Guard dogs

What a beautiful morning it was. Most of the ground was covered with fog, the early birds were already starting to chirp and a few bats could be seen returning to their homes. Ludwig threw the stump of his makeshift cigarette in the wet grass, it would not set anything on fire with this high humidity. He sighed and looked at the road again, it should be about time.

Cora would have enjoyed the beautiful sounds of such a beautiful morning if it was not for the heavy breathing of the horse between her legs. Rather annoying to be honest. She swore at herself for taking the slightly cheaper but older horse at the last station.

That to be said, it should not take her longer than 10 minutes now to reach the city if she continued in this speed. The horse would just need to cope with that. No way around it.

Ludwig’s line of thought was interupted by the sound of hooves on gravel. Finally. He had been standing here for quite some time now! He slowly walked towards the road and held Cora’s horse in place for her to jump off fast.

They just nodded at each other without any form of verbal greeting. They would have enough time to talk later on. While Ludwig brought the horse back to the stables, Cora was already on her way to Mitsuo’s warehouse.

The Shimura family needed a warehouse guarded and it was the pack’s job to take care of that. So far there had only been minor incidents of people getting a bit too close for any of the wolves’ tastes without them actually wanting to steal anything, but their persistence and willingness to hurt someone over small things had proven to be of worth. People had respect for them, out of fear obviously, but respect kept a good amount of nuisances away. The only problem were the organized criminals gaining an interest in the warehouse. If a group like the pack guarded it…it had to have some nice and valuable things in it, right?

There were obviously problems with it, not too many, but still. Apart from that, the guards were always up to date on groups wanting to break it. The pack had never been made out of 'white knights' that just kept to the legal side. They had their connections. Getting to know who planned on doing what was an easy task for them.

Cora walked towards the warehouse, as fast paced as always. She was pushing herself the same way she had pushed all the horses from Yarckel to Stohess. Yes, she had made a break in between somewhere in Mitras. It had only taken her a day to travel the last 140 km and she was quite proud of herself for that! Cora had switched horses every four to six hours which had given her quite the speed advantage. The problem was her just resting for three hours in the past 30.

She finally arrived at the warehouse. Neither of her guards apart from Ludwig were aware of her coming today. Cora sighed and went a bit back to find a well, she splashed some water in her face to get her half awake, covered the lower part of her face with a bandana and put a hood on. It should be fairly alright now. She looked shady enough.

Cora knew the area well enough to know all the ways to theoretically get into the warehouse. That was a huge advantage for her, that and the facts she had been in the warehouse and knew the plan of the guards. One was standing at the main entrance, changing places with another guard every fifteen minutes, while five were standing around the building outside. There were some more spread around, three being on the roofs (not just the one of the building itself) and some inside. The ones standing outside had a good distance to each other, always seeing atleast one of the other guards. Trying the main entrance was almost impossible and probably a death sentence given they had recently added a puppy, as Cora liked to call the 50kg beast of a dog. They were even more careful while switching shifts, not leaving anyone time to enter the building through one of the windows or the door.

She hid behind a cart, placed some meat on the ground and took a look at the main entrance. She quickly hushed to the side and waited. Cora threw a stone behind the cart she had waited behind before. The dog started growling, the guard scoffed and let the dog off the leash, constantly keeping an eye on him. He heard him eat and quickly went towards him.

Bad mistake. He left the gate unguarded for a few seconds, allowing Cora to get in. She would really need to have a good talk with him about this. Unacceptable. Once she was inside the building she just hid behind one of the crates and watched the guards do their job. The door opened again, the dog-guard from before was looking inside.

"Mortimer was eating something, I was not here for a few seconds, take a good look around.", he shouted, before going outside again.

Interesting. Cora quietly layed down on the floor. It was quite dark and she was not easily seen. The guard passing her did not notice her at first, but as he wanted to turn around he had a hand over his mouth, the other one on his neck. She pressed on the arteries directly, he passed out within a few seconds, loosing all strength to fight back or make a sound. She carefully placed him on the floor and waited for him to wake up.

He did quite quickly and wanted to shout, but Cora had taken her mask off. He turned pale and nodded, while she stood up again, took a random spanner lying around and climbed up to get out through one of the windows. She did not bother with getting out silently and just ran away. A guard behind her. She escaped him.

The 'dead' guard would notify the others of what had happened. They would continue doing their job until Cora would show up again eventually.

When noise started occurring around the warehouse, the two Shimuras looked up from their work.

"WOULD YOU KEEP IT DOWN!? IT'S HARD TO FOCUS!"
Arata shouted at the mercenaries guarding the warehouse. The elder Shimura was not happy that his son had asked for their services. He didn't easily trust those from dark alleyways.

"Calm down dad, I'm sure everything is fine," Mitsuo responded, grabbing the nearest spanner with a tight grip, "I'm sure everything is fine."

Mitsuo turned and called out to the nearest guard, "What's going on?"

"Someone snuck in. Nothing's been taken though and they left almost immediately."

"What does that mean?" Arata asked, turning to his son.

The young Shimura shrugged, "one more person knows that we're working on something."

A silence fell within the warehouse before Mitsuo spoke to his father once more.
"Whatever, let's get back to work."

Mitsuo put the spanner back down and returned to measuring the size of metal panels they would need for the train while Arata hammered heaps of scrap until they were fully flat pieces.
The two Shimuras were working hard, knowing this project will take time to be completed.

Cora got herself something to eat before making her way back to Shimira’s warehouse. As she reached it, she had already finished eating. The look on her face was everything but happy. After all they had kind of failed in her eyes.

The man guarding the main entrance with Mortimer was already pale, but turned even paler the moment he saw Cora approach. He knew very well that he fucked up. Cora did not look at him and just marched in without him complaining. She would talk to him later on, he could wait.

With fast paced steps Cora went up to Mitsuo.

„Good morning, Mits! I am sorry for bashing in this early…also do not mind the way I look, I barely slept and…whatever.“, she gave him a second in which he could greet her, look at her, etc, before she just continued talking.

„I gave my guards a surprise visit. Let’s just say that one…one and a half particular individuals failed and I will just…give them some orders and a slight…beating for their incompetence. This will never happen again. Do not worry, noone peaked on what you are building, it was just me.“

She bowed slightly, grinned at Mitsuo and his father and shouted the poor bastards’ names.

„I will talk to you later, Mits.“

Cora went outside, in a back alley with both of them and Mortimer present.

„You first, you did less.“, she said to the one she made pass out, „Look around properly! Up! Down! Not just in front of you! You are a guard, you wanted this job! So do it properly! Dismissed.“

She went light on him, he did turn around after all, too bad that she was faster.

Cora already started shouting at the other guard before the previous one had left.

After alot of insulting and swearing she went closer, leaning to his ear.
„If this happens again.“, she lifted her knee and rammed it in his stomach. He coughed but stayed as quiet as possible.
„I will make Mortimer’s food out of you.“

She went away, not looking at him half kneeling on the floor.

„Mortimer! Come here!“, she shouted and went back in to Mitsuo.

„I will need to talk to my guards about all of this later today again, I will find some time unless you prefer me to talk to all of them individually?“

It was a very odd day, this one. Or morning rather. Sigmund was on horseback for hours now, maybe days. He honestly lost count at this point. - Accompanied by a caravan of several carts and few members of the Scout Regiment, he certainly wasn't alone. They galloped in an odd formation, where it wasn't certain who is spearheading or directing the mobilization. It was hard to tell if there was any such person at all. Perhaps this strange outrun is just a supply drop or something of that sort, seeing as the carts were filled with some form of cargo. By the looks of things, one could assume the cargo was metal, too. The sounds of plates, shins, nuts, and bolts clashing against each other bellowed across the entire area. Ever so often, the metals hidden under a green piece of fabric would catch a ray of sunshine and reflect it, shining in the light.

Then, the entire caravan stopped at the gates of the warehouse. The Scouts dropped from horseback, including the diminutive Sigmund, who was hardly able to climb down and up from the saddle due to his height. He would be better off riding an ass, truth to be told. Still, he helped the other scouts unload their cargo, carrying the smallest crates of the metallic components. Some of them appeared to contain broken-down 3DMG gear, way beyond the point where it could be repaired. The scrap that arrived was most likely just intended for smelting, jury-rigging and tinkering more than anything else.

Once the cargo was all down to the ground, one of the Scouts approached the guardsmen. Their conversation was incomprehensible to the far-off scouts or people inside of the spacious warehouse. Though as far as anybody can tell, the Scout presented them with a document. Sealed and written by the Military, gaining entry to the bizarre menagerie of machinery and inventions of the future. Some of them were baffled by the contraptions as they carried the crates inside, others were straight-out laughing at the sight of what seemed to be junk to them. Perhaps all of them didn't take this too seriously, but one of them did.

A gaunt, short boy dropped his crate alongside the others, continuing his inspection of the warehouse's interiors almost as if he had no grasp of the fact that he is in a place that doesn't belong to him. He refused to touch any of the devices or would-be-instruments that were laying around though. But he certainly was curious well above his own good. Then, suddenly and out of nowhere, he approached the inventors and tapped on the shoulder of the younger one.

The boy spoke in a calm, tired and evidently collected voice, 'Excuse me...'

'You must be Mitsuo Shimura... Right?' he added, extending his gaunt hand towards the 'junk' his comrades were loading. Truly, the way he spoke and the way he moved, it was almost ghastly. A person of his age, talking with an innocent voice, yet offputting intonation is not something many find enjoyable to listen to.

'We delivered some materials for you and your father... It's a gift from the Military,' he smiled softly in this explanation. As if his appearance wasn't offputting enough, that little creep had to smile to top it off. As for the gift... Well, it was more like a huge pile of junk that might or might not be of use to two master engineers. Some discarded 3DMG gear, broken canons, swords and various other contraptions the Military no longer had any need for. Just as it didn't have much need for a bunch of scouts like this, seeing as they were the ones to deliver this oh-so-generous gift of the Royal Government.

Mitsuo was surprised to hear Cora's voice and turned around quickly and startled.

"Oh, hey there Cora!"
Mitsuo started.

"You could have warned us you were visiting so we could have scheduled a break," Arata grumbled.

Mitsuo glared at his father, "Dad. Shut up."
The young Shimura turned back to face the Alpha. Listening to her words as she spoke to him.

"Ah, ok then."
Mitsuo did not get a chance to say much more as Cora bowed a goodbye and went on to discipline her men.

"So she was the one who broke in earlier, eh?"
Arata spoke to his son, "annoying friend you got there."

Mitsuo sighed before responding, "you do realise she is a trained mercenary who wouldn't hesitate to kill you."

Arata chuckled, "is that why you like her?"

Mitsuo's eyes grew wide with shock, "w-what?! No! Of course not!"
Mitsuo's expression and embarrassment caused Arata to laugh loudly.

"A-anyway, let's get back to work."
The two mechanics were just about to return their attention to their work as another voice called out behind Mitsuo.

"Excuse me..."

Mitsuo turned around to be faced by a small scout.

"You must be Mitsuo Shimura... Right?"

"Indeed I am."

"We delivered some materials for you and your father... It's a gift from the Military."

"Oh, it's about time that turned up," Arata remarked from behind Mitsuo.

"Dad, seriously?"
Mitsuo quickly shot at the elder Shimura before turning back to Sigmund, "thank you! This means we can speed up our work process! Your help has been appreciated."

Mitsuo smiled before a questioning expression on his face, "I don't think we've met... May I ask for your name?"

"Mitsuo! This isn't the time for chit chat! We have work to do!"
Arata sternly told his son.

"I know! I'm just thanking these Scouts and then I'll get back to it!"
Mitsuo replied just as stern.

Cora stood silently next to Mitsuo while the miniature version of a soldier started talking. Supplies...good...she guessed atleast, she had no idea about what he needed and what was just useless junk.

Without caring for what either of those said she made a quick motion with her hand towards one of the guards, who proceeded to stop anyone from leaving the building, or atleast from leaving without them noticing.

"Just a little control search, don't mind that.", she said, Mortimer followed her around observing the newcomers and occassionally growling at them if they looked funny at him. Everytime he did Cora gave him a light tap to stop him. That was not his job after all. Getting unnecessarily angry at anyone was everything but good, he had to follow commands. Not just do what he wanted to do, that was for free time. Aka when their second and third dog would take his shift, so rather soon, if she had the proper schedule in her head.

Most of the soldiers were a bit startled by her blocking their way. It was after all the military, the ones that had the say in all of this. Cora should not have it, she might be the leader of a mercenary group but not anyhow affiliated with the proper military. They could arrest her any minute! Wrong. Oh boy were they wrong and Cora intended to show them any second they would start acting up.

She most certainly was more aggressive than usual, if that was even possible, which was mostly, in her defense, because she did not get sleep in way too much time. Cora was generally pissed, partly because of her soldiers failing so hard, even more than the usual 'royal' military did, in her eyes atleast.

Mortimer realized that she was getting more aggressive and started growling again. Even after Cora gave him a light tap he did not stop and just barked shortly. She petted him, took a deep breath and calmed down mostly. Atleast her dog did not reflect her anymore. Mortimer lied down next to her feet, calm, watching out but with no intention to do anything he was not told to.

One of the soldiers got a bit annoyed at having to wait so long before he was allowed to leave.
"What are you even doing? Let us go, we brought you the stuff. Apart from that.", he got closer to her, "If you do not stop immediatly...we can arrest you."

"Oh? Really?", she poked his badge, "Those wings do not look like roses to me, your field of influence...well...it is not here, apart from the fact that you are on private property. Not just anyone's private property, Shimura works, which is, as you should know, affiliated with the crown itself. The only ones that technically are allowed to do anything here are the unicorns. And well...me, I have special permissions."

Cora was probably very incorrect with what she said, she did not care much though. As long as it worked...right?

"Don't worry. Stay in a line, stretch your arms out.", she nodded towards one of her mercenaries, "Search them."

They started searching the willing members, not much, not violently either. They stayed professional, there was nothing they could reasonably complain about. Cora quickly let the ones searched go. There were only the guy that was talking back and the very tiny soldier left. Was he even 12 yet? If so...he must be incredibly good!

The rather cocky guy from before finally agreed to getting searched and went back as well. Only one left. Cora told the rest of her own mercenaries to go back to work and went a bit closer to Mitsuo and the dwarf.

"Odd... you and your father don't get along too well, do you?" the timid soldier remarked, looking over Mitsuo's shoulder to see what his old man is crafting. Truth to be told, he was very interested in whatever mechanical wonder their efforts give birth to. Some said it would be a plane, others had rumors reserved for even more absurd contraptions. Still, only the insiders knew what was going on. Sigmund, of course, wasn't one of them. So he felt the natural need to ask.

"The thing you are working on... What is it?" Sigmund asked, chewing on his gaunt, dry lips as some sort of habit. He then turned his eyes to Cora and the comrades being investigated. Sigmund never liked this sort of action. He was clingy on his personal space beyond reason, and he certainly didn't like that a band of personally-hired Mercenaries is doing a job the Military should be doing in the first place. To be honest, he was rather disgusted. Instead of Military Police attending this highly important project, a bunch of drunk misfits was doing their job while the Unicorns bickered and frolicked with nobles in the Capitol. And by all means... When viewed like this, he had full right to be bitter about it.

Meanwhile, some of the Scouts kept to the protocol, letting themselves get investigated. Few resisted but slowly yielded. But none of them were happy in the slightest. Some of them started whispering rumors behind the back of their gruff, mercenary counterparts. Others downright spat in the face of the thugs' presence.

"This is so stupid. MPs should be doing all of this... The delivery and guarding the warehouse," one of them conversed with the other. His eyes were blue and his hair was ashen dark hue. His recipient had golden eyes and long, black hair kept in a ponytail.

"Couldn't agree more... The fact one of the richest families has to rely on thugs disgusts me," said the golden-eyed one, he paused and scoffed at the dog at Cora's feet: "You know... kind of makes me regret I joined the Survey Corps a bit less."

"No kidding," hissed back his blue-eyed friend. The way he spoke almost seemed sarcastic. But alas, both of them dispersed back into the crowd of tired, bored and disgruntled soldiers where they most likely kept discussing this matter.

Then Cora approached Mitsuo and Sigmund. Now things were bound to go downhill from here. Sigmund froze solid for a moment when he realized that the Mercenary was behind him. Still, he wouldn't let the close, loud breathing locomotive of a woman disturb him too much. Luckily, Sigmund knew how to quickly detour the conversation, so that he could pretend Cora doesn't exist for at least a moment longer.

"Right... my name," he sighed, still trying to ignore Cora's approach for as long as possible. Then he spoke again: "My name is Sigmund Köhler..." He then lifted his arm towards Mitsuo, offering to shake his hand in a very limp manner. One can't really be sure if Sigmund just seems perpetually tired and absent-minded or if he really is. A scout possibly can't be this odd and survive beyond the walls... Right?

"Odd... you and your father don't get along well, do you?"

"The thing you are working on... What is it?"

Mitsuo made a short, mental remark about Sigmund's attention span before going to answer the small Scout's two questions... that was until he saw Cora have her men search the other Scouts.

Mitsuo glanced at Sigmund, "hold on a sec."

"Cora! I know you're doing the job I paid you for but can't you ease up a little bit? Please?"
Mitsuo stared at his friend pleadingly for a moment before turning back to Sigmund.

"Sorry about that," Mitsuo chuckled slightly, "she's proffesional in her work."

The young Shimura paused for a moment before carrying on, "you're incorrect. Me and my father do get on well. It's just that this is an important project and we're a bit stressed because of it.
We're working on a train, you see, which will be a helpful weapon against Titans. It'll be heavily armoured and should be able to destroy the feet of Titans by ramming into them."

Mitsuo couldn't help but overhear some of the other Scouts' gossip. Unfortunately for them, what he heard didn't please him and in his stressed and overworked state, his emotions got the better of him for short moment.

He noticed Cora approach him and Sigmund and how the dwarf scout tensed up because of her presence.
A small smirk showed itself on the mechanic's face.

"My name is Sigmund Köhler..."
Mitsuo, assuming Sigmund heard the gossip too, thought it was a bold move for the small Scout to stick his hand out for a pleasant greeting.

The young Shimura took Sigmund's hand, however, and shook it, "Nice to meet you!"

With a strong tug, he pulled Sigmund in close so he could whisper to him, "now when you leave, you tell your friends that I chose to hire these mercenaries so they should keep their mouths shut unless they want a fight."

With that Mitsuo gently let Sigmund stand back in his original position before turning to Cora, "you can check him now."

"Are you done now?"
Arata called to Mitsuo.

"Almost."
Was the response.

Cora listened silently to their conversation, she was, after all, not paid for interupting anyones' work. One of the scouts made a scoffing sound Mortimer interpreted as a hissing and went into a 'cat! Where? Want to eat!' state, Cora got him out of by soflty kicking him. She did not even bother to look at those scouts, Mortimer staring at them, searching them for his desired pray was enough. If they decided to get funny he would alert her. She would have smiled at her dog's awesomeness but did not want any of the scouts to see her having feelings.

She felt a bit bad about Mitsuo telling her to ease up. She did understand him a bit, but...well...she still felt bad about not managing to get up...or down to his expectations. On the other hand, she was slightly pissed in general. She did understand him. Cora took a deep more or less unhearable breath as to not disturb the two by seeming impatient.

The mercenaries continued doing their job, with only two of them actively watching the scounts until buisiness was finished. Cora looked around to see if any of her guards stopped watching carefully and were more interested in their surroundings than possible dangers only to find out that they did not. She was proud of them.

Later on she would have a chat with Ludwig, the one who was supervising the whole thing. He would need to alter a few things to make Mitsuo and his Father more comfortable while increasing the mercs' attention.

She raised her eyebrow as Mitsuo just told the scout what he was building. Interesting. She would NOT have done that. But...Mitsuo was her boss now, she might tell him as a friend some other time, right now she just plainly respected his, in her eyes, dumb decision. Sometimes she was amazed at her calmness.

Mitsuo pulled the scout closer and whispered something in his ear. Cora hoped he would say something to intimidate him, something to correct his telling mistake from right now. When he allowed her to search him, she thought to see a bit of sadism in his eyes, given how the dwarven one reacted when she appeared. Cora did not really know about that or if it was just her mind playing games, she did not care too much though. She would do her job. That was it.

On the other hand...she was tired and Vex was feeling a bit sadistic.

So Cora simply raised her arms a bit up, into a welcoming gesture.

"Let me search you!", she said, grinning coldly.

The malnourished boy listened to what Mitsuo had to say carefully. He did not know what this 'train,' was and he wanted to ask more questions about it... But then he turned his gaunt face towards an approaching Cora. The notion of being searched was dauntingly disturbing in Sigmund's eyes. It was his personal space, right? Cora had no right to invade it. He had the letter and all, surely that must have been enough.

Well, it wasn't. Sigmund realized that trying to resist would be a futile effort. Perhaps his juvenile side would get the better of him eventually, but not today. He didn't resist, simply letting Cora do her work. Needless to say, he looked comically stiff and awkward while she did it. His expression turned bitter, his eyes; empty. Truly, this was one of the oddest moments of Sigmund's little visit thus far.

Lucky for him, it didn't take long at all. Soon, it would be clear that the only thing suspicious about Sigmund is the way he acts. That was a reassuring thought for all. Cora, Sigmund, and Mitsuo could finally lay low. If there ever was a time to ask questions, it was now. So he turned to the young Shimura, expectant.

"Despite appearances, you do not need to patronize me, Mr. Shimura," Sigmund proclaimed in a monotone, professional manner. Clearly, whatever Mitsuo whispered or explained to Sigmund, he felt like the discussion was appropriated to his apparent age.

"Besides... I'm interested in knowing what this 'train' of yours actually is. - Though I doubt if it will be of any use if its main feature is knocking titans off their feet... It is some form of transport, isn't? - If that is the case, I think I'm far more interested in how much it can carry and how fast it can go..." Sigmund inquired, pacing around Mitsuo like he was a detective interrogating a suspect. It might have looked funny, but Sigmund was anything but entertained. The search has left him very, very sour.

"I'm not exactly sure what hogwash you've heard about the Survey Corps... But we are not as stupid as we look," he added, trying to explain that it would be for the best if Mitsuo elaborated on other features of his mechanical wonder. Knocking titans off their feet was something the Scouts could already do on their own, after all.

Mitsuo had turned back and started working on the project once more as Sigmund was being searched.
Arata had made some comment about Mitsuo being distracted for too long but the young mechanic laughed it off.

The two Shimuras worked fast and managed to catch up on the time lost by Mitsuo taking an unscheduled break.
When Sigmund started talking to Mitsuo again, however, the two Shimuras could not help but let out a synchronised frustrated sigh.

Mitsuo did not feel the need to stop working to answer the questions and decided to carry on.
"It can be used for transport, yes, and the precise details at this point are not certain. We are focusing on the Titan knocking feature as it will help reassure that the train can transport people safely," Mitsuo paused as he took a moment to focus on his work, "with a reduced number of Scouts for an escort."

"Also, it's not what hogwash I have heard about the Survey Corps but the hogwash I have experienced. I may not look it right now because I'm not wearing my uniform but I am actually a Scout myself."

Mitsuo coughed and wiped the sweat from his brow using his arm.
"Now is there any more questions?"

Cora was surprised to not find anything on the small human. But hey, there can be good or...well harmless things in people too!

Once she finished she prepared to escort him outside, but...he started talking again. Alrighty. If he wanted to talk that was fine. Just that now...that her job was technically done, for now atleast, she did not feel as obligued to just stay there silently. Yes she would still continue standing somewhere close just so that she could catch him if he would turn funny, but keeping her mouth shut? No. Not now.

The fact that Mitsuo did not stop working to talk to him ensured her in her plan to actually answer to the small scout.

The moment Mitsuo mentioned he was a scout himself Cora let out a short laugh. Yes indeed he was, he was not just some 'military mechanic' with 'no experience in the field whatsoever' he was fully trained. The same training the guy had went through.

"Now is there any more questions?", Mitsuo asked.

Cora felt free to answer, "Just one. Want me to escort this tiny bug outside?", she said while grinning, hoping he would not be mad at her for actually talking while being on the job. She really hoped that. If one of her soldiers would have done that she would end up scolding him for quite some time. But...Mitsuo was also her friend, a good one even. One of her best friends, next to Auth and Alan. Well...Auth was not really here right now...so maybe it was just Alan and Mitsuo.

Cora really wished she could have a conversation with the new scout herself, just to...get him off his high horse, she hated people being on high horses who had clearly no idea how to ride them.

Mitsuo was alone in the warehouse, apart from the body guards that patrolled inside and out. His father left to get some sleep.

It was dark now, somewhen in the night but the young Shimura was not entirely sure, for he had lost track of time.
Mitsuo was prepared  to stay late and would even accept staying in the warehouse for the entire night, as long as it eventually looks like they made progress.

The guards discomforted him when he could sometimes hear the shuffling of their feet as they moved positions. He dared not look at them in fear of getting distracted.
His paranoia of having such people around kept making him check that he hasn't told anyone what he's doing here or where he is unless they needed to know.

'Cora, Auth, Alan, Dad,' he kept repeating the names in his head. To his dismay, he founded he was second-guessing his trust of them.
'Surely, none of them would tell anyone. I know my dad wouldn't, despite his loudmouth he can keep a secret. Alan told me he can keep a secret no matter how big... which is a little strange. This is Auths idea so I doubt he'd tell. Cora...' the mechanic hesitated, dreading his next thought, 'she deals with way more than just secrets... I know she can keep one.'

Mitsuo stretched and yawned. He carefully put down his screwdriver and looked over his work thus far.
What was being worked on looked like it was going to be something but as of  now nobody could guess what it's meant to become.

"Maybe I should get some rest," Mitsuo quizzically spoke to himself, undecided on what he should do.

Cora watched the scouts leave, if they actually did or not...she was not sure of it. It's not like she cared much either right now. She slowly calmed down from her encounter with the scouts, but mostly because she started petting the dog.
Animals always worked wonders.

She went back inside to go find Mitsuo. Luckily enough for her, it was easy to find him.
"Mitsuo...I am sorry for causing such a mess today, with testing my guards and everything. I hope you won't mind it."
She looked at him for a bit, "You look tired, you might want to go sleep. If you want me to get food or something tell me."
She did not have much to do right now, she was very well on time with everything she had planned. Technically she would have one night's rest here and...she completly forgot her plans. Cora would have to ask one or two of her assistants...or something...She yawned, the tiredness started to show more and more. It had been a good 30 hours without sleep now and constant traveling...it was too much for her at some point as well.
"Well Mitsuo, however you decide on what you want to do the rest of the day...I hope nothing much happens anymore...I am dead tired. Actually...do you mind me taking a nap...let's say over there?", Cora pointed towards a corner, which had a bit of cloth lying in it.

Mitsuo chuckled as Cora started apologising, "its fine, your doing your job is all. I can't blame you for that. That's like you blaming me for making loud clanging noises when I'm working. It doesn't happen."

Mitsuo rubbed his eyes, trying to stay awake a little while longer, to finish the conversation at least.
He listened to the rest of what Cora had to say, only nodding once every so often to show he was listening.

"Yeah, take a nap wherever you like, it won't bother me. I'll be doing the same too soon."
The young mechanic turned his head slightly in a quick moment of thought.
"Before you rest your head though, can you get someone to send a message to my house please? Tell my parents ill be staying here for the night. Mum will kill me if I don't inform her on these things."

Mitsuo shivered, "she may be a nice lady but she's not one to mess with."

Mitsuo waved a dismissive hand, "other than that, you can do what you like, I'll be sleeping over there."
He pointed to the far wall of the warehouse, which from such position you can keep an eye in the central work station and front entrance.

He headed over to his rest place and sat down, quickly letting out an exhausted sigh and closing his eyes, trying to fall asleep as quick as possible.

//OOC: I am going to "end" this thread by skipping it to morning where Mitsuo and his father set out to hire other mechanics they could trust. Most of which being friends of Mitsuo's dad for ages.

This post will still be ongoing in the background to pretend Mitsuo is still working on the projects. However I will be leaving this thread alone until I can get Mitsuo out of every other thread he is currently in.

Thus thread may be revived at a later point. Alternatively, it any just be a thing that runs in the background with permission from Admins.

//Permission acquired.