Heroic New Era: New Beginnings
Chapter 3: Beginnings of a War
Landing on a beach scenario, two cybernetically enhanced people began walking into view, as one of them was Raiden, while the other was Yae Sakura, decked out in her recently released Honkai Impact Cybernetic Outfit.
"So let me get this straight, Boris…" Raiden said. "Siege wasn't dead like we thought he was, he suddenly resurfaces doing God knows what, and now suddenly he's sending us help to take down Desperado?"
"That's what I wager from his call, da." Boris explained.
"Hrm… What do you think of this, Scarlet? I mean Siege did help us a couple months ago in regards to when Sundowner kidnapped that President." Raiden asked, looking towards Yae Sakura.
"If it's Siege, I'd take his word." Sakura remarked, as she adjusted her katana slightly. "He's known to do quite… intriguing things like this from time to time. After all, he did manage to do a good job dealing with a situation that was to our disadvantage."
"Right… alright, I'll trust his judgement." Raiden said as they began making their way towards the refinery, since that was why they were there in the first place. Suddenly, a wave of cloaked enemies appeared in front of them.
"Raiden, Scarlet, they're using camouflage!" Boris warned.
"Tch. Amateurs." Raiden said, about to cut the enemies up, when suddenly a series of three different sets of slashes cut through them, as the cloaked enemies dropped, as Inuyasha, Allison, and Rachel de-cloaked their own suits of armor.
"Clever trick." Raiden sneered. "And I'm to assume you three are working for a man named Siege?"
"That is correct." Rachel responded back.
"Your names, if you would be so kind." Raiden asked.
"Call me Inuga." Inuyasha introduced, using the suggested name Siege gave him.
"I'm Allison." Allison introduced.
"Rachel." Rachel responded back tersely.
"Name's Jack, but you can call me Raiden. The girl beside me is Yae Sakura, but we call her Scarlet." Raiden introduced.
"So what's our current objective? Siege said something about you two being on a mission when we arrived here." Inuyasha asked.
"Oh yes, we're just simply here to deal with the head of the coup that is tearing this nation apart." Sakura responded back. "He has a body-guard as well, in fact two of them, and they're both Desperado.
"And Desperado in itself has been a real pain in our asses. Talking about starting a war for war economy… bunch of bullshit if you ask me." Raiden said. "That's about all you need to know right now. We need to get to the power plant here, and put down that Russian freak and his two little bodyguards."
"Well, consider us your help. I've been wanting to smash some heads recently." Inuyasha smirked, which made Raiden chuckle.
"I like you. You got that fire in your eyes to get shit done. Let's move." Raiden said, as the group moved forwards towards the refinery.
The waves of enemies standing between them and their destination weren't of any concern, as the group of 5 cut through them with ease, even the Gekkos were brought down with ease.
"Are things gonna be this simple to deal with?" Inuyasha asked. "This seems incredibly easy…"
"Well, they are not the main concern here. They are but fodder to the blade." Sakura answered back, waving her blade around slightly to dry the cyborg blood on it.
They soon continued on, before they found themselves in a small section of the street, when Rachel heard the sound of flying projectiles, as she reacted, knocking away a barrage of heated knives, which hit the walls of the building, melting the hit sections.
"...We're not alone, and the enemy against us is no mere foe." Rachel remarked.
"Hopefully whoever they are leaves us alone." Inuyasha stated. "...Though that's doubtful."
The group continued onwards as they soon walked through a building, as they soon were greeted with…
"Greetings cyborg, and allies." A robotic male voice said, causing everyone to go on alert.
Everyone looked around for the source of the voice.
"Show yourself." Raiden responded, before the sounds of a chainsaw were heard as the others jumped out of the way, as Jack ducked the chainsaw, as it sparked against his metal piece on the chin, as Raiden quickly got distance between himself and the chainsaw, as did others.
"I had to go and open my mouth about them leaving us alone…" Inuyasha grumbled.
The chainsaw soon began cutting through the building itself, as it seemed to be joined by another HF Bladed weapon, as the building section soon began to collapse, as the group stumbled, and fell out of the building, as they noticed the containers falling with them, as they all landed, and cut through some containers, before Raiden and Rachel cut through one of the containers, as two canine-looking robots were there, pouncing to them with chainsaw and HF blade ready to stab, forcing Raiden and Rachel to block, as they were forced to the ground, kicking off the two canine bots, as the group took battle positions.
"And you are?" Inuyasha quipped to the canines.
"We are IF Prototypes LQ-84i-A and LQ-84i-B." The red one spoke in a robotic female voice.
"IF Prototypes?" Sakura remarked.
"Interface Prototypes. All autonomous UGs feature high-level onboard artificial intelligence." The black one spoke with the same male voice from before. "An additional prototype interface enables verbal communication. We possess an intellect far beyond human reckoning."
"Is that so?" Raiden asked. "Then answer this. What's the meaning of life? Why are we here?"
As if provoked by the questions, the tails of both of the canine-like units lashed back, before throwing another set of heated knives, as Rachel dodged them, before using her halberd to block one, as Inuyasha did the same with his own Tessaiga, which the knife harmlessly clattered off.
"Do not attempt a logic bomb onto us, it is futile." The red unit spoke again. "We are here to kill all of you."
"How simple, for all of the intellect you have." Sakura remarked. "Are you planning how to kill us then?"
"Your taunting is meaningless!" The black unit yelled, before he and his red female counterpart leapt to higher ground. "We may analyze direct orders but we may not disobey them. Disobeying direct orders would lead to our memories being wiped. We must destroy you all."
"Haha. What good is that intellect of yours if you can't use it?" Inuyasha taunted, pointing to his own head as he smirked.
"Enough talk. EXTERMINATE!" The red unit spoke, before both of them rushed at the group, diving at them. The group kicked them off, as both canines ended up on higher ground, as they both howled, as the group prepared their weapons.
~BGM: I'm My Own Master Now~
Objective: Defeat Blade Wolf and Blood Wolf
Both canines hopped down to the field, as Blood Wolf readied to swing her HF Blade at Rachel rapidly, as Rachel used the length of her halberd to keep the tail-blade away from her, as robot and human wrestled each other with their weapons, knocking it back, before Sakura took the opportunity to assault Blood Wolf, forcing the red unit to shift attention, knocking Sakura back with a tail-swipe, before going for a full-spin attack to try and hit both of them, only to have it blocked, as they attacked at the same time, and damaged her chassis.
Raiden, in the meantime, was dealing well with Blade Wolf alongside Inuyasha and Allison, as the black LQ-84i unit was being assaulted quite well, already forced to retreat alongside its mate.
"A real intellect uses all of their tools. Backup required." The male unit said as he and his mate howled, calling in an entire squad of cyborg soldiers to attack.
"Tch. Seriously?" Inuyasha scoffed, as they all easily dispatched the soldiers.
"Your arrogance will be your downfall." Blood Wolf declared, before the two units leaped down, and rushed through the field in a flurry of slashes and stabs. "Combination attack completed."
"They are fairly better than their peers when it comes to fighting us, too bad it ain't enough." Sakura remarked, as she booted Blood Wolf back, damaging her further, before Blade Wolf clashed with her, to prevent her from dealing a critical blow.
"You will not dispatch either of us easily." Blade Wolf declared, before Blood Wolf recovered, and leapt onto the ledge to call for reinforcements to aid Blade Wolf, as Gekkos poured into the streets to attack the group.
Inuyasha and Allison dispatched the Gekkos, so that the group could focus on both of the LQ-84i units instead of having distractions. Raiden honed in on Blood Wolf, who was severely weakened, as she soon was at his mercy.
"Please, no!" Blood Wolf cried out in a slight emotion of fear, before Raiden slashed her down, putting her down, as Blade Wolf saw his mate being brought down.
"Unit B!" Blade Wolf cried out as he saw Blood Wolf be brought down. "It seems that I have underestimated you… However, my vengeance will be merciless. Engaging Overdrive."
Blade Wolf then turned orange, as his tail-blade glowed bright, before he then threw a rapid barraged of heat-knifes at the group, before going for a series of rapid slashes that the group could barely block in time, as the attack was focused on Raiden and Rachel.
Raiden, however, managed to get in counters that would harm Blade Wolf severely. As he then had Blade Wolf on the ropes, as Blade Wolf was slowing down. "Rachel, now!"
Rachel then noticed that Blade Wolf tried to go for a leaping strike, as Raiden ducked under, before cleaving the wolf-like unit in two with the blade of her halberd, as the halves hit the ground destroyed.
"Cannot… continue…" Blade Wolf spoke in a heavily staticky voice. "Directive… liberate… nation… ensure freedom… Obey Directive… Must… Unit B… Freedom… Undefined…"
"...It's a shame that artificial intelligence is limited to serve." Rachel shook her head.
"It's a shame, but that's just how it is. Actually, Raiden, let's leave this here for your friends to collect. I'm sure that we've left enough of their wrecks to recreate, right?" Sakura asked Raiden.
"They should be able to, yeah." Raiden said. "Let's move on. We can't waste too much time."
The group continued on their way to the refinery, having to shoot down a chopper along the way, as well as take down multiple other enemies standing between them and the refinery. Arriving on the outskirts of the refinery, looking at it, Inuyasha would decide to get more details on the mission.
"So… who exactly are we supposed to take out here at this place? You only explained there being a head guy, and two bodyguards." Inuyasha would question.
"That's what we're not sure about." Sakura answered back. "But I do know that both of them are female, from the intel we gathered. And they're fairly skilled."
Rachel took the moment to activate her binoculars, as she zoomed in on the refinery ahead, as she noticed there was a Russian man talking with two women, one with a black body-suit and dark red-hair parted to one side, while the other wore a short black dress, and long black hair tied with a red hair-band.
"I think that I might have found what we're looking for." Rachel remarked, handing the binoculars to Raiden.
Raiden waved her off, activating his own zoom function with his suit, zooming in on the situation that seemed to be getting more tense. Raiden noticed something underneath the black haired woman's dress, a separate battle suit, it seemed to be, but he couldn't make it out. The argument got to a point where the Russian drew a gun on the two women, neither one flinching even an inch. Finally, the Russian holstered his gun, and stormed off. The two women soon turned to see the group watching them from the refinery, as they each blew a kiss towards them… when in reality they fired bullets at the group. Raiden and Rachel reacted first, causing everyone else to react as they managed to dodge the bullets being fired.
"Raiden, what happened? Your heart rate just spiked, along with everyone else! Are you alright!?" Doctor chimed in on codec, though Raiden shoved him to the side to pull up zoom again, but saw both women were gone.
"...Yeah… we just dodged a couple bullets." Raiden bluntly stated.
"So those two chicks are the ones we gotta take out?" Inuyasha would ask. "Well, they sure seem like the proper lady type." He added to the end in sarcasm.
With that said, the group dropped down, and began making their way through the refinery area, as a number of Dwarf Gekkos were at the entrance to stop them, although they were swiftly taken care of. Cyborg soldiers also were dealt with rather swiftly, via stealth kills made on them by the group, as they soon made their way up towards where the two bodyguards were, soon reaching the top, to see both women looking at them expectantly.
"We were wondering when you'd come… Jack the Ripper and Crimson Demon." The red haired woman spoke, referring to Raiden and Yae Sakura by their… more violent names.
"No one calls us that anymore." Raiden said. "Dolzaev, where is he?"
"And why should we tell you?" The black-haired woman remarked with a stoic tone. "Even you did know… do you really think you can walk away from here without a fight to the death?"
"Of course not. Your names?" Sakura asked, placing a hand on her blade.
"I am 'Mistral', the Cold Wind of France." Mistral introduced herself, as the red-haired member of the duo. "And with me, is Raiden Mei, or better known by her moniker, 'The Lightning Empress'."
"It's ironic that you would try to avert from your nature…" Mei stated. "It's… intriguing to see. A child-soldier… and a woman born only knowing how to wage war on the world."
"That no longer applies to her." Raiden growled at Mei. "What makes you think you know her? Or even know me?"
"Why deny that similarity between the four of us? I was born in Algeria, as a half-French, and Mei here lived her life within the remote reaches of Japan. While I spent my childhood in a civil war, Mei had lived her life acting as an assassin to use her very beauty and her expertise with her blade and electricity to dispatch many targets that were once thought 'untouchable'. Cut from the same cloth, all of us. Moreso between you and me, Jack the Ripper, and Mei and the Crimson Demon."
"That's not enough." Sakura shook her head. "You don't understand what lies deeper beyond the trials and the tests I had to go through."
"Does it go deeper beyond the fact that I was never truly rewarded for my efforts?" Mei retorted back with a snarl. "...An assassin's work is barely paid, in this world of peace. After all the risk I go through, I barely get paid enough to continue this work, as it's the only lifeline I have. So I simply let myself lose care for the world around me. After all, no-one nurtured me, even when I was a toddler. I survived to be a child, and I survived as a child to be an assassin. Desperado found me, and gave me a proper life, all for a simple few requests that would hamper the world. I don't have any love for the world, so why would I turn back on it all? Tell me, Crimson Demon, do you have what it takes to do otherwise in my place?"
"You fail to understand that I was in the same place as you. Killing people for pay. It's not a lifestyle choice I'm really fond of… nor did it support me well." Sakura said. "But when I was found by Raiden, he trained me, he raised me, he gave me the life you were unable to be saved from… you and I grew up just the same. But no one cared about you… Just like before Raiden, no one cared about me. I want to change that for you, to let you know someone isn't going to turn you away if you need help. I can help you, Mei."
Mei was silent, as Mistral eyed the both of them for a moment, as she remained silent, as if she was considering the words as well. However, she bit her lip, being reminded that she and Mei had a job to do, as Mistral looked towards Raiden and Sakura.
"I'm quite impressed at your words, however… that changes quite little." Mistral answered back. "You see, we have chosen our sides since the moment that we met. Although your words hold some merit… Neither of us intend to just have a change of heart when we're too far to surrender willingly. If you want us to stop, then you will have to neutralise us. Don't get cocky though… we didn't earn our titles for no reason."
Raiden growled as he heard the reluctance in Mistral's voice while she was speaking, as he turned to Inuyasha, Allison, and Rachel. "Keep enemy reinforcements off us…" Raiden said
Dwarf Gekkos began to rush to Mistral, while Mei would shed her dress, revealing she was in her Lightning Empress battlesuit, as Mistral let one of the Dwarf Gekkos come to her, before she then tore its arms off, and formed it into a double-sided whip-spear.
"I do have this to say though, you aren't like the rest, both of you. I once envied those who fell like wheat to a scythe before me, because they had a cause to die for, until we earned our own cause. If you are willing to kill for your cause…" Mistral began, as her full battle suit formed from more Dwarf Gekkos infusing into the pack on her back, as the integrated arms began to move. "Then you are ready to die for them!" Mistral yelled as Mei drew her sword.
"Come, senshi…." Mei decalred, as lightning sparked around her body and her blade. (Come… warriors…)
Raiden and Sakura raised their swords, ready for combat.
~BGM: Stranger I Remain~
Mistral ordered her Dwarf Gekkos forward to distract both of them, while she rushed forward with her whip-spear, attacking both of them from a distance, while Mei struck at them with charging strikes that seemed to make her look like she was teleporting with some of her strikes.
Sakura and Raiden dispatched the Gekkos, while blocking the attacks from both of the mercenaries, before Sakura parried one of Mistral's attacks, and with a focused strike, cut the spear in two, leaving Mistral vulnerable, as she took a few hits, before Mei rushed forward, and knocked her back with a thunder pulse. However, Raiden rushed in just after, as she kicked Mei back, and used Zandaitsu to cut through her battle-suit several times, weakening its protection.
"Tch, they do not muck around." Mistral clicked her tongue, before she then flipped onto one of the tall pipe-lines, as Mei zipped onto another. Mistral gestured for a horde of Dwarf Gekkos to gather around her, while Mei clutched her blade with both hands, as the lightning around her began to bolster itself. "Here's something special, just for the both of you!"
The two of them immediately rained lightning and explosive Dwarf Gekko bodies onto the field, as Raiden and Sakura dodged repeatedly to avoid the barrage of attacks, before both Desperado mercenaries leapt back onto the ground, ready for another round, as Mistral's whip-spear was reformed.
Mistral then charged right towards Raiden with a diagonal strike that Raiden blocked with his own blade, before the two of them pushed off against each other, while Mei and Sakura clashed blades, lightning sparking from where the blades clashed.
Mistral then took the chance when Sakura was occupied, to use her spear to entangle Raiden's leg, and attempt to toss him onto the ground overhead, only for him to cut himself off the spear, as the momentum sent towards one of the poles, causing him to turn around and hammer Mistral with a return kick that sent her flying off the platform.
Mei noticed the situation change, as she briefly lost attention enough for Sakura to kick her off, disengaging the clash, as Mei was knocked a few steps back, before she then charged right forward, as Sakura dodged under the swinging blade, activating an Ultimate Dodge, as time slowed around her, as she used a flurry of blows to damage Mei further, before she then sent the lightning-user flying with a rising slash. Sakura then sprinted across the platform, leaping off it to pursue Mei.
The two pairs found themselves on different pipelines, engaging their respective adversary. Raiden fought off Mistral, who tried to bombard him with the flying bodies of the disassembled Dwarf Gekkos, as well as having to fend off Mistral's long-range attacks on a narrow line-like fighting ground. With Sakura, she had to constantly dodge falling thunder strikes from above from Mei, and counter back with flame strikes when Mei landed back down.
Eventually, the two of them wore down their respective enemies enough, to knock them down towards the ground, where several cryogenic tanks were located, while Raiden and Sakura jumped down to get after them.
"Alright, this ends now!" Mistral remarked with a scowl, as she began to pin-wheel around the field, with her whip-spear. "Mei, follow-up!"
"Understood." Mei answered back, before she then leapt into the air, before she then streaked through the field with surging strikes that sent lines of lightning across the field.
Raiden and Sakura were left back-to-back against each other, covering each other's backs, blocking the frenzied attacks as much as they could, before both Mistral and Mei stopped attacking just by the cryogenic tanks, cooling down from their assault.
"Raiden, you see what I see, right?" Sakura asked, looking towards the cryogenic tanks.
"Exactly. Let's put 'em on ice." Raiden said, as he rushed forward, attacking Mistral and Mei with a flurry of attacks, as both of them went to counter strike only for Raiden to dodge, causing Mistral to growl in anger.
"Don't fuck with us, boy!" Mistral yelled as she chased after Raiden, running towards the cryogenic tanks.
Mistral pierced one of the tanks, as Sakura dodged the thrusting blow, causing her to be stuck onto it, while Raiden leapt up and cut the cryogenic tank open, as the contents jetted onto Mistral, who tried to free herself.
Mei tried to rescue Mistral, only to get herself kicked right into the opening of the cryogenic tank by Sakura, as her entire battle-suit was frozen, save for her head, and Mistral herself was also in the same condition.
Instead of slashing them to bits, however, Raiden kicked Mei hard enough to cause an explosion of sorts from the cryogenic machines, sending Mei and Mistral, with all body parts intact, save for their armour being critically damaged, flying backwards, their weapons landing far from them as Raiden and Sakura pinned them down, as Inuyasha and the others had arrived to see the final part of the battle after dealing with their own swarm of Dwarf Gekkos.
Sakura panted as she had Mei pinned. "Give it up. We have you beaten. It's pointless for either of you to continue." Sakura said.
"...Why waste the effort of sparing us, if you wanted us out of your way? You had your chance to kill us right there and right now…" Mei asked back.
"Because we are better than that. We have a common origin for all of this." Raiden said. "Just because we kill for a cause doesn't mean we kill needlessly. You two didn't get the chance at life you deserved… I think we may be able to help with that."
"How can you help us? The only way we'll be free is when we are dead…" Mistral asked, as Raiden took her comms.
"Just watch…" Raiden smirked.
"Mistral! Come in, your vitals, I can't see them!" Dolzaev yelled into the walkie.
"She's dead. So is her partner." Raiden answered him.
"You! You and that… You both killed them! Yob tvoyu mat! Murderers!" Dolzaev yelled back.
"Heh. That's rich, coming from you. Surrender, Dolzaev. It's over." Sakura spoke into the communicator, before Dolzaev began laughing.
"Ah ty tupoi sukin syn." Dolzaev responded to them.
"Translation?" Raiden would ask.
"Why would I surrender? We are exactly where I want." Dolzaev chuckled, as Inuyasha, Allison, and Rachel were hearing the conversation as Raiden's eyes widened, as did the trio's.
"Find him, now!" Raiden yelled at them.
"Don't tell us twice!" Inuyasha yelled as they split off to find Dolzaev.
"Built with Russia Money to make Russia money." Dolzaev vented, as the group searched the various plants for him. "It is no plant for Abkhaz, it is their prison!"
Dolzaev then put his arms out, detonator in hand. "But now… they will be fr-" He was about to say, before he found that the arm holding the detonator was severed from him, before he was impaled through the chest, by Allison's spear, as the weapon withdrew itself, and the terrorist collapsed dead on the ground.
"...It's done." Allison answered back, as she crushed the detonator with her hand, disabling it.
"That saves us that issue…" Raiden sighed as he heard the confirmation.
With their work done, Raiden and Sakura stepped away from Mei and Mistral.
"As far as Desperado knows for the two of you, you're both dead. So you're free to do as you please." Raiden said.
"Mei… after this is all over… I promise I'll be there for you… I'll be the one person you can turn to, when no one else would do that for you." Sakura promised to Mei.
"...I'll keep those words in mind." Mei answered back, with a glint of hope in her eyes, that Sakura saw briefly.
Mistral slowly rose up, as the ice from their bodies thawed. "Let us leave… I doubt that we would be so welcome after this kind of defeat." Mistral remarked, as Mei helped her up, and the both of them left the area.
"...I sincerely hope that we somewhat changed their minds." Rachel remarked. "For now, only time will tell."
"Right… for now let's move on. I got some intel while we were finishing up that our next area of interest is an underground lab in Mexico… and when I mean underground, I mean the sewers." Raiden explained.
"Yeah… I think I'm sitting that one out…" Allison admitted.
"Then I'll supplement your share." Rachel nodded to Allison. "You need not worry. What about you, Inuyasha?"
"I'll go down with you guys. I don't mind it as much as Allison does." Inuyasha admitted.
"Then let's go. A friend of mine will debrief us when we get there." Raiden said as the group walked off.