Team Tau
By Race Baj
I do not own the Armored Core series.
Chapter 1: Forming the Tau
Gavin Leag, a young adult, with deep brown hair, stepped into the dark, musty smelling room. A young man sat hunched over his desk, a cigarette propped in his mouth. Several folders were piled up on his desk, and he seemed like he hadn't slept in a while. He was a tall looking man with light blond hair. He was working on a folder that said staff applications. He seemed nervous and looked up.
"Yes?" The man asked, a slight tone of nervousness in his voice.
"My name is Gavin Leag, I am here for the application for a AC pilot." Gavin replied.
"And you have seen the ad? The one that says AC required?" The man said raising his eye brown in surprise.
"I have one." Gavin answered.
"That's uncommon..." The man was skeptical.
"Not if you used to be a officer of AvSEC." The man's eyes went wide. AvSEC stood for Avon Sector, a AC piloting law enforcement. While it was often said they committed great crimes themselves, they still held a high level of respect.
"It is if you are as young as yourself." Most pilots that retired or had done great missions for AvSEC would get a AC from the company, it was well funded, but it was uncommon for someone as young as Gavin to have completed a great mission to get his own AC.
"I found a way to avoid AvSEC officials..." Gavin explained, with a seriousness in his voice. This was big news to The man, if Gavin was a 'grunt' it may give unwanted attention to his organization. A 'grunt' was the title to a soldier who had stolen a AC from AvSEC, because of their hypocrisy, and sought to go into business himself. AvSEC was known to kill the 'grunts' but for ones that they were having trouble getting, they would send as much to 3 ACs after them. If they brought that to attack the grunt, going through his organization wasn't a problem.
"How long ago to you become a 'grunt'?" A smile crept upon Gavin's lips, which was surprising, normally the term 'grunt' angered a former AvSEC member.
"About 2 years." Gavin's honesty was questionable after that, he would either have to be very lucky, or very good.
"Are... are you serious?" The man felt he should have used more tact but he blurted it out. Gavin gave a low chuckle at the comment.
"Yes, I am. So do I have the job?" The man was in a tight situation. Without a pilot, which he had no success in getting, the organization would cave, but with this pilot, he might get unwanted AvSEC attention.
"Yeah sure, but at the first sign of AvSEC attackers, you leave here!" The man added the last part with sternness in his voice.
"Well then if that's the case you won't have me for very long." Gavin smiled as he held his hand out.
"Fine, the name is Asher." The man said shaking Gavin's hand. "You're a life saver."
"I can see that." Gavin replied motioning to all the papers on the desk.
"I am the owner of this team, quite frankly we are in desperate times, we are on the verge of bankruptcy!"
"How long will it take you to get a mission ready?"
"Well we can put out one to Old Vega city, not many Ravens take missions there."
"Good, I will need to be shown where I can bring my Raven."
"Mathias, one of our repair crews, will drive you there, he will be in the hanger.
Gavin hopped into the jeep, it was the standard black and green transport vehicle, common in those areas. A short, man with dark brown hair was sitting in the drivers place, and gunned the engine.
"I'm Mathias." He explained to Gavin. "Where are we headed?"
"About 20 minute drive from here, in hanger B-21."
"Alright." They drove off, quiet for awhile, Mathias didn't seem talkative and Gavin decided to respect that and just sat there. The ride was pretty uneventful, they were almost there, then Gavin noticed a AvSEC van right behind them! One of the men leaned his head out the window and he was holding a pistol. Gavin immediate opened the door to the transport and jumped out.
"Go!" Gavin shouted to Mathias, who hung a U-Turn and shot past the AvSEC van. A few shots ran out as the man in the car tried to pick off Gavin but he missed. Gavin spotted an abandoned building and ran to it. He heard the van pull up and a few people jump out. He found a flight of stairs and was about to go up them when he noticed a door on them. He opened it up and saw a small storage space in it.
Three of the men from the van got up, each had pistols. They slowly walked into the building, guns pointing at any place Gavin might jump them.
"Remember, shoot first, find out if its him later." One of them warned.
"Ok, lets split up." Each of them checked different rooms, and one of them found a staircase. He was about to go up it, when he noticed there was a room below the stairs, with a light coming from it. The man grinned and held out his gun as he slowly went to the door. He flung it under just as a thump was heard above him. The floor fell through and a hail of dust, wood planks, and Gavin fell down on the soldiers head. Gavin grinned and picked up the pistol the man had been carrying, then ran off into another room.
The thud was heard through the entire house, and the two AvSEC agents ran into the room of its source. They ran up to the lump of dust wood, and the third AvSEC agent's body, one of the men checked his pulse and sighed. While he was still bent over, a shot rang out, and he fell forward as blood trickled from just above his left eye. The final living agent was taken off guard, and turned to the source of the shot, and started firing wildly.
Gavin had just taken out the second member of AvSEC following him, leaving one remaining when the soldier started firing at the doorway Gavin had been in moments before. He cursed at himself, he had hoped that the other guy hadn't been there at the time. He looked at his surroundings, he was in a kitchen, various pots were stacked on a shelf, and normal things to be found in a kitchen, like a stove or sink, were lined up against the far wall. Gavin frantically looked for something to help him, when he spotted a cupboard on the wall. It wasn't fixed there, but hanging. He grabbed it off the wall, but it was very heavy. He tipped it on its side and dishes slid out, making a large crash, but at the same time making the cupboard 20 pounds lighter. Gavin knew he alerted the other agent so he ran to a spot beside the door. The AvSEC agent ran in and started firing his pistol into the open area, hoping to hit Gavin, knowing that the boy wouldn't dare return fire unless in cover. However Gavin was right beside him, and with a powerful thrust, smashed the cupboard into the AvSEC agent's head. The cupboard splintered and fell to pieces on impact, and the agent was thrown to the side. Gavin whipped out his pistol and planted a shot into the man, making sure there would be no one to report what had happened.
Gavin walked outside the house, and saw the van still there. He hoped no one was still in but the engine fired up. The van spun around to face him and it barreled towards. Gavin leaped out of the way into a roll, as the Van smashed through the front of the building. The old beaten up house collapsed, and much of the house fell onto the van, Gavin laughed at the crew's stupidity. However the back door of the van swung open, and Gavin began to worry. The van had a mounted machine gun. Gavin shot his pistol wildly at the van as he ran at full speed. The gun started firing, mostly hitting the ground, kicking up dust everywhere. Gavin had ran to the rubble of the house, positioning himself behind the van. He looked at the trench coat he wore, it had a bullet hole in it that had just missed him. He had one hope, he had to get to his AC. He began to run toward the hanger in the distance. The van pulled around the house and was now following him in reverse, and the machine gun was starting up. Gavin leaped toward the van but to the side. The van was going fast and passed right by him, and as it did, Gavin pumped off a shot at the tires. The satisfying pop was heard and the van had begun to try to turn towards him, they braked and ended up flipping. The van slid and smashed into a tree. Gavin crouched and held out his pistol. A man popped his head out of the window of the driver's seat and held out his pistol. He started shooting but his aim was no where near Gavin. The man was obviously hurt and shaken up from the accident and Gavin felt sorry as he pulled the trigger. The shot rang out and the man fell forward, half sticking out of the car, in a lifeless form.
Gavin approached the car, still wary of the second agent that could be in. He opened the door and a man was lying, not dead but unconscious. He shot his gun in the darkness and the man became void of his life, gasping and coughing blood as he died. Gavin sighed, out of all the cruddy duties in his life, killing a man before his eyes was the worst. There was a big different between blowing up a AC or a MT, and actually seeing the man as you shoot him. Gavin was about to leave when he heard a voice.
"Come in AvSEC agents, do you copy?" The voice had come from the dashboard. Gavin realized the van's radio transmitter still worked. Gavin checked the man he had just killed's pockets, he found the I.D. for the person.
"I copy, this is Kyle Falk." Gavin answered picking up the receiver and talking into it.
"Have you executed the traitor, Leag?"
"... affirmative, Gavin Leag is dead."
"Good, head back to base."
"Roger." Gavin turned off the radio, he placed the bodies so it looked like they had crashed after shooting Gavin. He went back to the house, dragged one of the other Agents from the rubble of the house, gave him some of his own identification and made it look like he had been shot. Gavin then went on, to go retrieve his mech.
The mech Meblanc, with its pilot Gavin Leag, flew into the hanger at the Tau organization's base. The suit was a tall one, with brow shoulders and much of the detail was it. The arms were a mixture of green and brown, while there was some red highlights. The suit had a large grey bazooka weapon on its right arm. On its left it had a standard saber part. The back had a large laser weapon, and a standard Radar part. The suit touched down and Gavin leaped out onto a ladder, and made his way down.
"It's a nice AC." Mathias commented and Gavin reached the ground.
"Thanks, I had to make a lot of the modifications myself, AvSEC doesn't exactly give you a wide choice of parts."
"You ok? When those goons showed up I though you weren't going to be coming back."
"I'm alright, the thing needs a tune up though, it hasn't been used for three months aside of tonight."
"I'll get my crew working on it, but you better see Asher, he isn't to happy about AvSEC finding you so quickly."
"I figured he wouldn't." Gavin and Mathias shook hands and Gavin went to find Asher's office.
Asher was furious. "You idiot!" he shouted. "You could have gotten Mathias killed, I'm surprised you didn't get yourself full of lead. And, not only that, they already found out your working for me!
"Actually." Replied Gavin, "They are totally unaware I am even looking for work."
"Then how did they find you!?!"
"They found the location of my AC, that is all."
"They can trace it! Those agents at least must have followed the suit!"
"Not possible."
"Listen you maniac, your probably good to survive them for two years, but your not the ultimate stealth warrior!"
"Yes sir." Gavin's response was very calm.
"Then they would have seen you."
"Dead men can't see sir."
"Pardon?"
"I killed the five agents."
"That isn't possible." Asher was taken aback by the claim.
"Actually sir it is, above all that, AvSEC now thinks that I am dead."
"They what?"
"They were informed that I had been killed."
"And how can you be sure of this?"
"I informed them."
"Don't be playing mind games, I am losing my patience!"
"Sir these aren't wild claims, I killed the agents, stole their I.D. and radioed the AvSEC headquarters informing them I was dead."
"How could you kill five AvSEC agents?"
"Sir, these were not well trained troops. They were simply five expendable AvSEC members, told to plant a few bombs on my AC. When they spotted me they radioed, said they saw me, and figured killing me would give them easy street. It wasn't hard to take them out."
"I am impressed Leag, you have far went past my expectations. You are dismissed."
Gavin once again entered the hanger. The large room held many parts and equipment, but nothing really expensive. Gavin looked around and saw Mathias and walked over.
"Asher give you a chewing out?"
"Yeah, but he stopped when he realized that more then anything that encounter got the AvSEC off me back."
"Alright, well good luck." Gavin turned to walk away but he heard Mathias call him.
"And one more thing."
"Yes?"
"Welcome... to the Tau."
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Ok, now recover from the blinding stars that you just saw, because this is...
THE AUTHORS SPACE!
Yay.
The Author's space is where I will give extra information on... stuff.
Meblanc: Yeah, dumb name for the suit, I know. I would give you the list of parts (all of them were from AC2: AA) but I don't have the game therefore I can't tell you (also its not a possible AC because to put my equipment on I needed a Tank leg unit, but Meblanc in this has regular legs.) If anyone knows of a site with a list of all the parts (pictures or good description need to go along with it) that would help. But I will give you a description of all his weapons.
-Arm R: It's a Bazooka part as described earlier, I think there is only one Bazooka type thing but if it helps its ammo is 40 o.O
-Arm L: Ok, this I can't describe... the end sorta looks like it should be a missile launcher at the tip of it, but that doesn't help either o.O (it's a sword part not shield)
Back L: It's the standard radar part that the AC comes with, I was to lazy to change it to anything else.
Back R: Its this sweet weapon that fires a laser pulse, and it has this sweet flipping motion over the AC's shoulder when you use it
Also if I ever call the AC a suit in my fics, sorry, I am a big GW fan to.
--Characters and odd assorted stuff--
Ok you met Three characters: Mathias, Gavin, and Asher.
-Asher: The owner of the Tau Team. He wanted to be a Raven pilot but a deformity in his hand stopped him (its always the deformity isn't it?)
Asher is good hearted, but tends to panic when things go wrong.
-Gavin: He is a ex member of AvSEC. When AvSEC wanted his group to destroy a apartment building to kill a terrorist, he found out that the terrorist wasn't even there, and that the agent that ordered him to do it, has insurance on his things in a apartment he owned in the building, Gavin was disgusted and quit. However he made a huge dent in AvSEC when he blew up a factory as he left, since then he has been avoiding them.
Gavin is friendly, which is off considering his past. He thinks quick, but doesn't always plan out the best strategy (as could be seen when he emptied the cupboard and gave away his location in this chapter)
-Mathias: He is a mechanic for Tau. He is a good friend of Gavin, and a experienced foot soldier, giving him great ability in hand to hand combat, and shootouts.
Mathias is good natured, and has a high respect for most people. However he is often to trusting.
Tau: The Tau is Asher's Organization. It is a Mercenary for hire team, that sponsors the Raven Meblanc. The organization is currently failing, as it had very little funds to begin
with.
AvSEC: Avon Sector law enforcement, a brutal group who seems to commit more crimes then they stop. Even other law enforcement teams fear them. They are well funded so they are able to use ACs to 'protect the law' but most people hate the organization anyway.
I think I covered everything. As a final note I want to say that I have only played AC1: Master of Arena, and AC2: Another Age, so I don't' know all that much. I don't have the games either, so I don't know much off memory. So no flames please.
Anyway R/R and thanks.