originally from streletsi on tumblr
You know how when you shine a laser at a helicopter the cockpit blares with alarms because it thinks a missile is locking on? Turns out they don't take the implants out of mech pilots that function similarly once they're discharged. Shine a laser at your mech pilot gf and watch her freak the fuck out.
"Are you sure you're gonna be okay, babe? It'll be loud."
I tapped my ears, full of the special prescription-grade earplugs the post-deployment med folks had issued me. "I'll be fine, dear," I said, my voice distorted in my own head. "Besides, I'm used to loud."
She smiled at me and took my hand as we walked into the venue. It was loud, and - [PROXIMITY WARNING] - packed. My internal threat assessment module was too tightly coupled to my brainstem, and the techs had said it'd be too dangerous to remove it. I'd been learning to deal. It's not like - [PROXIMITY WARNING] - there were a lot of threats that - [PROXIMITY WARNING] - civilian life had that were that close to - [PROXIMITY WARNING] - what I'd had to deal with in the service. And I could mostly ignore the alarms.
I breathed a sigh of relief as my new girlfriend twisted her head back to kiss me [fortified position reached]. "Feeling better, babe?"
I blinked, and realized that I'd led us into a corner, with a large pillar at our backs, where I could see all the doors. Old habits die hard, I guess. Just made me glad that I hadn't let the techs talk me into uninstalling the physical mods. Being over seven feet tall and broad-shouldered had its advantages, cutting through the crowd. I leaned down to kiss May on the forehead as she pushed herself back into my chest. I liked her. We'd only just started being "official" about things, and I wanted this to go well.
"Who is this, again?" I called over the noise of the crowd.
"Ex Machina," she shouted back. "They're super hardcore! But no pyrotechnics, I checked!"
I kissed the top of her head again as the crowd began to roar. I'd endure pyrotechnics, for her. The curtain rose, and smoke billowed over the edge of the stage. Three women stood with their backs to the crowd. As the smoke cleared, the left one spun around and hit a dramatic chord on her bass. Lasers erupted around her, forming a glowing green cage.
Uh oh.
The girl on the right spun around, and lasers formed a cage around her drumset as she laid down a backbeat against the bassist's - [SEISMIC EVENT DETECTED] - low rumble. Finally, the lead guitarist spun around as the first song started in earnest, grabbing the mic and screaming into it past her screeching guitar. The laser cages blasted outwards and I br - [INCOMING MISSILE LOCK!] - aced for the threat assessment module's response. I tried to make sure my grip on May wasn't too tight. My eyes flickered to the exits involuntarily. Maybe it would just be the one effect.
The song blasted through my earplugs as lasers pinged around the room. I wanted to do this [INCOMING MISSILE LOCK!] for May, to be strong [INCOMING MISSILE LOCK!] for her. I had to [MISSILE STRIKE IMMANENT] prove that I could [DEPLOY CHAFF IMMEDIATELY!!] be a normal member of civilian life! My fingers worked imaginary controls, years of muscle memory [CHAFF DEPLOYED] working against me. How long was this FUCK [CHAFF INEFFECTIVE/INOPERATIVE!] ING SONG!?
The song ended, the crowd cheered, and I breathed a shaky sigh of relief. I could feel the sweat on my arms, soaking through my shirt [MISSILE STATUS UNKNOWN] and May's. She turned in my arms to face me, a worried look on her face, but before she could say anything, a pattern of steady lasers lit [MISSILE STILL LIVE] up the room, some of them now centered on [MISSILE RETARGETING] May's forehead.
My suit, in the sky. Katabasis-2, focus completely on destroying the objective. The SAM turret, turning towards her.
[ALLY IN DANGER! DEPLOY ALL COUNTERMEASURES IMMEDIATELY!]
The red ran out of my vision, eventually. A calm voice from an EMT asked me who the current prime minister was, and I bit off a curse.
"Well, that probably works. Ma'am? Can you relax your arms?"
I blinked away some overheat warnings [area clear, execute core step-down and bleed] and suddenly felt like I'd run a marathon. I relaxed my arms, and May tumbled out of them. "May! What happened?"
"You grabbed me and leapt straight through a concrete wall, is what happened."
"W-what?" Oh, no. No, no, no, I'd been trying so hard... "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, babe," she murmured, putting her hand on my bicep as the EMT shined light in my eyes. "And I don't think anyone else got hurt, either. Aside from you." She looked at the EMT with an expression I couldn't read.
They put the pen-light away and smiled gently. "She's fine. The cut on her head was superficial, and her augments prevented any kind of concussion. Just rest a bit before you go anywhere, okay?"
May nodded, and I put my hand over hers. "I'm so sorry," I said. "I ruined the concert."
"No way!" She said. "That was badass! And Ex Machina felt so bad about it they offered us tickets to their next gig - no lasers, they said."
"So, you're not mad?"
"God, no, babe! Were you worried about that the whole time? I like doing things with you! if something bothers you, I'd way rather you tell me and we leave than stay and have something like this-" she sniffled, and a tear fell down her cheek onto my arm.
"May?"
She shuddered against me for a moment, then dove down onto me. "I was so worried! You just picked me up and jumped, and I didn't know what had happened, and you weren't saying anything, and I thought maybe you'd been hurt for how still you were lying, and I couldn't get out of your grip to get help, and-" She buried her face in my chest, and I held her gently, brushing her hair.
"I'm sorry, May. Next time something goes wrong like that, I'll try to let you know sooner."
She sob-laughed against me, and I offered her a handkerchief. She blew her nose and looked up at me with ruined makeup and a weak smile. "Guess I really care about you, huh?"
I smiled back and held her close as I sat up. "Well, that's good. I really care about you, too."
She sighed and wrapped her arms around my arm.
[Base reached. Welcome home, pilot.]
