"Doctor, we have received reports on an anomalous energy reading in an uncharted location near Chernobog mobile city. We suspect Reunion is responsible, or at least involved, in this due to our scouts seeing their insignia at the outer layer of the location." Amiya reports as I sit on my chair, papers littering on my desk as I continue to read the finer contents of the report.
Seeing Reunion back in action brought along memories I would rather forget... But I shove them back in my mind and get back to work, listening to Amiya continuing her brief report on them. As I listen to her, I can feel myself grimacing at the sheer probability of this mission going south if we choose to confront them. Unknown hostiles, no knowledge of the area, no support from R.I due to this possibility being a covert mission already makes this a nightmare to coordinate but throwing in that anomalous energy? Might as well ask me to make miracles appear out of my hand.
I was about to deny the mission, seeing as its way too suicidal to go in there just to check out what the energy is while killing off the remaining Reunion cells, when Kal'tsit, a green haired lady with cat ears wearing a lab coat that hugged her body, entered through the door. Perfect timing for me to deny the mission.
Before I could say anything, Kal'tsit says,'' Before you reject the mission, we have information that all of the remaining Reunion cells have set up camp at that location with the new leader of Reunion personally leading them over there." Well, that changes things. If the new leader of Reunion is personally involved in this, then I can't deny it due to the chance of stopping Reunion, again, after Talulah was captured by us a few weeks ago.
"Alright alright, I will assemble the squad for the mission. I'm assuming you got the plan for the mission right, Kal?" I just accept the mission and ask Kal'tsit what the plan is for this mission.
"Tomorrow 0500, set off towards the location with your squad and few scouts. Maximum of 6 operators and 2 scouts are allowed for this mission as we don't want to be found by Chernobog's detection system and we need to not draw any more attention to us. For now." Kal'tsit briefly answers me while handing me the paper with the plan in it.
"Got it boss, now if you would excuse me, I need to go hunt for my squad members since I need to stretch my legs after all that paperwork." I got up from my chair and headed towards the door with Kal'tsit and Amiya following me behind. I look at Amiya with one of my eyebrows raised since she should have a few more paperwork to finish.
She notices it and says," You're not the only one feeling stiff doctor. I might as well accompany you to meet them while putting their names on record." She grabs a clipboard from a desk outside of the door as she walks behind me.
I nod at her, and we continue our track towards the dorm lounge where hopefully most of the operators I wanted are at this time of day. We arrived there and spotted Eyjafjalla, Mountain and Skadi are talking to each other while eating pizza at the table, which surprises me as they have nothing in common to talk about. I see Platinum entertaining herself by watching an anime about slice of life on the television since she is softly laughing to herself with a small smile lingering afterwards. Shining was supposed to be here for her break, but I guess she's still working over at the medical department. I walked over to the fridge and took out some beverages for me and Amiya, ice lemon tea and orange drink, then headed straight towards the pizza eaters.
"Nice to see you're socializing with other people, Skadi." I said as I pulled out a chair from under the table with Amiya copying me right next to me.
"I am answering her questions about my tales, doctor." Skadi softly replied since she is used to being alone and no communication with other people. Fortunately, I have managed to get her to open up to me and other people, but it will take some more time for her to break out of her shell.
"Senpaaaii, no greetings for your cute kouhai?" Eyjafjalla whines at me with crocodile tears in her eyes.
"Hello." I blankly voice out.
"Put more emotion into it, doctor!" She dropped her façade and lash out at me, gently rocking me side to side.
Mountain laughs as he gazes at our interaction, "Still the same as ever, doctor, but I'm guessing you didn't come here to relax since Amiya is carrying that clipboard over there."
"Right, Platinum! This also involves you too." Platinum lowers the volume of the television. "Miss Kal'tsit wants us to investigate an unknown area near Chernobog due to Reunion presence and a strange energy reading we got from that area. We will depart at 0400 tomorrow, and we will only have 6 operators with 2 scouts instead of the usual 10 and 4 for our missions since this is a covert mission. Any questions or objections? If not, we will discuss the finer details later in the day since I still need to tell the other operators about this."
"I am fine with it." "How exciting! An unknown energy reading..." "My bow is at your disposal doctor." Mountain, Eyja and Platinum voiced their agreement with Skadi only nodding at me. I nodded back at them and excused myself from the table and left the lounge area, taking my drink with me while Amiya already finished her's and is now writing in the notepad. I stopped myself in the hallway with Amiya looking at me quizzically.
"Gravel, Red are you both here?" I voiced out at the empty hallway and a second later, Gravel and Projekt Red came out of their hiding spot, one from the ceiling and the other from the ground.
"Yes doctor~" "What...?" Gravel and Red said when they stood in front of me.
"Both of you are the scouts for this mission. Any objections or questions?"
"Can I get a reward after the mission? Maybe sleeping with you~?" Gravel said.
"Meat. Extra meat." Red said while looking at me using her puppy eyes mode.
"...Fine, Gravel you can sleep in the spare bed I have and Red you'll get extra meat after the mission."
Gravel visibly deflated after hearing my words while Red became a miniature sun with how bright she smiled as it stretched until I was worried it would split her face.
"Now?"
"No red, after we come back from the mission."
"Awoo..."
"No... Oh alright come on, I'll treat both of you to food after I round up the rest of the squad."
"It's ok doctor, I'm fine right now..." "Yay" 2 different sounds are voiced out.
"It's fine Gravel, my wallet can take the hit and It's lunch time right now so we can go buy food from the cafeteria."
Before Gravel could say anything else, I grabbed hold of both Gravel's and Red's hand and walked off towards the cafeteria, Amiya trailing behind us while not saying a word, apparently content with me doing all the talking.
After we ate lunch with Red wolfing down the extra meat I promised her, Gravel and Red went back to their post in protecting me even though I didn't need it. I headed back to the lounge, in case Shining was there and luckily, I guessed right since she was brewing herself a cup of coffee at the counter though no one else was there besides her.
"Hey Shining."
"Hello doctor, what brings you here?"
"My legs."
*bonk* "Don't be a smartass doctor."
"Ow. Sorry but anyway, we got a mission to investigate a remote area near Chernobog due to an anomalous energy originating from there and Reunion sigils are confirmed to be in the area so we can expect them to be there." I explain while nursing a slight bruise on my head from Shining that I get whenever I make a bad pun.
"Hmm... How many Reunion members are we expecting? And I'm guessing only a limited number of operators with no backup since we would be close to Chernobog?
"Bingo, but only for the latter since we don't know how many Reunions' members are left but expect heavy resistance anyway. Better prepare for the worst and hope for the best after all."
"Too true. Very well, I am at your disposal once more, doctor."
"We will have a briefing tonight at one of the rooms in the command center. The rest of the squad will be there though there will only be 9 people for this mission with no backup on standby nearby the area.
"I understand doctor, also are you thirsty? I can make another cup of coffee for you but I'm afraid it will take too long to make it so better to give you this one, doctor." Shining said while trying to hand over her cup of coffee to me.
"I'm fine Shining, thank you but me and Amiya finished eating lunch a few minutes ago, so I'm stuffed." I turned down her offer with an apologetic face.
"Is that so..." Shining trailed off, her eyes looking at the side floor now instead of looking at me.
"Ok Shining, you made your point. Please, can I have your cup of coffee?" Shining hands over her cup of coffee and heads toward the cabinet to get a new cup. I sip the delicious drink little by little as it's still hot and I have a sensitive tongue. "Thank you for the drink, Shining." I say as I hand over my cup to her.
"You're welcome, Doctor."
"Let's go Amiya, we still need to find Ayerscape or do you want to go to the office to finish the paperwork?" I turn over to ask Amiya, who has been silent throughout the entire time, only focusing on writing on her clipboard while tilting her head at random times. My question snaps her out of her mind, and she takes a few seconds to answer me. "The office Doctor. We still need to finish the paperwork and we can send the mission details over to Ayerscape by our device."
We continue walking towards the office, with other operators greeting us as we pass them in the corridor. Once we reach the door, it opened by itself and Kal'tsit appear before me with a folder in her hands. I step to the side for her to pass, not questioning her about the folder since I wasn't curious about it when she stops right next to me and handed the file over to me.
"Hmm?"
"The rest of the details with some updates regarding the mission are inside this folder. Review it and plan accordingly as always doctor." Kal'tsit says while frowning a small bit.
"Something wrong boss?" Before she walks away, I ask her. "Nothing serious doctor, just some small disagreements on the number of operators regarding tomorrows' mission." I frown as well when I hear that. Of course, the more operators we can bring, the chance of success increases along with overall security... But that could easily get more people killed if the mission goes awry, especially so if we are going in blind. I don't want to risk my operator's life any more than they usually are if I can help it.
"Are we allowed to bring more operators?"
"No but someone in your office would want to go. Go do your magic, doctor." Kal'tsit says while handing me the folder before heading off. If my guess on who that person is correct, this will be a troublesome negotiation. I step in front of the door, mentally preparing myself to convince her but Amiya suddenly opens the door and step inside, leaving me startled and annoyed at her for startling me. Amiya even sent me a mischievous smile before closing the door.
I roll my eyes at her after she leaves and opens the door, only to meet with operator Surtr's eyes gazing into mine, in the form of a glare. I leap back, accidentally hitting the wall due to how far I leaped and Surtr drops the glare and smiles a bit, seemingly satisfied with herself as her eyes show a twinkle of delight in them. She walks over to me.
"Damn it Surtr, please don't scare me like that. You know how much I hate being startled suddenly."
"Hehe, sorry doctor but you are way too cute with that flustered look of yours so I couldn't resist myself."
I shake my head while sighing a bit." I swear, you will be the death of me Surtr."
"Aww, come on doctor, It's just a harmless joke. Look, I'll share with you some of my favorite ice cream later today, so please forgive me?" Surtr pleads even though her eyes show no remorse over the torment she put the doctor through.
"Hmmm alright, I forgive you Surtr but." I say before pushing my head towards her to kiss her. Surtr's eyes widen but immediately reciprocate the kiss. Few minutes later, we separated while huffing and puffing after the intense kiss.
"Hehe, almost as good as eating ice cream doctor."
"I swear that I will get you to admit our kiss is at the same level, Surtr."
Surtr smiles while putting her hand at the back, emphasizing her bountiful chest as she hears the doctor's word.
"On second thought, I am not satisfied with it. Kiss me." Surtr leans in again and I respond in kind, until we hear a cough coming from inside the room. We both stop and turn to look at Amiya, looking at us like we were idiots while crossing her arms with her feet tapping on the floor.
"Doctor and Miss Surtr, please refrain from displaying your affection for one another during working hours. Especially in the hallway since you are disrupting other people." Amiya reprimands us.
"Oh? What's so wrong with displaying our love during our working time? Let the whole world see for all I care, nothing matters to me except for ice cream and doctor after all." Surtr responds, with a hint of possessiveness in her tone, at Amiya while she hugs me. I sigh, slightly sad that I can't occupy the 1st spot in her heart, but I decide to put my hand on her head to pat her.
"Alright, settle down there Surtr, no need for that attitude at Amiya since she's right. Not to mention, we do have people looking at us right now." Surtr positively melts during my petting, not bothering to pay attention to my words or at Amiya. I retract my hand, but Surtr yanks it back to her head when she couldn't feel it anymore.
"More."
"No." Retract.
"More." Yank.
"Please Surtr, stop it. I still have work that needs to be done right over there." Retract.
"I already completed the paperwork, I only need you to sign it, doctor. So, you do not have work." Yank.
"How about we continue inside the room Surtr, even though you don't care about the attention we are getting, it's still uncomfortable for me." I really hope she agrees since the stares from the others are really getting to me.
"Fine, just means that I can be more intimate with you in privacy." Surtr, please lower your voice and the rest of you, tone down the gaze's intensity.
We walk into the room and Surtr quickly closes the door, not taking the chance of anybody else coming in. She immediately launches an assault with hers' on my mouth, but I quickly stop her from doing that by putting my hand between our mouths.
"Not now Surtr. I wasn't lying when I said I got more work. Doctor Kal'tsit gave us a mission to do tomorrow."
"Oh right, you are bringing me right Doctor?"
"Erm..."
"Right Doctor?" I would have loved to see your smile on any other occasion Surtr, but please that sweet smile of yours is terrifying me.
"Listen Surtr, honey, I'm not bringing you with us for this mission." I raise my hand when her mouth begins to open. "Reason being this is a covert operation because we are going near Chernobog and your arts is really eye-catching due to how spectacular it is. Also, you aren't known for your stealth on the battlefield after all."
"Why bother yourself with being sneaky when you can just kill everyone... I can be stealthy if I need to, doctor, and I can limit myself to not use my destructive skill too." Surtr mutters the 1st part while pouting but her tone changes to indignation later.
"I know Surtr, but we can't risk it due to the nature of this mission."
"What is this mission anyway? I asked her about the mission details, but she wouldn't say anything except to ask you about it."
"Really? I thought she told you about it when she came out of the room."
"Nope, didn't spill a thing out of her mouth regarding it."
"Well, I guess I can tell you if you promise to not tell anyone else." Surtr nods before I give her the folder and she take it out to read the contents. "We received an anomalous energy reading originating near Chernobog's current position with Reunion presence confirmed at the site. We believe that Reunion is responsible for the energy, and we are going there to either retrieve the energy source or destroy it before they can do whatever they plan to do. Operation starts at 0500 hours tomorrow, but we need to set off at 0400 due to the distance between us and the site."
As I explain the summarized plan to Surtr, she reads the dossier while nodding at me like she's the boss of me, which isn't technically wrong since I have a healthy amount of fear of her due to her temper when provoked and the incident involving her favorite ice cream knocked into the ground from her hands by me. A crate worth of her favorite ice cream was needed to soothe her or else one roasted doctor would have been served by chef Surtr.
"So, tell me again why I can't join, doctor?" Surtr gazes at me, silently telling me to choose my answers wisely.
"Like I said before Surtr, this is a covert mission since we do not want Chernobog interfering with us during the mission." I adamantly hold my ground on not bringing her with us.
"I'm more than enough to kill anyone who dares to interfere with us and those Ursus are busy with repairing and reconstruction of their precious mobile city so I will bet they don't have enough manpower to mess with us. Besides, those guys might already be at the site right now taking care of Reunion and trying to find the energy source."
"Kal'tsit must have already thought of the possibility of Ursus's presence before telling me. So, the fact that she did went ahead and told me about it means something went wrong and we need to go to investigate it. Also, you need to rest due to your infection suddenly spiking right? So, you need to stay here to get treated, not out there where you need to use your arts."
Surtr pouts. "I'll be fine out on the field, doctor; it isn't the first time my infection spiked while I'm out on the field after all... And I need to be with you to protect you."
"Yeah, but how will you protect me if you are dead Surtr? I don't want to lose you or anybody else, not when we are close to curing Oripathy, the disease that was said to be incurable, so please stay here to get your condition stabilized." I plead with her while looking at her eyes, hopefully conveying my love and sincerity to her.
Surtr sighs, before closing in to hug me and burrowing her head to my chest. "No fair doctor... You know I can't win against you when you are like this." Surtr looks up to my eyes." Promise me you will come back to me alive and healthy, doctor. Ah, but you have to buy me more ice cream when you come back."
"Alright, I'll buy you more later but for now, let us get back to work like Amiya over there." Amiya looks up from her set of paperwork when she hears her name, confusion visible on her face due to her being too engrossed in doing paperwork. "Did you say something doctor?" "Nothing except praising you for your hard-working nature." Amiya lightly blushes at my compliment while Surtr pouts a bit. Surtr opens her mouth to say something, but the door opens without warning, more specifically, it got destroyed.
"Hey doctor~" A seductive voice sounds out from the door and operator W appears, smiling while holding her signature remote control for her bombs.
"Damn it W, how many times must I tell you to not destroy my door." I ask while getting up to go greet her.
"As many times as, it takes for you to be only mine, doctor." W replies while dropping her smile and walks towards me even as her eyes narrow into a glare aimed at me.
"I already made it clear that I am not going to hurt anyone by picking only one of you."
"Yet, you are fine with hurting us by not choosing a single person."
"Ok enough. Both of you. In case you have forgotten, this isn't your house but the office where operators come and go here so I advise both of you to show proper conduct here."
I wanted to say something to refute her, yet the words got stuck in my throat when Amiya's voice cut through the air. Me and W break off our standoff with each other to look at Amiya, who doesn't shrink back from the attention she was getting. I sigh, seeing as Amiya was right, and turn back towards W, who also did the same as me, though this time both of us aren't glaring at each other.
"W... I love you and Surtr. I am selfish by wanting both of you, yet I already promised that I would love both of you until death do us apart, which would have meant tomorrow due to Oripathy, but with Rhodes Island stepping closer towards the cure to this disease, we can live a life without constant fear of the future. I want both you and Surtr to be there with me, not with another guy, but with me. So please, walk this path with me and Surtr."
"...Haah. Geez, you got better with your words but it's still corny as ever, you damn womanizing selfish doctor. Alright, I'll play your game but remember this doctor Azer, if you ever cheat on me and Surtr, I promise that being blown up into tiny gory bits will be the least of your worries."
"With flames enveloping you before the firework doctor." Surtr voices out while directing a sweet smile at me. Though, I can see a vague shadow outline behind her making a cutthroat gesture at me. Message perfectly received here.
"Don't worry, I will never cheat on you two or may a lightning-type catastrophe strike me down if I do." I swear upon my most terrifying nightmare to happen to me and judging from both W and Surtr's eyes widening, though only a little in W's case, they know the sheer significance of my oath.
"If you're going that far then I have nothing else to say."
"Yay you didn't disappoint me, my husband." Surtr closes in on me to hug me. Also, why did Surtr sound like she knew about this or am I reading too deeply into this? Regardless, I like hugs and I will think about it later. I can see W rolling her eyes at our hug but eventually walks over to us when I motion for her to come. Once she's close enough, I pull her into the hug, and she succumbs to the hug though it didn't last long due to a loud cough traveling in the air.
"Again. This. Is. Not. Your. Living quarters. Please leave the romance outside of the office or I will deduct your pay if you continue this." Amiya voices out while glaring daggers at me, though to be more specific, at W and Surtr. Both try to open their mouths, probably to rebut her, but I quickly cover their mouth.
"You got it Leader, no romance in the office, got it." I answer in place of them, though I quickly retract my hand from their mouth, lest I incur a more wrathful payment from them. Amiya nods, satisfied at my answer and quickly resumes doing paperwork, all the while ignoring how W and Surtr glares at her. I lean in towards the middle of W and Surtr and say in a happy tone;" This goes both ways, you know? If you ever cheat on me, I promise that you will forget the definition of rest as I will hunt you down." I lean back and watch as they stiffen at my words, before slowly nodding at me. Satisfied at our agreement, I grab hold of their hands and drag them toward my desk.
"Come on you two, I need help doing my paperwork and reviewing the mission details for tomorrow."
"A mission?"
"Right, forgot that you don't know W. Long story short, we are going to a site near Chernobog's current position to investigate a strange energy reading from there though Reunion have been sighted at the area so it's likely going to turn into a destroy or receive mission at the end."
"It's been a while since I last played with them so it will turn into quite the reunion for me." W laughs a bit at the end of her joke.
"Urgh, I love you W, but that joke was cringe. Also, I'm not bringing you with us on tomorrow's mission." W's grip turns tight to the point I'm afraid it's turning white.
"Sorry, I must have misheard you, doctor. Please repeat what you just said." I wouldn't be surprised if her glare could melt steel with how intense it is.
"I am not bringing you on this mission, same reason as Surtr isn't coming on this mission due to your condition spiking." I stand my ground on my decision.
"Is that it?"
"Hold on, let me retrieve the map of the area." I head over to the desk and retrieve the map inside of the dossier. I look at it before handling it to W.
"We are going into a jungle W, with our enemies having all the advantage against us except for the element of surprise though to be honest, I am not confident that's true."
"Then that's even more reason to bring me with you doctor! Look, the trees over there are so dense that light can't even reach the ground, uneven terrain with very soft ground that I spot in this picture, and you can bet that the area is littered with traps of all kinds that will instantly kill you by Reunion. I can see in the dark, deal with the landscape and disarm the traps, not to mention that I am used to fighting in any kind of environment, especially forest, so my skills would be essential in this kind of mission. So why can't I come with you?! Are you going to abandon me like that night again, huh? You promised to always take me on missions with you so that I can protect you. You promised..." W starts to breathe rapidly as her eyes start to become unfocused while muttering incoherently.
"W, Wiya, please calm down. I'm still here with you. Everything will be alright, W." I lean towards W to hug her, and she latches on to me. I glanced at Surtr right next to me, and she took it as a cue for her to jump in, though she hesitated for a moment and only put her hand on W's free shoulder. W stiffens a bit at the additional contact but slowly loosens up once no harms come upon her.
'Looks like she hasn't gotten over her nightmares regarding people close to her betraying her. Even though the mission was a success, I do feel a bit regretful over leaving W and Surtr while going to search for Reunion that night... Though that turned to a moot point as they followed me but that brought them closer so It's fine even though I danced with death far too many times in exchange. Also curse you Mephisto for traumatizing W.' Looking at W, who is starting to tear up a bit, I keep thinking I really like to worry them to the point that W would start to cry at the thought of her being left behind, the fact that we were in a forest like the picture that night doesn't really do me any favors. I can feel myself wavering, but I mentally slap myself to regain my resolve.
After a while, W slowly detaches herself from me and Surtr takes her hand away from W.
"Better?"
"Yeah, thank you doctor... You better forget this ever happened, same with you too Sur- Hey, don't laugh at me you bastards!" I couldn't help myself with chuckling a bit at W's blushing face and Surtr also giggles at her. W holds her detonator up to our face with her finger hovering over the trigger while glaring at us and I quickly stop with my chuckling but Surtr disregards W's threat and giggles for a little longer. I poke Surtr at the cheek when I saw W's finger inching closer towards the trigger and Surtr finally stops giggling but her smile is still there. Surtr opens her mouth to say something when Amiya's voice comes alive to greet us again, followed by a scraping sound.
"Seriously, I am very disappointed in you three, especially you doctor. I can't even work in peace with all this love floating in here even though I asked you to stop it." Amiya continues to rant at us in her lecture form, after roughly getting up from her seat, with me having a guilty look while W and Surtr look unwilling to listen to Amiya but due to Amiya being the leader of R.I, they don't really have a choice other than to listen. "Now, get back to work right now before we have to head toward the briefing room in 4 hours."
I hastily head towards my desk while W and Surtr speed walk there to help me finish up the paperwork.
"Oh yeah. Amiya, when will the renovation of the command center be done?"
"Tomorrow doctor. What, can't wait to kick me out from your office?" Amiya sulks while her bunny ears droop a bit.
"Nononono, I didn't mean it like that Amiya. I was just, erm, curious, yes curious, since it's always a hassle with the relocation whenever we have to upgrade the command center, so I was worried that the operators, who needed to relocate to continue their work, are feeling stuffy and uncomfortable at their new station."
"...Is that so doctor?" Amiya drops her sulk as her ears start to rise.
"Yes Amiya, you know that I will never be irritated at your presence so you can stay here for however long you want." I earnestly try to cheer her up since her sad face is something I hate seeing. I want everyone that I care about to be happy. Even though I know that trying to make everyone happy is impossible, I would still try to do it, since they all deserve it after everything they went through, and I'll be damned if I don't try at least.
"How about we go get an early dinner? I heard a new restaurant opened recently and I was looking for a good time to go there. Surtr, W, you two want to come with us?" I desperately try to lighten the atmosphere and hopefully food will do the trick. Maybe they were considerate towards Amiya but both Surtr and W declined my invitation though me and Amiya needed to wrap up our paperwork before going to that restaurant. I just hope I can improve Amiya's mood before the briefing.
*Line break*
"Surtr, for the last time, I'll be fine without you, so please let go of me."
"No. I won't be able to hug you until you get back here so I'm recharging my doctorium supply."
"Doctorium? That's... a fine name, I guess."
Time is 0350 right now with most of the operators for the mission have gathered at the vehicle bay. We are using an experimental VTOL that will drop us off at the outer edge of the site while being completely undetectable to any radar in a 80 miles radius, easily outranging any detection radar Chernobog may have set up for now. I have no idea how the stealth system works even though Kal'tsit personally told me about the mechanics of the system, but her words flew from one ear to the other end.
"Has anyone seen Eyja? She's usually the first one here." I raise my voice for everyone to hear while Surtr keeps hugging me and everyone glances around before saying no.
"I'm here, doctor. Sorry for being late but doctor Kal'tsit asked me for a final checkup before heading out." Eyja appears at the door, slightly out of breath from running over here.
"In that case, it's fine Eyja since we still have around 10 minutes until we need to set out." I walk around from one operator to another to check if they needed help or anything before we head off. Surtr happily ignores everything else as she savors the skin ship between us.
After checking in with the operators, I head into the VTOL. "W, I know you are in here somewhere. Please come out as you are not coming with us." I say loudly into the seemingly empty VTOL, until W emerges from her hiding spot, a hidden compartment meant to hide a person of interest.
"Come on doctor, please bring me along. Or at least Surtr so that I can have a semblance of peace of mind." W whines while showing her best puppy dog eyes at me.
I lightly sigh at her, "Wiya, we've already agreed that you and Surtr will stay here to stabilize your condition. When I get back, I'll let you and Surtr do anything you want to me for a day alright?"
"Can't blame a girl for trying, doctor... Who knows, you might have changed your mind?" W sullenly said as she turned to look at the floor.
I can feel my heart aching when I gaze towards W, who is looking like a kicked puppy, an explosive loving puppy that is. I walk towards her and bring her into a hug with me, though Surtr lets go of her own hug and silently watches us with a concerned expression. W brings her arm around me, tightening the hug though not too tight to the point of cutting blood circulation. W switches her sullen look into a happy one as she melts into the hug.
We stay hugging in the middle of the passenger bay, even as other operators fill in the VTOL. The looks that the other operators sent us made me conscious of our action but W and Surtr ignored everybody else, not taking any heed to their looks so I can only resign myself to my fate.
"Alright W, enough hugging. It's time to let go of me now." W reluctantly withdraws from the hug, before glaring at the other operators around us to the point the easily influenced operators back away from her, as if blaming them for cutting the hug short. I lift my hands and rest it on top of W's and Surtr's head, W stops her glare to look at me and Surtr never even paid any attention to the other operators. I start to rub their heads, giving them head pats that I love to do to them, and both of their faces turn into ecstatic looks with smiles that can rival the sun. I see the other operators jokingly shield their eyes from the scene whenever we cross eyes and I lightly roll my eyes whenever I see it.
"Come on you two, it is already time for us to depart." I softly say to them as I slowly bring my hand down from their heads. Almost immediately, their looks change into frantic.
"No." They grab hold of my hand and put it on their heads again.
"Please?"
"No."
"I'll do whatever you want for two days."
W and Surtr take their time in digesting my words, weighing whether to let go of me or to hold on while I gaze into their eyes, watching their eyes flicker uncertainly. Eventually, they let go of my hand and walked out of the VTOL, never breaking eye contact with me even as the VTOL started up its engine and the rotors spooled up. I wave my arms at them to say bye and they do the same, until I couldn't see them, yet I knew they would keep waving at me until they couldn't see the VTOL.
I slump into my seat, already feeling drained even though we were only at the beginning. Mountain, who is seated right next to me, gazes curiously at me and me, who is already longing to see them again, raises my head to match his stare.
"Doctor, forgive me if I sound impolite but I must know what you did to make them love you like that? I remember my first meeting with both threatening to blow me up and to skin me of my fur with her sword. Not only that, but there are also numerous rumors about them, none of them good in the slightest."
I open my mouth to immediately answer him, yet something holds me back from answering with the usual "I don't know." to operators who are privy with details.
"We had gone through a lot on that night alone, Mountain. More than what we had experienced before. We cried, bled, and lost our sanity to survive that night, but we didn't give up and here I am embarking on another mission, similar enough to that one. Our relationship is built upon the trust that each of us will survive until the end and make a happy family with our kids running around us in our little home. That is the reason why we love each other, Mountain, or at least my reason to love them."
"I see... Thank you for answering me and I promise not to tell anyone about your words, doctor."
"No worries, Mountain. Now if you would excuse me, I'm going to get some sleep before we arrive at the site." I glance towards the other operators, watching as Eyja talks to Ayerscape, Skadi looking outside, listlessly, Shining sleeping while holding her sword/staff and Platinum talking with Gravel though Red jumps in the conversation.
'What a nice view. I really wish for this scene to continue forever.' I thought as I slowly close my eyes.