Disclaimer: Same as before

Chap. 4

The two Ravens completed their mission and received their credits. As usual, Cain took only what he needed to pay for his damaged AC as well as for provisions.

"Man, I feel good. Let's go and celebrate."

"No thanks."

"I didn't hear you. You are coming, whether you like it or not. At least do one thing normal in your life."

".....Fine."

The two of them headed out into town. Koemai did most of the talking while Cain mostly listened to his friend. He began to remember how they first met.

Flashback....

Cain had accepted a mission which was to clean out the arena of intruders. At that time, he was a beginner and his AC was equipped with a standard rifle and high-speed blade. Nevertheless, he showed exceptional skills as a Raven. He entered the arena and found nothing. Suddenly without warning, groups of MT's attacked him. True, they were no threat singularly, but in groups they were damaging opponents. Glaive swooped around them and shot them down one-by-one. But before he could do more, his energy fuel ran out and he started to take more damage.

"Looks like you could use some help.

Another Raven came out, this one with a machine gun. It began shooting the MT's left and right. However, it seemed as though it was firing at random, with no real control. The AC ran out of ammo, but the MT's were still coming. Suddenly, a rifle flies at him and he grabs it. The first AC flies in front of him and ignites his orange laser-blade.

"Cover me."

The AC over-boosted and slashed the first MT while the other one fired off several rounds, destroying the others. The two of them went on like this and in no time at all, all MT's were destroyed.

"That was awesome. You fly in and rip 'em to shreds and I shoot them to oblivion. We could be a good team."

"A team? Interesting idea. But who are you?"

"Me? My name is Koemai, and this is my Darkhand."

"Cain and the AC Glaive."

"Glaive, huh? Glaive and Darkhand. The hands of Death?"

"No. Judging from your style, you use vastly aggressive weapons while I prefer blade battle. Different at light and dark, good and evil, justice and vengeance."

"I like that last one. Justice and vengeance."

"But only God has the right to carry out both."

"Then let us be his hands. The Hands of God."

"So be it. We are the Hands of God."

And that's how it has been ever since. They succeed vastly in their missions and in the EX arena. They quickly became one of the most feared Raven teams. Although both their personalities and fighting styles were different, they became both solid teammates and good friends.

"Hey! Are you coming or not?"

The call broke him out of his daydream, "Huh? Oh, sure."

Koemai lead him into a bar where they found a table and sat down. The waitress came to their order.

"Beer. I don't care what brand, just as long as it's good."

"Cola, please."

The waitress looked at him in surprise, "Excuse me?"

"A cola. There is some here, right?"

"Well, yes. Right away." She walked away and Koemai turned to him, "A cola? Are you insane?"

Cain just looked at him, "I don't drink. I have a low tolerance for it."

Koemai shook his head, "You are just too much. You don't drink, you don't annihilate, and you don't date. Are you even human?"

"Probably not." was the stoic reply.

The drinks were served and they drank and talked about their missions. Koemai went on about on of their arena battles.

"And then, he turned his back and I just blew him to hell. He didn't have a chance."

It was then that three guys came up to them. Each of them was wearing bandages on various parts of their bodies. Behind them, a couple more large men joined them.

"That's him alright. Time to pay, bastard."

Koemai looked up from his drink, "Not again. Didn't you guys learn the last time?"

"Get up punk. We're gonna teach you a lesson." Turning their attention to Cain, "And I guess this is one of your Raven friends. Not the slut from last time, but if you don't stay out of this, we'll kill you."

Cain continued drinking as though he wasn't listening, "If you guys want to fight, then that's fine. But you are either stupid or have a death wish to go up against a Raven, much less two." He turned to them, his icy gaze focused on the leader, "It's your call."

"Make that three."

Behind them, a young woman stood behind them. She had platinum blond-red hair and she wore a leather jacket. But what they noticed was the gun she was holding.

Instantly, they tensed up and moved away. "Hey lady, chill. We were just playing around. They backed away further and one of them that was hiding in the back pulled out a gun. The woman fired, knocking the gun out of his hand.

"Care to try again? Next time, I'll aim lower." She pointed down, "Much lower."

They obviously got the hint because they all walked out of the bar. The woman put the gun away in its holster and walked toward the other two. Cain looked up at her.

"Thank you for your help."

"No problem. Ravens should stick together, except in arena fights."

Koemai laughed, "Ha! That's a good one. You seem cool. What's your name?"

"Alia."

Cain looked up from his drink again. "Alia? Firewave."

"Yes. Have we met before?"

"Twice."

"Glaive? Cain?"

Koemai looked at her again, "So you're Firewave. Interesting. Care to join us?"

"Thanks, but I was just passing by and I have to get going."

She walked to the door and waved a goodbye before leaving. Koemai turned to his friend, who was still looking at the door. A small smile came up his face. So I guess you are human after all.

Cain saw his smile and turned back to his drink, which only made him smile more. They didn't say anything for some time and they Koemai exploded.

"I don't believe it. You like her."

"What do you mean?"

"I saw the way you looked at her. She's hot and she's a Raven. You have good taste, I'll give you that."

"............"

"Well, I could see you're going to deny it, so I'll leave it alone, for now. I can't believe it. My little raven is growing up." He gave a fake tear.

Cain just looked up at him and continued drinking.

The next morning, Koemai awoke in with a massive hangover. Damn, I knew I should have stopped after the third cup. He stumbled into the bathroom and washed up. While he was getting his clothes on, a beep came over his mail. It was from Mirage.

Raven.

An AC had managed to steal a prototype chipset from us. We have already sent our own forces, but they are not capable of taking it down. We need you to destroy the AC and the chipset. Good luck.

Koemai quickly ran out of the door and reached the hanger. Hmm. I could use Darkhand, but I think this time, Conferd would be a lot better. He hit a switch and the hanger rotated to show the AC Conferd, a dark grey machine armed with a machine gun and flame thrower. Koemai entered the machine and took off.

"The hand of vengeance comes for you."