The Last Revolt
*Disclaimer: I do not own the Armored Core 2 series or any of the in fic place names. All other charactor names in this fic (except for those that appear in the actual game) are copywrite of me, Marr-Randall Umali. There are some charactors on loan to me in this fic, and when i start to use those names, I'll state that those specific charactors are theirs. On to the fic!
Prelude
Two Years Before
Mars Spaceport
Neutral Zone
March 21
Earth Year 221
So, this is Mars. As he looked out at the vastness of the spaceport, Trai Lear could feel a lump rise in his throat. Three months, Trai thought. If it takes me three more months, three more years, it doesn't matter! Whatever it takes! I will find you.
Angrily, he heaved his bags onto his shoulders and proceeded to walk down the ramp. Many of the passengers, all from Earth, decided to "accidentally" bump into Trai on his way down. Fighting his way through the crowd, Trai was glad he could finally get to breathe some fresh air. "You would think that after one month with these people you'd get used to the smell!" Shaking his head, Trai walked into customs.
Weighing in at 196 pounds, with a 5'7" height, Trai looked like an average Terran. His raven black hair grown down to his green eyes was parted in the middle. But underneath that Terran look, ran the blood of a skillful AC pilot.
After having his luggage checked out at customs, Trai unconsciously continued to walk out of the spaceport toward an unknown sector of the enormous city. The buildings towered him, almost like those back on old Earth. Looking around, Trai saw in the distance what looked to be a massive arena. About 3 miles left of that was a large abandoned highway. Looking to his right, Trai saw what looked to him like a movie theater. "Well, at least I know I won't go bored here." After walking a few more steps further, something bumped into him.
"Please sir!" A voice called out. The voice snapped Trai back into reality. "Sir, please! Can you spare me some extra credits?" It was a bum on the street! Still, Trai thought, a man should not go hungry. This is Mars for craps' sake! Reaching into his pocket brought a warm, sincere smile on the homeless man's dirty face. His rags quivered with excitement. He looks like he hasn't eaten in days! This should help . . . um . . . uh oh . . . Taking his hand out of his pocket, Trai then set them on the bum's shoulders.
"I'm sorry, but I don't have anything to give you." Part of what he said was true. Right now he had no credits at all. There were five thousand credits in his account, but he wasn't about to spend all of it on a bum. An idea popped into his head. "I tell you what," he said, kneeling to the man's face, "I go to a nearby bank machine and withdraw some credits for you. Then we can go spend some money on food. How does that sound?" It sounded like a good idea. Apparently, it was only a good idea to Trai. The bum looked down at his feet sadly.
"I don't want to get something to eat!" He stated angrily. Whoa! I didn't come to Mars to fight with bums on the street! "I just need the CREDITS!" saying that, the bum kicked Trai's right shin. Hard. Enough to knock the Raven from Earth down to the concrete sidewalk.
"Aw shit! That's going to leave a mark!" Trai watched as the bum ran into a nearby ally. Trai slowly stood up and rubbed his kicked shin. "Dammit!" He started to run after the bum into the ally when he heard an ear-piercing scream. The kind only achieved when someone was about to die. Flashing through the ally was an emerald spear of light that hit a nearby aircar, setting it aflame. All color drained from Trai's face. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"
As if on cue, a massive brown, insect looking bipedal thing smashed forth from the ally. Closely following it were four green quadrupedal insect like machines that blasted through nearby buildings.
"Disorders!" a voice yelled from behind. "Everyone, run!!" Swarms of people started to run hectically passed Trai, knocking him over. After regaining his composure and his footing, Trai started to run with the crowd. They all ran back to the spaceport, the opposite direction that the "Disorders" were moving at. I was told that my AC landed one hour before me. Dammit, why didn't I try to get it!? Trai then answered his question: Cause you are an IDIOT!
As most of the people piled into the spaceport entrance, Trai realized a very funny fact. It was his first day on Mars and already things were going out of control. Just as long as it doesn't turn into that battle five months ago . . .
"My AC!" he blurted out loud.
"You have an AC, too?" Asked a voice beside Trai. He turned and answered the stranger.
"Yeah. What about you?"
"I've got one. It's still in the one of the dropships that arrived from Earth." A smile worked its way onto Trai's face. My first day here and already my first battle. I love Mars!
"How about we find our AC's and kick some Disorder ass?"
"Sounds good to me." Running toward the flight terminal, Trai and his companion searched intently at the AC arrival schedule.
"I've got to go to . . . deck fifteen. What about you?" asked Trai.
"Deck three. By the way, my name's Corbin Winters. You?" Corbin asked as he extended a hand to Trai.
"Trai Lear." Trai replied, heartily grasping Corbin's extended hand. "Maybe we should save introductions for later. Right now, we've got some Disorders to kill. I'll meet you at the Disorders," Trai called out as he continued to run to deck fifteen. After what seemed like an endless hallway, Trai found the exit, of deck fifteen. Out on the concrete landing pad was a spherical dropship with its ramp extended toward the ground. Trai heard an explosion that echoed across the red plains of Mars. He turned and saw the Disorders rampaging through the city. With a smirk on his face, Trai Lear looked up at his AC. Ok, so it's the basic design. So sue me! It's all that this . . . Nell Aulter person could afford me anyway. I wonder where she was . . .
Climbing up the chain ladder to the cockpit, Trai could feel the familiar rush of adrenaline surging through his body. Inside, he quickly removed his jacket and shirt, then he donned a greyish-black vest and then finally a black and red striped helmet.
"AC Vengeance: initiate start up sequence." A number of beeps and lights responded, as if awoken from their slumber. In a rough, male voice, the computer responded.
"Trai Lear, what is it that you wish?" This was standard procedure to gain control of an AC.
Anger bled into Trai's eyes.
"I will have my revenge on the one that has stolen my soul." The lights lit up as the computer slowly acknowledged the answer to the security password. Perhaps I should tell someone about my life on Earth . . . Trai shook his head angrily. What a time to think of this! You are a Raven. She gave her life to save others. To save you. Never forget that!
"Full control is now your's, Trai Lear. May you find the one you seek."
Walking his AC out of the dropship and onto the ramp, Trai felt once again like a Raven. The Raven he once was back on Earth. Looking at his auxiliary monitor and smiled as the computer confirmed that the rifle in his right hand was fully loaded and functional as well as his missile launcher on the back right shoulder of his AC. No word yet as to where Corbin is. Looking out the plexiglass of his canopy, Trai watched as the Disorders continued todestroy the city. Better act fast or there won't be much left! "Ok, let's kick it into high gear!" Pressing on the two foot pedals on the floor, Trai's AC began to rise on twin ion jets. Pulling a lever on the top right of his confined cockpit, a slot opened up on both shoulders of his AC. "Overboost initiated," Reported the computer.
Wranggg . . . SHHHWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWW!!!
Achieving speeds of over 600 kmph, Trai caught up to, but over shot, where the Disorders were. "Oops. Better turn this baby around . . . " This time, Trai made his AC walk to the Disorders. At least I can't overshoot passed my target this way.
"Ok, let's take out the biggest one first." Looking out his view screen, Trai's heart sank. "Damn! They're all big!"Better start now. Switching to his missiles, Trai targeted the farthest, and ironically biggest green Disorder unit. With his FCS, it took a while to get a double lock. Then he heard the familiar double beep. Trai thumbed the trigger.
Two missiles flew out of the small green missile launcher on Vengeance's shoulder. The missiles flew passed the rubble and slammed hard into the Disorder, ripping open a gapping hole in it. The force of the double missile hit was enough to knock over the Disorder. The other Disorders abruptly stopped their path of destruction and turned to face Trai. Slowly. Daring him to fire again. Beads of sweat slowly dripped down Trai's face. This is CRAZY!!! He thought. I fight AC's, not these . . . these . . . things!
Angrily, Trai switched over to his rifle and began to fire wildly, hoping to cause as much confusion as possible within the limited space of the urban battle zone. He moved Vengeance forward into battle, but was knocked backwards by the full powered blasts of all five Disorder units. The blast melted through three quarters of Trai's chest armor, knocking him into a building, toppling it as he crashed to the ground, taking the wreckage with him. "Oh shit . . . "Trai stammered, "that hurt." Wrestling with the joysticks, Trai was able to raise Vengeance out of the rubble. Looking at his HUD, he saw how much AP was left on his tin can. "6722." He looked at the Disorders with contempt. His vision blurred. Trai shook his head, trying to clear his head and looked again. No . . . Not again . . . The Disorders have turned into identical AC's. A large, super heavy humanoid looking AC. An AC colored with the red and orange look of fire. Hellbringer!
"NOOO!!" Stamping hard on the foot pedals, Trai was able to rise out of the rubble, leaping over half of the Disorder fire. " I will stop you! You won't kill me like you killed her!" Blasting with the nearest "AC" with his rifle, Trai's lust for battle grew and grew. It grew so much that it overpowered all rationality. Trai locked onto the furthest AC with his missiles, and fired as soon as his FCS gave him a lock. The missiles slammed home hard, ripping open armor plating and exposing the skeletal structure of the hit torso. Trai fired into the AC relentlessly. He fought like a possessed man. The riffle rounds dug deeper into the open wound.
All of a sudden, an explosion burst forth from inside of the AC. The blast ripped armor from the left side of Trai's AC. "4964." Strafing to the left, he turned to face the return fire of the remaining four AC's. He aimed his rifle at the leg joint. Firing it relentlessly, it eventually snapped off. I will show you! Totally immobilized, all the AC could do was fire back. Trai triggered his boosters toward the wounded AC in a mad rush. Trai raised his left arm, as did his AC, and a redish-orange saber of light protruded from his left AC's arm. With a mighty yell, Trai brought it down on the cockpit of the AC, causing it to explode. Chunks of the destroyed AC smashed onto the armor of Trai's AC. One massive, sharp scrap of armor crashed into the side of the cockpit. Trai was rattled around inside. Turning his AC around to the other AC's, he was hit full force in the cockpit with laser fire from te remaining AC's. The Terran pilot inside was thrashed around within the confines of his cockpit.
"Systems damaged," reported the rough male voice of the computer. "Cannot continue combat."
"Override!" Trai yelled through clenched, bloodied teeth.
"Overriding safety shutdown is unadvisable." The computer returned. To Trai, it sounded as if the computer was taken aback when Trai undermined its authority.
"Shut up. Override the safety protocols." Trai said as he fought the remaining ACs. "Begin hot loading the generator and prepare for 'Limiter Release Override'" Turning to the AC's, Trai locked his sights on the nearest one. Beep.Beep.Beep.
"Hot loading complete." A smile worked its way onto Trai's face. Grabbing the Overboost leaver with his right hand, and the Extension leaver with his left, he stopped moving his AC long enough to get his timing perfect. Pushing both levers forward at the same time, Trai saw the generator power of his AC on the on screen HUD fill up to maximum capacity. An audible beep rang in his ears.
"Limiter Release Override: Engaged."
Instantly, Trai boosted toward the nearest AC, easily eating up the 250-meter distance from it. Despite the massive AP and armor loss, Trai didn't care. The opposing AC began to back away, firing as it did. Trai brought his laser sword to life and hacked away at the AC.Over and over until all that was left was a pile of ripped armor and skeletal frame. Trai ignited his boosters and moved backwards. Turning Vengeance around, he targeted the last two AC's. He began to fire wildly, only hitting with 25 percent of the shots. He switched to his missiles, achieved a lock and thumbed the right joystick trigger, launching the missiles. At that same moment, Both of the AC's fired at the launcher. The combined effect of the blast, knocked down Vengeance from the air. It also cooked off the ammo supply, causing the remaining missiles to explode, causing massive amounts of damage to Trai's AC.
"Dammit!" Switching to his rifle, Trai blasted into the hole opened up by his final missile volley. After twelve shots and the destruction of that AC, Trai brought his attention to the last one. "You're not getting away from me!" Raising the right arm, he pointed the rifle at the AC. Click. "No . . . not now!! DAMMIT!!!" Trai looked and saw that he had indeed run out of ammo.
"1976." Nothing left . . .
Smiling, Trai added, " . . . just the way I like it." Trai triggered his boosters forward, but after only three short meters the boosters died. What the!? Looking at his HUD, Trai found out why. I'm out of generator power. I knew it was a gamble. Now I'm just running off of emergency power. Trai flipped his rifle around so he was holding the barrel like it was a baseball bat. "You're mine!"
Trai lunged his battered AC toward his opponent at full speed. More armor shards flayed off, clearly showing the working mechanics and wires of the skeletal frame along the left arm and torso of Vengeance. "914." There's NO way I'm gonna die here! Trai thought to himself. He was now within arms distance of "Hellbringer." Grinning, Trai said out loud,"Time for the coup de grace." Fire from Hellbringer needled at Vengeance, but Trai didn't care. He was almost good as dead anyway. Might as well take one with me.
Jerking his joystick forward hard, Trai watched with glee as he saw the rifle in his hands get smashed against the cockpit of the AC. Over and over and over . . . relentlessly. When he finally snapped out of his "possession," cold dread seeped into him, almost like a thousand knives stabbing into his soul.
The city was in ruins. None of the ACs have survived.
"Unknown AC. I ask again, please respond." Trai weakly tapped at the onboard radio.
"Computer," beep, "give me the frequency of the hailing AC." Beep, beep. "Hailing AC, this is Cyxx. What do you want?" A long pause fell onto the radio frequency.
"Cyxx? This is Frostbite. By any chance is this 'Trai Lear'?"
"Yes, Frostbite. This is Trai Lear. I'll assume this is 'Corbin Winters'?" Trai heard a chuckle over the commline.
"Affirmative, Cyxx, this is Corbin Winters." Corbin looked at the smoldering mass of metal. He took out five Disorder units on his own. His first day on Mars. Five kill counts. Corbin felt a twinge of fear. This is . . . not possible . . .
"Trai, you took out five Disorder units on your own."
"No I never! They were . . . " Trai looked at the "AC's." They were Disorders. What's happening to me?! There was a long pause.
"Trai, follow me. There's an AC hangar about 2 miles from here. We can get you repaired there." Trai reluctantly complied, following Corbin's heavily armored reverse-joint AC. The AC was painted sky blue and white. On the left shoulder was a shield like insignia with a set of white teeth chomping from the top and bottom with the word "Frostbite" in ice blue. Armed with a thick laser sword generator, a multi missile system, a grenade launcher, a machine gun like weapon, and what looked like a missile interceptor, the AC did not look like it should be toyed with.
Trai looked at his controls, then again at his AP counter. "639." He stopped his AC and looked at the smoldering mass of the brown Disorder. I did this? Out of anger . . . A flash appeared before him, bringing with it a startling image . . . Hellbringer.
"I promise . . . " Trai said, a tear forming from the corner of his eye. "I will avenge you . . . " With that, Trai piloted his AC onward.
Ominously, he could hear the laughter of his eternal enemy dancing in the wind. He was an evil being. A being that even the Devil himself would be afraid of.
*Disclaimer: I do not own the Armored Core 2 series or any of the in fic place names. All other charactor names in this fic (except for those that appear in the actual game) are copywrite of me, Marr-Randall Umali. There are some charactors on loan to me in this fic, and when i start to use those names, I'll state that those specific charactors are theirs. On to the fic!
Prelude
Two Years Before
Mars Spaceport
Neutral Zone
March 21
Earth Year 221
So, this is Mars. As he looked out at the vastness of the spaceport, Trai Lear could feel a lump rise in his throat. Three months, Trai thought. If it takes me three more months, three more years, it doesn't matter! Whatever it takes! I will find you.
Angrily, he heaved his bags onto his shoulders and proceeded to walk down the ramp. Many of the passengers, all from Earth, decided to "accidentally" bump into Trai on his way down. Fighting his way through the crowd, Trai was glad he could finally get to breathe some fresh air. "You would think that after one month with these people you'd get used to the smell!" Shaking his head, Trai walked into customs.
Weighing in at 196 pounds, with a 5'7" height, Trai looked like an average Terran. His raven black hair grown down to his green eyes was parted in the middle. But underneath that Terran look, ran the blood of a skillful AC pilot.
After having his luggage checked out at customs, Trai unconsciously continued to walk out of the spaceport toward an unknown sector of the enormous city. The buildings towered him, almost like those back on old Earth. Looking around, Trai saw in the distance what looked to be a massive arena. About 3 miles left of that was a large abandoned highway. Looking to his right, Trai saw what looked to him like a movie theater. "Well, at least I know I won't go bored here." After walking a few more steps further, something bumped into him.
"Please sir!" A voice called out. The voice snapped Trai back into reality. "Sir, please! Can you spare me some extra credits?" It was a bum on the street! Still, Trai thought, a man should not go hungry. This is Mars for craps' sake! Reaching into his pocket brought a warm, sincere smile on the homeless man's dirty face. His rags quivered with excitement. He looks like he hasn't eaten in days! This should help . . . um . . . uh oh . . . Taking his hand out of his pocket, Trai then set them on the bum's shoulders.
"I'm sorry, but I don't have anything to give you." Part of what he said was true. Right now he had no credits at all. There were five thousand credits in his account, but he wasn't about to spend all of it on a bum. An idea popped into his head. "I tell you what," he said, kneeling to the man's face, "I go to a nearby bank machine and withdraw some credits for you. Then we can go spend some money on food. How does that sound?" It sounded like a good idea. Apparently, it was only a good idea to Trai. The bum looked down at his feet sadly.
"I don't want to get something to eat!" He stated angrily. Whoa! I didn't come to Mars to fight with bums on the street! "I just need the CREDITS!" saying that, the bum kicked Trai's right shin. Hard. Enough to knock the Raven from Earth down to the concrete sidewalk.
"Aw shit! That's going to leave a mark!" Trai watched as the bum ran into a nearby ally. Trai slowly stood up and rubbed his kicked shin. "Dammit!" He started to run after the bum into the ally when he heard an ear-piercing scream. The kind only achieved when someone was about to die. Flashing through the ally was an emerald spear of light that hit a nearby aircar, setting it aflame. All color drained from Trai's face. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!"
As if on cue, a massive brown, insect looking bipedal thing smashed forth from the ally. Closely following it were four green quadrupedal insect like machines that blasted through nearby buildings.
"Disorders!" a voice yelled from behind. "Everyone, run!!" Swarms of people started to run hectically passed Trai, knocking him over. After regaining his composure and his footing, Trai started to run with the crowd. They all ran back to the spaceport, the opposite direction that the "Disorders" were moving at. I was told that my AC landed one hour before me. Dammit, why didn't I try to get it!? Trai then answered his question: Cause you are an IDIOT!
As most of the people piled into the spaceport entrance, Trai realized a very funny fact. It was his first day on Mars and already things were going out of control. Just as long as it doesn't turn into that battle five months ago . . .
"My AC!" he blurted out loud.
"You have an AC, too?" Asked a voice beside Trai. He turned and answered the stranger.
"Yeah. What about you?"
"I've got one. It's still in the one of the dropships that arrived from Earth." A smile worked its way onto Trai's face. My first day here and already my first battle. I love Mars!
"How about we find our AC's and kick some Disorder ass?"
"Sounds good to me." Running toward the flight terminal, Trai and his companion searched intently at the AC arrival schedule.
"I've got to go to . . . deck fifteen. What about you?" asked Trai.
"Deck three. By the way, my name's Corbin Winters. You?" Corbin asked as he extended a hand to Trai.
"Trai Lear." Trai replied, heartily grasping Corbin's extended hand. "Maybe we should save introductions for later. Right now, we've got some Disorders to kill. I'll meet you at the Disorders," Trai called out as he continued to run to deck fifteen. After what seemed like an endless hallway, Trai found the exit, of deck fifteen. Out on the concrete landing pad was a spherical dropship with its ramp extended toward the ground. Trai heard an explosion that echoed across the red plains of Mars. He turned and saw the Disorders rampaging through the city. With a smirk on his face, Trai Lear looked up at his AC. Ok, so it's the basic design. So sue me! It's all that this . . . Nell Aulter person could afford me anyway. I wonder where she was . . .
Climbing up the chain ladder to the cockpit, Trai could feel the familiar rush of adrenaline surging through his body. Inside, he quickly removed his jacket and shirt, then he donned a greyish-black vest and then finally a black and red striped helmet.
"AC Vengeance: initiate start up sequence." A number of beeps and lights responded, as if awoken from their slumber. In a rough, male voice, the computer responded.
"Trai Lear, what is it that you wish?" This was standard procedure to gain control of an AC.
Anger bled into Trai's eyes.
"I will have my revenge on the one that has stolen my soul." The lights lit up as the computer slowly acknowledged the answer to the security password. Perhaps I should tell someone about my life on Earth . . . Trai shook his head angrily. What a time to think of this! You are a Raven. She gave her life to save others. To save you. Never forget that!
"Full control is now your's, Trai Lear. May you find the one you seek."
Walking his AC out of the dropship and onto the ramp, Trai felt once again like a Raven. The Raven he once was back on Earth. Looking at his auxiliary monitor and smiled as the computer confirmed that the rifle in his right hand was fully loaded and functional as well as his missile launcher on the back right shoulder of his AC. No word yet as to where Corbin is. Looking out the plexiglass of his canopy, Trai watched as the Disorders continued todestroy the city. Better act fast or there won't be much left! "Ok, let's kick it into high gear!" Pressing on the two foot pedals on the floor, Trai's AC began to rise on twin ion jets. Pulling a lever on the top right of his confined cockpit, a slot opened up on both shoulders of his AC. "Overboost initiated," Reported the computer.
Wranggg . . . SHHHWWWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWW!!!
Achieving speeds of over 600 kmph, Trai caught up to, but over shot, where the Disorders were. "Oops. Better turn this baby around . . . " This time, Trai made his AC walk to the Disorders. At least I can't overshoot passed my target this way.
"Ok, let's take out the biggest one first." Looking out his view screen, Trai's heart sank. "Damn! They're all big!"Better start now. Switching to his missiles, Trai targeted the farthest, and ironically biggest green Disorder unit. With his FCS, it took a while to get a double lock. Then he heard the familiar double beep. Trai thumbed the trigger.
Two missiles flew out of the small green missile launcher on Vengeance's shoulder. The missiles flew passed the rubble and slammed hard into the Disorder, ripping open a gapping hole in it. The force of the double missile hit was enough to knock over the Disorder. The other Disorders abruptly stopped their path of destruction and turned to face Trai. Slowly. Daring him to fire again. Beads of sweat slowly dripped down Trai's face. This is CRAZY!!! He thought. I fight AC's, not these . . . these . . . things!
Angrily, Trai switched over to his rifle and began to fire wildly, hoping to cause as much confusion as possible within the limited space of the urban battle zone. He moved Vengeance forward into battle, but was knocked backwards by the full powered blasts of all five Disorder units. The blast melted through three quarters of Trai's chest armor, knocking him into a building, toppling it as he crashed to the ground, taking the wreckage with him. "Oh shit . . . "Trai stammered, "that hurt." Wrestling with the joysticks, Trai was able to raise Vengeance out of the rubble. Looking at his HUD, he saw how much AP was left on his tin can. "6722." He looked at the Disorders with contempt. His vision blurred. Trai shook his head, trying to clear his head and looked again. No . . . Not again . . . The Disorders have turned into identical AC's. A large, super heavy humanoid looking AC. An AC colored with the red and orange look of fire. Hellbringer!
"NOOO!!" Stamping hard on the foot pedals, Trai was able to rise out of the rubble, leaping over half of the Disorder fire. " I will stop you! You won't kill me like you killed her!" Blasting with the nearest "AC" with his rifle, Trai's lust for battle grew and grew. It grew so much that it overpowered all rationality. Trai locked onto the furthest AC with his missiles, and fired as soon as his FCS gave him a lock. The missiles slammed home hard, ripping open armor plating and exposing the skeletal structure of the hit torso. Trai fired into the AC relentlessly. He fought like a possessed man. The riffle rounds dug deeper into the open wound.
All of a sudden, an explosion burst forth from inside of the AC. The blast ripped armor from the left side of Trai's AC. "4964." Strafing to the left, he turned to face the return fire of the remaining four AC's. He aimed his rifle at the leg joint. Firing it relentlessly, it eventually snapped off. I will show you! Totally immobilized, all the AC could do was fire back. Trai triggered his boosters toward the wounded AC in a mad rush. Trai raised his left arm, as did his AC, and a redish-orange saber of light protruded from his left AC's arm. With a mighty yell, Trai brought it down on the cockpit of the AC, causing it to explode. Chunks of the destroyed AC smashed onto the armor of Trai's AC. One massive, sharp scrap of armor crashed into the side of the cockpit. Trai was rattled around inside. Turning his AC around to the other AC's, he was hit full force in the cockpit with laser fire from te remaining AC's. The Terran pilot inside was thrashed around within the confines of his cockpit.
"Systems damaged," reported the rough male voice of the computer. "Cannot continue combat."
"Override!" Trai yelled through clenched, bloodied teeth.
"Overriding safety shutdown is unadvisable." The computer returned. To Trai, it sounded as if the computer was taken aback when Trai undermined its authority.
"Shut up. Override the safety protocols." Trai said as he fought the remaining ACs. "Begin hot loading the generator and prepare for 'Limiter Release Override'" Turning to the AC's, Trai locked his sights on the nearest one. Beep.Beep.Beep.
"Hot loading complete." A smile worked its way onto Trai's face. Grabbing the Overboost leaver with his right hand, and the Extension leaver with his left, he stopped moving his AC long enough to get his timing perfect. Pushing both levers forward at the same time, Trai saw the generator power of his AC on the on screen HUD fill up to maximum capacity. An audible beep rang in his ears.
"Limiter Release Override: Engaged."
Instantly, Trai boosted toward the nearest AC, easily eating up the 250-meter distance from it. Despite the massive AP and armor loss, Trai didn't care. The opposing AC began to back away, firing as it did. Trai brought his laser sword to life and hacked away at the AC.Over and over until all that was left was a pile of ripped armor and skeletal frame. Trai ignited his boosters and moved backwards. Turning Vengeance around, he targeted the last two AC's. He began to fire wildly, only hitting with 25 percent of the shots. He switched to his missiles, achieved a lock and thumbed the right joystick trigger, launching the missiles. At that same moment, Both of the AC's fired at the launcher. The combined effect of the blast, knocked down Vengeance from the air. It also cooked off the ammo supply, causing the remaining missiles to explode, causing massive amounts of damage to Trai's AC.
"Dammit!" Switching to his rifle, Trai blasted into the hole opened up by his final missile volley. After twelve shots and the destruction of that AC, Trai brought his attention to the last one. "You're not getting away from me!" Raising the right arm, he pointed the rifle at the AC. Click. "No . . . not now!! DAMMIT!!!" Trai looked and saw that he had indeed run out of ammo.
"1976." Nothing left . . .
Smiling, Trai added, " . . . just the way I like it." Trai triggered his boosters forward, but after only three short meters the boosters died. What the!? Looking at his HUD, Trai found out why. I'm out of generator power. I knew it was a gamble. Now I'm just running off of emergency power. Trai flipped his rifle around so he was holding the barrel like it was a baseball bat. "You're mine!"
Trai lunged his battered AC toward his opponent at full speed. More armor shards flayed off, clearly showing the working mechanics and wires of the skeletal frame along the left arm and torso of Vengeance. "914." There's NO way I'm gonna die here! Trai thought to himself. He was now within arms distance of "Hellbringer." Grinning, Trai said out loud,"Time for the coup de grace." Fire from Hellbringer needled at Vengeance, but Trai didn't care. He was almost good as dead anyway. Might as well take one with me.
Jerking his joystick forward hard, Trai watched with glee as he saw the rifle in his hands get smashed against the cockpit of the AC. Over and over and over . . . relentlessly. When he finally snapped out of his "possession," cold dread seeped into him, almost like a thousand knives stabbing into his soul.
The city was in ruins. None of the ACs have survived.
"Unknown AC. I ask again, please respond." Trai weakly tapped at the onboard radio.
"Computer," beep, "give me the frequency of the hailing AC." Beep, beep. "Hailing AC, this is Cyxx. What do you want?" A long pause fell onto the radio frequency.
"Cyxx? This is Frostbite. By any chance is this 'Trai Lear'?"
"Yes, Frostbite. This is Trai Lear. I'll assume this is 'Corbin Winters'?" Trai heard a chuckle over the commline.
"Affirmative, Cyxx, this is Corbin Winters." Corbin looked at the smoldering mass of metal. He took out five Disorder units on his own. His first day on Mars. Five kill counts. Corbin felt a twinge of fear. This is . . . not possible . . .
"Trai, you took out five Disorder units on your own."
"No I never! They were . . . " Trai looked at the "AC's." They were Disorders. What's happening to me?! There was a long pause.
"Trai, follow me. There's an AC hangar about 2 miles from here. We can get you repaired there." Trai reluctantly complied, following Corbin's heavily armored reverse-joint AC. The AC was painted sky blue and white. On the left shoulder was a shield like insignia with a set of white teeth chomping from the top and bottom with the word "Frostbite" in ice blue. Armed with a thick laser sword generator, a multi missile system, a grenade launcher, a machine gun like weapon, and what looked like a missile interceptor, the AC did not look like it should be toyed with.
Trai looked at his controls, then again at his AP counter. "639." He stopped his AC and looked at the smoldering mass of the brown Disorder. I did this? Out of anger . . . A flash appeared before him, bringing with it a startling image . . . Hellbringer.
"I promise . . . " Trai said, a tear forming from the corner of his eye. "I will avenge you . . . " With that, Trai piloted his AC onward.
Ominously, he could hear the laughter of his eternal enemy dancing in the wind. He was an evil being. A being that even the Devil himself would be afraid of.