Chap 1 the mission
I work in the garage of the global cortex branch that was closest to me whenever I don't have a mission, which I usually do. The closest garage was in cercall city; about an hour commute every day. Not good for a late night owl, but o-well that's what I get. So I got up on the 13th at about 5 o'clock and started getting ready for work. I own my own house in Trene city. It isn't the biggest house but at three bedrooms, two and a half baths, it more than accommodates me. It has a large garage and backyard. I took a shower, got dressed and grabbed my glock; I always have it with me. I made some eggs and toast then headed off to work. I got into my truck and headed off to the garage. Most MT pilots and ravens like to splurge on their cars and such things. I just needed something to get me from point A to point B, so I still drive my trusty old truck. its got a king cab and long bed. So I can throw my motorcycle into the back whenever I want to go ride.
I was at the garage in about an hour and a half. The garage is easily the biggest building in Cercall city. It was colored the orange and black colors of the cortex. It had an oval shape and was quite long. The garages for the ACs and MTs went well underground too. What I normally do when I get to the garage is usually see if there's anything to do just "around the house." Which usually includes running errands or just cleaning (the life of an MT pilot can be dull). But today, lucky for me, when I walked in I saw the garage supervisor running at me...
"Xero! Let...me...breath...." he slumped over and put his hands on his knees
"What's up?"
"We need you to go on a mission... along with two other... pilots and assist a team already... in the field."
"Well, ok. Where and when is this taking place?"
"Dim Forest, right now!"
"Aww, shit!"
"If u survive we'll give you 36 thousand credits each."
"Whoa! 36 thousand! Great now I'm gonna die." high paying missions are always the most dangerous. "So, who else is going?"
"Blaze and Morrow."
"Ok, there pretty good."
"Yea but so are you, so get going. The others are already waiting in the transport."
"Alright, I'm on it...later." and with that I was off.
With my newfound knowledge I proceeded straight to my custom, high-end MT. I rushed down the stairs and grabbed the nearest elevator down to the garage. I started thinking about the mission while I was in the elevator. "I wonder what kind off mission would cause the cortex to throw in support for a team already in the thick of it, normally once your in your on your own." Once the elevator doors opened into the MT garage I stopped questioning my employer and ran straight to my MT. I ran up the stairs to the catwalk that crossed the cores of the MTs in the garage. The garages for the MTs and the ACs were basically in the same "room". It's just so huge and the fact that the MTs and the ACs were kept on separate sides, everyone just called it two garages. Once I reached the catwalk I ran across until I got to my MT. I had to stop and admire it for a second; its white and gold paint job glistened in the beaming lights of the garage. I was known around for making my own customizations to just about everything I owned, from my dishwasher to my MT.
I jumped into the spherical cockpit and put my arms and legs into the braces, wrapped the sensor straps around my chest, put the virtual helmet on and put my password in.
"MT revelation starting up. Doing initial systems check." my custom computers normal response whenever I started up the MT. "Xero, are we going on a mission?"
"That we are."
"Where is the mission taking place?"
"The dim forest." I responded as I lifted my right arm and watched the monitor as the MT's right arm moved to match.
"All systems functioning normally."
"All right then, lets go." I moved toward the transport hanger where the other MTs were waiting for me. I had to take the service elevator at the front of the garage. Then I had to boost over to the transport bay, which also had a landing strip on it so that the transports could take off straight out of the hangar. When I got there, I saw the large transport plane already warming its engines. I looked inside the open hatch and saw the other two MTs waving for me to hurry up. I jumped inside just as the plane was leaving the hangar and starting to taxi.
About halfway through the trip I got out of my MT. I walked out of the cargo bay and into the "lounge", more like a small room with a couch and refrigerator. I decided on attempting to talk with the other two pilots. This is always hard before a mission because everyone is always nervous.
"So...you guys nervous?" stupid question dumbass your balls are about ready to fall off, your shakin' so much. All I was greeted with were a couple of choked "eeeh"s. But that was expected.
"You guys catch how much we're gettin' paid?"
"Yep, 36 Gs. Can't say I'm thrilled about it though." replied Blaze.
"Neither can I." Morrow added. "The whole, "if we survive" part kinda got me a little worried."
"Yea, me too. But hey ya-know they always say that." was my sad attempt to cheer them up, which obviously failed because as soon as I said it they seemed to slump even lower.
I had known Blaze and Morrow for a while and we had become good friends. Blaze was about 5'10 with dark hair and green eyes. She was also in very good shape and was a very attractive woman. Morrow was taller than both of us at about 6'5 and he had a heavy build. Morrow wasn't the kind of guy you would want to get angry. He had blond hair that was about 2 1/2 inches long. Myself, I'm not the biggest guy around. I'm about 6'2 and at 200 pounds. I had red hair that was about three inches long. I didn't care much about my hair.
BEEP..."all pilot to their MTs."
"That's our queue." So we all ran to our MTs and jumped in. We could all hear the nuclear generators in each others MTs roar to life as they started up. We waited for about five minutes for the order to jump.
BEEP..."deploy!"
That was the last thing we heard as the back cargo door of the plane opened in mid-air.
"Here we go!" As I jumped first. I started free falling and checked my altimeter; we were falling from about 11-thousand feet. "Jesus, could they drop us any higher!?" I started feathering my boosters to cushion my landing. I didn't want to hit the ground going God-knows how fast from 11- thousand feet, which would rip my legs off. As tough as they may seem, the MTs were still vulnerable to the forces of nature.
When I hit the ground I did a final weapons check and initiated combat mode. I checked over my MTs load-out; the right rifle-arm was functioning nominally as was the blade on the left arm, the missile launchers on my back and the extensions (an extra armor plate on the left and a support missile launcher on the right). My chest missile interceptor has never really worked correctly since a missile hit me right in the middle of my chest about a year ago. Luckily it was a small missile and didn't do much other damage. I never really bothered with fixing it as it never really helped me in the first place.
"Morrow, Blaze; you guys all checked out?"
"Roger." they both replied at the same time.
I looked around a bit and I could see trees that were as big around as my MT and bigger. The trees were also several times taller than my MT. I looked up and found out why they called it the dim forest, the canopy blocked out ALL sunlight. We were dropped right at the edge of the forest; once we walked in we would be in complete darkness. The ground plants would come up to my MTs waist as soon as I walked in. It would be hard to maneuver once inside.
The radio started crackling: "ok, were having some radio interference so you guys are on your own after this. Your mission is to break through the perimeter guards around a small Kisaragi base in the area. After you have control of the area a small strike force will enter the base and siege it from the inside."
"What does the strike force consist of?"
"It is made of two ace MTs an..." the crackling was drowning out the radio. That was the last we heard from command.
"And what! What ELSE!! TELL ME!!!" you could hear Morrow yelling over the crackling of the radio. He hated info shortage above all else. He lost his family because of a lack of information; his whole family were MT pilots and they were all on a mission when the radio cut out. A raven showed up, and the raven claimed to be on there side. They never got their mission assignment because of the radio. The raven said that he was there to help with their mission. Their mission was to eliminate a raven that was located in the area.... As soon as the raven got close he opened fire and killed Morrows whole family and blew the right rifle-arm off of his MT. After that (I was told) he just boosted forward and punched right at the ACs cockpit, and after that the AC just kind'ove slumped over and fell on its face, suggesting that the pilot was dead. He has never had a great liking of ravens since then. And after the incident he changed his callsign to Morrow for reasons that anyone could understand. Why he still continues to be a pilot, I don't know but I would never question him.
"Well, shall we get to work then?" I never really got an answer; they just followed me as I walked into the woods. I could tell that Morrow was especially jittery, as he kept looking this way and that, behind him, moving very quickly.
After about ten minutes of searching we came across our first set of targets; four battle MTs. (The kind with big gattling gun arms and missile launchers on the back.) They had flatter cores and reverse-joint legs. No problem.
I signaled for the other two to kneel down.
"Morrow, flank left. Blaze, flank right. Ill draw attention."
"Roger"
"Roger"
They both slowly walked around the four battle MTs not wanting to gain their attention before we were ready. As soon as our position formed a triangle around them I qued up the radio again.
"You guys start firing good shots as soon as they head towards me."
Another set of "Rogers" followed this order as well. Actually I didn't really know how I got elected leader. Great, I hate responsibility.
I started boosting towards the group and fired four shots into the group at random. Luckily three of them hit. I boosted straight at one of them and rammed it with my left shoulder (the shoulder with the extra armor plate). Then I pulled up my right arm, which had a rifle for a forearm and blew five holes into the front of its core. I leapt back and kept boosted backwards as I watched it fall forward onto its face. As soon as I stopped boosting back I stopped for a sec to give my generator a rest and then started Boosting back at the group. As soon as I got "uncomfortably" close I boosted straight up into the air and just in time too because no sooner than I had cleared the MTs height, Blaze and Morrow started firing careful shots into the group.
In the air I decided to turn on my MTs targeting computer. They aren't quite as good as an ACs F.C.S. but mine was pretty close. I wanted to hit my targets from now on.
While I was in the air Blaze and Morrow took down two of the three remaining MTs with about five shots each. After I turned on my targeting system I cut my boosters and started dropping. I maneuvered myself and landed on top of the one remaining MT, effectively crushing its legs. Then I took my blade out and stabbed it straight down through the middle of the MT. I then boosted off and fired three shots into the top of it. As soon as I landed it stumbled over and blew-up behind me.
"Cool move." Blaze complimented
"My favorite." and indeed it was my favorite battle tactic. "Lets keep moving then." And we set off.
About three minutes later I stopped very suddenly mid-step. "Hold it!" The others nearly fell over upon hearing my order.
"What's up with you?" Morrow seemed irritated. He was unfortunately quick to anger.
"Check your radar!" Blaze was quick; she figured it out. Ahead, about three hundred yards there were twelve blips on the radar.
"Twelve.I don't like those odds Xero."
"I don't either. But lets see what they are before we panic." So we continued forward slowly until they were barely in view.
There were three more battle MTs that were the same as Before, four small floating pod MTs that had small panels that came down the side at an angle and five MTs that I had never seen before. The unknown MTs had two arms that looked like they had the 1000 round AC machine guns for a forearm like our MTs had rifles. It looked like that was the only armament they had. They were a little taller than the battle MTs. They had a small head and a small rounded core. And they had Black and dark green camouflage which blended perfectly with the forest.
"Ok guys, this could be difficult; those pods will come down with a single hit but landing the hit is a problem. The Battle MTs we can take care of. And those weird new MTs look pretty fast."
"Got a plan?"
"Got milk?"
"Uuh...no."
"Theirs your answer."
"Damn you and your mind games! We are in serious trouble here and look at you, jokin' around!" Morrow was really pissed; I thought it was kinda funny.
"I try not to look at the situation as a bleak one. Calm down man, just trying to lighten the mood here." People also know me for almost never losing my temper. Very few people have ever seen me truly angry.
"Ok guys, I have an idea. Were going to try to keep hidden for as long as possible. We will split up and surround them as we did the last group. I will fire the first shot, as soon as I do I want you two to start planting shots into the upper bodies of those new MTs. I will start picking off the pods first. Hopefully, all of us firing at them at the same time from different directions will confuse the rest of them. I am going to stay put and take out the pods, you guys will fire one or two shots then move. Don't get too close. Got it?"
"Yea, I got it." Blaze was quick to reply and she rarely questioned her orders.
"Do you think it will work?" Morrow was always very pessimistic.
"I hope so. Lets rock."
"Roger!" they both said in unison.
Morrow went left and Blaze went right. I stayed where I was and kneeled down, assuming a firing stance. I raised my right rifle-arm up straight and braced it with my left arm.
Morrow was the first to reach his firing point. "In position. Taking aim... ready."
Blaze was ready about a minute later. "Ready."
"Alright lets do it!" I took careful aim and fired four rifle shots. Three met their targets and the pods that were hit promptly exploded. Immediately after I fired two of the new MTs hit the ground.
"One down!"
"One down!"
The battle MTs just stood there... good the plan was working. I took aim on the remaining pod and locked one hi-act missile onto it, "dodge this!" I let the missile loose and it streamed straight to its target, the pod did make a good attempt to dodge it but to no avail, the missile plowed right into the pod and it blew into a fiery orange ball. As this was happening the battle MTs managed to collect themselves, they started moving around sporadically and firing into the woods blindly. The new MTs were indeed fast and started zipping around letting loose machine gun rounds every now and then.
"Sorry, Xero I cant hit those new ones."
"Neither can I."
"Its ok, ill get 'em. You guys get those battle MTs before they start getting lucky."
"Gotcha."
I switched back to my missile launcher and turned on my extension. I locked on to each of the three new MTs twice and fired. Nine missiles flew out all together, but the agile MTs dodged them but not by much. "Damnit!" I decided to try it again but this time I flew up into the air a couple hundred yards and locked nine missiles like before. The missiles flew straight down to their targets all reaching their mark. Two of them exploded while the third lost its left arm and a huge chunk out of its core. I saw it turn to the right suddenly and take off.
"I'm going after that one, you guys finish the battle MTs off then stay here. Ill be back."
"Alright."
I quickly boosted off after the fleeing MT. It took me a while but I eventually caught up with it. As I was chasing it I started firing random rifle shots off but few met their mark. I eventually landed a couple lucky shots into the hole on its core and it fell over mid-boost and just laid there. It was completely mangled from hitting the ground and a few trees at such a high speed. I turned around again to go back and join the others when I heard my comm. start crackling.
"Oh shit, they found us!" Said an unknown female voice.
"Who is this? Who's on this line?" Who's on my radio?
"Avoid taking any damage, well need all of ourselves for the attack." Said another unknown voice.
"Who is on this frequency!?" I demanded.
"This is the attack group you are assigned to escort. Please assist, we're being attacked by a small group of new model MTs." The female voice responded.
"Alright hold on we're on our way, just hang on a second." "Morrow, Blaze, you guys all done yet?"
"Yea, we've just finished."
"Ok get your Asses over here! We've got a job to do!"
"We're on our way. Be there in thirty seconds."
"You'd better hurry!"
With that I boosted forward to help out the attack group. When I got there, there were six more of the new MTs attacking a group of two MTs like mine and a lightweight AC. The AC was painted Red and Gold. It had the CROW extensions, a Karasawa part competitor (I didn't know what it was called), a halberd laser blade, and two small missile launchers. All of the attack team were dodging and attacking like real pros.
"I don't know how much longer I can ke- AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" One of the MTs got a full stream of machine gun rounds right through the chest of the MT and probably through the pilot.
"I just lost my left arm. Left leg knee joint is frozen. Missiles off- line. Front chest armor is useless. I need some help here!" A voice yelled over the radio.
"We need backup! Now!!" The female voice exclaimed.
"I'm here, sorry I'm late. I have two more MTs on there way as well."
"Good, get to work. Help us clear these things!"
"I'm on it."
I stopped in mid-air and flew a bit higher, I fired about a dozen shots at the enemy MTs but all in vein, the quick MTs easily dodged my shots. So with that idea effectively shoved, I switched back to my missile launcher and turned on my extension. I locked on to three of the MTs twice like before and let loose nine missiles. All of them hit and all of the MTs that were hit exploded immediately. But I was out of missiles.
"Hey, AC."
"Yes?"
"Have you tried using your missiles from above yet? They seem to have a hard time dodging missiles from above."
"Sounds good, ill try it, I'm on my way up there." And she started boosting up towards me. But no sooner than she "started" up towards me did she reach me. "Alright, switching to missiles... Full lock, here we go!" And she fired off six missiles at two of the MTs destroying them both.
"Were here." Morrow declared as he and Blaze boosted into the area.
"A bit late but we'll let you two have the remaining MT." I joked, fully knowing that it would piss Morrow off.
"Gee thanks." was the answer Morrow gave me.
As Morrow and Blaze were busy with the final MT, the AC and I had time to land and consider our options.
"Your quite a pilot." She said as we were free falling.
"Your not to bad either, you've gotta tell me how you can move like that."
She laughed. "Ill take you up on that offer sometime."
"Offer? Well whatever." If she wants to think it was an offer than by all means. "Ok well with that settled, lets figure out how we are going to take over this base. We've taken some damage but nothing major. I'm out of missiles though and I've got 200 rifle shots left."
"Well, the original plan was for you three to guard the entrance while we took over the base from the inside. But we lost one unit already and the other MT is heavily damaged."
"Well we might have to go with you then." Blaze suggested.
"She's right, we might have to." I thought for a second. "Do you have a problem with that?" I asked the raven.
"No, that sounds like a good plan to me. But one thing; we do need a guard on the outside to keep from being overwhelmed. And as I'm down to one damaged MT for help, would it be ok for my escort and your escort to guard the entrance?"
"Well there not really my escorts" I responded quickly in response to the growls I heard coming from Blaze and Morrow over the comm. "But I don't think that they would mind guard duty, would you guys?"
"I think we can handle it." Morrow replied.
Blaze agreed also.
"Then I guess it's settled. What's your name?"
"Xero, and yours?"
"My names Angel. Well then, shall we go? According to what I was told, the entrance should be right over here..."
We all followed Angel to the entrance of the base. Once we got there Morrow stopped me.
"Hey man take these, you'll need em' more than Me." he said as he started transferring all of his ammo over to me.
"But aren't you going to need this stuff?"
"Nah, I've still got some rifle shots left. Hey Xero, watch your back in there, not just cause your in an enemy base but cause your walking with a raven in there. I've had some bad luck with ravens before." He stopped talking for a second and was completely silent.
"Ill be fine, not all ravens are bad. Most are pretty nice guys, or girls..."
"I'm not necessarily saying that she's going to stab you in the back Xero, I'm just saying watch yourself. Be careful man."
"I will, don't worry I can take care off myself." "You sound like my mother. You should work on that."
"Ya I know"
"Later." And I walked towards the entrance of the base where Angel was waiting.
"We all ready?" she said as I walked up towards the giant hole in the ground that used to be a steel door.
"Yep, lets go."
And I jumped into the hole. It seemed as if we were falling forever. When we did hit the ground I checked ahead for targets, nothing. We were in a long corridor that stretched further than I could see. The walls were a dark grey and had lamps lining the upper corners of the hallway. And it was also cramped; it was barely wide enough for angel and I to stand side- by-side.
"This is kinda creepy." I said getting a sudden chill.
"Yea it is, I expected them to be all over us once we were in here."
"That's what I was thinking. But I guess I can't complain."
"Nope, neither can I. Well let's go." We started walking down the passageway, which seemed to go forever. "So...what was that about?"
"What about?"
"The little talk your friend had with you."
"O...that, well he gave me almost all his ammo. And he gave me some advice."
"Advice?"
"Yea, he's not a big fan of ravens."
"I see. Why is that?"
"Your a curious one aren't you? Well if you must know, don't tell him that you know this but a raven killed his whole family about two years ago. Actually I believe that it was June 27th. He's goes to the cemetery every year to pay his family a visit."
"Wha- what did- did you say?" She stopped dead.
"They were killed by a raven on June 27th two years ago, and jack was the only survivor. Why?"
"What happened to the raven?"
"Morrow told me that his weapons were damaged from the attack so he just boosted right at him and punched the AC in the chest. Again, why?"
"My father was a raven... He was killed on June 27th two years ago. They said that his AC was punched incredibly hard right in the cockpit. He was killed on impact."
"Wow, that... must've been Morrow. Whoa!! That must've been Morrow!!" It just sunk in.
"I never really liked my father, he always completed his missions no matter what he had to do, and it made him seem kinda ruthless. And he was never really home or spent any time with my mom or me. He was obsessed about the fact that he was a raven. He was always at the garage messing with his AC. The only really nice thing that he ever did for me was that after I told him that I wanted to be a raven as well he made sure that I stayed alive long enough to become one."
"Wow, I'm sorry. But at least you knew your parents... My parents were killed about two weeks after I was born. Nobody knows how or why, but they were both found dead on our front lawn one night. I don't even remember anything about them."
"Xero, I'm so sorry."
"I had no relatives and I didn't even know my real name. So when I got old enough I enlisted to become an MT pilot. When I was signing up the lady asked for my name. I didn't know so I just said zero, but I guess she thought I was talking about a callsign so she put Xero. I never really tried to correct it, thought it fit."
I didn't get an answer. We just kept walking for about ten minutes.
"So what exactly are we supposed to do?"
"Destroy the main AI computer and hold the command section until they surrender."
"Sounds kinda routine. So, do you know where either one of these things is?"
"Nope."
"Great..."
"Just keep looking."
"Ya ya."
- -- ---On the surface... -- -
"I hate guard duty."
"Then why did you volunteer us for it Blaze?"
"I didn't volunteer us for it, I merely suggested it. And besides, the two of them can do more damage than us three, so best to just leave them to their own devices."
"Stop arguing you two and pay attention." The new guy ordered.
"Who are YOU anyway!?" Morrow inquired.
"My name is Dash. All you need to know."
"Well, fine."
"Stoppit Morrow, pleasure to meet you Dash. You probably already know this but I'm Blaze, my real name is Samantha. And that testy guy over there is jack; his last name is ass sometimes. We call him Morrow."
Dash laughed. He needed it though; it had been a rough day. "Well if we're giving out real names, mine is Daniel Sheins. I hope that you guys can figure out how I got my callsign." A few moments silence went by. "So, are you guys looking to become ravens?"
"Well I am. I'm not so sure about Morrow though, he doesn't like ravens too much."
"Really? Why is that?"
"Its a long story." Morrow had a tone in his voice that said he didn't want to touch on the subject. But Dash didn't catch it.
"I've got time."
Morrow sighed. "Well, to make a long story short; a raven betrayed my family and killed them all." He fell silent.
"Whoa, sorry man I didn't mean to..." Dash fell silent as well.
"Guys get going, we've got company."
Morrow checked his radar and found four blips on it. "Just four! I have a bad feeling about this."
"So do I. Especially since I can't really do anything except provide support fire."
"Ok boys. They're moving in a delta formation. Ill take the two on the right, I still have most ammo and the least damage. Dash, do you think that you could take down the middle left one before he gets too close?"
"Ya, I can do that."
"So I guess ill take the furthest left one?"
"Ya Morrow. That's sounds like a plan to me. Lets move." And Blaze boosted off to the right and Morrow to the left.
Seconds later Morrow was boosting and running through the thick foliage wondering if he had misplaced his bearings, but just as this thought crossed his mind two grenade rounds rocketed through the forest and jack just barely dodged them. "Shit, these are the heavy fire MTs." "Watch it Dash you'll never be able to get these things, ill get yours don't worry about it. Just try not to draw attention to yourself."
"Alright thanks."
Morrow boosted forward to where the shots came from and got his blade heated. His targeting computer went red and he started firing shots at the little red box as fast as he could even though he couldn't see the enemy yet. Once he got a little closer he could see the MT and realized that his shots were doing little more than cosmetic damage. He continued boosting forward and brought his blade to bear. He barely dodged another shot and he snuck a glance at his energy gage and saw that he was almost spent. He decided to risk it cause if he stopped now the MT could pull off a quick shot and kill him while he regained his balance. He flew right at the MT but veered to the left just in front of the MT and slashed his blade diagonally upwards right through its cannons and the front part off the core. He landed behind and to the left of the MT and could hear the MT whine and creak as its cannon arms exploded, taking most of the core with them. Apparently it had tried to fire one last time right as he passed but was to slow and fired when his cannons were already cut in half and melted shut. He stood there for a moment to let his generator cool down then he would have to wait for it to recharge his energy. He decided to start running towards where the other MT should be. As he was running he saw an orange glow in the woods and jumped to the left just in time landing on his side in the ground plants as another volley of grenades flew past. He laid there for a second because it kept him hidden but got up after about thirty seconds 'cause he didn't want to give the enemy too much of a head start towards Dash and the base. He Started running again and as soon as he got close enough and his computer went red he started firing as fast as he could. He only got about 15-20 shots in, "damn, out of ammo. O-well". He kept running and no sooner than he cleared the nearest tree did he nearly get killed as it blew up beside him. He looked to his left and there it was, the other MT. He jumped back and dived behind another tree. That tree promptly blew apart as another set of grenades hit it. "Just another five seconds!" He jumped and dodged but eventually he got to close to a tree that he hid behind and when it got destroyed a large portion of the trunk hit his right arm, leaving it limp. "I LOVE ENERGY!!!" He boosted forward and got his blade out. He brought it up as he dodged another grenade round and stabbed it straight through the center of the MT. "Not so hot now are ya!"
About nine hundred yards away Blaze was doing a bit better. Being a wiz at dodging she was able to quickly close on the first MT and when she did get close enough she brought her blade out and slashed downward diagonally at the MT to her right cutting its left arm and its rear hover jets off, leaving it stuck there. "Where's the other one?"
"Some help here!"
"Dash!" She turned around and went straight for him. She started boosting back towards him but had to stop every now and then to let her energy recharge. When she got there Morrow was already they're trying to distract it but not having much luck. "I'm here!" Blaze boosted straight into the air and switched to her missiles then turned on her missile extension. She got three locks and fired six missiles at the MT. All hit but did little damage. "Sorry to steal your move Xero, but." She moved directly above the enemy and cut her boosters. She dropped right on top of the MT, the combined weight of the both of them was too much for the hover engines of the MT that she was now riding like a bull, dropping it off its hover engines and smashing it to the ground. She got out her blade and started cutting it in half straight down the middle until she started seeing small explosions inside it. Then she jumped off and flew backwards. She watched as the once large MT turned into a violent red and orange ball of fire.
"Boy that was exciting lets never do it again." They all laughed.
- -- ---Back inside the base... -- -
"Xero! Drop!"
I hit the floor and heard two shots fire from Angels lightweight plasma rifle. I dared look up just enough to see what had happened and saw two purple plasma spheres plow into a battle MT on at the end of an intersecting corridor.
"Hurry, get up! We gotta move!" And angel began boosting away.
I didn't even get up. I just pushed-up with my left arm like I was doing a push-up and hit my boosters. I zoomed down the corridor; Angel, all the while getting further ahead of me. As I flew down the hall I saw glancing images of battle MTs coming out of crossing halls.
"We're getting close... Xero, keep up!"
"Ya, I'm trying but you're a lot faster." I was trying to close in on her but I was almost out of energy and she was clearly a lot faster and obviously not anywhere near being out of energy.
"Just do your best. There it is..." and she finally stopped boosting and stepped into a large room.
I stopped right behind her. "Angel?" I guess she was daydreaming because she kinda jumped and she walked into the room.
The corridor had opened up into a huge room lined with computers and other equipment. The walls were literally covered with computers and other such equipment, along with other things that littered the floor. I didn't think that so many computers existed. They were all flashing and beeping, they lit up the room. It was a large room but it had a very low roof. It was quite wide and long though. "I guess they were doing some research."
"Look, on the opposite wall." Angel pointed at a glowing pillar on the other side of the room. And sure enough there was the main computer sitting there bigger than shit. "Lets go."
"Alright." And I began to follow her across the room. We boosted across the room without much difficulty. Computers crush easily when stepped on and don't present much of an obstacle. Once we got to the pillar angel got her laser blade ready and I guess she routed some more power from somewhere because the blade suddenly got three times longer and equally brighter.
"Well... Here goes nothing. I hope this place don't blow or collapse." She said as she raised her blade.
"Wait, what did you-!" But it was too late; she had already sliced through the pillar.
The lights and various screens and images on the pillar began to get duller and duller as it began to lose power. As soon as the whole pillar became black and lifeless the many blips on our radar that were the enemy units stopped moving and started disappearing.
"I think our job just got a lot easier." I was relived as I watched the numerous enemies deactivating on my radar.
"Not a chance. Now that the A.I.'s don't work they'll just send in the manned units."
"O... great. Then lets just hurry and find the command center."
"No need. I just got an e-mail from mirage; they said that they didn't expect that the loss of the main computer to have such a great effect. They've given us permission to end the mission now if we desire."
"I thought all communication was out?"
"I guess the computer was also jamming communications around the base, that's why they use A.I. so much, The A.I. doesn't need to be given orders, it automatically goes to where there's trouble."
Well it sounded good to me. "Well then lets ge-" something cut my transmission short.
"Help me. Please. I can make it worth your while." This strange new voice sounded very panicky.
"Who are you?"
"It doesn't really matter."
I thought for a moment. "Ok... where are you?"
"You're going to help him!?" Angel didn't sound too happy.
"Ya, why not? He's obviously in trouble. We haven't taken much damage or anything and the base is sure to be down on a lot of resources now that the A.I.'s gone, specifically defense."
It was reluctant but; "fine, but we'd better hurry!"
"Alright then, hey where are you?"
"I'm uploading a map right now. The highlighted corridors mark the path to get to me."
"Ok but the highlights end at an entrance to a huge room."
"Yes, that is the cell block. I am in cell G-88."
"Alright we're on our way." And I signaled for angel to follow. "I hope this ain't a trap."
We followed the highlighted parts of the map, traveling quickly through various corridors and rooms. The only real defense we came across were automated turrets, which were probably programmed to shoot at anything that moves when there's an emergency.
"Guess this must be it." I pushed the button to open the door and to no surprise it didn't open. "Um... if u will?" And I motioned for angel to cut open the door with her blade.
"Tuh..." she stepped forward and extended her blade. Even with her long- range blade it still took her a good 5 minutes to cut through the door.
When we finally got in I was amazed at how big this room actually was. It literally dwarfed the room with the computers. It was quite dark, only lit by a few string lights on the ceiling. The cells were arranged in isles and rows that filled the room.
"I guess Kisaragi has quite a long list of enemies." I laughed.
Angel and I split up to look for this guys cell. And I motioned for Angel to go left and I right.
"Remember, its G-88"
"I know." She sounded annoyed.
We were searching for about 10 minutes when I heard, "I found it. Hurry and get over here."
"Alright I'm comin'." And I began boosting over to where I saw her on the radar.
"Here it is."
"Ok, hey we're right outside your door."
I got out of my MT and angel followed suit and got out of her AC. I got my first look at her, she was about 5' 10, she had long jet-black hair with blonde highlights, devil red lipstick, blue eyes, a tight black raven jump- suit and she was in very good shape, as most ravens were. We just stood there and looked each other over for a moment. Then she looked up at me and broke the moment.
"Um... The prisoner."
"O, yea." I was lost in her eyes for a moment.
I walked up to the door and knocked. "That you?"
"Yea I'm in here"
"Well we're coming in so stand back."
I pulled out my glock and shot the electronic lock on the outside of the door. Then I put my gun away and moved to try to pull the door open.
"Hey can you help me pull the door open from your side?"
"Ya, ok."
"Hey angel can you help me?"
All three of us pulling on the door eventually got it to slide open. When we finally got him out, we were in such a hurry we didn't even talk. We just rushed him out of his room then he got into the MT with me and angel got into her AC.
"I thought that you two were both ravens?"
"Nope, not yet but I'm working on it. I'm done with the training and have all the requirements met and exceeded, just need to make an appointment."
"Very good, now that door right over there leads down a hall that goes to a surface access elevator."
"Ok. But I was just wondering, but how do you know all this?"
"Well I used to work here for Kisaragi, but my skills allowed me to advance quite a bit further in the world. So one day I gave my two weeks notice and I went to work for this unnamed corporation that ended up being under the controllers operation. I guess Kisaragi didn't like that because they captured me about a month ago."
"But what do you do?"
"I'm an AC research mechanic"
"O, I see. You guys are pretty valuable."
"We can be."
By the time he had finished his story we had made it to the elevator and we were on our way back to the surface. I was contacting the others so angel started asking her own questions.
"But how were you able to contact us from inside the cell?"
"Remember I told you that my skills could take me further up in the world? Well I am an AC research mechanic who specializes in customizations. And I simply hacked into the prisoner comm. system and used it to contact you guys."
"I see." Angel didn't sound very convinced but the guy hadn't put a gun to my head yet so I wasn't worrying about it much.
When the elevator finally surfaced the others were already waiting for us.
"Lets get the hell out of here." Was the first thing I heard out of the comm. system when we stopped moving up.
"Sounds good to me. Lets go. Angel could you call in the transport?"
"Already did. Be here in five minutes." Everybody just stood there silent for a second. "So, Xero who is this with you?"
"O, um sorry, this is Morrow over here and that is Blaze over there. Guys this is Angel." I forgot about that.
"Nice to meet you." Blaze was always polite. Though we didn't hear anything from Morrow.
"Well then, this is dash. Dash, this is Xero."
"Nice to meet you."
"You to dash."
"There's the transport. Lets go."
"Why are you so uptight all of a sudden?" I asked angel who seemed to be in quite a hurry.
"I'm not uptight! Just get in the plane."
"Ok, whatever."
We all got in the plane and had a silent ride back except for the mechanic and myself.
"When do you plan to make the jump to AC?"
"As soon as I can. I've already applied but the cortex hasn't gotten back to me with a date yet."
"Oh, I see. Well what about the other three pilots that are with you?"
"Well one of them I'm sure about, that's Blaze. She can't wait to be a raven. The other two I'm not so sure about. One of them doesn't have much of a soft spot for ravens and the other I don't even know, I just know his name."
"Ok, well you be sure to make it to AC as soon as possible. When you do ill contact you."
"Why?"
"I have to thank you guys somehow right? And remember how I said I was an AC research mechanic, I can make a few "adjustments" to your ACs."
"ACs"? I only plan on buying one."
"Ill do it for each of your friends too. They helped too right?"
"Ya they helped with the mission but the mission wasn't a rescue."
"I know that but they proved themselves capable pilots that should be able to handle the improvements that I can make to your ACs."
BEEP... Prepare to land. Welcome back team.
"How did you see..."
"You'll see what I mean." He said, cutting my question short.
And he opened the hatch to the MT and got out, closing the hatch behind him. As soon as the transport door opened he jumped out and walked away. The base security just walked by him. But I guess that could be expected, he looked exactly like a mechanic, grease and all.
BEEP... Please exit the transport.
We all got out of the transport and went our separate ways. I was surprised to hear my communications line activate.
"I'll see you later..."
I turned around and say angel walking backwards away from me waving. As soon as I saw her she turned away and boosted towards the AC garage.
I work in the garage of the global cortex branch that was closest to me whenever I don't have a mission, which I usually do. The closest garage was in cercall city; about an hour commute every day. Not good for a late night owl, but o-well that's what I get. So I got up on the 13th at about 5 o'clock and started getting ready for work. I own my own house in Trene city. It isn't the biggest house but at three bedrooms, two and a half baths, it more than accommodates me. It has a large garage and backyard. I took a shower, got dressed and grabbed my glock; I always have it with me. I made some eggs and toast then headed off to work. I got into my truck and headed off to the garage. Most MT pilots and ravens like to splurge on their cars and such things. I just needed something to get me from point A to point B, so I still drive my trusty old truck. its got a king cab and long bed. So I can throw my motorcycle into the back whenever I want to go ride.
I was at the garage in about an hour and a half. The garage is easily the biggest building in Cercall city. It was colored the orange and black colors of the cortex. It had an oval shape and was quite long. The garages for the ACs and MTs went well underground too. What I normally do when I get to the garage is usually see if there's anything to do just "around the house." Which usually includes running errands or just cleaning (the life of an MT pilot can be dull). But today, lucky for me, when I walked in I saw the garage supervisor running at me...
"Xero! Let...me...breath...." he slumped over and put his hands on his knees
"What's up?"
"We need you to go on a mission... along with two other... pilots and assist a team already... in the field."
"Well, ok. Where and when is this taking place?"
"Dim Forest, right now!"
"Aww, shit!"
"If u survive we'll give you 36 thousand credits each."
"Whoa! 36 thousand! Great now I'm gonna die." high paying missions are always the most dangerous. "So, who else is going?"
"Blaze and Morrow."
"Ok, there pretty good."
"Yea but so are you, so get going. The others are already waiting in the transport."
"Alright, I'm on it...later." and with that I was off.
With my newfound knowledge I proceeded straight to my custom, high-end MT. I rushed down the stairs and grabbed the nearest elevator down to the garage. I started thinking about the mission while I was in the elevator. "I wonder what kind off mission would cause the cortex to throw in support for a team already in the thick of it, normally once your in your on your own." Once the elevator doors opened into the MT garage I stopped questioning my employer and ran straight to my MT. I ran up the stairs to the catwalk that crossed the cores of the MTs in the garage. The garages for the MTs and the ACs were basically in the same "room". It's just so huge and the fact that the MTs and the ACs were kept on separate sides, everyone just called it two garages. Once I reached the catwalk I ran across until I got to my MT. I had to stop and admire it for a second; its white and gold paint job glistened in the beaming lights of the garage. I was known around for making my own customizations to just about everything I owned, from my dishwasher to my MT.
I jumped into the spherical cockpit and put my arms and legs into the braces, wrapped the sensor straps around my chest, put the virtual helmet on and put my password in.
"MT revelation starting up. Doing initial systems check." my custom computers normal response whenever I started up the MT. "Xero, are we going on a mission?"
"That we are."
"Where is the mission taking place?"
"The dim forest." I responded as I lifted my right arm and watched the monitor as the MT's right arm moved to match.
"All systems functioning normally."
"All right then, lets go." I moved toward the transport hanger where the other MTs were waiting for me. I had to take the service elevator at the front of the garage. Then I had to boost over to the transport bay, which also had a landing strip on it so that the transports could take off straight out of the hangar. When I got there, I saw the large transport plane already warming its engines. I looked inside the open hatch and saw the other two MTs waving for me to hurry up. I jumped inside just as the plane was leaving the hangar and starting to taxi.
About halfway through the trip I got out of my MT. I walked out of the cargo bay and into the "lounge", more like a small room with a couch and refrigerator. I decided on attempting to talk with the other two pilots. This is always hard before a mission because everyone is always nervous.
"So...you guys nervous?" stupid question dumbass your balls are about ready to fall off, your shakin' so much. All I was greeted with were a couple of choked "eeeh"s. But that was expected.
"You guys catch how much we're gettin' paid?"
"Yep, 36 Gs. Can't say I'm thrilled about it though." replied Blaze.
"Neither can I." Morrow added. "The whole, "if we survive" part kinda got me a little worried."
"Yea, me too. But hey ya-know they always say that." was my sad attempt to cheer them up, which obviously failed because as soon as I said it they seemed to slump even lower.
I had known Blaze and Morrow for a while and we had become good friends. Blaze was about 5'10 with dark hair and green eyes. She was also in very good shape and was a very attractive woman. Morrow was taller than both of us at about 6'5 and he had a heavy build. Morrow wasn't the kind of guy you would want to get angry. He had blond hair that was about 2 1/2 inches long. Myself, I'm not the biggest guy around. I'm about 6'2 and at 200 pounds. I had red hair that was about three inches long. I didn't care much about my hair.
BEEP..."all pilot to their MTs."
"That's our queue." So we all ran to our MTs and jumped in. We could all hear the nuclear generators in each others MTs roar to life as they started up. We waited for about five minutes for the order to jump.
BEEP..."deploy!"
That was the last thing we heard as the back cargo door of the plane opened in mid-air.
"Here we go!" As I jumped first. I started free falling and checked my altimeter; we were falling from about 11-thousand feet. "Jesus, could they drop us any higher!?" I started feathering my boosters to cushion my landing. I didn't want to hit the ground going God-knows how fast from 11- thousand feet, which would rip my legs off. As tough as they may seem, the MTs were still vulnerable to the forces of nature.
When I hit the ground I did a final weapons check and initiated combat mode. I checked over my MTs load-out; the right rifle-arm was functioning nominally as was the blade on the left arm, the missile launchers on my back and the extensions (an extra armor plate on the left and a support missile launcher on the right). My chest missile interceptor has never really worked correctly since a missile hit me right in the middle of my chest about a year ago. Luckily it was a small missile and didn't do much other damage. I never really bothered with fixing it as it never really helped me in the first place.
"Morrow, Blaze; you guys all checked out?"
"Roger." they both replied at the same time.
I looked around a bit and I could see trees that were as big around as my MT and bigger. The trees were also several times taller than my MT. I looked up and found out why they called it the dim forest, the canopy blocked out ALL sunlight. We were dropped right at the edge of the forest; once we walked in we would be in complete darkness. The ground plants would come up to my MTs waist as soon as I walked in. It would be hard to maneuver once inside.
The radio started crackling: "ok, were having some radio interference so you guys are on your own after this. Your mission is to break through the perimeter guards around a small Kisaragi base in the area. After you have control of the area a small strike force will enter the base and siege it from the inside."
"What does the strike force consist of?"
"It is made of two ace MTs an..." the crackling was drowning out the radio. That was the last we heard from command.
"And what! What ELSE!! TELL ME!!!" you could hear Morrow yelling over the crackling of the radio. He hated info shortage above all else. He lost his family because of a lack of information; his whole family were MT pilots and they were all on a mission when the radio cut out. A raven showed up, and the raven claimed to be on there side. They never got their mission assignment because of the radio. The raven said that he was there to help with their mission. Their mission was to eliminate a raven that was located in the area.... As soon as the raven got close he opened fire and killed Morrows whole family and blew the right rifle-arm off of his MT. After that (I was told) he just boosted forward and punched right at the ACs cockpit, and after that the AC just kind'ove slumped over and fell on its face, suggesting that the pilot was dead. He has never had a great liking of ravens since then. And after the incident he changed his callsign to Morrow for reasons that anyone could understand. Why he still continues to be a pilot, I don't know but I would never question him.
"Well, shall we get to work then?" I never really got an answer; they just followed me as I walked into the woods. I could tell that Morrow was especially jittery, as he kept looking this way and that, behind him, moving very quickly.
After about ten minutes of searching we came across our first set of targets; four battle MTs. (The kind with big gattling gun arms and missile launchers on the back.) They had flatter cores and reverse-joint legs. No problem.
I signaled for the other two to kneel down.
"Morrow, flank left. Blaze, flank right. Ill draw attention."
"Roger"
"Roger"
They both slowly walked around the four battle MTs not wanting to gain their attention before we were ready. As soon as our position formed a triangle around them I qued up the radio again.
"You guys start firing good shots as soon as they head towards me."
Another set of "Rogers" followed this order as well. Actually I didn't really know how I got elected leader. Great, I hate responsibility.
I started boosting towards the group and fired four shots into the group at random. Luckily three of them hit. I boosted straight at one of them and rammed it with my left shoulder (the shoulder with the extra armor plate). Then I pulled up my right arm, which had a rifle for a forearm and blew five holes into the front of its core. I leapt back and kept boosted backwards as I watched it fall forward onto its face. As soon as I stopped boosting back I stopped for a sec to give my generator a rest and then started Boosting back at the group. As soon as I got "uncomfortably" close I boosted straight up into the air and just in time too because no sooner than I had cleared the MTs height, Blaze and Morrow started firing careful shots into the group.
In the air I decided to turn on my MTs targeting computer. They aren't quite as good as an ACs F.C.S. but mine was pretty close. I wanted to hit my targets from now on.
While I was in the air Blaze and Morrow took down two of the three remaining MTs with about five shots each. After I turned on my targeting system I cut my boosters and started dropping. I maneuvered myself and landed on top of the one remaining MT, effectively crushing its legs. Then I took my blade out and stabbed it straight down through the middle of the MT. I then boosted off and fired three shots into the top of it. As soon as I landed it stumbled over and blew-up behind me.
"Cool move." Blaze complimented
"My favorite." and indeed it was my favorite battle tactic. "Lets keep moving then." And we set off.
About three minutes later I stopped very suddenly mid-step. "Hold it!" The others nearly fell over upon hearing my order.
"What's up with you?" Morrow seemed irritated. He was unfortunately quick to anger.
"Check your radar!" Blaze was quick; she figured it out. Ahead, about three hundred yards there were twelve blips on the radar.
"Twelve.I don't like those odds Xero."
"I don't either. But lets see what they are before we panic." So we continued forward slowly until they were barely in view.
There were three more battle MTs that were the same as Before, four small floating pod MTs that had small panels that came down the side at an angle and five MTs that I had never seen before. The unknown MTs had two arms that looked like they had the 1000 round AC machine guns for a forearm like our MTs had rifles. It looked like that was the only armament they had. They were a little taller than the battle MTs. They had a small head and a small rounded core. And they had Black and dark green camouflage which blended perfectly with the forest.
"Ok guys, this could be difficult; those pods will come down with a single hit but landing the hit is a problem. The Battle MTs we can take care of. And those weird new MTs look pretty fast."
"Got a plan?"
"Got milk?"
"Uuh...no."
"Theirs your answer."
"Damn you and your mind games! We are in serious trouble here and look at you, jokin' around!" Morrow was really pissed; I thought it was kinda funny.
"I try not to look at the situation as a bleak one. Calm down man, just trying to lighten the mood here." People also know me for almost never losing my temper. Very few people have ever seen me truly angry.
"Ok guys, I have an idea. Were going to try to keep hidden for as long as possible. We will split up and surround them as we did the last group. I will fire the first shot, as soon as I do I want you two to start planting shots into the upper bodies of those new MTs. I will start picking off the pods first. Hopefully, all of us firing at them at the same time from different directions will confuse the rest of them. I am going to stay put and take out the pods, you guys will fire one or two shots then move. Don't get too close. Got it?"
"Yea, I got it." Blaze was quick to reply and she rarely questioned her orders.
"Do you think it will work?" Morrow was always very pessimistic.
"I hope so. Lets rock."
"Roger!" they both said in unison.
Morrow went left and Blaze went right. I stayed where I was and kneeled down, assuming a firing stance. I raised my right rifle-arm up straight and braced it with my left arm.
Morrow was the first to reach his firing point. "In position. Taking aim... ready."
Blaze was ready about a minute later. "Ready."
"Alright lets do it!" I took careful aim and fired four rifle shots. Three met their targets and the pods that were hit promptly exploded. Immediately after I fired two of the new MTs hit the ground.
"One down!"
"One down!"
The battle MTs just stood there... good the plan was working. I took aim on the remaining pod and locked one hi-act missile onto it, "dodge this!" I let the missile loose and it streamed straight to its target, the pod did make a good attempt to dodge it but to no avail, the missile plowed right into the pod and it blew into a fiery orange ball. As this was happening the battle MTs managed to collect themselves, they started moving around sporadically and firing into the woods blindly. The new MTs were indeed fast and started zipping around letting loose machine gun rounds every now and then.
"Sorry, Xero I cant hit those new ones."
"Neither can I."
"Its ok, ill get 'em. You guys get those battle MTs before they start getting lucky."
"Gotcha."
I switched back to my missile launcher and turned on my extension. I locked on to each of the three new MTs twice and fired. Nine missiles flew out all together, but the agile MTs dodged them but not by much. "Damnit!" I decided to try it again but this time I flew up into the air a couple hundred yards and locked nine missiles like before. The missiles flew straight down to their targets all reaching their mark. Two of them exploded while the third lost its left arm and a huge chunk out of its core. I saw it turn to the right suddenly and take off.
"I'm going after that one, you guys finish the battle MTs off then stay here. Ill be back."
"Alright."
I quickly boosted off after the fleeing MT. It took me a while but I eventually caught up with it. As I was chasing it I started firing random rifle shots off but few met their mark. I eventually landed a couple lucky shots into the hole on its core and it fell over mid-boost and just laid there. It was completely mangled from hitting the ground and a few trees at such a high speed. I turned around again to go back and join the others when I heard my comm. start crackling.
"Oh shit, they found us!" Said an unknown female voice.
"Who is this? Who's on this line?" Who's on my radio?
"Avoid taking any damage, well need all of ourselves for the attack." Said another unknown voice.
"Who is on this frequency!?" I demanded.
"This is the attack group you are assigned to escort. Please assist, we're being attacked by a small group of new model MTs." The female voice responded.
"Alright hold on we're on our way, just hang on a second." "Morrow, Blaze, you guys all done yet?"
"Yea, we've just finished."
"Ok get your Asses over here! We've got a job to do!"
"We're on our way. Be there in thirty seconds."
"You'd better hurry!"
With that I boosted forward to help out the attack group. When I got there, there were six more of the new MTs attacking a group of two MTs like mine and a lightweight AC. The AC was painted Red and Gold. It had the CROW extensions, a Karasawa part competitor (I didn't know what it was called), a halberd laser blade, and two small missile launchers. All of the attack team were dodging and attacking like real pros.
"I don't know how much longer I can ke- AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!" One of the MTs got a full stream of machine gun rounds right through the chest of the MT and probably through the pilot.
"I just lost my left arm. Left leg knee joint is frozen. Missiles off- line. Front chest armor is useless. I need some help here!" A voice yelled over the radio.
"We need backup! Now!!" The female voice exclaimed.
"I'm here, sorry I'm late. I have two more MTs on there way as well."
"Good, get to work. Help us clear these things!"
"I'm on it."
I stopped in mid-air and flew a bit higher, I fired about a dozen shots at the enemy MTs but all in vein, the quick MTs easily dodged my shots. So with that idea effectively shoved, I switched back to my missile launcher and turned on my extension. I locked on to three of the MTs twice like before and let loose nine missiles. All of them hit and all of the MTs that were hit exploded immediately. But I was out of missiles.
"Hey, AC."
"Yes?"
"Have you tried using your missiles from above yet? They seem to have a hard time dodging missiles from above."
"Sounds good, ill try it, I'm on my way up there." And she started boosting up towards me. But no sooner than she "started" up towards me did she reach me. "Alright, switching to missiles... Full lock, here we go!" And she fired off six missiles at two of the MTs destroying them both.
"Were here." Morrow declared as he and Blaze boosted into the area.
"A bit late but we'll let you two have the remaining MT." I joked, fully knowing that it would piss Morrow off.
"Gee thanks." was the answer Morrow gave me.
As Morrow and Blaze were busy with the final MT, the AC and I had time to land and consider our options.
"Your quite a pilot." She said as we were free falling.
"Your not to bad either, you've gotta tell me how you can move like that."
She laughed. "Ill take you up on that offer sometime."
"Offer? Well whatever." If she wants to think it was an offer than by all means. "Ok well with that settled, lets figure out how we are going to take over this base. We've taken some damage but nothing major. I'm out of missiles though and I've got 200 rifle shots left."
"Well, the original plan was for you three to guard the entrance while we took over the base from the inside. But we lost one unit already and the other MT is heavily damaged."
"Well we might have to go with you then." Blaze suggested.
"She's right, we might have to." I thought for a second. "Do you have a problem with that?" I asked the raven.
"No, that sounds like a good plan to me. But one thing; we do need a guard on the outside to keep from being overwhelmed. And as I'm down to one damaged MT for help, would it be ok for my escort and your escort to guard the entrance?"
"Well there not really my escorts" I responded quickly in response to the growls I heard coming from Blaze and Morrow over the comm. "But I don't think that they would mind guard duty, would you guys?"
"I think we can handle it." Morrow replied.
Blaze agreed also.
"Then I guess it's settled. What's your name?"
"Xero, and yours?"
"My names Angel. Well then, shall we go? According to what I was told, the entrance should be right over here..."
We all followed Angel to the entrance of the base. Once we got there Morrow stopped me.
"Hey man take these, you'll need em' more than Me." he said as he started transferring all of his ammo over to me.
"But aren't you going to need this stuff?"
"Nah, I've still got some rifle shots left. Hey Xero, watch your back in there, not just cause your in an enemy base but cause your walking with a raven in there. I've had some bad luck with ravens before." He stopped talking for a second and was completely silent.
"Ill be fine, not all ravens are bad. Most are pretty nice guys, or girls..."
"I'm not necessarily saying that she's going to stab you in the back Xero, I'm just saying watch yourself. Be careful man."
"I will, don't worry I can take care off myself." "You sound like my mother. You should work on that."
"Ya I know"
"Later." And I walked towards the entrance of the base where Angel was waiting.
"We all ready?" she said as I walked up towards the giant hole in the ground that used to be a steel door.
"Yep, lets go."
And I jumped into the hole. It seemed as if we were falling forever. When we did hit the ground I checked ahead for targets, nothing. We were in a long corridor that stretched further than I could see. The walls were a dark grey and had lamps lining the upper corners of the hallway. And it was also cramped; it was barely wide enough for angel and I to stand side- by-side.
"This is kinda creepy." I said getting a sudden chill.
"Yea it is, I expected them to be all over us once we were in here."
"That's what I was thinking. But I guess I can't complain."
"Nope, neither can I. Well let's go." We started walking down the passageway, which seemed to go forever. "So...what was that about?"
"What about?"
"The little talk your friend had with you."
"O...that, well he gave me almost all his ammo. And he gave me some advice."
"Advice?"
"Yea, he's not a big fan of ravens."
"I see. Why is that?"
"Your a curious one aren't you? Well if you must know, don't tell him that you know this but a raven killed his whole family about two years ago. Actually I believe that it was June 27th. He's goes to the cemetery every year to pay his family a visit."
"Wha- what did- did you say?" She stopped dead.
"They were killed by a raven on June 27th two years ago, and jack was the only survivor. Why?"
"What happened to the raven?"
"Morrow told me that his weapons were damaged from the attack so he just boosted right at him and punched the AC in the chest. Again, why?"
"My father was a raven... He was killed on June 27th two years ago. They said that his AC was punched incredibly hard right in the cockpit. He was killed on impact."
"Wow, that... must've been Morrow. Whoa!! That must've been Morrow!!" It just sunk in.
"I never really liked my father, he always completed his missions no matter what he had to do, and it made him seem kinda ruthless. And he was never really home or spent any time with my mom or me. He was obsessed about the fact that he was a raven. He was always at the garage messing with his AC. The only really nice thing that he ever did for me was that after I told him that I wanted to be a raven as well he made sure that I stayed alive long enough to become one."
"Wow, I'm sorry. But at least you knew your parents... My parents were killed about two weeks after I was born. Nobody knows how or why, but they were both found dead on our front lawn one night. I don't even remember anything about them."
"Xero, I'm so sorry."
"I had no relatives and I didn't even know my real name. So when I got old enough I enlisted to become an MT pilot. When I was signing up the lady asked for my name. I didn't know so I just said zero, but I guess she thought I was talking about a callsign so she put Xero. I never really tried to correct it, thought it fit."
I didn't get an answer. We just kept walking for about ten minutes.
"So what exactly are we supposed to do?"
"Destroy the main AI computer and hold the command section until they surrender."
"Sounds kinda routine. So, do you know where either one of these things is?"
"Nope."
"Great..."
"Just keep looking."
"Ya ya."
- -- ---On the surface... -- -
"I hate guard duty."
"Then why did you volunteer us for it Blaze?"
"I didn't volunteer us for it, I merely suggested it. And besides, the two of them can do more damage than us three, so best to just leave them to their own devices."
"Stop arguing you two and pay attention." The new guy ordered.
"Who are YOU anyway!?" Morrow inquired.
"My name is Dash. All you need to know."
"Well, fine."
"Stoppit Morrow, pleasure to meet you Dash. You probably already know this but I'm Blaze, my real name is Samantha. And that testy guy over there is jack; his last name is ass sometimes. We call him Morrow."
Dash laughed. He needed it though; it had been a rough day. "Well if we're giving out real names, mine is Daniel Sheins. I hope that you guys can figure out how I got my callsign." A few moments silence went by. "So, are you guys looking to become ravens?"
"Well I am. I'm not so sure about Morrow though, he doesn't like ravens too much."
"Really? Why is that?"
"Its a long story." Morrow had a tone in his voice that said he didn't want to touch on the subject. But Dash didn't catch it.
"I've got time."
Morrow sighed. "Well, to make a long story short; a raven betrayed my family and killed them all." He fell silent.
"Whoa, sorry man I didn't mean to..." Dash fell silent as well.
"Guys get going, we've got company."
Morrow checked his radar and found four blips on it. "Just four! I have a bad feeling about this."
"So do I. Especially since I can't really do anything except provide support fire."
"Ok boys. They're moving in a delta formation. Ill take the two on the right, I still have most ammo and the least damage. Dash, do you think that you could take down the middle left one before he gets too close?"
"Ya, I can do that."
"So I guess ill take the furthest left one?"
"Ya Morrow. That's sounds like a plan to me. Lets move." And Blaze boosted off to the right and Morrow to the left.
Seconds later Morrow was boosting and running through the thick foliage wondering if he had misplaced his bearings, but just as this thought crossed his mind two grenade rounds rocketed through the forest and jack just barely dodged them. "Shit, these are the heavy fire MTs." "Watch it Dash you'll never be able to get these things, ill get yours don't worry about it. Just try not to draw attention to yourself."
"Alright thanks."
Morrow boosted forward to where the shots came from and got his blade heated. His targeting computer went red and he started firing shots at the little red box as fast as he could even though he couldn't see the enemy yet. Once he got a little closer he could see the MT and realized that his shots were doing little more than cosmetic damage. He continued boosting forward and brought his blade to bear. He barely dodged another shot and he snuck a glance at his energy gage and saw that he was almost spent. He decided to risk it cause if he stopped now the MT could pull off a quick shot and kill him while he regained his balance. He flew right at the MT but veered to the left just in front of the MT and slashed his blade diagonally upwards right through its cannons and the front part off the core. He landed behind and to the left of the MT and could hear the MT whine and creak as its cannon arms exploded, taking most of the core with them. Apparently it had tried to fire one last time right as he passed but was to slow and fired when his cannons were already cut in half and melted shut. He stood there for a moment to let his generator cool down then he would have to wait for it to recharge his energy. He decided to start running towards where the other MT should be. As he was running he saw an orange glow in the woods and jumped to the left just in time landing on his side in the ground plants as another volley of grenades flew past. He laid there for a second because it kept him hidden but got up after about thirty seconds 'cause he didn't want to give the enemy too much of a head start towards Dash and the base. He Started running again and as soon as he got close enough and his computer went red he started firing as fast as he could. He only got about 15-20 shots in, "damn, out of ammo. O-well". He kept running and no sooner than he cleared the nearest tree did he nearly get killed as it blew up beside him. He looked to his left and there it was, the other MT. He jumped back and dived behind another tree. That tree promptly blew apart as another set of grenades hit it. "Just another five seconds!" He jumped and dodged but eventually he got to close to a tree that he hid behind and when it got destroyed a large portion of the trunk hit his right arm, leaving it limp. "I LOVE ENERGY!!!" He boosted forward and got his blade out. He brought it up as he dodged another grenade round and stabbed it straight through the center of the MT. "Not so hot now are ya!"
About nine hundred yards away Blaze was doing a bit better. Being a wiz at dodging she was able to quickly close on the first MT and when she did get close enough she brought her blade out and slashed downward diagonally at the MT to her right cutting its left arm and its rear hover jets off, leaving it stuck there. "Where's the other one?"
"Some help here!"
"Dash!" She turned around and went straight for him. She started boosting back towards him but had to stop every now and then to let her energy recharge. When she got there Morrow was already they're trying to distract it but not having much luck. "I'm here!" Blaze boosted straight into the air and switched to her missiles then turned on her missile extension. She got three locks and fired six missiles at the MT. All hit but did little damage. "Sorry to steal your move Xero, but." She moved directly above the enemy and cut her boosters. She dropped right on top of the MT, the combined weight of the both of them was too much for the hover engines of the MT that she was now riding like a bull, dropping it off its hover engines and smashing it to the ground. She got out her blade and started cutting it in half straight down the middle until she started seeing small explosions inside it. Then she jumped off and flew backwards. She watched as the once large MT turned into a violent red and orange ball of fire.
"Boy that was exciting lets never do it again." They all laughed.
- -- ---Back inside the base... -- -
"Xero! Drop!"
I hit the floor and heard two shots fire from Angels lightweight plasma rifle. I dared look up just enough to see what had happened and saw two purple plasma spheres plow into a battle MT on at the end of an intersecting corridor.
"Hurry, get up! We gotta move!" And angel began boosting away.
I didn't even get up. I just pushed-up with my left arm like I was doing a push-up and hit my boosters. I zoomed down the corridor; Angel, all the while getting further ahead of me. As I flew down the hall I saw glancing images of battle MTs coming out of crossing halls.
"We're getting close... Xero, keep up!"
"Ya, I'm trying but you're a lot faster." I was trying to close in on her but I was almost out of energy and she was clearly a lot faster and obviously not anywhere near being out of energy.
"Just do your best. There it is..." and she finally stopped boosting and stepped into a large room.
I stopped right behind her. "Angel?" I guess she was daydreaming because she kinda jumped and she walked into the room.
The corridor had opened up into a huge room lined with computers and other equipment. The walls were literally covered with computers and other such equipment, along with other things that littered the floor. I didn't think that so many computers existed. They were all flashing and beeping, they lit up the room. It was a large room but it had a very low roof. It was quite wide and long though. "I guess they were doing some research."
"Look, on the opposite wall." Angel pointed at a glowing pillar on the other side of the room. And sure enough there was the main computer sitting there bigger than shit. "Lets go."
"Alright." And I began to follow her across the room. We boosted across the room without much difficulty. Computers crush easily when stepped on and don't present much of an obstacle. Once we got to the pillar angel got her laser blade ready and I guess she routed some more power from somewhere because the blade suddenly got three times longer and equally brighter.
"Well... Here goes nothing. I hope this place don't blow or collapse." She said as she raised her blade.
"Wait, what did you-!" But it was too late; she had already sliced through the pillar.
The lights and various screens and images on the pillar began to get duller and duller as it began to lose power. As soon as the whole pillar became black and lifeless the many blips on our radar that were the enemy units stopped moving and started disappearing.
"I think our job just got a lot easier." I was relived as I watched the numerous enemies deactivating on my radar.
"Not a chance. Now that the A.I.'s don't work they'll just send in the manned units."
"O... great. Then lets just hurry and find the command center."
"No need. I just got an e-mail from mirage; they said that they didn't expect that the loss of the main computer to have such a great effect. They've given us permission to end the mission now if we desire."
"I thought all communication was out?"
"I guess the computer was also jamming communications around the base, that's why they use A.I. so much, The A.I. doesn't need to be given orders, it automatically goes to where there's trouble."
Well it sounded good to me. "Well then lets ge-" something cut my transmission short.
"Help me. Please. I can make it worth your while." This strange new voice sounded very panicky.
"Who are you?"
"It doesn't really matter."
I thought for a moment. "Ok... where are you?"
"You're going to help him!?" Angel didn't sound too happy.
"Ya, why not? He's obviously in trouble. We haven't taken much damage or anything and the base is sure to be down on a lot of resources now that the A.I.'s gone, specifically defense."
It was reluctant but; "fine, but we'd better hurry!"
"Alright then, hey where are you?"
"I'm uploading a map right now. The highlighted corridors mark the path to get to me."
"Ok but the highlights end at an entrance to a huge room."
"Yes, that is the cell block. I am in cell G-88."
"Alright we're on our way." And I signaled for angel to follow. "I hope this ain't a trap."
We followed the highlighted parts of the map, traveling quickly through various corridors and rooms. The only real defense we came across were automated turrets, which were probably programmed to shoot at anything that moves when there's an emergency.
"Guess this must be it." I pushed the button to open the door and to no surprise it didn't open. "Um... if u will?" And I motioned for angel to cut open the door with her blade.
"Tuh..." she stepped forward and extended her blade. Even with her long- range blade it still took her a good 5 minutes to cut through the door.
When we finally got in I was amazed at how big this room actually was. It literally dwarfed the room with the computers. It was quite dark, only lit by a few string lights on the ceiling. The cells were arranged in isles and rows that filled the room.
"I guess Kisaragi has quite a long list of enemies." I laughed.
Angel and I split up to look for this guys cell. And I motioned for Angel to go left and I right.
"Remember, its G-88"
"I know." She sounded annoyed.
We were searching for about 10 minutes when I heard, "I found it. Hurry and get over here."
"Alright I'm comin'." And I began boosting over to where I saw her on the radar.
"Here it is."
"Ok, hey we're right outside your door."
I got out of my MT and angel followed suit and got out of her AC. I got my first look at her, she was about 5' 10, she had long jet-black hair with blonde highlights, devil red lipstick, blue eyes, a tight black raven jump- suit and she was in very good shape, as most ravens were. We just stood there and looked each other over for a moment. Then she looked up at me and broke the moment.
"Um... The prisoner."
"O, yea." I was lost in her eyes for a moment.
I walked up to the door and knocked. "That you?"
"Yea I'm in here"
"Well we're coming in so stand back."
I pulled out my glock and shot the electronic lock on the outside of the door. Then I put my gun away and moved to try to pull the door open.
"Hey can you help me pull the door open from your side?"
"Ya, ok."
"Hey angel can you help me?"
All three of us pulling on the door eventually got it to slide open. When we finally got him out, we were in such a hurry we didn't even talk. We just rushed him out of his room then he got into the MT with me and angel got into her AC.
"I thought that you two were both ravens?"
"Nope, not yet but I'm working on it. I'm done with the training and have all the requirements met and exceeded, just need to make an appointment."
"Very good, now that door right over there leads down a hall that goes to a surface access elevator."
"Ok. But I was just wondering, but how do you know all this?"
"Well I used to work here for Kisaragi, but my skills allowed me to advance quite a bit further in the world. So one day I gave my two weeks notice and I went to work for this unnamed corporation that ended up being under the controllers operation. I guess Kisaragi didn't like that because they captured me about a month ago."
"But what do you do?"
"I'm an AC research mechanic"
"O, I see. You guys are pretty valuable."
"We can be."
By the time he had finished his story we had made it to the elevator and we were on our way back to the surface. I was contacting the others so angel started asking her own questions.
"But how were you able to contact us from inside the cell?"
"Remember I told you that my skills could take me further up in the world? Well I am an AC research mechanic who specializes in customizations. And I simply hacked into the prisoner comm. system and used it to contact you guys."
"I see." Angel didn't sound very convinced but the guy hadn't put a gun to my head yet so I wasn't worrying about it much.
When the elevator finally surfaced the others were already waiting for us.
"Lets get the hell out of here." Was the first thing I heard out of the comm. system when we stopped moving up.
"Sounds good to me. Lets go. Angel could you call in the transport?"
"Already did. Be here in five minutes." Everybody just stood there silent for a second. "So, Xero who is this with you?"
"O, um sorry, this is Morrow over here and that is Blaze over there. Guys this is Angel." I forgot about that.
"Nice to meet you." Blaze was always polite. Though we didn't hear anything from Morrow.
"Well then, this is dash. Dash, this is Xero."
"Nice to meet you."
"You to dash."
"There's the transport. Lets go."
"Why are you so uptight all of a sudden?" I asked angel who seemed to be in quite a hurry.
"I'm not uptight! Just get in the plane."
"Ok, whatever."
We all got in the plane and had a silent ride back except for the mechanic and myself.
"When do you plan to make the jump to AC?"
"As soon as I can. I've already applied but the cortex hasn't gotten back to me with a date yet."
"Oh, I see. Well what about the other three pilots that are with you?"
"Well one of them I'm sure about, that's Blaze. She can't wait to be a raven. The other two I'm not so sure about. One of them doesn't have much of a soft spot for ravens and the other I don't even know, I just know his name."
"Ok, well you be sure to make it to AC as soon as possible. When you do ill contact you."
"Why?"
"I have to thank you guys somehow right? And remember how I said I was an AC research mechanic, I can make a few "adjustments" to your ACs."
"ACs"? I only plan on buying one."
"Ill do it for each of your friends too. They helped too right?"
"Ya they helped with the mission but the mission wasn't a rescue."
"I know that but they proved themselves capable pilots that should be able to handle the improvements that I can make to your ACs."
BEEP... Prepare to land. Welcome back team.
"How did you see..."
"You'll see what I mean." He said, cutting my question short.
And he opened the hatch to the MT and got out, closing the hatch behind him. As soon as the transport door opened he jumped out and walked away. The base security just walked by him. But I guess that could be expected, he looked exactly like a mechanic, grease and all.
BEEP... Please exit the transport.
We all got out of the transport and went our separate ways. I was surprised to hear my communications line activate.
"I'll see you later..."
I turned around and say angel walking backwards away from me waving. As soon as I saw her she turned away and boosted towards the AC garage.