Chapter 14: Assault on the Factory

AN:So after that little point of view change, it's time to get back to our protagonist with the shitty luck! Oh but first off, I wanted to address the concern that one viewer had: Michael does have a semblance. The voice changing and the smoke screen? His power. Sorry it that wasn't clear. Now then, onto the story!

After Knightmare gave me control, I was semi confused. However, I could hear the last little part of what Aurora was telling him. "... Say hello to the world?" Wait what!? Oh shit, cameras. Double shit, they were all focused on me! I quickly shot out some smoke, and got the hell out of dodge. Thankfully, Aurora managed to put up the thermal imaging. So, while we had managed to deal with Silver, there was still the tech we had to deal with.

"Aurora try and find me a route to the area above. We stopped Silver, but we might as well make sure he doesn't start up business again." I said, hoping she had an answer. Instantly, she managed to find me a path. Alright let's do this.

Running through the halls, cause let's face it, I just told stealth fuck you, I nearly made to the staircase, when a guard shot out around the corner. He instantly swung a knife at me, which I dodged. I kicked at his right knee shattering it. He let out a small scream, but didn't falter, stabbing at me this time. Unfortunately for him I was ready. As soon as he stabbed at me, I twisted out of the way, grabbing his arm and snapping it like a twig. This time he did scream, but I quickly silenced him. Using his knife I sliced his throat, and he went down.

Thankfully the R&D was only on the floor above us, so we quickly made it in. Holy shit this was a lot of stuff. Alright let's get to work. I could see that Aurora was at work, considering the servers started to fry up. I quickly destroyed the prototypes on the tables. Thankfully there wasn't that many, so we managed to finish rather quickly. That's when Aurora shouted. "Michael get down!" Ah shit.

I duck quickly, avoiding the rather surprising burst of assault rifle fire. I moved, activating the suit's camo as I did, Damn, these guys were still firing. I quietly got behind them, and aimed my shotgun. One went down instantly, and I moved in quickly to finish the rest, the camo falling. I snapped the neck of one, and sliced another's throat with my sword. The last guy put up a decent fight. He pulled up his sidearm, firing at me. Shit. I tried to dodge, but I wasn't fast enough. He managed to shoot a few times, but the armor took the brunt of it, thankfully. After realizing that his peashooter wasn't going to help him, the guy tried to throw a punch. I grabbed his hand, crushing it in my grip, before kicking his legs out for under him. Before he could get up, I grabbed his head and slammed it into the wall next to us with a resounding CRACK! Alright, that takes care of that.

"Hey Michael, why don't we use that mech suit that Silver has stored here?" Aurora said. She must have been thinking ahead. Smart. "Yeah, probably would help with the tank and all." I said. At least there wasn't anymore problems beides to the dozen or so guards. Then Aurora's voice rang out of no where. "Uhh, Michael? We may want to move, like right now!" Oh shit, just jinxed myself didn't I? I shook my head and sighed. "What happened?" I asked tiredly.

Aurora tried to sound calm, but she was anything but."N-Nothing. Why? Nothings wrong. I can tell what didn't happen. Silver's men certainly didn't call in about thirty people for backup. Nope not at all." And now she was freaking out, All right, somethings up. I have to talk to her later. "Aurora… Look, we are talking about this later alright? Let's just move."

We were almost to Ascendant when Aurora stopped me. "Hey Michael?" She said. Oh great, what now? "What is it?" I said, looking around, only to see some weird glowing vials with... blue liquid? "Look you see those vials with the blue stuff in them? Can you put a few of them in here?" Aurora asked. Instantly a little compartment in my suit popped open. Huh, nice. But I did have a question. "Why do we need these again?" I asked. "So, this is one of Silver's more secretive projects, and I want a sample or two before you torch this thing. Look, I'll explain later. I promise." I'm going to regret this, but alright. I grabbed four of the vials and set the rest on fire. Alright, time to get Ascendant.

I was staring at Ascendant. It was... god alive it was beautiful. "Holy shit this is awesome." I managed to say. I was just about to make my way to the suit when the wall to the right of me exploded. FUCK ME.

I flew into the wall opposite of me. SON OF A BITCH! Immediately the HUD flashed, showing a scan of my body. 'Broken Ribs: 2, Fractured Arm: Left, Fractured Leg: Right, Bruised Lumbar: Multiple, Concussion, Semi Internal Bleeding. Suit attempting to treat. Recommendation: Run.' Oh hardy har har. I got up, groaning as I did. I could hear Aurora in the background.

"Michael? Michael are you alright?" She called out. Ow, no loud noises please. I shook my head. MOTHERFUCKER! Big mistake. "Yeah, I'm fine. What hit us?" Jade didn't hesitate.

"Incoming! Get down!" She yelled. Ignoring the VERY loud noises, I dropped, barely managing to dodge the gunfire. OH COME ON! I rolled behind some crates, and readied my shotgun. I peeked out behind cover and pulled the trigger, only to have the gun click. Shit. I tossed the gun away, ducking behind cover. I thankfully still had my rifle.

"Aurora, can you get me a scan? How many are there?" Instantly I saw… fifteen dots pop up, with one getting far too close. I waited behind the crates, popping my sword as I prepared to strike. The grunt managed to move five feet when I struck. I rammed the blade into the guys neck, ending him pretty quickly. Then I realized I fucked up.

"There he is! Open fire!" One of the other grunts shouted. I cursed as I ran to another area, making another smoke screen as I did. I had to get to Ascendant. Why so soon? Well I just got a little notification from the suit: WARNING ARMORED VEHICLE INBOUND. That just made me go faster. Thankfully the mech was already open, so all I had to do was get in.

Come on, come on. Almost… OW. Yep, left shoulder bullet wound. Alright I'm in! The doors shut, closing me inside. Instantly, all my limbs were clamped down. Oh boy, this reminds me a lot of the power loader from Aliens. 'Alright Michael, you just have to move, and the suit moves, got it?' Oh boy, this was going to suck. A HUD popped up, and I could suddenly see.

Alright, let's see, ammo? Yep. Railgun? Charging. Armor? Stable. Fuel? Spotty. How was I managing this? Aurora. Okay, let's see, just have to walk OKAY WE'RE MOVING! Woah this is a little, scratch that, VERY weird. Okay, one step at a time. Hey this was actually pretty easy. Suddenly, the HUD lit up as Silver's men started shooting. Okay, let's see, aim and OH SHIT. The autocannons lit up, and most of the guys were just SHREDDED.

Damn, well there goes that problem. Wait, why was the screen flashing WARNING? That's when I saw the missile. Shit. The armor took the impact, but by god that was still disorientating. The suit took aim and that guy was mist. Oh sweet, auto aim! That's when the vehicle Aurora told me about burst through the wall. Oh shit. 'Michael move! Armor or not, that thing has .50 caliber rounds!' Aurora shouted. FUCK! I managed to move, and thankfully avoided the barrage. The railgun was primed and ready, so I aimed and... HOLY SHIT. The railgun just ripped through the... what was that again? Ah fuck it, the damn thing was totaled anyway.

So yeah, I love this thing. That's when everything started going downhill. The HUD flashed again, this time showing something different. WARNING SUIT ENERGY NEARLY EXPENDED SELF DESTRUCT IMMINENT. Ah fuck. "Aurora, find me somewhere isolated now!" I shouted. Civilian casualties were not what I needed on my conscience right now. Instantly a marker showed up, around three hundred feet away. I immediately moved out of factory, and ran as fast as I could. Aurora also put up a little countdown timer. Cute. "Please tell me this has an ejector seat or something?" I asked Aurora. I asked because while she choose somewhere abandoned, she chose a small canal, so I needed I way out quick.

"Of course it does. I'll set it up as soon you. Oh." She managed to say, because I was already in the water. Aurora activated the ejector, and I was out of there. I couldn't say anything because I was just screaming. In joy or terror I didn't know. Anyway, thankfully this thing had some kind of chute, cause I was floating like a butterfly. I could see the mech glowing, and then the explosion kicked in. It wasn't that large, but the mech was totaled. I was very tempted to cry, because that thing was AWESOME dammit! Whatever. I landed, and got the hell out of there. Time to head home.

I got managed to get home, thankfully over the course of the my little trip. the suit managed to heal me a bit, but it still hurt to walk. Anyway, I ripped off my helmet, tossing it onto a little recliner I had, and was limping over to my couch when I realized something wasn't right. I sat down and was about to start taking off the armor when I heard a rather jovial voice.

"Ah Mr. Galloway! It's nice to see you survived the incident at Mr. Silver's factory! I was hoping to have a chat with you young man." I turned to where the voice came from, and saw someone on the chair across from me. He was an older man who looked to be in his sixties, dressed in a lab coat, and wearing a large pair of glasses. His hair was silver and he had a small beard. But the oddest part was his left arm. It looked normal, but it was... silver. Ah shit. That's when Aurora projected herself using the suit, which surprised me, because she never mentioned she could do that. "Daddy?" She whispered. Ahhh shit.

AN: HAHHAHA! I'm sorry, I couldn't resist! I once again blame my pal Dis Lexic, one of the best trolls I've ever known, for inspiring me to do this cliffhanger thing. Thanks buddy! This is where we're leaving off folks! Michael has come face to face with the mysterious Dr. Polendina, so let's see what happens from there shall we? Once again: Read, Review, and Enjoy! Until next time folks!