Inception

Chapter 58: Senior Dragon Rider

Soshiro had just finished his story (and his sandwich) to his wide-eyed audience of two when all their phones went off in blaring alarms.

"Small-sized kaiju spotted alert. Location sigma delta at 5 1 1..."

"Huh, that's not far from your place," said Okinogi, finally calm now that it was panic time for everyone else.

Soshiro had already reached the stairs, Ashiro hot on his heels.

"Oy!"

It would be a long run for the computer-nerd Okinogi from their hideout to the entrance of the training grounds, where her electric scooter would be.

Soshiro jammed his earpiece as he ran, pointedly not thinking about the fretting, flailing thing in the corner of his mind muttering things about kaiju being near his home.

"Vice Captain Hoshina reporting. What are we dealing with?" Running without the powerup of a combat suit felt painfully slow.

"A small sized kaiju, honju grade, avian type. It was spotted flying above Shibuya district towards third base. Its fortitude is only a .9, but it jumps between .7 and 1.1."

Soshiro chest clenched tight and cold. He clenched his fists and ran faster.

"The fluctuations are the only concerning trait about it so far. It hasn't shown any interest in harming humans yet."

Of course it wouldn't, thought Soshiro hysterically.

They'd just crossed the yard to the closest suit up area when Soshiro's ear piece buzzed with an incoming call. He tapped it.

"Hoshina," he gasped breathlessly.

"Vice Captain, Lena—"

"Don't you dare say another word, Ichikawa," he hissed, even as he skidded through the doors and down the stairs to the armory.

"Put me on your team, they won't put me on--"

"You're out of line. You don't tell your superior officer what to do."

He hung up before the younger Ichikawa could protest.

He was already in his suit and snapping on his swords when Captain Ashiro finally slid into the room. She hadn't needed to come, since she was only any good against greater sized kaiju, but she reached for her suit anyway.

"Is it her?" she asked him without preamble.

"Most likely." He didn't say anything else as half a dozen officers suddenly burst into the room to suit up as well. Not many would be needed for such a small, weak kaiju.

Suited, protocol met, officers accounted for, and a blurr of snapped commands and replies later and Soshiro finally found himself onboard a copter towards the flying kaiju's last known location, his mind spinning.

"There are reports of a senior female riding atop the honju. All are to hold fire until hostage can be retrieved. Repeat, all are to hold fire and until hostage can be retrieved."

Soshiro had to stop himself every few minutes from scratching at his hairline with his suit on. The last thing he needed was to tear up his skin and get blood in his eyes.

The other platoon leader and her spattering of officers in the copter were giving him concerned side glances. All except Captain Ashiro, who had on her trademark resting bitch face, glaring out the windows.

"Vice Captian," spoke up the red-headed platoon leader. "Are you alright?"

"Why wouldn't I be?" he said.

"You, uh, seem uneasy."

"Nonsense, I'm right as sunshine! It's barely a 1 fortitude if it tries really hard, what's to be nervous about?"

His usual chirp didn't seem to convince anyone, and that only twisted up his insides more.

What in the world could have happened to make Lena risk flying out here with his grandmother of all people? And how the hell was he to keep her safe? If only first division hadn't taken Kafka for themselves, maybe he could have—what? Could have what? When had Soshiro started to depend on Hibino so much?

The flight seemed to take hours when in reality it was only fifteen minutes. At some point he caught Captain Ashiro's eye and she gave him a small, stiff nod. And as the copter neared the top of a skyscraper for landing, she pressed the call button on her ear piece to reach all channels.

"No one is to harm the honju until ordered otherwise by me, am I clear?"

She got plenty of odd looks for that, making Soshiro's stomach clench into diamonds. At the same time, he could have kissed her out of gratitude. What had he done to deserve so many people sticking out their necks for him?

Even as he thought that, Okinogi's voice popped up over their coms, over the beginning pops of others chiming in.

"Copy that, Captain. I was just about to suggest we try to bring it in alive as well, giving its weakness makes that more than plausible. Passenger aside, there are too many unorthodox traits we need to research."

He was buying that woman Krispy Kreme after this.

After a brief silence, the officers chimed in their 'roger,' and Soshiro even found a moment to give his own agreement. Hopefully it wasn't too suspicious.

Because if it was found out that he lied, Captain Ashiro and Okinogi would go down with him.

The door of the copter slid open. Roaring puttering popped their ears until they had all jumped down onto the skyscraper roof and the copter flew off. In the distance Soshiro could already make out a speck against a voluminous tower of clouds. The haze of the morning had fazed out just to let in what looked to be a monstrosity of a storm. The idea of Lena being caught flying in it made acid jump into the back of his throat.

He should have stayed in bed today.

Captain Ashiro took those armed with the capture wires to other rooftops while Soshiro directed those with coverfire to their positions. All the while, the speck grew larger till Soshiro could make out the flick of silver feathers against the storm cloud. Soon he could even make out the bright orange of his grandmother's kimono.

"Holy hell, there really is an old lady on its back. What the fu—"

"I thought I saw everything with Hibino."

"Wait, you don't think...?"

"No way."

Soshiro could vomit. This was too early, too soon. Kafka wasn't even technically forgiven, his disposal had just been put on hold because General Shinomiya insisted they give him a chance to prove his usefulness. But Lena couldn't fight kaiju. Lena hadn't saved anyone, let alone an entire division. She didn't have Hibino's 'big brother' air that everyone knew him for, she just hid in her lab. The only ones who would know of her kind heart would be the middle-aged scientists she worked with and Soshiro himself.

She came straight towards him, wings wider than she remembered and face alien. He'd at least managed to leave himself alone on the rooftop. Even so, he could all but feel his colleagues tensing up in their various holes.

"Hold," said Ashiro, her usually taciturn voice tense.

The strange, bunny-eared, dino-bird kaiju lifted up, sticking out her taloned legs, readying for a landing.

But she didn't land. Instead, those talons came straight at Soshiro.

He hadn't even the mind to run.

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Facebook isn't what I remembered. It's all advertisements and groups. I really just want to see the inane twitter-like feed of my family members and old classmates, thank you very much. Though this chicken group is fun...though I have yet to obtain chickens. *sad face*