Hello everyone! I'm back with another chapter, and I think I can say that I've gotten over my small amount of writer's block and have come to you with another chapter of this story. Hooray! Either way, don't forget to review and enjoy this chapter! Keep it Mello guys.
Edit: I fixed some grammar errors as well as added a word I forgot outright.
PS: CHARACTER OWNAGE: Shade belongs to StrikerEureka5, I have obtained permission to use his character. Felix Waterschilick belongs to a friend off site. Rebel and Volt, as well as Avant-garde, belong to another friend offshore. Normal Titanfall characters are normal. Storm and Ryan belong to me. I guess R41N-80W as well. I don't own Titanfall. All reserved rights go to Respawn.
Chapter 7
"Agricultural Attention"
"Ronin, Talk to me here!" Rebel shouted, slapping on his Helmet.
"Pilot, It would appear that the Titanfall Launcher has failed to deliver." the Titan replied.
"No, you think?" Rebel retorted, motioning for Storm to go faster.
Storm, who had just drifted around a huge boulder, pointed up into the sky, where the Ronin Titan was still flying. "Look! He's starting to lose momentum! He's gonna come down right on that hill!" Storm shouted to the others in the buggy.
"Jesus, what did I get dragged into?" Shade asked, the only one in the buggy with an actual seatbelt on. "I thought today was meant to be extreme training. Now look where we are." he mumbled.
"I know right? This obstacle course we set up all over the base. Now the kids on the base are probably using it as a skate park by now." Storm replied.
"Nevermind that, look!" Rebel pointed to the huge dust cloud that arose from the hill they saw before. "I think that means Ronin has landed. Talk to me, Ronin. What's your surroundings?"
"Pilot, I seem to be in a rather... unsettling position." the Titan replied, looking around. At that moment, the buggy entered the dust cloud, automatically placing a roof above the car, and sealing the windows. As the car drifted to a stop, they got out and looked up at the building in front of them. It seemed as though Ronin had landed on some kind of Barn.
"Well, that explains much," Shade muttered.
"What in tarnation!? What are y'all doin' here?" a voice asked from behind them. As the dust was able to clear, they saw a young woman standing there, farmer's clothing all around, a piece of wheat in her mouth and a gallon hat. Overall, she looked like a stereotypical southern apple farmer, as they saw the words 'Sweet Apple Acres' slapped on every piece of clothing they could saw, except her hat.
"Don't just stand there like idiots," She opened the door to the barn, ushering them in. "Get inside! Dust Storms are very dangerous this time of year." It was then that she looked up. "What the- Why is there a Titan, ON MY ROOF!?" She yelled, scaring the four pilots near her. When she saw this, she instantly recoiled and quieted down.
"Sorry bout' that, guys. This Barn's been 'ere for generations." She explained.
Storm was the first to snap out of his shock. "Oh, sorry about that ma'am. You know, for barging in here and all that." Storm said apologetically.
"Oh, It's no worry. It's all fixable." She noticed the uniforms the four were wearing. "Hey, aren't y'all some of those Militia fellas that were set up a couple months ago?" she asked, pointing to their uniforms.
"Oh, right," Ryan spoke up, in his commanding tone of voice. He stepped forward and stuck out his hand. When she shook it vigorously, he was a tad bit surprised, but continued anyways.
"My name is Lieutenant Ryan Jackson. These are Pilots Rainbow Storm, Rebel Vanguard, and Shade Midnight." he said, each of them giving her a curt nod as he said their names. "My sincere apologies for busting into your farm like this, but during training, we had a Titanfall gone wrong, sending the Titan straight towards your farm. Also, I feel like the structural integrity of this building is quite low."
An audible crack was heard coming from behind them.
"Pilot, the foundation I have landed on may be structurally-" Ronin began announcing, until the barn roof cracked under the crouched titan. Ronin fell through, as pieces of loose straw burst through the hole in the roof as he landed.
"Gah!" the woman cried, watching part of the barn collapse.
"R-Ronin!" Rebel cried. "Are you alright!?"
"My systems are operational, Rebel. Fortunately for you, I do not feel pain."
"He's yer titan?" the girl asked, with an arched eyebrow. "He looks so thin."
"Do not doubt me young female," Ronin announced through Rebel's helmet.
The young woman chuckled. "He should be a fun type."
"You do realize I am able to listen in on this conversation."
"So you're some kinda stalker?"
"Invalid conclusion. I do not possess a chassis the size of a human."
Ryan sighed. "Your titan's a swell guy..."
"At least it seems the dust has settled," Shade commented, looking up to the now massive hole in the ceiling.
"AJ?" A voice called from outside. "You in here?" The voice said, closer this time. The five in the barn turned towards the door as it opened. "AJ, what in the hell is going on in-" the huge, six-foot man looked around at the men in the barn, his words trailing off. "In here..?" He finished.
"M-mack! I can explain!" The girl said quickly.
"Then you better get 'splainin," the man said, crossing his arms.
T-these here folks accidentally crashed their Titan into the roof of the barn, and came here to collect it," she explained, turning her head to Ryan. "Right?" she asked him.
Ryan moved to the man by the door. "That is correct. I once again sincerely apologise for any inconveniences we may have caused." He said, holding his hand out to the man.
Before he could take it, Storm suddenly yelled, "Everyone down!" as he grabbed Rebel and Shade, diving to the floor, Ronin hunkering over them. As Ryan did the same with the two farmers, and explosion blew the rest of the roof off of the barn.
"See? I told you we'd find a Titan here, Boss!" They all heard whilst still under Ronin.
"Good job, Brock. It seems deactivated, so a better score for us." Another voice replied.
"Boss, let's grab it with our Titans, it'll make the trip back easier." The first voice said.
There was a deafening boom sound as two Titans landed about fifty feet away. Storm looked up to see a scarred face staring right back at him. "Um, hello there." Storm said, as Ronin stood up straight, allowing the six humans to stand upright. "You don't happen to be part of the IMC, are y-" he was cut off by the man clicking an old Colt M1911 handgun to his face.
"Not another word out of you," was all he said.
Storm pressed his Titanfall button before putting his hands up.
The man moved back, keeping his gun in between Storm's eyes. "We're not IMC, hell no. But we do like sellin' Titans on the black market to the IMC. We get paid big here. What are ya, some militia junkies?" He asked, just before a deafening boom resounded behind him, startling him. This was all Storm needed to dive behind him and get grabbed by Rainbow, and placed in the cockpit.
"Now uh, where's your guys' Titans you called in? I don't see anything!" Storm said, jokingly.
One of the men chuckled. "You tryin' to start somethin'?" After a brief pause, the front part of the barn gave way, revealing an older titan chassis, pointing a 40mm cannon at them.
"An Atlas?" Shade whispered. "I thought they were decommissioned from military use."
"Serves you right to think that. We still need somethin' to help out with our little, raids. As for that second one, well..."
Everyone flinched as they heard a loud cracking sound, and a large blur streaked over their heads and hit Ronin squarely on one side of his torso, knocking the titan off balance and sending it to the ground.
"Northstar..." Rebel growled under his breath, taking note of the Alternator SMG on his waist.
"Pilot," Ronin said over his comm, "I am still operational, moderate damage sustained, but I am fine. I will notify you when we are at an advantageous situation."
"You sure, Ronin?"
"Trust me," he said, one hand slowly inching towards a pile of hay.
The man looked up at the Atlas. "Don't just stand there! Get over there an' haul him in!"
The Atlas flinched, but began to make its way towards the downed Ronin.
"Little guy's gonna make us some big bucks," the man called "boss" chuckled.
"Pilots," Ronin said over everyone's comms, "be prepared when the hay flies."
"What? That's some stupid-" Ryan began to whisper, only to be cut of by a pile of straw being flung over his head.
At the same time, Storm had R41N-80W dash into the Atlas Titan at full speed, effectively throwing the smaller Titan chassis about eighty feet, landing and sliding on its back, straight into the silo. The Northstar quickly spun around, aiming its Plasma Cannon at the larger Vanguard-Class Titan. Before it could fire a single shot however, it quickly toppled over due to it's left leg being cut off by Ronin's sword, while Storm disabled it's Hover Jets with a few Splitter Rifle shots.
"Heh, you're not IMC, therefore you haven't gotten any Titan Training, have you?" Ryan asked the man he had in a headlock, who had previously been aiming an old pistol at Storm. When the 'Boss' had escaped Ryan's iron grip, he quickly held up his pistol to Ryan's face, who quickly grabbed it out of his hand and crushed it with a single movement. The Boss had looked somewhat distressed for a moment, then crossed his arms and smiled at Ryan. Ryan quickly whirled around, ready to block any attack from behind, but before either of the two could react, the huge six-foot man quickly yelled and tackled the Raider to the ground.
"I guess that works as well," Ryan commented, to which the man smiled gently. Ryan quickly turned around and punched the Boss in the stomach, causing him to drop the B3 Wingman he had stolen from Ryan's holster, then threw an uppercut to his jaw, knocking the Boss out cold and sending him flying about eight feet. The Raider that had been tackled wiggled out of the man's grip and ran over to the Boss, lifting him up over his shoulder, and continued to run down the hill.
"We'll never forget your faces! We'll remember this!" the Raider yelled as he disappeared into the forest of apple trees.
There was a deafening sound of metal being crushed as everyone turned towards where Storm and Rainbow sat. As everyone approached, they saw Storm eating a Ham and Cheese sandwich with Rainbow sitting on the crushed cockpit of the Atlas.
"Hey guys!" Storm said as the others approached. He pointed to the badly beaten Base Raider next to him. "This guy had a basket full of food with him for whatever reason, and I just decided, 'Hey! Why not take this for the base?' It had like eighty sandwiches and like ninety apples!"
Ryan just rolled his eyes and turned to the two apple farmers. "Speaking of the base, I think that you two should come with us. We'll pay for any damages to your farm and rebuild it for you, and meanwhile, you can stay with us on the base. What do you say?" he asked the Farmers.
The two glanced at each other, smiled then turned back to Ryan at the same time. "Sure, we'd be happy come with ya. By the way, the name's Applejack, weird name, I know. But y'all can just call me AJ." the young woman told Ryan, taking off her hat and brushing her hair back with her hand. Rebel just stared at her.
"Alright." he turned to Storm and Shade. "I'll call Commander Briggs and tell her to bring a garrison truck as well as two Titan Transports. Storm, you still got that water?" he asked, as Storm nodded and threw him a bottle. "Thanks, come guys, lets go head down to the road." as the five humans began to walk back down the hill, Rebel just stood there, staring after them.
"Pilot, are you alright?" the Ronin Titan asked Rebel.
"Huh? Oh, sorry. I think I just zoned out for a bit. Let's go." Rebel replied quickly, running to catch up with the group.
As the convoy of trucks arrived at the base, Storm and Rebel dismissed their respective Titans and turned to a concerned looking Briggs, who was nodding as Ryan explained to her what exactly had happened, as well as the Base Raider incident, and how the two apple farmers were going to stay on the base.
"Ah, I got you." Briggs answered, as the two Pilots approached. She turned to Rebel. "Pilot Vanguard, would you please escort Miss AJ and Macintosh to their own rooms?"
"Of course, Commander." Rebel answered, saluting. He motioned for the two farmers to follow him.
"As for the rest of you," Briggs turned back to the three other Pilots. "I suggest you all get some rest. You've been out all day. I excuse you from any other planned activities for the day." When the three of them saluted at the same time, she smiled and walked off.
"I don't know about you guys, but I'ma go take a nice, long nap." Storm said, walking off towards the barracks."
"Hey, Shade," Ryan called.
"Yeah?" Shade answered, turning to the lieutenant.
"You did well today. I apologize for the inconvenience of the recent events, but hopefully you'll continue any training with us for the next month."
"Of course. As tiring as it was, I still had fun and still feel great to have trained with one of the best Pilots in the Militia."
"Alright, that's good. Go get some rest." Ryan said, pointing him in the direction of the barracks. "Also, Storm and I will try to tone down the training from now on. We don't want to kill you." he added, walking off towards he and Felix's room.
As Ryan entered the room, he saw Felix passed out on the floor, with two empty bottles of vodka lying next to him. "He's gonna feel that in the morning." Ryan said to himself, chuckling as he drifted off to sleep.
