"Ten kilometers out, preparing to engage facility."

The pilot let out a slow, smooth breath following the report, fingers drumming against the controls, carefully fingering the safeties to the off position. There was a click, a short buzz of static, and then a light female voice whispered through the speakers. "Roger that, David. Be careful and remember: your job isn't to tear the place down, all you have to do is take out the solar instillations. The rest will fall into place after that."

The man nodded to himself, though Lisa could see it through her camera feed, long, crimson locks falling in his face. Inhale. Relax. He followed his pre-engagement ritual, his chest slowly filling with air, eyes closed, grip on the controls relaxing to barely hold onto them. After a long moment, the pilot slowly blew the breath from his lungs and his eyes shifted open.

"David Kirkland, engaging target facility."

His long fingers wrapped tightly around the controls, his feet rocking the pedals beneath them as the massive mech suit shifted forward and leapt from the cliff face it was standing before. It fell spread eagle for a few long seconds while the boosters hummed their warm up song. When the charge finished building there was a soft squeal and then the entire mech shot forward, propelled by the powerful, overed boost.

Even as the suit screamed forward, it continued to fall - until David began to once again depress the pedals, pushing harder this time to pull the plummeting suit out of its fall and settle it into the desired cruising altitude. Watching as the distance fell rapidly between him and the waypoint that marked the facility, an excitement began to build.

Finally, overhead of the target, alarms began to sound as a red light flashed somewhere to his right. They were trying to raise him to warn him he was in a secured facility; he knew that. He fingered one of the controls on his left and the boosters on his back bled off, allowing him to glide down smoothly into the facility.

The massive suit slammed down, feet digging in hard as it slid to a short stop, legs braced from the landing. Slowly, the suit shifted to a standing position. David glanced at his surroundings. There was a gathering of tanks and MT units, all with their cannons trained on the intruder. He paused, lifting his hand to flip a switch to his right, letting the voice rain down into the small control center.

"- immediately! Eject from the NEXT and surrender!"

A small, modest smile graced David's lips as he stared down at the feeble tools of war. They were the tools, but he was the god. He depressed the communication key and spoke softly and calmly. "I'm afraid I can't do that, but you're welcome to surrender if you'd like. It would make this so much easier…"

There was nothing but a curse in response before a flash ignited the air in front of the mech, one of the tanks rocking back from the recoil of its main cannon as the shell impacted it straight in the stomach. David winced, rocking with the blow even as they were followed by a rain of similar shots. The suit fell back, arching its back before its thrusters ignited and sent it into a large, controlled backflip. As it landed back to terrafirma its right arm swept, unleashing a hail of gunfire from the small but powerful machinegun.

The massive rounds tore through the tanks and shredded the legs of the MTs, dropping them to the ground. The mech's right arm brandished Hell a few moments longer as it finished its sweep before it fell silent, the tanks and MTs demolished, sparking and, in a few cases, in flames.

He stared at the destruction for a long moment, appreciating the beauty of the torn metal and wisping flares before finally turning towards his true target, the solar instillations. The suit took a single step forward before a massive explosion sent it sprawling from behind, damage indicators on its back reading red.

David pushed off hard, thrusters flaring as the suit rolled forward and flipped gracefully onto its feet, right arm raised to fend off its foe. It was then that he realized just what his foe was.

The enemy NEXT stood firm, both bazookas spewing smoke as they remained trained on him. A voice breached through his thoughts, a deep, masculine tone. "I guess you're not gonna make this easy for me, are you?"

Despite his brain telling him to respond, David could not; he was too shocked. There wasn't supposed to be anything here larger than a goddamn Ostrich! And now he was staring at a fucking NEXT. Finally, his finger found its way to the communications key and he flipped it, allowing transmissions. "I'd be out a job if I did that, I'm afraid."

There was a long pause while neither mech moved, both pilots staring at each other. Lisa's voice chirped for a moment before the static faded and he could hear her more clearly. "David, that appears to be Rick Tanner. He's a little-known LYNX, but his mission record is nearly flawless. I've pulled up Arena reports on him; please be careful."

David's heart was hammering in his chest, a bit of sweat beading at his brow. "Lisa, please read me my mission record," he requested with a bit of a grin. He could almost hear feel the girl roll her eyes.

"This isn't a game David."

"The record, Lisa."

There was a short pause, then a sigh. "Six missions successfully completed, zero failures. Success rate, one hundred percent." David's grin grew broader as he clutched the controls. That was all he needed to hear.

With a jerk, his mech shifted, boosters flaring while it dove, pushing it hard and fast out of the flight path of the two rounds as they tore through the air at him, exploding somewhere in the background. He rolled to his feet, dashing hard to his right while his machinegun spat out rounds at the NEXT. They tore into the torso of the charging beast but did nothing to slow it down.

He dug in, ducking another pair of rounds before he flared his thrusters, shoulder raised as he slammed into the charging mech. The collision sent him over the NEXT's head and dropped it onto its back. He fought to control his landing and managed to hit on one knee, then roll to a standing position, whipping around to face the other man.

His heavy NEXT was still crawling to its feet and that was all the opportunity he needed. David fluttered his boosters just enough to send him up into the air, twisting as he plummeted at his target. Just as it was turning to face him, the NEXT's left arm lashed out, a beam of solid energy extending from it as he slammed it home through the mech's throat. His blade faded from existence as they fell, his fist carrying the other mech to its back while he fell to his knees.

David paused for a short moment before coming to his feet and watching as the head of the other NEXT rolled away, wobbling with its domed shape. His attention turned to the grounded mech as it shot sparks from the port where its head had been. He knew the pilot inside was desperately fighting the controls, willing it to move; he also knew that it would not. The man surely was trying to save his life, afraid of what was to come.

But David was not that kind of LYNX.

Depressing the foot pedals lightly, Asylum lifted into the air, twisting to face the solar instillations. While he steadied himself in the air, a long barrel unfolded from his right shoulder. A massive bolt of plasma screamed from the barrel before slamming into one of the massive panels. The base melted in whisper of a second and it fell, slamming into several more. He lifted higher into the air and took aim again, raining down bolts of white hot punishment into the instillation before the cannon finally folded back to its stored position.

The instillation was destroyed; the mission was complete.

David pressed harder on the foot pedals, guiding the NEXT up and towards the waiting airship where Lisa was waiting for him.

"Seven," he muttered softly.