Disclaimer: I do not own Armored Core 3 or any of the series.

Chap. 2

"They are the Hands of God team. Ravens by the name of Cain and Koemai."

"What do you know about them?"

"Well, they are very good, both separately and as a team. Koemai pilots the AC Darkhand with Conferd and Intercepter as secondary AC's. Cain pilots the Glaive with Fenrir and Lockheed as his back-ups. They have different styles but overall, they are both very deadly."

"Deadly. Perfect. Can we get them to work with us?"

"They're Ravens. Pay them the right amount and they'll do anything."

"That may not be the case. Take a look at their profiles."

Koemai

A Raven who cares about nothing more than the total destruction of his opponent. It is said that he finishes off AC's by crushing their heads. Likes powerful weapons and high speeds.

"I don't understand. He sounds promising."

"Not him. His partner."

Cain

Lives by a certain code of a warrior. Though he prefers to use his blade, he is equipped with a grenade launcher for mid-range combat. He doesn't care for money, only for a chance to sharpen his skills.

Why is this a problem?

"Well. We've seen his fights in the arena. He's an unusual Raven. He doesn't kill unless he doesn't have a choice. Often, he only disables opposing Ravens. And his partner is extremely dangerous. He often destroys the area along with the enemy."

"The brains and the brawn. That explains why they're so deadly."

"They may be difficult to control. Our latest report on them tells that they fought in a battle without it being their mission. In a word, they're rouges."

"We're not here to control them, just to ask for their assistance. We need their help willing if we are to stop the Controller. And if they're rouges, then so much the better."

"Yes, sir. Should we give the standard mail?"

"Not yet. Let's observe them some more. I want to know more about their abilities."

Global Cortex...

Cain sits in the garage, staring at his AC, Glaive. The blue color gave it a unusually powerful appearance. It was the effect he wanted. This was his signature core. The others he only used when the mission required it. Fenrir and Lockheed were powerful, but Glaive was the strongest. Lockheed relies on speed attacks, but takes damage easily while Fenrir is a tread-wheel type, which has powerful weapons, but is slow. Glaive was the balance between them, capable of high power and might. It wasn't just its power. Its speed and boost ability were enough to make it a formidable core.  But it all depends on the pilot, Cain reminded himself. He then glanced at his partner AC, Darkhand. It was heavily armed, but his core was a middleweight, so the weapons made it overweight. However, Koemai usually dumps the excess weight when he uses up the ammo in the back weapons. Cain shook his head as he looked at the Karasawa laser-rifle. True, it was a powerful weapon and its reload time is almost non-existent. However, his friend is fond of going at high speeds, something that messes up the fuel and leaves him stranded for a time. However, this does take away the fact that his friend is very dangerous in it. Normally by the time he does recharge, everything is destroyed anyway. He smirked at this.

"Hey, Cain!"

Cain looked down to see Koemai waving at him. Next to him was a pretty young woman with brown hair and eyes.

"Koemai. Diana."

Diana waved at him and smiled. But he knew who she really was. Diana too was a Raven. She and her brother, Keini form the Dark Hood team. It was then that they first met. The Dark Hood specializes in sneak attacks. While Keini keeps the enemy distracted from a distance, Diana targets them with her laser cannon. By the time the enemy sees her, her brother will swoop in and destroy them up close. It almost worked except that Koemai found her earlier on and attacked her while Cain faced Keini in close range combat. He looked at them. How she was attracted to him was beyond him, but he didn't know about relationships so he left it alone.

"Hey, so what do you say? Do you want to come with us?"

"No thanks. Three's a crowd. Besides, I have work to do."

"Work? We haven't had any missions in some time. You need to take a break."

"I will, but go on without me. Have a nice time."

Koemai shrugged, "Well, I tried. Coming?"

Diana called up in a seductive tone, "Are you sure?"

"Sure."

Diana now shrugged and walked off, "I tried. Now we can go."

Diana and Koemai walked away and she looked at her boyfriend, "I'm starting to think he isn't human. He wasn't even affected when I flirted to him. He could have at least looked interested."

Koemai nodded, "That's just how he is. He's just not your normal person, even by Raven's standards."

Diana smirked, "You don't think he's....gay?"

Koemai laughed, "I asked him that at one time during a battle."

"And."

"After we defeated them, he turned on me. Trust me, the last thing you want to do is call him that."

Koemai stopped laughing, "Seriously though, he told me that he finds most women attractive, but he isn't interested. I believe he's looking for the right woman."

Now it was Diana's turn to laugh, "The right woman? This day and age? Does such a person exist?"

"I don't know. Does that include you? Ouch!"

Diana pinced him and ran off. Koemai smirked and ran after her. Cain saw them from a distance. And they are Ravens?

A blink appeared on his e-mail. Cain opened it. The message had no name on it.

Glaive

Meet me in the arena.

Firewave

Her? Well she did say she would meet him again. And she asked for Glaive, not his name. She wants a rematch, I guess. He looked at his AC and smiled. Back to the battlefield, old friend? The machine's visor-eyes shimmered as if to answer.

The arena...

Glaive entered the arena and looked around. There was no sign of anything there. The machine walked into the center of the massive dome and waited. Suddenly, another pair of doors open and in walked the reddish AC. Firewave. Glaive turned to it.

"So you came after all."

Glaive didn't respond, just set itself to fight.

"Calm down. I didn't come here to fight. Just to talk."

"Are you sure?"

"Huh?"

"You asked for Glaive. I assume you wanted to fight me."

"We weren't formally introduced."

"You first."

"My name is Aria."

"Cain."

"Interesting name. It must have people think twice before facing you."

"........"

"You're not big on taking, are you? I figured as much." Her weapons suddenly jettisoned, leaving her only her blade weapon. "Actions speak louder, don't you say?"

He noticed that she only kept her blade. She did her research on me. With that, he jettisoned his own weapon and kept his blade armed. Her blade is not as powerful as his, but it was faster. Firewave suddenly blasted toward him and slashed out. He raised his blade, deflecting her strike and slashed out his own. She raised her blade upward and blocked it. The two stayed hooked for awhile and then backed away.

"Not bad, huh?"

"Impressive."

At a bar across town, Koemai and Diana were playing pool and drinking beer. Diana was currently beating him.

"Six ball, double kiss." She blew a kiss at him before hitting the ball down the hole. She then moved around him, rubbing up against him as she did, "Eight ball, corner pocket."

The ball went in as she said, thus making her the winner. Koemai grumbled.

"Time to pay up. Eighteen hundred credits."

Koemai shrugged and paid his money, "Didn't like this game anyway."

Diana moved up to him, her arms around his head, "Don't tell me you're sore?"

"Nah. It was Cain's money anyway."

She lightly pushed him away, "You took his money?"

He waved his hand, "Don't worry. He only uses enough credits for repairs and he gives me whatever is left over. He really doesn't care."

"Geez, the more I hear about him, the more I wonder. What do you think he's doing now?"

"Probably sitting in bed with a cup of hot chocolate and reading a book."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

It was then that a group of guys sauntered up to the table, standing in between of Koemai and Diana. The larger of the men grinned at her.

"Hey, beautiful. Where have you been in my life?"

"Probably staying away from it."

The guy scowled a bit, but kept his grin, "How would you like to leave this place and have some fun with us?"

Diana gave an evil grin, "I'd love to, but you need to do something first."

"Oh, really. What?"

"Take a bath! You stink like hell!"

The man growled and his arm flew out to slap her, but she caught it in mid-air. "I wouldn't do that, for two reasons. One, my boyfriend over there..." she glanced at Koemai.

The other two guys turned to look at Koemai, who was currently still holding his pool stick, "What? What's this skinny little twip going to do?"

"...is a Raven."

Their eyes widened in shock. Him, a Raven? But before their brains could fully comprehend this, Koemai twirled the stick and smashed it over the face of the first guy and then stabbed it in the gut of the second. They fell without a beat. The large man turned to him and pulled out a gun. Koemai looked at him and raised his arms.

"I didn't tell you the second reason."

Next thing you know, the gun flew out of his hand and he found himself with a blade on his throat.

"I am one too."

She kicked in his knees in and he bent down to the ground. "Haven't you ever heard? Ravens never travel alone."

She removed her knife and put it away. At the same time, Koemai kicked him in the face, knocking him out.

"What took you so long?"

She smiled evilly again, "I wanted to see you sweat. Come on, let's get out of here."

Koemai smiled and thought to himself, He should have come. He would have had a blast here.

Meanwhile...

The two Ravens continued their fight and continued to slash at each other. They had taken their fight to a higher level, using their over-boosts to fly at each other and clash into each other. Glaive hammered her into a wall, but she managed to slide out and slash the back of the AC. Glaive fell forward and suddenly swung back and she blocked again, but the force of the blow knocked the AC down again and she fell. Before it could rise though, Glaive was on top of her, his blade pointing down. She lost, but she didn't seem mind.

"Congratulations. You are every bit as powerful as said."

Glaive moved away and Firewave stood up. His monitor suddenly blinked and a signature ID came up.

"In case you need backup on a mission." Firewave stood up.

"I already have a partner."

"I know. But you don't usually work with him on missions." It began to turn away, "Think about it." Firewave reasserted its weapons and walked out. "Thanks for the interesting time. We'll meet again." Firewave disappeared and Glaive was left wondering about the mysterious female pilot.

Firewave. Aria.

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