Chapter Text
The blazing sun beat down against the Arizona sands, glaring off the metal bodies of four robo mechs.
Olivia sat in the sand beside her teammates, only half listening as they chatted after an eventful round of capture the flag. She watched idly as sand was swept up in the wind or as a gecko skittered under the sun.
Olivia absently pressed her thumb against a rock nestled in her palm. She slid her finder down the oddly smooth side. She didn't mind really, it was something nice and her fingers didn't get caught in any awkward grooves.
She watched as the shadow of HF1 slowly stretched to sit beside her, almost as of it were alive. She glanced at the stagnant machine, waiting for a twitch of a servo to prove such a childish thought. She waited a minute. Nothing happened.
With a sigh, she looked down, paying full attention to the rock. With her elbows on her knees and her hands filling her vision, she flipped over the stone. It was a pale, pale yellow, smooth yet poreous. Every other side was much rougher, while it wasn't back to hold those side, it was unpleasant to feel them with movement. Honestly, it looked more like concrete than something natural that was just worn down with the wind.
She dared a glance to her teammates. Frank, in a now characteristic fashion, was munching on a pack of trail mix he snuck into Thunder Wrecker. Maya snickered, holding herself as if to ebb at pain that was surely growing in her muscles from all that laughing. Stanford watched with a smile, one of his usual big and happy grins he gets.
Olivia stood up, turning the rock in her palm as she walked to her team.
"Stanford." Before he could even look up at her, Olivia had dropped the rock into his lap. "I want your opinion on that."
The group paused as he inspected it. "It's.. concrete? Where'd you even find it?"
"You're sure?" Maya asked skeptically, leading forward to get her own look at it.
"Without a doubt. Tumbled rocks don't look like this and they're rarely so poreous. And if you look as the rough sides, you can see the smaller rocks the in bind." He looked at Olivia. "Where did you find this?"
"In the sand. I thought it was just a stubborn rock after I dislodged it." Olivia paused. "Not often you find chunks of brick in the 'zona desert."
Frank stood up, walking to where Olivia had been sitting just a minute prior. Kneeling down, he dug into the sand. "There's definitely more here. Hey, what if we found an old nuke bunker!" He shot them a goofy smile.
Olivia raised her brow. "Why would it be in Arizona? That's like the worst place to strike with a nuke."
"I mean.." Maya started. "The academy technically doubles as a military base, to an extent. So maybe?"
"Who would? Sky Corps is a global figure! Thats just.. stupid!" Stanford countered.
"Well, Russia and China have always had a bit of a bone with America.." Frank suggested. Olivia shook her head.
"We're getting distracted." She walked to beside him, also kneeling and looking into the sand. "I just wanna see if it's something we can dig up."
With a choir of (chaotic) giggles, the cadets circled in the sand. Maya put her finger around the dug out edge of the concrete, walking the length she can find.
"Jeez, how big in this thing?" She grumbled. Stanford did the same as Maya did, taking the edge she did not. They both kept walking. And walking. And walking.
They quickly rejoined at the center, both being decently winded from the jog. "Well. I think it's safe to say we can't dig that up.." Stanford wheezed slightly.
Maya nodded, feeling at the ground. She stood on top of the concrete, stomped her foot down and listening to a Hollow vibrations.
"Yeah, there's definitely something there.. can't be a well, no one to use it nor does it have the usual lid.." she rubbed her chin in thought.
Olivia nodded, kneeling down and brushing away some of the sand. "Hey, I think we should tell the Captain 'bout this before we break something."
The group nodded and Frank ran to Thunder Wrecker. The two quickly descended.
-°^°-
Some leaf blowers later and most the sand was pushed out of the way. the sun bleached concrete stretched farther than they actually bothered clearing.
From a birds eye view, the platform didn't look very special. But, from a closer spot, you could see small grooves dipping under the sand.
(Something something, they open it)
Stanford stared in awe, the sunlight the bleed through the now open roof illuminated three giant machine, reflecting sharply off the colorful metals.
The glowing oranges, blues, and whites sent reflective rays back in their faces. Some turned away as they descended, others just covered their eyes.
Olivia used HF1's floodlights to illuminate the area, as she turned around she saw massive bay doors.
"That would've been nice to know." She grumbled to herself.
(Haha they're is loa uses cameras to observe)
Ava messed with the console, reorganizing the cords and reattaching them to the car battery.
The console lit up in a blaze of cold blue lights, white text flying by too fast to read as it booted up. It ended at a symbol, a bird with its wings stretched high, a star nestled at the tips of its primaries.
(Mara twitches as they try to look for information)
"Run a full system check." Clark told Ava, staring at the giant machines skeptically. She followed his gaze and nodded.
Screens flicker and Ava opens several tabs, each with an overview of the difference mech's. As expected, the damage was extensive, it was a miracle that they were just thrown away.
"Well I'll be damned."
(Mara groans, releasing pressure from his joints. The other jeagers drop the act and rumble)
The orange one, Atlas Destroyer, tilted its head, watching them like a hawk.
(Communication, hunter is the only one capable of speech (Mara and Atlas has extensive helm damage))
Hunter, or more specifically Root, rumbled a laugh. "Oh, well that's new. So, you were wrong. Humans still need us."