The Gray Raven Squad, is a squad entirely composed of the most elite of constructs; thus, this squad only has three members currently: Lucia, Liv, and Lee.
Lucia - Red Lotus, a female construct standing at the height of 5'5, she is the sole captain of the Gray Raven squad and a close combat attacker who wields a katana. She wore a black jacket with two pockets on each side, and the sleeves were folded. A button was left open showing her midriff, a red scarf and dog tag on her neck, black fingerless gloves that also exposed her back hand and knuckles, a mini skirt with red linings and black leggings, and black heels with a red sole, and then a red headpiece that resembles a hair band with horns on her black hair that has red fades on the edges.
Liv - Eclipse, a female construct standing at the height of 5'0, she is the healer of the Gray Raven squad, a support-type construct, and her weapon is the Levi-Gun, a two floating cannon by her side. She has a long silver-white hair and wore a long white trench coat that has gold linings on it, the extra length of the sleeves were folded, and a similar dog tag hanging on her neck, black gloves, and a black turtleneck underneath the coat, gold belt snuggly fit around her waist shaping the lower part of the coat into her pink mini skirt underneath, black thigh socks with a knee high white boots that has pink linings on top and gold soles, on her ears were black earphone like objects without the head strap and a long antenna like branch protruding from these earphones with a pink tip.
Lee - Pale Fire, a male construct standing at the height of 6'0, he is the only male construct in the group and the technician, a ranged attacker that wields a dual gun he modified himself. He wore a black open jacket that has blue linings on the cuffs and pockets while also a blue collar, a black turtleneck underneath with a blue zig-zag line pattern, black cargo pants and black straps on both his thighs and knees, black gloves with blue lines, black flexible boots with blue designs and blue soles, two blue horns were protruding on his mop of blond hair.
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The Gray Raven Squad was called to a meeting by Celica, by the order of Nikola. The squad was curious as to why they were summoned by Nikola, but just thought it was another critical mission that needed their expertise.
Their footsteps reverberated on the metal hall's floor, leading to a sliding metal door. As they got closer, their heightened senses of being a construct picked up Nikola's voice angrily debriefing a command to someone, or was it a scolding?
"Hmmm? Did someone mess up a mission?" Ask Liv.
"Most likely, judging from the tone of his voice, I guess we are sent here to clean up somebody's mess again." A stoic reply came from Lucia before sighing, Lee grunted, and Liv giggled at the possibility.
The thick metal door slides open, revealing the inside of the room. The room was dimly lit, the only source was the floor, which showed a map and blue holograms that had confidential documents displayed on it. When Nikola turned to look at them, they instinctively saluted.
"Hm, Gray Raven, you've finally arrived. At ease." They retracted their hand and walked closer to the screen and stood in front with discipline. When they were at the edge, they saw someone down below from the side of their eyes, they all simultaneously took a quick scan at him and deduced that this was a commandant.
He stood at the same height as Lee, 6'0, He had white hair, a futuristic screen mask hiding his face, a grey militaristic jacket that has a badge to the side of his arm, a black shirt underneath, black gloves that has metal plates on the back of his hands and finger that connected to the knuckle, grey cargo pants, black combat boots, strapped to his hips was his gun and serum pouch.
He looked like any typical commandant besides the full face mask instead of visors, and seeing that he isn't accompanied by his construct, they speculated that they died and this commandant was the only one who survived in the group, they hide their grimace from the thought that this commandant must have abandoned his constructs.
They shook off the thought and listened intently to Nikola for the mission briefing.
"Gray Raven Squad, this is Commandant Ren Takeda, a newly appointed commandant, and as of today, he will be the assigned commandant of the Gray Raven Squad." Nikola proclaimed to them.
The sudden proclamation made the squads' M.I.N.D go blank, even with the exceptional processing unit they have as a construct, it still took a full minute for them to process what Nikola just said to them, and even if they did process it, they still couldn't believe what they just heard. Lucia blinked a couple of times and looked up at the screen to verify.
"Um, excuse me, sir Nikola, but can you repeat what you said?..." Lucia asked in an unsure tone that made Nikola raise an eyebrow at them.
"What?! Are your hearing sensors damaged? I said that Ren Takeda will be the newly assigned commandant of the Gray Raven Squad as of today!" Nikola repeated with a louder voice, hearing it a second time confirmed what they thought was a misunderstanding.
"Sir Nikola, permission to speak sir," Lee asked with a stoic expression as he stepped forward.
"Hm? What is it Lee?"
"The Gray Raven Squad have functioned for a long time without a commandant in the team, our M.I.N.D have been gauged to the point that we can function for a much longer time than a normal construct without our M.I.N.D deviating, even with the risk of M.I.N.D deviation, we can treat this with our pods' Deep-Sleep function and elevate this problem on our own. We have proved our skills time to time again in dangerous missions that no other squad members could finish without any major troubles. Assigning a commandant to us on such short notice could become detrimental to the squad's functionality. Not to sound insubordinate, sir, but please reconsider." Lee voiced out his concern, Lucia, Liv, and Nikola were all stunned, staring at Lee, to them, this was the first time he had spoken so much.
"And why would you think that Commandant Ren Takeda would become detrimental to the group's functionality?" Nikola asked with a narrowed gaze. Lee had already raised a couple of good points, but Nikola wanted to hear more.
"Aside from our team's functionality, we the Gray Ravens are already used to fighting in missions without a commandant leading us, if we are suddenly assigned with a commandant, it would hinder our effectiveness in battles if our priorities are divided to fighting and defending the commandant, especially in places that have a large mass of punishing virus. Constructs are resistant to the punishing virus that even if infected, we still have a chance to be cured, but a human will die immediately as the virus directly attacks the human cells, instantly killing them or turning them into a corrupted state. No matter how good of a commandant he may be in fighting, it will still fall behind a construct's fighting capabilities, thus making him a liability to us instead. Sir." Lee didn't stutter a single word while he said what he thought about the sudden assignment and downplaying the commandant, and he was in the meeting room with them!
Nikola thought about what Lee said and he does agree to a couple of them, what Lee said could be heard as treason and insubordination but their mission records could speak up for them, and he too thought that a commandant in a squad of construct can become a liability in battle and the only contributions a commandant have on the team is lessening the constructs M.I.N.D deviation and leadership.
But those too could be improved with a modification in a construct, but the only thing he doesn't agree to, while looking at the present commandant in the room with a look of amusement on his face. "Not bad of a speculation, Lee, but there is only one thing though."
Nikola said cryptically. The Gray Ravens looked up at Nikola as he cleared his throat and got rid of his amusement, and went serious. "I'm placing Commandant Ren Takeda in Gray Raven's squad, not as leader of the group per se, but as a form of punishment for him."
The silent commandant visibly flinched at that, and the Gray Raven squad was once again caught off guard, while Nikola smirked amusingly, taking joy in the squad's dumbfounded faces, even for their seriousness, they could still be expressive.
"While he is placed under the squad, he is strictly FORBIDDEN to fight on the frontlines, he can still lead with Lucia and assist in the backlines, but that's it. Are there any more objections?..." Seeing that they didn't have anything to say, he looked at Ren, who stood attentively.
"Commandant Ren Takeda, as we agreed earlier, you can still fight against the corrupted. This will be the squad you are assigned to, do you understand?!"
"Roger." The calm and deep voice of the commandant didn't catch the other members' attention, but Liv was suddenly surprised by his voice, because it sounded familiar to her, but she couldn't remember when she had heard it.
"Good. Celica, give him the warrant." Nikola ordered his assistant, and the Gray Raven squad cringed at the mention of the warrant, it reminded them that they are treated as an objects and as such. Celica walked towards Ren and presented him with the warrant papers. This warrant paper is, in short, a proven ownership over a construct.
"Hm? Is this even needed?" Ren questioned with a slight disdain in his voice, which caught the attention of the squad.
"Do you have an issue with it?" Nikola was annoyed that another would try to disobey him, he respected the bravery, but was annoyed that there was another.
"Well, if my assignment in the Gray Raven Squad is a punishment for me, why do I still need a warranty that says I 'own' them. They are not objects, gadgets, or some mindless machines, they are constructs." Ren strongly said that deeply shocking the squad, Nikola narrowed his eyes, glaring at Ren, as Ren faced Nikola, even if the mask was on him, they knew that he was staring directly at Nikola.
Nikola grumbled and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Here goes your philosophy again… Look, this warrant is used for their body's damage repair so that it won't cost you anything! Yes, they have human consciousness, but their body is that of a machine, which needs repairs, not a cure or healing like a human."
"Then give me a contract that specifies that, not a warrant that lets me own them." Ren said not backing down an inch, he crossed his hands and stood strong. This action alone could warrant him a demotion, but Nikola just let a sigh of frustration out of his nose.
"Can't you just sign it and-"
"Nope." Ren caught him off which frustrated Nikola even more.
"Grrrr. Fine! Do what you want, you'll receive those papers after two weeks, any repair done in those two weeks, you're paying for it!" Nikola relented in the end and rubbed his temples, a headache forming as he thought about the extra paperwork he would be receiving.
Ren was amused behind his mask, while the Gray Raven could only ogle at the scene in front of them unfolding. They were already shocked that a commandant wouldn't want to sign the warranty and would argue back with Nikola of all people, but the real kicker was Nikola stepping down! Nikola doesn't step down that easily for somebody, even for Hassen, who is the leader of the council and President of Babylonia!
"If you don't have any more complaints or objections, you all can take your leave." Nikola sighed one last time before the screen shuts down, leaving before anything else came up.
When the screen was turned off, the Gray Ravens were still rooted to their place, still couldn't believe what just happened in front of them, a commandant that didn't want to own them, which they didn't know how to feel about it, should they be happy or insulted? And Nikola backing off and actually accepting the request of making a new warrant just for him?! Just who is this commandant?!
Commandant Ren walked closer to them, he was relaxed and soft in his steps that his boots, which had metal studs underneath, were only making low clicking sounds. He stopped in front of the squad as they eyed him, curious what he would do. Strangely enough, they could feel that he was smiling underneath the mask.
"So, you are the elite Gray Raven squad, it will be an honor serving with you three, I am Ren Takeda, just call me Ren for short." Ren bowed respectfully at them, and Liv and Lucia could only nod back, still shocked.
'JUST WHO IS THIS GUY!?!' The constructs all thought at the same time.