The Grand Battle S2G1! [Round Six: Eddelin City]

Originally posted on MSPA by Dragon Fogel.

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When Phil Girnham fully regained consciousness, two things struck him immediately.

First, he was much higher in the air than he was comfortable with.
Second, he no longer had his helmet on.

His first instinct was to scream.

Cole's claw clamped down on the marine's lips.

"Oh, you're awake," he said bluntly. "Try not to struggle too much, or I might decide that whatever information you may have isn't worth all this trouble."

Phil was starting to have serious second thoughts about his choice of career.

***

Envoy flew somewhat faster than Cole, so it and Arkal arrived at the Bearded Swordsman first.

"Thanks, I suppose," Arkal said, looking thoughtfully at the machine. It was made of quite the material; not as potent a mineral as Kracht, but still intriguing nonetheless. Perhaps its creator would have more lying around?

Before Arkal could question the robot, however, it flew off. It returned a few minutes later, this time holding Phil Girnham; Cole landed not longer afterwards.

"Envoy can hold him longer than I can," Cole explained simply. "Now, I'm sure you have numerous questions. Unfortunately, I can't guarantee that I'll have time to answer them; but I can at least give you a comfortable place to sit in the meantime. Follow me."

Arkal shrugged, and followed the bug-covered man into the bar. There were already two patrons sitting down, and a barmaid serving them. One of the customers was a rather nondescript man wearing a grey hooded shirt; the other was more noteworthy for his diminutive size and robotic body parts. They were in the middle of a conversation.

"So Jacob's gone, and Jeremy's chasing after him. Neither has returned. And on top of this, we have the Konka Rar business." The taller man looked worried. "I'm not looking forward to dealing with awakening dinosaurs in addition to our usual problems, let alone while being shorthanded."

"It's worse than that," Cole said, surprising the two men slightly. "It seems the human side has a new ally, who can produce reinforcements from nowhere. Oh, and I found this gentleman."

"Arkal of the Silver Anvil," Arkal said politely. "Any chance of an explanation soon?"

"Yes, yes, one moment. I've also captured Girnham." Cole pointed to the prisoner; he seemed resigned to being trapped in the robot's grip for the foreseeable future. "We may want to question him at some point. I removed his helmet, so he won't be calling for assistance any time soon."

The taller man stood up.

"And is this Arkal willing to join our struggle?"

"That depends on what your struggle is," the smith grumbled.

"Well, considering you're human and you've earned Reinhardt's ire, you're essentially with us or you're on your own," Cole said bluntly.

"That's enough, Cole. He may as well hear us out before making his decision." Arkal thought he saw the man's eyes change from grey to brown, and then back to grey. "Pardon our associate. I'm Eric T. Packston - I'll introduce you to the rest of me in a moment - and I'm the leader of, well, the group trying to find some sort of peaceful resolution to this conflict."

"The conflict between humans and non-humans?" Arkal asked.

"Exactly. Many non-humans have banded together to strike back against the humans, and many humans have joined the Hand of Silver out of fear more than actual hatred. As for us - we're essentially the ones who think the whole mess is stupid and needs to be stopped."

Arkal smiled.

"Now that's a cause I can get behind, Mr. Packston. Count me in."