Chapter Text
Year: 2780, Lunar Cycle 3/15. Location: Arechi
They had been planning this mission for days, the area was one of the worst affected that they had come across in some time so they had been extra meticulous in ensuring everything would go smoothly, the last thing either wanted was a mistake or wrong move that could get one or both of them infected.
Aiba was on lookout, he had climbed up a rooftop overlooking the motel’s parking lot. It wasn’t the tallest, but it was well concealed and with his height he could see a clear path on either side of the lot, should the infected be clever enough to swarm his partner. Ohno was on the ground, being shorter meant he was easily able to duck between the long-abandoned cars and debris that littered the area, he was naturally agile so he could soundlessly move from cover to cover until it was time to strike. He made sure his mechanical glove was fully loaded, it had enough water that it would be able to emit a powerful enough blast to distribute the disinfectant to those reported to be in the motel, he just had to wait for Aiba to give the signal to move.
Aiba could see Ohno crouched behind a fallen signboard, he was close enough that Aiba could reach him if anything went pear-shaped, the intel they had for this motel was good, Ohno had collected it himself, but you could never be too careful. Who knew what hid behind all those closed doors? He scanned the area one more time, the infected were congregated in the parking lot, they were just wandering aimlessly but both men knew they would get hostile as soon as they made their presence known. Aiba stood, he counted 27 visible infected, Ohno would need his help once he made initial contact, the disinfectant serum worked immediately upon contact when mixed with water, but water was in such short supply. They had to be careful how much they used, if they ran out before the infected were all sanitised then it would only take one to reinfect them all and Ohno and Aiba too.
Aiba silently signaled his partner and held up his fingers to show how many infected they faced, Ohno gave a thumbs up using his non-gloved hand and switched the dial on his mechanical one to begin the mixing of the serum with the water. Aiba was just about to give the go signal when a flash of purple came falling from a rooftop on the far side of the parking lot. It immediately began shooting blasts of liquid at the infected, Aiba watched as the crust fell off those the blast hit and people began to emerge, a little shocked and dazed, but sanitized. It wasn’t the plan, but the purple flash was doing what they had traveled all this way to do themselves.
Aiba jumped down to meet his partner who was watching the commotion with a shocked expression. ‘Who?’ was all Ohno could say when he fell silent as the purple flash slid across the ground shooting down 4 infected with double hits from his weapons
‘Is, is he using guns?’ Aiba asked as the purple flash shot at the ground and bounced up with the force of the water jets only to continue shooting and taking down more infected.
Ohno made an affirmative noise from the back of his throat before scratching his nose ‘I guess we should help him?’
‘He looks like he has it covered’ Aiba said as he continued to watch the man in amazement ‘But, we did come all this way?’
Ohno seemed to agree and they left the cover of the signage together, Ohno shot a powerful blast that knocked down 7 infected who withered on the ground for a moment before the crust fell off their forms and gasps of relief could be heard. Aiba parted his staff so a stream of disinfected water connected the two poles making them into nunchucks and swung at 3 infected who were running into their path away from the purple man. They made their way to the center of the parking lot, blasting those in their path when the purple man finally looked up and drew his guns at them.
He was smiling widely but it faltered a little as he took in their appearance, like him they were heavily clothed despite the strong heat that remained a constant on the planet, only those that risked contact with the infected dared dress in so many layers, it was a primitive but effective way of minimising contamination. Aiba with a long green coat over his tunic and gloves on each hand, Ohno was wearing a bright red cape on top of his dark jacket and pants a striking combo with the bright red of his mechanical arm, which was shining with condensation fast evaporating from its use. The man lowered his guns a little as he noticed the people that were beginning to come around behind them, pools of water at their feet as they peeled the remaining dead crust from their forms.
‘That’s your work?’ he asked, pulling down a pair of purple headphones, he was breathing heavy from the acrobatic display he had just put on from his own work on the larger group of people coming around behind him.
‘We had planned on disinfecting more, but it looks like you beat us to it’ Aiba smiled and reached out a hand to the purple man ‘I’m Aiba Masaki, this is Leader, you were awesome out there, it was so cool the way you flipped down and blasted them all, are those guns? They reloaded so fast, how did you do that? Is it some sort of spring mechanism, could I take a look? I’d love to get something like that so I didn’t have to carry so many of these around’ he finally drew a breath as he pointed to his own set of nunchucks tucked into the holster on his belt.
The man looked at him with a raised eyebrow but shook his hand slowly. Ohno laughed at his partners exited rant before bowing to the man ‘Ohno Satoshi, nice to meet you’
‘Nice to meet you too’ the man replied ‘And yes? I have a friend who makes them for me’ he said holding out one of the guns as if admiring it for the first time ‘My name is Matsumoto Jun’ he said, as he lowered the weapon and grinned at the pair.
Aiba and Ohno grinned back, Aiba putting his arm around Ohno’s shoulders and leaning into him as they admired the purple man who had just cleansed over a dozen infected on his own and made it look like he was having the time of his life.
They had split up to check the rooms of the Motel one by one, carefully disinfecting any stragglers they found, afterward all three men met back in what was once the reception area of the motel to debrief. Matsumoto Jun, it turned out, was a Medical Enforce Technician like Ohno and Aiba, more commonly known as MET to the general populous. When the infection first spread METs once travelled the planets in large numbers doing what they could to combat it, but as worlds grew hotter and water became more scarce the METs Men became fewer and fewer, Ohno and Aiba had only ever known one other MET in the time they had been doing this and he retired several lunar cycles ago. Matsumoto Jun was younger than them both by a few years but had been administering the disinfectant serum since his friend had came across the formula in some old online archive and had been on the job as long as they had. This friend was apparently the same genius who created his advanced weapons, ‘The guns draw moisture from the surroundings and the serum is kept in these capsules’ Matsumoto explained as he twirled one between his fingers. ‘Even the infected still have some water in them, they couldn’t move about if they didn’t, they would just be dust. So, borrowing it for a short time and replacing it with the serum mixed in means I don’t have to worry about running out or reloading’
‘Ah, that’s so cool’ Aiba said as he took the capsule from Jun to admire it more closely
‘Keep it’ Jun said getting up as one of the women they had saved that day came into the building looking a little sheepish. ‘I should get some rest; I’ll need to get up early to travel back’
‘You could come with us?’ Ohno suggested and Aiba nodded in agreement ‘Working alone can’t be all that safe’
‘You’ll find I’m rarely alone’ Jun replied with a wink and he made his way over to the woman, he whispered into her ear and she smiled as he took her hand. ‘On the field I prefer less variables, the less people I have to worry about the more I can concentrate on the job….. no offense’
‘None taken’ Aiba smiled ‘Maybe we’ll see you around?’
‘Sure’ Jun said, but he was already halfway down the corridor towards one of the motel rooms, the women giggling happily at his heels.
‘You like him’ Ohno said as Aiba watched the pair leave
‘He’s cute, don’t you think?’ Ohno whacked Aiba on the arm, a look of pretend hurt on his face. ‘You’re cuter!’ Aiba quickly said and pulled the shorter man into a hug.
Ohno laughed into the embrace ‘He is cute’ he agreed ‘A little flashy and he could get himself into trouble if he doesn’t watch his six while flipping around like he does… but cute’
‘Aww, you’re worried about him! See, you like him too!’ Aiba said and pulled back to look at his partner
‘I like you more’ Ohno replied and leaned up to kiss the taller man.