Standard Disclaimer here. I do not own Armored Core or Tenchi Muyo War on Geminar. This is a work of fanfiction. The previously stated properties belong to their respective owners.
Chapter 7: The Arrival of an Answer.
"Hey! Crazy Lady! You know, this is not what i had in mind for a standard procedure, 'Check Up'..." Canis complained as he was tied down to the examination table in the medical facility. It was the next day and we had all shown up at the facility for our check ups. I had to agree with him on this one as I too, was strapped to a table. Minus my arm and eye since the Crazy Lady had taken both and was examining both of them with her instruments. The others were in similar circumstances as everyone was tied to a table. She had gassed us so that she could get us strapped down, though she had to taser me since as soon as my body sensed gas my artificial lung activated and filtered it so it wouldn't affected. This was more for the Crazy Lady's safety than ours since she knew she couldn't study us without physically being there for once, and she knew damn well that, unrestrained, we would probably attack her and force her to send us back home. We didn't volunteer for this mission to begin with and she just up and decided we were going to do what she said and that was the end of it. She had already examined everyone else. Administering immunization shots as well as anti-viral shots to kill anything we had that we could transfer, or at the very least make it impossible to to spread diseases that we had that we were already immune to but could spread to others.
Watching Canis get a large gauge needle shot in his ass had been amusing though. Unfortunately we all got the same shot and we were all rather uncomfortable on the tables with asses still stinging. I hated those shots, not to mention the fact that if the woman came from a place more advanced than us, Why would she give us a shot the old fashioned way?
Then I realized she did it only because she could and she like watching us squirm.
The woman was still examining my arm and eye, prodding here and there and hooked them up to in improptu device to try and get them to work for her. She looked a bit frustrated as neither one responded to her and she couldn't figure it out. They had power to them so they should work with her commands but they gave back no data. For once, I was glad for Abe Marsh and Doc Joe. Their design was surprisingly beyond her. I had a hunch I knew why. Because my eye and arm were based off of NEXT technology and not normal robotics and electricity. all the materials used to create them were based of the same materials they used to create a NEXT. The super-alloy, the wiring, the power supply, everything. Which meant that the only ones capable of controlling them were Lynx. Because of the psychic control needed to operate them as well as the connections inside my body. Neither would ever be more than a paper weight to her.
She had another arm and eye picked out that looked normal but my body rejected her 'superior' design, not to mention my own rejection. As much as I loathed Abe Marsh and Doc Joe, I owed them my life. They had gone through the trouble of making the replacement eye, arm, and brain graft along with a few artificial internal organs. Abe was, and always had been, a NEXT engineer. Doc Joe, while no less brilliant, had originally been a normal docter and surgeon, however his 'experiments' caused for his license to practice to be pulled. That mattered little after the fall of Rayleonard and his migration to Line Ark where they didn't care so long as he could work. He learned a great deal in a short amount of time from the various engineers and mechanics making him almost as good as Abe, but his true calling had always been doctoring and so that is what he did most of the time when he wasn't assisting Abe in maintaining my father's White Glint. The two of them together had made the genius idea of merging NEXT tech and conventional robotics and artificial limb work to create one of a kind replacements strictly for Lynx. Of course, both of them being crazy, they had a lot of fun designing and letting their inner 'geek' take over. Turning what was supposed to be normal replacement parts into a state of the art experimental weapon system and platform before installing them on me.
I watched the woman grow more and more frustrated before she got up and walked off checking her other instruments which were monitoring us. Checking each of our stats again. Noting various scar tissue on skin or over old broken bones. I glanced at my arm and eye on the table. Feeling the phantom pain that came with limb loss and to my surprise, the fingers on my right hand twitched. I blinked rapidly and looked to the others and they looked at it as well before looking at me. I stared harder again, feeling that phantom pain, willing movement and it twitched again. I smiled wickedly. Apparently my control over it didn't end with it being severed from my body. There were days when I really loved being a Lynx. Using my psychic control the hand raised up and the eyeball turned to target the Crazy Lady as we had come to call her since she never gave us her name.
I could see through my other eye and targeted her and the firearm in my arm exposed itself. A invisible targeting laser followed the point of my eye targeting her. She turned, hearing the noise from the table and yelped and dove for cover as the gun fired, spraying buckshot where she had been standing. My arm scuttled off the table like Thing from the Addams family, going after her to which she kicked it away and activated the fire control system from her floating see through computer and the fire control cannons shot their sticky fire retardant residue at my arm pinning it to the floor. I growled in frustration. I almost had her. She glared at me and stood up dusting herself off trying to appear composed but I could see that I had shaken her.
"That was uncalled for. " She said glaring at me. Rearranging her hair back to normal.
"What's uncalled for is you taking us from our home to fight a war not our own." I snapped back at her while we had 'willingly' came along, it was only because she would have forced us other wise.
"Well if you had accepted my offer the first time we wouldn't be here!" She shot back before sighing and working on her computer again.
" 'Accepted'? we would still be right here regardless, you crazy bitch!" Canis snapped, struggling at his bonds. She ignored him as she usually did before she snarled in frustration and her computer disappeared. She glared at the ceiling briefly, or rather it looked like she was glaring at a point beyond it, before she walked off muttering something under her breath that sounded like 'This is all your fault.'
"You will arrive tomorrow morning. I suggest getting prepared and rested. I doubt you will just drop into the action. Oh and by the way I bolted a few goodies on your NEXTs to prevent the kojima contamination from ever spreading beyond them. I don't want the same thing to happen to Geminar that happened to your earth." She told us in a frustrated huff. No doubt irritated that she couldn't get the data she wanted so badly, that and the fact that we were still rebelling. She came across as a woman used to getting her way and being obeyed, and not getting it got her angry. she walked through a door that wasn't there a moment ago and slammed it shut before it disappeared and as soon as it did, the restraints opened up.
"I am going to kill the crazy bitch first chance I get..." Canis growled, wincing as he got up rubbing his sore ass cheek. the girls were doing the same thing as they got up.
"Get in line, me first" surprisingly, it was Theresia who spoke. She spoke so rarely and distantly that it was a surprise that she was making her thoughts clear. I moved with a slight limp rubbing my sore left ass cheek as I made my way to the table that held our personal weapons. Strapping the holster and my 1911 back on with a little difficultly using only one hand and attaching my pair of tomahawks to my belt and grabbed my knife before heading to start cutting away at the blue gunk that pinned my arm. Lily strapped on her BFF sidearm and the combat knife I had given her for a birthday years ago was strapped across her lower back. She walked over to my eye and picked it up and brought it to me while I chipped away at the gunk pinning my arm. she carefully helped reattach it into my skull before I finished freeing my arm and reattached it back into its socket and reconnected the necessary wires. while the attachments were necesassary I now knew, they lightened the psychic burden of using my arm, granted it was very little considering my AMS, but even a little bit helped and it did make the reaction time a lot faster.
Canis had a pair of Algebra handguns that looked like Lares under his arms and combat knives strapped upside down on his upper arms. making sure the straps and snaps were snug before he went to check the damage done by the buckshot. Theresia was a little more unnerving with her selection of personal weapons. Her GA sidearm revolver, which was surprising by its self since it was a well known fact she hated GA, was loaded with Kojima laced bullets
and she had a spring loaded knife from her home country of Russia. she was french and russian, though it was hard to tell because she spoke perfect english with a strange dialect and accent which made it hard to tell where she was from unless she told you. Though when she was pissed, I had the privilage of seeing her go off in a combination of french and russian swear words mixed with a little english.
May also favored GA sidearms though hers was a more modern incarnation of the 1911. she had a old Ka-Bar passed down to her from generations of her families long ties to the U.S. Marine Corp, before the National Dismantlement War. Miss Haze favored an large Aldra handgun with a long barrel and underside rail which was perfect for a small grenade launcher that she could attach when she wanted. As for a up close weapon she had an Arisawa knife that looked like a black bladed tanto, perfected with new stronger metals and much lighter and sharper.
We left the medical facility and hoped in the carts that were a transport around our still unbelievable home. the roofs were up and the screens closed since it was surprisingly raining, Ghost was napping on the passenger seat where Lily left him when we went into the facility. The furball made a nuisance of himself until we brought him along. We all climbed into our carts while Lily picked up the still sleeping ferret and set him on her shoulders before we took off, making our way along the paths towards the hanger.
"How could you miss Dare? she was right there, you had her, and you missed..." Canis was, as usual, bitching. I rolled my eyes and checked my arm. I had reloaded it with another buckshot on the way out before it sunk back into my arm.
"had she not moved, I would have had her. Had my arm still been attached, she would never had made it no matter where she dodged." I told him as we drove on, heading into the hanger. Driving over to our NEXTs, passing all the spares and NORMALs that the crazy lady had somehow got a hold of.
"Leave him alone Canis, He tried. At least he got closer than the rest of us." May said from behind me in her seat. Lily was riding shotgun with Ghost draped over the back of her neck napping.
"I still think he should have had her." Canis, still complaining. He was going to continue before Theresia leaned over his seat behind him wrapping her arms around him seductively, one hand going lower.
"Now now Canis dear, he did his best considering the circumstances. So leave him alone...Pretty please?" She said huskily in his ear while his eys were wide open in shock at how she was talking. They widened more as her hand traveled low. His eyes almost popped out of his head, this time in pain, as she grabbed him tightly by the balls. "Now be a darling and shut up for five minutes...Pretty please?" she said with an evil smile on her face. Giving a twist for good measure before Canis yelped and shut his mouth before she slunk back in her chair her face looking calm and collected again as if nothing happened. Miss Haze, who saw the whole thing from shotgun, was laughing her ass off while we parked to check on our NEXTs. It wasn't going to take long really, just a check that all armaments were full or fully charged and that all running and operation systems were green across the board. We had to do a minor adjustment on Ciliegio. A glitch in the system was throwing her targeting off slightly. Granted she was probably going to be doing very little piloting since we needed an operator, but in case of emergencies, it was best to make sure her NEXT was working perfectly just in case.
We headed back after about a hour, that hour was spent mostly trying to catch my psycho ferret who felt that now was the perfect time to play 'Ring around the NEXT'. Using Karyon as a playground while we chased his fat, furry ass until he was tired enough to let Lily pick him up. He knew full well she would protect him from my wrath. I could have sworn the furball stuck his tongue out at me from Lilium's shoulders before he went back to sleep.
Charlie and Brutus were both sleeping in the main hall out of the rain. Charlie passed out on his back in one of the couches and Brutus, typically, was sleeping right infront of the door. The big rott growled at us before Theresia told him to be quiet and he followed his mistress up to her room. Charlie woke up but refused to move until Canis gave him a belly rub before he rolled off the couch. Miss Haze had taken one of the carts back to the facility to familiarize herself with the new operator system. We didn't have the time to run everyone through a quick squad training. There was nothing we could get done it the little time we had, so I went to my room to grab some targets and a couple ammo cans. Putting them on one of the dolley carts that were around the manor as well as the M1 Garand that Lily got me for my birthday and my M4. Lily, who had followed me and seeing what I was doing, let out an excited squeek before dashing up to our bed room. Ghost hanging onto her shirt for dear life. She came back down with rain gear and her favorite rifle, an old M14 EMR I had given her during her first trip to the range with me.
She hadn't shot guns before, her family wouldn't let her for years since she was their 'princess' and she shouldn't be seen with something so crude as a gun, and yet most of her male relatives were riflemen at heart with their own guns. so the first time I took her to the range to spite her family, she was understandably nervous as a first time shooter. That all changed when I let her shoot my guns those years ago. Initially they had frightened her but she grew to love them as I taught her how to shoot. Despite the kick on the M14 she loved it a lot and, looking at me with her big puppy dog eyes as she held the rifle in her hands after she spent all her ammo, I couldn't resist. I gave her the gun and she practiced whenever she got a chance, especially with me. I am not ashamed to admit it, but she ended up turning into a better shot than me.
I grabbed my own rain gear and we headed out. Ghost, seeing the guns, stayed in the room because he didn't like the noise. We passed May on the way out and seeing us with our guns, she booked it for her room to grab her own since it was a good idea to let off some steam and pass time. She had come back with her gear and weapon of choice, a GA manufactured Bulldog 7.62mm. Both girls had a taste for the higher caliber rifle rounds. We took one of the carts and headed off from the manor about a mile over some hills and picked a clear spot. I headed off to set up the targets while the girls were busy loading magazines and pulling out the stripper clips for my Garand. I had set out the targets at various ranges and made my way back to the girls who were finished and had the guns and ammo laid out.
We took turns shooting for an hour or two that afternoon. Naturally, Lilium out shot both of us, but I out shot May with my garand and no scope while she used her modern ACOG. We had talked a little while we shot. Generally teasing each other for the most part and picking on each other's shots. We had, more or less, grown up together. I had grown up mostly with May since my father did a lot of work for GA and they often put us together while dad worked for GA. After the Lynx War, when GA helped put BFF back on their feet, we met Lily who hated my guts on sight for the first few years we had known each other, when she heard my name she attacked me because my father killed her cousins. eventually, obviously. We grew closer as she accepted me more and more. mainly because no matter how bad she treated me, I treated her nicely...most of the time...we occasionally got into a scuffle that May would have to break us out of. May got along with everyone and she and Lily ended up being best friends as they grew up when my father and Mama Fiona took me away to Line Ark for the next few years until I was old enough to head out on my own as a Lynx.
We all met up again at Collared when I left Line Ark. May and Lily were still together though Ostdarva would constantly pick on Lily as she rose the ranks determined to make Rank 1. A place that Ostdarva, the cocky little prick, held arrogantly, and mercilessly bullied and picked on her when May wasn't around. After a couple bullying incidents from Ostdarva picking on Lily when I was around after I came back to Collared, I had just had enough of his attitude and punched him in the face which led to a massive fight in the hall way with black eyes and bruises all around. His little butt buddy CUBE got involved and they ganged up on me. This was around the time I started getting friendly with Canis and he saw all this and jumped into the brawl on my side. It lasted a few minutes before some of the older Lynx, namely Roadie, Wong, Theresia and Stiletto broke us up. I'll never forget the looks on Ostdarva and CUBE's faces when Theresia kicked them both in the balls to stop them fighting. Which instantly made me and Canis stop because Stiletto looked like she would do the same thing to us if we kept it up. They dragged us all away from each other and kept an eye on us for the next couple days. May, being May, fussed over my injuries cleaning up cuts and stitching a couple when Lilium had come by. Unusually shy and quiet. She apologized to me for how she had treated me over the years and then thanked me for sticking up for her before she ran off. After that we had been close ever since and Ostdarva stopped picking on her eventually because she always hid behind me when he was around and the cocky bastard knew he couldn't beat me in a straight up fight.
We cleaned up and headed back. Lily had a big silly grin on her face as she hugged her rifle to her chest. Rather proud of the fact she had outshot May and I. May grumbling a little, Though it was half-hearted, that she was shown up by a little princess to which Lily grinned all the more for it. When we got back we notice that Miss Haze's cart was back and could smell dinner cooking. Smelled like roasted chicken and potatoes to which I got a grin on my face since it was my favorite. We went to our separate rooms to put our stuff away and headed down to dinner in the main dining room. Dinner was a quiet affair. Canis was sitting as far away from Theresia as possible. The older Lynx making it clear that she would sic Brutus on him if he acted up.
After dinner we all headed to bed to get some rest for the night. I was woken halfway through the night when May climbed into bed with me and Lily. I didn't get to sleep much the rest of the night and at one point Theresia yelled at us to knock off the banging. I was grateful for her intervention because it meant I could sleep the rest of the night while May and Lily cuddled up to me.
The following morning we were getting geared up, though I was a little worn out. I had chosen to wear a black BDU with the left sleeve on the blouse cut off exposing my arm with a fingerless glove on the left hand. The right was completely covered by its long sleeve and full glove. I had my M4 sling over my chest with my side arm on my thigh and my tomahawks hung on my belt. My knife hung upside down on my upper right chest, above the M4 mags of which I had six, and on my belt I had strapped four mags for the1911. Lily had donned a BDU in the BFF company colors. She strapped her gear on her, copying my style, though her rifle was slung over her shoulder. Canis had gone for desert BDU pants and t-shirt with his combat vest over it, an OMER assault rifle in his hands. It looked similar to an old AK, just lighter parts and also a smaller caliber. May wore traditional camo BDUs and had her rifle slung over her chest like I did. She, Canis and I were all properly trained as foot soldiers in addition to our next skills. The others on the other hand would need a little coaching if it came down to it. We carried the extra gear just in case we had to leave the NEXTs for any reason. Theresia held a shotgun infront of her fully loaded and a PDW slung across the small of her back and she wore a solid black BDU similar to mine. If there was any doubt about her being a black commando before, those doubts were gone now. She certainly looked the part. Miss Haze held a M4 style rifle with her gear, wearing a khaki BDU pant and brown shirt. Though she only had them just in case. She was going to be in the control room as our operator. We headed out of the manor and went for the carts. Miss Haze talking one cart and heading for the facility while the rest of us made way for the NEXT hanger.
We headed inside and for our NEXT's as we were climbing in with our gear and battle packs we felt a sudden shudder then jolt and heard a click on our mics.
"Motherwill has been released. This will be the last time I contact you" We heard the Crazy Lady's voice on our headsets. "You will arrive on position close to your target. Don't worry, Motherwill 3.0 can handle the free fall and landing." The woman's voice informed and reassured us as Canis suddenly looked up at the words of release and free fall.
"I swear to god Crazy Lady If you get us killed, I'll haunt your sorry ass..." Canis growled, reaching into his shirt to pull out his dog tags and cross. Crossing himself and saying a little pray before kissing his cross and stuffing it back down his shirt. He had the habit of doing that before every mission. I fired up Insanity watching all lights go green one by one. listening to everyone else start up their NEXTs. Everything rocking and shaking around us as we felt Motherwill shake and rumble on atmosphere entry.
"All lights green. Systems nominal." Lilium said, all business now that she was in Ambient. It was a reminder for Canis to shut up for a minute and follow procedure.
"Oh alright. I'm greenlit across the board. No problems. Ready to deploy." Canis said as he ran through his checks. his report going to Miss Haze.
"All systems nominal, wait, slight variation...Corrected. Karyon is good to go." Theresia said as she ran through her system checks.
"Merrygate reporting. I am green, and very, very mean!" May said and we could hear the smile in her voice.
"Insanity reporting. Systems green. Weapons, Cocked. Locked, Ready to Rock. HOOYAH!" I reported and then yelled. Feeling the free fall getting faster and faster. Miss Haze monitoring us from the center. Checking our systems for anything we missed.
"Engaging boosters. Slowing descent. One minute to touch down." Miss Haze reported. Her hands a blur over the consoles and boards. Calling commands to the computer's A.I. systems. Commanding a number of NORMALs to activate and head out when we did.
"This is it. It is all up to you. Make sure that boy survives.. Good luck" And the Crazy Lady's voice cut out finally. It was all us now.
"Miss Haze we are prepping for launch. Unlock bay doors to prep for launch." I asked Miss Haze as I moved to the one set of doors. Ambient and Merrygate behind me. Savage Beast and Karyon at the other set of doors. NORMALs lining up behind us all and to our sides. We heard the click as the doors unlocked but we couldn't launch until touch down.
"Thirty seconds till touch down. booster output at maximum. Slowing descent." Miss Haze kept us informed. Our NEXTs and the NORMALs bracing for impact. My mind completely focused now. Ready for whatever waited on the other side of that door. "Counting down to impact. 20...19...18..." Miss Haze started counting down. Clocks appearing on our screens, watching the countdown and bracing. I was ready. We were all ready. whether or not there was a battle waiting for us beyond that door didn't matter. Only a strong show of force and unity to show we mean business.
"15...14...13...12...11...10...9..." My hands on the controls. My psychic control over Insanity was absolute. It was time to do what we were hired to do. Protect some young brat. Was I worried? no... I was the best in the world. It was time to show them why.
Chapter 7 is complete. wooh! this was a doozy to write. finally on Geminar. and it is not going to be how the Lynx will think it will be. I will try to mix in the lightheartedness of War on Geminar now that we have arrive. it won't be quite as serious as it has been. at least I will try to write it that way. no promises, my hands write what flows through them. which is how the entire story has been written thus far. I get a starting point for a chapter and I kinda know where I want to end, after that. its all my hands. I will say this for the next chapter. it isn't what the Lynx will expect to find upon deploying from Motherwill. constructive criticism is appreciated. bitches, gripes, complaints? shoot me a message. just down be an idiot about it.
