Mᴇᴄʜ Cᴀᴅᴇᴛs| Sᴛᴀɴғᴏʀᴅ Yᴜ x Rᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 8: 𝐕𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐬

We sat around the campfire. "What about you, Hana? Why'd you become a pilot?" Stanford inquired as I snapped back into reality. "Um, my parent's legacy. My dad is a captain, and my mom was... she was general but retired after I was born. So everyone was expecting me, a Tanaka, to continue that legacy." I explained. "It's a lot to live up to." Frank spoke. "Try having a general as your dad." Liv spoke.

"You know, I always thought I was doing this for my dad but after the other night I realized that as much as my mom is always trying to keep me safe, I want to keep her safe. The problem is that the only way to really protect her is to protect everyone, isn't it?" He glances at me, and I look down.

"For all humanity." I say sadly. " We should head back." Maya speaks, standing up. She dusts herself. I felt bad for her as we talked about our families when she lost her parents, and her brother was all alone. Frank followed her, and Stanford looked at me confused. The three of us stood up and put out the fire with sand.

"You're okay, Stanford." Liv speaks up, making me smile. I turn to Stanford and give him a hug. He's shocked at first but hugs me back. "Looks like everyone's warming up to you know." I mentioned looking at him. He smiles and nods. We got in our Robos and flew back.

Everyone was pretty chill until Stanford and I heard a familiar voice. "Hey Stanford, Hana." She pointed for us to follow her and disappeared. "Uh, you guys head back. We'll catch up." Stanford spoke as we followed her. "What's up?" I asked Ava as she led us somewhere. Chief Max was there, too.

"Veritas was reclassified from 'repair pending' to 'killed in action'. None of it makes sense, and their pilot..." Ava looked at me. "I remember him. Lieutenant Valle was decommissioned and promoted to head of the European base." I remember as we walked.

"Doesn't that all seem unusual?" I nodded at her statement. "What's even more unusual. Veritas was never returned here to be evaluated. Those orders had to come from the top." I stopped as I realized what she meant. "General Park." I speak as she nods. "This is it." We stopped at a door as she scanned her keycard.

"It worked this morning."" Someone must have removed the security access." Ava walked towards Stanford as he gasped. She gave him a look and crossed her arms. "Oh, come on. I'm on probation." Now, this caught my attention. If he got into trouble, I was going down with him. "You owe me, Stanford Yu."

Stanford gives in as he pulls out a tech thingy. "That doesn't look Sky Corps regulation." He put it up to the scanner, and it worked. The door opened up, and we entered. As we entered, the light turned on. We walked past a table, and Ava stopped. We continued walking, and I kept my guard up. That's when something caught my eye.

"Veritas." I felt so horrid and bad. Their power core was removed, and I put 2 and 2 together. "Their power core." Stanford pointed out. I started storming to the cadet dorms, Stanford and Ava following behind. I paced straight to Olivia's room and pounded on the door. "Olivia!" I shouted with anger in my head.

She opened her door and I was about to kill her but Ava held me back. "Did you know that HF1 is being powered by a Robo power core?" Stanford asked as I already knew her answer. "We've always salvaged inoperable Robo Mechs for parts." She speaks calmly as Ava let's me go. "Inoperable? We could have fixed them." Ava speaks on behalf of the engineers.

"They were killed in action." She spoke put without knowing. "You liar! If they were killed in action, then how was their core still functioning? Do you think you're dad--" I asked with rage.

"Don't you dare. Don't you dare make accusations about my father, your Commander, without solid proof." Before she could close the door I made a snarky comment. "My mother was a better general than your father could ever be. She wouldn't have done this." I leave as Olivia comes out her room towards the door.

Olivia's POV

I went to confront my dad. "Just tell me if it's true." I stood in front of him. "Sometimes I forget how young you are. When you're older and you've seen the things I've seen, when you've done the things I've had to do, then you can judge me." He speaks up.

"I wasn't judging. I just want to know."

"Know what? That I was the one to have Veritas killed? To have their core removed so it could power an entire squadron of Hero Force units. That I protect humanity at all costs? That I value your life more than an alien Robo's? That, for once, I'd prefer not to send children off to die!" He shouted at me.

"I... I thought you expected me to be a pilot." I revealed as he turns his head slightly. "You wanted to be the pilot, Olivia. I expected you to be the best, but it's the last thing I wanted." I get angry and say something I'll regret

"Hana was right. Aunt Mika was a better general. She would've have made the situation better." And with that I left his office.

a/n: i updated today cause i was not busy. yay. i had an idea for this story but don't worry, im not discontinuing this story :)