The Monster You've Become

by Ulquiorra9000

It's 3053, and Solaris City has never been so exciting. Henry Laxus and Xavier Chidori are two free spirits looking for the next big thing now that Donovan Storm is dead, and elsewhere, young Mac Storm struggles to rebuild his father's empire. This city has a way of changing people, though.

6. Chapter 6

The Monster You've Become

by Ulquiorra9000

Chapter 6: What This World Is Really Like

The Jungle, Cathay, Solaris City, Solaris VII

Lyran Commonwealth

April 14th, 3053

Okay, so here was the good news: Henry had the sheer luck to get into the first match of the first round in the Mac Storm Charity Tournament, which kinda-sorta made him a historic first on Solaris VII. Good, more fame and publicity, and maybe some extra sponsors and free drinks at the bars this year! And here's the bad news: he got matched up against a short-range specialist who knew how to navigate this jungle arena like a bloodthirsty panther. Well, shit.

Henry always thought of Cathay's jungle arena as his favored stomping ground, since he always seemed to have the right angle to nail his foes with some unexpected LRM fire, despite the terrain favoring close-range guerrilla fighters, while Steiner Stadium was a bit rough. He was feeling on edge today, though.

That overhauled Catapult was out there somewhere!

Henry scowled as he twisted on his Archer's torso left and right, trying to ignore the blimps hovering overhead, covered in electronic ad screens for sports drinks and the newest Immortal Warrior stage drama adaptation (whose idea was that, anyway?). The unforgiving jungles of Cathay gave him nothing, the trees' thick canopies hiding who knows what. Henry only faced one foe today, but he felt like a whole pack of predators was out to get him. Henry's Archer already had some damage: scorched holes dotted its left torso and leg, with a few laser burn marks scarring its right torso and arm. Who the hell put four SRM 6 launchers on a Catapult?!

Some crazy asshole, that's who. Mac sure had sure gotten some exciting contestants for his charity tournament.

Henry's ammo bins were still nearly full, but he gave it a few more seconds before deciding that this vantage point was becoming more trouble than it was worth, so he eased his Archer into a trot and descended the hill, praying that the brawler Catapult wouldn't jump his ass halfway down. It didn't, but Henry was already jumping at shadows here. Whew, since when was The Jungle so tense?

Worse yet, Henry's opponent, Jace Bellamet, was the patient and methodical type, stalking The Jungle and wearing down Henry's nerves, ammo and patience alike with his tactics. Henry barely landed a few medium laser hits in retaliation during their first scuffle, and at this rate, Jace's odd Catapult would take down Henry's slightly heavier machine and claim victory.

Like hell he would!

Henry knew that Jace was in passive radar mode, so he decided to borrow an idea from Chen Yeung's playbook and do the opposite: broadcast his own presence as loudly and obnoxiously as possible. Jace wouldn't easily pick up Henry on his radar, with it in passive mode and all, but anyone would hear Henry's bulky Archer knocking down trees and shooting its medium lasers into the air at random.

This trick of yours had better work, Chen, Henry thought, swallowing hard as he kept making a ruckus across The Jungle. The way Chen explained it, you try to lure in an ambush-based opponent with a big fuss, and make yourself look more vulnerable than you actually are. And it helps if you persist, so the enemy loses patience and finally decides to do things your way. Then, the enemy is totally thrown off-balance when you meet them head-on and beat them at their own game: close-range, all-or-nothing slugfests.

Capellans had some pretty dirty but awesome ideas sometimes.

"Come on, you joker. Come get some," Henry muttered as he kept it up. He lasered a huge tree nearly in half at the base, then shoved the tree over with his Archer's hands. The loud wooden cracking noises, and the crash of the tree falling over, were all a huge "I'm over here!" If you didn't know what you were doing, that was fatal.

Personally, Henry liked to think he knew what he was doing 95% of the time. That number felt like a fair compromise.

Henry rapidly scanned the dense jungle for any signs of his approaching enemy, but he didn't expect to see any until the last second. No way would Jace come crashing over to the scene like a rhino; he'd slip his way through The Jungle like a snake, striking at the last second. That's just how he -

BL-BL-BL-BLAAAAM!

"Argh! Shit!"

Henry hung into his joysticks for dear life as a volley of furious SRMs came crashing down on him from the left, and the thick smoke and flames blocked his view of what the hell was going on. He could guess, though; Jace had indeed lost patience, and wanted to put down this noisy Archer for good. Now this was the hard part: making the ruckus worth it!

Henry bared his teeth and spared a glance at his armor tracker. Dammit; his left torso armor was orange, almost red, and his left arm took a light beating, too. He might survive another full volley from the left, but let's not push it. Instead, Henry backed up a few steps to escape the smoke cloud, then got a fleeting glance at the Catapult before it got a chance to melt into the terrain.

At the last second, while he still had a sliver of a chance, Henry fixed his crosshairs onto the retreating Catapult and squeezed his triggers. Three of his four medium lasers raked the Catapult's right missile pod and right torso, and the fourth beam missed entirely, slicing a tree branch in half. And sure enough, the Catapult vanished into the terrain, its passive radar keeping it shrouded in mystery.

Hmmmmm. Was that a good exchange? Henry wasn't sure, but he kept moving, still making a ruckus to push Chen's strategy a little further. Henry didn't often fight like this, so he wasn't sure what an optimal outcome for that exchange would have looked like, but perhaps he should have avoided those SRMs better? Or busted the Catapult's right hip with the lasers? Man, that would have been awesome.

Henry definitely felt his nerves getting stretched thin as he kept this up, wondering if he simply wasn't crafty enough to pull off Chen's little trick. Chen was more used to regular battlefields, where you did anything to win, while Henry was used to Solaris VII, where haste and showmanship counted for everything. It was tough to "convert" to the other style, as Chen sometimes complained, and now Henry got the same feeling.

Once again, Jace's Catapult popped out at a strange angle, and Henry's heart leaped into his throat when he realized that is left side was totally exposed. Henry twisted just in time, and Jace's cloud of SRMs pounded his right side without mercy, followed by the Catapult's four torso-mounted lasers. Henry's armor tracker was blinking with a lot of red and orange by now, meaning his time was almost up. But the Catapult was nowhere to be seen.

At this rate, Jace would win the match, grinding down Henry's Archer with its superior speed and weapons configuration for an ambush-friendly arena like this one. Henry's LRMs would really struggle to hit the Catapult dead-on, though they'd sure as hell hit the trees, for all the good that did.

The trees...

That was it!

Fueled with a new idea, Henry pushed his Archer to top speed and angled his way to a familiar part of The Jungle, praying that Jace wasn't far behind. He didn't have long to wait; Jace's Catapult was on the scene at once, and this time, Henry was ready. With a fierce grin, Henry pressed his joystick buttons, and his Archer loosed forty LRMs into the air.

Normally, firing all these LRMs at an opponent 80 meters away was a lousy idea, but Henry was aiming elsewhere. These trees were heavy and had many branches, and Henry's LRMs exploded all over the two trees that towered over Jace's Catapult. Thick branches came raining down at once, and just as Jace's Catapult fired its lasers, the branches came crashing down on it, the thickest of them denting the 'Mech's armor plating.

Henry winced as the lasers punched deep into his Archer, but nothing critical was hit, and the Catapult was wobbling on its feet, and that was Henry's chance. Henry stomped forward and slashed the Catapult's right hip with his lasers, melting the armor and compromising the joint. Jace tried to back up his machine to get into cover, but his 'Mech's bad hip got in the way, and without any arms to maintain its balance, the Catapult pitched backward, its gyro totally overwhelmed.

Henry let out a cry and seized a thick, sharp branch, and waited a second or two for his lasers to finish recycling. Once the medium lasers were ready, Henry punched a hole into the Catapult's right torso, and thrust the tree branch into it like a spear. The entire Catapult jolted as sparks blasted from the wound, and Henry heard the arena's horn sound at once.

"There. Ya like that?" Henry muttered with glee, raising his Archer's fists in triumph as the screens on the blimp changed their displays. On each screen, one half showed Henry's rather handsome grinning mug, and the other half read "WINNER: HENRY LAXUS."

Now, Xavier had better keep up with him, or else!

*o*o*o*o*

Doug's Dive, Black Hills

Henry was still basking in the glow of his first victory in Mac's little tournament earlier this morning when he met up with some friends to watch Xavier's own match in a charming little bar on Stallman Street, eager to see the match play out on the flatscreen TVs. The place had some other patrons, but none of them were watching the game. Their loss.

"Kathy! Good to see you," Henry boomed when he met a certain brunette, extending his hand. "Hanging in there?"

Kathy Bliss beamed and shook Henry's hand. "I'm doing better now that the gang's all back together. I oughta thank you again for helping us survive that shootout at the Storm estate. And Peter... I'm so glad he's safe. We both are."

Chen Yeung offered his hand too, and Henry shook it. "Doing all right, Death Commando?" Henry asked. "Shame you didn't make it into the Grand Games Tournament's top 16. Sun-Tzu Liao would piss himself with joy if you won the whole thing."

Chen snorted with amusement. "That he would."

"Seriously." Kathy patted Henry's shoulder. "We saved a spot for you. Let me get you a drink."

Henry grinned as he sank onto a free bar stool with Chen and Kathy, keeping an eye on the nearest TV. "It's good to hear you fellas got your friend back safe and sound. Donovan Storm was a real bastard, takin' him hostage and all. Isn't he a bit... lemme know if I'm out of line here, but isn't Peter a bit delicate or somethin'? You're awfully protective of him."

Kathy shared a glance with Chen. "Peter... he has some special needs. But he's one of the best in his field, and we trust him with our lives and careers."

"You could send him a friendly e-mail, if you like," Chen offered. "Peter does better with digital messages than face-to-face conversations. And it would cheer him up to know that someone besides Kath and I is a friend to him."

Henry shrugged. "Sure thing. I dunno what I could talk to him about, but I could give it a shot." He downed his drink, grinned, and pointed at the TV. "It's time for Xavier's match. You gotta see this."

The three friends watched as the camera focused on the Boreal Reach arena in Silesea, first highlighting a gold and red Griffin from the Passione stable, then Xavier's modified Enforcer.

"Hmmmm. Is that a new type of autocannon?" Kathy asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Yeah. LB-10X, the Kali Yama model," Henry explained. "Xavier has one ton each of cluster and slug ammo for any situation, and that's a Diverse Optics Sunbeam ER large laser in the left arm. He makes that laser hit like a PPC. You'll see."

The screen showed the current odds on each warrior, and Henry hastily slapped a 1,000 C-Bill note on the bar. "A thousand says Xavier wins, but with one weapon knocked out."

Chen gave the bill an appraising look. "Well..."

Kathy slammed two such bills on the bar. "2,000 says he keeps both! And a free drink to the winner!"

Henry beamed as he added another bill to the pot. "Deal! You wanna get in on this, Chen?"

Chen motioned to the bartender for another drink and shook his head. "Sorry."

Henry scoffed. "You've been here for months and you still didn't catch the Solaris bug. How are you gonna make it if you don't assimilate to our ways, Death Commando? This ain't Sian. Live a little!"

Kathy chuckled and slugged Henry's shoulder. "Scrappy still feels like a fish out of water. He's too straight-laced for the likes of us."

Henry hung his head in mock disappointment. "That's so cold, Scrappy."

Chen cracked a small smile. "Isn't the match starting?"

"Oh, shit! Yeah!" Henry snapped his head up just in time to see Xavier's Enforcer trotting across the simulated tundra, trading blows with the Passione Griffin with his large laser. Even more than Henry, Xavier liked to start slow and test his enemy, usually with the laser. But Xavier has surprised people before.

"Oh! A nasty hit!" the commentator cried as the Griffin's PPC nailed Xavier's left thigh, busting up the hip joint. Molten armor sagged off the Enforcer's frame, and the entire 'Mech stumbled and swayed.

Chen tensed up. "It's make-it-or-break-it time."

Henry jolted. "How'd you know?"

Chen pointed at the TV. "The way Xavier is moving... he's acting more hurt than he is, enticing that Griffin to get reckless and finish things fast. I've done it before."

"I think you're right," Henry realized as the Griffin abandoned all caution and rushed right for Xavier's wounded Enforcer, firing its PPC and LRMs as it went. Suddenly, Xavier's 'Mech juked to the right, its left leg straining at a painful angle as it went. But it worked; Xavier caught the reckless Griffin unawares and nailed its right shoulder with his ER large laser, softening up the armor. Then, Xavier's slug rounds tore into the heated, softened armor, busting some internal components along the way.

Clearly furious, the Griffin pilot hit back with another PPC, regardless of heat, but it didn't pay off. The PPC beam missed Xavier's Enforcer by a mere two meters, and this left it vulnerable to another round of unforgiving fire. Xavier charged right at the Griffin, punishing its weakened right shoulder with both weapons. The announcer nearly lost his mind when Xavier's laser beam and cluster rounds blasted the Griffin's right arm off, causing the shaky 55-tonner to flop backward onto a snowdrift, blasting snow everywhere. The horn sounded.

"Just like that, Xavier Chidori of the Metal Magic stable rids Gilbert Leones of his weapons and takes the match! I thought Xavier was on the ropes for a moment there, but this Kuritan has true grit! Roy Blackwater oughta pat himself on the back for recruiting him!"

"Hell yeah! That's how it's done!" Henry cried, pumping his fists in the air and whooping. He clapped his hands together twice, then caught the look on Chen's face. "Huh?"

"And... yoink." Kathy reached over and scooped up the 4,000 C-Bill pot, a painfully smug look on her face.

Henry winced. "Fuck me... the bet! Xavier has all his weapons!"

Kathy burst out laughing. "Have more faith in your friend, Henry. He can handle some Passione chump without losing an arm in the process. And I'll have a Shirley Temple with vodka."

Henry hung his head. "Right you are. Bartender! A Shirley Temple for the lady."

A minute later, Chen brought up another topic, a far more awkward one. "I like the idea of this charity tournament, Henry. It sets a good example and encourages camaraderie across Solaris VII. Despite the feuds and different stables, we're all in this together, pursuing the common goal of entertainment and thrill-seeking."

Henry paused. Chen wasn't totally wrong, but damn, "Scrappy" was still in military mode. Maybe the CCAF had gung-ho loyalty and honor to keep the soldiers together through thick and thin, but that didn't apply here. The common goal of entertainment and thrill-seeking came at the expense of everyone else. One stable's victory was another stable's bitter loss, leading to revenge. Chen's soldier-style discipline didn't apply here. He really wasn't Solaris VII material.

"He's got a grand vision," Henry ended up saying. "I gotta say, at least he's turning some heads with this project of his. Not many people do what he's trying to do, and none of 'em have his passion for charity."

"I know, right? He's a good kid born on a wild planet," Kathy agreed, sipping her hard-won Shirley Temple. "A bit stubborn, but a good kid all around. Shame he had such shitty parents."

You don't understand, either, Henry thought with dismay. Mac was a good kid... good at getting whatever he wanted, by any means necessary. That little monster had given direct orders to the firing squad that gunned down his own parents, and he was already stepping on more than a few toes. Not that Henry minded Mac's thuggish ways, but if Chen and Kathy kept fawning over Mac and his little charity project, then they'd be in for a nasty surprise. Mac wasn't a precious little angel; he was a product of his environment, and this planet never produced saints. Not one.

I hope you all know what you're doin', Henry thought as he went ahead and ordered another drink. Seriously, that Mac... the kid's charity drive was off to a sluggish start, as Henry had heard, and that boy didn't take it well when things refused to go his way. How many triggers, literal and otherwise, would he pull to get what he wanted?

Let's find out!