[X][Deal] Theo is flying a Saberfish right now. Eris is piloting a museum piece. That won't do. Your friends get their pick from Anaheim's lineup of MS.
"…my friends aren't exactly flying anything you would describe as 'new'. I'd like for them to pick out one Mobile Suit each from your lineup that we can take with us and use. Spare parts included, of course."
Wong Lee raises an eyebrow, "Pick one out? If you are with Londo Bell, then you can just place an order-"
"No," you cut him off sharply, "Not from your mass production line. I'm talking about your prototypes, your high-performance limited production MS. Those. We want machines with personality."
"That's-!" he starts to snap back, before pausing and considering your proposal. Surprisingly, he eventually nods with a neutral expression.
"That can be arranged. It just so happens that we have a number of such Mobile Suits in storage here at our Von Braun facility. If you go there this evening, I can arrange for you and your friends to see our… selection."
The two of you shake on it, and you can't help but notice that he squeezes a bit harder than needed. You try to outdo him, but as much as you hate to admit it your grip strength isn't great.
"After you take delivery of your new Mobile Suits, our technician will arrive here. I trust you will allow them full access to your TR-6?"
"Of course," you force a smile, hiding the reflexive wince from his grip. Ouch.
You stick your tongue out at him as he leaves, making sure he doesn't see. You really don't like him, but this is a good deal for you! You had no intention of learning how the Woundwort was built anyways, so it's not like you were going to monetize its design.
… Although you do suppose it would be bad if later Anaheim began to mass produce the TR-6. Oh well. The design itself is nice, but it's not like the thing has the power to commit major atrocities or anything like that. Ha! You giggle to yourself thinking of your little Woundwort as having the power to level cities. Ridiculous.
[X][Riot] Hide. You need to get Sicilia out of the spotlight, ASAP.
You have no intention of getting dragged into a riot! You quickly drop Sicilia into your arms and head away from the fighting, weaving through the crowd. Thankfully she stopped chanting the moment you lowered her from your shoulders, and now she just looks like she's shaking off a dizzy spell.
"Sicilia, hang on!" You barge through the edge of the crowd, the shouting growing louder behind you as you duck into a back alley. Looks like you made the right choice, you're hearing screams now.
You set Little Sis down on the ground and snap your fingers in front of her face. She blinks.
"…Big Sis?" She looks around in confusion, "I thought we were watching the TV. Why are people shouting?"
She really doesn't remember? Maybe once you get to Londenion you should have that doctor look at Sicilia too. Maybe he knows something about Neo Zeon's CyberNewtype conditioning methods.
You lead her away from the riot as calmly as possible, and as you do a large demilitarized RTX-65 Guntank painted in Police colors rumbles past you towards the riot, blaring something from its PA about dispersing. Guess you were right to leave.
That parfait will have to wait.
"You can call me Carlos," the scruffy bespectacled young man, an Anaheim employee, says as he guides the four of you through the large security gate into one of the corporation's many warehouses, "and I'm the Supervisor of this storage facility, although I prefer to think of myself as a Museum Curator."
He shuts the gate behind you and flicks on the lights. Massive floodlamps flicker on, illuminating row after row of Mobile Suits, each one unique and distinct from each other.
"Oh. My. God." Eris gapes, pointing wildly at a golden Mobile Suit, "Is that the Hyaku Shiki?!"
"The spare, technically," Carlos answers smugly, "but yes."
He goes on about the history of the various MS as you pass them, Eris fawning over each and every one. It's like a hall of fame in here. You recognize many of the Gundam models here. They all played a role in major conflicts since the One Year War. There are even a ton of prototypes that you never even knew existed!
"I've never seen so many Gundams in one place before!" Eris gushes excitedly, running from MS to MS, "Oooh, which one should I pick?"
You smirk, calling out to her, "Something designed in the last decade, please. We're not trying to swap out your museum piece for another one."
"Technically these are all museum pieces," Carlos proudly corrects you. Theo looks to him as he says that.
"Even this one?" your friend points to what looks like an RB-79 with a giant Gundam faceplate welded out of scrap metal.
"…Even that one," your Anaheim guide cringes as he looks at it, "Let's move on, though. I doubt you want or care about that one."
As you move onto the next row, Sicilia spots one giant green MS and runs over to it. It's a big one, like a chunky Zaku with four large wings. Are those Funnels on the underside?
Little Sis seems enraptured by the thing, and Carlos notices.
"Ah, taking note of the NZ-666, are you? Sadly we can't claim credit for this design. We were, however, commissioned to make replacement parts for it. What you see here are all those replacement parts assembled together, minus the cockpit. It's non-functional as a result. The customer failed to take delivery of it before the Mobile Suit in question was destroyed, so… here it sits."
Amazing. This MS seems to radiate power from its design… but if it's missing its cockpit, then it really is just a hunk of metal. You wonder why Anaheim didn't make a spare cockpit?
"Oh! Carlos, what's this one?!" Eris calls him over. You and Theo follow.
Your friend gestures to a
large Gundam painted in bright red with black highlights. Rising above its shoulders are two large Beam Cannons, somewhat reminiscent of a One Year War Guncannon but slimmer.
"Ah, you have a good eye, young lady," Carlos nods in appreciation, "That, my friends, is a Mk.III Gundam. We call it 'Unit 8'. It was a custom order, but the client didn't take delivery. So, again, it languishes here."
"Who was it for?" Theo asks, and Carlos looks at him as if he were stupid.
"…No way," you look back at Unit 8, the significance of the red paint job hitting you, "Don't tell me this Mobile Suit was meant for-!"
"
Char-Freaking-Aznable?!" Eris finishes, practically giddy, "
The Red Comet? This Mobile Suit was meant for him?!"
"I mean, he was going by Quattro Bajeena at the time," Carlos smirks haughtily, "but yes. We were indeed making a personalized Mobile Suit for the Red Comet. Technically we have three times. His Rick Dias, the Hyaku Shiki, and the Sazabi."
Eris looks back at the Mobile Suit with immeasurable awe.
"Mine," she walks forward and places her hand against the foot, "This one is mine."
Carlos chuckles, "Looking to be the next Red Comet, miss? Are you sure you don't want one of our newer models?"
Eris wraps her arms around the foot, eyes practically sparkling, "I've never wanted anything in my life more than I've wanted this Mobile Suit. Give me."
"Alright, we'll have it sent to your ship then." He nods, then looks at Theo, "And how about you, young man? Any of these wonderful marvels of engineering catch your eye?"
Theo looks around, then stops on one tall white Mobile Suit.
"Um," he looks up at it, "Isn't this… Full Frontal's Suit?"
You do a double take, but Theo is right.
It's white, the head ornamentation is different and... well, there's a lot that's different, but it's definitely a Sinanju. You recognize the basic design from old propaganda vids the Sleeves used to put out.
"Ah, the Sinanju Stein…" Carlos nods, eagerly adding, "Would you like to take this one home? I don't suppose I need to expound upon the properties of this Mobile Suit. If you're familiar with Full Frontal, you already know what it can do."
You give him a side glance, "Eager to get rid of it?"
He laughs awkwardly, "Well, you know, not a whole lot of buyers for this thing!"
You suspect that that's not all there is to it, but you let him off with just that. This is good.
As Carlos has Theo and Eris sign some paperwork, you go back to Sicilia, who's still staring at the NZ-666.
"You sure you don't want something, Sicilia?" you ask her, "We're probably doing them a favor, taking these anyways. They'd just be taking up storage space otherwise."
From what you can tell, most of the Mobile Suits in here are too customized, too old, too bizarre, or too useless to ever find a buyer. You can see that basic maintenance has been done on them too… must be quite the money sink. Someone in corporate is a bit of a pack rat.
Either that or these are still here in case the opportunity to reuse them ever arises.
"… I'm good," Sicilia shakes her head, "Maybe later. I like flying with you, Big Sis."
"And we're done!" Carlos announces as he stows the papers away in his bag, "Ms. Naese, we'll have these two Mobile Suits delivered to you at your ship's berth, and accompanying them will be the technician that you discussed with Mr. Lee."
You briefly shake his hand but before you can let go, he pulls you in closer.
"Take care of these Mobile Suits, you hear?" He whispers, "I hate it when our clients abuse our products."
"…They're literally war machines," you reply, miffed, "We're
definitely going to get damage that we can't buff out."
He just smiles and lets go of your hand. It's official, this guy is a bit of a nutcase.
As the four of you head back towards the port, Eris suddenly suggests something.
"Oh, hey Cybele, you have got to come with us to meet the crew of the Agarma," she says with a sparkle in her eye, "You're going to flip when you find out who they are!"
"Unless it's Char and Amuro arisen from the grave, I doubt that." You reply in deadpan.
"Not quite, but they're war heroes all the same," she insists, "Even Theo was fanboying over them!"
He bristles indignantly, "I was not! And you were freaking out just as much!"
Who are these people? Well, you suppose it could be anybody, really. You aren't too well versed on famous pilots outside of Amuro Ray, Char Aznable, Kamille Bidan, and…. What was his name again? Judy Ashtray?
"I don't know, I was going to try and get a parfait with Sicilia," you pat your Little Sis on the head, "We tried to get one earlier, but kind of ran into a crowd."
And incited said crowd into a riot. That too.
"Come on, please?" Eris playfully begs you, "I promise, you won't regret it! Who knows, maybe they have some parfait on their ship that they'd be willing to share? You won't know till you go!"
[] The parfait has waited long enough. It is time to partake of parfait.
[] Fine, you might as well see who's got Eris so excited.
Author's Note: Informational Posts updated with your friends' new Mobile Suits.
