“The identification scanner indicated that this is still that same Jin we should know of.” Tellie’s eyes shone upon slightly checking his credentials with the Empire’s database.
“It’s pretty obvious that this is not the same Jin that we know after that fight,” Yinn said as she had also been monitoring Jin since she was ordered to not fire at all. Her initial thoughts on his orders were conflicted, thinking that this would be a suicide run but seeing how he had asked the CPL of the squad to not participate in the fight shows that he might have some ulterior motive.
At first, she thought it was all about conserving strength and not showing the enemy their full hand. However, now that she learnt Jin was not who he is, Yinn had other considerations running through her mind. And those concerns were not friendly towards their commander especially when she remembered that he had an ‘ally’ which he had accepted and did not come to their rescue at this point.
“So, speak. Friend or Foe? How did you even possess this body?” Yinn said as she knew how the Synthesis World works and assumed that Jin would surely know.
“What if I tell you I was from another world and had been banished to this place by some supernatural forces? Would you have believed me?” Jin asked and the rest felt that Jin was making fun of them.
“What kind of ridiculous reasoning is that?” Click said while staying stationary and readying herself to pick up her pistol as she knows that this Jin was not as simple as they thought she was.
“As I said, this is the only explanation I can give you. I would like to get out of this world, of this situation if I can but right now, I am prioritising my survival and using whatever I have at my disposal to make it so.” Jin said as he felt some regret for even saying that he felt tired of all the bullshit in his home world. Perhaps, if he did not do that, the gods who were watching him might not have intervened although that was also something he could not have controlled.
“So, all I can tell you are. Work with me. I am risking as much as you are from the previous fight but I cannot do this alone in my current state.” Jin was genuine at his request and while the Mechanoids were not humans, they were able to read verbal expressions decently.
Yinn walked backwards slowly and lifted her rifle away from him. “I do not trust you yet but according to my truth detector, there was no hint of lies at the moment.”
“You have a truth detector built into you??” Jin asked as he put his pistol away but the rest were grinning behind their ears. It was a fact that there is no such thing as a truth detector module installed in War Maidens since they were supposed to be combat oriented.
“You seriously thought we have truth detectors installed in all of us? Then we would have caught that previous Jin’s lies so much more easily and report him.” Diaz chuckled as she used a nearby tree to lean on. As gullible as Jin was in that particular situation, the Grey Bear Squad still need to make a decision.<.com>
“I do not mind a competent commander though.” Tellie finally decided to break the ice by speaking out first. Her first hand experience using the buffs from the Tactical System had made her feel that she is finally doing a proper job.
? “Yeah. The way he jumped out of the window and ran like crazy. At first, I thought he abandoned us and really felt like shooting him from the back. Turns out he risked his life to give us a tactical advantage. Can’t say it’s the best move a commander can pull but for him to risk his life for us? That’s a first and I am digging it. This broken leg is a small price to pay compared to the number of rebels we had gunned down.” Diaz said.
“I won’t deny that either. He is already a better commander than previous Jin.” Click agreed as well although Diaz told her that the bar of their previous commander wasn’t that high, to begin with. “Heh, I will take anyone better than that piece of a shithead. And since we have one right now, I would take it.” Click also agreed to the change of command.
Yinn was the only one who did not speak anything and raised her hand up, offering a handshake. “Command us like how you did in the previous shootout and we will remain loyal to you. Else, I will not hesitate to shoot you from the back” Yinn said and Jin accepted it willingly, knowing they both came to a compromise. “You can tell us more about your actual self no matter how crazy it is once we are done with the mission.”
“Alright then. Let’s just pick up whatever we can for now and we need to also solve Diaz’s broken leg condition.” Jin said and Click raised her hand up.
“You might now know this but I am the medic cum engineer for the squad.” Click said as she spread her hands around the many dead Mechanoids. “We can just replace her legs with the existing Mechanoids but it will take some time to make sure that the legs are of decent quality and her body does not reject the insertion of foreign models.”
“How long will it take?” Jin queried and Click did a mental calculation while looking at the messy massacre around her.
“Probably 20 minutes max.”
“If that’s the case, Yinn. Do you mind searching for those sniper nests? I think having some long range overwatch will do us good for our intrusion into Artridge.” Jin asked and Yinn complied.
“Roger that. I will get it done.” Yinn gave a quick salute and move out while Tellie and Jin searched the bodies before the former was ordered to scout ahead to ensure that no enemies were coming back.
