Ok so... this story was posted not that long ago, exactly on June 16 as the Publish date says but as of June 19th, this story was completely unavailable to read not just by you guys but by me as well, which was strange because it still showed up on my profile link and could be reached that way.
That said anty other attempt to reach it resulted in
Story Not Found
Story is unavailable for reading. (A), until I just replaced the chapter.
I personally don't understand why this happened, but I'm just going to guess it was some kind of server bug...
Anyway, moving on this story is a revision/variation of another work of mine known as Mobile Suit Gundam: Armored Daemon (Test-Type), which can currently be found under Armored Core x Mobile Suit gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans. That said ths variation is more Iron Blooded Orphans than Armored Core, but I plan on adding some Armored Core Elements regardless, depending on how much it bleeds into the Armored Core Universe will determine if it gets moved back to the Crossover section of Fanfiction.
Anyway, enjoy, follow, review if you like where this seems to go.
And without further procrastination, here we go.
IBO: Wrought-Iron Ravens
Smoke and flame.
Seems that that was all that the world had turned into at the moment. Everything was disappearing into a haze of smoke and flame. Trident City, a place of metal and brick, was under fire, breaking down under the weight of the war that it had been swept up in. Pulling himself from rubble, a youth - that was barely seven - could only watch as the city they grew up in turned into something they could scarcely recognize. From beyond where they stood they could only make out the shadows that rose up and wandered around to reveal giants forged from iron and gifted with eyes that glowed like a torch at night.
Mobile Weapons.
Their weapons sounded more like thunder than anything as they echoed across the city, with such strength that it was amazing his hearing hadn't gone numb in order to cope with the noise that rattled his bones and threatened to shatter glass windows like a stone had been thrown at them.
The youth couldn't do anything, save watch things unfold. Watch as Mobile Weapons pressed on, mechanical titans fight against their own kind and, not to mention tanks and even people. Watch as they leveled the city that he called home, turning it into a scene that was comparable to Hell.
There's blood on his hands, though if he was going to be honest he wasn't too sure where his began and where another's ended. All he knows is that someone had traded their life for his, and despite their best efforts on getting him to safety, one of his hands was forced to clutch his limp arm as red started to stain his jacket sleeve.
He was lucky; mostly due to the fact that the sleeve and his arm weren't hanging on thanks to a few lucky pieces of meat and sinew…
Maybe that was the reason he wasn't screaming his head off right now, or maybe his brain just shorted out, shutting down everything it considered unnecessary to take in everything that was going on at the moment with that one eye not blinded by blood.
Regardless, the youth - a child really could do nothing as he just stared at his home city and watched it fall apart. He could have been watching for only a few minutes or maybe he could have been watching for about an hour. Wasn't that good at telling time unfortunately.
Amidst this city falling apart though, amidst the destruction and death going on, his eyes caught sight of a single mobile suit bolting across the landscape. It wasn't anything remarkable, it wasn't unique in any way or form, and yet the way it moved, the way it charged across the cityscape was just something he couldn't turn away from for some strange reason.
The mobile suit moved left then made a sharp right, as it avoided weapon fire before returning on its own. As it continued closing the gap, the blade mounted on its right arm flipped forward before it drove the steel blade straight through the armor of its target before retching it free. The rifle in its other arm pointed out at its next target and started firing. The other Mobile Suit returned fire as they retaliated and tried moving back. The one he couldn't take his eyes off ripped the rifle from the destroyed suit and rushed forward, what sounded like thunder trailing behind it as the suit all but emptied the weapon clip before kneeing the other in the cockpit hard enough to dent it inward. It followed the strike with three shells to the cockpit before turning as it came under fire. It took several hits, but it refused to fall to the ground. It jammed one of the rifles into a suit and pulled the trigger as a shell punched out the back of the unit and slammed into the street below. It left the weapon, used that flippable blade to cut off the limbs of another before stepping on the falling torso and crushing it underfoot. That thunderous roar followed again as it darted forward, driving its blade so far into the next unit that hand it was mounted on was touching its cockpit
It moved; it kept moving, it kept getting hit, still it kept fighting. There was no graceful ballet in how it fought, it wasn't a choreographed dance in any way. It didn't fight like a rabid animal either. It was just speed and brute force.
Thunder roared over the child, sounding so loud his ears bled as he stumbled and turned away from the ever fighting mobile suit before looking back, his attention quickly turning to see a second unit landing in the street behind him and firing overhead. The other mobile suit slammed into it, tackling it to the ground before bringing its blade back and drove it down as it punched a hole through the street. It pulled its blade back, only for half of the weapon to break off and seemed to turn its attention to the youth just looking up at it. The head turned slightly, looking left - then right before extending an arm and lowering it to the child.
"Get on."
"Alex! Alex! Wake up, Haro." Laying down in bed and forced to stare skyward at the iron ceiling, a figure by the name of Alex just took a breath as he glanced to the side, attention slowly looking to the bleached metal ball of sorts constantly bouncing at the edge of his bed. A Haro, a relic from the technological Golden Age that seemed so far away now. "Morning Alex, morning Alex." Alex just sat up, groaning as he ran a hand through his onyx black hair before rubbing his pink colored eyes.
"Morning Haro."
"Good morning! Good morning! Haro." Haro stated, continuing to bounce before rolling off. "Time to greet the morning!"
"Do we have to?" The teen asked, watching it retreat towards the open door just as someone else was about to step in.
"Huh~ I thought I heard Haro." Standing at the door was Hikaru, a red head with velvet eyes about two years older than him. "Looks like he ended up waking your sorry ass up today." His violet eyes seemed empty, not dead or lost… just empty. He didn't smile at his counterpart, nor did he frown… instead he just stared at him with this blank, near-unreadable expression before leaning against the door. "Have a good night's sleep?"
"I guess you could say that." Alex muttered as he left his bed, and just took a minute to yawn. Hikaru didn't question his words, instead decided to simply stare at him, taking notice of the sweat that had gathered on his counterpart's forehead.
'He had that nightmare again…' No; nightmare wasn't the right word. Alex remembered; he'd remembered something he'd much rather forget. Everytime he seemed to try, it just came back, reminding him of what happened that day. Reminding him what was lost.
"So." Alex stretched. "What's on the schedule today?"
"Practice." Was Hikaru's answer.
"Obviously." Alex rolled his eyes. "But what about work?" Alex asked. "Any contracts?"
"Zelkova is looking into getting us one right now, he'll be able to get back to us in an hour or two."
"Right." Alex muttered as he took a second to stretch again before starting to gather up some clothes.
323 P.D. (Post Disaster) Calendar
September 19th
Jupiter / Independent Territory
Eosa Autonomous Region / Ashbourne Company
Sitting in his office a Raven by the name of Zelkova, took a breath before raising a cup of coffee to his lips. "Alright…" His attention stayed focused on the laptop that was situated on the desk before him. "Let's see what we got to work with." On his terminal was a message, something fairly recent, but the words on it were something he'd seen more than once in his career.
Mosaic Transmission: Priority 1
Mercenary Contract Request Form
Requester: Artemisia
"Hello Raven."
A slightly distorted, but femanine voice cut across the line as Zelkova made a face, smiling slightly as he did so.
"My name is Rosa, I'm an Operator associated with the Artemisia Corporation, and on behalf of my employer, I'm reaching out to you with a job."
"Rosa huh… nice name, better voice." Zelkova stated as he took a drink from his cup. "What's the op?"
"Escort."
The woman stated.
"We've received word that Olympyus is planning an attack on our transport train, Black Tide."
Rosa told him.
"Black Tide is currently transporting one of our more sensitive projects and will be refueling at the Noland Train Terminal located in the Green District. This project is important to us; we can't risk having it fall into the hands of our rivals."
"So you want us to keep the contents secure until it gets home." Zelkova muttered, his interest already waning as he returned to his coffee.
"Can you assist us?"
"Course." Zelkova stated as he set his cup down. "Where do we need to go, and how soon do you need us?"
Ashbourne Company / Training Grounds
Alex ran, darting across the grounds as fast as his two legs could carry him before turning on his heel and took off behind a few containers. Coming up behind him, another figure immediately paused, looked around and realized he was gone. "Well, you're getting faster at hiding." The figure muttered as they lowered their rifle before reaching for their handgun, turned and opened fire. Alex grunted as paint slammed into his body armor and forced him to readjust his positioning behind a container. "But your actual hiding could still use some work."
"Yeah, yeah." Alex muttered as he aimed his rifle out from behind a corner as he opened fire. His opponent dodged making for the closest container as they jumped, their waist-mounted jumpkit helping them climb up the wall before getting on top of it. That done they ran forward, stopping at the edge of the container and aimed down. Alex moved, jumping back as he avoided a few balls of paint and refocused his fire. His attacker used the roof to hide themself, before taking off after him. Alex continued to retreat, glancing to the side as he noticed another crate he could hide behind. They didn't press their fire, instead just waiting for him to come out. Behind his helmet Alex took a breath, taking notice of the paint streaks that were on his shoulder and sighed to himself. "Well, at least these wouldn't kill."
"This would." Alex froze, a rifle muzzle pressed to the back of his helmet and tapping against it. "If this wasn't paint, you know."
"Yeah." Alex grumbled, dropped his rifle and sighed in annoyance.
"Giving up?"
"Not yet Odrevi." Before the rifle could be fired, Alex ducked, swung around and pushed the rifle away with his elbow. With his other arm he swung his combat knife, bringing it around to leave a trail of paint running across the air. He rushed forward and Odrevi stepped back, both of them using their jump kits; one used it to boost his charge, the other used it to jump overhead. Odrevi raised their handgun and pointed down, Alex responded with a quick dodge to the side and raised his free arm, a grappling cable shooting out of his gauntlet and latched onto his opponent's body armor. He pulled them down without so much as a thought, barely dodging the next paint bullet and swung his knife at them. Odrevi responded with their handgun, using it as a makeshift melee weapon and blocked. That done he readjusted his aim, shooting at Alex only to miss as the boy knocked the weapon away and made another swing with his knife. Odrevi ducked, lunged forward and planted his handgun under his counterpart's chin.
"Still just a little slow." Odrevi told him as Alex breathed behind his helmet. "You're getting better though." They admitted as they lowered their handgun, stepped back and holstered the sidearm. "Pretty soon you might be able to keep up with me in close-quarters combat."
"Can only hope." Alex muttered. Without a word he moved, and so did Odrevi, both youths getting out of the way as they avoided a volley of bullets being sent their way.
From outside the training grounds, an older individual could be found leaning against a fence as he glanced at a tablet. He could see what was happening in the Training Grounds from several different angles, even change who they were focusing on if he had to.
"How's it looking?" He glanced back for a moment, attention focusing on a black haired and black eyed individual.
"Do you even have to ask?" Smoke handed Raphael the tablet and let him see what was going on. "As usual Hikaru is in the lead with 'kills', and the rest are struggling to either catch up with him or take him down."
"Of course they are." Raphael muttered as he flipped through a few camera feeds and made a noise. "Kid is pretty much the top dog for the juniors here. And they're always trying to take that spot from him." He stated as he continued looking through the live feed. "It's a good thing. Hikaru has to keep his skills sharp if he wants to keep his spot, and everyone else has to sharpen their skills in order to have the chance of dethroning him." Raphael returned the tablet before reaching for a hip flask. "And the better they get, the better their chances of surviving out here are."
"You're not wrong." After all, while Ravens spent most of their combat history in a Mobile Weapon, not all conflicts could be resolved with such a thing. After all, there were places where a Mobile Weapon couldn't reach, and situations where piloting simply wasn't an option. When that happened, a Raven had to fight on the ground, and if they couldn't do that…
"Any word from Zelkova yet?" Smoke asked.
"He just finished talking to an Operator." Raphael muttered. "He'll gather us up in a bit."
"Good." Smoke muttered as he once again passed Raphael the terminal and started walking off. "Could use the coin."
"What, your wallet losing too much weight?"
"Not at all." Smoke mutters. "Even without the Operators getting jobs sent our way, I still make enough thanks to the Arena fights." Smoke states as he looks at his phone for a moment. "But I could always use a bit more."
"Well, can't disagree with you there."
Ashbourne Company / Mess Hall
Breakfast wasn't great, but it was edible at least. To be honest, when you're a mercenary that's all you can really hope for most of the time. Food's not gonna cause you to start singing songs about how great it is, but at the same time it's not gonna be so bad you wanna throw up just smelling it. End of the day, it was just food, good food but not the best out there; if you wanted to be better or exotic, you'd better know the right people or be ready to fork over a good bit of coin.
"An escort job?" Hikaru nodded as he went back to eating, casually biting into his sandwich at Amalea's question.
"Yeah, from what Zelkova says, Artemisia wants us to look after one of their transport trains. It'll be pulling into the Green District tomorrow." Odrevi stated as he took a bite from his sandwich.
"Guess that means we'll be taking practice with our Mobile Workers off tomorrow." Alex muttered, taking a minute to eat as well.
"Fraid so." Hikaru stated. "Obviously the job won't be quick, we'll be making sure the train gets refueled and help it get home safely."
"So we're heading over to Artemisia headquarters in Lotso." Amalea got a nod sent her way. "What are they transporting?"
"No damn clue." Odrevi and Hikaru said together, looked at each other and shrugged.
"Whatever they're transporting is of a 'sensitive nature'." Hikaru stated. "We aren't allowed to know what it is."
"And yet whoever comes after it probably knows what it is anyway." Amalea grumbled.
"Probably." Odrevi muttered, before seeming to smile. "The companies really need to work on those leaks they tend to get."
"Yeah." A small laugh left the group as they returned to eating.
Jupiter/ Independent Territory
Europa Autonomous Region / Artemisia Affiliated Dig Site
"Alright, we got everything fastened?" A worker asked, looking up at his companions on top of a train cart with something covered in a type of tarp. After seeing his people work for a while someone gave him a thumbs up, and with a nod, turned to his counterpart. "Alright, looks like we're good." He stated. "We just need to fuel her up and we'll be ready to ship her out."
"Yeah." A young man stated as he smiled. "Thanks again for the hard work Lynis." He stated as he patted his older counterpart's shoulder. "You and your boys are lifesavers, you know that right Lynis?"
"We get that alot." Lynis admitted as he looked at his crew and scratched his head. "Still, I wonder why headquarters wants this old bucket of bolts dug up so soon."
"Hard to say really." His counterpart stated. "This Mobile Suit is a relic, but it's in surprisingly good shape, considering it is older than our company." He stated. "That said, the things we can learn by looking at its software and design. It might yield some good results in assisting with our own Mobile Suit Development."
"Maybe." Lynis muttered. "Still I don't think you should expect too much from this thing. It's a museum piece after all."
"That may be, but I think we can learn quite a bit from this old man." The younger man stated.
"What makes you say that?"
"You saw it." The younger of the two - Kamui - stated. "That chassis wasn't like any of the standard mobile suits in either our records or Gjallarhorns." He wasn't wrong. "And then there's its power source; it's running on two Ahab Reactors instead of one." Kamui stated. "I've seen custom work done before and I've seen machines made from cannibalizing other Mobile Suits, but this thing; it's a completely different breed of animal." He stated. "I would love to know who the pilot was…" He paused. "Or better yet, who they needed to fight to require a custom job."
"You think it wasn't just for decor, a sign of status?"
"No way." Kamui stated. "If it was, this thing wouldn't have been designed as it was if that were the case." Kamui put his hands on hips. "This thing was definitely made for a fight…" He paused. "Or more likely a war."
"You're saying it's from the Calamity War."
"Has to be." Kamui muttered. "Let's be real, there's thousands of mobile suits from that war scattered across our solar system, and we've been digging them up for centuries now, breaking them down and using them to both reclaim and improve our Mobile Suit technology." Lynis couldn't disagree with him on that. "Using that logic, this is bound to be another one of those relics. It's definitely the only reason I can see something like this existing." Kamui fell silent for a moment. "Twin Ahab Reactors…" He muttered to himself. "I didn't even think having two of them run in synchronization was possible." He admitted. "If we can find out how they accomplished that feat then our mobile suits output would be far greater than any modern day mobile suit." He told himself as he seemed to think. "I'm going to look into those files we stole from Gjallarhorn, maybe I can skim over something that we can use."
"How about we focus on just getting it home first, brother?" Pulled from his thoughts Kamui turned, his attention focusing on the two others walking up to him. One was his younger brother, Luce and the other was an Operator that they had brought with them from headquarters.
"Luce, Rosa." Kamui greeted them. "Are you two ready to go?" The red eyed boy just nodded while Rosa adjusted her glasses.
"I've reached out to Ashbourne and they've agreed to our contract. They'll be at Noland Train Terminal tomorrow to assist us." Rosa stated.
"Very good." Kamui stated with a smile as he turned back towards the train as their workers finished fueling her up. "I'll be looking forward to meeting them."
"I don't share your enthusiasm." Luce stated as his brother chucked.
"I can agree with Luce." Rosa stated as she looked up at the cart that was getting closed up.
"Curious?" Kamui asked, that smile still plastered on his face as he drew Rosa's eyes.
"Concerned." She told him. "It's a curious design for sure, but I don't like it." Rosa admitted.
"Oh?" Kamui paused in his work. "Please, explain."
"I can't." Rosa mumbled. "I've seen the mobile weapons we've excavated and transported from other dig sites, but none of them are like this. It gives me a strange feeling." She told him. "I get the impression this unit will be more trouble than it's worth." Everyone looked at the container that the Mobile Suit was strapped to as the walls started folding up and making it disappear.
"To be fair you probably aren't wrong." Kamui stated.
Gjallarhorn
Jovian HQ Stationary Orbital Base
Jupiter: as the largest planet in the Sol system, with a mass two and a half times that of all it's planets combined; this gas giant has always captured the imaginations of many - especially with its massive satellites and single giant red eye. It was a shame though that after terraforming efforts and colonization, the reality of the planet turned out to be far less fascinating than humanity could have hoped.
Regardless…
"Following the Calamity War, it took Gjallarhorn about 30 years in order to gain control over Jupiter." Evo Mundus, Chief of the Gjallarhorn's Jupiter Branch, couldn't help but frown as he looked at the file presenting itself on his tablet. "That said, since we have gained control of it. We've slowly been losing that control over the planet." He stated, his frown deepening. "For nearly two hundred years Jupiter has been the grounds for an uncounted number of conflicts both over its resources and for who would control the planet." He explained. "These repeated conflicts have resulted in Gjallarhorn's control being almost completely lost, and as it stands most of the planet is divided up between Gjallarhorn, established as independent Territories or under the control of Jupiter's various corporations." He explained as he looked ahead, staring at the other three officials that were standing at attention. "And over the past two decades, we've lost more ground on Jupiter than we have in the past half century." He grumbled to himself.
"The man responsible is Kamui Boundary." He stated staring at the image of a young man with long black hair and red eyes staring back at him from his tablet. "He's responsible for not only stealing important Gjallarhorn files but also reverse engineering the Ahab Reactor Technology, both of which he has distributed amongst the Jupiter corporations." He muttered just loudly enough for those in front of him to hear. "Because of this fact, not only have we lost the ability to monopolize on Mobile Weapon technology, but the corporations possess knowledge of all our mainstream and in development prototypes and they have successfully begun using them to repel Gjallarhorn's attempts at reoccupying Jupiter." He grumbled. "It's insulting; Gjallarhorn has lost much of its jurisdiction over Jupiter over the years, and with most of our Independence Movement gaining favor thanks to the young Kudelia Aina Bernstein, we run the risk of completely losing control over our colonies." He admitted. "Regrettably, there isn't much we can do concerning her as she and Mars lie outside our jurisdiction, but regardless we will work to maintain what control we have over Jupiter." He stated. "Gjallarhorn can not risk losing Jupiter, we must regain control over this world, and to begin will start by having to apprehend the man who has stolen Gjallarhorn's secrets." He stared at the nine before him. "This is your mission, First Lieutenant Halistrom; you are to lead your team to Jupiter's surface, locate and apprehend Kamui Boundary and bring him in, do you understand?"
"Yes sir!" Halistrom Dogus stated with a smile.
The chief of Gjallarhorn's Jupiter Branch made a gesture and Halistrom came forward, the tablet his chief had been looking at being handed over as he looked upon it with a smile. "We have intel that Kamui will be at the Noland Train Terminal tomorrow that is where you're going to find him before he returns to Artemisia's headquarters and they put him under our radar." He stated with a frown. "No doubt he will have hired some mercenary company to provide protection during that time to fend off a rival force that's caught wind of his location, so expect resistance."
"Yes sir."
"Venir." Venir Ramius, an older man, kept a stern gaze as he looked at his chief. "You will support your former student. Your experience will no doubt come in handy if things take a turn outside our favor.
"Yes sir." Venir Ramius said calmly.
Gjallarhorn
Biscoe-Class Cruiser
"Major, the transmission from Ariadne." Sighing to herself, Gjallarhorn Specialist Major Velvet Creeds just looked at her screen as she rested a hand on her chin, while her free hand went to her controls as she pressed something.
"So, we're going to Jupiter?" Her companion asked as she leaned over the seat she was at and looked at her work.
"I've confirmed it." The pale haired woman stated as she turned to her companion. "There's no problem with that, is there Marie?" Gjallarhorn Specialist Major Marie Vision simply smiled at her.
"Of course not." She stated. "I get to do my job and get to visit my homeworld." She admitted. "Still, it's been quite a while, I wonder how much it's changed."
"No doubt the scattered territories have changed faces with every planetside conflict." Velvet states. "Warlords carve out their territories, rising to power and bringing about peace to all those who live within their lands… only to fall in battle so that another may take their place." Velvet whispers, a faint smile crossing her face. "Jupiter is caught in a cycle; with peace and wartime forever exchanging places on the world's surface."
"Yeah so it probably hasn't changed much." Marie said with a chuckle. "Still, here's hoping that we get there during a relatively peaceful time." She looked at Velvet and nudged her with her elbow. "Course if that's the case, you'd get bored out of your mind."
"Well, you're not wrong." Velvet admitted. "As much as Gjallarhorn wishes to deny it, your homeworld cycle of war is proof Gjallarhorn as a whole has lost its edge." She states as she gets to her feet. "The Jovian Branch has lost so much ground on Jupiter, and their failed attempts to reclaim it have left a stain on Gjallarhorn. They must prove themselves to Gjallarhorn itself if they wish to remove it. They must prove themselves if they truly wish to regain Gjallarhorn's favor." She stated.
"I honestly can't disagree with that logic." Marie stated as she took a minute to stretch her arms out.
Jupiter / Independent Territory
Riva Autonomous Region / Bellicose Company
Sitting against a Mobile Weapon Hanger, a man by the name of Nier just made a face as he stared at the cigarettes that were in his hand. Annoyance being written upon his face as he took the time to consider lighting one up or not.
He knew this shit killed, hell he'd seen what it could do to others, and he knew what these things could do to him if he wasn't too careful. That said, it hadn't stopped him from taking one or two of these things over the years. Sure he'd cut back from how many he used to take, but he hadn't quit just yet.
Wasn't even sure he could to be honest.
So, it was with admitting that to himself, the man pulled a cigarette out of his carton before lighting it up.
"Tough job tomorrow?" Someone asked as he turned his head to the side and saw a vaguely younger man walking over to him.
"You can tell?"
"Unlike me, you only smoke when we have a big job coming up." Atria stated as he walked over, taking one of his bosses' smokes and lit it up. "You're concerned about that job Olympus wants us to do." Nier didn't say anything. "It should be a simple job, nothing we can't handle."
"Normally I'd agree with you." The man stated. "But our client gave an update, the job just got bigger." Austria stopped smoking as he looked at his boss.
"How big?" Nier noticed the tone change but said nothing about it.
"Our main objective is to still pick up the cargo Artemisia is transporting, but we're getting paid extra in order to pick up someone traveling with it." He stared as he returned to his smoke. "Kamui Boundary." Atria whistled, then took a minute to scratch his head.
"That's a big target." Atria stated. "He's wanted by both Gjallarhorn and the corps because of what he can accomplish. If he's being transported with the cargo, they're going to go after him. And if Olympus knows where he's going to be tomorrow…"
"So will others." Nier grumbled. "Tomorrows going to likely get us caught in the middle of a crossfire."
"Do we have everything we'll need in case that happens?"
"Can't say for sure." Nier stated, taking another smoke. "All I can say is we'd better prepare for the worst."
"Right…" Atria muttered.
Late Night
Eosa Autonomous Region / Ashbourne Company
It gets quiet at night. Zelkova realized that a long time ago as he made his rounds. Didn't really have to if he was being honest, but it got him moving a bit before he turned in for the night. Besides he liked doing these nightly rounds; it gave him a chance to check on his kids and see if they'd actually clocked out for the night. Course there were still those that liked 'staying up past their bedtime'.Mostly those that wanted to wind down with a bit of late night exercise. He made his way to the underground hangar and took a minute to look around, his attention quickly zoning in on the head mechanic as they rubbed their back and took a moment to try lighting up a cigarette.
"You know that's gonna kill you one of these days Luise."
"I'd rather have this kill me than someone out there." Luise stated as Zelkova leaned against a Mobile Worker. "We can't always choose how we die, but I think this is a good enough way for me to go."
"Yeah." Zelkova asked, leaning forward as he suddenly swiped the cigarette from his chief mechanic and held it up. "If that's the case, do it on your time, not mine."
"Hey, I'll have you know I'm off the clock boss." Luise stated as Zelkova seemed to think for a moment before chuckling lightly.
"Yeah, I guess you got a point." He admitted passing the smoke back. "So how's everything looking?" Zelkova asked, his attention focused on the Mobile Armors.
"So far everything looks good." Luise told him as he inhaled some smoke. "Maintenance has been taken care of, everythings refueled and fully loaded. They'll be ready for whatever happens tomorrow."
"That's great." Zelkova smiled. "I feel like we'll need it."
"One of your hunches?" Zelkova chuckled.
"More like paranoia." He responded. "Artemisia is paying top dollar to get this done. That's never a good sign."
"Yeah, you got me there." Luise grumbled as he took another smoke. "Who do you think Olympus will send?"
"Don't know." Zelkova admitted. "Regardless of who they're sending, I'm expecting to run into a Mobile Suit or four."
"What makes you say that?"
"Kamui Boundary is on the train we'll be guarding." Zelkova stated.
"Ah… shit." Luise grumbled. Was all Luise said for a moment. "Is he the cargo you're protecting?"
"No, but Artemisia is paying extra to make sure he's safe."
"Of course they are… he's their golden goose after all." Luise falling silent. "So are you ready for tomorrow?"
"We'll see." Zelkova nodded as he made a noise. "I trust you didn't skip out on going over my machine."
"Of course not, who do you think I am?" Luise stated. "If anything happened to your machine the others would kill me."
"Nah~ I think they'd just give you an ear full." Zelkova stated as he stared into space and settled down on the floor. "Things are going to be busy tomorrow." He muttered. "Think you'll be able to help hold the fort down while I'm gone?"
"Yeah, we'll be fine." Luise stated. "You'll only be gone for a few days right?"
"Mhm." Zelkova nodded his head and smiled. "Take care of the kids ok?"
"Don't work, we'll take care of them." Luise stated. "Just don't just push 'em to hard when you get back."
"I'll try." Zelkova stated as he stared at the ceiling for a bit.
"That reminds me, how are they're studies going?" Luise asked.
"It's going." Zelova admitted. "Faster with some, slower with others." He admitted. "Still It's going to take a while before the kids actually start getting literate." He admitted before going silent. "Sometimes I wonder, though, if it's better to teach them or not."
"It's not like you to second guess yourself on your decisions."
"Yeah well… sometimes the more you know the worse things get for you." Zelkova stated, his eyes seeming to cloud for a moment as he thought back, images flashing before his mind before he pushed them back. "As they say, sometimes ignorance is bliss."
"Yeah well, they also say knowledge is power." Luise countered. "And if you want these kids to try becoming what you want them to, then they need that knowledge."
"Hey, don't put it that way." Zelkova grumbled. "I'm not trying to turn them into anything, I just want to give them a better chance." He stated. "A chance that not not many Human Debris get…" The two fell silent at those words and Luise could tell that just saying them left a bad taste in Zelkova's mouth.
Human Debris… orphaned children sold as slaves. You couldn't even really call them property - they had as much value as the debris that floats around in space. They were useful, but at the end of the day they were really just expendable child soldiers. You could buy more when you ran low and no one would bat an eye.
And Zelkova, he wouldn't - couldn't deny that he tended to pick up Human Debris, tended to bring them in and use them the same way others did, so he couldn't really claim some kind of moral high ground because of that. That said, he was one of the 'better' owners. Yes, he and his company taught them to pull a trigger and kill; and like good little child soldiers they did just that, but he also had them learn to read and write, break the damaged ones out of their own subhuman mentality.
As said, he was one of the 'better' owners, but at the end of the day he didn't really have a moral high ground to stand on.
End of the day, he still owned Human Debris, and he trained and used them to be child soldiers.
"You're a good man boss." Luise stated. "If you hadn't had Wyrm's Nest buy those kids someone else would have, and you know how most treat them."
Luise muttered, his own thoughts starting to drift for a bit. "You should get some rest, you're gonna need it for tomorrow."
September 20th
Eosa Autonomous Region
Green District / Noland Train Terminal
Never really understood why they called this part of Eosa the Green District; mean, there wasn't much green going around in this part. Green District was more ruin than anything. As far as the eye could see, this 'district' was dead. There were of course a number of buildings still around, but a lot of them were in disrepair. Overpasses had collapsed from one of Ju[iter's previous wars and the streets were a bit shot up. People had stopped living in this part of Eosa a long time ago, but for some reason they had chosen to keep the Train Terminal active. Why was beyond anyone's guess, mean they could make a new one and reroute the trains where they needed to go, right?
Guess it didn't matter in the end.
"Alright." Zelkova said over his mobile suits comms as he looked out from the Train Terminal. "Operator, Ashbourne Company is reporting in. We're at the terminal, where are you?"
"I hear you Raven, we'll be pulling into the terminal in less than a minute."
Zelkova turned his mobile suit's head as he made a noise before nodding his head. "Alright I see you." He stated as he opened comms, and turned his mobile suits' head to talk to the rest of his team. "Look alive everyone, clients coming in and paying for good work, so no slacking off alright?"
"Right."
Zelkova started to think. They had only had five Mobile Suits with them, and a few dozen Mobile Workers. The Mobile Suits were all based off one of the stolen Gjallarhorn Frames, though there were some obvious modifications made to suits thanks to their pilots. One major modification they all shared was a sturdier framework - something to help them better manage under Jupiter's gravity. "Here's hoping we got enough hands to manage whatever comes our way." Zelkova muttered to himself as he scanned the horizon. His main camera caught something that was pulling up to the station. "There's the Black Tide." He said over comms as he took a breath. "Eye's open everyone, we are officially on the clock." He stated. "Raphael, I want a perimeter set up, you even see a stray cat walking around, let me know."
"Consider it done."
Zelkova crossed his arms as he cut coms again, leaning back in his seat and seemed to think. "And now we play the waiting game…" He muttered.
Alex sighed to himself as he continued driving around in his Mobile Worker. Annoyance crossing his face as he did so.
"Alex."
Perking up he activated his comms for a moment. "Raphael? What's up?"
"You see anything?"
"Not yet." He muttered as he pressed on. "It's quiet out here." He told his counterpart. "I don't like it." He admitted.
"You never did like the quiet."
Raphael made a noise over comms as Alex shrugged. "It's not that I don't like the quiet, it's that I don't like when its quiet on a job." He corrected his superior. "Usually when it is, its going to get real noisy soon." He muttered.
"Well, you're not wrong."
Raphael replied.
"Still, with that bedding the case, we might as well enjoy the quiet while we can."
"Right." Alex muttered as he suddenly put a hand on his stomach and made a face. "Raph? I'm going to have to step out my Mobile Worker for a moment. Gotta take a leak."
"Didn't I tell you and the others to use the bathroom before we left?"
Alex rolled his eyes as he pulled his Mobile Worker to a stop in the barren streets and sighed to himself. "This will just be a second, as soon as I'm done I'll get right back to helping keep an eye out."
"Remember to take your gear."
"I will." Alex muttered as he cut comms and grabbed a few things before disconnecting himself from the Alaya-Vijnana system and stepped out his Mobile Worker.
Black Tide Transport Train
Kamui hummed to himself as he continued working on his computer, a smile on his face as he did so. "Let's see…" He muttered to himself before going over the files presented to him. Every file concerned the personnel of the Ashbourne Company. Getting these files wasn't too hard for him. All he had to do was ask Mosaic and the system liaison gave them to him. It didn't give him too much to work with - nothing too personal about them outside their history as a Raven, but it did give a few things to look at, like their name and affiliation, their ranking in the Arena, simple stuff like that. To be fair though, he didn't need anything personal sent his way. He just wanted to get a look at the Ravens that were currently protecting him and the cargo.
Zelkova Ashes
Classification: Mercenary
Gender: Male
Affiliation: Ashbourne Company
Occupation: Mobile Suit Pilot
Rank: A-9
Craft: EB-05/ac Schwalbe Obelisk
Smoke Anderson
Classification: Mercenary
Gender: Male
Affiliation: Ashbourne Company
Occupation: Mobile Suit Pilot
Rank: A-14
Craft: EB-04/ac Geirail Ranger
Raphael Sanhelios
Classification: Mercenary
Gender: Male
Affiliation: Ashbourne Company
Occupation: Mobile Suit Pilot
Rank: B-17
Craft: EB-06s/ac Graze Custom
Mila Breaks
Classification: Mercenary
Gender: Female
Affiliation: Ashbourne Company
Occupation: Mobile Suit Pilot
Rank: B-9
Craft: EB-06s/ac Graze Armored Custom
Reaching a certain name Zelkova couldn't help blink in surprise, his smile fading for a moment as he looked at the next person. "Well fuck me…"
"What is it?" Luce asked, his attention turning from his own work as he looked at his older brother. "Is something wrong?"
"Not at all." Kamui stated.
Hikaru Ashes
Classification: Mercenary
Gender: Male
Affiliation: Ashbourne Company
Occupation: Mobile Suit Pilot
Rank: B-3
Craft: EB-06 Graze Flag
"Not at all." He couldn't help smiling.
Alex sighed in relief as he adjusted his belt buckle. "Much better." He grumbled as he started heading back to his Mobile Worker. "Now that that's taken care of I can…?"Something to the left caught his attention as he stopped, turned slightly as narrowed his eyes. The flicker of light however caused him to turn tail and head straight back into the building he'd come from.
His timing couldn't have been better, not when a bullet punched a hole through the wall he was next to. "Sniper!" He reached for his belt, pulled out a small switch and hit a button as his Mobile Worker started launching flares into the air.
Hikaru cracked an eye open, his attention being drawn to the smoke trail that was going up in the sky. "We got company."
"I see em. Alright everyone, time to work for a living."
"Are you kidding me!?" First Lieutenant Dogus ground his teeth together as he looked at the smoke flare flying off in the distance. "Damn those snipers, can't do anything right. Fine whatever, let's begin the operation!"
"Dogus, wait!"
"Attack!"
Round after round of live fire filled the air as the Gjallarhorn Mobile Workers opened fire.
"Dogus, our objective is in the firing range! A full scale attack can result in us losing them!"
A rain of missiles danced across the battlefield, erupting it into a series of explosions that seemed to cause Jupiter to tremble. Zelkova told his company to haul ass as he and everyone started dodging, trying to get away from the missiles that were raining down on them. They tried ducking behind buildings, racing out of the firing zone and down the streets.
Sadly, only the faster ones made it while the others disappeared under a bombardment of missile fire.
Black Tide Transport Train
Rosa nearly lost her footing as she felt the Transport Train shake. "What's going on? Are we under attack?"
"Sounds like it." Kamui stated as he turned to Luce as he saw the boy already heading off to take care of something. "This your first time?"
"What?"
"This is your first time being in a combat zone, right?" Kamui asked. "Trust me, you'll get used to the noise." He stated as he turned his attention elsewhere. "Anyway, we'll be fine, the Black Tide has more than enough armor to handle this kind of bombardment." He paused. "For a while anyway."
"How are you so -" The transport Train shook as Rosa released a noise and covered her ears.
"I'm going to go on a limb here and say that you were about to ask why I'm calm right now!" Kamui yelled over the noise. "I like being in the field, so this happens a lot around me!" He told her. "Though I gotta say, the attack's a bit earlier than what I was expecting!" He admitted. "But we should be fine! Ashbourne Company is getting paid big money to keep us safe, also we have defensive systems built into the Black Tide just in case they were going to be running a bit late!"
"A missile bombardment? What the hell is their commander thinking?"
Zelkova just sucked in a deep breath as he crouched his mobile suit behind a wall of debris.
"The transport and their objective is out here!? Are they trying to kill them?"
"Probably." Zelkova muttered as he activated his camera and got a better look at who was firing. "That ensignia…"
"Whoever's firing doesn't seem all that concerned about conserving ammo. What company are we up against?"
"Gjallarhorn." Zelkova muttered.
"What?"
"We're fighting Gjallarhorn, not another mercenary company."
"What are they doing out here?"
"Most likely they found out that Kamui was above ground and they were ordered to get him before he disappeared again."
"That sounds about right." Zelkova muttered as he sighed to himself. "Still this kind of attack…" He grumbled over a rain of fire. He looked towards the Transport train. "Operator, are you still alive in there?"
"Y-yes!"
"Good, I want you to stay hunkered down, your transport should be tough enough to handle this kind of bombardment." He stated.
"What are you going to do?"
"The job you're paying us for." Zelkova stated as he opened comms. "Alright everyone, time to work for a living. The opposing force is Gjallarhorn, that means we're definitely going to be outgunned and outnumbered. We take these guys on in the open field, we're dead, so drag 'em into the city and use the environment to our advantage." He ordered as he saw the missile barrage come to an end as Gjallarhorn started to move. He brushed back a few strands of his hair as he breathed. "Still if it's Gjallarhorn…" He glanced towards the city horizon. "That means they weren't 'hired', so if I'm right; we're still expecting someone."
Doesn't take long for the city to get overrun. Mobile Workers racing across the streets as dozens upon dozens of rounds were fired off. Honestly, even though it had only been a few minutes, it honestly felt like hours had already felt like hours had passed since the district became a battlefield. Things got bad pretty quickly, but it could have been worse. And knowing how this sort of thing went it was bound to get worse.
Gjallarhorn had an insane amount of ammunition at their side.
Ashbourne… not so much.
Every bullet counted. One less shell meant one less round in their whole supply.
That said Hikaru wasn't too worried about the rounds either slamming into his Mobile Suit or flying by it. He didn't waste many shots, instead preferring to just run over the mobile workers that were in his path. He chose to save his bullets for either the ones that were retreating or the Mobile Suits that were on the battlefield.
"Radar's picking up nine Graze type mobile suits." He muttered as he ran over another set of mobile workers. "If we can get ahold of them, that means we'll get nine new suits to work with." He admitted raising his rifle and pointed it at some of the retreating Mobile Workers and started shooting them down. "Hm?" He dodged, his mobile suit pulling back as he avoided getting its head cut off. "Speak of the devil." He mused.
"What kind of mobile suit pilot targets mobile workers?"
"If you want a debate of fighting ethics, look elsewhere." Hikaru stated as he dodged another swing from their weapon as he circled around. As he did he aimed off to the side, his rifle leaving a trail of bullets that ripped through the street and took out a number of mobile workers.
"Damn you!"
"Sorry, does that make you mad?"
"They have nothing to do with this!"
"If that were the case they shouldn't be on the battlefield." He stated as he weaved to dodge another attack before grabbing the mobile suits axe and held it. Right after he pointed his rifle at the Graze's cockpit and opened fire. "One round, two round, three round, four." He muttered. "How many will it take to open this door?" He stopped firing as the suit powered down. "Looks like six." He mused. "Well that was painfully easy…" Hikaru muttered to himself, turning down another street and headed off.
Alex hid, hiding behind the shadow of a building as he saw the Mobile Workers race down the streets. "Damn it…" He muttered, his attention drifting from one place to the next as he moved. "I really wish that I didn't have to leave my Mobile Worker behind." He grumbled as he watched a Gjallarhorn Mobile Worker drive by and head somewhere else. Without much prompting he headed after it.
Sure there was no way that his legs would allow him to keep up with the thing for long, but he wasn't too worried about it.
Chasing after the thing he aimed his grappling hook forward and fired, latching on to the hull of the Mobile Worker as he started to retract it, using it to pull himself towards it before climbing onto the machine. That done he pulled out his handgun and walked over to the hatch, pulled it open and fired down into it. Before he could hop in he noticed that another Gjallarhorn model was approaching, and started opening fire, so his first instinct was to get the way before either he lost a limb or lost the machine. Jumping off he aimed his gauntlet at a nearby building and let himself be pulled towards it. Moment he landed he headed towards the interior, the machine chasing after him, opening fire with that Anti-Personnel Chain Gun it had located under its body, a weapon that tore through most of the walls as Alex just continued running and stayed out of its line of sight. The machine just kept going after him for a bit before pulling back out the building and let loose with the cannon on its roof.
"Oh you got to be…" Getting to his feet Alex ran, heading through the building as the pillars started getting hit. He ran, with the building collapsing behind him as he jumped out one of the windows and into the alleyways. The rest of the building fell behind him and he started to run, heading towards another building as he aimed his grapple hook at another building to launch himself up its side and towards a building. Some height given he reached for his bomb satchel and lobbed it towards the street, causingg it to bounce off the ground and take out a Mobile Worker's wheels and knocking it off balance. "Aim was a bit off but I'll take what I can get…" He muttered as he pulled at his assault rifle and took aim as he saw the hatch open up.
"What?!" Dogus grit his teeth as he had his mobile suit move forward, annoyance on his face as saw something disappear on his radar. "How the hell could we have lost one of our Mobile Suits?" He growled out. "How the hell is that even possible?"
"Dogus, remember where we are."
Lieutenant Ramius called out over comms.
"There's a reason Gjallarhorn lost control over Jupiter two hundred years ago."
Dogus made a noise as he grit his teeth. "I know that."
"Then you know attacking blind will only -"
"Oh be quiet Ramius." Dogus hissed as his eyes caughts sight on a few Mobile Workers pulling a full retreat as they opened fire on him. "I'm in charge here, just follow my orders." He opened fire on the mobile workers, blowing holes into them as he gave chase.
Zelkova just sucked in a deep breath as he crouched his mobile suit behind a wall of debris as he avoided some fire from several of Gjallarhorns Mobile Workers. Mobile workers weren't a major threat to a Mobile suit, but when they had numbers on their side a lot of things were possible. "Honestly… this is starting to look like a mess." He mused as he reached for one of the grenades that were situated on his Mobile Suit's skirt. Without much prompting he rolled it across the street and towards the squad coming his way. Without much effort he had his suit retreat back behind as the grenade went off, and the street was filled with the sound of things coming to a screeching crash. One of the Mobile Workers crashed into the ground next to his barricade as he saw that it had been shredded by a number of sharpened pipes. "Hey Operator, are you still there?" He called out as he opened comms again.
"Y-yes!"
"How much longer before the train is refilled and ready to go?"
"Uh - actually we have a bit of a problem."
The woman on the other end whimpered as a crash was heard.
"The Engine was hit during the missile bombardment, we're stuck!"
"We'll that's not good… can you guys get it fixed."
"We're trying but - [static] it's going to take us some time!"
"So then it depends on how much time we can buy you." Zelkova grumbled, sighing to himself as he pulled his mobile suit out from under its shielding as it stepped forward. "Easier said than done."
"How about a bit of help then?"
A male voice called out as Zelkova saw something pop up on his radar.
What sounded like thunder raced across the land, and what followed was the sight of a mobile suit getting ripped apart. Several chunks being ripped through it as parts of the mobile suit started flying elsewhere as the remains of the suit fell to the ground.
"W-what in the world?" Venir Ramius called out as he stared at the mobile suit that belonged to one of his students. "What kind of weapon?" He had his camera zoom in on the sight that was coming from the sight of the remains of the mobile suit. "Tungsten rods?" He noticed that something was coming up on his radar. "Don't tell me they had reinforcements…" He muttered before narrowing his eyes. "No, it's another mercenary company."
"Captain?! Captain Dogus, can you hear me?"
A soldier over the lines called out as he closed his eyes.
"Ramius, Captain Dogus is-"
"I know." He stated opening his eyes. "Rear support team, cease fire immediately!" He ordered across all allied channels.
"Lieutenant?"
"First Lieutenant Dogus has fallen, I repeat -
"First Lieutenant Dogus has fallen! I'm taking control of all Gjallarhorn forces."
"Sounds like the guy in charge fell…" Alex muttered as he pulled a soldier from the Mobile Worker and tossed them aside. "Wonder who took the shot." Taking a minute to familiarize himself with the controls he started it up and headed off. As he did he glanced around, attention turning to see the craters and destroyed mobile workers that were littering the battlefield. He recognized the ones that belonged to both Gjallarhorn and Ashbourne Company. He bit his lips at the sight, there were a lot dead today, and a number of them had been his friends and family. "Just another day…" He reminded himself.
"A secondary force has entered the battlezone from the south, they are hostile and have us surrounded. All Mobile Workers are to retreat towards the east."
"A second force huh…"
"In all likelihood the second company is after the target as well; with that being the case, there is a high possibility they will not pursue you." He stated. "However in case they do, I want our Mobile Suits to stand ready to engage. Is that understood?"
"Yes sir!"
"Hm, looks like the Mobile Workers are trying to retreat." Nier mumbled.
"Should we let them?"
"We're not here for the Mobile Workers, we're here for the Train." He stated. "Besides, we have more important matters to deal with at the moment." He stated looking at his radar as he brought something up while he and his squad continued their approach. "Alright boys, looks like Gjallarhorn did us a favor, the engine on Artemisia's transport is fried, that means we can take our time in picking it up, so until either Gjallarhorn or Ashbourne Company pulls a full retreat it's going to be Mêlée à Trois."
"Sound like fun."
"Let's get to it."
"This is Zelkova, I want all Mobile Workers pilots to fall back." He ordered.
"Zel?"
"From here on out it's a Mobile Suit battle, you get involved you'll just be caught in the crossfire. Pull back and wait till it's over." He ordered as he looked ahead, taking notice of the damage on the Transport as he sighed.
"This just isn't our day, is it?" He muttered, making a noise as he started looking for someone on his communications frequency. "Hey Operator, you still alive in there?"
"Y-yes somehow!"
"Good, how much longer till your trains are refilled and ready to go?"
The woman on the other end whimpered as a crash was heard.
"The engine was hit during the missile bombardment, we're stuck!"
"Well that's not good… can you guys get it fixed?"
"We're trying but - [static] it's going to take us some time!"
"So then it depends on how much time we can buy you." Zelkova grumbled, sighing to himself as he pulled his mobile suit out from under its shielding as it stepped forward. "Easier said than done."
Raphael chuckled slightly as he retreated to a more secure spot as a hole was blown through part of the roof he was at. "Damn~" He muttered, landing and checking to see what was beyond the horizon. "Their sniper's got some serious firepower… one hit and I'll end up like that other guy. " He mused as he stepped from the building and took aim at it. "Still, let's see if I can…" He seemed to adjust his sights and fired into the building, the round punching a hole straight through as it raced across the battlefield.
Bellicrose's sniper found part of the debris they were hiding behind disappearing as it exploded in a haze of brick and cement. It didn't really bother them though, then again, the mobile suit they were in Shielded them from whatever harm that could have come their way. They whistled.
"That almost got me…" They muttered.
"Menos, are you ok?"
"Well, my suit is still in one piece." Menos stated. "Anyway it looks like you were right, their snipers' goods. I'll be sure to keep them occupied." They stated as they adjusted their sights and pointed their weapon towards one of the buildings. "Given the angle of that shot you should be… there."
Raphael moved, though it was only by a little bit as the buildings both in front of him and beside him received a new pair of holes going through them.
"Good lord, what are they firing? There's no way a regular ammo could do that." He muttered as he continued dodging before hitting something on the controls of his mobile suit as the backpack came off. "Sorry man, gonna have to lose some weight."
"Been a while since I was in this situation.…" Zelkova muttered as he continued to move, his attention shifting from one mobile suit to the next. He dodged one and opened fire at it only to miss, turn and use his rifle to block another mobile suit and knock its axe away before firing again. He made his mobile suit jump, the thrusters sending it into the air as one of the two lunged at it. It didn't stop, its sword being swung at the other mobile suit as the axe was again used to block and push the weapon elsewhere. Zelkova landed with a thud, but he still moved, aiming his rifle at the pair before opening fire as they split, heading into two directions.
Left or right?
"Right." He swept his rifle to the right as he opened fire again, chasing after the other mobile suit as it closed in. Without warning used his axe and swung it to the side, the weapon slamming into a blade as he pushed it back.
"They're good…" Ramius muttered as he brought his sword down again as the mobile suit dodged. The other one came at him, swinging its axe as he let it dig into his mobile suit's forearm and peel off a bit of its armor. "Taking one of these two out of the fight is going to be difficult…" He grumbled as he grabbed the axe hand and brought it down as he stabbed his sword forward. The mobile suit let the blade pierce its hand and go through it before clenching its fist around the blade to break it. Abandoning the weapon Ramius pulled back, stealing its axe as he turned and did a wide swing that cut into both mobile jumped and tried coming down on him as the other opened fire.
He dodged, sliding across the battlefield as he avoided getting crushed before charging back in to get within the other's range and remove their rifle from the fight.
"Thank you!"
He twitched as he noticed the now short-barreled rifle pointed at him and opened fire as his mobile suit was riddled with a few bullets. He moved before the other mobile suit grabbed hold of him and fired one of its arm mounted pile bunkers.
She wasn't going to lie, the fact that Kamui was so calm bothered the hell out of her. Looking at him the woman found that the man was busy on his laptop as he hummed to himself. "Sir, there is a battle going on outside, how are you this calm?!"
"Used to it." Was the man's response as he continued working before the door to their train cart opened up and turned his head.
"Looks like you guys are still in one piece…" Alex muttered as he turned his attention towards Rosa and the man.
"A kid?" Rosa muttered as she stared at the boy with a rifle in hand. "What's a kid doing here?"
"I'm with Ashbourne Company." Alex stated lowering his rifle. "Zelkova wants me to get you out of here."
"What?"
"The Black Tide is dead in its tracks." Kamui stated as he looked the boy over and closed his laptop. "It won't be going anywhere anytime soon." He mused getting to his feet. "So, you're our ride out of here."
Alex just nodded his head. "It's not much, but I have a Mobile Worker that can carry you guys somewhere safe." Kamui nodded his head as Rosa headed towards the young man only to stop.
"But what about the items we're transporting?"
"Obviously we'd have to leave it." Kamui stated with a shrug before staring at Rosa. "Boss might be upset, but I'm sure they'll understand."
"Yeah well, come on let's go." Alex made a gesture as he got ready to lead the pair outside.
"Wait." Kamui heard the boy groan.
"Now isn't the time."
"I know but… I'd like to try something."
"Damn it, what the hell is with that Mobile Suit?"
Hikaru didn't say anything as he dodged to the side, avoiding a strike from an axe as he circled around and opened fire, his rifle always aiming for the joints as he crippled the suit that was getting in his way.
Turning around he grabbed the mobile suit and used it as a shield, protecting himself from a bombardment of bullets as he made a face. "This is going to take a while to buffer out." He muttered, dropping the mobile suit and raced forward towards the one that was backing away from him. He stopped when a volley of missiles came his way and he was forced to back up. "Guess their Mobile Workers aren't just going to sit out because their boss wants them too…" He muttered, taking aim with his rifle and pointed it at the retreating mobile suit before lowering it. "No point in wasting ammo…" He reminded himself as he avoided another volley of missiles. and backed away.
"Odrevi, you hear me?"
"Not the time, Hikaru." Odrevi hissed as he was forced to leave his Mobile Worker behind, the machine having shut down after a close call with a missile bombardment. He ducked back inside though before a few rounds slammed into the hatch and he retaliated with fire from his assault rifle. "Kinda in the middle of something." Some space given he got out of his Mobile worker and started running for cover.
"Sorry, just checking in to see if you're alive."
"Well, I can't die yet." Odrevi muttered, as a few shells slammed into his cover. "If I die you get my stuff." He muttered, poking his head out and returned fire on a Gjallarhorn soldier. "So, I can't risk dying, you know." He ducked behind his cover again before heading off, attention turning towards a nearby alley as he disappeared behind it. Poking his head out he opened fire on the stranded Mobile Worker pilots.
Just because their machines were grounded, didn't mean that they were out of the fight.
"Fair."
"Any word from Alex or Amalea?" Odrevi muttered as he ran and fired, his attention turning to see other soldiers moving about.
"No, are you worried about them?"
"Are you not?" Odrevi muttered as he saw another Gjallarhorn soldier be shot and taken down. He whistled when he saw that the shooter was one of Ashbourne's own and caught their attention for a moment. They gave him a gesture before getting back to the task at hand.
"Not really."
Himaru stated.
"Those two are stubborn as all hell, they won't die out here like this."
"Well, you're not wrong." Odrevi muttered as he picked up a soldier's weapon and looked it over. "Still, they are part of our family, no matter what, we want them to come back."
"Yeah well, tell that to those we lose."
"God damn it." One of Gjallarhorn's Mobile Suit pilots grumbled as they found themselves retreating through the streets. Their attention turning to see each of the Mobile Workers and dead bodies that were littering them. "How the hell could we be caught on the backfoot here?" He asked and found no response. "These mercenaries are used to fighting like this." He muttered as he continued racing through the district as he headed towards the Transport train. "At this rate we'll just lose more soldiers. If I can get the objective though…" He muttered, stopping his mobile suit and had its hand rip through the transport's hull. "Where are you?" He grumbled, his attention turning to another train cart and started forcing it open. "There you are!" He shouted as he made their objective turn to him. "Kamui Boundary, by order of Gjallarhorn, I'm here to bring you in." Kamui just kept looking at the Mobile Suit as the woman next to him fell to the ground and stared up in fright. "Come quietly and I can guarantee your protection."
Kamui didn't say anything, instead just raised his hands as if in surrender and smiled. Then out of nowhere, he pointed his fingers to the left. "On your left!"
"What?"
The hull of the next cart burst open, the piece practically flying off into the sky as the pilot turned to see that something was swinging at them. They tried moving, they really did, but their suit didn't seem intent on keeping up with that command, and something slammed into it.
Zelkova paused, his attention turned to see that part of the Black Trail was landing on the ground as the fighting came to a sudden stop. "What the hell?"