Earth

A chain of explosions broke the cold stillness of the morning. An instant later, gunfire cracked through the air, accompanied by the buzzsaw-like sound of Chaos Grenades, the fizz of VARIS rifles and the roar of Hadron cannons.

A white-coloured Knightmare dived behind a wall under a hail of gunfire from a squad of Gun-Rus, spraying blindly over its cover.

Its pilot swore loudly. "This, C.C., is not how I planned to spend my Saturday morning!" he shouted into his radio, glancing at the pink Knightmare a few hundred feet away.

C.C. dodged with practiced ease, guiding her Knightmare to the shelter of a half-tumbled building and crouching there. She gave a calm sort of laugh at the man's comment, shaking back her streaming emerald hair.
"Relax," she advised calmly. "You make it sound like I planned to have a gun-fight."

"Did you?" Kohaku called over his speaker as he, too, rolled his Knightmare away into shelter. "I wouldn't put it past you."

C.C. made no move to answer the Knight, and Kohaku did not try to press it. His personality simply did not allow for such things.

"Do you have a plan?" C.C. asked their companion, watching the little red blips of enemy forces moving around on her screen.

"Yeah," Valentine said. "Hide. If we can get out of their sight and I deploy ECM, we might be able to give them the slip and grab the wings in peace."

Another hail of bullets hit his craft, and he returned fire. "Oh, and it has the advantage of, you know, us staying alive."

C.C. gave a rich, sarcastic laugh at Valentine's last comment.
"You mean it has the advantage of you two staying alive."

"Of course, C.C., you are in no danger," Kohaku whispered. "But is that not an advantage?"

C.C. frowned slightly.
"I suppose so. Alright, everyone hunker down. We'll go with Valentine's plan."

Valentine nodded. "Other side, into the warehouse!" he shouted, throwing three Chaos Grenades out behind them. "Run!"

The Chaos Grenades went off, spraying bullets in every direction, shattering windows and tearing through Gun-Rus like they were rice paper. Valentine heard a few projectiles collide with his craft, but there was little damage.

C.C. and Kohaku both reacted in an instant, their reflexes tuned and tight for battle. As one, it seemed, they shot out of cover and ran for the warehouse, Kohaku very carefully placing himself between C.C. and the Chaos Grenades. A pointless gesture - the woman was in no danger - but cursed as he was with a flaming servant complex, he had little choice in what he did in this situation.

Only when they reached the shelter of the warehouse did Kohaku move from her side. While she shot deeper into the warehouse, he remained near the door, watching for Valentine.

Valentine ran for his life.

Gunfire pounded around him, and smoke flew up into the air, but two smoke grenades concealed his escape, and most of the shots missed. He dived into the warehouse, skidding to a halt beside C.C.'s Knightmare.

However, he heard a 'click', and looked to the side of his craft.

And saw an armed Chaos Grenade rolling towards him.

One word escaped his mouth.

"Oh."

"Kohaku, run!" C.C. commanded, and Kohaku obeyed in a instant. The man did not try to protect C.C. this time. She was immortal, invincible, and had ordered him - the mortal - to go. He fled from the warehouse and took shelter behind another building, only able to pray that an enemy would not find him there while he waited.

C.C., experienced as she was, had dealt with Chaos Grenades before. She drove her Knightmare forwards, seizing the weapon without concern for her own... consciousness. She could not have said life, since she did not die. Moving quickly, she did her best to get the Chaos Grenade far away.

That did not stop it from exploding.

(HOLY CRAP I AM SO SORRY. I THOUGHT I REPLIED TO THIS. FORGIVE ME, MASTER.)

Valentine watched the grenade go off with a feeling of pure horror for an instant, before he reminded himself that C.C. was immortal. He emptied what was left of his magazine into the entrance, then grabbed C.C's craft - at least, what little was left of the damn thing - after the grenade had expended its payload.

"Kohaku, we need to cut C.C.'s body free of her craft or she can't regenerate cleanly; her bones will twist and deform as she heals because of how mangled the cockpit is. Does your craft have an MVS?"