Re: Experimental Fate - Vandread
"Oh, crap!" Hibiki nearly yelled. The glove was defective, so he had to act fast. He got his tools out of his backpack and began working on the door lock.
At the security room around the corner, the three relaxing guards were interrupted from their observation of a historic speech. Suddenly, the flashing red light, the silent alarm for the Vanguard Hanger nearby went off. "Unauthorized access? No way!" exclaimed one guard, standing up from his chair. "Now, of all times? The speech is really getting good," said another.
Then the senior of the three spoke, "It's probably nothing. Let's check it out as fast as possible." He turned to the monitor displaying the broadcast and switched back the security cameras.
"See, nothing there. The door probably shorted." "Yeah, lets just put a notice in for someone to fix it and be done with it."
"Nope, look here," said the senior guard, pointing at a the bottom left of the screen. "There's something on that tile. We're going over there." He turned the screen back to the broadcast before heading off to the locked down door at a jog, his two associates keeping pace.
In the temporary banquet hall, the General was coming to the conclusion to his speech. He had a nice surprise in store for everyone. "Enough time wasted! Why wait for the designated our to arrive? Wouldn't you agree with me men?" A resonate cheer from the crowd of cadet graduates responded.
Throughout the shipyard, technicians and engineers were panicking. "What's that? He's starting it two hours earlier!" "Get to your stations men!"
The guards reached the security door, finding it displaying the words
LOCKDOWN IN EFFECT.
"Just as I suspected," said the senior guard, holding up a rubber glove, "someone tried to fool the scanner with a fake palm print." His two companions made downcast looks, while he brought his communicator to his mouth. "Security HQ. This is old section hanger security. We have an intruder. He just tried to get into the Vanguard hanger, but the door locked him out."
"Roger that," replied a voice on the other side. "Begin sweeping in pattern Theta. We're dispatching another team to assist."
On the other side of the door, a slightly wicked grin crossed Hibiki's face as he listened to the guards run off to find him. He knew he wouldn't have time to get past the security elements of the door, but he was able to open it and hide evidence of his tampering before getting through and letting the door lock down. He discarded his glove to make it look like he gave up and ran off, sending the guards on a ghost hunt. He only hoped they didn't bother to double check the hanger itself, though the fact that the door was locked down would buy him time if they did.
"Not bad, eh?" he said to himself. "That was a piece of cake." He had no idea what a piece a cake was, but the saying was catchy. He was in a large long room with dozens of large alcoves, each housing a Vanguard. He walked down the hanger, looking at each of the crotch plates of the fighting machines to find the modified one he modified; the plating had some distinctive markings, and it was a wonder it was put in with the regular parts. "Come on. Where are you?" he mumbled, as if addressing the Van-type would make it more apparent.
Out in the streets of the city, the crowd was chanting in response to the general's speech's surprise ending, and he responded in kind, "You voices have been heard. Allow me to answer your demand with this!" And then he raised his arms as a full company of trumpets the fanfare. All over, fueling pipes popped off, magnetizing braces retracting into the shipyard, steam gushed out of engine exhaust ports, the array of temporary rockets burst to life, and power lines heated up with their current. The behemoth structure, the Spaceship Ikazuchi began to launch.
Back in the hanger, Hibiki was had just found the Vanguard with his custom part.
- Compliment: "So," Hibiki said to the Vanguard. "That's where you've been hiding, partner." He looked it up and down, admiring. "I have to say, you're looking pretty impressive."
- Chastise: "So," Hibiki said to the Vanguard. "That's where you ended up, partner." He crossed his arms and shook his head. "You won't believe the trouble I went through to get here."
- Greed: "So," Hibiki said to the Vanguard. "That's were they hid you, partner." He rubbed his hands together. "Well, finders keepers. Losers weepers. Come to papa!"
- Relief: "So," Hibiki said to the Vanguard. "That's where it they put it, partner." He wiped the sweat from his brow. "Man, I'm so glad I found you. Now to get out of here."