WilliamDArand
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Save State Hero -ch16-
🕑 Added 2022-12-16 04:35:06 +0000 UTCEdmund was ignoring the radio chatter.
Ignoring Andrea fondling other women.
Ignoring the fact that he could see Felix and Lucille falling through the sky below him.
All of Edmund’s focus was on the Green Dragon who he was strapped to and that they were about to jump out of an airplane. That they were next.
Then they weren’t.
Because they were already falling.
The interior of Edmund’s helmet was a display of what it could see through it’s cameras and readouts of what was going on around him.
Both of which were now telling him that the ground was rapidly approaching him to greet him. Give him a big, wide, and very sudden hug.
Edmund got out a squeak but that was it. Everything else was lost in the death grip he had on the breath he was holding in.
Other than that, his brain was mostly shrieking uncontrollably at him for what he’d done to it.
“Ah, there we go,” declared the Green Dragon behind him as their descent began to slow. The numbers that’d been rapidly shooting down to zero didn’t seem as intent to do so either. “Sorry, was a bit rough to figure out how to get my balance in order with you strapped on to me. You’re not so bad though.”
“G-glad to hear it,” croaked Edmund.
“Aw, you’re scared, aren’t you? I couldn’t even tell,” offered the Green. A hand reached around to wrap around his middle. “You know, not all the Dragons are bound to Felix. Some of us plan to seek mates elsewhere.
“Otherwise there’d be a real genetic bottle-neck. Goldie is training us all on how to be good mates, but we’re not being trained exclusively for Felix.
“I think you’re rather fun, Edmund. My names Iren.”
“Iren, I think you should pay more attention to the ground. We’re still-still falling,” pleaded Edmund.
“No we’re not. I’m gliding us in to the operational area. It’s right over there. I’m so amazing I didn’t even need my parachute,” Iren countered with a laugh. “Think about what I said, though. I’m pretty amazing you know! I need to go report in with my squad.”
Iren pulled them up right as they were about to land and Edmund was cut free somehow. He landed on the ground with a thump and stuck it without stumbling around.
Iren snapped past him and then turned damn near on a dime and went back the other way. Her short dark green hair fluttered as she zipped off.
“What, now a Dragon?” asked Romina coming over to stand near him though she kept some distance between them.“You ask me out, then hang with miss big angel tits, now a Dragon? Just kinda swinging at whatever gets pitched at you?”
Standing there, Edmund stared at Romina’s helmeted face. The blank exterior of a Legionnaire’s helmet giving him nothing of the emotion beneath.
He had no idea if she was fucking around with him or being serious.
“I’m just teasing,” Romina said after what felt like two beats too long. “Sorry, I’m just… just fucking around. Forgot about the helmet. Can’t see my face. Uh… yeah. Yeah. Haha. Just a joke… ha.
“Just like texting but worse. Can’t throw emojis and stuff out there. Yeah.”
What in the shit?
Is she mad? Is that this?
Mad because why.
She said no to dating.
“Are you jealous?” Edmund blurted out as his brain came up with a single word.
“I-you-wha-what? What? No. No!” Romina quickly shook her head back and forth. “No I’m not jealous. Why would I be jealous? Pah.”
“Romina is speaking in a way that directly goes against what Romina is feeling and acting. A curious dichotomy to note,” Oz offered. “Edmund seems to be experiencing a bout of schadenfreude over the situation. Does Edmund have a comment for the notation?”
“Do you wanna go get dinner when we get back?” Edmund asked, realizing this was a chance to push what he wanted. Even if they were on an active duty mission, he didn’t want to let a chance like this pass by again. He’d already missed the first opportunity, he didn’t want to miss another. “I’d love to take you out on a dinner-date, Romina.”
Romina nodded her head even as he started talking. Only to then rapidly shake it back and forth instead.
“We’re on duty. This is stupid. You're stupid. We’ve got stuff to do,” growled Romina, she didn’t move away though. She hadn’t actually looked away from him. “Err… where were you thinking?”
Her helmeted head finally looked away now as if she realized she’d been staring at him.
“I’ll let you know when we talk about it. Assuming you say yes,” Edmund answered, then looked the same direction she was.
They were looking out at something Edmund probably should have noticed before now.
Out in front of them in the distance was a battlefield.
The burnt-out wrecks of tanks, vehicles, planes, and a great many corpses were sprawled out. Laid out in every direction, you could tell it started as a firefight and ended in a slaughter.
“They totally got Yamcha’d,” Romina murmured, eliciting a chuckle from Edmund.
“Damn,” Felix muttered over the com system. “They really did get wrecked, didn’t they?”
“Got their shit pushed in so hard it came out their mouth,” grumbled Andrea. “Whatever Supers they sent for this clearly weren’t so super.”
There was continued radio chatter after that, but Edmund tuned it out.
He didn’t care about it and he’d be given his orders when they came.
This moment was perfect to him. It was everything he’d wanted.
A second chance with Romina.
He hadn’t let them remain as just friends and had pushed her to think of him as someone who wanted to date. It’d been a bit awkward but he was positive staying her friend and hoping for more would have been toxic for both of them.
I wanted a Save-state point for this so… this works perfectly.
Edmund pulled up the Save-state for Faith’s phone call on the mission and over-wrote it. He didn’t need it anymore.
Being here, in this moment, was the right place for him for more than one reason.
He never wanted to see the look that’d haunted Felix ever again.
Everyone began to move out.
Edmund made sure he moved up to stand next to Romina. Right now was the time to be around her. To not lose whatever ground he’d gained.
“So… was that a yes? Pretty sure we can talk on the move,” Edmund asked, turning his head partly toward her.
Romina’s shoulder mounted camera was facing forward, though her helmet briefly turned his way.
“Yes. Now shut up. Job. Doing… doing the job. It’s recording my coms,” she hissed.
“Oh? So I can watch you saying yes to going out on a dinner date later?” Edmund pressed.
“Yes. Okay? Yes. Yes. Fine. You pushy little… little… pushy pants. Pushy pants! I’m picking where we’re going,” Romina spat out.
“Pussy pants,” said Gaia curiously. “Is that a pet name?”
Sometimes Edmund wondered what was transmitted and what wasn’t. The helmet didn’t seem to do a great job of it at times and yet worked perfectly in other situations.
This was one of the former.
There was a brief strangled giggle before everyone went quiet.
“That’s fine. You can pick where we go, Pussy Pants,” Edmund offered.
“Ugh,” groaned Romina.
***
No defensive hard points were encountered.
Neither Faith or Andrea were asked to lead an attack against any fortified positions.
Though they did wander through a great many empty and deserted positions.
Edmund could easily see how they could lose people rushing up against what’d been built. There were also a great many of them.
From machine gun emplacements, to barbed wire no-man’s lands, to even what Andrea had warned was landmines. It was a nightmarish open field of problems that’d have butchered their forces to come across.
And that’s it for the first one.
But… that also means everything after this is fucked.
None of this would have happened to Felix. They wouldn’t have gotten this far without triggering defensive responses. They’d have sent the entire enemy camp scrambling into action by this point.
“It’s like they all just dipped,” Romina said, peering into an empty mortar position.
Which was obvious since the mortar was still there.
“Yup. Carlotta and Alma are putting on the show of their lives,” Edmund whispered with a smirk. Things were moving to plan.
Moving their way ahead Edmund kept tight to his rifle. Holding it in the trained position, scanning the way ahead, and staying in formation.
All as had been drilled into him under Andrea’s militaristic eye. A personality that only appeared when it came to combat and training and never at any other time.
Almost as if she had a split personality, in fact.
Eventually they made it to a bombed out commercial area. One that’d clearly been fought over for a considerable amount of time.
There goal was a building in particular though Edmund didn’t actually know which. Or even why, really.
Neither was important to him since he’d likely figure it out at some point. Then the next time he loaded, he’d know in advance
He wasn’t about to kid himself that he wouldn’t need to reload at some point.
Given how lethal this mission had been, he was figuring he’d end up having to put in a good amount of work.
“Two possible places for cover,” Andrea murmured over the communication system. “Both with good sight of the capitol building. I’m leaning towards one around the side of it. There’s a second directly across from it but… it’s directly across from it.
“It’s more likely to be a problem than not really but it might also give me what I want. No one might look at it because they’re sure it’s clear.
“Anyone got an opinion? This isn’t a democracy obviously but hearing feedback might help me jar my own wishes loose.”
Oh. And here we go. This’ll probably be where it gets fucked.
Also figured out where we’re going.
That means I can guide Dorothy and Ellie a bit better on the next pass. Dorothy is just… somewhere… here. Waiting for me to message her.
And Ellie is… where’d she go?
Looking around Edmund found the Dryad.
Or so he thought.
The fact that there was a Legionnaire staring at him and facing him directly was a dead give away he figured. No one else angled themselves like that other than a Dryad looking toward the person they were interested in or a Dragon in a similar manner.
Edmund noticed in the next moment that Iren was standing next to Ellie. Her arms folded in front of her armored torso.
She’d donned some type of ballistic vest that covered her much of her front. As attractive as most of her kind, she had a slightly feral look to her as well as a feral looking smile.
Goldie hasn’t knocked the edges off that one it seems.
Both Iren and Ellie raised a hand and waved at him.
Unable to do anything but wave back since he’d clearly seen it, he felt rather stupid. Stupid and far too passive.
It wasn’t that he wasn’t interested in them physically.
He just wasn’t interested in them romantically.
Looking back to Romina he caught her head quickly turning away. She’d clearly been watching him and caught the exchange.
“Edmund?” asked Andrea.
“Huh? What?” he blurted out, quickly looking around to find the commander.
“Any input?” demanded the Beastkin.
“Only that I think you and Felix will make great kids at some point. Can I be cousin Eddy?” he fired off before he could stop his brain from doing so.
“Yes!” came a chorus of excited replies from multiple Andrea’s.
“I’ve always liked Edmund. We should get him a Beastkin girlfriend,” added an Andrea after they all quieted down.
“Yes. Thank you, Edmund. I appreciate the vote of confidence,” the commanding Andrea stated. “We’ll take the flanking building then. When we get in, take up positions for defensive operations. Don’t be seen or be visible.”
As one, everyone began heading over that way now.
A casual conversation about the hard point defensives came up though Edmund didn’t really pay attention to it. He didn’t contribute to it in any way and was more concerned with what he could see.
What he could figure out and plan for the future.
The simple fact that they could choose this building or another left him with the uneasy feeling that he would be reloading soon. That even if they got through this part of the mission without an issue, he’d likely have to reload later to double check and see if there were any other branched choices.
Just because nothing bad happened in a branch, didn’t mean that the other path didn’t have something good happening. Edmund was more than willing to check both.
Easing up to a wall Edmund realized there was a hole in it. It wasn’t too large to see him through, but enough that he could see a bit out of it.
Looking through the gap he could see what he assumed was the capitol building. He couldn’t really tell though which left him wondering about it.
“So… Dryad seems nice,” Romina whispered. It sounded like she was right next to him which was weird considering that they were both wearing helmets.
Not for the first time Edmund wondered what protocol was being worked for communications and what was managing it. The only answer he’d ever come up with was Tribune, or someone, or something, like Tribune.
“Ellie’s nice, yeah,” agreed Edmund, peering through the hole.
“She was with you for the setup, right? Her and… her and Dorothy?” asked Romina.
“Ayup,” Edmund agreed. Taking a step back he looked to the wall and realized there wasn’t anywhere else to peek out from so he simply leaned back into the hole.
“You must’ve gotten close to them. They won’t mind you asking me out again?”
“No, because I didn’t get that close to them. Professional only,” Edmund answered before he realized what Romina was asking. Her jealousy was far deeper than he’d actually expected. “So no, they won’t care at all who I’m dating. Just been after you this whole time, Romina. Didn’t ask anyone else.”
“Dorothy seemed awfully interested,” Romina put forward instead of actually responding to his statement.
“She was. Asked me out. I declined.”
“Just me.”
“Just you.”
Romina nodded her head slowly, then put her back to the wall.
“I just… didn’t want to lose what we had. Wasn’t that I wasn’t interested just… greedy, I guess. Greedy to keep our relationship for what it was. That I could keep it as it was, didn’t have to date you, and could keep going,” Romina explained suddenly and without prompting. “So why date you and ruin what we had? If we fuck it up we’d be all shitty at each other and wouldn’t be friends.
“And I’m a shitty ex-girlfriend. I get all fucked up and bitchy. Blow everything up till there’s nothing left and then hate myself. Maybe I’m crazy.”
“That’s neat,” Edmund muttered, noticing that something was actually happening. He couldn’t really figure it out but it felt like a heat shimmer or something shifting around in the shadows on the far side of the building. His viewpoint didn’t help at all with trying to figure it out. “Good thing I’m Felix’s protege or whatever.”
“What? Why?”
“Cause that dude sticks his dick in a lot of crazy. I’ll ask him for tips before our date.”
There was a tongue click followed by an exasperated sigh.
“Really? You think you’re getting that far? Really Edmund?”
Ha, no mention of the crazy part though.
“No, but it’s fun to tease. Get you all cranked up. Then not even bother to make a move. Watch you just get all bent. Letting you think it all over, try to figure out how you want to handle it, then not get to do anything you practiced.
“You know. Like what happens when you get all worked up over an upcoming stream and you start randomly prepping for stuff.”
“Sheeeeesh. When’d you get all like this? Where’d my Eddy friend go. You’re not supposed to weaponize how well you know me against me.”
“Sure I am. It’ll keep it fun and exciting that way. Just think of all the fun ways I’ll get your kinks tied up in your own head. As to Eddy friend… offed him in the night. Murdered. I buried him under my kitchen. Sold his liver to an alcoholic boomer.”
“What… what the hell? Are you for real? You’re pushing me real hard all of a sudden.”
“Really really. Really really real. There is no Eddy the friend here. Only Edmund the would-be boyfriend. That’s been the goal for a while. Not going to ease up or relent.”
What is that.
It looks—
“Oh,” Edmund said aloud as he finally realized what he was looking at.
A patrol was coming there way with a super attached to it.
They were doing something that had made it incredibly hard to spot them until this moment. When it was obviously too late.
Since they were all raising guns and pointing at something in the building Edmund was hiding in. They’d clearly spotted something.
“Contact,” declared Andrea.
“Dang, and we were getting all flirty. I’ll have to make that convo happen again. Was it me waving at the Dryad that did it, Romina?” asked Edmund, looking to the woman in question.
I hate reloading.
Hate it.
It’s so hard to do everything the same. The slightest change in how you say something and it’s entirely new. People are far too unpredictable.
I’m just not good at reliving the same thing over and over.
“What?” she asked a moment before the wall exploded.
God damnit.
Edmund reloaded.
Comments
William D. Arand
Can't all be one thing, or the other. I can also only speak to my own books, not other peoples. I wrote Wild Wastes 4 and 5 not long ago and Vince dives deep. Same with Super Sales. System Overclocked is already at... 3? 4? by book 1. We can let Edmund try to pull back. :)
Nick Cartwright
I feel like I’ve been reading a lot of reluctant harem leads recently. Starting to get a little worn out on them. I’m sure there is plenty of leads leaning into the harem. I just haven’t been finding them lately. Maybe I need to do a little research.
Lyaruil
One thing I find interesting is that, even though Edmund was talking about how creepy it was to 'game' Romina, he doesn't also realise that remembering positive outcomes from conversations to repeat them is very close to gaming her. I also hope Edmund also realises that keeping other women around is the only reason Romina is beginning to see him as a romantic partner and pushing the other girls away would be counter productive lol.
