Act II
Chapter 14
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Week 13 - Day 3
Preliminaries Round 2
Black Raven vs Dread Scythe
"It's gonna be heavier now that it's fully equipped," Alexander said as he stood on the Black Wolf's cockpit, watching Noland check all the controls.
"I'll manage... Could use you out there though," Noland said.
"I'm just a mechanic," Alexander said, stepping down from the cockpit onto the catwalk. "Watch yourself out there... Those guys are..."
"No need to tell me..." Noland said as he put his helmet on and closed the cockpit. The Black Wolf had a new shield mounted onto the left arm, a new machinegun, a new back mounted rifle, new high capacity adhessive mine launchers, and a new back mounted adhessive missile launcher. Noland struggled with the weight of the control stick as he moved the Black Wolf forward but he got a grip on it, straightening it out as he moved the Black Wolf towards the gate.
Across from where the Black Wolf had been prepped, Alessia and Lewis were preparing the Blackbird. Lewis watched as the Black Wolf stood at the gate, straightening itself out. Alessia checked the controls of the Blackbird, moving it's wheels and cameras. "Everything checks out," she said as Alexander arrived.
"All the new missiles you wanted'll slow you down..." Alexander said.
"I can't outrun them anyway. I need to fight in this match, not just be support..." Alessia said.
"Goes without sayin'... Don't underestimate 'em at any point. They won't be tryin' to win by scorin' points," Lewis said solemnly.
"I'd have to be stupid to think that..." Alessia said, closing the Blackbird's cockpit. Alexander ran down the catwalk to the White Wolf's station as the Blackbird headed toward the gate behind the Black Wolf. Lewis headed over to the White Wolf as well where Dr. Vinheim was was directing Cael on the new upgrades he had added after the team Amazon fight.
"I honestly didn't think you'd come through doc. Your team's pretty dam' good at makin' ACs," Alexander said, watching Cael check the White Wolf's controls.
"Neither did I. It was damaged so badly that I thought we would have to make a White Wolf four. Luckily, one of my other clients is a fan of Black Raven. When I told him about the damaged White Wolf he was practically ecstatic about providing my team with what they needed to fix it." Dr. Vinheim explained.
"Hear that, Cael? Sounds like you got a rich fan!" Alexander joked.
"Anything I should know about before I go?" Cael asked.
"Well... nothing I can think of," Dr. Vinheim said as he and Noland backed away from the cockpit.
"Cael," Lewis called as he approached, his call stopping Cael as he was about to close the cockpit. "I don't know what's goin' on in ya head but whatever it is... Settle it today. Don't get reckless though or ya'll lose. Got it?"
"... Got it..." Cael said as he closed the cockpit. The White Wolf came to life and the cockpit lit up in several places where there hadn't been lights before. Cael drove the White Wolf to the gate behind Alessia, inhaling and exhaling. Lewis, Alexander and Dr. Vinheim made their way to the operation room as the gate opened. The three Black Raven ACs headed into the tunnel as the gate closed behind them.
"I hear this Dread Scythe team are quite the contenders," Dr. Vinheim said as he sat in a chair behind Lewis who was watching the large monitor.
"It's thanks to 'em ya got to..." Lewis began but remembered that there was a referee in the room. "Yeah... they're tough bastards,"
"The White Wolf didn't have the Blitz Arms, I noticed," Dr. Vinheim pointed out, "You plan on saving them?"
"One way or another, we don't expect to make it out of the arena in one piece today," Lewis explained, "If we use it today, it'll be mid-match when we have it dock with the White Wolf. Besides, I like havin' an ace in the hole,"
"I see... Well, I suppose I can wait a while but you will be using them before the end of the season?" Dr. Vinheim asked.
"Not usin' 'em would be shootin' ourselves in the foot," Lewis answered.
"No training, no plan, and two pilots less than the first time we fought 'em..." Noland said sarcastically.
"We have a plan and we'll just have to make do and wing it," Alessia countered.
"Winging it and suicide are two very different things," Noland joked.
"Well I only had a few days to come up with something you two could learn in a day... Not like you two were a big help with the planning..." Alessia said scoldingly.
"Our bad. Right, Cael?" Noland apologized but Cael gave no response. He sat in the White Wolf's cockpit, his eyes closed, waiting. As the countdown came close to the ten second count, Alessia put on her helmet and Noland flexed his fingers. The beeping of the ten second countdown began. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one...
The Black Wolf scratched against the wall of the tunnel as it dashed forward but Noland centered it once he was out. The Blackbird followed the Black Wolf, dashing forward, out of the tunnel. Cael inhaled then exhaled, putting on his helmet and taking the White Wolf's controls.
"Where's Cael?" Noland asked as the Black Bird pulled up next to him.
"He didn't launch?" Alessia asked.
"Cael...?" Lewis called.
Cael leaned the White Wolf forward, pressing hard on the pedals. The White Wolf's wheels spun but the White Wolf stayed in place as smoke gathered in the tunnel. Seconds later, the White Wolf dashed out of the tunnel speeding past his teammates as he headed toward the downtown area of the arena city.
"And there he goes..." Noland said.
"The other reason I kept the plan simple," Alessia said, "Leave Solomon to him. We need to focus on the other two."
"Betting the match on whether or not Cael can be Solomon... This is crazy..." Noland said.
"That's the only way we can get the numbers advantage," Alessia reminded Noland. The two of them headed along the same route as Cael, Noland keeping the Black Wolf out in front to shield the Blackbird as it deployed the Sky-Eye drone.
Cael didn't have to look for the Dread Scythe ACs because they were waiting for him at the intersection in the middle of the city. Cael saw the Fina and the Dark Queen but his eyes, his focus, were only on the Blaze Knight waiting in the rear. As the White Wolf drew closer to his opponents, Cael's body tensed, anticipating the Solomon's comrades to attack but they didn't. When Cael had passed the two of them, he realized they weren't going to attack him and his eyes widened as the realization hit him that Solomon was within his grasp.
Alessia and Noland arrived, seeing that Laurence and Dusk had let Cael through to Solomon. They kept their weapons trained on the Fina and the Dark Queen as they approached. Then, after they had gottten closer, the Fina drew it's sickle swords and jumped at the two Black Raven ACs. Cael had the White Wolf draw one of it's machineguns and fire it at the Blaze Knight.
The Blaze Knight, armed with a new rifle, dodged the White Wolf's attacks and the two ACs began to circle one another. Solomon had the Blaze Knight fire it's rifle, hitting the White Wolf's shield and causing it to spin out. Cael quickly recovered, drawing his second machinegun and firing it at the Blaze Knight. The Blaze Knight blocked the White Wolf's bullets with the shield on it's left shoulder, firing it's rifle at the building and creating a hole that he went through to enter the building. Cael wasted no time, entering the building and chasing after the Blaze Knight. Solomon drove the Blaze Knight up the ramps inside the building keeping the Blaze Knight facing the White Wolf as it chased him.
"Cael, what ya doin'? It's a trap! If the White Wolf falls from that height you're out...!" Lewis said.
"The same goes for him...!" Cael said, pressing harder on the pedals, firing his machineguns at the Blaze Knight.
The Fina's sickle sword cut into the Black Wolf's shield as it backed away. Alessia circled around to the Fina's rear, firing the Blackbird's rifle at it's Core and cockpit. The Fina jumped backwards, it's reverse jointed legs allowing it to vault over the Blackbird. Once behind the Blackbird, the Fina tried to stab the it's four legged opponent but had to evade the incoming rifle rounds from the Black Wolf by jumping away. The Fina jumped into a building, crashing through it's wall and landing on it's third floor.
"He's quick..." Noland said as he fired his machinegun at the Fina as it looked down at him.
"The other one hasn't moved..." Alessia said, taking a quick glance at the Dark Queen that had been standing still since the fighting started.
"Better for us. We wanted the numbers advantage after all," Noland joked. He moved the Black Wolf away from the building as the Fina jumped down from the third floor. As soon as it had landed it jumped again, lunging at the Black Wolf. Noland narrowly dodged the Fina's slash, the sickle sword cutting once again into the Black Wolf's shield.
Alessia fired the adhesive missiles that were attached to the Blackbird's shoulders but the Fina jumped over them as it lunged at her. The Blackbird zig zagged away from it's attacker, firing it's rifle to cover it's retreat. The Fina dashed at the Blackbird, keeping it's wheels on the ground, matching the Blackbird's zig zagging movement and when it had drawn near, Alessia flipped the switch that toggled the missile launchers on the front legs, firing them at the Fina at close range. The missiles impacted the Fina created, a large smoke screen came forth, obscurring Alessia's vision but also Laurence's. Alessia toggled back to the adhesive missile launchers as she moved the Blackbird away just as the Fina burst through the smoke bringing it sickle swords down on the spot where the Blackbird had just left less than a second earlier.
"Noland!" Alessia called.
"I see him...!" Noland said, targetting the Fina through the thick smoke screen thanks to the tracking gel that was in the smoke missiles. Noland fired the Black Wolf's back mounted rifle and seconds later a loud impact could be heard. Noland continued firing his rifle at the spot where the Fina was and Alessia joined in on the opposite side, firing her rifle.
"One down..." Noland sighed as the signal from the tracking gel split into several smaller signals. Alessia exhaled as she glanced at the building where the Dark Queen was standing but gasped when she saw that it was no longer there.
"Noland...!" she called out. As the smoke cleared, the Dark Queen stood facing the Black Wolf, it's shield up and dented after blocking the Black Wolf's attacks. The Fina was back to back with the Dark Queen. It's core, where the tracking gel was, had been damaged and the pieces of metal that was covered by the gel had been blown off.
Cael and Solomon were locked in combat as they circled each other, one attacking, the other blocking or dodging while counterattacking. They were on the sixth floor of the building, their ACs creating sparks as they narrowly avoided crashing their ACs into the wall as they fought. The Blaze Knight fired it's arm mounted machinegun at the White Wolf but the White Wolf blocked the attack with it's shields. The White Wolf in turn turned it's shields to their outward positions, bringing it's machineguns to up to aim at the Blaze Knight but Solomon was expecting the move.
Solomon quickly fired the Blaze Knight's rifle at the White Wolf's Core, causing the White Wolf to spin out and crash into the wall behind it. Cael's hit his head against the back of the cockpit chair, his helmet keeping him safe and then he clenched his teeth as he recovered, seeing the Blaze Knight standing there, not following up. The White Wolf fired one of it's machinguns at the Blaze Knight but it dodged the attack as it retreated, heading up another ramp to the roof. Cael followed, dodging the Blaze Knight's machingun fire as he got onto the roof.
The two began circling each other again, keeping the circle tight due to the edges of the roof having small guards. After a minute of nonstop fighting, Cael finally found an opening and he took it. He spun the White Wolf, dodging the Blaze Knight's machinegun fire, then once he was facing the Blaze Knight, he blocked the Blaze Knight's rifle shot with his shield. He followed up by trying to fire the right hand machinegun but the Blaze Knight's own machinegun fired, destroying it.
Cael quickly brought the left hand machinegun up and dashed in at the Blaze Knight. He pulled the trigger with the Blaze Knight at point blank range but nothing happened. The machinegun was empty. Cael's eyes widened, his shock causing him to pause for longer than he should have but the Blaze Knight didn't move. It stood there with the White Wolf's machingun pointed directly at it's Core.
"Well I'm honestly conflicted. I feel like I should be rooting for Mr. Nox but if Mr. Burnes continues to push him at this level I'll have a splendid amount of data on the White Wolf to go through. Hmm..." Dr. Vinheim thought aloud as he cleaned his glasses.
"Ya should get ya priorities straight, doc," Lewis said, "Cael, Alessia an' Nol're havin' a rough time. The whole match depends on if ya can beat Solomon or not, so get to it...!"
Lewis' words snapped Cael out of his shock. He backed the White Wolf away, dropping his empty machinegun as he did and was about to have the White Wolf draw it's shotguns when a new shock paralyzed him. Cael watched as the Blaze Knight dropped it's rifle and drew it's sword.
Cael, his teeth clenched, had the White Wolf draw it's swords as well. "If that's how you want it..." Cael mumbled to himself as he dashed towards the Blaze Knight. The White Wolf slashed at the Blaze Knight but the attack was blocked by the Blaze Knight's shoulder mounted shield. The Blaze Knight circled around to the White Wolf's flank before Cael could follow through with the White Wolf's second sword.
Cael reacted quickly, spinning the White Wolf around to face the Blaze Knight as it charged him. The two ACs locked sword, Cael defending with his swords crossed to keep the Blaze Knight's blade from slicing the White Wolf's head in half. Solomon adjusted the position of the Blaze Knight's blade, bringing his AC closer to the blades, trying to force the White Wolf back and, when Cael realized what Solomon was doing, he pressed down hard on the pedals, countering the Blaze Knight's force. The two seemed equally matched but Cael noticed movement on the Blaze Knight's legs.
"Those are...!" Cael exclaimed as the structures on the Blaze Knight's legs opened, revealing a pair of hidden boosters. Flames spewed from the boosters as they propelled the Blaze Knight forward, pushing the White Wolf back despite Cael's efforts. In a last ditch effort, Cael took his foot off the pedal and reversed tire direction, allowing himself to be pushed back.
The White Wolf and the Blaze Knight went far over the edge of the building's roof. Cael watched as the Blaze Knight's boosters pushed it far enough to reach the rooftop of the nearest building with a low elevation but he knew he would not be as lucky. The Blaze Knight's boosters adjusted themselves so that they faced the rooftop, trying to reduce the impact of the fall. It did several spins the moment it made contact with the roof, digging it's sword in the roof and narrowly avoiding falling off the opposite end.
Meanwhile, Cael quickly rotated the White Wolf's hands and dug his own swords into the wall of the building, attempting to slow his fall. As he did this, one of his swords broke, causing all the White Wolf's weight to be focused on it's left arm. The White Wolf landed, hard, and the impact winded the already hyperventilating so Cael breathed quickly, trying to regain his breathe. The White Wolf's left arm had been heavily damaged at the shoulder joint and would no longer function properly so Cael had it plunge it's sword into the road so that he could grab it with the right hand.
"Well that's interesting," Dr. Vinheim said as he watched the Black Wolf's feed.
"What's interesting?" Alexander asked.
"That gold AC reminds me of a monkey," Dr. Vinheim explained.
"A monkey? Why a monkey?" Alexander asked, confused.
"The hands..." Dr. Vinheim said.
"What? They look like the average AC hands. Why do they remind you of a monkey?" Alexander asked, even more confused.
Noland moved the Black Wolf out of the way just as the Fina brought it's sickle swords down and circled to his opponent's side. Noland was now in a position to score a hit on the golden AC and he was close enough so that the Fina wouldn't be able to jump away in time to dodge his attack. The Black Wolf launched adhesive mines at the Fina but Noland was surprised by the sound of metal being crushed along with the damage reports for the Black Wolf's leg popping up on his screen. "That's new...!" Noland shouted as he backed away, dettaching the armor on the Black Wolf's left leg along with it's mine launchers.
"I meant those hands," Dr. Vinheim said, reffering to the hands hidden in the Fina's feet, "Well, maybe they're feet more so than hands,"
"Didn't think to give me a heads up?" Noland asked, overhearing the doctor.
"I only just noticed it when he jumped towards you," Dr. Vinheim said.
"Dam' things' a monster..." Lewis said, "Nol, how's the Black Wolf?"
"It's fine," Noland said as he dodged the the Fina's incoming slashes, "On the bright side, he's a bit lighter now,"
"Nol!" Alessia called out. Noland got out of the way of Alessia's incoming adhesive missile barrage. Noland used Alessia's distraction to put distance between the Black Wolf and the Fina.
"What happened to Dusk?" Noland asked.
"She wasn't even fighting me. She was just luring me away from you so I came back here," Alessia told him.
"These guys're..." Noland mumbled.
Their talk was cut short when the Fina began running almost perpendicular across the sides of buildings, it's feet-hands gripping building.
"That is... so cool..." Noland said in awe of the Fina as it approached.
"Be impressed later! He's comin' right at ya!" Lewis yelled.
Noland fired the Black Wolfs machinegun, moving to the opposite side of the street and backing away as the Fina came closer. Alessia fired two of smoke missiles from the vertical launchers on the Blackbird's back legs as she fired her rifle at the Fina, then the Fina pushed off the building at the last moment, dodging Alessia's attack and landing next to the Black Wolf. The Fina kicked the Black Wolf that blocked the attack with it's shield, pushing the Black Wolf back as it jumped towards the Blackbird.
Alessia began to backpedal, zig zagging and firing her rifle. The Fina dodged all her shots as it made it's moved, jumping and lunging at the Blackbird. Alessia fired the last round in her rifle and dropped it in the instant one of the Fina's sickle swords cut into it. She backed the Blackbird away as the Fina made a second lunge, this time stabbing at the Blackbird but Alessia raised the Blackbird's shield to protect the Core.
The tip of Fina's blade pierced through the shield and stabbed into the Blackbird's arm. Alessia dismissed the beeping and the on screen damage report as she did she furiously worked the Blackbird's controls to keep the still pushing Fina from driving it's blade any deeper. Noland, seeing the Fina locked into it's attack, took the opportunity to take aim with the Black Wolf's rifle. He fired the moment that his target lock was confirmed but the Dark Queen dashed onto the road, blocking Noland's rifle rounds with it's shield.
Noland immediately fired another shot from his rifle, not waiting for the target lock, aiming at the Dark Queen. Noland gasped when he saw what happened next. To Noland's disbelief, the Dark Queen had not just dodged the bullet but deflected it as well, causing the rifle round to impact a building instead of going towards the Fina that was still pushing the Blackbird back.
"That reaction speed...!" Lewis gasped.
"Is that even possible?" Alexander asked.
Alessia grunted as the back of the cockpit smashed against a building. The Fina's blade was still skewering the Blackbird's shield and arm. It had pushed the Blackbird far down the road from where the Black Wolf was and Noland wouldn't be able to reach Alessia in time to help.
Laurence realized that his blade wouldn't be able to reach the Blackbird's cockpit and backed the Fina away just far enough to maneuver the Fina's legs while keeping the tip of his blade inside the Blackbird's arm. The Fina lifted one of it's legs, the hand in the bottom of the feet revealing itself, and grabbed the Blackbird's shield, crushing it slightly while ripping it off. Alessia detonated her smoke missiles, creating a smoke screen but the Fina stabbed the Blackbird in the shoulder, pinning it to the building.
Alessia manually input the command to detach the Blackbird's damaged arm from the Core and drove the Blackbird forward, tackling the Fina. With the Blackbird's cockpit off the wall, Alessia deployed the Sky-Eye before the Fina pushed her AC back against the wall. The Fina reared it's arms back slightly, preparing to impale the Blackbird but Alessia had the Sky-Eye crash into the Fina, tackling the golden AC with the Blackbird immediately after. The Fina had to jump backwards to keep it's footing but it gave Alessia enough space to drive the Blackbird away.
"She's toying with me..." Noland mumbled to himself. He had been attacking the Dark Queen, shooting it's machineguns at the bipedal, but the Dark Queen dodged all of his attacks. When Noland got in close, the Dark Queen used it's scythe to destroy his machinegun but it didn't follow up with a counterattack, instead choosing to back away.
"If that's the case..." Noland said as he put distance between the Black Wolf and the Dark Queen. He fired his missiles at the Dark Queen but Dusk continued to evade his attacks. Noland fired a second volley of missiles, quickly switching to his rifle and firing it as soon as he could. The Dark Queen dodged the missiles and blocked his rifle shot with it's shield.
The White Wolf and the Blaze Knight dashed through the streets of the arena city with buildings passing them by and when Cael saw an opening, he crossed over onto the street Solomon was on then the two of them clashed swords. The Blaze Knight would always force the White Wolf back and try to follow up with it's machineguns however Cael would drive the White Wolf back to the street it had come from as a building blocked the Blaze Knight's bullets. The Blaze Knight prepared to meet the White Wolf as it attempted to cross over again but Cael saw his opportunity as well. He crashed the White Wolf through a building, coming out on the other side and tackling the Blaze Knight.
The two ACs crashed through the wall of another building but the Blaze Knight quickly got the upperhand when it used it's boosters again, throwing the White Wolf into one of the building's walls. The Blaze Knight backed out of the building through the hole the two ACs had entered in and the White Wolf dashed at it, locking swords as they both started dashing down the street. The White Wolf's cockpit was lit up with warning signals and a damage report of the White Wolf that showed that every part of the frame had been compromised. The two ACs continued to clash, neither of them getting the upperhand until the Blaze Knight managed to overpower the White Wolf and cause it to crash.
The White Wolf clashed swords with the Blaze Knight again but this time Cael's eyes widened when he saw the cockpit lights flicker. The hum from the White Wolf's Tesla engine quieted down and eventually stopped as the lights in the cockpit turned off. The Blaze Knight took a step away from the White Wolf, storing it's sword. The White Wolf's emergency power kicked in and the AC began powering up again. The Blaze Knight placed it's left hand on the White Wolf's Core then, As the power returned to the White Wolf, the screen came back on but only for a moment as it immediately turned back off as the screen cracked.
"That was..." Alexander said, shocked and unable to finish his sentence.
"A pile bunker... hidden in it's arm..." Lewis said.
"It no doubt uses the hydraulics from the upper arm to supplement it's power... A most impressive design..." Dr. Vinheim said, impressed.
"What happened," Alessia asked, "Is Cael okay?"
As she listened for a response, the Fina that had been pursuing her leapt over the Blackbird, stabbing the Blackbird's legs when it had landed. Alessia gasped, not expecting the Fina to have overtaken her so abruptly. With the Blackbird's legs disabled and her weapons gone, Alessia was unabled to defend herself when the Fina drove both it's sickle swords down into her AC's Core, forcing it's shutdown.
The Dark Queen quickly closed in on the Black Wolf, avoiding it's rifle shots and slashing the rifle's barrel to disable it. Noland backed the now defenseless Black Wolf away but the Dark Queen prevented his escape by using it's grappling hook. Noland braced himself for the Dark Queen's next attack but a few seconds passed by without the Dark Queen attacking.
"It's over Nol," Lewis' said, "Cael an' Alessia're down. No point in damagin' the Black Wolf anymore,"
"Damn..." Noland said, taking his feet off the pedals and opening his cockpit. He climbed out of the cockpit and stood next to the Black Wolf's head. The beeping sound that heralded the end of the match played the moment he opened his cockpit. The Dark Queen released the Black Wolf and Dusk also climbed out of her cockpit.
The two teams met in one of the arena's lobbies, crowds of fans cheering for their team and journalist clamoring to have their questions answered.
"Well fought," Solomon said, extending his hand to Alessia.
"Well fought," Alessia said cheerfully, shaking Solomon's hand then stepping to the side to shake Laurence's hand.
"Where's your third pilot? Dusk?" Noland asked as he shook Solomon's hand.
"She didn't want to come. I assure you she meant no disrespect, it's just that she can be quite shy around large groups of people," Solomon told him, taking a quick glance at the crowds of people observing. Noland stepped to the side to shake Laurence's hand and Laurence arrogantly smirked as they did.
As Cael stepped up, Solomon extended his hand, the two of their eyes locked. Lewis, Alexander, Alessia and Noland looked on, worried about what Cael would do. Cael looked down at Solomon's hand, and clenched his fists. The crowd grew silent when they saw Cael wasn't accepting the handshake.
"I wasn't sure before," Cael said, "but now I'm certain..."
"What do you mean?" Solomon asked.
"You were trying to kill us two years ago..." Cael said. His teammates were surprised and the crowd began whispering, talking about what Cael had just said. Solomon's expression became stern for a brief second before he lowered his hand and smiled.
"I see. You're upset about your loss. I never thought you were the type to be a sore loser... but throwing baseless accusations like that around because you lost is disgraceful..." Solomon said.
"Baseless?" Cael asked.
"Cael's not the type..." Lewis said to himself as he observed the scene unfold. Alessia heard him and then went to Cael's side.
"What're you doing?" she asked Cael as he and Solomon stared each other down.
"Think about it," Cael said to Alessia, not taking his eyes off Solomon's, "Their ACs've been upgraded since then... but they didn't need upgraded ACs to do what they did,"
"As I've said many times before, it was a mistake. We got carried away and you and your team were hurt because of it. You would know that had you not hid yourself away," Solomon said, amusement in his voice. A side glance at Laurence and Cael could see that he was holding back laughter behind his wide smile.
"Did you get carried away back then? Didn't seem to take you much effort to beat us today," Cael said.
"Tell me, do things stay the same for two years in your eyes? We did learn restraint, believe it or not," Solomon said sarcastically.
"It's not just the restraint, it's the skill. You guys showed up with a superior level of skill and say you didn't have the restraint? Then you gain an even higher level of skill in two years? One of those years being a cancelled season and the other a season where you easily won every single one of your matches? Ask any other pilot in the league and they'll say what I'm saying now. No one gets that good in just two years..."
The crowd began to talk again as Cael turned his heads towards the pilots of some of the other teams who had gathered to the side to watch the spectacle unfold. They began talking amongst themselves as well.
"Maybe we're just better than you," Laurence said, taking a step forward, "Or maybe you're not as good as you think?"
Noand and Alexander quickly went to stand behind Cael when they saw Laurence step towards their friend. Laurence laughed at the sight but Solomon put his hand on his teammate's shoulder. "Let him believe what he wants. It was an unfortunate accident. Nothing more. If he wants to be bitter about it, then so be it," Solomon said. The two Dread Scythe pilots took their leave, reporters and journalists bombarding them with questions as they exited the lobby. The Black Raven team also made their exit, going through the door that led to a "Staff & Teams Only" part of the arena to avoid the press that was coming after them.
The arena was quiet. Almost all of the fans and press had gone, leaving only the arena's staff along with a few team members. Noland walked through the hall and sat on one of the benches. The hall he was on was apart of one of the sections of the arena reserved for staff and team members. The hallway connected one of the arena's hangars to a locker room and shortcut to one of the lobbies. It was empty except for Noland and one woman wearing a hat who was leaving the locker room.
"Someone once asked me if I was angry about what happened to my arm," Noland said as the woman passed him, headed towards the lobby. "I told her I wouldn't know until I met the person face to face..."
The woman continued walking towards the lobby, ignoring Noland then Noland stood up and the woman stopped walking. "Take off the hat," Noland ordered. The woman looked down to the floor before lifting her head and removing the hat as well as the shades that hid her face. She turned to face Noland as her long, almost gray, black hair fell down to her back and Noland looked as if he had seen a ghost.
"Are you angry?" Dusk asked, her voice flat, her face expressionless, and her eyes brown.
"Dawn...?" Noland said in disbelief. "Y-y-you're... you're the one...?"
"Are you angry at the person who did that to you?" Dusk asked, pointing to Noland's arm, "Are you angry at me?"
"I-I..." Noland stuttered, unable to get his words out. "Is it true?"
"True?"
"What Cael said... Did you really try to kill us two years ago...?"
"... No..."
"Did you do what you did on purpose...?" Noland asked, his voice expressing the pain he was feeling as tears began to gather in his eyes. Dusk didn't answer his question immediately so Noland asked her again with more rage in his voice.
"Yes..." Dusk answered. Noland sat back down on the bench, a defeated look on his face. "Are you angry?" Dusk asked again. Noland stood and walked towards Dusk, his head bowed in defeat. He walked towards Dusk and passed her, heading towards the lobby.
