I'm Not Leaving You

2

Nick felt like he was a kid again, watching the parade amazed him, wanting to be on the sky and fly and now he is and having Nora holding his hand just makes this event a whole lot better, gosh, he was really falling for her was he? When Retribution and the other warships flew pass by, it was indeed beautiful.

"There she is. Retribution. Home sweet home".

"Only been down here a day Salt". Nora smirked, "Nothing wrong with that right? I prefer the wild back yonder". The two smiled as he nodded. "You and me both". As the two continued to walk through the crowd while having to do sightseeing and with Salter never letting go still of Reyes's hand. Nick on the other hand, felt his serotonin levels rocketed sky high.

Approaching the metal detector when Nora let go of his hand, the sudden cold had him shocked, but he knew it was to avoid eyes from the others who had been eyeing her since the day she was recruited. Jealousy? Sure? If he was considered an Alpha, he would have just stared them to death, she was his. Well, not yet, if he could. All the insecure thoughts rushing in again.

Again he was still confuse on the hand holding, it was indeed rare of her to hold his hand. Soon as the two passed by, an announcer started talking about the history of each battle ship that had passed by. "Raines mentioned a thing called E3N, heard of it?". Walking side by side with their hands clamped together again, this was now initiated by Reyes and luckily Nora gladly take it.

"Negative, Rainman's got all kinds of tricks up those four star sleeves", adding to her beauty , her personality despite being serious but her humor melts his heart. "You do realize he's flying to the ceremony with us. Make sure you don't call him that".

"Never, to his face". A Raven then lands, just in time.

"Crowds eating this thing up". Reyes looked around the crowd. Sure he enjoyed if when he was a kid. "Public Relations, Reyes". Nick rolled his eyes, "It's propaganda Reyes, hiding the fact that we lost four men and we are throwing a party". Indeed the thoughts of loss moved from his mind. He could tell Nora was feeling the same.

"Our hands are tied, take a little R and R today Nick, that's an order".

"Since when? We're the same rank". Another attempt at humor huh Nora?. He could hear her chuckle by his response as she managed to turned to look at him. "You got me there Lieutenant", she said with a smirk on her face and Nick could only rolled his eyes as response. He was about to open the door when a robot called 'Ethan' helps Reyes and Salter on board.

"Lieutenant Reyes". – Ethan

"What the hell is that?". – Nora

"I think we found E3N", Ethan nodded as he explained his rank and defined his whole name. more like a whole bunch of names.

"That's a mouthful".

"You ain't kidding, call me Ethan. Maam".

"What are your orders?"

Ethan watched as Raines approaching as he replied that he is assigned to Retribution reporting to Captain Alder, definitely programmed for combat as Ethan say, he was born to kill. Reyes was impressed and soon Raines made his way to enter the Raven, Ethan let out a hand but  Raines refused, claiming this old goat could still climb. Nick huffed; he knew how his admiral could be. Then the Raven lifted off on Admiral Raines' signal and began flying to the Vengeance.

The atmosphere now was rather quiet and soon Nick struck a converse, soon admiral revealed that Ethan will be in the center of the ceremony along with other bots like him.

"You know I get stage fright, right sir? What if I don't know what to say? You two know how to make a speech?". Nora chuckled, gosh Ethan was funny for a bot like him. "You got feelings Ethan?"

Ethan nodded, "I do, I carry the brain of a human farmer". Nick could already tell that by Nora's facial expression, a bit subtle but she was indeed fascinated about it. "Holy shit. Are you serious?"

"No Maam, not at all".

Nick burst out laughing when Nora grabbed his arm and playfully smack the man while Ethan and Raines laughed along. Soon the laugh died down, "Haha, he got you lieutenant".

Salter pouted, "Did not. Stop laughing Nick".

"Aww, come on, it was funny to be honest". He patted Nora by her back, comforting her. Soon they continued their sightseeing, continuing to interview Ethan about his knowledge about Geneva and so on when Ethan noticed something from the corner of his vision.

"Umm, Admiral Sir".

"What is it Ethan?"

"The AATIS guns. They appear to be tracking our fleet". All smiles dropped when they set their eyes on the AAtis guns and it soon fixed. With a blink of an eye, the Raven got hit, the ride started to spin out of the control as the pilots got hit. Both Nick and Nora got to the cockpit.

In an instant, multiple SDF warships and fighters arrive and start firing on the SATO fleet. Soon the radio operator sounded on their comms, "All stratcoms, shots fired at the AATIS control tower, say again, shots fired!". And then a UNSA destroyer crashes into the lake. Creating a massive wave hitting the docks and civilians nearby. Raines tried to contact anyone on sight right now. "This is not a drill! Divert and deploy all available assets immediately!". With no absolute control of the Raven, they were soon bracing for impact.