Armored Core: Tiger's Vengeance
Part One: Empathy
"30 seconds to drop" An onboard loudspeaker said. Kounji Takagi took in a deep a breath as he prepped for an Armored Core drop into the old Japanese major Metropolitan city known as Tokyo. From what Kounji knew, Tokyo was once a booming city where millions of his people thrived up until the great destruction that is. The city was now majorly flooded with ocean water submerging most of the buildings in the city. All except for the many of the major structures, such has the Japanese Police Organization's HQ and Tokyo Tower. Their mission would involve disrupting a testing operation of a new prototype MT that could supposedly fight underwater as well as out. Chrome had been actively testing new MT designs it could use to quickly insert itself into bases near water. The Demons' requestor Iseko Unlimited had plenty of underwater bases that the MT could affect. Kounji however didn't have too much room to actually think about those details though. The drop in was foremost thing on his mind
Every since he had become an AC mercenary he had never gotten use to being dropped from a drop ship thousands of feet in the air and falling at high speeds towards a ground that held dozens of units gunning for him the whole way. Not surprisingly, It was one of the many things that most pilots found exilerating; Especially Kounji's Coremate Kai Isamo. Kounji could hear how excited she was from the screams and yelling going through their radio connection. "10 seconds to drop" the loudspeaker said.
Kounji took in a deep breath before beginning his core's start up functions. Just as his AC came online he heard the loud screeching of the dropship's rearward ramp opening. "Hey Kai, remember the plan once in the air, vector towards the nearest skyscraper you can get to once we both land go silent." Kounji commanded. "Roger that, I won't loiter too long." Kai replied. "Drop!!!" Kounji yelled.
Kounji pushed his AC in a forward dash off towards the rear of the plane. As he approached the ramp he leapt off and into the breathtaking Tokyo sky. The view of the city below him was wonderful even though the city itself was a bit decimated. He began to quickly pick u speed as he fell towards the Japanese Metropolis. The force of falling towards the earth at his quickening speed was slowly lifting him into the restraints that kept him in his pilot seat. He forced himself to concentrate on looking for a spot to land. After his initial look he wasn't able to spot any buildings tall enough. Then it came to him. A Taller corporate high-rise a little ways out of his optimal landing point was tall enough. Damn, The pilot dropped us off further away from the corporate district than I thought but it does bring us closer to the mission zone but that doesn't help if I smack into the water. He clicked on his boosters and through his throttle in to full power. He looked down towards the high rise building. If I'm going to make this I'm going to need to center myself above the building so can land on, but do I have enough boost to do that. Not like I have much choice do I. Kounji boosted forward towards his building of hope. He watched his hud, as his energy indicator slowly showed his energy level dropping and he still wasn't comfortably over the building. His energy was slowly ticking its way down to zero. His heart suddenly began to beat faster. If his energy ran out he would completely drain out his capacitors and they would have to slowly recharge to full before he could boost again; he would most certainly smack right into the water. Through his goggles, he could see that his core was barely over the corner of the building. With little much else he could do, he clicked his booster off.
The momentum he had created slowly moved him over the building. The building's roof loomed larger and larger in his view. After seeing that is energy capacitors didn't drain completely and had actually recharged, he clicked his boosters back on to slow his fall towards the roof. His AC was still moving faster than Kounji would have liked even with full boost. He braced himself has the AC slammed into the roof its knees bending due to the impact. As he gathered himself and readied his MG-500 machine gun his radio began blazing. "Good to see you've survived the drop rookie, but don't get to carried away there's still a whole mission ahead of you." A female voice said. Kounji took his hand of the core's throttle and slammed his fist on the console of his AC in laughter. "
Gee, can't you give me a break at least once Mia I almost died." Kounji laughed.
"No way Tiger you get no sympathy from me, you're going to have to prove yourself in this squad before I even start." Mia replied. Kounji sighed before pushing his ac towards the edge of the roof. Suddenly his radio blared again with Mia's voice. "Oh I almost forgot Kai says she's picked up units near the old JPO building, but she'll wait for you because she doesn't want all the credit. Anyway I'll contact you again once the mission is over." She said.
Kounji took a quick gulp of air before she shifted his unit in the direction of the of the JPO building. The sun's reflection off the windows made the JPO building look like as powerful of structure has it was a century before. "It shouldn't take too long to make it there. I just hope Kai doesn't decide to dominate this assignment or Roc will never let me live this one down." Kounji thought. He pushed his unit's throttle to full and shot off towards the building.
"Here's your coffee, Captain Kobayashi." A young lieutenant said.
"Thanks Lieutenant Jenkins, feel free to join me if you want" replied a tired Shina Kobayashi. She accepted the coffee with an amusing smile on her face and took a seat in an old office chair that was the remnants of the JPO chief's old office. Shina pushed back against the chair and put her booted feet on top of a nearby desk. The young captain sighed into her cup of coffee has she saw her own reflection in it. She took her face away from the steamy cup and glanced over at the lieutenant, his blond hair draping over his blue eyes has he stared into the floor of the office. His face seemed a bit on the lonesome side and he never quite took his eyes away from the same spot.
"Is something bothering you Jenkins?" Shina asked.
The lieutenant looked up at his Captain a little puzzled after stepping out of his trance. He braced his hands against the wall behind him and laid his back against the wall.
"I'm alright Captain" He smiled.
Shina stood up from her chair and ran her gloved hand through her shiny black hair. She slowly folded her arms across her chest. "I don't believe that for a moment Jenkins. You've been staring at that floor ever since you got me coffee." She yelled.
"I've been lost in my thoughts for awhile Captain, just about being here" he said slowly
"Have you been thinking about quitting the Chrome Military, Jenkins?" she replied coldly
The lieutenant shook his head and fished his hand down one of his pockets scrounging for something. After he grabbed on to what he had been searching for he smiled and pulled out an old style photograph.
"I don't have any problems with the chrome military it's just that I've missed my family, my friends, and my girlfriend Janice. They're all still in Fort Garden while I'm here in Tokyo. And it's just been getting to me ma'am". He sighed with his head down.
"Can I see your picture?" Shina asked smiling
The lieutenant nodded and handed Shina the photograph rather willingly. Shina began examining the picture her subordinate had given her. It was his him and whom Shina guessed as being his girlfriend Janice next to him in a group photo for his physical education class. The happiness she saw between the two sweethearts in the photo brought a smile to the pilot's face.
"So do you have anyone you care about back home Captain" Jenkins asked. Shina handed the picture back to her subordinate and began to look down at the floor herself.
"I'm sorry Captain, I' didn't mean to be insubordinate" he replied.
Shina looked back up at the pilot and reached her arm out to his shoulder. "No, no I don't have a problem with you asking me about personal stuff it's ok. If we're going to be in the Chrome Special Forces together we're going to need to be honest with each other." She sincerely said.
Shina turned her back to Jenkins and began to pace around the room a little bit while memories that she had suppressed since a short time ago resurfaced in her head. " Damn you, why no matter what I keep doing to forget you. Something always makes you return." She thought. She finally turned her self back around to face the Lieutenant and spoke. "There was this guy I used to go to the Chrome Mecha School with, awhile back ago. He and I used to compete against each other all the time, you know to be the best in the class. I think out of the 30 people in the class we were the only people who had enough heart for our trade, to work has hard has we did. I'll admit that I worked harder than I ever had just stay on top of him but don't let him know I said that. Anyways I heard from his friend, some girl, I forget her name now, but she told me that he was head over heels for me, for a long time." She said.
Jenkins suddenly burst into laughter. "What why are you laughing. You wanted to know about my love life". Shina asked blushing a bit
Jenkins calmed down before he looked up from his laughing and noticed Shina's face was a flustered one. "I don't mean to laugh ma'am but I don't get to see you spilling your heart out too often. Makes you seem more like a human being." Jenkins stated.
Shina put her fist to her hips and stared at her subordinate with a false angered look. "If you like Lieutenant I could go back to bossing you and the other soldiers around and reveal absolutely nothing about my self. Otherwise continue listening." She stated, working to the part.
The lieutenant nodded and sat down on desk near him.
"Anyways moving back to my story, Kounji, this being his name, and I ,dated quite a few times. We kissed, hugged, and fooled around for about a year and half together. That was back when I lived in Fort Garden. It was probably the best year and a half of my entire life." She said smiling. Shina wiped her eyes a bit has her happiness began to bring tears from her eyes. She then picked up her cold cup of coffee and finally began to take sips out of it. Very long sips
"So what went wrong Captain?" Jenkins asked sheepishly
As Shina took her lips away from the coffee mug to answer, her once dormant radio suddenly began to squawk into her hip. She pulled the clipped on radio off her belt, and held it close to her ear so she could make sense of the squawks. " Repeat, Sacred Weasel, do you copy?" The voice said.
Shina held the radio up to her lips and clicked the speaker button on. "I copy Wicked Owl" she replied.
"An unidentified AC has just penetrated the outer perimeter. I hate to interrupt your site seeing tour but we're going to need you at camp ops on the double. Oh and bring your Cores." The communication officer stated.
"Roger That" Shina sighed. The pilot clipped the radio back to her belt and looked back at the lieutenant who was now back on his feet
"I guess it's true that the enemy strikes at the most inopportune times" he smirked.
The two of them darted out the door of the office and down the hallway towards a stairway access at the end of the hallway and ran up the flights of the stairs with Shina in the lead and Jenkins not far behind her. When Shina reached the roof of the building, she immediately took off towards her core that was on the left side of the roof and a tired Jenkins ran towards his unit on the side. As Shina and Jenkins entered, their cores through their side hatches Shina could not help but to think about him. "I wonder what you're doing while I'm having all this fun?" she asked herself.
"Two, Helicopter Mt's parked on top of the far building out there, A couple of sentry guns protecting that make shift sea entrance into the JPO building. No heavy Mt's or AC's yet. Still haven't spotted anything out of the ordinary. This looks like a piece of cake so far. Who needs Kounji?" An energetic Kai Isamo said to herself. Kai recycled her HD- One's zooming scope back to it's normal resolution and began checking through her weapon systems. Her unit the Kentaro consisted off a now aging boxy electronic activity core with An-25 arms with box-like biceps and forearms, and shoulders that looked like miniature wings. The core rested on LN-1001B medium capacity legs with knees the stuck out like spikes. After switching through and checking that her FCS and shoulder mounted radar survived the drop into the metropolis, Kai felt it was time to get to work.
Kai set her sights to the nearest roof top from her position and flew towards it boosters flaring. Her boosters whined as the neared closer and closer to the building. When she had cleared safely over the edge she shut them off and her core shot hot sparks as it's feet skidded across the concrete. " I'm sorry Kentaro" Kai whispered to her machine. Suddenly her radar peeped has it picked up two units not coming from in front of her but from her right. " Crap how did I miss these guys. She yelled, beating her feet against her rotation pedals. The two units that she missed were identified by her apparently awake radar as chrome sentry helicopters. "These are those helos that don't have high heat signatures" Kai thought.
Shortly after Kai finished her thought. Both of the units were quick in firing a barrage of easily half a dozen missiles beaming directly on Kai. The screaming pack of missiles narrowed closer and closer on Kai and in a matter of moments was easily close to the roof her unit rested on. The experienced AC pilot's reflexes kicked in and she boosted to her right taking the missiles in that same direction with her. When they were almost directly on her she quickly pushed to the left and shot forward, her boosters in full blaze has the missiles ignored her and scattered past the building. Enraged that she didn't get the first shot Kai acquired locking solutions with her missile launcher on both the helicopters and let loose a small barrage of her own. Her missiles shot off from their launchers, streaked towards their targets, and due to the helicopter's lack of maneuverability, connected with them with near perfect accuracy. As the wreckage of the two helos twinkled towards the water, she leapt off of her perch and towards and an old highway overpass that headed close but not too close to the enemy testing camp.
She knew with the destruction of those sentry helicopters that her existence was surely known by now so with not much hesitation she ripped over the overpass as fast as her booster would allow her. "They know I'm here ,but boy if they knew how much trouble I was going to cause them." She thought aloud. She suddenly picked up the presence of two units coming from the direction of the JPO building. " Most likely the helicopters I spotted earlier" she hummed. She hope the cover of buildings nearby would help mask the helicopters from being able to get early shots at her. Her gamble had worked thus far. Her luck suddenly ended has soon has the overpass did. Twisted metal from the foundation of the concrete road were all that were left from the once complete highway. Beyond the broken over pass was the temporary
" Shoot, The base is still too far away and I can't possibly fly over there there's no cover. Those machine gun sentry cannon's will eat me alive. If I only I had Kounji's wannabe Karasawa rifle, then I wouldn't have to worry about those cannons. " She complained.
Suddenly she read the two units getting closer and closer to her core as they were right on top her. Kai turned Kentaro to face them. "Come on I can handle two stinking choppers." She yelled. As the units came from above, Kai expected to hear the loud rotors of helicopters to over fly her. Much to her surprise she heard the noise of a mechs joints pulling and contracting has they leapt. "Shit if those units are both AC's I'm toast." she yelled flicking back her shiny black hair.
As if on cue, two mechs leapt up on the rooftop of a building close to the overpass on Kai's right. Kai turned to face the two units, staring at her enemy with wavering confidence. One of them was medium and boasted urban camouflaged. Kai suddenly began to receive an incoming message. Her mind told her immediately it probably wasn't Kounji.
"Raven, This is Captain Kobayashi of the Chrome Military, You are to stand down for destroying Chrome Property otherwise we will be forced to take you down with lethal force." The voice of a female officer said. Kai scratched her head feeling slightly puzzled. The officer's voice as well as name struck the mercenary as very familiar. Moments later it finally clicked. "No, it can't be her. That spoiled brat Shina... Kobayashi." She yelled.
"On the contrary, Kai last time I checked you were the spoiled one, So spoiled by your parents and friends you couldn't even cut it to be in the Chrome Military." Shina replied insolently.
Kai beat her fist against the console before her.
"The path you've chosen Kai, has no future. Surrender now, so that you might face lighter prosecution. " Shina shrieked at Kai.
One of the mecha, which Kai guessed was Shina's, locked on to Kai's mech and pointed it's machine gun dead center on Kai's AC. The mecha next to it followed suit and raised its shotgun against Kai. Kai smiled before raising Shina on her radio. "Do you think any future will come from a corporation that seeks to control the people of our subterranean civilization? Do you think being a Captain in a military run by war crazed psychos will get you any where?" Kai asked solemnly. She could hear the vigilant voice of Shina's wavering a bit.
Kai grinned knowing that she had trampled over Shina's attitude but she knew one thing for sure; there was no avoiding a fight with Kobayashi now. "A two on one is not going to be in my best interest, but seeing I had to be impatient about the whole thing... " She thought to herself. Kai suddenly heard a scream coming over her radio. "I have had enough of your bs Isamo you're going down.
Suddenly the leader AC flew ahead, boosters in full blaze, towards Kai. The machine gun from Shina's AC sprayed red hot bullets at an incredible rate at Kai's unit. Before Kai could react the first volley of bullets lanced toward her machine
Part One: Empathy
"30 seconds to drop" An onboard loudspeaker said. Kounji Takagi took in a deep a breath as he prepped for an Armored Core drop into the old Japanese major Metropolitan city known as Tokyo. From what Kounji knew, Tokyo was once a booming city where millions of his people thrived up until the great destruction that is. The city was now majorly flooded with ocean water submerging most of the buildings in the city. All except for the many of the major structures, such has the Japanese Police Organization's HQ and Tokyo Tower. Their mission would involve disrupting a testing operation of a new prototype MT that could supposedly fight underwater as well as out. Chrome had been actively testing new MT designs it could use to quickly insert itself into bases near water. The Demons' requestor Iseko Unlimited had plenty of underwater bases that the MT could affect. Kounji however didn't have too much room to actually think about those details though. The drop in was foremost thing on his mind
Every since he had become an AC mercenary he had never gotten use to being dropped from a drop ship thousands of feet in the air and falling at high speeds towards a ground that held dozens of units gunning for him the whole way. Not surprisingly, It was one of the many things that most pilots found exilerating; Especially Kounji's Coremate Kai Isamo. Kounji could hear how excited she was from the screams and yelling going through their radio connection. "10 seconds to drop" the loudspeaker said.
Kounji took in a deep breath before beginning his core's start up functions. Just as his AC came online he heard the loud screeching of the dropship's rearward ramp opening. "Hey Kai, remember the plan once in the air, vector towards the nearest skyscraper you can get to once we both land go silent." Kounji commanded. "Roger that, I won't loiter too long." Kai replied. "Drop!!!" Kounji yelled.
Kounji pushed his AC in a forward dash off towards the rear of the plane. As he approached the ramp he leapt off and into the breathtaking Tokyo sky. The view of the city below him was wonderful even though the city itself was a bit decimated. He began to quickly pick u speed as he fell towards the Japanese Metropolis. The force of falling towards the earth at his quickening speed was slowly lifting him into the restraints that kept him in his pilot seat. He forced himself to concentrate on looking for a spot to land. After his initial look he wasn't able to spot any buildings tall enough. Then it came to him. A Taller corporate high-rise a little ways out of his optimal landing point was tall enough. Damn, The pilot dropped us off further away from the corporate district than I thought but it does bring us closer to the mission zone but that doesn't help if I smack into the water. He clicked on his boosters and through his throttle in to full power. He looked down towards the high rise building. If I'm going to make this I'm going to need to center myself above the building so can land on, but do I have enough boost to do that. Not like I have much choice do I. Kounji boosted forward towards his building of hope. He watched his hud, as his energy indicator slowly showed his energy level dropping and he still wasn't comfortably over the building. His energy was slowly ticking its way down to zero. His heart suddenly began to beat faster. If his energy ran out he would completely drain out his capacitors and they would have to slowly recharge to full before he could boost again; he would most certainly smack right into the water. Through his goggles, he could see that his core was barely over the corner of the building. With little much else he could do, he clicked his booster off.
The momentum he had created slowly moved him over the building. The building's roof loomed larger and larger in his view. After seeing that is energy capacitors didn't drain completely and had actually recharged, he clicked his boosters back on to slow his fall towards the roof. His AC was still moving faster than Kounji would have liked even with full boost. He braced himself has the AC slammed into the roof its knees bending due to the impact. As he gathered himself and readied his MG-500 machine gun his radio began blazing. "Good to see you've survived the drop rookie, but don't get to carried away there's still a whole mission ahead of you." A female voice said. Kounji took his hand of the core's throttle and slammed his fist on the console of his AC in laughter. "
Gee, can't you give me a break at least once Mia I almost died." Kounji laughed.
"No way Tiger you get no sympathy from me, you're going to have to prove yourself in this squad before I even start." Mia replied. Kounji sighed before pushing his ac towards the edge of the roof. Suddenly his radio blared again with Mia's voice. "Oh I almost forgot Kai says she's picked up units near the old JPO building, but she'll wait for you because she doesn't want all the credit. Anyway I'll contact you again once the mission is over." She said.
Kounji took a quick gulp of air before she shifted his unit in the direction of the of the JPO building. The sun's reflection off the windows made the JPO building look like as powerful of structure has it was a century before. "It shouldn't take too long to make it there. I just hope Kai doesn't decide to dominate this assignment or Roc will never let me live this one down." Kounji thought. He pushed his unit's throttle to full and shot off towards the building.
"Here's your coffee, Captain Kobayashi." A young lieutenant said.
"Thanks Lieutenant Jenkins, feel free to join me if you want" replied a tired Shina Kobayashi. She accepted the coffee with an amusing smile on her face and took a seat in an old office chair that was the remnants of the JPO chief's old office. Shina pushed back against the chair and put her booted feet on top of a nearby desk. The young captain sighed into her cup of coffee has she saw her own reflection in it. She took her face away from the steamy cup and glanced over at the lieutenant, his blond hair draping over his blue eyes has he stared into the floor of the office. His face seemed a bit on the lonesome side and he never quite took his eyes away from the same spot.
"Is something bothering you Jenkins?" Shina asked.
The lieutenant looked up at his Captain a little puzzled after stepping out of his trance. He braced his hands against the wall behind him and laid his back against the wall.
"I'm alright Captain" He smiled.
Shina stood up from her chair and ran her gloved hand through her shiny black hair. She slowly folded her arms across her chest. "I don't believe that for a moment Jenkins. You've been staring at that floor ever since you got me coffee." She yelled.
"I've been lost in my thoughts for awhile Captain, just about being here" he said slowly
"Have you been thinking about quitting the Chrome Military, Jenkins?" she replied coldly
The lieutenant shook his head and fished his hand down one of his pockets scrounging for something. After he grabbed on to what he had been searching for he smiled and pulled out an old style photograph.
"I don't have any problems with the chrome military it's just that I've missed my family, my friends, and my girlfriend Janice. They're all still in Fort Garden while I'm here in Tokyo. And it's just been getting to me ma'am". He sighed with his head down.
"Can I see your picture?" Shina asked smiling
The lieutenant nodded and handed Shina the photograph rather willingly. Shina began examining the picture her subordinate had given her. It was his him and whom Shina guessed as being his girlfriend Janice next to him in a group photo for his physical education class. The happiness she saw between the two sweethearts in the photo brought a smile to the pilot's face.
"So do you have anyone you care about back home Captain" Jenkins asked. Shina handed the picture back to her subordinate and began to look down at the floor herself.
"I'm sorry Captain, I' didn't mean to be insubordinate" he replied.
Shina looked back up at the pilot and reached her arm out to his shoulder. "No, no I don't have a problem with you asking me about personal stuff it's ok. If we're going to be in the Chrome Special Forces together we're going to need to be honest with each other." She sincerely said.
Shina turned her back to Jenkins and began to pace around the room a little bit while memories that she had suppressed since a short time ago resurfaced in her head. " Damn you, why no matter what I keep doing to forget you. Something always makes you return." She thought. She finally turned her self back around to face the Lieutenant and spoke. "There was this guy I used to go to the Chrome Mecha School with, awhile back ago. He and I used to compete against each other all the time, you know to be the best in the class. I think out of the 30 people in the class we were the only people who had enough heart for our trade, to work has hard has we did. I'll admit that I worked harder than I ever had just stay on top of him but don't let him know I said that. Anyways I heard from his friend, some girl, I forget her name now, but she told me that he was head over heels for me, for a long time." She said.
Jenkins suddenly burst into laughter. "What why are you laughing. You wanted to know about my love life". Shina asked blushing a bit
Jenkins calmed down before he looked up from his laughing and noticed Shina's face was a flustered one. "I don't mean to laugh ma'am but I don't get to see you spilling your heart out too often. Makes you seem more like a human being." Jenkins stated.
Shina put her fist to her hips and stared at her subordinate with a false angered look. "If you like Lieutenant I could go back to bossing you and the other soldiers around and reveal absolutely nothing about my self. Otherwise continue listening." She stated, working to the part.
The lieutenant nodded and sat down on desk near him.
"Anyways moving back to my story, Kounji, this being his name, and I ,dated quite a few times. We kissed, hugged, and fooled around for about a year and half together. That was back when I lived in Fort Garden. It was probably the best year and a half of my entire life." She said smiling. Shina wiped her eyes a bit has her happiness began to bring tears from her eyes. She then picked up her cold cup of coffee and finally began to take sips out of it. Very long sips
"So what went wrong Captain?" Jenkins asked sheepishly
As Shina took her lips away from the coffee mug to answer, her once dormant radio suddenly began to squawk into her hip. She pulled the clipped on radio off her belt, and held it close to her ear so she could make sense of the squawks. " Repeat, Sacred Weasel, do you copy?" The voice said.
Shina held the radio up to her lips and clicked the speaker button on. "I copy Wicked Owl" she replied.
"An unidentified AC has just penetrated the outer perimeter. I hate to interrupt your site seeing tour but we're going to need you at camp ops on the double. Oh and bring your Cores." The communication officer stated.
"Roger That" Shina sighed. The pilot clipped the radio back to her belt and looked back at the lieutenant who was now back on his feet
"I guess it's true that the enemy strikes at the most inopportune times" he smirked.
The two of them darted out the door of the office and down the hallway towards a stairway access at the end of the hallway and ran up the flights of the stairs with Shina in the lead and Jenkins not far behind her. When Shina reached the roof of the building, she immediately took off towards her core that was on the left side of the roof and a tired Jenkins ran towards his unit on the side. As Shina and Jenkins entered, their cores through their side hatches Shina could not help but to think about him. "I wonder what you're doing while I'm having all this fun?" she asked herself.
"Two, Helicopter Mt's parked on top of the far building out there, A couple of sentry guns protecting that make shift sea entrance into the JPO building. No heavy Mt's or AC's yet. Still haven't spotted anything out of the ordinary. This looks like a piece of cake so far. Who needs Kounji?" An energetic Kai Isamo said to herself. Kai recycled her HD- One's zooming scope back to it's normal resolution and began checking through her weapon systems. Her unit the Kentaro consisted off a now aging boxy electronic activity core with An-25 arms with box-like biceps and forearms, and shoulders that looked like miniature wings. The core rested on LN-1001B medium capacity legs with knees the stuck out like spikes. After switching through and checking that her FCS and shoulder mounted radar survived the drop into the metropolis, Kai felt it was time to get to work.
Kai set her sights to the nearest roof top from her position and flew towards it boosters flaring. Her boosters whined as the neared closer and closer to the building. When she had cleared safely over the edge she shut them off and her core shot hot sparks as it's feet skidded across the concrete. " I'm sorry Kentaro" Kai whispered to her machine. Suddenly her radar peeped has it picked up two units not coming from in front of her but from her right. " Crap how did I miss these guys. She yelled, beating her feet against her rotation pedals. The two units that she missed were identified by her apparently awake radar as chrome sentry helicopters. "These are those helos that don't have high heat signatures" Kai thought.
Shortly after Kai finished her thought. Both of the units were quick in firing a barrage of easily half a dozen missiles beaming directly on Kai. The screaming pack of missiles narrowed closer and closer on Kai and in a matter of moments was easily close to the roof her unit rested on. The experienced AC pilot's reflexes kicked in and she boosted to her right taking the missiles in that same direction with her. When they were almost directly on her she quickly pushed to the left and shot forward, her boosters in full blaze has the missiles ignored her and scattered past the building. Enraged that she didn't get the first shot Kai acquired locking solutions with her missile launcher on both the helicopters and let loose a small barrage of her own. Her missiles shot off from their launchers, streaked towards their targets, and due to the helicopter's lack of maneuverability, connected with them with near perfect accuracy. As the wreckage of the two helos twinkled towards the water, she leapt off of her perch and towards and an old highway overpass that headed close but not too close to the enemy testing camp.
She knew with the destruction of those sentry helicopters that her existence was surely known by now so with not much hesitation she ripped over the overpass as fast as her booster would allow her. "They know I'm here ,but boy if they knew how much trouble I was going to cause them." She thought aloud. She suddenly picked up the presence of two units coming from the direction of the JPO building. " Most likely the helicopters I spotted earlier" she hummed. She hope the cover of buildings nearby would help mask the helicopters from being able to get early shots at her. Her gamble had worked thus far. Her luck suddenly ended has soon has the overpass did. Twisted metal from the foundation of the concrete road were all that were left from the once complete highway. Beyond the broken over pass was the temporary
" Shoot, The base is still too far away and I can't possibly fly over there there's no cover. Those machine gun sentry cannon's will eat me alive. If I only I had Kounji's wannabe Karasawa rifle, then I wouldn't have to worry about those cannons. " She complained.
Suddenly she read the two units getting closer and closer to her core as they were right on top her. Kai turned Kentaro to face them. "Come on I can handle two stinking choppers." She yelled. As the units came from above, Kai expected to hear the loud rotors of helicopters to over fly her. Much to her surprise she heard the noise of a mechs joints pulling and contracting has they leapt. "Shit if those units are both AC's I'm toast." she yelled flicking back her shiny black hair.
As if on cue, two mechs leapt up on the rooftop of a building close to the overpass on Kai's right. Kai turned to face the two units, staring at her enemy with wavering confidence. One of them was medium and boasted urban camouflaged. Kai suddenly began to receive an incoming message. Her mind told her immediately it probably wasn't Kounji.
"Raven, This is Captain Kobayashi of the Chrome Military, You are to stand down for destroying Chrome Property otherwise we will be forced to take you down with lethal force." The voice of a female officer said. Kai scratched her head feeling slightly puzzled. The officer's voice as well as name struck the mercenary as very familiar. Moments later it finally clicked. "No, it can't be her. That spoiled brat Shina... Kobayashi." She yelled.
"On the contrary, Kai last time I checked you were the spoiled one, So spoiled by your parents and friends you couldn't even cut it to be in the Chrome Military." Shina replied insolently.
Kai beat her fist against the console before her.
"The path you've chosen Kai, has no future. Surrender now, so that you might face lighter prosecution. " Shina shrieked at Kai.
One of the mecha, which Kai guessed was Shina's, locked on to Kai's mech and pointed it's machine gun dead center on Kai's AC. The mecha next to it followed suit and raised its shotgun against Kai. Kai smiled before raising Shina on her radio. "Do you think any future will come from a corporation that seeks to control the people of our subterranean civilization? Do you think being a Captain in a military run by war crazed psychos will get you any where?" Kai asked solemnly. She could hear the vigilant voice of Shina's wavering a bit.
Kai grinned knowing that she had trampled over Shina's attitude but she knew one thing for sure; there was no avoiding a fight with Kobayashi now. "A two on one is not going to be in my best interest, but seeing I had to be impatient about the whole thing... " She thought to herself. Kai suddenly heard a scream coming over her radio. "I have had enough of your bs Isamo you're going down.
Suddenly the leader AC flew ahead, boosters in full blaze, towards Kai. The machine gun from Shina's AC sprayed red hot bullets at an incredible rate at Kai's unit. Before Kai could react the first volley of bullets lanced toward her machine