The edges of the White Storm flickered as friction burned along its edges. Next to it, the South Star appeared to be engulfed in flames as well, though its study armor barely registered a chip in its paint. Porter turned off the monitor in front of his face as he descended, shutting off the information on General Veillon. He had gathered as much as possible from all Enian databases on Carter's last known whereabouts, his final mission, his appearance, and his Goliath. If they could find even the tiniest trace of the general's existence, then they might still have a bit of hope for finding him.
Clouds whipped by as the two Goliaths slowed their descent, touching down on the edges of fog-wrapped mountains, their white peaks blending in with the sky. In front of the two teens lay the sprawling city of Beijing, the fourth Beijing in a long line of capital cities that were constantly rebuilt by the Eastern United States. The States were extremely dependant on tradition, firmly believing in a complete lack of deviation from the past, and it was reflected in their older construction style of buildings and their attachment to names.
The original Beijing had been destroyed ages ago, as part of a war before the times of the four countries, and had been nowhere near such picturesque mountains, unlike this current one. Towering skyscrapers seemed to try and rival those hills in the background, with little villas and quaint buildings down at their feet. They held a traditional Asian flair to them, with shingled roofs, unlit lanterns dangling from the corners, and small statues of dragons and lions surrounding the door.
And there were people. Lots and lots of people. People dominated every aspect of the city, every nook and cranny they seemed to find a way to fill with their sweaty, dirty bodies, or with their small, travelling shops that sold whatever goods they could get their hands on. In certain patches, the buildings parted, making space for market squares that seemed full to bursting. In other areas, parks with exquisite gardens, fountains, and ornaments were overrun with couples and families that bustled and bumped their way through a space designed for serenity.
It was a nightmare to the Enian boys, who were only used to the crushing surge of students in the hallways of the academy, but otherwise had never seen such gross overpopulation. Nobody in the United States seemed to think that though, quite content to cram so many people into an urban space.
At the base of the Goliaths flocked attendants who began servicing the battlesuits as quickly as possible, scrambling for the business of the pilots. There were a couple of other Enian Goliaths standing in the designated landing space just outside the city limits, markers of other soldiers visiting the temporary allies. Porter took note of their presence, hoping he wouldn't ever have to run into them and explain his situation.
The students descended to ground level, flocked by more of the workers who offered up as many services they could in what seemed like a hundred different languages. Chase managed to wave them off, scaring them away by pulling up his fists, while Porter brandied a holographic image of a special Enian seal. It had a red trim to it, signifying he was on an important diplomatic mission and had special privileges (this was a forgery of course, one he had remembered how to make when he and Nami had goofed around with the idea one time a couple years ago).
Pushing a pathway with a combination of Chase's fists and Porter's symbol, the two made it out of the landing zone to a group of taxis. Just like the attendants, the drivers instantly begged the boys for their business, pointing to shiny modifications to their vehicles that separated them from the competition.
"We've been here for all of five seconds and I've hated every single one of them," Chase decreed, folding his arms in contempt after pushing aside a driver.
"Just some culture shock Chase. I'm sure you'll get used to it here eventually."
"Chase doesn't get used to anything. Things get used to Chase," the teen snorted.
Porter sighed in response and shook his head. Brash and headstrong, but ultimately loyal and so Porter had grabbed him to assist in the mission (also because Chase would likely stay quiet about all of this if Porter agreed to some lie about Chase being the greatest hero of all great heroes who had ever lived before). "Excuse me sir," Porter asked, smiling at the cab owner and trying to seem understanding of his many foreign tongues. "Would you happen to know of a library we could visit?"
After being stared at for a moment, Porter repeated the question slower, then repeated with hand gestures until the man finally seemed to understand. "Yes, yes I take you there." The man said his words so quickly and slurred together it almost sounded like he was still speaking a different language. He pulled open the doors to his car, motioning for Porter to sit. The teens complied, sliding next to each other in a cramped backseat, obviously miserable at being in such close company with one another.
It was a long car ride in such an uncomfortable position, but the two survived, arriving in front of an ageing building held up by round, red pillars. It was guarded by twin dragon statues that wound their ways around the entrance. The taxi flew off into the air, hovering and winding its way back through the city, leaving its former occupants at the strange edifice.
A few men and women moved in and out of the entrance, looking like a procession in their ceremonial gowns and robes that flowed down over their sandaled feet. All of the men wore white, while the women donned black colours. It created an intriguing dichotomy between the groups.
Chase and Porter slid up to the front of the building, feeling a little out of place amongst the officials who appeared to be working there. Still, they held true to their mission, pushing through the crowd to get into the library. Once within, they were greeted with an unfamiliar smell: molding, musty books. Most ageing texts had been converted to digital files, and most new books were not composed of the traditional paper in order to preserve the environment. This library would have been one of the few left in the world with actual paper texts in it, though it still had plenty of computer monitors and digital storage devices mixed in.
Orbs of incense hung down around spheres of light, forcing the rays of illumination through a haze of thin smoke. It was a poor attempt to mask the other scents in the building and it could not override them, instead creating a bizarre aroma worse than the mold alone. Chase immediately pulled his shirt up to cover his nose as he strolled through the corridors, receiving dirty looks from the elders he passed. Porter did his best to try and look as normal as possible, but his outfit and companion made him stick out in the midst of the native populace.
"This place stinks."
"Yes Chase I know, but we need to find out as much as we can about old prisoners of war."
"Why do I care again?"
"Your mother." Chase's eyes hardened at hearing this, the trigger word flipped, and he fell silent, nodding in understanding. Porter approached the nearest computer terminal, pulling up a holographic list in front of his face. Unfortunately it was in the wrong language, forcing the teenager to withdraw a small pair of glasses he placed on the bridge of his nose. Tapping their side, the small electronic chip took over, translating the words and making everything legible.
Porter began navigating through the various menus, trying to figure out the functions of the library for quite some time. "Uhm Porter..." Chase tugged at the pilot's shirt like a small child, trying to get his attention.
"Look Chase I'm aware that you're bored. This will only take another second." As he spoke, Porter called up the location of the military files, checking for prisoner lists.
"No Porter we're getting uhm...some really strange looks and stuff..."
"Found it!" Porter glanced up from the monitor to see a young man who was certainly not Chase standing beside him. Unlike Chase's ruggedly handsome and sharp features, this person had a much softer, rounded face with a pert little nose and brown eyes poking through thin eyes. He gave a little smile, revealing a single canine tooth in his upper row that was green, made entirely from jade.
"You are Enian general yes?" The stranger attempted to speak Porter's language with some difficulty but his words came out as mostly understandable.
"Oh well yes I am." Porter thought about the emblem he had taken with him. He must have been seen using it by this person. The teenager attempted to peer around the shorter man, searching for his compatriot. "Where did my friend go?"
"He is in washroom." The stranger gave out his smile again, the light catching in the jade tooth, making it sparkle its emerald colours. "You are general yes?"
"Yes yes, like I said I'm a general." Porter continued to look for Chase and absently flipped out the holographic image of the Enian symbol. "Where is the bathroom anyways? I can't believe Chase would even be able to find it." Porter's head flipped down a little too far and he noticed the dagger tucked through the belt loop of the man, one constructed completely of jade. Immediately his heart sunk down, colliding with his rising stomach. Thoughts of a robber, a mugger, an assassin, all rushed through his head and he felt a little spark course down his spine.
The stranger took note as well, bringing his hand down to run along the hilt of his weapon. "We will talk soon then." The man stepped back, giving Porter a chance to fully survey his new enemy, trying to gauge everything he could. While the person appeared somewhat young, Porter had found he had a hard time picking out the age of anyone in the Eastern United States. They all seemed to hold onto that twenty-something appearance until one day they were old and wrinkled. The pilot finally figured out that his mystery man was actually probably only a little bit older than Porter was.
And then everything went black.
A/N: The new portion of the world, the Eastern United States, lays open to exploration. As always though, Porter and Chase have easily found trouble in this foreign land, and without the back-up of their team!