Chapter 2: First Conflict
It was a good meal, no better than usual but it was good. We all sat there, waiting for the check to come and making casual conversation until Ben spotted a story on the news.
"The supposed terrorist Omega Angel strikes again," The announcer stated. "A guard of six MTs was completely wiped out and a minor chrome tech lab destroyed." At that point the large projection screen began to show footage of the attack. "Even sadder was the Raven that just stood there during the entire attack." He started again as it showed more of the embarrassing mission. "I wouldn't wanna be that guy right about now. In other news..."
"Damn," I said quietly, then said "Damn" again louder, but still under my breath.
"Hey, Demon Hunter!" I heard from across the room. I saw four figures approach our table. "Ha!" the lead man said, with an arrogant aura. "Finally, you mess up like the loser you are." I knew him, Danny, but nobody called him that anymore. Everybody called him ZioFanatic. He chose that because of his obvious obsession over Zio Matrix, one of the lead corporations. He and his three friends were a disdainful AC pilot group who hated me because I stopped them from completing a mission for half the money they were getting for it. I knew where this conversation was headed, but I let it continue as my head hit the old wooden table. "What's the matter? Too embarrassed to show your face?" he barked out as his friends chuckled.
"Shut up, fanboy," I replied as I lifted my head from the table to meet him. "You wouldn't have done any better."
"Me and my group would have taken Omega Angel down, you wimp."
"And you would have all died in the process, Dannyboy." I knew he hated being called this, but I didn't anticipate his reaction as a sword rose from his cloak and raced toward my leg. I was barely able to parry it with a knife I kept in pocket and as the steel connected there was a resounding 'clang', which drew the attention of the entire restaurant. "You wanna fight, we'll do it in the Arena." I forced the sword back at him while getting up.
"No way, you and me...but maybe with my team we have a deal." He stated. He never did missions or fought matches without his team.
"Sure!" answered Larissa.
"Fine by me." Tokari responded
"Bring it on!" Ben said. They all stood up.
"Then we have a deal?" I retorted.
"Tomorrow morning at 8. I'll file the papers," he said as they walked away.
"Thanks guys, but Tokari's AC isn't ready yet."
"If I work a little time tonight and I borrow that pair of arms from you it'll be ready." She said, taking away all of my excuses. "Fine, then I'll help you. I'll see you in an hour with the truck."
"OK, I'll give you the money then." With this, she got up and paid the clerk as she left. "I'll see you guys later." I bid them farewell as I left.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
In about an hour I was over at the AC garage with the arm unit I kept in storage. It was a prototype arm I stole on the same mission that thwarted ZioFanatic. I didn't use them because word of them would've gotten out, but now I had no choice since Tokari needed them for the fight. The garage was a mess of AC's being repaired and altered. I found the G-Fan logo on the side of Tokari's stall and headed in with the part and part transport. "HEY!" I yelled up at Tokari on the AC Bridge, which allowed easy access to different parts of your mech.
"Hi. Hook the arms into the lifter and take the elevator," she yelled back down as I drove into the lifter area. After hooking together the lifters and the arms I headed up the stairs because Tokari had forgotten to send the elevator back down. The staircase seemed to stretch on forever, but somehow I made it to the top. There, I found Tokari grinning and operating the lifters. I walked over to her, picked up a blowtorch and started repairing the damaged torso. Her AC was called the G-Repulser, a second homage to her obsession with Godzilla. It was metallic gray with green-black and blood red parts. The weapons it used were laid out on the floor in a scattered pile; all custom designed to take down Godzilla if it actually appeared. Tokari had spent a lot of time designing her AC and a lot of money too; she had been kicked out of apartments 7 times because she couldn't pay the rent and ended up rooming with me or Larissa. The giant machine had humanoid legs with above average speed. Her core is a reinforced version of the original, with a high voltage, one charge shock gun located where the machine gun used to be mounted. The head is a modified RedEye, fitted with a special biosensor, a radiation interference filter and a high resolution heat sensor. Tokari's old arm units had been rendered useless on her last mission when the hydraulics gave out trying to hold back another AC. The arms I brought were a high-powered hydraulics model produced to provide greater speed and strength in melee combat. "You know I've had my eye on those arms for a long time, Alex," she said as I finished the small section of heat damage I was working on.
"Really? Then how come you never said anything about it?"
"I don't know. You just seemed to want to keep them a secret."
"I just don't want to find out where they came from and then find out the people want them back."
"Oh well, that shouldn't be a problem. I mean, how many people want to see the four of us take down the stupid Zio four?"
"I hope you're right." I got back onto my knee and started on a bullet hole. "How'd they puncture this armor?"
"They had an MT with a rail gun; nearly knocked out my generator."
Then something hit me. "Can I take a break and access the web? I wanna get some info on that MT."
"Sure, but be quick. There's a lot of work to do and I need to get some sleep," she stated as she screwed the arms onto the core. I dropped my blowtorch and raced to her computer console. Grabbing the keyboard, I accessed my account on the Raven's Nest database. Inside my mission details I found the schematics for a railgun possibly to be fitted onto an MT. "Do you remember what it looked like?" I asked as I continued to peruse the blueprints.
"Hold on one sec, I have it recorded it in my AC. Oh yeah, it had about 17 sets of magnets, a flux accelerator at the end and a circular magazine at the back," she yelled back. I continued to look at the file and found that it was info given to me about the tech lab. The description she gave was almost a complete match. "Who was attacking you again?"
"I don't know, but I think it was a corporation." After I checked out the schematics again I returned to closing up the hole. My mind kept returning to what Omega Angel had said. "You should choose your company more carefully", he had said and now I found it to be so true. How could I launch a mission for a corporation that had attacked my friend just two days earlier? I should have gathered more info before rushing off like a blind fool. I decided not to tell Tokari about what I'd found. Instead we talked about what I would use on my mech for the upcoming fight. We decided on a low model, low energy drain, event sword and a machine gun for my arm weapons. Then we got the idea of using a linear gun and a magazine for my back weapons. We were talking about whether I should change anything on my basic chassis when I noticed the time. "Wow, it's 2 AM. We'd better get some sleep." I said, half-yawning.
"Yeah, we do need some rest for the match," she replied as we walked towards the elevator and got on. "Or at least for the party afterwards."
"A party if we win, right? Well, it'll have to be a short one 'cause I promised Larissa and her sister that I'd meet them at the shop." I compromised as we stepped off of the lift.
"Trina?" My reply was a nod of my head. "I'd love to go with you, but I've got a date with the firing range. A new custom just came in." After this we exchanged good-byes and stepped into our cars for the ride home.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
My alarm clock woke me up at 7:00, giving me just enough time to get some breakfast at the garage restaurant. I drove to the AC garage and bought some scrambled eggs, which I gobbled up greedily before rushing to my stall. Entering the huge section, which greatly resembled a cubicle, I climbed the stairs and into my silvery-white AC. From inside the cockpit I equipped my mech with the parts Tokari and I had discussed a machine gun, an event sword, a linear gun and finally a magazine cartridge. After securing my weapons I switched my systems on and scanned all frequencies for my teammates. I found Tokari and Larissa on one channel and got Ben to get on the same one as the rest of us. "You guys on the field already?" I inquired over the radio.
"Nope, waiting for you at the transport," Ben replied.
"Hurry up, I'm itching for some action," added Tokari.
"We're at gate five," offered Larissa. I asked the garage manager for clearance to move. When he gave it, I quickly found my friends with their ACs parked in a transport.
"Let's get this show on the road," I said as the vehicle brought our giant machines to the great stadium, resembling the ancient coliseum. There, we found bigger crowds than we'd expected, and thought our humanoid ACs were not what they were waiting for. In actuality we were right; they didn't cheer so much for us as they did for the Zio four when they entered at the opposite end of the stage. The Zio four, headed by ZioFanatic, was just about the snootiest team you could find. They scoffed at everyone that didn't work for Zio Matrix and thought their strategy to be the best. The whole basis of their plan was to utilize the power of all four types of legs. ZioFanatic's AC was always found to be equipped with Spider legs as were his team mates fitted with humanoid, caterpillar and reverse joint leg models. They carried an assortment of weapons, and the way their color schemes converged seemed to be the reason for a lot of the fans. Their basic Zio Matrix paint scheme, with almost no variation, made them seem to go together despite the difference in their AC model. Tokari, Larissa, Ben and I had a totally different idea going on. We each had a humanoid leg model of our own, but besides that didn't have much in common. We weren't much to look at together, though our colors worked well individually, because our paint jobs clashed so much. I had a silvery white scheme; Tokari preferred a green, black and red combination; Larissa liked sections of yellow, green, and blue; Ben incorporated a desert brown with red idea. I switched my COM system back on and found Danny on a frequency I never used because of telephone interference.
"How much is riding on this fight for us?" I spoke through the microphone.
"For you, 35,000 credits each," my speakers crackled back, along with some dribble from the spectators. "And for us it's only 100,000 total, they seem to like us better."
"That's not what really matters here, though. What matters is who wins," I shot back, and tuned to the frequency my team was using. "You ready?"
"Yeah!" They all replied in unison. After waiting a few seconds, I switched our condition light to yellow indicating that we were ready. A couple seconds later, the other group switched theirs to yellow, causing a chain reaction. I flicked the light to green, and a penetrating siren indicated the start of the fight. "Larissa, you and I will take the low riders," I told them. "Ben and Tokari, you guys take the real legs." No one protested.
(A/N: I run these chapters through my friend to spell/grammar check them. When this chapter was uploaded, I found out that it had been radically altered, changing the meaning of certain passages. If I can find the original version of this chapter, I may post it for you reviewers for comparison.)
It was a good meal, no better than usual but it was good. We all sat there, waiting for the check to come and making casual conversation until Ben spotted a story on the news.
"The supposed terrorist Omega Angel strikes again," The announcer stated. "A guard of six MTs was completely wiped out and a minor chrome tech lab destroyed." At that point the large projection screen began to show footage of the attack. "Even sadder was the Raven that just stood there during the entire attack." He started again as it showed more of the embarrassing mission. "I wouldn't wanna be that guy right about now. In other news..."
"Damn," I said quietly, then said "Damn" again louder, but still under my breath.
"Hey, Demon Hunter!" I heard from across the room. I saw four figures approach our table. "Ha!" the lead man said, with an arrogant aura. "Finally, you mess up like the loser you are." I knew him, Danny, but nobody called him that anymore. Everybody called him ZioFanatic. He chose that because of his obvious obsession over Zio Matrix, one of the lead corporations. He and his three friends were a disdainful AC pilot group who hated me because I stopped them from completing a mission for half the money they were getting for it. I knew where this conversation was headed, but I let it continue as my head hit the old wooden table. "What's the matter? Too embarrassed to show your face?" he barked out as his friends chuckled.
"Shut up, fanboy," I replied as I lifted my head from the table to meet him. "You wouldn't have done any better."
"Me and my group would have taken Omega Angel down, you wimp."
"And you would have all died in the process, Dannyboy." I knew he hated being called this, but I didn't anticipate his reaction as a sword rose from his cloak and raced toward my leg. I was barely able to parry it with a knife I kept in pocket and as the steel connected there was a resounding 'clang', which drew the attention of the entire restaurant. "You wanna fight, we'll do it in the Arena." I forced the sword back at him while getting up.
"No way, you and me...but maybe with my team we have a deal." He stated. He never did missions or fought matches without his team.
"Sure!" answered Larissa.
"Fine by me." Tokari responded
"Bring it on!" Ben said. They all stood up.
"Then we have a deal?" I retorted.
"Tomorrow morning at 8. I'll file the papers," he said as they walked away.
"Thanks guys, but Tokari's AC isn't ready yet."
"If I work a little time tonight and I borrow that pair of arms from you it'll be ready." She said, taking away all of my excuses. "Fine, then I'll help you. I'll see you in an hour with the truck."
"OK, I'll give you the money then." With this, she got up and paid the clerk as she left. "I'll see you guys later." I bid them farewell as I left.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
In about an hour I was over at the AC garage with the arm unit I kept in storage. It was a prototype arm I stole on the same mission that thwarted ZioFanatic. I didn't use them because word of them would've gotten out, but now I had no choice since Tokari needed them for the fight. The garage was a mess of AC's being repaired and altered. I found the G-Fan logo on the side of Tokari's stall and headed in with the part and part transport. "HEY!" I yelled up at Tokari on the AC Bridge, which allowed easy access to different parts of your mech.
"Hi. Hook the arms into the lifter and take the elevator," she yelled back down as I drove into the lifter area. After hooking together the lifters and the arms I headed up the stairs because Tokari had forgotten to send the elevator back down. The staircase seemed to stretch on forever, but somehow I made it to the top. There, I found Tokari grinning and operating the lifters. I walked over to her, picked up a blowtorch and started repairing the damaged torso. Her AC was called the G-Repulser, a second homage to her obsession with Godzilla. It was metallic gray with green-black and blood red parts. The weapons it used were laid out on the floor in a scattered pile; all custom designed to take down Godzilla if it actually appeared. Tokari had spent a lot of time designing her AC and a lot of money too; she had been kicked out of apartments 7 times because she couldn't pay the rent and ended up rooming with me or Larissa. The giant machine had humanoid legs with above average speed. Her core is a reinforced version of the original, with a high voltage, one charge shock gun located where the machine gun used to be mounted. The head is a modified RedEye, fitted with a special biosensor, a radiation interference filter and a high resolution heat sensor. Tokari's old arm units had been rendered useless on her last mission when the hydraulics gave out trying to hold back another AC. The arms I brought were a high-powered hydraulics model produced to provide greater speed and strength in melee combat. "You know I've had my eye on those arms for a long time, Alex," she said as I finished the small section of heat damage I was working on.
"Really? Then how come you never said anything about it?"
"I don't know. You just seemed to want to keep them a secret."
"I just don't want to find out where they came from and then find out the people want them back."
"Oh well, that shouldn't be a problem. I mean, how many people want to see the four of us take down the stupid Zio four?"
"I hope you're right." I got back onto my knee and started on a bullet hole. "How'd they puncture this armor?"
"They had an MT with a rail gun; nearly knocked out my generator."
Then something hit me. "Can I take a break and access the web? I wanna get some info on that MT."
"Sure, but be quick. There's a lot of work to do and I need to get some sleep," she stated as she screwed the arms onto the core. I dropped my blowtorch and raced to her computer console. Grabbing the keyboard, I accessed my account on the Raven's Nest database. Inside my mission details I found the schematics for a railgun possibly to be fitted onto an MT. "Do you remember what it looked like?" I asked as I continued to peruse the blueprints.
"Hold on one sec, I have it recorded it in my AC. Oh yeah, it had about 17 sets of magnets, a flux accelerator at the end and a circular magazine at the back," she yelled back. I continued to look at the file and found that it was info given to me about the tech lab. The description she gave was almost a complete match. "Who was attacking you again?"
"I don't know, but I think it was a corporation." After I checked out the schematics again I returned to closing up the hole. My mind kept returning to what Omega Angel had said. "You should choose your company more carefully", he had said and now I found it to be so true. How could I launch a mission for a corporation that had attacked my friend just two days earlier? I should have gathered more info before rushing off like a blind fool. I decided not to tell Tokari about what I'd found. Instead we talked about what I would use on my mech for the upcoming fight. We decided on a low model, low energy drain, event sword and a machine gun for my arm weapons. Then we got the idea of using a linear gun and a magazine for my back weapons. We were talking about whether I should change anything on my basic chassis when I noticed the time. "Wow, it's 2 AM. We'd better get some sleep." I said, half-yawning.
"Yeah, we do need some rest for the match," she replied as we walked towards the elevator and got on. "Or at least for the party afterwards."
"A party if we win, right? Well, it'll have to be a short one 'cause I promised Larissa and her sister that I'd meet them at the shop." I compromised as we stepped off of the lift.
"Trina?" My reply was a nod of my head. "I'd love to go with you, but I've got a date with the firing range. A new custom just came in." After this we exchanged good-byes and stepped into our cars for the ride home.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
My alarm clock woke me up at 7:00, giving me just enough time to get some breakfast at the garage restaurant. I drove to the AC garage and bought some scrambled eggs, which I gobbled up greedily before rushing to my stall. Entering the huge section, which greatly resembled a cubicle, I climbed the stairs and into my silvery-white AC. From inside the cockpit I equipped my mech with the parts Tokari and I had discussed a machine gun, an event sword, a linear gun and finally a magazine cartridge. After securing my weapons I switched my systems on and scanned all frequencies for my teammates. I found Tokari and Larissa on one channel and got Ben to get on the same one as the rest of us. "You guys on the field already?" I inquired over the radio.
"Nope, waiting for you at the transport," Ben replied.
"Hurry up, I'm itching for some action," added Tokari.
"We're at gate five," offered Larissa. I asked the garage manager for clearance to move. When he gave it, I quickly found my friends with their ACs parked in a transport.
"Let's get this show on the road," I said as the vehicle brought our giant machines to the great stadium, resembling the ancient coliseum. There, we found bigger crowds than we'd expected, and thought our humanoid ACs were not what they were waiting for. In actuality we were right; they didn't cheer so much for us as they did for the Zio four when they entered at the opposite end of the stage. The Zio four, headed by ZioFanatic, was just about the snootiest team you could find. They scoffed at everyone that didn't work for Zio Matrix and thought their strategy to be the best. The whole basis of their plan was to utilize the power of all four types of legs. ZioFanatic's AC was always found to be equipped with Spider legs as were his team mates fitted with humanoid, caterpillar and reverse joint leg models. They carried an assortment of weapons, and the way their color schemes converged seemed to be the reason for a lot of the fans. Their basic Zio Matrix paint scheme, with almost no variation, made them seem to go together despite the difference in their AC model. Tokari, Larissa, Ben and I had a totally different idea going on. We each had a humanoid leg model of our own, but besides that didn't have much in common. We weren't much to look at together, though our colors worked well individually, because our paint jobs clashed so much. I had a silvery white scheme; Tokari preferred a green, black and red combination; Larissa liked sections of yellow, green, and blue; Ben incorporated a desert brown with red idea. I switched my COM system back on and found Danny on a frequency I never used because of telephone interference.
"How much is riding on this fight for us?" I spoke through the microphone.
"For you, 35,000 credits each," my speakers crackled back, along with some dribble from the spectators. "And for us it's only 100,000 total, they seem to like us better."
"That's not what really matters here, though. What matters is who wins," I shot back, and tuned to the frequency my team was using. "You ready?"
"Yeah!" They all replied in unison. After waiting a few seconds, I switched our condition light to yellow indicating that we were ready. A couple seconds later, the other group switched theirs to yellow, causing a chain reaction. I flicked the light to green, and a penetrating siren indicated the start of the fight. "Larissa, you and I will take the low riders," I told them. "Ben and Tokari, you guys take the real legs." No one protested.
(A/N: I run these chapters through my friend to spell/grammar check them. When this chapter was uploaded, I found out that it had been radically altered, changing the meaning of certain passages. If I can find the original version of this chapter, I may post it for you reviewers for comparison.)
