"... Shit, why is this starting to feel so familiar?"
Finding that he had passed out again and woken up after an uncertain amount of time had passed, Tom was at least relieved that he had mostly recovered from his injuries and was now in much better shape. It seemed like Tom had passed out the second he bought the UAV support module, and now that he was awake again it would be reasonable to assume that the purchase was now complete and he could use the 'module', whatever it was.
(I wonder how I-)
The second Tom thought about activating his support module his vision shifted.
GE-54A3_ALBATROSS_ONLINE
CHARGE:_99.3%
OVERHEAD_STABLE
ALL_SENSORS_ONLINE
Suddenly Tom saw the entirety of the fortress city from above through a stabilised, high resolution image. There was almost no clouds, and the few there were didn't seem to impact Tom's slight as when he focused on them they disappeared, similarly, when he focused on anything else, like the central castle in town it was magnified as data on approximate number of residents, entrances and exit and a heat map of activity.
(Wait… is this?)
Recognising the interface and realising what he was seeing was live footage, Tom realised that the support module he had gotten was a state of the art USIE drone control implant and a personal GE-54A3 Albatross UAV. While the implant was something so far from anything he would have ever owned in his old life, Tom knew that the Albatross was a strategic asset, something which would only be assigned to army or spec ops divisions and battalions. Just thinking 'home' made one of the Albatross' numerous high resolution sensors focus on the building Tom found himself inside, he could clearly see the numerous people walking around outside and if he focused on one of them his neural implant immediately brought up a report stating where the person had went in the city the last few hours, where they slept and where they were likely headed to next based on a predictive model.
(Oh, Lisa's arriving.)
As the Albatross tagged a person equipped with a firearm approaching his position rapidly, Tom waited until she had entered the inn, then exited the interface as Lisa entered his room and prepared to apologise for randomly passing out for several days.
"Hey, I-"
"She did something, right?"
Only Lisa didn't seem perturbed or angry in the slightest, in fact she bloomed a slight smile when she saw Tom was finally up and awake.
"... Yeah, the hunt awarded me with a surveillance drone and a neural interface for it so I was passed out while it was installed in my head."
"... You what now?"
Although Lisa understood every word coming out of Tom's mouth, she had no idea what he was talking about, which was understandable as the only thing Tom really had explained about his old world was that there wasn't any magic.
"Okay, give me a second…"
As Tom himself barely knew about the technology behind the chip in his head or how exactly the Albatross was able to fly near the edge of space for years without refuelling it took some time to explain everything, but after about an hour of explaining Lisa understood the broad indications of this upgrade.
"So, in essence no one will ever be able to catch us off guard again? That's great, awesome even."
"Yeah, even without any weapons equipped the Albatross is immensely powerful, but not omnipotent. Even if it's safe to say that monsters will be much less of a worry in the future, people are another matter entirely."
Aware that he had indirectly pissed off the kingdom, Tom, who was quite experienced with wetwork, knew there were ways around something like an Albatross surveillance drone and that was even without magic.
"Speaking of, what's the current situation here in town?"
"Nothing's really different compared to 3 days ago when you passed out, although the lord asked to meet you when you've recovered, so we could do that today if you're up for it… As news spread of why the adventurers rebelled like they did even the guards switched sides so the lord is properly desperate to be seen having no problems with us, less he wants a real uprising on his hands."
Explaining that because of the long standing isolation the people in town were mostly ignorant about demihumans, they had no hate for Lisa because of her race so they just saw that people had tried to kidnap one of the saviours of their town and adventures had defended the child.
"Hmm, then let's get going. Meeting the lord should get everyone to calm down a bit."
Figuring he could get the guards permanently off his back, get the lord to owe him a favour and cover for the adventurer's who had basically saved his life in one swell scoop, Tom got up and got dressed in record time, only stopping to think a bit more when he reached the door.
"... Wait, give me a second."
"What now?"
"Just a bit of insurance."
Sitting back down, Tom focused his mind as a familiar sensation washed over him.
INTERFACE_CONFIRMED:_ACTIVE.
CONNECTION_SECURE.
48.821_POINT(S)_AVALIBLE.
(I need a MPX-11A2 with 3 magazines of APE and a chest holster for it.)
REQUEST_CONFIRMED:NOW_SEACHING.
STANDBY.
While he had unlocked the sidearm category from resupply a while a go, Tom didn't have any strong feelings about them as side arms were meant as back-up weapons, so he picked one with armour piercing expanding ammunition as it would be beneficial against monsters.
QURREY_COMPLEATE
STATUS:_AVALIBLECOST:_2500_POINTSCONFIRM_PURCHASE_Y/N?
(Yes please.)
As the equipment appeared in front of him, Tom briefly inspected the automatic handgun and its holster before attaching it all to his plate carrier before nodding to Lisa.
"Let's go."
"Sure, but what is that even?"
Pointing to the pistol, Lisa was sure it was another gun, but as it was very different from what she was used to she couldn't see the need for it.
"It's a backup weapon, like a dagger. I have a feeling we're going to need it going forward so I'll get you one and teach you how to use it later."
"Sure, then let's get this over with."
Although Tom still wasn't sure he was going to survive, he had decided to do his best to nurture Lisa and teach her the best he could. Hitting the street Tom was a bit surprised by the lack of reactions to Lisa's ears being on full display, but quickly adjusted to it before he started noticing other issues.
"There sure are a lot of outsiders around now."
Speaking in a low voice to warn Lisa, Tom realised the moment he had stepped out of the inn room he had entered hostile territory.
"I guess so … But with this many people around they-"
"Yeah they would, I know I would. The only question is if their leaders allow it."
While Tom knew full well how cruel people could be in the service of a 'greater good', Lisa was still naive, as she ought to be for her age, but it was still risky for Tom if she continued being naive.
(Still, if I can't protect a single fucking naive girl then why was I even brought to this world?)
Renewing his determination to protect Lisa, Tom moved his M-907 from his back to his front and cambered a round as he accessed his UAV support module.
"Something about this stinks…"
Seeing the familiar fortress from above yet again, Tom got a sinking feeling in his stomach as he continued walking
(Where?)
While he would very much like to ignore this feeling of dread that was sinking in, Tom realised it was the same gut feeling that had saved his life multiple times in his old life, so he trusted it and finally zoomed out to a wider view of the surroundings when he saw it.
"INCOMING! CONTACT REAR, HIGH!"
Spotting the tightly packed formation of knights in shining armour riding on half eagle, half lion monsters rapidly approaching the town, Tom acted on instinct as he alerted Lisa and swung around before shouting to a group of nearby adventurers.
"Clear out, knights incoming!"
"R-right boss! You people heard him! GET INSIDE NOW!"
Even though it took them a second to figure out what Tom was talking about, the adventurers nevertheless obliged him and cleared out together with any civilians in the area, turning the vibrant morning street desolate in a little under 30 seconds.
(... I can see that people are used to evacing, the advantages of living nearly a decade in a monster infested area I guess.)
"Where are they!?"
As Tom was busy admiring how quickly people evacuated, Lisa was freaking out while still somehow managing to remember what Tom had taught her and got into a shooting position with her M-507.
"1 click closing rapidly! They don't seem to be here to talk so shoot first, then keep shooting!"
Wishing he had invested in some airburst ammunition and an additional LAaG-M sight for Lisa, Tom took a deep breath before he started opening fire right as the group of griffon knights emerged over their cloud cover.
While Tom's and Lisa's shots were all well grouped and mostly accurate, they were shooting at fast moving, aerial and highly mobile targets so the effect wasn't anything to write home about, still they managed to break up the formations of knights as Tom had hoped.
"Move now!"
With their formation broken (and one unlucky knight tumbling to the ground with all the grace of a decommissioned satellite) Tom called for Lisa to move as he put down suppressive fire on a group of knights trying to attack from behind.
"MOVING!"
Moving just as she had practised countless times, Lisa fired a burst, then brought down her barrel and moved before she set up again and fired while Tom moved. Although this was by far the simplest implementation of fire and movement Tom had done in years it nevertheless was effective enough for him and Lisa to temporarily break contact as they moved into the half abandoned slum area of the city near the seldom used northern gate.
"... What now?"
Barricading themselves inside an abandoned building, Lisa was busy sucking air against one of the windows as Tom assessed the situation.
"Call for QRF or CAS is what I would like to say… But we're up shit creek without a paddle and straight out of luck."
Checking his current magazine while complaining about their lack of fire support or backup, Tom noticed a pair of guards scouting out the area and shooed them away with a few rounds aimed in their general direction.
(By now they must have realised that staying in the air or any other open place is a bad idea, if I was in that place myself, what would I do?...)
Somewhat lost in thought, Tom failed to notice the other presence inside the abandoned building he and Lisa were hiding, not before it was too late anyway.
-
"I have to say, this really is a great garden…"
Surrounded by pristine flower plots, beautiful statues and perfectly manicured grass fields she took a deep breath and absorbed the afternoon sunshine. Seeing sunlight for the first time in years and being surrounded by flowers there was only one thing which seemed to consistently ruin her mood whenever it entered her sight.
"... Too bad about some of that decor."
Glancing at a statue depicting a regal man in his golden years posing with cape, sword and shield, all she saw was a despot who was responsible for destroying her life. If her powers weren't sealed she would have long since destroyed that ugly eyesore.
"P-please-"
"Yeah I fucking know already. God, all you mages are good for is ruining my fucking mood."
With the moment thoroughly ruined by her guards interfering and responding to her idle comments she was ready to move on with everything.
"I'm done. Let's get this shit over with, unseal my powers so I can send a message then go back to sleep."
"... Very well, we will unlock your powers for the required 0.5 seconds as long as you fulfil your end of the bargain."
Knowing full well it was useless to try and argue with her, the head mage and his underlings surrounded her as they brought out their staffs and other tools to assist in their casting.
(Hmm, if it wasn't because they were keeping me against my will I would be inclined to think how they struggle to do something as insignificant as this was adorable.)
Feeling her seal weakening by the second, she did a bunch of quick estimations to judge not only how much mana she would need to send her message, but also her chances of survival if she did something else with the half second of upcoming freedom.
The only reason she didn't go through with her more devious plans in the end was because of a promise she had made a while ago, there was someone she had promised herself she would apologise to before she died… No matter what.