Act II
Chapter 11-4
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Week 5 - Day 4
Team Qualifiers Round 5-7 (Black Raven Match 4-6)
Black Raven vs Unnamed Team
Black Raven vs Unnamed Team
Black Raven vs Underdogs
"There he goes again..." Noland sighed.
"Cael...!" Alessia scolded.
The White Wolf had gone far ahead of it's teammates, dashing through the streets of the arena city and turning corners at speeds of 70 miles per hour. After a minute or so of searching, Cael found three out of their five opponents. Two ACs were bipedal ACs and the third a tank AC. They opened fire on the White Wolf the second it came into sight.
"I found them," Cael reported to his teammates while moving the White Wolf's shields into their forward facing positions as he charged in.
"Cael...! Noland, we need to back him up!" Alessia exclaimed. She was moving the Blackbird towards the fight with Noland and the Black Wolf just behind her.
"There's just three here," Cael reported. The White Wolf dashed in, causing the enemy ACs to scatter. The tank AC, that was too slow to get distance, was outmaneuvered by the White Wolf and Cael cut into the AC from behind with the White Wolf's swords.
The other two ACs continued to fire but the White Wolf returned it's shields to forward facing position as it dodged the attacks, blocking whichever ones would have hit. The two bipedals were doing a decent job at sticking together and when Cael noticed this he quickly dashed at them when they were close together. The White Wolf got in close, causing the two bipedals to seperate and surrounding the White Wolf on both sides.
Cael moved the White Wolf's shields to side facing positions to defend against the incoming attacks of the two bipedals. He was moving quickly and carefully to keep the two ACs from coming back together. He sheathed one of the White Wolf's swords, switching to a shotgun instead and spun the White Wolf towards the bipedal to his left. When the bipedal saw that the White Wolf was coming closer, it tried to outmaneuver Cael but to no avail. When Cael got within range he immediately fired his shotgun, blowing the head off the bipedal. He quickly followed that up by cutting a leg off of the bipedal.
The damaged bipedal's comrade tried to take the opportunity to attack the White Wolf from behind but, in the same motion that Cael cut off the damaged bipedal's leg, he got behind his opponent. The second bipedal's gatlingun's shots hit it's comrade instead of the White Wolf and it was it's shots that disabled the damaged bipedal AC. The bipedal backed away, realizing it's mistake but Cael pursued it.
Up on the highway, the Blackbird was being chased by two quadraped ACs. Alessia tried returning fire but the Blackbird had limited firepower compared to her two opponents. Noland was below the highway, doing his best to keep up with the mobile firefight taking place above him and occasionally he fired up at the highway when one of the enemy quadraped ACs got close enough to the guard railings.
"This isn't workin' out...!" Noland said to Alessia.
"Here...!" Alessia said as she sent Noland coordinates. The two ACs chasing her came up on both sides of the Blackbird and Alessia quickly hit the brakes just before they began firing. The two ACs stopped and tried turning to her however Alessia had already began moving forward again, zooming by her opponents. "Good thing they're rookies...!" Alessia laughed.
Noland swent to the coordinates Alessia had sent him and laughed when he saw that it was an entry ramp to the highway. Noland quickly drove the Black Wolf up the ramp and got onto the highway. In the distance, he could see the Blackbird making it's way towards him and he quickly began to set mines in each of the three highway lanes.
By the time Noland had finished, he could see the White Wolf chasing the enemy bipedal through the city. Noland quickly took up a position on the highway he felt was suitable to give him a good firing angle then, after aiming and waiting for the AC to slow down, the bipedal slowed to a near stop as it dodged the White Wolf's charge. In that moment, Noland fired the Black Wolf's back mounted rifle, hitting the bipedal in the leg and staggering it just long enough for Cael to finish it off with a shotgun shot to the leg followed by a sword slash to the remaining leg.
Noland adjusted the Black Wolf to face the incoming Blackbird and quadraped ACs. Noland deployed smoke mines at about the same time as Alessia did, creating a large, thick smoke screen. Alessia hit the Blackbird's brakes again, forcing it to a stop as she entered the smoke then an explosion from Noland's mines and a series of loud crashing sounds let her know that the trap had worked.
The two enemy quadrapeds had gotten covered in adhesive from the mines and the two ACs skid across the highway road as the emerged from the smoke. Noland finished them off at close range by shooting each of the ACs in the Core until they were disabled. The alarm that signaled the ending of the match echoed and the three Black Raven pilots rejoiced at their latest victory.
The team, while happy about their victory and sponsorship, took little time to celebrate. Cael had a weekly check up with Dr. Vinheim to ensure the Navis implant was functioning correctly. He spent much of his time in Dr. Vinheims care, allowing Dr. Vinheim to monitor and collect data on Cael. Alexander was always hard at work keeping the White Wolf repaired and directing the laid off workers from the Line in helping as they helped repair the Black Raven ACs. Thanks to the sponsorship from the Ark, the team could now afford to book simulator time at the arena and Noland spent much of his time there with Cael joining him three days out of the week. Alessia was doing a large amount of research on the other teams they would possibly be facing, not just rookie teams but pro teams they would have to overcome in the main tournament should they make it that far. When Lewis wasn't coaching Noland and Cael at the simulator he was helping Alessia come up with plans to combat their opponents. By the time the next week had come, they were prepared better than they had been all season.
In their fifth match of the season, Black Raven took on another rookie team. It was a three man team consisting of a heavy weight bipedal, a quadraped, and a light weight reverse joint. Alessia had come up with a plan for them to use in the match but Cael broke from the plan early on, attacking the reverse joint instead of the bipedal like Alessia had planned. Despite breaking from plan, they won the match quite easily.
Cael lured the reverse joint towards the highway as it fired at him from rooftops and to the reverse joint's surprise, Cael jettisoned all the White Wolf's armament's except for a shotgun. He went onto the entry ramp on the highway at full speed, coming onto the highway just as the reverse joint was landing on the highway after having jumped from the adjacent roof of a building. Cael got in close before it could jump again and disabled it with a single shotgun shot.
Noland engaged the heavy weight bipedal. It was well armored and carried two gatlinguns in it's hands as well as mounted on it's back. The four gatlinguns and thick armor made it hard for Noland to get in close but he overcame this by taking cover in buildings, doing his best to lure the bipedal onto tight roads with plenty of buildings to use as cover. Eventually, Noland tricked the bipedal by firing at the base of the wall behind the large foe. The wall fell on the heavy weight, forcing it to it's knee and Noland took the opportunity to get behind it, moving from cover to cover. When he was close enough, he unloaded all the Black Wolf's mines on the pinned bipedal, ensuring that it would unable to continue the fight.
The Blackbird and the quadroped were locked in a mobile firefight for a while. Neither had the advantage as they were both armed for support and not direct combat. Alessia eventually managed to lure the enemy quadroped to Cael and Noland who swiftly finished the AC and with that match concluded they immediately went back to work in the week leading up to their next match.
"We... can't lose..." Alessia said to herself as she prepared the Blackbird. Their next opponents weren't a rookie team like their previous opponents. It was a veteran team named Underdogs that Black Raven had faced several times in the past. The team consisted of two men and a woman. Aster, was the team's best pilot and Mega was the name of his AC. Bill, also called Young Bill by many to avoid confusion with Old Bill, was the pilot of the AC named Mean Time. Finally there was Trish, the pilot of the AC Lava but she is known for being the sister to Johanne Strasbourg, a well known pilot in the European AC League. Underdogs specialized in mobile combat, using hit and run tactics to get the upperhand.
The three pilots of team Underdogs made their way towards the Black Wolf just as Noland finished speaking to Alexander. When he saw them coming, Noland intercepted them. "Aster, Bilbo, Trish... Been a while..." Noland said casually and the three pilots laughed.
"Noland North... You look good for a guy who lost his arm..." Aster greeted him.
"I've been better..." Noland sarcastically. Aster smirked.
"You know... a lot of vets are talking about you guys... lots of whispers..." Aster said, his voice hushed.
"And what're they whispering?" Noland asked.
"May of heard something about how you guys're done in this league... That you'll never be as good as you were two years ago... that you're struggling with rookies..." Aster said smuggly.
"I guess it's a good thing we're not going up against tough opponents today then..." Noland said. The conversation had seemingly become confrontational as several people in the hangar were watching the scene unfold. After a brief moment of tension, Aster and Noland laughed as they shook hands.
"Enough with the trash talk. We gotta get to our hangar," Aster said, as he began to depart, "Good luck to you guys,"
"Same to you guys," Noland said. Bill shook Noland's hand, wished him good luck and followed behind Aster.
"There are people seriously saying those things about you guys..." Trish said as she shook Noland's hand, "but there are also a lot of us who look up to you guys for getting back in the game..."
"That's encouraging," Noland joked. Trish followed after her teammates and Noland went to the Black Wolf.
"What'd they say...?" Alexander asked as he helped Noland get into the cockpit of the Black Wolf.
"Just gave us another reason we have to win," Noland told him.
"Cael..." Lewis said to Cael who was in the White Wolf's cockpit, preparing the AC, "I understand why ya're impatient... but Underdogs aren't the rookies ya guys've been fightin'. Stick to Alessia's plan,"
Cael closed the cockpit as the White Wolf's Tesla engine hummed, bringing the White Wolf to life.
The gate opened and the White Wolf dashed out, heading straight towards the center of the city. Alessia followed close behind in the Blackbird while Noland in the Black Wolf headed towards the east side outskirts. The match went on for about a minute without anything happening as the Black Raven ACs searched many parts of the city carefully, lookng for their opponents.
"Alessia...?" Cael asked. Alessia was multitasking, piloting the Blackbird and the Sky-Eye at the same time.
"No sign of them..." Alessia reported. "Noland... anything?"
"Nothing. You sure you don't wan't me up on the highway? Or checking the tunnels?"
"You'll be too exposed on the highway. They took advantage of that the last we fought them. And if you're in the tunnels alone, you could get ambushed or you won't be able to back us up..." Alessia explained.
"Stick to the plan... Got it," Noland said.
"They're tactics have changed drastically since last time..." Alessia mumbled to herself.
"Alessia...!" Cael said, noticing a glare on his screen. He quickly moved the White Wolf to the Blackbird's rear, back to back with Alessia just as rifle rounds impacted the White Wolf's forward facing shields. Cael immediately returned fire with his machine gun while Alessia guarded his back. "It's gone...?" Cael said, noticing the glare was gone.
"They aren't showing up on the Blackbird's radar or the Sky-Eye's..." Alessia said to herself.
Noland turned the corner, searching for any signs of the Underdog ACs. As the timer showed that three minutes had passed, he began heading back towards his teammates. It was in that moment that he saw a glare in building. He was about to open fired but realized he wasn't being attacked. He moved the Black Wolf closer to the building and was in awe of what he saw. "Get to the tunnels...!" Noland ordered his teammates. Noland saw that the glare in the building was being cause by a jamming device.
"What's going on, Noland?" Alessia asked.
"They're using jamming devices...!" Noland said, shooting the device, "They could be closer than we think -"
In that moment, Underdogs began their attack starting with Mega, a quadraped AC armed with two back mounted chain guns and two arm mounted shields that attacked Noland head on. Noland returned fire with his machinegun while doing his best to avoid the Mega's bullets, keeping his shield up to block the bullets he couldn't evade. Noland found himself overwhelmed by the rapid attacks of the Mega. "They're using quad legs...!" Noland reported to his teammates.
Noland had trouble keeping up with Aster who was circling to Noland's left at a faster speed than the Black Wolf could adjust. "Damn...!" Noland cursed when the Mega got pass the angle range of the Black Wolf's shield and bullets from the Mega's chainguns began buffeting the left side of the Black Wolf. Seeing the danger of his situation, Noland drove the Black Wolf head first into a building, crashing through it's wall.
Alessia and Cael were making their way towards their comrade. As they were approaching, a quadraped ran right in between them. Alessia attempted to fire at it but it never stopped. The AC just kept going forward, crossing over to the next street and disappearing after turning a corner. Cael adjusted the White Wolf, turning it around to face the Blackbird thinking the Underdogs AC was still behind him. When he had seen the AC fleeing, he was about to go after it. "Cael, no! It's a trap. We need to get to Noland" Alessia said. Cael halted his pursuit and rejoined Alessia as the continued on their way to Noland's location.
The Black Wolf and Mega were engaging in an intense firefight. On several occassions Noland was forced to crash the Black Wolf into a building to prevent the Mega from getting to his weak spot. When Noland had crashed for the fourth third time, he removed his helmet before getting back into the fight. He and Aster resumed their firefight as if there were no pauses in between, picking the fight back up at a fast pace. Noland was sweating, his breathing fast and heavy as he did everything in his power to keep up with Aster, to keep the Mega from outmaneuvering the Black Wolf.
"We're almost to you, Noland!" Alessia said as she and Cael approached Noland's location.
"To the right..!" Cael said as he fired his machinegun at the Underdogs AC approaching them. It dodged the attack and changed it's course. "That AC... two different emblems... Trish, Strasbourg...!"
"Lava... She's trying to draw us away...!" Alessia concluded. Cael grunted in anger. Trish had attacked them several times on route to Noland.
"I'm... tired of this! Alessia, get to Noland," Cael said slowing the White Wolf to a stop.
"Cael, what're you doing? This isn't the plan!" Alessia scolded.
"I'm taking the bait...!" Cael said. As if on cue, Trish's AC, Lava, launched another hit and run attack, firing it's machinguns. Cael fired back and the Lava changed it's course as it dodged the attack. Cael went after it, despite Alessia's disapproval.
"Cael...!" Alessia shouted.
"Get to Noland!" Cael ordered as he chased Trish. Alessia reluctantly headed towards Noland who was still engaging Aster and the Mega.
Noland groaned as the Black Wolf took several direct hits to the cockpit. He crashed into a building in order to cover his flank. "Dammit..." he said, moving his arm and wrist around.
He checked the timer and saw that twelve minutes had passed since the start of the match. "Eight minutes left... I'm sure he's already got 100 points from me..." Noland said wiping the sweat from his head. He gasped when he saw the Mega burst into the building the Black Wolf was resting in. "Damn...!"
The White Wolf chased the Lava throught the streets, firing at the speedy AC. Trish didn't return fire, instead she just avoided Cael's attacks as she ran away. Cael scoffed at the situation. "She's not fighting... an ambush..." Cael thought out loud. "If that's the case... I'll just take you down before we get to the ambush point...!"
Cael dropped both the White Wolf's machineguns and then jettisoned both the shields. He drew both the White Wolf's shotguns, spun the White Wolf and jammed both the shotguns into a building's wall. When the White Wolf was facing forward again he drew both the swords and immediately jammed one into the road. With all but one of the White Wolf's armaments dropped, Cael watched as he drew closer and closer to the Lava as the White Wolf's speed had increased.
Seeing that Cael was on her heels, Trish did an about-face, firing at the White Wolf. Cael ignored the counterattack, instead he lunged at the Lava, stabbing and severing the arm of Trish's AC. As it fell to the ground, Cael rotated the hand of the White Wolf and cut off one of the Lava's front legs as the White Wolf overtook the Lava. The Lava spun out but Trish regained her balance, backing the Lava away. Since Cael had gotten ahead of her, she had no choice but to retreat the way they had come. Cael pursued her as she continued firing at the White Wolf with only a single machinegun.
"She only has the machineguns...?" Cael thought aloud, noticing that the Lava hadn't attack with back mounted weapons. "She must've been the one planting the jammers! If that's the case..."
"No choice but to..." Noland grunted as he dettached the Black Wolf's shield arm. He dodged several of Aster's attacks but he was still being slightly outpaced by the Mega. "Not fast enough... I'll have to -"
"Noland!" Alessia called out just as she fired the Blackbird's rifle at the Mega. Aster had the Mega dodge the attack narrowly but this gave Noland the opportunity to attack with his back mounted rifle. His attack caught Aster off guard and he managed to damage one of the Mega's back legs.
"Where's Cael?" Noland asked as Aster retreated.
"He broke from the plan..." Alessia told him.
"Got you now...!" Cael said as he had the White Wolf pick up the sword it had plunged into the road earlier. He lunged at the Lava, stabbing and slashing at his enemy. His attacks damaged the Lava's machinegun causing Trish to drop it. Cael jammed both of his swords into the ground as he spun the White Wolf, grabbing the White Wolf's shotguns from the wall he had placed them in. Once he was facing the Lava again, he immediately fired both of them, damaging the Lava's last front leg and causing it to skid then eventually crash. Cael quickly finished off the AC by shooting it's Core at point blank range. He scanned the area, expecting Bilbo's AC, Mean Time or Aster's AC, Mega to be approaching to assist their comrade. "If neither of them are here... then... Alessia, Noland..."
"A trap...!" Alessia said as Bilbo's AC, Mean Time began it's assault. She and Noland had followed the Mega into what was meant to be a floodway. The Mean Time was waiting there, firing a barrage of missiles at the Black Wolf and Blackbird as they entered the floodway.
"Adhesives...!" Noland exclaimed after seeing what was in the missile when some of the incoming missiles missed, hitting the ground nearby. He and Alessia quickly tried backing away to escape the volley of adhesive missiles raining down on them. Missiles hit the Blackbird's shield arm and a front leg wheel just as Alessia managed to escape the barrage although Noland was not as lucky. The Black Wolf wasn't as fast as the Blackbird and it was hit by several adhesive missiles. The impact of the missiles knocked the Black Wolf on it's back and the adhesives pinned it to the ground.
"Cael, Noland's down and both Mega and Mean Time are here," Alessia reported as she began examining the Mean Time.
"I'm already on my way," Cael told her.
"Their ACs use to all be bipedals..." Alessia thought aloud. She gasped when she saw the Mean Time jettison it's missile launchers revealing the two back mounted rifles on it's back. "That was... an extension?"
Both of the Underdogs ACs were already advancing towards Alessia. She tried to run away but noticed an operation error in the Blackbird's front left leg. "The wheel's jammed...!" she said aloud.
She turned the Blackbird back towards her opponents as they grew closer. The Blackbird wouldn't be able to outrun them, not with a jammed wheel, so she would have to fight off both the Mega and the Mean Time until Cael arrived. Alessia looked at the timer and saw that there were less than five minutes left in the match.
The second that they were in range, both the Mega and Mean Time opened fire with their chainguns. Alessia attempted to avoid some of the bullets but ultimately failed. The jammed wheel of the Blackbird slowed the it down so Alessia changed tactics as she fired back with her rifle.
Instead of trying to avoid their attacks, Alessia went towards them, trying to do as much damage as possible. Many of her shots missed but she managed to land several though none of them caused any significant damage. As the timer reached four minutes, Alessia made a last ditch effort to do some damage to the two ACs circling her. She rushed at the Mega, firing her rifle, in an attempt to tackle it but her attack failed as the Mean Time blew out one of the Blackbird's back legs, halting her rush as the Mega shot the Blackbird's rifle, damaging it. Unable to move the Blackbird, Alessia had no choice but to sit and wait for the Underdogs ACs to finish the Blackbird off.
Cael dashed straight into the middle of the fight, firing his shotguns at the two Underdogs ACs. They kept circling the White Wolf as it engaged them and their battle began leading them away from the Blackbird. Cael kept mobile, dancing in, out and around his two opponents. He fired his shotguns at them every time they were in his range and Cael took occassional glances at the ammo counter for his shotguns, dreading the moment when the ammo counter reached zero.
He glanced at the timer, now at less than two minutes, and began to increase the pace of his attack. When his shotguns were empty, he spun the White Wolf, releasing the shotguns as he did and quickly had the White Wolf draw it's swords. One of his shotguns hit the Mean Time and the force from the impact staggered it. Cael saw this and immediately attacked it, cutting off one of it's front legs then following through by cuting of the back leg on the same side. The Mean Time fell to the ground, two of it's legs missing.
Cael was about to finish it off but the Mega was attacking ferociously now. Cael ignored the Mean Time and the Mega's chaingun fire, lunging towards the Mega, stabbing it's Core. The White Wolf's blade plunged deep into the Mega's Core, disabling it seconds later. Cael returned to the Mean Time and jammed his sword through the side of it's Core. With less than a minute left, the match had ended and Black Raven had won yet again.