Girls' Frontline: Fighter's Honor

Reprisal I

The first thing Maven could register was noise.

More specifically ringing in his ears, like he accidentally played music just a bit too loud for too long. Everything else felt too washed out to accurately make sense of.

Then he could actually feel again, and he could feel that he was being dragged from underneath the armpits before being gently let down on somewhere that wasn't exactly comfortable.

Not too long after his vision started returning, everything fading in as blood properly started circulating again. Everything was still a bit blurry and too bright, evidently his eyes were still adjusting, to which he couldn't help but groan.

In an instant someone rushed over to him. He had to blink his eyes a couple times but soon enough he recognized the humanoid in front of him—

"Maven, are you awake? How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Yeah Gsh I'm up. How am I looking doc?" Maven replied while dodging the cliché finger test.

"Don't worry, you're alright. Just momentarily lost consciousness but otherwise you're good to go." Gsh-18 answered, doing her best to reassure the pilot.

While he definitely appreciated the sentiment, it was unnecessary as this was far from the first time he has been unconscious. Granted, most of those were g-force induced lost of consciousness but close enough.

The medic doll pulled him up to his feet and gave him a quick brush to get rid of any dirt and clutter that were on his clothes.

"Welcome back to the land of the living flight lead." Expulse greeted from the side with a grin. "You almost gave Gsh and the flygirl here a panic attack."

The two dolls in question visibly blush at the remark but otherwise made no comment. Under normal circumstances Maven would've found this adorable but they really were not in a position to take it easy right now.

"Alright Expulse, save the humor for when we aren't in danger." Maven chided his WSO before turning to the two dolls. "Can either one of you give me a sitrep?"

"Currently the immediate area is swarmed with enemies who are opening fire indiscriminately, though it seems they're trying to head somewhere else, most likely where ever that van was supposed to go." Gsh-18 wasted no time filling in the pilot with the information she thought was the most relevant.

"Well since we're all awake and still able to move, I'd say we get as far as way from here as we can and hitch a ride..." Expulse trailed off as everyone was hit with a realization.

"We were dropped off and don't have a vehicle." Maven groaned. The stars just had to align into the shape of a middle finger today.

"...So do we hijack a car or..?" Expulse asked.

"Neither of us know how to hot-wire you dunce." Maven shot down the notion instantly. "And I don't suppose you two could hack into one or something?"

"Yeah no, I'm a pilot, not a hacker." Earhart replied while Gsh-18 shook her head.

Looks like there were going to have to leg it to... some exfiltration point, that in and of itself was going to be an issue if they can't get a vehicle of some kind.

"Do we happen to know who what we're up against?" Maven questioned, trying to get as much intel as possible. Knowing your enemy and by extension your enemy's abilities were essential in ensuring a successful mission, and he was certain the same applied to ground operations.

"Yes and no." Gsh-18 made an uncertain face that did not inspire confidence in the pilot. "I nor anyone else knows who or what they are but it looked like it was the white faction. Don't know anything about other than even intermediate grunts usually have energy weapons and force shields that our handguns will not be able to penetrate."