure what Roland saw in Kamui. Knowing damn well the blond would probably punch the smug bastard with even less restraint than she did.
"-Vera said something about you having problems with your M.I.N.D., right? When did that happen?" Alpha’s attention snapped back to Kamui, who had tilted his head toward Lucia, clearly curious. Lucia’s slightly stunned expression was brief before she looked away.
Only after Kamui tilted his head further, as if trying to meet her gaze, did Lucia finally respond.
"About… one month ago, give or take."
Alpha could hear the reluctance in Lucia’s tone as she continued.
"The diagnosis was that my M.I.N.D. suffered significant damage, causing memory loss alongside increased instability…"
"Hah.’’ So that’s the ‘excuse’ Babylonia cooked up, huh? If Alpha had to guess, it was Nikola who came up with the ‘amnesia’ excuse.
Roland turned toward her, clearly intrigued, as Alpha let out a bitter chuckle. Alpha looked away from the trio as Kamui suddenly wrapped his arms around Lucia’s and the new Commandant’s necks, pulling them close with a grin.
Instead, she turned her attention toward Wanshi-
-only to lock eyes with the laid-back and lazy Support Construct, who was already staring at her from where he leaned against the wall.
She narrowed her eyes and placed a hand back on her sheath, watching as the curly-haired Construct picked up his rifle and aimed at her from his position.
She scoffed and flipped him off.
If he wants to play this game, fine.
A second later, she brought up her sheath to deflect a shot that shattered what remained of the window Alpha and Roland had been using for cover. The bullet embedded itself in a nearby wall, effortlessly punching a torso-sized hole through it.
Bringing her sheath down, Alpha quickly assessed the situation. The gunshot had, predictably, alerted Lucia and the others.
Clicking her tongue, she shot a look at Roland.
They both nodded.
Then, without another word, they jumped away from another shot, leaping up onto the rooftops before sprinting away. "Wanshi, when I get my hands on you, I am carving those eyes out of your head." Alpha hissed to herself as both she and Roland leapt across rooftops.
Taking a look behind her, she could already see Lucia and the rest reaching the rooftop of the building they had just been hiding in. Turning her head forward, she groaned, something that prompted Roland to speak again.
"You know, amigo, I didn’t expect a tactical retreat to be your first choice of action." He spoke casually, tilting his head to the side as another shot whizzed past him.
Alpha dodged a second shot before replying. "Wanshi forced my hand. I’m not exactly… prepared to talk with Lucia at this moment." She chose her words carefully as she jumped into a ruined building, glancing at Roland as they continued their retreat.
"I could ask you the same thing, actually."
Roland shrugged. "Well, we are outnumbered five to two, and while I am more than aware of your wonderful prowess-" Roland was interrupted by a stray laser slamming into the ground he had just been standing on, forcing him to leap away. "-I’m also well aware that you wouldn’t enjoy fighting your sibling~"
Alpha barely listened to him. Instead, she turned her gaze to the side, catching sight of a white-haired Construct with pink highlights and matching attire, standing at the ready, Levi-Guns at her sides.
She gritted her teeth.
"You knew there were more, and you didn’t tell me?"
Her annoyance was obvious. Roland, as always, delighted in keeping secrets, even from his own allies.
"Si~" The smug bastard responded.
That was the last straw.
Without hesitation, Alpha slammed her shoulder into Roland, smashing him into a nearby wall. The force of the impact sent cracks spiderwebbing through the concrete before the wall collapsed, burying the stunned Ascendant beneath the rubble.
She didn’t even stay to watch.
"If you hurt her, I will not hesitate to stab you!"
That was her only parting remark before she left Roland to deal with the Ravens and Hawks.
"Sonova-" Roland cursed to himself as he threw the remains of the wall off himself with moderate ease, rolling his shoulders as he sidestepped another shot from the rifle-wielding annoyance.
Turning to face the squad of five, six, if you count the squishy human, he smiled.
"Well, what a lovely audience I’ve got myself! I hope little ol’ me is enough for you all. After all, my fellow comrade seems to have left me to the vultures."
He spoke, bowing slightly out of habit as the Babylonians raised their weapons at him, Levi-guns, dual pistols, a katana, a greatsword, and a rifle. All pointed directly at him.
Cute.
"Hah! What partner you have."
The only interesting one, besides Alpha’s sister, that is, spoke with a bravado Roland could honestly appreciate.
"Yes, quite…" Roland agreed.
Seriously, Lady Luna’s sister may be a skilled combatant, but by lord, can she be a bore, especially on missions like these, where the only entertainment is either your fellow comrades or the pitiful Corrupted.
"Fortunately, I’m allowed to have fun with everyone here… except for that one."
He said, pointing Durendal in Lucia’s direction, causing them to raise their weapons again as he flared the Punishing Virus within his frame.
"-So please, shall we dance?"