Armored Core For Answer: The Mercenary's Legacy
Hey folks, it's me... Back with a new story, and not one on my ideas list too! O-o **Shock horror**...
Okay, here's the usual stuff, theme song and disclaimer and all that... Oh, and watch for language too.
Chapter Theme Song: /watch?v=V84STSWVp3g (Amazing Grace - Bagpipes)
Disclaimer: I don't pretend to own Armored Core, but I wish I did... It'd save me typing out a disclaimer, you know?
Chapter One: The Beginning of the End of the Life of Old
From hazy shadows, the figure spoke to the camera set up in front of them... The voice was soft and female, but had a weary edge to it, like the speaker had grown tired of something...
"It all started at Exavil... Reyleonard's Headquarters in Canada... Anatolia's Mercenary had taken up the task of obliterating the rising company alone, while Joshua O'Brian, the mercenary's friend and rival, took down Akvavit. Exavil was the beginning of the end for me, an ending of my life and the rebirth into a new world. This is my tale, the tale of a Collard Mercenary who stands ready to go and die at Arteria Cranium along with Wynn D. Fanchon, my friend and ally, and how it all started for me..."
(Recording Begins...)
DEETDEETDEETDEETDEETDEETDEET!!!
The early-warning alarm blazed out, alerting all the staff and visitors at Exavil that trouble was on the way. Hurriedly, defence forces were mobilised and all none-staff were moved to the cafeteria in preparation for the coming attack. In the middle of the group, a six-year old girl huddled with her parents and friends. From there, the group could hear the muttered rumours that others by the doors had heard and passed on.
"They say it's Anatolia's Lynx, the pilot of the NEXT "Howling Moon"!"
"That's crazy! Doesn't that pilot use a Reyleonard 03-Aaliyah? Why are they attacking the company that made their NEXT?!?"
"I heard Aspina's guy, O'Brian is headed after Akvavit now, so maybe those two are trying to bring down two companies and create an ending to the war."
"Don't be stupid, it couldn't be Anatolia's Lynx or Aspina's White Glint. It must be copycats trying to use those two's machines to discredit them."
Rumours like that were abundant, some saying the truth; It was in fact Anatolia's Lynx, Conrad Burns. The man who broke the Queen's Lance in two, taking down The Bernard and Felix Foundation and triggering the war... The Lynx kills he had were staggering... Sherring and his NEXT, Critique, Mary Shelly and Prometheus, Anjou and Orleans, Zanni and Roughcut, P. Dam and Hilarios, Unseel and Redcap, Sahdana and Attman... Not even Berloiz and Supplice, the number one Lynx was a match for the Lynx... Rumour had it, that Noblesse Oblige and Null, Leonhardt and Mido Auriel, had gone down against Berloiz' squad mere days before... And that Conrad had come in just after wards and taken down Zanni, Unseel, P. Dam, Sahdana and Berloiz in one fell swoop...The Numbers one, two, twelve, fifteen and twenty-one ranked Lynx in one go. Before then, it had been unthinkable, but now? It was thought of and carried out... And now, Conrad was headed to Exavil to finish off the company.
Looking up to her parents, the little girl looked close to tears, her long, brown fringe not even helping to cover that fact...
"I'm scared mama... Papa... What's going to happen to us?"
"Hush now Rose... It'll be alright, I promise..."
Nodding at her father, the girl, Rose still looked worried and scared. As the seconds ticked off and the approaching Lynx grew nearer, the soldiers outside the room grew more agitated as more orders came in.
"You want us to do what?!? But sir, that's unethical and dirty! Yes... But, sir... Yes... I understand... As you order, sir..."
Sighing, the soldiers entered the room. Spotting what they were ordered to use in the middle of the room, the men walked with heavy hearts to Rose, her parents and her friends.
"We need you to come with us please."
The anonymous full-face helmets the soldiers wore made it impossible for Rose to see their expressions, which was lucky, because it was only the first step... As the group left the room, the soldiers escorted them towards one of the roof exits. Holding onto her mother's hand with one hand, the little girl with the long brown hair tugged on one of the soldier's legs with her free hand.
"Excuse me mister... Where are we going?"
"..."
The soldier had no answer for that, he couldn't bring himself to tell the little girl the truth of the matter. As they emerged onto the roof, several other soldiers quickly restrained the civilians except for Rose, who was grabbed by two others.
"Mama! Papa!"
It was quick, the soldiers separated the girl from her parent's sight and kept hold of her.
"Miss, I'm sorry, but these are orders from the company's CEO..."
The soldier's following words were drowned out by the roar of thrusters and an explosion at one of the pillars that held up Exavil's roof... Conrad Burns had arrived... Immediately, external speaks and a large view screen crackled into life. From the speakers came the voice of Reyleonard's CEO, but the screen didn't show Chairman Rayleonard IV, it showed Rose and the other hostages...
"Attention Anatolia Lynx. Retreat from Exavil now, or these hostages will die. There are also over two hundred others in the building that can be executed if you continue this attack... And just to keep things interesting –"
At this point, the camera focused on the terrified face of Rose...
"- This little girl will be doing the killing, however unwillingly. This will be your only warning, ignore it at your peril."
The CEO's voiced then vanished in another haze of static, but the screen remained on... And naturally, to Conrad, the mission came first... Locking onto the Pillars, he unleashed hell with the 07-Moonlight laser blade he had taken from Anjou after he had beaten her...
When half of the pillars were gone, and the large, fang-like roof of Exavil shuddered under its weight below the hostages, one of the soldiers forced a gun into Rose's grip and held it there, breaking two of the girl's fingers and most of her hand in the process with his rough treatment. Dragging her forwards to face her friends and family, the man, the only one who was deriving pleasure from the orders, forced her to pull the trigger. The gun's report was loud enough to scare Rose almost as much as the sight of her best friend falling backwards with blood spraying out from her forehead.
"That's one down, four other little piggies to go, little girl..."
The voice of the brown-haired girl was lost in the sound of sobs and the sound of another explosion from a pillar... That meant another one of the hostages had to die... The man yanked Rose around to face another of her friends, and one again forced her finger to pull the trigger... Another strangled sob from Rose, as a second friend pitched backwards off the roof... Then one more explosion... And one more friend... That left Rose and her parents on the roof with the soldiers... A sudden explosion totalled all but one pillar, which meant one thing...
"Say goodbye to mommy and daddy now, little girl..."
Futilely, Rose struggled to free her hand from the man's grip, but failed as the man's fingers squeezed her own round the trigger twice more, killing her parents.
"And that leaves one little girl..."
Callously throwing her to the floor, the man stood over the terrified and shell-shocked little girl. Laughing psychotically as the last pillar was destroyed, the man kicked the girl from the roof and shot her three times as she fell; Once in the right lung, liver and stomach... Right before the collapsing roof fell from under him and he fell to his own death...
"Ma...ma... Pa...pa... Mich...elle... Amy... Hay...ley... Char...lotte..."
With her ruined hand held outstretched in front of her, Rose watched Exavil fall as she plummeted towards the ground and certain death below... That was, if the bleeding didn't kill her first... Thankfully, it was neither, and instead of solid ground or water, she landed in a metal hand; The hand of the NEXT "Howling Moon"... As if in penitence for not being able to save any of the other hostages, due to his need to complete the mission, Conrad had caught the girl as she fell.
As consciousness finally faded from Rose's mind, Conrad had set the NEXT on the ground, and left the Armored Core along with a medical kit. Performing emergency triage to bind the pitiful-looking girl's bullet wounds and stabilize her enough to get her Anatolia, Conrad headed off again, this time, with Rose resting on his lap...
End of Chapter One. Find out what happens to Rose in the next chapter of ACFA: TML.
Please Read and Review. Critique about my writing style is not appreciated, so please don't do it. Pointing out things I could have done better is okay, but please note this; Chapter Two will bring the Howling Moon and Conrad Burns into more detail. That is all.