Chapter 3 Lost Rose

Chapter 3: Still a Student
The leading SRS pilot walked to where he spotted the anomaly trying to comprehend recent events as he approached the spot. Though the arrival of the six fleet has relieved him of a major responsibility his mind started to wander about a certain person he saw
 (‘Could it really be her, after all this time’) he pondered, approaching the spot he sees a wall. The pilot walks up putting his hand on it
“Is this the spot?” he questioned his partner
“Based on video feed from the encounter, this seems to be the location of the anomaly, highlighting on your hud”
A diagram of a door appeared on the wall on the pilots hud. the pilot backed away deep in thought
“do the scans got anything?”
“No, scans reveal nothing”
The pilot walked up to the wall fist ready “cmon there has to be something…” anger seeping in his voice the pilot punched the wall leaving an indent “three” punch “Months” punch “with nothing” punch “and we’re still at” Juane reeled his fist farther back “SQUARE ONE!” the pilot threw a punch, glowing light around his fist, penetrating through the metal wall into the hallow area behind it. The pilot froze, eyes wide behind the helmet. The pilot looked both ways in the hallway. Seeing nobody he pulled his fist out of the wall backing away quickly.
“uhh VT, I found something” the pilot reported
“I see, if you put your hand into the hole you made I can scan the area for more information”
The pilot silently walked up to the hole and stuck his left hand in the hole he made. A dim blue light emanated in the dark space as the pilot kept his hand open in the dark space.
In the corner of the pilots hud the status of the scan
‘Scan complete’
‘Connecting’
“Connecting?” the pilot inquired
The wall the pilot had his arm in went back and moved to the left the pilot pulling his arm out and surveying the revealed entrance with a large room behind it and a button
“Pilot my scans indicate that this elevator goes directly down to the depth where the objective is located”
The pilot started to walk in pressing a button “umm ok just let me know next time when you do that VT”
the elevator silently descended into the unknown.
“Noted, I thought you wanted me to take initiative” the AI remarked to its partner
The pilot chuckled a little bit “I do but that doesn’t mean that you should do stuff without me knowing about it”
“yes but if I am allowed to be more autonomous it could increase our efficiency by twenty percent as well as-“
 “don’t forget about that time on Geneva” the pilot remarked
The elevator stopped and opened to reveal a considerably big room with two heavy doors to the left and right of the elevator and a security office parallel to the elevator entrance.
“Yes..” the titan begrudgingly remarked “but from my data there are other ways
Juane looked to his left and saw that the door was closed tightly sealed, he looked to his right to see the other door open.
“Huh, guess my choice has already been made”
He started to the door when he noticed a decapitated specture on the ground by the open door holding an unfamiliar weapon.
“hmm what do we got here?” he questioned as he reached down to pick up what appeared to be a volt
The intrigued pilot surveyed the weapon noticing its size, which appeared to be in between the size of a normal volt and an L-Star. The pilot couldn’t help but notice the red lines of red that lined both sides of the gun from the barrel to the clip.
“cant wait to see what you can do..” he commented as he holstered the weapon on his back.
Upon crossing the threshold of the door he saw the true state of the complex he was looking for as sparks came from broken overhead lights and scorch marks a noticeable sight, continuing as far as he can go coming upon a locked door open, letting out a sigh as he looked down at his hand which still wielded the grizzley device
“Is the glove recalibrated” he lifted his hand to his face and further observed the glove
“Yes, I have made sure to include the gravitational anomaly as well, all systems nominal”
Juane looked at the glove in distrust.
“Alright, here goes nothing”
With that statement he activated the glove transferring back to the past
The ruined and crushed lab that the pilot used to be standing in was replaced with a sterile white and gray lab with the door in front of him now open
Juane continued with caution using the grizzly device scarcely avoiding patrols along with ruble. When he came upon a ruined observation room that had rubble blocking the way forward along with a thick table in the middle and had a blast shield covering the observation glass but allowed white light from the other side to enter the room.
“Pilot, I am detecting large arc signatures just behind that wall” VT informed
Jumping to the past he approached the door to continue and started to open catching the pilot off guard. The pilot quickly jumped up onto a high part of the wall using an ice pike to keep himself by the vents as well as putting his shield in front of himself in hopes it would help him blend in.
The pilot heard two sets of footsteps walk into the room one sounding human the other metallic. Juane peeked over the shield to his dismay. one of the two who walked in was one of the most notable people in the IMC, the other appearing to be a robot of some kind which appeared to be a specture but was painted white and had a larger eye piece.
Both figures stood on opisite sides of the table before the man held the bridge of his nose with and sighed out.
“What does the board want now…” his tone annoyed
The robot straitened “General Mauder the board wishes to let you know that they appreciate your hard work in the frontier”
The General put his hands on the table “They better especially with the amount of resources that we spent” the general looked over to the glass.
“That reminds me, (Name of robot) what is the status on our suposivley leaked prototype?”
“Reports from our pilots and sources in the militia have concluded that the monarch has become quite favorable due to its survivability and cost to manufacture” the robot reported in a chirpy tone
The pilot not sure how long his exo suit can hold this spot continued to listen in.
“Good, that is great news for our R and D, anything else to add?”
The specture paused for a moment before letting out its message
“Yes, it is about her-”
Mauders form paused slightly by the reference “What have I told you about referencing her” managed anger and something else seeping in his voice
“I understand that sir but I need to tell you that the board says it is not satisfied with the time it is taking to get the results they wanted”
The general paused before pushing off the table and started to walk around the table “while I respect the board they only think two steps in front of them!” mauder started to rant “She is the next stage in human evolution and they only see her as numbers and a petri dish, they do not see the potential”
The machine looked at its master with a calculated stare
“While I support your hypotheses, I have noticed you have been spending much of your time with her, are you starting be ‘connected’ with the ‘subject’” the robot acused
The white haired veteran spoke out “that is none of your concern _____)
The robot pushed on “I understand sir but I along with the board wish to know what you plan on doing with the girl?”
“Her abilities will make a fine addition to the IMC but she is more than that, her skills in leadership and vision is what the IMC needs moving forward”
The robot tilted its head “does this mean that….”
“No, I am not resigning yet, though my age is starting to become a bigger burden there is still research that needs to be completed, but when the time comes she will be the one”
“But what about the other candidates, they are battle tested commanders that have done a great deal of progress for the IMC” the machine reasoned.
“They are great applicants for my position but they lack something crucial for the job of not just being the head of IMC forces but also as a researcher….”
“I have the full list of the skills needed for your position sir but you seem to have empathy towards the subject” the inquiry surprised the man “it is studied that humans can’t help but take care of something and to create a connection, it seems this may be compromising your ability to not just pick a suitable candidate to replace you but lead the IMC forces as well”
The general grew increasingly frustrated at the remark
“The relationship I have with her does not compromise my role in this company”
Mauder quickly looked at his wrist and the tension he showed lessened
“Now if you excuse me I have a meeting to attend to…. But Before I make leave what’s the status on the other subject, hopefully the militia have not wasted such potential”
“The subject is doing well general he has reported to still be serving in the marauder core”
The man scoffed “Typical, but at least not completely wasted and before I forget make sure to uphold the Namensänderung proticals, we cannot let her know of her other” the white hared man ordered as he started to head out of the room.

“Of course sir also what should I tell the board then?” the machine got out before mauder can leave
“tell them that we ran into some…, unforeseen variables but she is accepting her new identity and is integrating quite well, our R and D just needs just a little bit more time…” with that statement the general put up on an emotionless face before leaving the room the bot following him out.
The pilot paused before he made his move hopping down, scanning his surroundings
“VT, did you get the conversation?
The pilot started to head out the door opposite of where he came in
“Yes it is standard practice to record all moments in a mission for future reference “ his partner responded
“A simple yes would have been fine”
“Yes”
“ughh not what I meant”
Juane continued further following the usual routine avoiding more patrols and debris until he came upon his objective
“Juane I am detecting major arc signatures behind that door its interfering with my scanners
“looks like this might be the place “
He approached the door in the modern day which showed a blinding light behind a crushed in door
“Looks like you have to shift in order to secure it” VT recommended
“That’s what im afraid of doing” and sighed “just one more time…” and with that he shifted to the past and walked through the pristine door
Entering the room he quickly checked the room, seeing a small office space in the corner covered in a mess of drawings and calculations along with mannequins in the corner, catching the pilot’s eye was the prize
A white ball that sat neat and tidy in the center of the room, suspended by a machine that had three tesla coil antennas pointing at it at an angle.
The pilot, not thinking fourth dimensionally, took the moment to approach his objective nearly reaching it when the door he entered through started to open as another person came into the room. Upon that he quickly hid behind the machine hosting the Arc.
Peeking behind the structure he saw a box being floated in on a platform being pushed by a marvin, following that was a man in a large and bulky protective suit.
The pair kept towered the front of the room, stopping at a table that had an assortment parts and tools with the most notable object being a grey ball.
 The man now approached the crate.
“Open the Capsule my assistant” the figure said in distorted voice.
The marvin obeyed opening the box to which the man quickly grabbed the contents of using beaker tongs. Pulling the object out of the box Juane could see a ball similar to the Ark but dimmer, what also nagged at Juane was the feeling of his very aura being pulled towards the strange object.
VT acted based on past experiences
“External gravity source detected shutting down grizzly glove” VT whispered into Juane’s helmet
The Man in the bulky suit made sure the object in his hand is secured before putting his attention to the table where he picked up the grey ball with his open hand, opening it along with putting it on the floor.
The man proceeded to slowly place the orb into the grey ball which appeared to stay coincident with the sphere. Upon completing the task the man quickly closed the grey device and quickly backed away “Quick marve get behind something incase it explodes like last time!” they quickly headed to the table from earlier and flipping it over quickly moving behind it.
After about thirty seconds the the man peeked his head over the table looking at the grey ball before going over to it and picking it up with the bulky hand.
“HA HA! Success!” happiness apparent in the man’s voice as he ran over to his robotic assistant hugging him tightly which the robot did not reciprocate
The man let go letting out a couple of deep breaths “Now, one more piece” he slowley approached the Marvin and pulled a chip out of the back of the head causing the now soulless metal to collapse. With chip in hand the man now inserted it into the device.
“now to test it out” he started to head over to the part of the lab where the manequens lay when a watch let out a notification
The man looked down perplexed with his eyes went wide under his helmet and finders quickly taped a button and soon the doors closes and the lighting in the room dimmed to red and black with the contraption in the center of the room activating.
A white energy enveloped the pilot lifting him up by his very soul
The pilot let out a wail which was only heard by the one man in the room who was in full control of what’s going on as he approached the intruder with giddy steps.
“Today’s gooiing better than I thought, first my project going well and now discovering that there are fourth dimensional creatures!”
The man in the suit made his way towered his captured prey approaching it slowly but loosing anticipation as it realized what he had caught,
“Well by my black ass it’s a pilot” the figure took put his hands to his head and twisted off the helmet with a hiss to reveal an old man whose dark skin contrasted greatly from his stark white hair along with light green analytical eyes that viewed a whole pilot like a puzzle.
The old man let out a chuckle “and not just any pilot to, SRS”
The time tested engineer pulled up a chair
“Well what in the world are you doing here my good man?”
the pilot let out a grunt unable to move
“Oh right it might be easier to speak when your whole body is suspended by its molecules, my bad”
The man pushed some buttons on his wrist an brought the pilot to the ground, the energy that enveloped him dissipating from his body except from his arms.
“now, what in the sweet baby Jesus are you doing here?” he questioned like an old friend
The pilot stayed silent letting out deep breaths
“not talking huh well I  can guess you’re here for the Arc, well you aint getting it!” the engineer ranted “You militia terrorists think you guys can just take and destroy as you please but I’m doing work that will improve people’s wellbeing unlike anything in history and people like you won’t get in the way off it!”
The man started to walk towards the desk
“Your wrong…” the pilot Weakley let out between breaths “you got it all wrong…”
The man came back “how am I wrong you guys caused unneeded deaths on multiple plannets and caused one to be inhabitable for generations!”
“What kind of rock have you been living under?” the pilot continued on “The IMC has done way worse than just kill people, they experiment on not just people but whole communities as well and it has only gotten worse with the discovery of the Arcs!”
The scientist look disgusted looking at the pilot up and down “Why should I believe you the IMC has done good for me so far and will not abuse their power!” he angrily yelled at the pilot “and…” the voice trailed off when he notice the device on his wrist keeping eye contact with it until the pilot had enough
“and what! What else has the Prestigious IMC done to make your life better?”
The gravitational engineer continued to silently contemplate “Why are you here?”
The pilot craned his head “Excuse me?”
“Why are you really here? Is this ball really the cause of so much trouble?”
The pilot paused before quietly nodding
The engineer paced a little bit before facing the pilot again “let’s say I believe you…, what do you guys do with an Arc?”
The pilot stared at the man for a little before answering the question
“To be completely honest I don’t know all the details but what I do know is that we take it to a secure uninhabited planet and through my experiences I have come across and disposed of 4 other of those dammed balls of insanity”
The scientist put a hand to his chin in thought as he turned away from the pilot in thought and contemplation for a time before turning back to face the pilot
“Let’s say I believe you….”
The pilot paused before giving his answer
“this some kind of test”
“no…, but lets say I want to go into a line of work that’s more…., humanitarian”
The engineer’s words flew over the pilot
“what do you mean new work your already in work an-“ Juanes partner caught on can made sure to let the pilot know
“OH, uh yea… I can help you uh get into that kind of work”
“good to hear just keep in mind that I need to finish this side project I’ve been working on it’s for a certain friend of mine” the man pushed the tab on his wrist and the energy surrounding the pilots arms dissipated as the machine in the center of the room became dormant.
The pilot stood up checking his arms and wrist before slowly making his way to his apparent new ally, he put out his hand as he approached the engineer “to be completely honest this doesn’t happen very often so can I get your name?”
The man reciprocated the gesture and with a grin on his face looking the pilot in the eyes through the helmet “I can understand, my name is Edward, Edward Grizzly”
…..
Juane returned in the present back to the soulless lab. He patted himself down “Still in one piece” he sighed. The pilot looked around seeing the disabled spectures and marvins littering the room in the center of the room now with a large gray ball with cracks and pieces chipped off that reveal the white light inside. The pilot approached the ball slowly
“Pilot I recommend slowly opening the casing so to not shock the objective” VT recommended
“I’ll make sure to be careful these things are usually pretty safe once we use the thing”
The pilot went over to the container putting his hands on one of the large cracks “here goes nothing” the pilot pulled letting out a grunt a dim flash of light surrounding the pilot causing the container to give way to reveal the source of the light inside.
The pilots hud lit up with dials and symbols as he looked over the object inside
“Arc identified and secured initiating protocol bring home the bacon”
Juane let out a chuckle “see you’re finally using the phrasing we talked about”
“Indeed having common phrasing will help to increase our combat effectiveness”
The pilot backup and put his hands on his sides looking down with a sigh “you’re missing the point not everything is about fighting”
“Conflict is the reason we are together and it is a priority that we have the highest combat effectiveness for our survival”
“Well VT from my experience there is more to this war than just shoot and destroy but ill explain it more when were done with this mission, NOW!” The pilot pulled out a box, with black lines tracing the side of the box to its center, from his belt “activate the thing!”
“Activating gravitamical oxidizer” VT stated, the device started to glow as oxidizing energies accumulated the pilot grunting as his grip on the device quickly becomes weaker.
“Charging sequence at 45 Percent”
Pushing through the pilot started to make his way over focusing solely on the objective
“Charging sequence at 55 Percent, are you alright pilot?”
Juane gritted his teeth “Yes, just like all the other times we’ve done this I’m fine, just a little closer and-“ a pair of metallic hands grabbed the back of the pilots uniform with a metallic cling
“Oh sh-“ juane was thrown back leaving an indent in the wall along with a faint glow surrounding him as he crumpled to the floor. The pilot lazily looked up “huh—“ the metallic form walked up to the pilot before grabing and lifting him up. The pilot was able to see the attacker a machine that looked similar to the specture from earlier.
VT checked in “Pilot you alright? I have lost the signal to your helmet camera”
The pilot grunted as he attempted to get away from the assailant
“int-t-ruder identified” The camera on the robots face lit spastically as it spoke
The robot threw the pilot back hitting the machine that housed the arc. The robot started to walk over calculated only stopping when coming upon the glowing box the pilot dropped. The machine looked down analyzing it the box started to vibrate and glow brighter as the stored energies went critical. Energies were released from the box that encompassed the entire room, the robot craned its head with the light in the robots eye going dark as it keeled over.
The pilot peeked over his shield that he was scrunched behind. He grodily stood up looking around, taking in the events that have transpired before he put a hand to his head.
“VT…, you uh, still there”
“Yes, are you alright Juane, I am trying to reconnect to your helmets onboard camera, do you require any assistance?”
“No…, I’m… fine, I just got…, surprised that’s all but”
Juane walked over and picked up the oxidizer, he looked it over seeing the many safe guards tripped
“We are going to need a new oxidizer and send someone down here to-“ The pilot looked behind him seeing the white orb now spinning rapidly as it collected unknown energies. The pilot immediately started backing away shield in front
“Pilot, I’m detecting a sudden increase in arc energies near your location, what is happening?”
“I don’t know, but I don’t want to find out” Juane readied the grizzly device
“VT I’m heading out the same way I came in, give me indicators”
“Understood setting markers, the energy seems to be increasing at a constant rate I predict it will reach critical in 23 minutes marking on your hud”
Juane looked back at his mistake before looking to the door he came through. “Also make sure to let out the order for everyone to evacuate and to meet at point chuck”
“Of course, relaying”
With a little prep the pilot was off, running and jumping past ruble and people alike, as the elevator reached the top Juane read 15 minutes as he walked out.
“Hope I’m the last one out of this place”
…..
One traditionalist seargent took a look at the many other soldiers and squads. He looked back from the tree line at the compound, seeing the supposed important building empty once again say for a few emplacements and turrets. He sighed putting his hat on as he started, walking back to his responsibilities. Approaching his squad in an illuminated area he can see many had their rifles along with a bottle still in their hand.
“Alright you party poopers, head count!” the sergeant pulled the duffle bag off his back pulling out syringes “Borris!” he yelled
“Here sarge…” an intoxicated grunt yelled out.
The serge tossed Borris a syringe which he injected into his thigh. The sergeant moved on calling out everyone’s names on Red squad as he handed out (refresh syringes)
Tai
Lester
Lian
John
Dillan
Pablo
Simon
Giles
Finishing the list with “Jane!” he looked over his squad syringe in hand “Jane where are you!” the squad looked around to no avail.
A light bulb lit in the Serge’s head, he reached for his belt “oh yea...” he pulled a data pad from his belt “I can find her location here and…”
“Wait you can track our location, that’s a little bit creepy” Giles said sarcastically
The pad loaded showing Janes last location
“shit..!” the sergeant looked back at the empty compound then back to the datapad “oh fuck” he started to quickly back away grabing his riffle
“Serge, what’s wrong?“ Boris questioned
“Janes still in there!” the traditionalist started walking quickley
Shock and confusion showed on the faces of everyone present in the squad
“The hell I thought she was with you Tai?” Simon questioned as red squad followed the commander
Tai quickly followed close behind along with the rest of the squad “I d-don’t remember, all I can recall is passing out at the party and waking up with the evac sirens and a refresh syringe in my arm”
They walked passed many other squads and grunts in a hurry, garnering looks from other complete squads and titans pilot pairs
“Crap she must have time jumped” Boris muttered
“you say something Boris? Tai looked at Boris
“No, but it means we must hurry...”
Red squad followed their sergeant coming upon a parked convoy of flatbed trucks. The serge got into the one with an anti-titan cannon on top, rolling down the window as he turned on the vehicle. “You guys coming or what” he yelled
The squad eyeballed each other before they got into two other trucks, the ones not able to fit inside the trucks sat in the beds on top of hastily stored turrets and arc traps rifles in hand.
The sergeant honked the horn catching the attention of his squad, leaning out of the window and pointed to his head. His voice came on the com in each of the helmets “no one left behind…, we don’t leave till we find Jane. Anyone who doesn’t want to go is free to get off, Im not ordering any of you go”
There was a pause nobody moved from their spots, one made a move off the truck everyone’s eyes locked on the person
“Sorry guys, Promised to my brother id make it home” Lain glumly said and started walking back into the camp
the squad watched with conflicted expressions as she made her way out of view the sergeants voice came back on the coms “For those who made their decision to stay, Thanks..” serge floored the petal driving quickly out of the camp along with the rest of the squad close behind.
…..
The trio of trucks tore through the distance to the complex stopping only at the center yard the squad quickly got out of the vehicles. Hastily the sergeant started to run towed the far end of the complex “spread out we got to act fast!”
The sergeant stopped in his tracks with heavy mechanical footsteps being heard in the distance. He reached back and grabbed his rifle pointing at the direction of the footsteps seeing the vanguard titan quickly heading in his direction.
Before the serge could properly react the titan was already upon them, running quickly pass them out of the complex. One of the grunts watched as the titan exited the facility in a hurry.
“Where the hell is he going were still here?”
“Forget about him we still have to find Jane!” the serge let out quickly.
Red squad looked all around for their missing rifleman calling out her name along with a couple of the squad trying to use the electronic approach
The time that displayed in everyone’s helmet hud reached 0:00
Boris’s face became defeated “Ahh hell”
Soon a wave of went through them; the setting around the squad soon faded in blue scale.