Nagito walked around in the hallways of the newfound place he had been teleported to. The halls filled with the smell of pencil lead and old carpet as he approached what he thought was his destination.
"Must be the right place."
Director Azael, the name plate in the door read.
He knocked on the door softly three times then waited for an answer.
What Nagito could hear was the sound of someone putting down the phone back into it's mount.
"You can come in."
He opened the door slightly with a firm grip and met the eyes of the man in the chair at the back of the small room.
"Are you the director?"
He rested his chin on his intertwined hands.
"Yes. Director Azael. You're Ashton Dennis, correct?"
He responded with a slight, guilty, emptiness in his emotion, knowing that hasn't been his name up until an hour ago.
"Y-Yes, that's me."
Damn it, I stuttered.
The director pointed at a table stand before speaking.
"You can put the papers there, after, you can take a seat if you have anything to talk about."
Nagito settled the papers down, then moved towards the door.
"I don't have any questions-"
He thought before continuing, then shook it off.
"Yeah, no questions."
The director crossed his legs on his chair.
"Okay, just remember your next mission in three days. You'll be an on-vehicle scout once again."
That had clicked his mind, before opening the door he looked back, and walked back closer to the chair in front of the director's table.
"Actually, would you remind me again what the mission was exactly? My brain's been a little foggy lately, probably not enough sleep."
Azael looked at him with intrigue.
"Well, you're only a rookie, so your missions aren't too complex. You and your squadron will be traveling with AVALON-6 to the west of our base. Look for supplies to take home. This is a scouting mission, but, with AVALON-6 you can probably take out the lower ranked grunts in the outskirts area."
Nagito nodded with understanding.
"Thank you, sir. That'll be it for me today."
Nagito then, walked out of the room, closing the door quietly.
"I thought it would've been a handful, but that sounded pretty easy. But I wonder though, what is AVALON-6?"
He stopped when he heard a voice calling out to him.
"Ash! Did you take those papers to the director?"
It was the man who had dumped the papers on him.
"Yeah, he took them."
"Thanks, man. You're a life saver, I was about to be really late to my meeting. You've got a bright future, kid!"
He ran off again. Nagito scratched his head looking at the way he ran.
"Damn, what the hell's with that guy-"
He felt a bump on his chest, which took him backwards a little.
"Oops, sorry. You good?"
He looked down to see the same fiery, red hair that saw him nude this morning.
Vermy's ears blushed slightly before she looked up and spoke.
"Sorry, Ash. I didn't mean to."
His chest's gotten softer, has he put on more muscle?
But in truth, Ash's done nothing to work out his muscles in the past month.
"Y-Yeah, watch your way next time."
Nagito said, backing off of her then walking back to the lounge outside of his room.
He stared down at the red carpet, ironically after telling Vermy to look up.
"Hey, this next mission isn't gonna be too dangerous right?"
Nagito looked back after she spoke. Sounding casual, he replied.
"Yeah, just a scout mission."
"You think captain's gonna let you drive the AVALON?"
He still didn't know what the AVALON was.
"Maybe, not sure. Well, I'm going back to my room. Gotta catch up on sleep."
He walked away after they exchange glances again.
She's a cutie… what do the weirdos call her type again? Tsundere?
He shook his head, wiping thought.
Three days pass
It was early in the morning, the squadron who he assumed was everyone in the picture he saw was getting ready to head out.
"I better just listen to whatever that big guy says.."
Everyone wore the same white outfit as the day before. Except for the captain who had a tight, fitted, high tech suit.
It caught his eye as he kept looking at the intricate design.
The captain held Nagito's shoulder, and he winced a bit. The captain didn't seem to notice.
"You like the suit? Don't worry kid, one day you'll get to pilot like I do."
"Y-Yeah…"
He didn't really ask.
"Don't be nervous. You look like you're about to explode."
Carla touched his arm trying to calm him down. But really he wasn't nervous at all.
They had walked to the entrance of the building where they were stationed. The captain had opened what seemed like a garage door, humming with gears then opening into a dark space.
Click. He turned on the light.
There stood an 8 meter tall "AVALON".
Eight meters of steel and circuitry, crouched slightly as though even the hangar strained to contain it. The armor was plated tight around its frame, more compact than towering, built not as a monument but as a weapon. Hydraulic pistons hissed at its joints, releasing faint bursts of steam that echoed in the enclosed space.
From the floor, Nagito's eyes followed its outline upward—the massive legs rooted into the steel deck, the broad torso laced with faintly glowing conduits, the head shaped like a knight's helm staring blankly forward. It wasn't massive enough to scrape the heavens, but up close, the machine still dwarfed him so completely he felt like an insect standing at the foot of a war god.
"Holy hell… I'm totally in a mecha anime."
"What was that?"
Nagito caught himself slipping up, but corrected it after.
"I-It looks like a sunshine of rays."
Carla looked at him confused.
"Whatever that means."
The captain picked up what looked like a audio recording device. He clicked it on.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
"This is squadron 12, reporting our fifth mission. Scouting for imperial army of Tron's navigational bases. It is June 13, 1046 of the Baragan calendar. Ready to move."