[i][b]Flashback Collab - Chapter One, Desperation in Lingayen, Part Zero[/b]

Enroute to Lingayen, Phillipines
[/i]

[hider=Flashback Part One]
[b]Hannie's PoV:[/b]

Things have started moving so fast.
Just this morning, Hannie was back in Australia. They told her she might have to leave a month back, but she thought there might be another warning. Or that they'd just forgotten it.
Wake up. Have breakfast. Now get on this plane, you're going to the Phillipines. Huh?
It's been a few hours of just being herded around now. No one seems to have the time to explain what's going on for her. She feels like she knows, but... she'd rather not be right.
Now get in this truck with these army men. Take some ice cream. Good girl. Good luck. With what?
Now it's moving.

It feels dark in here. It isn't really, but there's something wrong with the atmosphere. Hannie holds an ice cream cone and stares at the floor, the smallest figure present - not necessarily by much, but something about her makes her feel yet smaller.
The soldiers are quiet. Are they staring at her? Are they leaving the air open for an Arms Master? Or is there just nothing to say?
After a while, Hannie looks up to scan around. Are they all army guys?

[b]NPCs[/b]

The Truck's Radio was broadcasting the worst news possible: China was invading in what they call a 'territorial protection operation' and it was taking the Philippines' premier Arms Masters to protect the country from a now-constant bombardment of ballistic missiles and other long-range weapons, as well as the might of the Chinese Navy. 

The Philippines' own naval forces were concentrated in the west, trying to bar the way to Manila Bay while its air force was barely holding on. 

As the 'Government of National Salvation' scrambled all its remaining forces, it became clear that the main thrust of its defense was on Lingayen Gulf, where the Japanese had landed in World War II. 

And (more) Arms Masters were their only hope.

[b]Qingshe's PoV:[/b]

Another battlefield, another front of the war... and another group of stagnant hicks in dire need of uplifting in the face of Chinese aggression... It was hardly anything new to her. Rather, if anything, it was the same thing she had busied herself with these last 10 months after she finished wallowing in her own indecisiveness.

Fingers clad in emerald-hued false claws tapped a stuttered rhythm upon the surface of a sleek electronic "pad" of sorts with a very distinct, glowing green-on-black cyberpunk aesthetic. The screen's dim light helped illuminate the owner's somewhat more sparsely inhabited corner of the vehicle. "Somewhat", in that the transport was cramped enough as is, and there wasn't a whole lot of room to distance oneself from less palatable company... subtly or otherwise.

That didn't mean some didn't try, no matter how that would reflect on their "comradery" or willingness to supply it.

Reptilian eyes crinkled into silent smiles at the soldier currently keeping a whole seat's worth of space between himself and her, and she smiled impishly at the shiver (in fear or... perhaps something else?) that he rather impressively managed to mostly conceal. She licked her lips in a [i]hungry[/i] manner that left little intent to the imagination, before mercifully relenting her teasing of the poor [i][s]human[/s][/i] man to pan her searching gaze over the transport's other inhabitants.

She could see them... the other Arms Masters, the diamonds in the rough among the common chaff, and her mouth watered with venom at the thought of- [i]No[/i], this really wasn't the time. But later? [i]Later,[/i] she promised her cravings, humming cheerfully to herself with a lilting, almost musical whisper in the cramped air.

Eerie techno-green light played against the walls beside her from her salacious dress-like "armor", as she leaned back and grinned.

"[i]My[/i]~, it sure is optimistic in here~" she tittered, her soft Chinese accent flavoring each syllable.

[b]NPCs[/b]

The soldiers began talking among themselves in Tagalog/Filipino and a few other local dialects/languages, but one, who spoke accented English, finally replied to Qingshen, "We're being sent to die; why would we be 'happy'?"

[b]Hannie:[/b]

Hannie quietly looks down again and starts eating her ice cream.

[b]Qingshe:[/b]

The [i][s]unnervingly[/s][/i] unnaturally beautiful young woman pouted in faux offense at the disheartening reply, her hungry, golden-red, slitted eyes almost visually waning between languid blinks into a moderately less predatory red-tinged blue.

Shortly thereafter, she merely shrugged and smiled with almost insulting brightness. "And here I thought humans were supposed to be adaptable, the ultimate underdogs, developing strength in adversity~... [i]Evolving[/i]..." She grinned, eying the present Arms Masters, before waving her hand dismissively. "But if you're so resigned to being prey, then by all means, at least do yourself the favor of not worrying about the inevitable slaughter, hmmm?"

The words were far from encouraging, but they weren't intended to be. It was rats like these that natural selection would weed out by the end of things, so what concern was it of hers how they wasted their pointless existences? They didn't even have the decency to donate themselves to her research. At least then their deaths would have purpose.

Moreover, from a tactical standpoint, it would be foolish of her not to nip such talk in the bud. "Hope"... Such an ephemeral, irrational concept, yet all too important. A fighter with conviction and the belief that they could -[i]would[/i]- win was worth ten of those that thought otherwise. The Chinese had no reason to believe the latter and so were already at a large advantage. The last thing the Philippines needed was nihilism crippling their few fighters' will to act.

Qingshe giggled cruelly. "If you're going to die, don't drag your comrades down with you. Be worth something more than nothing, and at least have the dignity to shield those with the will to win where you couldn't."

[b]NPCs:[/b]

The soldier muttered, "Maybe it'd be easier if we can make weapons out of our souls, then."

[b]Qingshe:[/b]

With her acute hearing and the generally restrained noise level of the transport, Qingshe had no trouble perceiving the soldier's words and leaning back, crossing one slender leg over the other, her strange cyberpunk "dress" notable in that it only formed a ruffled "skirt" from the knees down.

"[i]Mmm[/i]~," she agreed noncommittally. "[i]Maybe[/i]~... or maybe not~." Cupping her chin with one palm, false claws delicately traced her jawline in thought. "Don't underestimate humans... Our potential is limitless... Noble Arms are proof... and by no means the only kind."

She had little more to say on the matter. She was here to help these people, but she wasn't about to hold their hands. If they couldn't understand that much and extrapolate what was important from there, she felt by no means obligated to elaborate without direct prompting.
[/hider]