The Mech Touch

man-sized fluid projector borrowed from the local Planetary Guard.
After a brief windup, a brown slurry of slime propelled from the nozzle of the projector.

Under the onslaught of the sticky slime, the stealthed shape could no longer maintain its invisible state.
A skintight suit enveloped in increasing amounts of slime appeared in the air.

”UGH! Disgusting! ” Lord Javier ’s voice sounded out from the helmet.
”Ah! Help! I can ’t maintain altitude! ”

The gunk weighed down the suit and affected the suit ’s antigrav modules.
The man inside the suit could only be the person they had been searching for, and right now he flailed his limbs in panic as his suit slowly drifted down.

”That ’s enough slime! ” Breskin warned the soldier with the fluid projector.
”Catch him when he lands.
No wait, grab him from out of the air.
We can ’t risk our target falling to his death. ”

Someone else deployed a net launcher that reeled in the slime-covered stealth suit.
The soldier with the fluid projector switched settings and doused their captive with a different spray of fluids that caused the slime to dissolve and wash away.

This enabled the rebels secure the man and remove all of the holdout weapons and gadgets embedded into the suit.
Still, that didn ’t remove the risk of any other tricks, so the soldiers unceremoniously tore off the stealth suit and the helmet away from their captive.

”My clothes! ”

Once they pulled off the helmet from the man, the familiar face of the man who once ruled Detemen IV scowled at the rebels in the shuttle.
”Do you know who I am?! You ’re dead! You ’re all dead! ”

One of the rebels smacked his gauntlet against Javier ’s face.
”Shut up! ”

They possessed enough training to focus on their duties.
They ignored the squealing noble and frisked his naked body with utmost seriousness.
Lord Javier proved his craftiness many times.

The scanners running over his body beeped in alarm as they detected several anomalous objects.
The men didn ’t hesitate when they cut Javier ’s arm to extract a tiny device embedded into the muscles.
Once they pulled out the object, a medic sprayed the cut with a solution that rapidly healed it up.

The soldiers repeated this routine several times, only stopping when they found they couldn ’t easily extract the foreign materials that had been buried deep within Javier ’s body.

”Bring him back to base. ” Breskin said with an exhausted tone.
”Our doctors will pull out all the rest.
After that, we can commence with the interrogation. ”

”Let me go! ” Javier screamed over the pain of having his skin cut and healed.
”My father will hound you until the ends of the galaxy for this, and he ’s not the only one who has an eye out on me! If you know who you just pissed off, you ’ll be pissing your pants! ”

”Shut him up.
We don ’t need him conscious. ”

One of the soldiers injected Javier with a knockout solution that instantly sent him to sleep.
The quiet brought some tranquility back to the shuttle.

Ves leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes.
After so many risks, they finally managed to get their hands on Javier.
He almost didn ’t believe that it was finally over.
From what the lordling demonstrated so far, Ve was sure that Javier would pull another rabbit out of his hat.

”Evidently, there is only so many rabbits he can pull out at any time. ”

As he waited for Javier to be brought back to base, Ves reflected on Javier ’s struggles.
The depth of his preparation exceeded anything that Ves could imagine.
From falling back to his hidden base underneath the recycling plant to sneaking off in a stealth suit, Lord Javier had demonstrated an extreme capacity for survival.

If not for the critical clues that Ves deduced in time, Lord Javier would have slipped through everyone ’s grasp.

Witnessing the entire chase made Ves feel a little inadequate.
While he could have emulated most of the noble ’s methods with his old comm, his current service with the Vandals forced him to do away with most of his survival tools.
Compared to the gadget-laden Javier, Ves felt very barren.

”I have to be more tenacious. ”

Once the Flagrant Vandals retreated from this star system, Ves planned to remedy this shortcoming.
Of course, that entailed asking for special dispensation from the Vandals to carry more special equipment, but with his substantial contributions in this operation, Ves hoped that his superiors would be lenient.

”I deserve a bonus for all the work that I ’ve done. ”

Without Ves, Captain Orfan wouldn ’t have been able to field the mechs of the Dastardly Handsome Bastards.
Without Ves, the rebels wouldn ’t have been able to track down Javier ’s location.
Without Ves, Javier would have gotten away by flying leisurely in the air under stealth.

And that only encompassed his greatest contributions.
Ves didn ’t know what kind of merit system the Vandals used, but Ves felt that he would have been eligible for promotion for everything he did.

”Too bad mech designers don ’t fall into their organizational system. ”

In the end, if Ves wanted any rewards, he had to knock on Professor Velten ’s door.
The notoriously stodgy old lady was a stickler for rules, and Ves wasn ’t sure if any of his achievements gained him any rewards.

”I can ’t wait to get back, though.
I ’m more than done with this crappy planet. ”

Everyone felt relieved with the hunt at an end.
Once the rebels took custody of Lord Javier, the remaining forces of House Eneqqin in the vicinity broke apart and tried to flee the city.

The Vandal mechs that delayed them from reinforcing Lord Javier let them go without a fight.
In any case, they completed all of their objectives.
They never intended to crush every enemy mech.

Of course, the rebels also spread the news of the successful capture through their propaganda networks.
News of what had happened spread through both sides of the conflict in an instant with the help of the galactic net.

Both the Bright Republic and the Vesia Kingdom reacted with astonishment!