Lykaios & Yuffie

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Eira nodded and immediately moved to collect the pilot. She noted that the others were collecting pieces of the defeated Zabers that they were able to salvage and decided that given the head that the pilot was stuck in was in perfect condition besides being completely severed from its body, she had Sora lean down to pick up the piece in his jaws, carefully in such a means that they wouldn't risk harming the pilot inside too much before she began the trek back to base, arriving in the hangar not too long after. She set down the severed Zaber Fang head on the floor, not yet putting Sora away, but instead lowering him to a laid down position in order to sit in the cockpit and wait for Agni and the others to return, keeping her eyes on the pilot trapped in his cockpit and her hands on the controls ready to chase after him if her attempted and escape and succeeded in opening the Zaber's inactive hatch. When Agni arrived, she turned her attention to him, opening a communication line. "captive is secure, Agni. Waiting on you and anyone else you want present to begin questioning." she reported, turning to fiddle with some controls briefly before she continued talking. "I kept the detached head, too, since your friends seemed to be collecting useful pieces. I figured it was mostly in tact, there would surely be some useful pieces for them." she then paused, to await the man's response, her eyes turning away from the communication line again to keep watch on their captive Imperial.

[Lykaios]

Agni brought some Zaber parts in himself, quietly contemplating their situation. When he got into the hangar, Eira opened a line of communication with him, and he opened his eyes to her words. Nodding, he called Tank over the comm-line.
"Tank, I'll have you with me." he told the big guy. At least, having the one who lived up to his name-sake for the level of threat he was hoping to display to their Imperial prisoner would assist him getting the answers a lot easier than finding the need to resort to torture.

Agni secured the Geno Saurer to it's tether and opened the cockpit and exited the Zoid. As he did so, he saw Zeke dicking around with the wiring of the severed Zaber head, until it sparked; and the cockpit opened. Agni had to admit he was impressed: Zeke sure knew his stuff about Zoids. The rest of his friends were guarding the opening cockpit zealously, making sure the pilot wouldn't be able to escape. He glanced at Eira, sitting in her Zoids cockpit still: also keeping her eye on their captive.

Reaching the small group, Agni and Tank advanced on the Zaber head. Reaching the cockpit; Agni was surprised to see the pilot looked wounded: blood trickling from his shoulder, forehead and chest.
"Get the medkit!" he shouted, pointing at Amaya, who quickly ducked out of the crowd towards the medical supplies stocked in an adjoining room.
"You look like shit, Imperial. But I can't leave you to die. Can you move?" he asked, trying to look over the soldier.
"Screw...you...re...re...rebel...scum..." he groaned, attempting to raise his pistol. Agni frowned, taking it from his hand.
"I'll take that as a yes." he growled, waving his hand to call Tank up to the cockpit. Looking towards Rai, he spoke.

"Get a stretcher, and some water. This guy's probably going to need a drink, or he might start coughing up blood."

Returning his attention to Tank and the soldier, he nodded to his friend and they both leaned into the cockpit.
"Now, don't try and stab us. We're just gonna get you out of this cockpit, and try and treat your wounds."
"W...why..."
"'Why are we helping you?' Because I wanted to get information. Leaving you to die won't get me that. And I don't condone torture, so you got lucky: getting caught by the purer rebels. Now, we will probably have to sedate you, so you don't feel the pain you're presently in. When you wake, I want to have a chat, okay?" he asked, grasping the man's hand, in an effort to keep him alert, attentive and conscious.
"I...won't...tell...you...anything..." he coughed.
"Good. There's a good man." Agni responded.

Agni let Tank do most of the work in getting him out, only helping when he got to the same side as his friend, and helped to put him on the stretcher.
"Get the doctor. We can't do this without help." he asked, and Xshu was already moving to town: quick as he could. Amaya came out with the medkit, and a terrified Mercia in tow. When she saw Agni was okay, she sighed in relief. The boys carried the stretcher into the med room, with Amaya buzzing around to see what she could do. Getting him onto the bed, they removed the stretcher and Amaya started cleaning his wounds. Agni tore the mans shirt, to get a clear look at his bodies injuries and growled. He was hurt bad: but not fatally if he could be treated soon.

Zeke came in at just that moment, a look of danger on his face. He was frustrated with something.
"The Zaber's wiring fried on him. That's why he's injured."
"Ah, shit. Gotta get the doc her soon!" he growled, and took a syringe from Amaya. "Alright, Imperial. Here comes your shot. Trust me: I won't let you die." he said, returning the man's unfocussed attention to himself.
"Yes...you...will. We're...e...ne...mies..."
"Doesn't mean I'm trying to kill you. I still want that chat." he said, as he injected the man with the sedative shot. Shortly after, he was asleep.

Tank, Mercia and Agni left the room; Tank looking at Agni with respect and urgency, Mercia smiling in adoration of her big brother. Agni just wanted a moment to collect himself, but didn't want to push away from them. Suddenly, he just steppes away and shouted.

"Fuck!" the word resonated with the hangar and his feelings, and the doctor came in.

"I'm afraid I don't have any prescriptions for that, Mister Dalgaard." he huffed, heading towards the med room. "Is our patient in there?"
"Yeah." Tank responded for Agni, who was more than a little agitated with the doctor's manner, as Xshu came back in, panting.

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Eira saw to it that Sora was secured back in his bay in the hangar before she made any move to follow the others. As soon as he was in his bay, she headed straight for the location the imperial had been taken to, on the way hearing Agni curse loudly in frustration. When she arrived, Agni and the doctor had already entered the room and so she decided to wait patiently at the doorway until she was told it was alright for her to enter. She didn't speak, however, not feeling it was her place to offer any opinions at the time.
The imperial was not familiar to her, she noted, but she doubted the same could be said for the reverse. She was a known imperial traitor and no matter how much of a newbie a soldier was, they all knew of her, since she was on the 'wanted so bad we don't care if she's a pile of ashes when you bring her back' list. But she didn't regret her decision to turn republican. It felt right supporting the republic. The imperials, even if it was the fault of a few, were a corrupt, brainwashed society of murderers and she couldn't stand to be a part of that again, even if her only other option was death. She still felt like a monster from her acts as a young soldier. She was glad to have seen the truth of her actions, especially since it meant she had the chance to fix things with Agni, whom the crimes she committed against had haunted her since that fateful day.

[Lykaios]

Agni sat down in a corner; too anxious to function correctly anymore. His anger was so high, that his mind threatened to tear itself apart; all over again. In his mind, he kept seeing his fathers death at Eira's hand, and it was tearing him up again. The life of that young Imperial soldier hung in the balance, and all because of his decision to steal a Geno Saurer from the Imperial base not far down from his quaint little village. Growling, Agni sat there; his back against the corner of the wall, seated in his rear, with his legs upright in front of him. In his right hand, he still held the soldiers pistol, while his left grabbed at his hair in frustration. His eyes closed, his expression looked like the madness he suffered from the first couple of months after his fathers death. The woman responsible for his fathers death was here.

His eyes shot open; devoid of any semblance of reason, or thought. He rose and stomped toward the girl, Eira; and raised the pistol as he got to her. It was her fault. Hers. And she should pay.

"My...father..." his voice came out aggressive and unreasoning, his mind broken. Rai, Tank, Amaya, Xshu and Mercia saw this; and their eyes went wide, rushing over. Tank was the only one who could grab Agni without getting hurt when he fought back, so he grabbed him from behind; pinning the gun hand to his side. Agni wrestled against his captor: head-butting and kicking him, hard. Rai snuck up and took the pistol from his hand; passing it to Amaya who quickly slunk away to dispose of the firearm in some way or another.

"Let go of me!" he growled, that discordant voice still coming from between his clenched teeth.
"Easy, A, easy. We're all friends here. It's us, Agni. Come on, see? It's just us. Just, calm down." Rai said, raising his palms, to display a lack of threat.

Eventually Agni would calm down...they hoped. Tank, Rai and Xshu escorted Agni into the main hangar bay; leaving the girls in the room outside of the medbay. Amaya looked a bit worried, but turned to Eira and Mercia.
"He's...just gonna need a breather. Too much excitement, too quickly. Since...since his father's death; he has this tendency to get a bit...out of control, sometimes." she explained for Eira's sake. Unfortunately enough, she herself didn't know what truly connected Agni to Eira. Which, for the moment, was probably the best for them both.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Fen had stayed for the duration of the battle, recording the entire event to send to Schubaltz as he daily report. He then flew his Zoid off to a safe location and got changed out of his uniform before heading back into the small village.

He really needed a decent hot meal.

((Sorry it's crap... just getting myself back into things.))

[Yuffie Kisaragi]

Shockingly, Eira didn't even flinch when the handgun was held to her head. When Agni was dragged away and Amaya and Mercia were left with her, she still remained still where she was. After a moment, as if she hadn't even heard the other woman talking to her, she turned and abruptly walked away, headed straight to the hangar. First thing she did was leave a hastily scrawled letter on the cockpit of Agni's Geno Saurer, before she fired up her Ixion Wing and left, only going as far as the maze of canyons nearby the village, before she found an open crag of jagged stone in the higher reaches of the canyons, where she laid her zoid down to wait, shutting off all un-needed systems to minimise her zoid's heat signature and reduce un-necessary waste of power. Now all she had to do was sit and wait for Agni to read her letter and wait for his response, whatever it may be.

The letter read: 'Sir, I have seen fit to temporarily remove myself from your presence, as I can see that I am nothing but a source of trouble for you and your family and friends. I will be waiting in the canyons should you choose to find me. It is your choice if you wish the battle me and Sora. Come alone with your choice of Zoid if you wish to battle, if you do not come in two days I will leave and I will vow not to return to your home. I hope that I will see you soon to settle this.
-E.A. Montero

[Lykaios]

Amaya and Mercia watched as Eira scrawled her note and left it on the Geno Saurer before taking off in her zoid. Looking at each other, they shared a look of concern; neither knowing what set Agni off.

Tank, Rai and Xshu kept Agni in check, and waited for him to cool off. In their peripherals, they watched as Eira left and they gave him a minute before they let him see that she was gone. It was a bit before he came back to himself and the three keeping an eye on him could relax: especially Tank.

Agni's mind blanked, and he failed to comprehend why Tank had him in a rear-strangehold. He looked around and saw Rai and Xshu looking anxious and concerned and he instantly became worried.

"What did I do?" he asked, having experienced physchological black-outs like this before. Dalgaard's tone was neutral, but he was terrified as to what he may have done. Looking at him, Rai's expression softened and paled.
"You had a gun to Montero's head."

Agni's eyes widened, his jaw slackened and his fear obvious.
"Did I fire?"
"No." Rai replied, "But you gave us a hell of a scare. Eira's gone, and Mercia and Amaya are still unsure of what happened."
"Did she say anything?" he asked. Rai just shook his head.

Tank let him go, and Agni stretched his arms, and cracked his neck. He appreciated his friends when he got like that; out of control was something the psychologists had warned his friends he had the capacity for when too much happened. And anything was possible when he hit that state. He walked over to Mercia, to show her he was okay.

"She left a note on the Geno Saurer." she said as he reached them.
"Eira?" he asked. When she nodded, he climbed into the Geno's cockpit and read the note.

Amazed at the calmness of the note; Agni scrunched it up and sat there. Frustration and guilt wrenching at his conscience.

"She's the one who killed Dad, isn't she?" Agni jumped at Mercia's voice. She'd always been a lot better at seeing things than he gave her credit for. He simply nodded.
"You're trying to forgive her, aren't you?" he nodded again.

"It's harder than I give thought to..." he responded quietly.
"At least you're giving her a chance. What did she say in the note?"
"Asked if we will do battle, or she'll leave in two days if I don't come find her." he couldn't find words to say 'and never return'.
"Go fight her. But get some food and calm down before you do."

His sister was being really mature and understanding, and she was suggesting something to him that could give him time to come to a final decision. Nodding, he smiled at his sisters clever idea.

"I can't see you as such a smart kid, Mer."
"Shut up." she snapped, and smiled. "One of us needs to be."
"Oh, thanks." he groaned, as she helped him from the cockpit. Watching him leave the hangar from the Geno Saurer, Mercia got in and started up the short-wave communicator; seeking Eira's Zoid's signal. Once she found it, she hailed and sent through a video message.

"Eira, I don't know if you're listening to this, but I have to say it. I forgive you for what you've done. And I can see you're trying very hard to make ammends; so I know the pain you caused, is causing you pain too. Agni needs time to think; but he's going to come see you. If you fight, or what: that's up to you, but he's trying to forgive as well. He's incredibly stubborn, though, so it'll take some time. Just know that he's trying to hold the right people responsible. I have, and I don't think he can see it yet. But you're a good person, who was made to do horrible things. It's not your fault. Thank you for doing your best to fix what you did. That alone told me that you want to atone. Whatever happens, I'm happy to have met you. And I will happily call you a friend. Mercia Dalgaard, out." she finished and sent Eira the message. Leaving the cockpit, she found Xshu, Rai and Tank standing on the platform, gob-smacked.

"You knew?"
"Yeah. I knew."
"How long for?"
"When Agni didn't say how they met, I had my suspicions confirmed."
"Damn, girl. You're too smart for your age." Tank said.
"I had you all fooled, didn't I?" she smiled, as they nodded grimly.

------

Agni walked into the bar and sat on a stool as Xshu's father nodded at him, seeing his distress.
"Been a rough mornin' for ya, ey, Hunter?" he asked, opening a bottle of vodka, and pouring some of it into a cool drink for Agni. Smiling, Agni took the drink and took a sip.
"Not kidding. I was hoping after my big job last night, I'd be able to take it easy until I adjusted to my Zoid."
"Least all o' ya made it okay."
"Yeah. Gotta hand it to her. Without Eira and her Ixion-Wing we'd have probably had more trouble."
"Those Imperials might leave us alone now. I don't wanna think about the other option."
"You and me both, Rod. You and me both." he replied, as Xshu's mother brought out a juicy steak and vegies for him.
"Eat up, Hunter. We need you strong." she said.
"Thanks Sara. How much for lunch?"
"On us, sport. Eat well, mate." Rod said.

Smiling as he gave them his thanks, he looked around and noticed the man he'd sat down beside. He was unfamiliar, so Agni guessed he was just traveling through. Not interrupting the mans meal, Agni ate his own and stopped to chat with locals when they spoke to him, but just gave himself time to relax and eat.

It was giving him time to think, at least.