He let it wash over him as he took another shot—boom, kicking up dirt in the choleric prone shooter's face as if he had missed. He took cover again, letting the rifle cool down. Okay, enough missing. They've spread out enough for now.
Emiya leaned back out of cover and immediately saw an object being thrown his way.
He pushed off the tree and ran five steps before leaping for cover behind a bigger tree, as something loud went off behind him. Presumably another grenade of some kind, but it had not affected him.
Recovering from the roll, he scoped at the car again.
The last man—no, a woman—stepped out of the car, not even bothering to take cover, and Emiya obliged by taking aim at the completely open target and pulled—boom!
But this time, the expected result did not occur.
Instead of reeling at the impact or being frozen in place, a purple field of some kind flared up around her, bending light strangely and making her seem hazy and ethereal.
She tanked it? Emiya thought with surprise, collapsing the rifle as he moved to change cover again.
Only, before he could reach the tree some kind of floating blue orb came barreling between two trees, hitting him with the force of a fastball. He raised his arms reflexively for protection as he jumped back to minimize the impact, but what happened next was completely out of his expectations.
He jumped back ten meters.
Or rather, the force had been traveling with made him float backward, as if he had become completely weightless despite gravity. He kicked out, struggling to get purchase somewhere— anywhere—as he helplessly floated through the air. At least they didn't have a clear line of sight to him thanks to all the foliage this high up, which meant he was safe for the moment.
Biotics! He had completely forgotten, given how rare they were among humans. Those born with enough Element Zero in their bodies could sometimes wield mass effect fields themselves, requiring usually only an amplifier to boost their proto-telekinetic powers. But here and now, floating in the air and completely helpless, he realized that that had been a huge mistake. The Systems Alliance Navy would obviously want to employ them, given the sheer versatility they possessed.
His mind reasserted itself as he kicked out to get himself some bearing; the extended limb's movement causing his body to turn in the air. He had never fought in zero-G, but he had fought underwater. He reasoned it was similar to the time he had been caught and tossed around by underwater currents, completely losing his sense of direction and control.
Calm down and grab a hold of something!
Emiya pulled his pistol and aimed at a tree and fired twelve shots in the space of two seconds; giving him just enough of a push from the recoil to float close enough to a branch as he put away the overheated pistol. He grabbed the branch, swinging to position his legs on top of it so that he could remain there if the weightless state was canceled, but also allowing him to kick off if need be.
He looked down.
The biotic woman and the formerly-kneeling-behind-the-car man were jogging towards him; he couldn't stay here.
Emiya held tight onto the branch as he tensed his legs and then with all his strength, kicked off upwards. He aimed the rifle straight down and pulled the trigger—boom, giving him another slight boost to his upwards velocity with the recoil and allowing him to pass through the opening in the forest canopy above.
He blinked as the bright light of the un-blocked sun hit his eyes. Here, above the treetops, he floated completely weightless. For a moment, he froze time in his own perception just to admire the view. A sea of rolling green as far as the eye could see, shrouded in the golden light of the sun. Then he reached for the leaves and branches below him to keep from floating up too high, lest he lost control again.
But the leaves were ripped off as he grabbed them—unable to handle the force he exerted—his heart lurching for a second before he swung out the sniper rifle held backward; the crook of the grip latched onto a branch and he could just pull himself close enough to grab onto the leaves again. He struggled for a moment to cancel the spin from swinging out the rifle and then collapsed the weapon, throwing it over his shoulder onto the Van der Waals-strip.
He looked forward and grinned. Using both hands he began to half-crawl and half-pull himself forward as he floated above the treetops.
It was almost as if he was swimming above the ocean he had just beheld.
Behind him, he heard the woman shouting that he had disappeared above the treetops and a second later a rapid-fire stream of bullets whizzed upwards in that general area now behind him. Leaves and bits of branches were torn loose and tossed around, almost like something beneath the waves was kicking it up.
They tried to find him, shouting about the radar heading and correcting their streams of bullets. But the canopy of leaves and branches was enough to blot him out of view, his pulling at the leaves and treetops hardly enough to betray his movements.
He made some thirty meters above the trees like that before his weight returned and he fell through the leaves.
Emiya had just enough presence of mind to grab a thick branch and hold onto it to keep from falling down and breaking his legs. He looked around and spotted the two still looking for him with their weapons and heads raised, scanning the treetops where he had been earlier.
Emiya pulled the sniper rifle and opened it to take aim at them, but a burst of rifle fire caused him to duck for cover nearer the trunk. Leaves around him were ripped apart and torn loose, as the angry prone man was standing now by the back of the car and taking potshots at Emiya.
He almost swung around to take him out, but then he spotted the shadow rising behind the man from the brush.
Shepard will handle it, he thought and lined up his sights at the man with the biotic woman. They had turned around to look at the car at the sound of gunfire, but hadn't spotted Emiya in the tree yet.
He pulled the trigger—boom!
The man froze up instantly and keeled over, before relaxing and laying bonelessly on the ground. The biotic woman flinched, looking between her squadmate and Emiya with wide eyes before she jumped for cover.
Another burst of rifle fire went past him, but none hit him since he was half-hidden behind the trunk of the tree. And then he heard the rapid double staccato pistol fire and the shouts of surprise from the three still by the car.
Emiya spared a glance that way, noting that Shepard had already taken down the choleric man who had been shooting at him and was now trading gunfire from behind cover with the man who had dragged off the wounded man earlier. The redhead held a pistol in each hand, rapidly pulling the triggers to compensate for the low power of each individual shot, seeming to be completely at ease in the thick of a gunfight and using the two guns without any awkwardness as she ran between cover and concealment, denying her opponents even a moment of respite.
I knew it was a good idea to hand Cassani's pistol to her, Emiya thought with a grin.
A cold shiver went through his spine and Emiya leaped out of the tree without a second thought, landing on an extended branch that swayed and bent under his body. He felt more than saw the impact of something blue smashing into his previous hiding place. He didn't bother turning around as he jumped again, this time grabbing onto the top of a thinner tree nearer the road. It bent under his weight, slowing his fall down enough to bring him safely to the ground again, only letting go some three meters above the ground.
Emiya landed on his feet with a jarring impact but he rolled forward with the force into a turned-around kneeling position and took a —booming potshot with the rifle. It hit nothing but seemed to scare the biotic enough that she stopped in her tracks, bracing for impact with her powers instead of pursuing him.
He rolled and got to his feet, sprinting for cover again.
The biotic woman screamed something and Emiya grabbed a half-rotted tree branch and jumped as he threw it behind him. It hit the blue ball that had been chasing him, enveloping it in the weightlessness that had plagued him earlier.
Seems like my guess was correct; it latches onto whatever breaks the surface of the projectile, he observed calmly as he kept running.
He dropped to one knee and took aim, Pulling the trigger in the general direction of the woman and the gun let out another—boom, making her stop in her tracks again. She used her pistol to take a few potshots at him, but none came even close to hitting home.
Emiya retreated towards the car, taking shots every few steps and keeping the woman pinned down. Halfway there, he switched from the rifle to the pistol, placing the former on his back as he began to pelt the biotic's general direction with bullets.
He turned around on the road and began to sprint for the car, blinking as he spotted Shepard in the front passenger seat with her gun held to a man's head as he sat in the driver's seat. Their new driver distinctly uncomfortable with the apparent state of affairs.
"Get in! He's driving!" Shepard shouted and Emiya nodded with understanding as he jumped in.
"Cassani, any problems on your end?" Emiya asked the comms.
"Nope, good to go!" came the popping answer.
"Floor it, buddy," Shepard said, entirely too smugly as she poked the man at the wheel with her pistol.
"Our agreement?"
"As long as you hold your end," she replied, grinning and ignoring the inquisitive look Emiya threw her.
That seemed enough as he floored the pedal and the car began to move, clearing the two trees with a few bumps and some noise of crunching wood beneath their tires, but otherwise without any issues. A testament to the original driver's inexperience, really.
Then again, given how surprised their chauffeur seemed, perhaps the car wasn't officially rated for something like that. Perhaps their driver had thought they would get stuck, which was why he was willing to cooperate as long as he did not get shot.
Regardless, they hit the road and drove the thirty meters to Cassani's location up the bend in the road, and Shepard ordered him to stop.
Emiya jumped out, taking a prone position with the sniper rifle again as he kept vigil for the biotic woman. Shepard meanwhile, herded out their driver at gunpoint, jumping over the shift-stick to come out through the same door as he had, and then forcing him to grab and carry Cassani to the rear seats from his hiding place.
Pull—boom!
The biotic ducked, the shot grazing her shoulder. Emiya exhaled, searching for any sign of her as he let the gun cool down again.
"Time to go, Emiya!" Shepard shouted and Emiya obliged, getting up and collapsing the rifle as he jumped into the car in one smooth motion. Their shanghaied driver put pedal to the metal as they shot off at full speed, the car jumping and shaking with the terrible road conditions and the lack of a rear tire.
They drove for five minutes until they came to a Y-shaped crossroads. Shepard ordered him to park the car next to the road and then for him to get out. The driver obliged, his hand inching to turn off the car.
"Keep it running. You think this is the first time I've stolen a car?" Shepard asked, prodding him with the muzzle of her pistol.
The driver licked his lips, nervously.
"Think, smart guy. You give us a minor inconvenience and get shot for the trouble. Or you let it go, do as we agreed and you get to run back to your squad. Which choice ends up with your entire squad dead and dying in the jungle, and which ends with you getting back in time to patch them up?" Shepard continued, still smiling.
The driver raised his hand, leaving the car running as he exited with a sullen look.
"So why did you grab him? Besides for a driver, I mean." Emiya asked, getting out of the car as he scanned their surroundings.
"He's a doc. I figured he could take a look at Franco." Shepard shrugged.
"Sentinel, not doctor. I'm not even a field medic, I just have the first aid specialization—"
"Yeah, we get it. You can use the medigel. So get to it," Shepard said, motioning at the limp Cassani.
The Sentinel frowned, before walking up to Cassani and activating his omnitool. He scanned Cassani and then brought out a yellow bag, labeled clearly 'training tool – NOT MEDIGEL – training tool' in big bold letters.
He applied it, and suddenly Cassani took a deep inhale and raised a hand.
"Oh, fuck yeah. I can move again. Wait, my legs..."
"He has a spinal injury, the medigel couldn't possibly fix that," the Sentinel said with a shrug. "Can I go now? I need to—"
"Not so fast," Shepard replied, raising her gun again. "Heal him, too, while we're at it."
She nodded at Emiya, who blinked before realizing she was referring to his simulated hip injury. He had long since adapted to compensate for it, so it had essentially already slipped his mind. It didn't affect his performance that much and there wasn't any pain to blot out, so it was a minor inconvenience at worst.
"That wasn't a part of the deal, I need the medigel for my squad—"
— Pffftzzz!
The Sentinel fell, his leg failing beneath him as Shepard shot his leg mid-sentence.
"Yeah, that was the deal before I remembered we had more injuries. Now, you're already down two medigel. Want me to keep shooting you until you're down to zero?" Shepard said, smiling sweetly as if there was nothing wrong in all the world.
The Sentinel gaped up at her, eyes wide open. He licked his lips, his eyes darting between the three who were around him in an effort to find some support against Shepard's demands. But he found nothing, as Emiya merely watched with cool indifference and Cassani was studiously pretending he wasn't a part of this conversation.
The medic swallowed nervously, before nodding.
Emiya merely stood by the side, watching the whole event with a sharp gaze. He hadn't expected Shepard to be quite this proactive, but it wasn't like he had anything against it, specifically. Sure, she was kind of skirting morally reprehensible territory here, but this was all just a simulation. No one had actually been hurt; it was just the man with them who had gotten lost in the realism of the situation.
Well, hopefully, the only one. Emiya thought as he glanced at Shepard. This is exactly why she would be right at home in wetworks.
He had thought that of her for the longest while; that she was a natural fit for soldiery. And perhaps even for special ops, given how she had been conditioned by her life to accept violence as a matter of course. But at the same time he had to wonder, was that what she really wanted.
Because it seemed to him as if there was something more that she wanted out of life.
There was no reason for him to intervene. None at all. Except...
With a quick application of the fake-medigel, the servos locking up at his hip loosened up and he could move again freely. He tested his range of motion with a few bouncing jumps and found it satisfactory.
Emiya nodded to Shepard and she half-smirked back at him, satisfied at the result.
"Now, run along before I change my mind," Shepard told the Sentinel, shooing him away with her gun.
He hesitated and then began to limp away. — Pffftzzz!
Shepard shot at the ground at his feet, almost making him stumble and fall again as the dirt exploded into the air in a small crater.
"Did I stutter? Run!" She raised her arms into the air as she shouted, making the man blink. Then she drew her other pistol from the Van der Waals-strip at the small of her back and took aim. At that, he definitely reacted and began to limp away as quickly as he could.
"Heh, he won't be bothering us again. Not while he's running in the wrong direction," Shepard said turning back around with a wicked grin. "Alright, let's go."
She chuckled at that, holstering her pistol again.
Cassani stared at her with wide eyes, muttering 'perra loco' beneath his breath while Emiya nodded at her, ignoring their third teammate, though he could understand the sentiment. Still, she didn't seem to notice.
"Oh, yeah. I got us some more toys to play with. Wanna do your thing again?" She thumbed at the back of the car, where he could see three assault rifles.
Emiya huffed in amusement, shrugging at her with a half-grin. "I endeavor ever to impress. Or at least, to meet your expectations."
She, not entirely sure about some of the words he had used, half-frowned at him before shrugging with a grin. "Yeah, you do that and I won't have to shoot you, too. I'm only keeping you around for your magic touch, Emiya."
Again, Cassani seemed to be taking her seriously and seemed to pale a little, but Emiya understood that this was how she was showing affection.
This was just how she was, the grim humor probably being the only one she really understood.
Having grown up on the streets her socialization was woefully lacking, thus she was simply emulating what she saw around her right now. The bravado and bluster among the other recruits, the gallows humor of everyone trying to act tough, the 'hoorah' speechifying of the instructors that cheerfully talked about greasing our guns with the guts of our enemies... And through her warped lens of understanding, it translated into behavior that seemed like near-sociopathic disregard for social conventions and the safety of others.
In that sense, she was like a child, almost.
Emiya hesitated, before sighing, wondering whether he could just let this go on as it wasn't his place to intervene — that time with the foot had been a mistake. Even so, he could see how she would struggle in the future if this error in her mindset was not pointed out. Certainly, she had the guts and talents to go far... But would she go further?
Like a sword formed out of balance before it was heated red hot, she would take on a twist when quenched, requiring twice as much work to correct afterward when set. Almost like another young, hot-headed fool of a redhead once upon a time...
He ignored that line of thought as he decided to focus on the moment, grabbing a rifle and aiming at the roadside, pulling the trigger... and nothing happened. Not entirely unexpected. "Chief Thomas, sir. I know you're watching and I know you know that I know how to make this thing work."
He waited five seconds and pulled the trigger... and again nothing happened.
"Fine. We'll do it the hard way." Emiya said with a shrug. He turned to look at Shepard and Cassani. "Let's get him in the front seat. I'll sit in the back and get this rifle working so I can talk to the Chief about it. I assume you can drive this thing, Shepard?"
"Nah, but I watched while the other guy did, so how hard can it be?" She grinned widely. Excited, like a street urchin who had just gotten away with a big snatch and grab. Didn't she mention stealing cars before?
Emiya sighed again but rolled with it.
"The Chief?" Cassani blinked, asking. But neither bothered to explain as they each grabbed an arm and hauled him up and into the car.
;
They had driven for fifteen minutes now. With Cassani's upper body working again, Shepard had returned his pistol to him and he had then been delegated to map reading.
The amount of roads, old roads, old roads that did not exist on the map, and old roads that did not exist on the map nor in reality unless you squinted just right, exceeded all of their expectations. Emiya reasoned that the car would be hunted down sooner or later by one party or another, so, for now, they would avoid the bigger roads to remain out of sight as long as possible.
The rifle was much the same as the sniper rifle, with the barrel length, scope settings, shaver, and mass accelerator's rate of operation being the chief differences. Thus it only took him fifteen minutes to get his pistol cannibalized for his little exploit.
He had gotten so used to the process that he could have done it in ten, were it not for the constant bouncing and jostling due to the terrible road conditions. He opened the window enough to stick the barrel out.
"Firing in 3, 2, 1—"—trr'rr'rr'rr'rrtt
The assault rifle spewed supersonic shavings at a considerable rate of fire, even with the short burst he had pulled. It worked just fine.
"Alright, now to call for some tech support again..." Emiya said, setting down the Lancer rifle and pulling up his omnitool again. He dialed the support and got ready to wait, only for Thomas to pick up immediately.
"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" he accused immediately.
Emiya stifled the smirk and controlled his face and voice as he waited for a second.
"Well... I won't deny that this is the most fun I've had in the service so far, sir."
Thomas gave an explosive sigh, obviously not at all pleased with them right now.
"Who's he calling? Who are you calling?" Cassani blinked, trying to turn around as he heard the conversation.
"Mm, right. You weren't in the loop. Franco Cassani, this is Gunnery Chief Thomas, assigned to keep an eye on us because we keep breaking rules we don't know about," Emiya explained, carefully keeping any and all mirth from his voice despite the obviously mirthful choice of words.
Cassani merely blinked blankly at that, having no idea what to say.
"So you knew that turning off your shields was bad, didn't you? Even though it was not explicitly mentioned anywhere and you had not been told that, you could infer it, couldn't you?"
"Ah, well. If it works and no one thought to tell me not to... Well, who am I not to abuse the hell out of it?" Emiya replied and he could hear Shepard chortling in the front by the wheel as she drove.
"Riiight, and the fact that no one told you how to turn off the shields or how to manually reboot the hardsuit didn't tell you that? That perhaps you weren't supposed to be doing it? You could have gotten killed, for fuck's sake, you crazy bastard. You could have gotten your teammate killed!"
"Actually, the hardsuit manual explicitly mentions the feature on page 401 and refers to the advanced settings in the omnitool, for which instructions are on page 234 of the omnitool guide. And Shepard made the choice herself, fully aware of the risks," Emiya countered, dialing back the ribbing tone and opting for a more neutral and conciliatory one.
"Sure did, sir. Oh, can I get the tapes of myself later? I want to see their faces again when I got them from behind, hehehe..." Shepard laughed.
"...For fuck's sake... It actually is in the manual. No one reads the fucking manual! Well, apparently except for you! Jesus, I'm gonna have to throw this ball up the food chain because I have no idea who I'm supposed to chew up about this entire fucking fiasco."
"Couldn't you have just shut it all down?" Emiya asked.
He had slightly been worried that that would happen.
"I would have, if not for— What? Yeah, okay, I won't mention it." Thomas began but then cut off to speak to someone else. "It doesn't matter. I see you've gotten the assault rifles working, too. Wonderful. I'll unlock them, so long as you promise not to give me any more crazy surprises. I mean aside from stealing a car and putting someone without the training to operate it—or even with a damn basic license to her name, for that matter—behind the wheel. You scrap that thing and we'll all be paying it off, you hear? Makos don't come cheap, alright? I have enough people breathing down my neck as it is."
"Sure, you got it, chief." Emiya cheerfully promised and the sigh from the other end before the com-line was cut was his only answer. Someone was there next to him? Someone higher ranked than the Chief himself, from the sound of things.
"Just what I wanted. I was starting to feel a little jealous of yours," Shepard quipped as Emiya handed her a collapsed rifle, attaching it to her Van der Waals-strips on her back absent-mindedly.
He handed another to Cassani who took it a little bit more gingerly, holding it in his lap as he continued to scan the jungle that rolled by.
They continued on for a little while as Cassani and Emiya compared the maps, trying to figure out the best route ahead. They drove for an hour, taking a long detour around the city and using the smaller roads, often driving through patches of forest to switch between roads to get where they wanted to.
Somewhere along the way, Emiya discovered a manual for the Mako in the glove box. An actual, 'dumb' hardcopy of a manual. Printed on paper and everything. Though it lacked a search function that would have been immensely helpful, he still leafed through it, starting with the table of contents.
He found that there was a transceiver-receiver antenna that allowed the people to control and access the 'Mako' from a distance with their omnitools, so he had them stop for five minutes. Of course, lacking any and all tools for a delicate disassembly, he simply let Shepard grab a rock and smack it loose from the frame.
Emiya could almost feel the Chief judging them from a distance as they did that. But it would be a quick repair job since he tossed the antenna in the back, so he ignored it. Hell, he could do it in five minutes himself, tops.
As they began to approach the city again, Emiya decided it was time.
He had decided to stage an... intervention, of sorts. This much wasn't a problem, surely.
"Shepard, we should talk."
"Huh? What is it?" she asked, glancing over her shoulder at him.
"It's got to do with how you act."
She blinked, slowing down and looking at him with furrowed brows. It was the expression he had seen on her face when he'd confronted her about her leg. Though not quite as guarded anymore: she trusted him somewhat now.
"Yeah, what about it?" she asked, the growing heat apparent to him despite her attempts to sound and be calm.
"Just that you might want to consider how it appears to others," he offered obliquely, causing her to blink and frown at him as she brought the car to a stop. He had completely managed to sidestep her defensiveness.
She turned around fully to stare at him, pursing her lips in dissatisfaction.
"Want to consider how it what?"
"That guy you shot. He'll probably remember you for the rest of his life," he said with a slight smile, knowing it would release the tension a little.
"Heh, sure will," she replied with an easy chuckle, before looking at him seriously, deciding that she would listen to what he had to say and really try to understand.
"The same way Cassani will remember you," he continued, the man in question flinching a little as he was dragged into the conversation, as he had been trying to pretend he wasn't there again.
"Huh?"
"Do you realize that Cassani thinks you're completely crazy?" Emiya asked.
She frowned at him, glancing at Cassani with a side-ways look.
"...Yeah, and?"
"Just something I thought you might want to consider. Nothing more," Emiya said with a disarming smile.
Shepard stared at him through the mirror, her green eyes boring into him as she frowned deep in thought. She turned to look at Cassani, who was studiously avoiding looking at her. Her frown deepened.
"And then there's the fact that treating a prisoner like that is technically a war crime."
"Huh? War crime?" She blinked at him in complete confusion, her brows furrowed.
Emiya shrugged, "Yeah. They might dock us some points for that."
"But... But? I mean, it worked, didn't it?" She didn't sound just as much angry as simply confused. It had always worked for her, even before the Navy. It was how she handled herself and had always known to make things work. If you wanted something, you had to apply some pressure.
"Yeah, it did. But it still might affect our rating." Emiya said, then turned to look at Cassani. "Among other things."
Shepard frowned, though said nothing.
"How about we eat now? We haven't had a break in a while." Emiya suggested and Cassani agreed immediately. They broke out the field rations and water bottles, with Shepard eating quietly.
They continued in silence for five minutes, until Shepard looked up at him again.
"Emiya, are we... okay?" she asked, sounding hesitant to hear what he would say.
He looked at her and considered those words.
Perhaps he had been too direct? Pressing too much at the spine, trying to correct the twist before it formed.
Emiya hadn't meant to push her buttons too much, but it would be better if she realized this sooner rather than later. This would help her realize that she had been pushing people away, along with what he had actually said. The way she looked at groups of people; the way she had been emulating that group dynamic with him since he had first managed to break past her prickly exterior; the truly satisfied grin she had been wearing all day even through the exhaustion and excitement.
Well, perhaps specifically because of the excitement.
Still, she obviously enjoyed working with him more than she had any other relationship in her life. But that wouldn't do. He wasn't going to stay with her, after this, and he was just— No, that was wrong. It wasn't that he was worried about her, he simply—
Emiya sighed, ending that train of thought.
Perhaps he had sabotaged their working relationship now.
But given how much serious thought she seemed to be giving his words, he thought it would be for the better even if it did. She wouldn't be happy if she stayed alone and continued pushing away everyone with her behavior. Not in the long run. Because he was going to leave sooner rather than later, and she would also have to come to terms with this at some point. Perhaps this was his fault; having approached her in the first place and butting his head into her business without asking for her permission or opinion.
Completely thoughtlessly ingratiating himself to her, despite knowing that he was a dead man in a false dream among the living again. A dream from which he would inevitably wake up.
But having already gotten involved, he would see it through. One way or another.
Seeing her at first had felt strange. Nostalgic, in an almost painful manner.
He saw someone pushing themselves forward at a desperate pace, with a single-minded zeal, disregarding everything around them as they simply could not understand the worth of what they pushed away. And he thought that she would regret that kind of life, in the end.
He knew what that kind of life was like first-hand. And where it would lead.
"Yeah, we are." He nodded as he took a bite out of the dry ration bar and chewed. He looked up, meeting her eyes. "Aren't we?"
She blinked.
She really looked at him, then.
It was a strange realization for her.
Coming to terms that he might not understand her thoughts as intimately as she knew them herself. That he might not know what she wanted through simple inference. She looked at Cassani, who was also eating and for the first time realized that she did not understand him at all. Nothing he said really made any sense to her, about omnitools or hacking or the vids he talked about. About what he wanted to do and why he didn't do things the way she did.
Therefore... didn't it make sense to assume that he did not understand her at all, either?
And suddenly things that had been out of place all along simply seemed to click into place.
Coming from a world where one lived day to day, always struggling to just survive the day, and acting out relationships in the most superficial of manners, she had never considered that. Never considered that there could be additional layers to interacting with people. That where they had come from, even if they were all in the same place in the present, might so greatly affect how they behaved and thought of others.
She knew intoxicated rage. She knew naked fear. She knew hunger and privation. She could recognize veiled and hidden hatred, the resolve to lash out and risk it all because there was nothing more left to give. She could see the fleeting cooperations others would make, only to break them the moment their common enemy was gone.
But this form of deep resentment and unease, which did not manifest outwardly in immediate violence. This, almost shallow anger that existed in the hearts of others. It was strange. Pointless. One they would not act on, but still refuse to cast aside.
Those words he had thrown at her before; about always being too wary about everyone around her. She finally really understood them.
"Yeah. Yeah, I guess we are," she said, sounding somehow surprised. She looked up at him, then turned to Cassani. "How about you, are we okay?"
"Er... Sure? Yeah?" Cassani hesitated for a second.
Shepard blinked, looking thoughtful. She continued eating, nibbling at a ration bar in deep thought as she muttered, "I guess we aren't, huh..."
Emiya shrugged and ate the rest of his rations. For all the resolution and peace she seemed to have gained from that conversation, all of his doubts only seemed to have re-doubled and returned with a vengeance.
Suddenly, he remembered a smile.
Emiya scowled and emptied his water bottle, washing down everything in his mouth along with the grimace that sprung up at the memory.
;
"Alright, show me the building that collapsed," Emiya said after they had finished eating.
Overall their rations were simply terrible. Well, as far as taste went. Nutrition- and energy-wise they were top-notch. So much so that it required an enhanced metabolic system to make full use of all the stuff compressed into those little bars. Still tasted like ash and sand, making them all grimace with every bite.
The Navy also discouraged eating nutrition bars for more than four days in a row, as much like MREs of centuries ago, they played havoc on your gastrointestinal tract. Due to the heavily concentrated nutrients and lack of fiber, it would result in an eventual experience best described as, 'shitting bricks'. An increase in frequency and amplitude of flatulence was also a well-noted side-effect. It even stated so in bold letters on the packaging. Some things never change.
After Emiya was finished, he began to plan ahead again.
He had pulled up a holographic projection of the map they had received before landing in the city. Cassani hesitated, then looked down at the map.
"Uh..."
Since the map was a picture from orbit, rather than an artificial representation with a legend and a scale, it required a different kind of eye for reading than he was used to. So it was a good thing they had been practicing this the past month. Still, both he and Shepard were much better at navigation with their feet on the ground, as it were. Most of the stuff he had noticed while inside the city he had merely mentally noted in his general mental map.
But at this point, because of all the eyes on them, it was better to keep everything above board.
Which meant doing it the proper way: the way they had been taught.
"It might have been this one." Cassani hesitated, pointing at a rectangular building at the North end of the city.
Emiya nodded, considering that.
It was obvious that Cassani was not entirely certain, but as long as the general location was correct it would tell him something about what was going on in the city. Where the heaviest engagements were happening; where hypothetical artillery might have been firing from by comparing to the positions he had seen before; what they might have been aiming at and more.
It wasn't much, but on the battlefield when one was completely isolated and without support, considering even the smallest details was vital. But at the same time, avoiding over-extrapolation was important as well. Going off half-cocked because of faulty intel was tantamount to assisted suicide.
The fine line between threading the bigger dangers and verifying your hypotheses was what made an effective red team operative.
"We should stick to the outskirts. We can continue using the jungle roads, even if we have to take a long route around here," Shepard butted in, pointing at the map as she traced something that might have once been a road. "We would still have time to get to the RV. We've got, what..."
"Three and a half hours left," Emiya answered as she moved to check the time.
"Huh, well..." She hesitated, licking her lips as she shot a glance at Emiya.
There's something she wants, but is hesitating to ask. Emiya thought, before recalling an earlier conversation. Right, the side objectives. N-line.
"I'll check the list and see if something pops up, though we've already done some pretty big stuff..." Emiya said to a blinking Shepard. "For now, start driving that way. Cassani, strap yourself to the passenger seat and keep an eye open on the right side with the rifle ready. See anything suspicious then just hose it down." He sent the annotated map to Shepard's omnitool so that she could read it while driving.
"Drive by-style, eh? Can do, boss. Wish this thing had a radio, though." Cassani said, nodding with some bravado as he patted the dashboard in front of him.
"...Well, I know you have some music on your omnitool, so I won't mind if you listen to it. Just don't bother us with it." Emiya said after a moment of thought, making the third member of their team blink and grin his thanks in return.
It was dumb to listen to music during all of this, but managing Cassani's nerves was important too.
Emiya knew that their third member hadn't enlisted with direct combat roles in mind, so the man wasn't quite as used to all this. He had a simple enough role that it didn't quite matter so much, anyhow. As Shepard shot him an inquisitive glance from the driver's seat, he waved her away mouthing the words 'just let him' as he did.
She frowned but nodded and began to set up her omnitool with the map in her HUD.
Emiya turned around and crawled through the inside of the car until he reached the back, trying the window. It was stuck, of course. He got on his back and began to kick at the fractured rear window. The two at the front jumped in surprise at the first kick and looked at what he was doing, but then turned around to keep doing what they had been before with just a shared shrug.
Emiya's weird ideas seemed to work most of the time, so there wasn't really a point in questioning everything he did anymore.
Finally, after the fourth kick, the pane came loose enough for the mechanism for opening it to function again. It was a rather simple latch that let the window fall backward and down, but when locked it would hermetically seal it. In theory, it allowed for an airtight vehicle, and it was definitely not something he could have kicked through since it had stopped a rifle bullet.
He opened the rear window and began to set up his sniper rifle. It wasn't the best position for shooting, but assuming they would get pursuers sooner or later, then getting it ready now would save them some time. He tried several positions and anchor points for stability, getting used to how it felt and how he could fire there if he needed to later.
Besides, if someone could shut down the car from a distance like they could start it up with their omnitool, then they needed to have a way of getting out of the car, even with the electronic doors locked.
Always keep your options open.
Finally, he retracted the sniper rifle and collapsed it again.
"Alright, let's go."
The engine hummed loudly once more as the car began to move forward, having been idling during their break. A quick examination by Emiya had confirmed Shepard's earlier caution as prudent, in that it required an omnitool command to start up the car, along with several other features that they did not at the moment possess.
He would have liked to read through the manual more thoroughly, but for now, it would have to wait.
Shepard continued to drive, using the smallest roads and gaps possible, often ignoring the holographic map altogether as she navigated on sheer instinct and gut feeling. She simply chose a heading and then checked that she did not stray too much as they drove on.
At one point, Cassani had objected when Shepard had wanted to drive down a cliff. She argued that if they kept going fast enough, they wouldn't fall down or roll over. He argued that she was insane. Emiya reminded her that if they broke the car, they would have to pay for it, which seemed to change her opinion on the matter.
Only a little, it seemed.
She followed the cliff until she found a sheer drop that was much shorter, which she deemed safe enough to drive down from. She didn't bother listening to Cassani this time and Emiya actually felt his stomach drop for a moment there and for a second he had considered Reinforcing the suspensions just to keep it safe.
But luckily, the Mako seemed inordinately sturdy and took the drop without any problems.
Soon they broke out of the jungle and reached the half-plains of old suburban areas, driving through and over old houses and collapsed mansions. This seemed to be especially to Shepard's liking as she whooped and hooted every time something crunched and cracked beneath their massive tires.
Even Cassani seemed to be having some fun, though he would have denied it vehemently.
As the looming skeleton of the decrepit city loomed ahead, Shepard finally pulled to a stop as she turned to look at Emiya. She still hoped he would find something. Especially since they had made it in less than an hour through the jungle and suburb.
With over two and a half hours' worth left over, there was plenty of time in her mind for some frolicking around in the city. Emiya shrugged, presenting a mission objective he had chosen among the multitude available to them.
"'Disable communications relay in the water tower'... It's not that far, either?" She read, licking her lips and looking up at him. It was still his choice. He nodded at her, pulling out his omnitool map again.
"We could do it, but it would require some scouting and planning, first," he said, with a serious look.
She inhaled and nodded after a second. "Which would need time that we don't have."
Cassani looked at the two of them, confused.
"What are you two talking about...?"
Emiya looked at him, then turned to Shepard. She grimaced, looking away.
Cassani frowned, gathering that there was something more going on that he hadn't been privy to. And perhaps because of his current self being at their mercies, or perhaps noticing some change in Shepard, he simply sighed and shook his head giving up trying to change their minds as a lost cause.
"We have like two hours, that should be plenty, right?" he asked.
"It would be," Emiya agreed, turning to look at him. "Except we're probably being tracked. This Mako is most likely something that its owners can't afford to lose in the long run. They'll be looking for us."
"And we can't leave it. Without it, we're back to square one. Especially with you around, you know?" Shepard continued.
Cassani made a noise of understanding and then grimaced.
"So we're gonna have to split up? One checks it out while the other two keep moving in the car?" For all that he was dragging them down, he wasn't stupid.
Emiya nodded.
"Shepard, keep driving around. Get back in the jungle over there and try to make it seem like you're not just wasting time if anyone is watching. I'd rather not someone come to investigate my trail," Emiya spoke, checking his gear. Hardsuit, omnitool, pistol, assault rifle, and sniper rifle. Compared to the beginning, his loadout was much improved. "Come pick me up here in half an hour; I'll go and take a look around and see if there's anything we can do."
"We can still leave the car in the city and walk the rest of the way to the RV. I... I mean, getting there would be already pretty good. I don't think many would manage in the city if they were dropped off where we were." Shepard said, not looking at him, gripping the steering wheel.
"Sure. But no harm in just taking a look. We've still got momentum on our side. Might as well make use of it," he said, shrugging as he got out of the armored car. Slamming the door shut, he nodded at Cassani and began to jog away. He turned on the comms as he kept going. "And if I don't come back, just head for the RV without me, alright?"
Silence answered him for a good ten seconds until Shepard nodded, "...Right." and then drove away.