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As William stepped off the plane to the asphalt hanger he was filled with anticipation to meet his new crewmates.

He already memorized their Mech’s frame, weapons and systems and was looking forward to finally seeing them in the flesh. Or rather, in the steel.

It took William a few moments to register that the ground he was standing on, and that the plane landed on, was not in fact the actual ground level. But instead, it was elevated and a few hundred meters off the ground. The whole airport was supported by other mega structures and roads that seemed to join together into a web that held the city in the sky.

William took a step away from the edge out of reflex the moment he realized that the Guard rails were not just there to show where the road ends, but where the ground does.

“First time in Paris?” Bastian asked

“Yes. I knew it was high, but I never imagined this. This is crazy! How did they build this?” William asked with awe in his eyes.

“One step after the other. “ Bastian said while looking pleased with himself.

“The other soldiers are waiting for us at the lower level of the hanger. Their Mechs are fueled and ready to deploy at a moment’s notice. I hope you have prepared something to say, since we are going to meet them now. “ The older gentleman continued as he walked on the asphalt towards a large building in the distance that seemed to connect to the desired hanger.

Williams mind went back to the file of his soon to be team, while his legs followed commander Wolf absentmindedly.

The first on his mind was Anya’s mech. It was a ten-meter-tall frame from the German catalog of mechs that was simple in design, named Bergriese. It was stocky, with four arms, headless and can outlift any other mech of that size. William knew the frame well and fought alongside them in the past. This one in particular was named “Undying” and was armed with a multitude of cool weapons, but the one that caught William’s eye was the Perun Rail Gun. A masterpiece of ammo conservation. A gun that shoots any kind of metal shards through a powerful electromagnet. It can fire a rapid stream of shards or just one at a time with great force and range.

‘This along with the shield deployment system would make her mech a mobile fortification that fires back and never runs out of bullets. Plus, she has a huge hammer!’ The captain thought to himself while finding it hard not to smile.

‘This might work well with Louis’s mech The Nomad. The French catalog’s Frame “Grand Tour” is one of the most mobile Mechs on the market today with many independent Blue T.Crystal engines that can generate enough plasma to create thrust though it has minimal armor.’ William thought while the image of the fragile frame getting much needed cover while moving impossibly at stupid speeds.

‘I still don’t get why the file said he removed the built in Cascade of his Mech. All it said was that he claimed that the automatic movement assist was too slow for his liking and installed a Japanese Body tracking cockpit called Hummingbird and more missiles instead. Is this a joke?’ William opened the file again just to check but there it was black on white.

“Pilots reaction time was too fast to measure effectively, a more accurate reading is redundant.”

‘This explains why he uses a sword, though I don’t recognize the model he uses. The Frog Blade, what a peculiar name’ William concluded

He was so absorbed in thoughts he did not even register the city, or the distance traveled. Instead, trusting Bastian completely with the navigation as he used the walk to read the file on Kaya while getting lost in his thoughts.

‘Talk about overqualified. She is younger then me and is already a doctor and an engineer. And as of last week, an A class pilot of the Japanese military and part of the global taskforce dedicated to fighting the fallen. ‘

Her mech was called the waterfall. According to the file it was a newly developed Japanese frame called “Koi fish” capable of emitting electromagnetic field that can let it hover above any metallic surface. The mech itself was reported to be armed with the Jellyfish swarm.

‘Damn. I have no idea what any of those weapons and tech do, it’s too new. I hope she can explain it to me fast. But a mech that can fly above metal with a swarm of metallic flying jellyfish sounds effective to me.’ William thought as he almost bumped into a street sign and dodged last moment without Bastian even registering it happened.

William flipped through the file until he found a picture of the frame.

‘That’s a Dragon! Why on earth did they name it koi fish ?!’ William almost said aloud as he saw a picture of what could only be described as a fifteen-meter-long metallic wyrm with scales that looked like shiny fishes.

‘Well. It is what it is.‘ William exclaimed in his mind only to zone in when the elevator door opened, and Bastian said aloud “we are almost there”.

Only then did William realize how fast his heart was beating. A small part of him wanted to ask him before every mission, “why are you doing this? Why do you go willingly into hell?” but William did not give those thoughts any room to breathe, else they would bring back memories he wished not to remember.

William breathed slowly and steadied his heartbeat to a comfortable slow thumping within moments and by the time he and Bastian arrived at their destination William Was completely locked in and ready to liberate Paris.

The people William saw did not look like a team of trained killers at first sight, but when he looked at them closely, even at a distance, he could tell they were skilled individuals.

The three immediately stopped what they were doing and stood in a line with their hands behind their backs and their legs touching heels, all wearing serious expressions.

“Welcome to New Paris Captain” a tall and muscular woman with a long blonde braid said with a light Russian accent. She wore red lipstick and very little other makeup while her military outfit showed the scars all over her palms and neck.

“It is good to make your acquaintance” said a short woman with black hair that was collected in a neat bun. Though she tried to look calm her wide eyes betrayed her excitement and stress.

The last team member was a man with the physical build of a formula 1 driver and one of the most well-groomed beards William ever saw in his life.

He stood next to his new teammates quietly with a smile.

“Tomorrow morning, we go to Old Paris. We leave at six o’clock. You don’t need to wear your uniform to the mission as in my opinion your mechs are uniform enough. Please dress comfortably for the mission and rest well tonight.” Captain Ward said right off the bat.

“This mission will be a search and destroy mission. We look for a powerful Fallen capable of leading the rest. The likely possibility is that a strong Hivemind or Majesty is coordinating about three thousand Fallen of all other types throughout the entire city.

The rest of the details have already been sent to you, please review them tonight.” Ward continued without stopping while scanning the soldiers head to toe.

“Any last questions?” he finally said

“I have just one question Mon Frere” the man with the beard said the moment William finished talking.

“Do you mind if I smoke? The last captain I had said no smoking during missions.” the man William guessed was Louis said with some worry in his eyes.

“Sure, you can smoke so long as the smell does not leak out of the cockpit or cause you to set your mech on fire. You can even smoke now” William found himself saying as the man put a cigarette in his mouth and smiled “We are going to be good friends Mon Frere”

“Anyone else before we each go to prepare for tomorrow? “ William asked

When no one answered William said

“ Perfect. Tomorrow we are all engines hot at O’ six hundred”