Chapter 12…
Ashley's grappling hook rattled as she attached it to the wall of the corridor she was in. The device was reeled in as soon as it was deployed, tugging Ashley forwards with a considerable burst of speed.
The black and yellow clad pilot put this speed to good use. She crouched into a slide and activated her jump-kit to counteract friction as she blasted across the floor of the corridor. Bullets whizzed by her head as she bowled into the metallic legs of a spectre droid, tripping the metal automaton onto its "stomach". Ashley snatched it's Volt submachine gun off the ground as she moved, jumping up into the air and aiming the barrel of the weapon at the remaining hostiles, who were at the end of the hallway.
Thirty-two pulse rounds made very short work of the single grunt and three spectre droids. As soon as they were dead Ashley discarded the weapon and used her jump-kit to push herself back up into a standing position.
She spun around to face the droid she had left on the ground. The automaton had already been neutralized by Cozbi, who had finished it with a quick shot to its metal head. Behind the other woman the hallway corridor was littered with the bodies of Militia grunts and other Spectre droids. The two pilots had been leapfrogging up the corridor, working hard to clear enemy resistance and secure their planned escape route.
"Clear?" Ashley shouted back to Cozbi.
"Clear!" Cozbi responded, loading another magazine into her R-201. "The door's up ahead… on your left."
The two pilots broke off to the door that would bring them to freedom. They entered into a large stairwell, which would bring them up to the rooftops and to their evacuation ship.
Although they were on the same side and had worked well together up until this point… Ashley still felt uncomfortable having Cozbi at her back. Killing was part of the job and Ashley was no saint… she had been responsible for the deaths of many soldiers that morning. But shooting an enemy combatant was one thing… coolly executing two terrified civilians without a hint of hesitation was another…
Ashley didn't like that… not one bit. In her early days of working with the IMC, the act of gunning down dissidents left an awful taste in her mouth and she had avoided those ops like the plague. Now here she was two years later… an accessory to a war crime…
Again…
The stairwell was laid out in a spiral formation, with curved walls to match. Ashley leapt up and used her jumpkit to press against one of the walls, allowing her to ascend with considerable speed. Behind her Cozbi mirrored Ashley's actions, now the two pilots were in a perpetual wall run to the rooftops.
The only resistance they encountered was a lone Militia grunt guarding the top of the stairs. Ashley pushed herself off the wall and tackled the man around his shoulders. She pushed off the stair railing to gain momentum and twisted her body to chuck the man down the spiral staircase.
Ashley straightened her back and watched as the man tumbled past Cozbi and down the stairs, spitting and swearing as he rolled out of sight.
By the time he was done falling he would be badly discombobulated… he wouldn't be much of a threat.
"You should've killed him," Cozbi complained, landing on her feet and dusting off her armor.
"He was in the wrong place at the wrong time," Ashley waved her hand and headed for the door that would grant them access to the roof. "I've taken enough lives today… you?"
Cozbi stayed silent… Ashley wasn't sure whether or not she had struck a nerve.
The two pilots exited the stairwell and sprinted out onto the rooftop.
"Templeton, Smith!" Cozbi shouted into her helmet radio. "Status?"
"Where you left us…" Templeton crackled back. "Turn to your left, nine o'clock."
Ashley and Cozbi turned their heads to peer at the building across the street, where the dull orange glow of an amp shield shone in the darkness.
Cozbi began sprinting towards the edge of the building, Ashley quickly followed her.
"Evacuation?" Cozbi yelled into her radio.
"Already incoming," Smith responded, his voice slightly garbled by interference. "A good time for it too, Templeton and I had our work cut out for us keeping the entrance clear."
"Do you two have what we came for?" Templeton asked.
"Affirmative," Ashley called into her helmet mic. "The data is in my knife…"
"I can already see the stacks of credits…" Templeton mused.
Cozbi and Ashley reached the edge of the building, where they would need to jump the gap to get back to Templeton and Smith. The two pilots activated their kits and crossed the expanse, landing safely on the rooftop where their allies were waiting.
"Good work you two!" Smith congratulated, slipping his DMR onto his back. "Now all we have to do is wait."
"Easier said than done," Ashley muttered under her breath. She turned on her heel to peer off in the distance, in the direction of the titan bays. The entire area was still a raging inferno, the cool night air was occasionally punctuated by artillery shells going off.
"What about them?" Ashley flicked her hand in gesture to the titan bays. "Are they getting a pick up too?"
"Different ship, they need titan transports," Cozbi responded. "Don't worry about them, the opening attack disabled the anti-air defenses."
Ashley frowned, the unpleasant prickly feeling at the back of her spine that warned her of danger was acting up again.
'Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale…'
Ashley wasn't sure if she believed in premonition… but she was smart enough to trust her gut…
"Up there!" Smith shouted like a gleeful child. The other pilots followed his outstretched arm, which was pointed up at the dark clouds in the sky.
Slowly, the running lights of a Goblin dropship became visible as the flying machine descended from the sky. It came to a stop a few meters above where they were standing and the cargo door slid open.
"Lets go!" Cozbi shouted, activating her jump kit and boosting herself upwards. She grabbed onto the bottom of the craft and hoisted herself inside.
Templeton and Ashley followed her lead, using their jump kits to ascend and then hoisting themselves into the cargo bay.
There was only one pilot left on the ground…
"Smith! What are you waiting for!?" Templeton shouted, leering over the side of the ship and watching the pilot below.
"It's my fucking kit!" Smith roared, trying in vain to get his jump kit to fire. "I told you something was wrong with it!"
"Fuck," Templeton breathed. "Can the pilot bring us lower?"
Cozbi broke off and entered the cockpit. A few moments after she left the ship began to descend.
Ashley squeezed past Templeton and crouched down, resting her knees on the floor of the ship and extending a hand for Smith to grab.
"Grab my hand!" Ashley shouted down to the other pilot.
Smith reacted promptly, jumping straight up to clasp Ashley's hand with his. The dark haired woman grunted as she held up the heavier man and she extended her other arm to lift him up, leaving her teetering over the edge of the ship.
"A little more!" Templeton encouraged Ashley. The other man also got on his knees so that he could help pull Smith up. "Come on!"
The prickly sensation that indicated danger flared up in Ashley's spine again…
As soon as the warning was given… all hell broke loose.
Ashley gasped in a mixture of shock, horror and revulsion when Smith disintegrated in front of her eyes. His body disappeared in a flurry of red mist, all that remained were his two hands, which Ashley was still clutching in her own.
The craft tilted to the side, Templeton stumbled away… Ashley tipped forwards and fell…
The dark haired woman tumbled head first out of the teetering Goblin, landing with a crunch on the roof of the building below. Ashley watched as the flying craft tilted to narrowly avoid an orange laser before fleeing towards the dark clouds above.
"Ish," Cozbi's voice crackled over Ashley's helmet radio. "You still alive?"
"Yes," Ashley responded as she shakily got to her feet.
"Good, deal with the titan and then we'll swing around to pick you up!"
"Why not pick me up now?" Ashley turned her attention to her armor, which was soiled with Smith's blood. Whatever viscera remained of the man… she had landed right in it…
"That laser cannon will snipe us out of the air, we need to stay up in the clouds and out of sight. Radio us when you have an opening!"
"Fine," Ashley reached behind her back to grasp the mag launcher on her lower hip. "Just don't leave me here… I have the data…"
The radio crackled and then cut out.
'Fuck'
Gripping her mag launcher with both hands, Ashley broke into a sprint to reach the end of the building. Her helmet HUD lit up the surrounding area, the built in map indicated an enemy presence to the North.
As Ashley neared the edge of the building she found her target… it was pretty difficult to miss a titan.
The titan that had killed Smith and nearly destroyed the Goblin was an Ion class; a variant that was built atop the old Atlas archetype. The large mech was coloured a dark, ashy grey. The single blue light of it's SEER kit shone in the dim light of the early morning.
Ashley's armored foot reached the very edge of the building and she boosted herself up into the air with her kit. She repeatedly squeezed the trigger of her launcher as she fell, watching in satisfaction as a cascade of grenades slammed into the top hatch of the Ion. The massive machine tilted it's torso up and threw out a massive metal fist to splatter Ashley with a punch, but it missed and the dark haired woman safely landed on it's hull.
Her first rodeo in two years…
Ashley slipped her mag launcher back onto her hips and scrambled up the hull of the titan, knowing well that her time was limited. She found the battery port and tore off the metal cap, revealing the glowing green cylinder within. With little time to waste Ashley drew her P2016 and emptied it's magazine into the green battery, shattering it's casing and destroying the sensitive technology.
'Time to go… now!' Ashley's instinct roared in her head, the prickly feeling in the back of her neck flaring up again.
The dark haired woman stashed her pistol into its holster and leapt off the titan, using her grappling hook to reel herself onto a nearby rooftop. She left in the nick of time, the moment her feet touched the roof of the building the Ion's electric smoke countermeasure activated, dousing the titan in a lethal shroud.
The electric smoke countermeasure would have killed Ashley instantly if she had remained on the titan. Still, the countermeasure quietly worked in her favor, the titan would be temporarily blinded by its own smoke.
Ashley took off like a shot across the rooftops, running parallel to the corridor below her. She grit her teeth when the first energy round struck where she had been standing moments before, melting the side of the building into slag.
As she ran she did her best to contact her trump card.
'Cain, you there?'
For a moment there was worrying silence. Ashley did her best to continue her sprint without getting distracted. She slid underneath a ventilation unit just a long orange laser sliced through the air where her head had been.
'Ashley, what is your status?' Cain finally responded, his garbled voice ringing around in her head.
'I need you to drop near my coordinates, can you do that?' Ashley thought back.
'Affirmative,' Cain responded. 'Estimated time till titanfall is… ten seconds…'
Ashley turned sharply on her heel just as another laser sliced near the roof. She needed Cain as soon as possible, she couldn't play chicken forever.
The dark haired woman broke off in her new direction, zigzagging and sliding around to avoid the torrent of energy rounds that were assaulting her position. She couldn't afford to be hit by a single energy round… her armor would not protect her from the severe burns.
'Five seconds…' Ashley counted in her head.
She was approaching the Western side of the building now, which meant that there was some distance put between her and her enemy. Her helmet HUD highlighted the ground below, indicating where her titan would likely drop.
'Two seconds…'
High up in the sky, a flaming red object sliced through the darkness like a comet. The massive fireball arced in the sky as it rocketed towards the ground below.
'One second… don't get in the way, Ashley…' The dark haired woman warned herself as she leapt off the edge of the building and towards the street below.
The falling comet slammed into the ground near Ashley's feet, shattering the asphalt and blowing out the windows of the buildings around her. Time seemed to slow as a massive metal hand reached out to grab her with surprising gentleness. Ashley grunted as she was tucked into Cain's small cockpit.
The hatch closed and the interior view screens lit up.
"Hello, Ashley," Cain growled, his voice reverberating in the small space. "Scanners indicate a hostile titan... designation… 'Ion' class."
Ashley maneuvered Cain into a standing position, reaching back his metal arm to withdraw his Leadwall shotgun.
"Do you have it's location?"
"Two o'clock… the enemy titan is most likely wary of our presence. I would recommend a sudden attack… now."
Ashley grit her teeth and maneuvered Cain into a quick sprint, his shotgun held low. Just up ahead there was a four-way corridor… since Ashley had approached Cain from the West it was only logical that the enemy Ion would follow her.
Her suspicions proved correct when the enemy Ion rounded the corner of the building to her right. The enemy mech raised it's Splitter Rifle but didn't have the chance to fire. Ashley's opening salvo with Cain's shotgun badly damaged the armor around its seer kit, making the enemy titan falter.
The dark haired woman's assault came to an abrupt stop when the glowing blue ring of a vortex shield flared into existence. The deflector shield caught several of her Leadwalls pellets.
"Fuck!" Ashley spat, lowering her empty shotgun and using Cain's dash function to enact a hasty retreat. She wasn't foolish enough to stay within range, vortex shields were notorious for turning the tide of battles.
"Would recommend a full retreat!" Cain growled as the vortex shield began to spin faster. The Ion pressed it's advantage, slowly walking forward with the vortex shield held aloft. "Estimated time until the collapse of the vortex shield… five seconds…"
Ashley turned Cain on his heel, making liberal use of his dash function as she retreated back to the four-way corridor.
"Two seconds…"
Ashley grit her teeth and snarled when the Ion's vortex shield collapsed, sending the pellets from Ashley's Leadwall into Cain's back. The pellets shredded the thin armor on the back of the Ronin, prompting several warning alarms to begin blaring in the cockpit.
"Damage assessment," Cain growled out as Ashley ducked behind a building for cover. "Severe damage to rear armor plating… calculating odds of victory… seventy-eight percent. Would recommend a flanking maneuver."
Ashley peeked out with Cain's chassis to get a view of the enemy Ion, she yelped and pulled the titan back when an orange laser obliterated the side of the building she was hiding behind.
"Warning… the Ion sniper cannon is powerful enough to puncture the cockpit armor… would recommend a flanking maneuver."
"Heard you the first time…" Ashley mumbled.
Ashley turned Cain to the left and threw the titan into a quick sprint. Her speed advantage meant that she could put lots of space between herself and the Ion, but that meant nothing if the enemy mech could snipe her from a distance.
"Cain!" Ashley shouted as the end of the corridor came into sight. "What would you recommend!?"
"Re-calculating…" Cain growled. "Would recommend a feint… allow our enemy to close the distance."
Ashley reached the end of the building in the nick of time, ducking Cain out of the way of a laser blast that would have sliced through his armor like butter. Cain pressed his metal back against the side of the building they were hiding behind, which would conceal them from their enemy.
"Calculating estimated time until contact… eight seconds…" Cain growled. "The enemy Ion is moving at high speed towards our location."
Ashley grit her teeth as she instructed Cain to reload his Leadwall. She kept the massive shotgun low, not wanting to have her own weapon used against her… again.
"Four seconds until contact…" Cain warned. "Would recommend use of the sword…"
Ashley spun out of cover, coming face to face with her sole enemy. She opened up with a salvo of Leadwall shots before dropping the weapon entirely. Sweeping back Cain's metallic arm, Ashley unclipped the sword from its storage and swung the weapon low into an upwards sweep. The attack was successful, slicing a deep gouge into the hatch of the enemy Ion.
The shoulder mounted sniper cannon the Ion boasted began to charge up, but this time Ashley was ready for it. She reached up with one of Cain's metallic fists and squeezed the weapon, preparing to wrench it off as fast as she could.
But she was too late…
The orange laser charged to completion, firing it's salvo straight down at Cain's chassis. A last minute shift from the Ronin titan spared Ashley's life, but the orange laser brutally sliced the shoulder joint on Cain's left arm.
"Warning… heavy damage to the left arm," Cain warned as more emergency chimes blared. "Would recommend immediate follow up attack…"
Ashley grit her teeth, the left arm was damaged but still intact enough to work. She tightened Cain's metal fist on the Ion's sniper cannon and wrenched it free, tearing the weapon off completely.
Perhaps out of panic, the Ion titan began a hasty retreat, turning on it's metal heel and fleeing.
"Would recommend neutralizing the enemy titan, reinforcements may be imminent."
"Copy," Ashley responded.
Using Cain's superior mobility Ashley kicked off the ground in pursuit. She hoisted Cain's broadsword up as best as she could and dashed forwards, slamming into the back of the Ion's chassis. The tip of the weapon pierced through the titan's chassis and sliced it's seer kit in half. With a wrench of Cain's wrist Ashley ripped the sword from the now scrapped titan.
The enemy Ion titan fell to the ground with a massive crash, shaking the foundations of the buildings on either side of it.
"Good work, Cain," Ashley huffed and relaxed into her seat. She moved Cain's sword back to it's storage clip and then retrieved her Leadwall shotgun from the ground.
"Thank you… would now recommend immediate extraction."
"Way ahead of you…"
Ashley activated Cain's in-built radio, broadcasting on all frequencies.
"This is Pilot Ishikara, callsign Tigress," Ashley winced at her semi-official nickname. "I am requesting immediate extraction… sending coordinates…"
Ashley sent the information and waited for a moment.
The radio was silent…
"Hello?" Ashley tapped the radio. "This is Pilot Ishikara… I have the package… extraction?"
Ashley sent another message… and then another…
"Ashley, long range scans indicate no friendly forces in the area," Cain warned.
"What?" Ashley snarled.
"Repeat… there are no IMC I.F.F. signatures in this area…"
Ashley leaned back into her seat and released a rattling breath of frustration. "They left us…"
"It appears that way…" Cain growled. "Are you in possession of the package?"
Ashley patted the sheath of her data knife. "I have the data on my person… they left empty handed."
"Not quite." Cain mused. "This mission is not over… there may be a chance of organizing a rendezvous with friendly IMC forces."
"Suggestion?"
"I would suggest an immediate withdrawal from this location, long range scans indicate enemy signatures en-route to intercept us."
"And where should we go?" Ashley muttered, turning Cain on his metal heel to get away from the smoking corpse of the Ion titan.
"Would recommend travelling north-east to break enemy contact. We can then assess this situation properly."
Far off in the distance, past the fence that protected the edge of the facility, the dark trees of a thick forest loomed.
Ashley and Cain headed straight for those trees and didn't look back.