Disclaimer: See initial chapter

-I-

Name - Elijah

AC - Havoc

History - A young Raven that was a survivor of the 'Heavenfall' calamity. Formerly part of a clan of Ravens known as 'Nightwatch' and a trio known as the 'Hands of God'. Currently under Alliance. Shows considerable skill and talent and may be considered a Dominant, however speculation on this is premature.

Assigned Operator - Abel Durant

-"Alright, fledgling. Here's your mission..."-

- "Your objective is the military base, Camp Fortherd. This military instillation is poorly defended, no match for a Raven. However, you are put under a time limit and your pay will be based on the results of how much you destroy within that limit." -

- "And that's about it. It's a basic attack run; simple enough, even for you." -

The streets of the military base were quiet, with the exception of the stomping of the MTs, as well as the carrying on of the soldiers. Yet each one of them was armed with a rifle or weapon of some sort. Word had reached of a possible attack and all were ready for it. Trucks were parked in designated areas, ready with extra ammunition. There were even reinforcement choppers on standby outside of the base just in case. All in all, whatever form the attack came in, they would be ready for it.

Except...

An explosion soon erupted in the midst of base as one of the MT's blew apart. This caused the alarms of the base to ring out and all the MTs began to move in toward the wreckage. But as one neared the site, it too was destroyed by a hail of gunfire. As the second MT burned, the source of the fire strode into and through the burning wreckage; a single eye beaming through the smoke.

"What the...? It's a Raven!"

It was a middleweight AC, humanoid in form and colored red with grey stripes. Its hands were equipped with machine guns, each a different type, but both producing the same rain of destruction as it took aim of a third MT and shot it into oblivion. Within the machine, Havoc II, Elijah took a brief gaze at his radar. There were four more MTs just to the western part of the base. The boosters of Havoc flared up and the machine slid across the ground. As it did, the soldiers below were shooting at it, but the AC did even slow and continued on, ignoring them altogether.

'I don't have time to waste.'

Racing across the ground and turning sharply, Havoc caught sight of its next target a good distance away. But instead of shooting it outright, the left arm of the AC lowered and from the back of the shoulder, the long barrel of a grenade launcher unfurled. Another MT lumbered up beside the first, but Elijah merely shrugged and pressed the trigger. The cannon fired. The concussive shot flew out and impacted with the target in force. Not only that, but the resulting explosion took out the second MT as well as a few of the buildings nearby

-"Well, that was a bit much, don't you think?"-

Elijah scowled upon hearing his operator speak. It was a difficult thing to have someone watching over your mission progress. Sometimes, it felt like he was being scrutinized or tested to see if he was any good or something to that effect. It wasn't something he had to deal with before.

At least, not before Heavenfall...

Havoc continued onward, heading to the next MT which was just around the corner. But as soon as he turned, he was besieged by gunfire from the MT. A few stray shots managed to nick its armor as Havoc strafed to the side and out of its line of fire. Not wasting time, Havoc lifted its right arm and fired its machine gun. The MT was hammered immediately and it exploded soon after.

-"You let your craft get caught by an MT like that? Sloppy."-

The Raven growled aloud this time. 'Why did I get such a pain-in-the-neck operator?' Sure, he did his job well, giving him the appropriate Intel on his targets and even some suggestions on how to go about them, but did he really have to make such comments as though he was better than he was? 'If you think you can do better, you pilot the damn thing!' Even if many operators were former Ravens, they should just shut up if they were going to say crap like that.

Controlling his frustration, Elijah proceeded on to the last target, which was still a good distance away. Havoc soon began to slow down and slide along the ground, the grenade cannon being unfurled once again. Still sliding, Elijah worked quickly to aim as the MT took notice of him and began moving. But it made little difference as the lock was finished and Elijah fired, just as the cannon finished unfolding and the AC knelt to a stop. A bolt of fire later and the MT was no more.

Havoc rose up as the cannon returned to its former position on its back and the machine looked around. All the main targets had been eliminated, within a span of two minutes. 'What did you expect, with a mission like this?' It was a low rank mission. Anyone with an AC and a gun could have completed this mission. Could it even be called a mission? All he had to do was destroy everything in sight. It was just rampant destruction. It felt a bit demeaning, but he had little say on what missions he could accept.

'He would have enjoyed this mission though...'

-"Looks like you have company."-

Havoc turned about and gazed upward in the air to see a squadron of helicopters fly in approach. Spreading out in formation the chopper fired down on the lone AC. Within Havoc, Elijah found himself shaking his head. 'Are these guys serious?' The helicopters stood less of a chance against him than the MTs that he had just destroyed. Even though they had the air advantage, that meant little against a Raven.

At least this would increase his pay...

It didn't take long for the machine guns of Havoc to lift and fire on the approaching aircraft. The choppers hit by the gunfire all fell to the ground as flaming debris. Impressive was that Elijah didn't seem to be wasting any shots. His eyes simply caught on to target after target and took them down in swift procession.

Another minute later, all the choppers were decimated and Havoc stepped over what was left. The base was now completely defenseless and all the soldiers had fled for fear the Raven would do further damage and wipe them out completely. But Elijah had done plenty of damage, even walked over a couple of supply trucks on his way to his primary targets. But now, it was over

-"Okay fledgling, time's up. Not too bad a job either."-

But the Raven did nothing, but stare out at the destruction he created...

"Ha! How was that? Not too bad, huh?"

"You're off by two seconds."

"What?"

"You hesitated before and when I told you that the MTs had my data, you panicked and backed away. Therefore, you lost two seconds."

"You can't be serious."

"I'm always serious."

With a low moan, Elijah staggered down the dormitory hall and toward his room. After returning from his mission and receiving his pay, Elijah had gone to the local bar for a drink. And given his current condition, it may have been one too many. He really didn't care at the moment though. The pay he received wasn't as high as he liked. On the contrary, it was quite pathetic.

What made it worse that he didn't even have to pay much for repairs. Ammunition perhaps, but not a lot in that category. Even with that, he only was able to get a low pay of credits. He wasn't really surprised given the ease of the mission, but it was still depressing. Depressing enough for him to take one drink more than usual.

Or was it five? He'd lost count.

In any case, he was officially wasted and stumbling about the hallway. Luckily, there was no one around, so he didn't have to worry about looking like an idiot in front of someone. Not that he really cared if he did. He didn't care about much nowadays. He didn't have much nowadays. Just his AC and his skill. No family, no goals, no friends...

Not anymore anyway...

Grumbling, Elijah made his way back to his feet. He didn't survive both Silent Line and Heavenfall just to go out to a couple of drinks. Entering his room and closing the door behind him, Elijah just managed to make it to his desk seat and plop down onto it. His eyes drooped close, but it took him a bit longer to fall asleep. Even though intoxicated, Elijah didn't much like falling asleep. Or rather, he didn't like the dreams that came about when he did. They were always about the same thing.

When the world changed...

And the heavens fell...

Rain...

That's how it always began. The grey clouds of the black sky letting loose a heavy downpour. But it didn't mean much to the Ravens, who sat within their Armored Cores. The machines were gazing skyward as the rain hammered in on them.

But soon a different kind of rain fell...

It started with one. A small red device of some sort, barely noticeable in the night sky, descending toward the machines. It crashed and exploded between the legs of one of the ACs. Like the first drops of rain, it wasn't anything much, barely noticeable. But then they multiplied by the dozens, swarming down from the sky and down upon everything below

Especially the ACs.

-"My radar is full! They're everywhere."-

The war machines fired back, fighting to ward off the descending devices. But the numbers grew, ever increasing and never stopping, bring down sheer destruction on the surface. One by one, the Armored Cores were overwhelmed, peppered by the ongoing onslaught of machinery and destruction.

-"Keep shooting! We'll... Aghhhh!"-

And one by one, they all fell. The screams and cries of the Ravens within echoed throughout, only to be drowned out by further explosions as the suicide devices fell from the skies like blood rain. Buildings, vehicles, constructions, people...none where spared from the destruction.

-"Fall back! We have to fall...Guahhh!"-

In time, the destruction ceased and the explosions stopped. The rain still fell, but now on a different terrain. In the wake of the crimson devices was a devastated terrain. Buildings either toppled over or left in ruin. The streets were completely wrecked; vehicles were flipped over. And in the center of it all were the Armored Cores, heavily damaged and covered with scorch marks. Parts of some were separated while others destroyed completely. And though rain ran down the machines, water wasn't the only thing to drip from them to the street.

Blood...

Beep, beep...

The eyes of the young Raven opened as his computer beeped monotonously. Normally, he would have been annoyed at the sound of it, especially considering that he had just come from a mission the previous day. But this time, he simply reached up to see the message, oddly glad that he wasn't awakened from his bed so that he had to actually get up to read it.

- "Figured you wouldn't mind another mission so soon considering how weak a pay the last one was. Don't worry. It a simple mission, but at least this time, the pay is decent. Vertex wants you to eliminate intruders that have invaded the Old Nire Industrial Area of Circ-City. Its a small number of MTs, but they want someone to deal with them firmly; that being you." -

Elijah found himself nodding, even though his hangover caused him to regret it soon after. A mission with low pay usually left something of a bad taste in his mouth and here was the job to make up for it. And Abel said that the pay was decent. His operator may be annoying, but was honest enough when it came to payment. However, seeing that there was more to the message, Elijah read on.

- "A piece of advice though. Since this mission shouldn't pose such a problem, I suggest using some energy weaponry in order to save up on money. Your laser cannon and energy blade would be good in this. But you'll have to move fast. Vertex doesn't want any of them to escape, so keep an eye on your fuel. But what am I saying? You already know this." -

The young Raven blinked at this. It wasn't unheard of for an operator to give a piece of advice to the Raven they're assigned to. But up until now, Abel hadn't done so, at least not to this extent. At least it confirmed that Abel must have been a Raven, or at the very least, well knowledgeable about Armored Cores. And his apparently... And since it was a sound suggestion, Elijah decided to go with it.

Just as soon as his head stopped pounding...