Wooblies
Armored Core: Overboost Destiny
Chapter 4: Déjà vu'
"Van…van wake up!" Lynn said, nudging Van to wake up. Van opened his eyes slowly, seeing a bright light. He saw a faint image of Lynn's face and leaned forward in his chair. He looked around the cockpit, a missile had been lodged in the wall, pointing directly at him. An aching pain wrapped around his body. He grasped his ribs, breathing heavily. He groaned, looking at the large slash in his side. Lynn wasn't there.
"Damn!" Van mumbled. He panted, looking at the screen.
'System inoperable, shutting down main hub in 3…2…1…' The screen went black. Einherjar's voice was muffled, but Van still understood. It said, 'Pilot damage confirmed, checking backup energy system…system ready in three minutes.' It was helping him without his command.
"Thanks Ein…" Van said. Soon, the display screen came back on. The Einherjar's generator started to run again, and its systems lighted up on the screen. Van sighed, trying not to yell due to the pain. It was unbearable. Van checked the system status. Damage to the right shoulder, core hull breached, boosters inhaled sand and other problems were listed on the screen. Besides a few dents, scratches and a missile lodged in its core slowing it down slightly, the Einherjar was running fine.
The Einherjar stood slowly, and Van looked around him at the missiles that luckily missed him. They were scattered around the beach in front of the cliff. Van hit his boosters on several times to inhale some air to clean out the sand inside. He didn't want sand melted onto them, just so they can scratch it up the next time he uses them. He boosted up to the top of the cliff, noticing Valkyrie's Ac crumbled on the ground, and the prototype broken in a crater. He boosted over to the Valkyrie and leapt out of the cockpit to get into Valkyrie's. He looked inside, sparks blazing and systems shutting on and off rapidly. Valkyrie was thrown from her chair, sitting behind it with her back and head against the wall. Van crawled down to her side, noticing her white hair and blood covered skin. He looked at the gash in her forehead, lifting her up and carrying her back to the Einherjar.
The Einherjar boosted back towards Eyelet City towards the hospital. "Lynn do you read!"
"I'm here, you signal had been lost the past two hours, what happened?" She asked.
"I took the offer, Ein's busted up and Valkyrie doesn't have much of an Ac anymore. Looks like we got them though." Van replied, hurrying to the city's edge.
"Valkyrie was the sender?"
Van nodded, heading deeper into the city. "Yeah, I'm taking her to the hospital." Van said, groaning loudly as he pulled the controls back to lower the Ac.
Lynn gasped. "Van what about you?"
Van still groaned. "Oh, I'm fine."
"Are you hurt?" Lynn asked.
Van closed in on the hospital. "Well, I can see the missile that is lodged in Einherjar's core."
Lynn shook. "My god!"
Van opened his eyes. He laid on a white hospital bed in the same room as Valkyrie. He turned his head, looking out the window at Einherjar's core. It was back to normal. Lynn had come by, she took it to the shop. Valkyrie had a serious head injury, but she turned out fine. The other night they had been resting and Valkyrie had asked, "Why did you come back?"
Van stared off into space when she asked him, thinking of one thing. And then he answered soon after, "Someone I needed."
That morning, Lynn had to file the paperwork and tell the bureau of control what was going on. She was still there. When he awoke.
Van leaned forward, the white bandaged wrapped around his waist stretching against him, tightening against his wound. Valkyrie looked over at him. "Good morning."
Van sighed, scratching the bandages. "Morning Val…"
Lynn stood opposite several people. They had been asking her questions on the Alliances intentions for hours now.
"It seems clear that the alliance was cooperating with an underground faction, in fact I have reports that indicate each member had visited the warehouse on several occasions over the period of one week, and as they left they were followed by a supply transport." Lynn stated.
"So they had been coerced? Or were they actually involved. What was this syndicate?" A member of the BOC committee asked.
"Well, the syndicate is known as Zion. Originated by a Martian Raven by the name of Cluse, they have attacked Earth supply shipments and the like since the beginning. Cluse is a close ally to the Alliance leader Rolfen." Lynn answered.
A soldier stepped into the small circular room. "Excuse me Chief Herald!" The soldier said. The chief member nodded in reply. "Sir, the Alliance has entered our territory and is headed this way without permission, sir!"
"Call on all of our defenses and contact the Alliance for an explanation!"
Van stood, pressing his hands into the window. Valkyrie stood slowly, as if she was testing out her stability. "You should sit." Van implied.
Valkyrie smiled. "Hey I know what I am doing, I'm fine." She said, walking out the room door.
Van looked over at the chair next to his bed where his clothes were. He looked down, brushing off his pants. He walked over and started putting things back on.
"Where are you going?" Valkyrie asked.
"Visiting." Van replied.
The hospital shook. An Ac had landed nearby. Van rushed out the door, Valkyrie soon followed.
Outside, an orange lightweight composed of entirely new parts watched the Einherjar, slowly advancing towards it with a machinegun ready. Van ran across the street toward the front of the Einherjar. The Ac started to fire its machinegun towards him. A flurry of sparks and bullets ricocheting followed Van until Einherjar's back guarded him. Van jumped into the cockpit, still hearing gunfire, but not hitting Einherjar. As he started to turn the system on, the cockpit door flew open and Valkyrie jumped inside, closing the hatch behind her.
"What are you doing!" Van yelled, quickly getting Einherjar on its feet.
Valkyrie yelled towards Van, but he couldn't hear her over the sound of gunfire. Valkyrie hurried over to him. The noise cancel system turned on, the cockpit was quiet. Valkyrie sat behind him, opening his laptop. "I'm going to help in any way I can!
"How?" Van asked, turn boosting Einherjar around.
"Research!" She said.
The other Ac had sent a transmission. "Nice to see you decided to face me like a man Yavangel…this is my new armored core, Hyperion."
Van looked at his opponent, releasing his blade and charging towards him. "This is the last face you'll see!" Van roared as the Einherjar sent its blade across the Hyperion's core. At the same time, Van fired his rifle into the Ac's arm, stunning it from firing back. The Ac released its shield and Van retreated back, hitting the AURA switch and throwing his blade out in an energy wave towards Hyperion. The impact threw Hyperion onto its back. Van walked the Einherjar to Hyperion's legs and slashed off below its ankles, below its knees and cut its hip hinges.
"Hey Hyperion…that's for shooting at me before I was even inside. This is for her too." Van said, thrusting his energy blade into the eyes of his opponent's Ac as he walked over it.
"I found out the other two cores that entered the city…but who is Yavangel?" Valkyrie asked, looking over at him.
"Yavangel is my full name." Van revealed, walking the Einherjar through the street, leaving his opponent in his wake.
"Oh, makes sense. I got information on what is going on in the city, seems Cluse and Revolver headed for the BOC main district building. Isn't that where your friend went?" Valkyrie asked.
Van's eyes lit up. He quickly hit the overboost switch and sent the Einherjar flying for the district building. The situation was familiar, too familiar for Van to stay calm. He remembered boosting his old Ac in front of the building in Neo Isaac. He remembered watching the beam of energy fly directly at him. The feeling, he remembered, of his body being pushed all around constantly with no rest. Van's hands shook the controls. Valkyrie noticed quickly and tried calming him down by putting her palm against his shoulder. Van glanced at her hand, gritting his teeth and looking at his screen.
"This cannot happen again, I have to defeat them both before they even have the chance of destroying that building." Van declared, grasping the controls and boosting the Einherjar all over the city, heading for the central area.
As the Einherjar drew close, Cluse and Revolver Overboosted in a cross formation in front of him. The Einherjar halted, raising its rifle and extending its blade.
"Incredible!" Valkyrie shouted. "I just got all the information we need to defeat these fools." Valkyrie continued, telling Van about his opponents.
Cluse was an ex-fighter pilot, and a good one at that. His hover Ac 'Kilos" supports his skills. It has a laser blade, a machinegun, multi-missiles and pursuit missile extensions with an added vertical missile launcher on its back. His ally Revolver is a highly regarded marksman. His Ac "Point Blank" was equipped with a sniper rifle, a rifle and orbit cannons on its back.
Cluse laughed in a transmission. As it ended, Kilos turned around and headed further toward the center. Van stepped forward and Point Blank fell down in front of him. The Einherjar boosted backwards and Van cut his energy blade toward Revolver. Revolver retreated, whipping his rifles forward and firing, knocking Einherjar back with a barrage of gunfire. Revolver turned, putting its back to a wall to hide. Van heard helicopters and muscle tracers heading their way.
"Damn! These cores could have destroyed this entire city and the backup is barely even here yet!" Van yelled, moving Einherjar to the top of the building Revolver hid behind. Revolver turned around the corner, aiming his rifles at a long narrow street. The buildings on each side of the road went all the way to the ceiling of the underground city. Revolver looked down, noticing an orange energy blade sticking out of its leg. Revolver raised its arms, pointing its rifles into Einherjar's face. Point Blank fired, knocking the sight sensors of the Einherjar around inside its cockpit. Van struggled, getting frustrated. Einherjar withdrew its blade, leapt back into the air and lowered its grenade launcher, firing several rounds directly into the core of point blank.
The core was drove into the street below it, its legs snapping off under the weight of the grenades' impact. Van clenched his teeth together. "I won't let this happen again!"
By now Cluse was near the building. He laughed once again, activating his vertical, pursuit and multi-missile launchers. His target of course was the district building. The core howled with power as a volley of the three types of missiles jumped out of Kilos' shoulders and back. The missiles formed a sweet and destructive dance with white tails of smoke behind them that dissipated into the air.
"I will destroy every government faction until we are truly at peace! Every last Ac will crumble in Kilos' hand! Hear me now Earth, your reign of terror will end! We will be free at last!" Cluse yelled, watching as the missiles her launched hit the base of the district building. The building collapsed, falling into itself and becoming brown smoke and dust, crawling out over the streets and below Kilos' hover legs. Cluse watched with delight, switching his radar to biological life. There were a few survivors…
Cluse raised his machinegun towards the rubble. He looked around, looking at the wall of buildings around the district, the doorway behind him that he could no longer escape from, and the shaft above the district buildings remains that leads to the surface in a series of windows. He fired his machinegun along the wall of buildings, blowing the windows out of the half-evacuated buildings. He then fired among the rubble to make sure nobody survived the bombing.
Just then…an Overboost's howl closed in on Cluse.