Poooof!

"Engineers, eyes and ears." Lieutenant Campbell reminded the squad before her. With a satisfied nod, she turned around to face the gate. Letters made of steel and welded together, hanged above, worded; 'Sixth Little Auxillary Division'.

It was clear that this was a military school for young women, but there was nothing feminine about it. Everything was blunt and none was of any artistic value. Even the less skilled artisans could craft the exteriors of the school. The unwelcoming jagged grey walls, seemingly gave a vibe of horror, discouraging any type of person from approaching. Perhaps this was the intended purpose all along.

The message was plain and simple. This training ground was designed solely for toughness.

Taking a deep breath, Campbell led the Engineers inside. Behind the gate, several mercenaries stood guard. Wilkins revealed himself among them, marching alongside the lieutenant as they went deeper into the wide expanse of sands.

"I don't understand your purpose lieutenant. The trainees only use 3rd gens for practice." Wilkins said, staring into the silhouettes, standing in the distance. He added, "No use studying obsolete machines."

"We base our next designs from existing ones." Campbell raised a finger, ready to educate the man. "These 3rd gens would prove to be useful references in order to make a rough guess on their descendants."

Wilkins did not responded, only anticipating their approach on the central area where a few camps were erected, and a single facility stood.

As they neared their destination, the silhouettes became clearer. Dozens of young women, wearing dark-red uniforms, stood in an orderly column. Their eyes showed disregard to their current situation. One can interpret it as defiance.

Behind the young potentates, were also a column of colossal war machines, arranged and neatly put together to make a presentation.

Campbell studied each of the young pilots, looking them in the eyes. After a moment of careful observation, she spoke, "Girls, I hope you don't mind me taking a quick look on your toys."

-----

Sy was busy making new lessons for the girls. Flint and his men were released from custody, but the industrial ship was seized. They had nowhere to stay, so he allowed them to camp in Niel's garage. Somehow, the technicians found it to be a time for celebration. After they manually carried the hover bike inside, they started roasting meat, and cases of beers were delivered.

The young Pioneer wanted to join them, but still have some tasks to finish.

There was a quick knock on the door before it swung open, revealing Flint holding a plate filled with roasted pork. As its savory smell entered the room, he declared, lowering the tone of his voice, "I bring forth food from the underworld."

Flint was already accustomed to the three girls. After he was outsmarted in every topic, the only thing that he can boast around them were horror stories and movies.

When he settled the plate down on the table, the three girls wolfed it down in just a matter of seconds.

Jinae held the greasy plate up, and uttered with her emotionless voice, "More."

Flint was speechless, his eyes wide opened. He glanced at Sy's direction and found the man staring back at him with an eye closed. With an awkward chuckle, he took the plate and sprinted outside, shouting, "The boogeyman shall be back with more treats!"

Mrs. Davids and the other tenants, had already joined the technicians downstairs, finding it a good time to let out some steam, as Logria seemed to be plagued with misfortunes nowadays.

Sy finished designing the girls' lessons, but placed the computers and tablets to the side. This was a good time for them to socialize with other people, and the devices might serve as a distraction to them.

"Let's go down." He said, and went to the door. The girls did not refuse this as they eagerly followed behind.

In the garage, they were already chattering and laughing. Sy and the girls were directed to a table, where some other foods that the tenants brought down were served. Flint immediately came giving a bottle of beer to Sy and laying down another plate of roasted meat.

The girls garnered a lot of attention from the other tenants, while Sy was pulled away into the heart of the noises.

Soon, Laira and Genevieve joined the occasion, linking with the table of the other tenants.

"Sy, my man.. what is your relationship with Genevieve Runerie?"

"How come you know her?"

"Is she.. is she your girlfriend?"

While Sy had trouble answering the barrage of questions from the technicians, a hover bus suddenly halted in front of the garage. When Andreas, Dylan, Theon, and the other mech specialists poured out from the vehicle, there was a loud cheer. Flint and his men recognized their attires which indicated their status. They were hurriedly escorted inside, a bottle already forced in their hands.

The specialists sheepishly slipped into the crowd, finding solace beside Sy.

"How's the trip?" Sy asked, he continued after observing the hover bus which parked inside the spacious garage, "Nice ride. I hope you did not steal it."

"We had some help." Dylan answered.

"Oh.. you're gonna like who that person is." Theon added with an excited voice.

Shortly after, a handsome yellow haired man inserted himself into the group, but not without a beer in hand, automatically given by the technicians. No one was allowed to refuse.

"Behold," Theon started, careful not to say it out loud, motioning to the yellow haired man, "The Announcer! The Bus Driver! The Poker Face! Eran Losac."

This instantly made Sy raise a brow. Two Losacs. Two Runeries. He wouldn't be surprised if their families influence the central government to rescue their children.

Eran extended a hand which Sy shook. It was the first time the two had finally meet eye to eye as the former sized up the latter.

"How do you judge the current state of Logria?" Eran asked, eyes discerning.

"I'm new around here." Sy sunk back to his seat, "No casualties. I'd say it's a little bit bad now. But if there's compensation for the damage. An unreasonable one. The city could use this to its advantage in the future."

Eran smiled at the response, choosing to sit beside the most capable man in the vicinity, or even in the entire city. He wanted to have more discussions.

"My sister truly has good judgement." Eran stated, gulping a mouthful from his bottle.

"You're Emma's brother?" Sy questioned.

"Little brother." Eran smiled, before his face turned serious, "Well, she's in the mayor's office now. She has taken the responsibility to negotiate with the invaders. With the incompetent mayor, I don't think he'll make a good bargain."

A sigh left Sy. He was about to ask where Emma was and her little brother quickly predicted the next question. Somehow, he was worried with Emma, but he just didn't know where to find her in the inner part of the city.

Eran emptied his bottle and took another.

"I like the announcer. He's not tense." Sy commented.

A chuckle escaped the Losac. He said in a hoarse voice, "What can I do? My sister is out there in the most dangerous part of the city, right now."

There was silence between the two as Sy felt uneasy. He finally drunk from his bottle.

"Well, I'm not saying that those mercenaries would do any harm to her. They carefully occupied the city without inflicting civilian casualties. I'm just not comfortable with her out there trying to compensate the inability of a fool." Eran pointed.

"If only the comms are up. We could just contact her any time." Dylan inserted, listening attentively to the conversation just like the other specialists.

"I know about the crystals with unique frequency. They use them to communicate even with intense atmospheric EM. If we can grab one from their signal boosters, we can even communicate outside Logria." Andreas suggested, deep in thought.

Theon nervously laughed, "You're saying we go steal from highly trained mercs? Hehe. No way!"

Suddenly, Genevieve appeared in the background, slamming her fist on the table where they gathered around. She then flashed each of the specialists a cold glare, followed by a fierce voice, "I suggest you all stay put and don't do anything stupid."

After that, she pointed a finger at the Losac, "And you, Eran. Your sister knows how to handle herself."

The yellow haired man could only glance away in response.

Genevieve pulled Sy into a corner. She calmly stated, "You should stay calculating instead of getting impulsive."

"I'm not planning to do anything." Sy defended, raising the bottle into his mouth.

"Good. That's good." Genevieve turned, and went to the stairs, saying, "The girls will be staying with Laira tonight. Don't get drunk. I'll be waiting in your room."

Poooof!

Sy spat out the alcohol from his mouth. He then begrudgingly look at Genevieve's back who chuckled at his reaction.

'Like I will!'