CHAPTER FOUR : BATTLEZONES
factory block f53, asura district, antilia
Two Phantomas―the standard UNSF LEV―were standing guard over the entrance to the factory on the northern side of the colony. Viola wanted to toy with them, she wanted to make them truly feel death.
Neith landed on the first one and cut its head off. It began to wander around aimlessly and fire its machine gun at everything around it. Viola smiled. She aimed the left arm cannon at its leg and fired away, destroying its ability to move. The pilot continued to squeeze the trigger, firing in all directions.
The second Phantoma was hit, now, and its pilot turned around, toward Neith. Viola pointed the cannon in its direction and fired a blast at its left shoulder, disabling its left arm and cripling it. The pilot, however, was skilled. He used only one arm to aim and fire the machine gun. That was difficult to do with a Phantoma.
Viola grabbed his Phantoma by the head and threw it at the cripled LEV, which was still firing its payload at anything and everything. The two LEVs hit, their ArkJets exploded, and both pilots were incinerated instantly.
"Done with that yet, my dear?" Nohman's voice taunted. Viola turned Neith around and saw the scorpion-like Selkis standing there, watching.
"Are you done toying with me, yet? What the hell did you need me here for?"
"I'll meet you outside."
She watched as his cockpit opened, and the colonel stood up. He took off his helmet and hopped down from his OF. Rolling her eyes, Viola did the same. She hated being out of Neith.
She followed him into the factory. Six or seven BAHRAM troops were stationed outside the building. They saluted, Nohman returned it. Each one returned to whatever they were doing afterward. Nohman led her through the factory, into a room which overlooked a near complete Orbital Frame. 'Near complete' meant that Anubis was lacking a paint scheme. It was, for the most part, a plain brown.
"Isn't it beautiful, Viola?" Nohman asked, staring at it. He almost looked like he was smiling―something rare for the colonel.
"The Egyptian God of Death. There's a wonderful basis."
The smile widened. "Of course it is, as Anubis was created for just that purpose. To kill."
Viola turned her attention toward it as well. She had to admit, it was a superb fusalage. Physically, it resembled Jehuty―Target Bravo. Several things defined it, however. While Jehuty was primarily modeled off of the original OF, Idolo, Anubis differed in that it had a large wing-like Metatron generator, a staff as a weapon instead of two forearm blades and the devices on Jehuty's waist had no counterpart in Anubis.
Anubis was the muscle-bound older brother, while Jehuty was the street-smart younger brother.
Viola walked over to a computer terminal which was still activated. "The Aumaan Plan. What is that?"
Nohman didn't react for minutes, and even then he didn't take his attention away from Anubis. "It is why we need Jehuty as well. Aumaan requires both Orbital Frames to work. Each one with the same abilities and programs."
"So, Jehuty needs to be stolen."
"Not just stolen."
Viola looked up from the computer at him. He had now turned. "Jehuty has been overhauled. All the neccesary programs have been erased. Anubis, however, is undamaged."
"Why did they erase Jehuty's programs?"
"Jehuty was finished. Anubis, however, remains incomplete, and as such, they probably thought that we'd never take an incomplete Frame. So they focused on stripping from Jehuty that which we'd need."
"Forcing our hand."
"Exactly."
"Terrans," Viola spat. "They always find ways to do this."
"We would do the same, Viola. Never forget that."
"Are you saying this is fair?"
"BAHRAM's mission is to free Mars from the Terran opression. Not to destroy Earth for what they've done to us."
"That is what they deserve, Colonel."
"If that's how you feel."
"They've held us at arm's length forever! They've destroyed our homes!"
"And that is what we have done as well, Lieutenant. In this little occupation, we've destroyed dozens of Terran homes, when they didn't do the same during their own occupaton. The lines that are crossed in any war aren't ones people as a whole are supposed to cross."
"You and General Rutger would disagree, Colonel."
"And we have, multiple times." Nohman walked back over to the window that overlooked Anubis. "And if I were under Rutger's jurisdiction, it would matter." He was smiling again. "Luckily, Anubis is my trump card, what I can use to cast Rutger aside, where he should be."
Viola walked over to window and stood beside him. She, too, saw the possibilities that Anubis brought forth, but she saw different possibilities. She saw possibilities that Nohman didn't even want to think about.
She saw the chance to destroy Jehuty, and the punk kid who was piloting it.
Residential block s02, bakura district, antilia
Leo saw a young girl on the street who was cowering in front of a Raptor. He beheaded the Raptor by uncrossing both of Jehuty's forearm blades right in front of it. After that, he landed next to the girl and hopped out of the cockpit.
It was Celvice.
"Celvice? What the fuck are you doing here?" he asked, helping her to her feet.
"What am I doing here? What are you doing in that thing?!"
"I..." he stopped. I what? I inherited it? Christ... "It was an accident. Where were you going?"
"I... I don't know. Somewhere."
"There're some people hiding out in the church, we heard them on the radio, just get going, okay?"
She nodded. Then ran. Leo turned back to Jehuty and jumped in, just as the Type-A Orbital Frame that ADA had mentioned before landed over top of the street.
It was indeed massive. Probably three times the size of Jehuty. It was the same shape as an octopus, with roughly double the amount of tentacles, however these were not tentacles, they were some kind of stabilizers. They held the OF up, it seemed. It's head was a giant dome, which was nothing but reflection. The cockpit was somewhat shielded from harm by the stabilizer legs. It had two arms, one to each side, which seemed to end in cannons.
The pilot of the big Frame opened up a comm channel. "So, you're the Runner of Bravo? I thought a woman would be plenty." he asked. Leo looked him over. He was a very muscular man. He looked like he had to be at least six and a half feet tall. "Gonna answer, kid?"
Leo gritted his teeth. "I'm not a kid."
"There's the proof."
"Of what?"
"That you're still a fucking kid."
"Go to hell!"
"You first, kiddo."
Leo couldn't take anymore. He drew back Jehuty's hand and let loose with a very large burst attack. The target area of the burst attack was the large dome-head, which started to crack.
"Gah, dammit!"
Leo smiled. "You said I could go first."
"That's not what I meant you little fucking twerp! My Tempest will annihilate you!"
Tempest, Leo thought. So that was the name of the squid Frame. It fit it well. "So, what's your reason for being here?"
The Runner didn't answer with words. Just with fire balls coming from the cannons on the ends of the arms. Leo moved Jehuty to the right, barely dodging the flame attacks. Leo drew back both of Jehuty's forearm blades and flew ahead, straight for the large dome. Maybe he could damage Tempest's sensors by destroying the dome. Or at least do something to it.
Leo manipulated the orbs and started spinning Jehuty around, a tornado attack. This created several parallel slashes across the base of the dome, creating more and more cracks along the entire dome. He finished it off with a swing―
―but a missile hit Jehuty's chest, knocking it back. It flew back, into a building that Leo hoped was empty. Jehuty stood up, and Leo drew its hand back once more for another burst attack. This time, however, Tempest's Runner didn't like the idea of that. He used one of the tentacle stabilizers to whack Jehuty off of the roof before Leo launched the attack. As a result, the burst ball hit the left shoulder, virtually destroying the left arm cannon.
"Ah! Damn! I'll make you pay for that you little son of a bitch!"
Leo took the idea and ran with it, drew the forearm blades, and flew right at the right shoulder, then slashed it off. Let's see ya fireball me now, asswipe.
Tempest turned toward him. "Let's see how ya like this!" the Runner shouted. Suddenly, the dome on top of it blew apart, and a large cylinder with an odd face rose up from on top of the huge Frame. "Dodge this one!"
Leo hit the boosters and flew backward, away from what he thought was going to be another smash attack from the stabilizer leg. Instead, Tempest flew upwards, spread the stabilizers, and came straight back down. Leo boosted Jehuty out of the way just in time, but a good majority of the block was destroyed, now.
"You son of a bitch!" Leo shouted. "This was my home!"
"Your home, huh? Well, then, let's take out even more of it!"
Leo couldn't take it any longer. As Tempest rose again, he saw that the stabilizers uncovered the cockpit for a short moment. While Tempest was up in the air, Leo set a burst ball in wait and launched it at just the right time. It hit the cockpit on the underside, separating it from the body of Tempest. The cockpit landed on the ground, right into the base of the NUT Ltd building. The rest of Tempest landed on the building itself, destroying it from the roof down.
After the building had fallen, Leo landed Jehuty and ran over to the rubble.
Did he make it out in time? Is he still alive?
"ADA, do you read any lifesigns?"
"Negative. Read: no life signs in the vicinity of the destroyed Orbital Frame. The frame runner did not survive."
"Dammit!" He punched the nearest rock, sending a jolt of pain through his arm to his brain and back again. "Could I have saved him?" he asked.
"I do not see the logic in saving him. He was an enemy combatant, saving him would only result in another conflict at a later time, or perhaps an assassination attempt on your life."
"But he was still a human being!"
"Species does not preclude morality. Just because he was human, does not mean that he would have been humane."
"Shut up!"
Leo fell to his knees. I don't need this! Just because he was the enemy doesn't mean he didn't deserve to live!
The rational part of his brain began to speak. What about Egubon? He was an enemy, and you killed him in cold blood. You killed him with your bare hands.
Shut up! I don't wanna hear this shit!
"Leo?" a soft, feminine voice behind him asked. He turned around and saw Celvice standing there, her hair and skirt billowing in the wind. She walked over to him and grabbed his hands. "What's wrong?"
He looked back at the rubble. "I didn't know he'd have to die..."
She lowered her eyes, then brought them back up to him. "You tried not to. That's all that matters, now."
"Celvice..."
"Leo, you couldn't help it. And, he was destroying the town."
"You saw?"
"I was watching the whole fight from a window of the church. After everything was over, I ran out here to meet you again."
Leo closed his eyes. This was the second time today that someone had thanked him for killing. The last time, three people had died, having been basically vaporized by a plasma attack from Neith. He wasn't going to let this one die. "You're coming with me, Celvice," he said.
"What?"
"Togu, Hakashi and Elise died right in front of me, and I don't wanna see that happen to you, too."
She looked at him like he was crazy. "Leo, I-uh, I didn't, um, know that you cared so much."
"I'm serious, Celvice."
"I know. I didn't mean that."
"Three people died because of me. I don't want anybody else to be my fault."
"Pardon me for intruding, but enemy Orbital Frames are on their way. They appear to be close-range assault types, known as Cyclops."
Leo nodded, then turned back to Celvice. "It'll be a tight fit, but we need to get inside the cockpit now, okay?"
She nodded. They both ran toward Jehuty and climbed up into the cockpit. Leo got in first, sitting in the seat. Celvice climbed in on top of him and sat down there. Leo found it lucky that she was a skinny, small girl, otherwise this would be a tighter fit than normal.
After Celvice got inside the cockpit, the Force Tiles closed, sealing them inside. Leo manipulated the orbs and Jehuty stood up, then shot up and into the sky. ADA had been correct―three weird looking OFs were flying toward them, each with some kind of glowing red thing in its hand.
"I saw those a little while ago," Celvice said, shivering. "They were destroying my apartment building."
Leo nodded, then accelerated toward the three OFs, drawing both forearm blades. He hit the first one directly in the head, severing it from the body and sending both pieces into another one of the unmanned machines. Leo did a vertical upward slash on the third, destroying it.
The second, however, was not yet destroyed. It grabbed Jehuty by the head, pulled back its other fist, then let loose a heavy punch which sent Jehuty into an apartment building. Leo manipulated the orbs and stood Jehuty up, then pointed its hand at the Cyclops and started firing at it. It held its arms close to its chest, sort of in a boxing position, and created a shield.
"The shield can be broken with a Burst Attack."
"Thanks, ADA," Leo said, taking her advice. He pulled the hand back and then shot it forth, launching the burst attack. The ball broke through the Cyclops' shield, then tore through the mech's right side. It went spiralling out of control and landed on the ground. "Any more OFs on the screen, ADA?"
"Negative. All Orbital Frames have been destroyed."
"Good," Leo sighed, then laid back in his seat. "This is exhausting considering all I'm doing is sitting in a chair." He looked over at Celvice. "Why didn't you stay with all the people at the church?"
She looked out the cockpit at the church, far off in the distance. "They all left. I asked them not to, but they just kept saying they'd go to the nearest place where the UNSF would save them."
Leo snorted. "Fat chance."
"Huh?"
"The UNSF is on their way, but it'll take at least twelve hours for them to get here."
"How do you know?"
"I was talking to some UNSF people a little while ago, they're on their way to come get Jehuty." Leo thought about that for a minute. "Hey, ADA? Can you call up the Atlantis?"
"No. Their subspace communication system is set to Send only. We can only talk to them if they call us first."
"Oh. Well, what comes next?"
"I am receiving a signal from a news network."
"We can watch TV in here?" Celvice asked.
"Put it up, ADA," Leo said, ignoring Celvice's question.
The television broadcast appeared in a small holoscreen to Leo's left. A blonde haired newswoman looked surprisingly well and calm. "This is Channel Eight News, Antilia News Network. BAHRAM's continued assault on Antilia has brought a good deal of injury and even death to our peaceful colony. We have been told that UNSF reinforcements have barricaded a hospital in Residential Area S03. Over five thousand residents are currently housed in this hospital and―wait a minute. The hospital is now being attacked by unmanned Orbital Frames!"
Leo shut the feed down, then brought up the map of S03. "ADA, how long can that hospital last?"
"It is uncertain. However, this is not our mission, you should not risk your life for theirs."
"But, ADA," Celvice piped up, "those people didn't do anything. Why should we let them die?"
"We're not going to," Leo said, setting course for S03. "We're going to save them. ADA, don't ever take the lives of others lightly. Otherwise you're as heartless as BAHRAM is." Leo manipulated the orbs, and Jehuty shot forward into the air.
Residential block s03, bakura district, antilia
Residential S03 was a short distance from S02. That short distance, however, was populated by dozens of Raptors. Leo didn't understand why exactly BAHRAM was attacking the colony this severely, but it seemed as though their commanding officer was extremely serious about his assault.
S03 was very different from S02. Where S02 was more a modern, downtown-like area, similar to places like Vascilia or New York, S03 was suburbs. It wasn't a very big place. The hospital took up the majority of it. Close to three dozen Raptors were assaulting the hospital, but none had done any severe damage. Close to a dozen UNSF LEVs were standing guard outside the hospital, taking on the OFs as they attacked.
Leo banked to the left and sliced a Raptor in two as it was about to jam its blade through a window. Four other Raptors took notice in him, and drew both of their blades for an attack. Leo didn't know what to do, so he consulted the program listing. One of them was called . He tapped the button and let loose with a volley of small shots from Jehuty's fingertips. Each one found a Raptor, some even joined in on the same one. When it was over, only two of the original three dozen Raptors remained, and the UNSF LEVs took them out. Both fell to the ground in micro explosions.
"Wow, Leo, you're really good at this," Celvice said, looking out over the destroyed Raptor remains. One of them was still attempting to complete its mission, but a LEV put a bullet through its head.
"Yeah, I dunno how, either. It just comes naturally. Is that weird, ADA?"
"I do not think so. It is possible that you are just a natural pilot. This is a good thing, is it not?"
"That depends on how long I have to keep doing this. Are there any other SOS signals around?"
"I am not reading any, however, the colony's EPS system has just been activated."
"EPS?"
"It is a shield-type device, which disallows transport from one side of the colony to the other. It is possible BAHRAM activated it to halt our advance."
"So, what do we do?"
"Return to the Factory, please. I am detecting a local server."
"Local server?"
"It can add new programs to Jehuty, which will allow us to use a greater range of abilities, from attacks to dodging maneuvers and more."
"Okay, we'll head back to the factory."
Even though it's not a place I want to go back to... Leo thought, grimly.
Factory block f53, asura district, antilia
Viola was sitting and putting her gun back together when Nohman returned to the room. He didn't even look at her when he spoke. "Axe is activating the EPS field as we speak, and it's rerouting power from the EPS generators. This will bring Target Bravo to us, after the Runner realizes what he needs to do. Nightraid is finishing up the UNSF resistance near the dock. The bombs are already being placed for the big finale."
She set her gun aside. "You really wanna destroy this place? Wasn't it part of your father's legacy?"
He turned toward her, his eyes looked deadlier than ever. "Anubis and Jehuty are my father's legacy. This colony was nothing but their birthplace, and I am the doctor delivering the children to their mother, Aumaan."
"That's a way to look at it. I suppose Dr. Hardiman was their father as well as yours?" Viola laughed as she asked the question.
Nohman didn't seem to like it. He rushed forward, grabbed her by the neck and slammed her against the back wall of the room. "If you weren't so valuable to me, I'd snap your pretty little neck and give you exactly what it is you want, understand?"
She strained to speak. "So why don't you?"
"I just said you were too valuable to me."
He let her go and walked over to the window. She coughed for a few moments, then stood up. Her neck was now incredibly sore. "Sometimes, Colonel," she struggled to say, "I think you're just like a fucking Terran."
factory block f14, alpha district, antilia
Leo tried to avoid the area where four people had died. One who deserved it and three who didn't. Unfortunately, the local server that ADA had detected was only a block away from the site. While she downloaded it, Leo got out and walked over to the parking lot.
He knelt down next to the hole that had once been Togu, Hakashi and Elise. Strips of clothing still remained. He took a long white stripe―it looked to have come from Elise's coat―and held it in his hands for a little while.
"Is this where it happened?" Celvice asked. Leo hadn't heard her come up. Second time, that day.
"Yeah..." He laid the strip down and stood back up. "All because of Neith and Viola."
"But not you, Leo."
Leo threw the stripe down. "It should have been me. All I did was tell them to run. I should have pushed them out of the way and taken it for them."
"You can't mean that, Leo."
"I do!" He shot a look back at Celvice, who's eyes widened in shock. "They had lives and friends and families that cared about them! I'm fucking worthless! To everyone!" He turned forward again and kicked a piece of debris. "Even the goddamn UNSF just wants me to get out of the fucking way!"
Celvice rubbed her left arm. "Leo... Why are you so angry?"
"I'm tired of it all, Celvice. I'm tired of being here. I'm tired of being used by the UNSF. I'm just tired..." He fell to his knees. A tear fell to the ground.
She knelt down next to him. "You're not worthless to me, Leo."
He said through tears, "That makes you the only one."
"I have finished downloading the colony information from the local server," ADA said, moving Jehuty into a standing position. "We can now go, Leo Stenbuck."
Leo stood up. "Good. I'm ready to leave this stupid factory."