Part 2 of the story

For the first part, please read the original post here:

***

Rachel and her friends were looking up at all the Titans in the sky. Every time a new one arrived, they’d go and see if it was the right one. Time and time again, they were disappointed when the one didn’t show up.

They noticed a very beaten Titan limp into the city. Some of the Titans that were in it’s way kindly moved so the damaged Titan could pass. It was making its way to the military shipyard to set down.

Cory got a look at the underside and saw a large –V- imprinted on the bottom with The Vindicators written directly under it. He yelled, “There they are!”

Rachel looked up at the damaged Titan. “Wow, they really got hit hard. I hope they’re ok.”

Kelsey looked up with a worried look for a second, then quickly resumed her angry stare. “I don’t care.”

Cory looked at his sister, “You’re still mad at him?”

Kelsey shrugged, “So what if I am?”

Rachel shook her head, “Whatever. We’ve got to hurry and get to the military base so we don’t miss them.”

***

The Vindicators walked off their Titan and looked around them. They noticed the increased military presence in the city, as well as the numerous Titans hovering silently in the air.

Kyilen said, “I count almost forty Titans around here.”

Kurzgan said, “I don’t like this.”

Nethawk looked around, “I guess we weren’t the only ones who got the recall order. Something big is about to go down.”

Drifter stopped a passing soldier, “What’s going on, soldier?”

The soldier looked dumbfounded, almost star-struck, that a Vindicator was talking to him. Drifter groaned and said, “Yes, yes, I’m a Vindi. Now spill it.”

The soldier stuttered, “Uhh, we d-don’t know s-s-sir. The Com-m-man…”

Drifter pushed him out of the way and yelled, “Can anyone with a proper grasp and pronunciation of the English language tell me what is going on?”

Another soldier, a sergeant silver walked over, “No one knows yet. The commander in chief is supposed to have a briefing with all Titan commanders currently in the city in the next few hours. There isn’t even anything on NetBat.”

Drifter nodded, “Thank you.”

Rachel and her friends called out, “Brett!”

Drifter turned around and saw the pack of kids running toward them.

Nethawk yelled, “Incoming!”

The group of kids hugged the soldiers and welcomed them to the city. The Vindicators were hit with an indecipherable wave of chatter from them as they all spoke at the same time.

Nethawk said, “This sounds like my ears bleeding.”

Kyilen covered his ears, “Turn your ears down, their bleeding is making me deaf!”

Once the kids had exhausted everything they wanted to say, Nethawk said, “So, how are the mini-Vindis?” Every kid opened their mouths when Nethawk said, “ONE at a time.”

Tonisha answered, “We’re doing good.”

Cory asked, “What happened to your Titan?”

Kyilen said, “People shot at it, Titans shot at it, a mountain fell on it, another Titan tried to ram it, and ummm… I think that’s it.”

Ian asked, “A mountain?”

Drifter nodded, “A fairly big one too.”

Nethawk said, “At least… it was fairly big.”

Rachel shook her head, “I don’t want to know what goes on out there.”

Nethawk’s helmet radio beeped and he received a message. He pulled it up on his HUD and said, “I have to get going. Apparently that meeting with Titan commanders starts in 45 minutes and it’s at the main command center in the middle of the city. You kids behave… and I’m not talking about the short people here.”

Kurzgan said, “No promises.”

Ian noticed another group of soldiers staring at the Vindicators in awe. He looked up at EagleEyes and said, “Hey Nicolas, why do the other soldiers stare at you like you’re some kind of celebrity?”

EagleEyes said, “We’ve pulled off a few miracles since we were last here six months ago.”

Kyilen said, “A few?”

Drifter agreed, “I think I counted around three or four within the last couple of hours.”

EaglesEyes explained, “I just didn’t want to over-glorify ourselves more than everyone already is.”

Tonisha said excitedly, “My daddy’s told me about you guys! You held off the PAC at Tunis harbour, and held them off again at the ruins of Berlin while our last transport Titans left, and you reclaimed Belgrade after the 14th ‘Kotor’ brigade lost it, and…”

Drifter put his hand up, “Ok, ok Toni. We do the same as any other soldier in this army.”

Dragoneye added, “We just get it done.”

***

**It's been my trademark to add kids into the stories, so I figured why break with tradition. They aren't going to have as big of a role/impact as I originally thought, but they'll still be in there.