The boom of the rifle caused the windows around it to crack into a spider web pattern, and the shell ejected and bounced off the building and landed on a nearby abandoned car, smashing in the front windshield. The rifle fired again and the windowpanes next to it gave out and broke from the noise. "Target destroyed, four left." The pilot said as she sighted up the next oncoming MT. They were slow battle types, and the high-speed bullets coming out of her sniper rifle were more then enough to stop them.
Her dusty yellow and red AC was crouched in the shadow of a burnt out building. It was dusk and the sky was red. It made for an interesting battle. She fired again, and the bullet blew through the arm of the MT, though it didn't drop its bazooka. The MTs were similar to an AC, about the same size though much blockier. They had a bazooka in their right hand and a large metal shield in their left. But the sniper rifle could easily target what the shield didn't cover, and the bullets punched through their armor without difficulty.
She fired again, this time the shot hit the MTs waist, and as it slowed a third shot blew a hole through its head the size of a garbage dumpster, and it fell backwards stirring up a cloud of dust with its impact. Her aim shifted one MT to the left, just aimed for the head this time. The first shot took off the side of it's head but it kept coming, then the second removed it completely and the MT stopped, unable to fight without it's camera.
The MTs, slow as they were, were gaining ground faster then the Raven would have liked. She stood up from her crouch and switched off the ACs manual-control gloves that let her make precise shots like that. Her target box appeared and she started to walk backwards, and snapped of a couple quick shots. Both found their mark on the approaching MTs chest and the Raven was fairly sure she hit something vital because smoke started to billow out of it. A third shot finished it off and the MT lit up the darkening landscape in an orange fireball.
Only one MT left, but it had closed enough with the light sniper AC that it could fire. It shot off a bazooka round and hit the AC in the right hip, bending in the armor protecting the joint, but the damage wasn't severe. The Raven jumped and flew up and right and landed on the building, though she clipped her foot on the edge of the building and nearly crashed on the way. She just barely caught her mistake and held the boosters long enough to right herself before she hit the roof.
The heavy MT couldn't fly or even jump so up here she was safe. She switched to vertical missiles and acquired two locks, and let the missiles go. They flew up several hundred feet then changed their arc and came back down. Both slammed into the MT that was trying to take cover at the base of the building and set off its ammunition. The MT blew out a section of the building and the Raven could hear the blast this time, witch was considerably more satisfying then just watching the MTs go down with no noise to accompany the kills.
"Supernova, all enemies in the area are confirmed dead. How's your AC?" Her operator said calmly. He could have been the one whom the male AC computers were based on, he had that kind of voice.
"Redline is good to go. Suffered some minor damage which isn't providing any problems." Supernova reached up and pulled her goggles up, and brushed her blue bangs back. The goggles weren't so much for protection as they were to make sure she could see. She needed glasses to do most things, but they could come lose during combat so having them strapped to her head was the only option besides contacts, and since she already had to have them strapped on she might as well have them provide some protection as well.
"Rodger. The second AC is moving in to take the facility. Kisaragi would like you to accompany him as added backup in case Crest has more defense set up then we know about."
"Ok, as long as they plan on paying extra." She snapped her goggles back into place and took to the air. In the distance she could see the hill that concealed the Crest weapons research building. It was one of their more valuable pieces of retail so it wouldn't be surprising at all if they had more then Kisaragi knew about. "Speaking of extra, just how much will I get for heading inside?"
"They'll pay you as much as they are paying the other guy, so it'll come to fifty thousand credits, plus what you got for eliminating the perimeter guards and radar dishes. Not a bad days work."
Supernova smiled "Not bad at all."
She hit the ground and started to run. Her legs could move at double the speed of any mid-weight humanoids, witch also meant they didn't have a lot of armor on them, comparatively speaking. Even with light parts she could take more damage then any MT on the market, and she had enough firepower to get the job done though at the moment she was a little light on ammo for her sniper rifle. A assault like this wasn't going to be easy, since it meant a lot of close quarters fighting that she wasn't set up for, but seventy grand in one mission was too tempting to pass up.
Her mid-range radar picked up her fellow AC as a green dot moving towards the facility, and her operator told her "AC Snowfall identified." Over the comm.
She hit her vid-link and waved to Silver "Why am I not surprised to see you here? Didn't you just finish a mission less than forty-eight hours ago?"
Silver smiled over the screen "Didn't need much more then ammo and a paint job. Glad you're going to be backing me up Supernova."
Silver and Supernova were good friends outside of missions and worked together fairly often. His AC was set up for close range assault, with his high speed machine gun and powerful laser blade, so Supernova tended to cover him from afar, sometimes using the stealth units on her shoulders to get in close if it was needed. He was well suited for this part of the mission and she was already more at ease.
"I've got enemies on radar." Supernova said
"Looks like…" Silver checked his sensors "Gun emplacements. You ready?"
Supernova hit a button under her left thumb and her stealth extensions folded out and activated, creating an area around them that crackled with purple kinetic energy that kept her from being spotted by radar or locking systems. They would burn out after five uses and had to have the fuses replaced after every mission, but they made survival in a lightweight a lot easier "More ready then you are." She hit her boosters and quickly closed what little space was left between herself and Silver's AC, and he boosted to keep up.
They closed a bit and the large cannons on the sides of the large metal door that led into the facility rotated around and fired at them. The slow, high explosive grenade rounds they were using were so massive that they could be seen as they came at them, two fireballs nearly as big as their ACs. They wouldn't destroy them outright but the rounds could make short work of them if they stayed still, not to mention the heat would cook a lot of their internal parts and the force of the blast would probably knock them over.
The two ACs split apart from each other and the grenade shots flew past and detonated somewhere behind them. Both were locked on to Silver's AC so he kept moving, zigzagging back and forth to avoid the shells. With a few seconds of stealth left Supernova closed fast. She still had her missiles primed and she quickly got two locks on each of the turrets. The missiles flew up and out, and hit their mark without problem but weren't enough to destroy the heavily armored guns.
Just then her stealth cut out. It would take five seconds or so for the stealth to change it's fuses, not a lot of time under normal circumstances but it was an eternity in combat. The two cannons turned to fire at her since she was closer then Silver now. The closest to her fired and she jetted right, but nearly ran right into the second shell that the other cannon fired. It clipped her left shoulder as she moved past it and spun her AC around. Poor Redline wasn't able to keep its feat under it and got tripped up on itself. She slammed into the ground and rolled several times before she came to a stop. She was disoriented and between the rapid spin and being thrown against her safety harness on the impact, and then a couple more rolls, she felt like throwing up.
Instead she hit her boosters and jump pedal at the same time, both full blast. When on the ground the jump pedal would right your AC, but she didn't have time to wait and hoped the two actions could work together. They half did. Her AC tried to get up but only managed to push itself off the ground enough that it wasn't dragging as she boosted hopefully out of harms way. It was enough though and she pulled up, getting her legs under her.
Her left shoulder was trashed and the arm was unresponsive. She jettisoned the other haff of her stealth extension since it was worthless now and landed. She started dodging left, right, back and fourth and fired her rifle into closest gun turret. Her erratic movements made it all but impossible for the heavy guns to hit her, though she wouldn't have enough control that she could change course in case they got lucky. Finally something was hit inside the turret and it blew off it's mounting, landing somewhere behind the hill and only leaving burning remains of itself behind.
The radar warning in her cockpit went off suddenly, and she dared take her eyes off the main screen to see what was next. She couldn't believe it looked like twenty units were right on top of her. Her brief lapse in concentration was all the targeting system of the turret needed and before she knew it she was hit square in the core with a grenade round. The blast picked her AC up off its feat and blew her back more then twenty-five yards and she landed hard on her back. Her cockpit was filled with red warning lights and alarms. Her AC's armor had been super heated and was cooking itself. Unfortunately the place she had cut the most weight (and performance) from her AC was its radiator, and it was struggling to get Redline's heat down.
Supernova was nearly sideways in her cockpit even with the harness, and she struggled to get her feat back on the floor so she could move. In the back of her mind she knew she wouldn't get up and away in time but she tried anyway. So focused she was that she didn't see Silver finally get close enough to engage. He jetted forward and around a grenade shell that was fired at him, riddling the turret with machine gun bullets. By the time he was point blank it was billowing smoke and sparks, but he took no chances and hacked it in haff with his laser blade. It exploded and his AC was engulfed in fire for a moment, but as the flames cleared he seemed to be alright.
"Nova, are you alright?" He didn't sound worried but she knew him well enough that he was.
Slowly her AC stood and settled itself. She didn't look good, her left arm was limp with most of the shoulder just a mess of torn armor. Her core was burnt and the front armor nearly destroyed, but intact, and her head was a little askew. The right arm didn't seem to be working well and the AC was letting off smoke from most of its joints "My… Yeah I'm ok… My AP is in the red."
Nether pilot was given much time to collect their wits, as the facility doors opened and twenty or more MTs marched out. In front were more advanced battle MTs with dual chain guns and missiles, behind them were hover MTs with plasma rifles and bringing up the rear were close combat models, witch had short humanoid legs, boxy but well armored cores and a laser blade on one arm and a shotgun on the other.
"Shit!" Supernova fired her rifle into to first MT she got a lock on. It was probably the luckiest shot she ever made, the snapshot hit and went through the MT and it fell backwards, she'd hit the cockpit dead center and killed the pilot. Her luck ran out there as the MT beside it stepped aside and it and the two behind it started firing their chain guns at her. She tried to dodge left but the controls were sluggish and bullets punched through her damaged core, setting of a few alarms as some systems were damaged.
Her AC did move though and she fired a couple shots into the mass of MTs, but didn't bring any down. Silver was on them in a flash and cut off one of the chain guns off one MT before he hit the ground. The MTs were concentrating a lot of fire on him but almost blindly he rushed them, hacking his way through their front line in a matter of seconds.
One of the hover MTs slipped past him and fired at Supernova. He was a good shot and she tried to change direction to dodge but her entire AC seemed to have slowed and for a brief moment she was stuck in the same spot as the AC came to a stop and sifted it's boosters. The plasma shot hit her left arm and blew it off at the elbow leaving a melted stub, but she got moving again and switched to her missiles and fired as soon as one had locked. It launched and came down on the MTs rifle, shredding it and knocking out the MTs generator it seemed, since it crashed into the ground and stayed there after it hit.
She looked into the mess Silver had made and saw he had fought the MTs back into the facility, but she also saw two of the close combat MTs leap over him and head straight for her They don't think they can get him, so they're trying to pick of the wounded one. That's nice of them… She thought, and switched back to rifle and started to backpedal. Supernova started to fire at the lead MT, first she hit it in it's knee, another lucky shot, and when it landed the leg buckled and it fell to the ground, and two more shots blew it up. Its partner fired its shotgun and peppered Supernova with weak grapeshot, but even weak attacks were more then she could handle at this point. She brought her rifle up and fired, the shot went over the MTs shoulder and it landed and jetted forward. It fired the shotgun again and this time more if it hit her.
Something vital was hit and her cockpit went dark monetarily, then her sensors and targeting came back up but not her camera. She still had a lock and fired but the MT moved around to her right side and she lost it. She felt the impact of another shotgun blast and her right arm went dead, then the distinct sound of a blade accompanied her rifle going offline. Panicked Supernova hit her Overboost, but got nothing. She felt another laser blade strike hit her and everything in the cockpit went dead, except for one thing.
All noise, all the light, everything was down save one panel. She let out a breath and forgot to take another one as she read the four red numbers of her AP, "0000" her AC was dead, and she would be too in a matter of seconds.
Outside the cockpit the MT pulled its blade out of the side of the AC and jetted back. Redline stumbled and an internal explosion blew off the right side of the core and the ACs damaged head. It fell to one knee and another blast tore off most of the armor on the core, leaving its damaged guts and the cockpit exposed. Then it was racked with small blasts as energy and cooling lines burst, then one final, massive explosion blew the AC into a hundred unrecognizable parts and what was left of the legs toppled over. Several large chunks of the core hit the ground, one of them having the mangled cockpit inside it, and then it was quiet.
* * *
Tonin woke up then, but not in a cold sweat or panicking like most would, though her heart was pumping pretty hard. She stared at the dark ceiling for a couple minutes and let her heartbeat slow down Damn dream. I wouldn't mind it so much if I didn't wake up at the end every time She reached over and found that the bed next to her was empty, so she pawed at the nightstand until she found her glasses and put them on, and looked at the clock, it read 01:48.
The numbers had the large, digital look of the numbers that displayed your AP in an AC, the numbers that were blinking at her at the end of her dream. But the clock numbers were green, and that calmed her down a little. Green was good, green meant you weren't anywhere close to being barbequed as your generator blew. She looked around the bedroom and it didn't take long to find the man who should be in bed with her. Silver was standing, looking out the window. The lights from the surrounding buildings filtering through the shades made orange stripes across his body, witch was only clothed in a pair of boxer shorts. Dressed only in those you could see the two long vertical scars along his back that made it look like he had a pair of wings someone had cut off. In truth they were just a little leftover from the Plus project he had been though.
Tonin propped herself up on her elbows so she was partially sitting up. She could move at the waist a little, but she couldn't sit up without something to lean against. At the moment she wasn't wearing much either, a lose white tank top and her underwear. She too had a few things on her that her clothes normal covered up, tattoos mostly. On her left arm she had a sort of running fire pattern that formed a double helix down to her elbow. On her right bicep she had two sniper rifles crossed to form an "X" that were framed with a silver ring. Lower on her arm she had a big patch of scar tissue that was mostly covered with a thorny rosebush. She had more tattoos, mostly on her chest and back but her shirt covered them.
"Silver?"
He looked over at her and smiled "I'm sorry did I wake you up?"
Tonin shook her head "I had that damn dream again, the one about my last mission."
"Oh, that one." He walked over and sat on the bed next to her "You alright?"
She nodded "Yeah, I'm fine. It's almost like I'm just analyzing a replay now." The first few times she had the dream it spooked her pretty bad, but she'd had it enough times that it didn't phase her much any more.
"You need to go to the bathroom?" He asked. It'd be easier for him to carry her there then to get into her wheelchair.
"Nope."
"Need a drink? Glass of water?"
Tonin laughed and used him to pull herself up the rest of the way. She leaned against his back and draped her arms over his shoulders "You're pampering me."
He laughed back "Well, yes I am." They had been friends before her last mission, and after they had become romantically involved. Silver had felt somewhat responsible for the accident, though not so much that he harbored any guilt about it. You expect these things to happen when you're on a battlefield. The main reason he started to take care of her was just because their wasn't really anyone else that would, save for the hospital and Tonin didn't want to stay their forever. The two months she had to stay while she got her upper body working nearly drove her crazy.
"So you couldn't sleep either huh?" She asked him.
"Nope. I just woke up and couldn't fall back asleep, that was about a half hour ago."
Tonin yawned "Well, lay down with me for a while so I can get back to sleep. I always get restless if I fall asleep without you next to me."
Silver gave her hand a squeeze and did lay down next to her. It didn't take long for her to get back to sleep, so Silver carefully got back up and got dressed, and headed downstairs to his car. He suddenly felt like tampering with his AC. That always relaxed him.
* * *
The damp, brown haired and eyed pilot pulled up the black trousers and zipped them up, then pulled a white shirt on and then slipped into his boots. Sean stood and stretched, and scratched at his wet hair before pulling on his short black jacket. Global Cortex wasn't to bad a place to live he had decided, though the whole public showers thing bugged him. He tended to wait until everyone was gone before stripping down and showering off. Sean shut the locker he had kept his clothes in while he was showering then walked towards the door, trying to think of what to do with the rest of his day.
Things were slow right now. He had already passed up a number of jobs just on the grounds that they probably wouldn't pay enough to repair his AC afterwards. Granted technically speaking he was a E ranked raven, but still he knew he was skilled enough for the high paying job, he just needed to let everyone else know that too. It wouldn't be until this weekend that he could sign up for some arena matches during the following week, and maybe make a name for himself. He could only get so high in a week but if he managed to plow through the E (and hopefully D) ranked Ravens with ease then maybe the corporations would take notice of him and start offering up the big bucks.
Sean walked down the hall a ways until he came to the rec. room and he hit the call button for the elevator.
Before long he was down in the lobby. He said hi to the receptionist (Tonin had the day off for physical therapy) and headed outside. Though Layered didn't have the dark atmosphere of Isaac it still was fairly dank, even in this high-class section of the business district. The Global Cortex building behind him took up four city blocks, mostly due to the AC hangers around the back. Other then it there were plenty of large buildings, though most were taller then they were wide unlike Global Cortex. Office buildings dominated the landscape but a few of the buildings were large department stores or expensive apartment complexes, or hotels that probably cost even more.
Sean stuffed his hands in his pockets and started to walk towards the Global Cortex garage where his car was. He hadn't bought anything new yet so he was still driving around in his little blue family sedan POS. Most Ravens would splurge on their cars and get fancy, high-end sporty things or the like, Sean didn't feel like wasting the money.
Finally down in the parking garage he started to walk towards his car "Hey, Raven!"
Sean stopped and looked back, and saw some guy walking towards him. Sean immediately assumed he was a pilot because no one besides a Raven would have the gall to dress like that. He had shaggy true-blue black hair and a ring in his left eyebrow. He was about Sean's height, maybe an inch shorter, and was wearing a very tight fitting black tank top tucked into black jeans. On his feat were black combat boots and around his shoulders he had a long, red cloak. He was smiling at Sean, lord only knows what for.
"You're the newbie Maverick right?" Was what he asked Sean when he was close enough to talk in conversational tones.
Sean sneered a bit "On a technicality, yes."
The man's smile broadened and he extended his hand "I'm Lance, ranked B-6 in the arena. You might not know it but I take it upon myself to show all the new Ravens around, maybe give them a few pointers, things like that." He was oblivious to Sean's growing irritation.
Being more polite then your average mech jock Sean shook his hand, though he did it as quickly as possible "I already know my way around, and I don't need any pointers."
Lance held his hands up "Alright, alright. A little humility wouldn't kill you though. Were you heading out?"
"Yes."
"Well tell you what, how about I take you out to lunch? You know, a nice little comrade to comrade kinda thing."
Sean sighed "Ok, sure. Not like I was planning anything anyway."
"Great!" Lance smacked Sean on the shoulder in a friendly manner "I know you haven't been on any missions since you joined, so I figured someone springing for a meal would be good for you. Here we'll take my car." Lance said, and he led Sean to a sporty, two-seater red convertible with black racing stripes. It had diamond shaped headlights that curved with the aerodynamic shape of the hood, and the trunk had a racing stabilizer on it. Lance hopped over the door into the drivers seat, Sean just opened the door and got it "So," Lance started to say as the car started with a low thrum and he backed out of the parking space "Where did you get that AC of yours? Its a bit more leet then I would expect from a noob."
Sean brushed his hair out of his face as Lance sped out of the parking garage and onto the streets of Layered "I was a Raven with Nerves Concord, and I worked freelance for a while before coming here."
Lance whistled and whipped around a corner, getting a few honks from the people he cut off "So then I guess you don't need any pointers eh? So what was your rank?"
"My arena rank was A-1."
"What?!?" Lance took his eyes off the road a moment to look at Sean "You've got to be kidding me!"
"It was just in Isaac, you probably could have gotten that high there too." Sean had his arms crossed but managed up point forward "Car."
"Huh? Oh damn." Lance sideslipped into oncoming traffic a moment, hit the gas and get around the car before he rear-ended them, then pulled off onto a onramp "This'll get us out of the underground. It's too stuffy down here." He said as they pulled onto the raised parkway.
At the speed Lance was going it didn't take long before they went through a short tunnel and came out in the aboveground portion of the city. It was still very much a city but there was the occasional tree planted in a hole in the sidewalk, and being able to see the sky was nice.
"So who's that girl who's always hanging around with you? She's not a Raven too is she?" Lance asked as he pulled off the parkway and got back down into the city. This part wasn't quite so… Tall as the rest of Layered, and it was mostly comprised of two story buildings that housed small, privately owned stores.
"She used to be, but she just wants to work as my contact now. She got pretty beat up on her last mission and I think she just doesn't have a very high opinion of herself at the moment."
"Well that's a drag, she seems like… What the fu…?" Lance trailed off as traffic came to a sudden halt "Crap, what the hell is the problem?" Lance honked his horn, as if that would really get people to pick up the pace.
"Here, pull off here." Sean said.
"Why?"
"There's a park right there." Sean pointed to the other side of the street. Lance shrugged and managed up pull off the road. With traffic at a stand still walking across the street was fairly easy, and Sean breathed in the fresh air "Ah, this is nice." He said as they walked through the park's grass and under a couple of red, leafy trees.
Lance nodded "So what? It's just a park theirs half a dozen up here."
"I've been living in Isaac for quite a while, and before Isaac it was Mars. I don't get outside much."
Lance shrugged "Whatever." He paused a moment, then looked off roughly in the direction of the traffic jam "You hear that?"
"No." Sean was watching a small bird in the tree above him. He was disappointed when it flew off, but realized that shortly before it had taken flight he had heard a noise. The noise was quickly identifiable, it was a mech of some type. More then likely a MT but nether Sean or Lance could tell from this distance
What kind of mech it was was quickly apparent though since the thumping was getting closer and the people running for their lives started coming this way (funny how a two-story tall robot build for the sole purpose of wreaking havoc and destruction gets people thinking their lives are in danger). Shortly after a basic rifle equipped battle MT came into view as it marched into the intersection at one corner of the park, ignoring the cars it was crushing under foot.
Another thing is that when you're not in an AC then those stupid, basic MTs that no self-respecting Raven would be caught dead in suddenly looked a LOT more dangerous. This thought was reinforced as the MT started firing at the fleeing civilians. It didn't seem to be trying very hard but as it blew apart storefronts, parked cars and sections of sidewalk the people running were under a near constant rain of dangerous shrapnel.
"Maverick! Come on!" Sean looked over and saw Lance at the edge of the street waving at him to follow. Sean didn't much mind obliging the pilot at this point and ran towards him. They were both running for Lance's car and the MT didn't seem to have noticed them. Sean vaulted the door and landed in the seat, and was a little surprised when Lance didn't get in but opened the trunk and pulled out something.
Sean looked back at him "What the hell are you doing?"
Lance grinned as he pulled out his prize "Getting my anti-MT rifle out of the trunk. Get this baby idling, I need to set the rifle up."
Sean gave him an odd look but caught the key ring when it was tossed to him and slid into the drivers seat. Lance got in the passengers seat and folded out the small tri-pod the rifle was mounted on, then pulled the stock out and locked it and slapped in a magazine. When he pulled back the slide the barrel extended, making the whole thing about six feet long. It had a pistol style grip and the barrel looked like it had built-in suppressors. The clip went in front of the trigger, and if it was any indication of the size of the bullets then Sean could imagine how they could punch through a MT's armor, since the clip was about seven inches long.
Lance turned around and set the tri-pod down on the trunk of the car and sighted the MT through the built-in scope. Sean watched with more then a little interest at this, he was rather curious to see if it would work. Lance squeezed the trigger and the rifle kicked hard against his shoulder, though the stock was built to take a lot of the recoil. A loud pang accompanied the shot as it punched through the MT's armor and went out the other side. Although the bullet had managed to blow a baseball sized hole in the side of the MT all Lance had really accomplished was getting the MTs attention.
"You idiot! Aim for its ammo stores or something!" Sean yelled.
"Forget that, just drive!" Lance shouted as he sighted up for another shot. Sean couldn't head back to the freeway so he guessed he'd have to go deeper into the city and loop around. He backed up a little bit and then drove onto the sidewalk and took off. Lance fired again and this time must have hit something important because the MT blew apart as something explosive ruptured inside the MT.
Still on the sidewalk Sean rounded the corner and picked up some speed. At the next intersection he could see more MTs straight ahead and to his left, so he took a right. Unfortunate there were a couple MTs here too but on the bright side the traffic jam was mostly cleared up over here.
He swerved out into the street and Lance swung his rifle around and fired at the closest MT, the rifle making a loud popping noise each time it was fired. Lance's shot missed as Sean drove around the first MT. The second one saw them and turned to fire. Sean swerved just as he did and the road next to him burst into rubble. Sean turned right and drove around the second MT and turned left at the next intersection, now just going wherever there weren't abandoned cars filling the streets. Unfortunately the reason there weren't any cars was because the MTs were in this direction, but he didn't think about that.
Sean had managed to find a main street it seemed, since it was four lanes across here. It gave him some room to maneuver and probably went somewhere helpful, maybe into an industrial area where losing MTs would be easy, or maybe it led out of the city limits and out of the combat zone.
Off a side street a MT walked into his path, spraying fire at him. Sean was quick to serve back and forth but he didn't feel terribly nimble in this car. Lance managed to steady his aim by resting the rifle on the top of the windshield and he fired at the MT. Either Lance was getting better or had just gotten lucky again but whatever the reason the MT blew, and Lance had to duck behind the windshield as his car was hit with chunks of the MT, a couple of them big enough to crack or cave the windshield in slightly.
As another one walked out into the street up ahead Sean shouted "I think we've got their attention!"
"Better us then those civilians!" Lance yelled back as he pulled out the empty clip and slapped in a new one. He fired a shot at the MT and missed, then it fired back. It didn't miss, though its aim could have been better. The MT's rifle shot hit just in front of their left tire, blowing it out and nearly flipping the car over. Sean struggled to keep their speed up and them going in a straight line. It was tough and the MT marching towards them laying down heavy fire wasn't helping. Another shot nearly hit them and Sean started to lose it. The car fishtailed and ended up pointing right at the MT. Sean swerved but they were moving to fast. The car started to slide sideways and the back end hit the MT's foot. That was all it took and the car flipped. They still had a decent amount of speed and the car landed on it's top and skid that way for a few yards before it began to roll and finally came to a stop on it's top next to the sidewalk.
Lance fired two quick shots at the MT, the first it but didn't do anything, the second managed to hit the MT's ammunition bin and it exploded. Lance pulled his cloak over his head to shield himself from the blast then stood up from his crouch. When the car started to flip he had managed to jump out and do a forward roll when he hit the ground, so he was pretty unscathed. Lance looked around and couldn't see Sean anywhere, but as he ran towards the wrecked car he could see blood along the path the car had taken as it rolled.
"Maverick!" Lance yelled, and he tried to look under the edge of the car to see if he could see the fellow Raven, but he couldn't see anything. Lance stood up and was about to leave him for dead (though he wasn't very happy about having to do it) but something thumped inside the car. The second thump kicked the passenger side door open, and Sean crawled out from under the car.
Saying he looked bad would have been a little off. Sean looked like he should be on a stretcher. He stood up a bit shakily and dusted himself off. His left shoulder was ripped up pretty bad, and so were both his arms. He had a big gash on his head and some unidentifiable piece of the car was stuck in his side below his ribcage, which he quickly yanked out and tossed on the ground.
"Holy shit…" Was all Lance said for a few seconds "Are… You ok?"
"I think I'll make it." Sean replied. His voice was surprisingly strong. Truth was beside the apparent injuries Sean guessed he probably had a concussion (more then likely a bad one, he hadn't had very many and couldn't gage it but he felt like passing out) and one or more of the bones in his left arm was probably cracked, and one of his ribs was broken he thought. But the Plus project he had been though wasn't for nothing after all. "We need to get out of here." He said, Lance nodded a little bit and the two ran for an alleyway that looked to narrow for a MT to fit.
They jogged down the alley, Lance still hauling along his rifle and Sean just working on moving at all, when something inside Lance's cloak rang. He stopped and pulled out a small silver cylinder that folded in half to make up a very compact mobile phone "Yeah?" He said into it, and a smile crossed his face after a few second of talking with whoever was on the line "Yes. Yes I know that there are MTs in the Otsego City area, I'm right in the freaking thick of it. Yeah you better." Lance hung up his phone and put it back in his cloak "Good news buddy, that was my Global Cortex contact, she says that she's arranging a transport to come out and pick us up."
Sean sat down against a wall "Neato."
"Yep, also she
says the Guard needs two Ravens to handle this situation, so I guess that's me
and whoever we can scrounge up. It sounds like today was a bad day for a
terrorist strike 'cus damn near all the Ravens are out on missions or are just
out for the day today."
"I can go with you." Sean said, and
winced as his chest started to hurt.
"You know, I'll grant you that you're pretty damn tough, but I'm gonna say that your not fit to be in a AC right now." Lance crossed his arms and took a tone that he tended to use on new pilots who were trying to get more out of themselves then they could.
Sean chuckled "We'll see about that, buddy."
* * *
Twenty minutes later the two Ravens had been picked up and were back at Global Cortex. Lance was already in his AC and ready to go, he was just waiting for them to find someone to go with him. He was drumming his fingers on his armrest impatiently. He was wearing his custom tailored AC pilot jumpsuit, it was dull yellow and had black stripes that started on his back, came over his shoulders and ended with the tips about two inches apart in the middle of his abdomen.
Finally his contact, Hanna Malsmith, a brown-haired young lady about the same age as Lance with a pair of glasses over her brown eyes, came up on his vid-link "About time." Lance muttered.
"Sorry, but we had to patch the pilot up a bit before he could get his jumpsuit on."
Lance paused for a couple seconds "You're kidding me…"
Almost on cue Sean's face came up on Lance's screen "Told you." He said with a bit of a grin. Besides a white bandage around his head that had a few small spots where blood had soaked though you couldn't tell he had been through a car crash that by all reasoning should have killed him a little under a half hour ago. His basic gray jumpsuit covered all the damage on his shoulder and arms, and he didn't look like he was in any discomfort (painkillers getting injected into your arm will do that).
Lance sighed, and managed to resist saying "Stupid kids." Since Sean was a bit older then him, so he rephrased it to "Stupid cowboys…"
Sean laughed and hit a couple switches "Systems are up and I've got all green across the board. Let's get this party started."
* * *
Finally they were on their way. Both of the pilots were pretty pleased that they'd be able it go back and enact a little revenge, Lance for his fifteen thousand credit sports car that they totaled, Sean for all the time he'd probably have to spend in bed recovering from his head injuries (he was even feeling pretty lightheaded on the flight out to the combat zone)
"We're over the drop zone, deploying ACs." The pilot (female this time) said over the comm., then dropped Lance and shortly after dropped Sean. Lance's AC was kinda similar to Sean's in looks, with the same core, arms and a lighter version of the same head as Sean's but with upgraded sensors and radar. But the overall design made the two ACs very different. Lance's AC was equipped with a pair of prototype high-speed legs, a machine gun and rockets, a Moonlight laser blade, back mounted radar and on the shoulders extensions were energy shields that could soak up damage coming at his upper body from the sides when they were activated. It was built for moving and shooting fast and on the fly, where Sean's Maverick was built to slug it out with superior firepower. Zing, as Lance called his AC, was pained in a multi-tone design. The head and legs were predominantly gold with black joints, but the core and arms were almost solid ebony.
"Ok, I'll be giving both of you support since we couldn't locate Maverick's operator. We have a good idea what you're up against and it's mostly basic battle MTs, though Guard units in the area have told us that a few advanced MTs have been spotted. The Guard is keeping the battle confined to this section of the city but they won't be giving you direct support, though you shouldn't need it anyway. The fastest way to clear them out will probably be to split up. Good luck." Hanna said to the two.
"Rodger, engaging combat mode." Sean said, and then jetted down the street looking for his first kill.
Lance grinned and hit a the buttons to bring his combat system on-line "System engaged." His female computer's voice rang though the cockpit. His computer was a bit on the crude side so it wasn't the smooth voice some ACs had, but it didn't matter much. Lance's machine gun came up and he jetted in the opposite direction that Sean had gone. It wasn't long before his radar was lit up with enemy units, so he tapped the jump peddle and quickly was over the rooftops. His booster didn't have a very high output compared to some but with a AC as light as his he didn't need as much thrust, and this was he could stay in the air for quite a bit longer then most units.
He gained enough height that he could see several basic MTs a couple streets over. He gunned his boosters and then started to freefall towards the two MTs. They spotted him before he landed and they began backing up and firing at the AC. Lance used a little light pressure on his boosters to weave back and forth, only taking a couple of the rifle hits. Neither pierced his armor and he started firing back as his target box went red. The machine gun he was using had a higher damage ratio compared to the other two AC machine guns on the market, so it only took fifty rounds or so before the MT fell back, sparking and smoking.
He hit his boosters and came to a hover before he hit the street. He jetted forward and his blade lashed out. He cut from the waist up in a horizontal strike that sliced off almost half the MTs core, destroying its camera and rifle and probably killing the pilot. The MT toppled over but didn't explode, and Lance boosted off to find more enemies.
Sean fired his Karasawa at the third MT, this time hitting it in its reverse-jointed knee. It fell over forward joined it's two comrades on the street. Sean had managed to take out all three without totaling destroying them, so collateral damage so far on his part was almost zip.
He triggered his Overboost and whipped around the MTs and went further down the street. Another MT came up and Sean snapped off a shot that hit it square in the core. The blast blew the front of the core apart and the MT toppled over backwards and Sean killed his Overboost. On his radar he could see that the terrorists were scattered and few in number now. So far this had been an easier mission then his Ravens Test, even though he was getting sleepy from the drugs in his system.
"Maverick, it's Hanna." The operator's voice jolted him back to full consciousness.
"Yeah?"
"We've got a new report from the Guard. Terrorists have been spotted in Trene City. Head west from your current position to get on the parkway and get over there, the Guard are saying that the terrorists have deployed a pair of ACs."
"What about the MTs that are still here?"
"The Guard will handle them, you guys did the brunt of the work and got them broken apart."
"Alright, moving out." Sean turned around and hit his Overboost again. Trene City was clear on the other side of Layered. It's half above ground and half below, and houses most of the city's corporate headquarters, including Crest Inc. An AC, generally speaking, doesn't move real fast when you compare it to cars and such. ACs are designed to be able to move quickly within a small area (or at least Sean's was) and not fast in one direction. But you could still cover quite a bit of ground in an AC if you put your mind to it. Going straight without any obstacles Maverick could average out at about sixty or seventy mph, though it was more like moving at about twenty five running, then a hundred or more while Overboosting, then back to twenty five while he let his generator recharge.
It wasn't long before Sean was on the parkway. The Guard had cleared out traffic so he didn't have to worry about crushing any cars (not that he really worried about it anyway, but he did worry about cars that had people in them). So far he hadn't seen Lance or gotten any communication from him, but he guessed with that light AC of his he managed to get ahead of him.
"Ok Maverick,
I've got some more info for you. It seems that the terrorists have captured a
Commence Corporation office building and are holding the whole damn thing and
everyone inside hostage. They struck about lunchtime so the place wasn't
totally full but we're still talking about two hundred people, give or take a
few."
"Commence? Never heard of 'em."
"I'm not surprised. For the most part they aren't involved in the corporate war so they never need to contract Ravens. They make alloys that are used in building construction, and they also produce the armor used on most construction MTs."
"You know why they've been taken hostage?"
"Still working on that. Why don't you ask one of the terrorists when you get there?" Hanna joked. Sean didn't come back with a witty retort but instead thought about the situation for a moment.
"Do they have people inside the building?"
"We don't know. The Guard says they probably don't have the manpower to have anyone on the inside, but two ACs and a handful of MTs outside are enough to keep anyone from trying to get away. The terrorist's only demand is to talk to the head of Commence."
"Anything else I should know?"
"Nope. I'll keep you updated though."
* * *
It took Sean about nineteen minutes to cross the city, so before long he was carefully stalking up on the hostile zone. With hostages involved he would have to be fast and nasty, otherwise they might start shooting at the building and kill off god knows how many people, and Sean didn't much want that among other things on his conscience.
With ACs in the area he couldn't be sure if they were already watching him or not, since one or both could have long range radar equipped. "Hanna, is Lance in the area yet?"
"Yes, he's moving in to flank them. I wouldn't try contacting him though, they might be able to intercept local transmissions. Don't worry he's not going to try anything stupid… I hope…"
That didn't sound to good. Sean tried to not think about what the other Raven may or may not be doing and focused on his job. He found a tall building and quickly flew up it to get a look around. He already had enemy units on radar, but that didn't tell him anything but how many there were. He landed on a helicopter pad about half way up and hit his zoom.
There were eight units down there, so that made two ACs and six MTs. The two ACs were pretty impressive in that they both had a lot of high-tech weaponry on them. It took Sean a moment to realize that they both were equipped exclusively with energy weapons, though one had solid-shell missile interceptors. One was a reverse-joint AC with a basic laser rifle, an energy-throwing laser blade, a pulse cannon on its right shoulder and a plasma cannon on it's left. It was painted dark maroon and dark teal, and its emblem was a teal dolphin jumping with a cresting wave framing it.
The other AC had the interceptors and was kind of odd, though probably more effective in combat then it's partner. It had a dome shaped hybrid tank/hover leg set that hovered just a few feat off the ground, but doesn't provide the quick handling or ability to move over water that full hover legs did, but they were probably much more heavily armored and stable. On it's left arm it had a normal blade and on its right was a special parrying laser blade. Sean wasn't too familiar with parrying blades but he knew that if two normal blades hit each other they would just pass through each other uninhibited. A parrying blade obviously didn't have that same problem, but they had limited energy stores and took a moment to charge to full attack strength. On its shoulders were pulse cannons, each a different model, and it was painted white, bright green and blue. It had the same emblem as its partner.
The MTs were all the same basic models that Sean had been fighting before. He knew that he could take them out with a single shot anywhere he hit them, so they would be his first targets. After that he could tie up the ACs until Lance was in position.
Sean jumped and boosted forward. He flew until he found a tall building close enough that he could hit them. When he did he took up a sniping position on the roof. He didn't bother with a crouch or the gloves this time though, his FCS's abilities would be enough. He fired a shot and almost as soon as it hit the MT exploded, shattering some of the glass on the Commence building with armor shrapnel.
"Enemy atta-" through some dumb luck Sean hit the MT that was yelling, and it too went up in a fireball. Now the MTs were scrambling, and the ACs had disappeared somewhere into the city below him. Sean fired again and a third MT went down as the joints in its waist were destroyed and it collapsed. Sean fired a forth shot that destroyed the rifle and cockpit of the MT it hit and he switched to missiles and jumped. He let his energy replenish itself as he fell.
He landed on the roof of a building below him, striking it hard enough that the roof cratered in several feat and some of the windows on the top floor blew out. Sean realized he had overdone it a bit and checked his systems. He hadn't damaged any of his joints, but if he had been much higher he would have.
Sean hit his Overboost and blasted over the remaining block and a half to the Commence building then dropped down to street level. He killed his thrust and acquired several locks through the corner of the building then jetted around the corner and fired at the MT. The four missiles slammed into it in succession, the first three destroying it's front armor and the last piercing the core before detonating and blowing up the rest of the MT with it. He switched back to his Karasawa he fired at the last MT as it tried to get away by going around the corner. The laser bolt was faster then the MT though and ripped off it's left leg, and the MT fell over onto a parked car.
"Not bad…" Sean said, he was breathing heavily from the adrenalin but smiling, and he felt kinda worn out but wired at the same time. Checking his scopes he saw that the two terrorist ACs were coming back for him. But now Sean had the upper hand since he was between them and their prize. He didn't have the energy reserves to head out and meet them, so he waited in front of the Commence building and let Maverick have a breather.
Sean snapped off a shot as soon as he saw one of the ACs, the reverse-joint one, but it ducked to the side and his FCS overcorrected for the dodge and the shot hit the building that the AC was boosting along side of. Sean jetted right and was surprised as pink pulse cannon shots started to splash against his right shoulder. He jetted right further and the white tank landed right in front of him. The AC had its right hand back and it punched at Sean, an orange blade shooting out at the last second and hitting Sean's AC in it's gut. He took a step back out of reflex and whipped his own blade up. He slashed up and sheared the right-arm blade cleanly off the white AC, which made Sean smile So much for it parrying anything.
Before the white AC could use it's other blade Sean jumped and twisted, bringing him up, over and behind the enemy AC. But the terrorist wasn't totally unprepared and two Exceeded Orbit laser guns popped out of the core and rotated around to fire at Sean. He beat them to it and planted a laser blast right between the white AC's shoulders and hit something important because the EO guns lost their thrust and clattered to the ground.
Sean hit the ground and skidded to a stop, and was hit in the leg by a laser. He jetted back and swung his rifle around. He didn't hardly see the AC, just saw his lock go red and he fired twice. Both hit and the AC staggered back a bit and boosted to the side to avoid a third shot.
Right at that moment all three of the AC pilots froze for a moment, because someone was yelling "Kamikaze!" over the comm. Sean assumed it was someone coming after him and boosted left, but his radar showed the newcomer as green. He turned and saw bullets raining down on the reverse-joint AC. A bare second later Lance landed on top of the AC, planting one foot on each shoulder he kept firing into the head, core and shoulders of the AC. Then he jumped. He must have slammed the pedal hard because not only did he jump clear of the AC but he nearly ripped of the AC's arms and forced it into a crouch.
The AC could still apparently still see though and it used the crouch to its advantage and it's plasma cannon flipped up. With a weapon that big most ACs would have to crouch to use it, and it was kind of admirable how the pilot used the situation to his advantage. The cannon was kind of short until it flipped over the AC's shoulder, then the barrel jetted out making it almost long as a shoulder-mounted grenade launcher. It managed to fire off a shot and it hit Lance in the shoulder, destroying his radar.
It didn't get off another shot because Sean was on it in a flash. He jetted forward and fired three Karasawa shots into the crouching AC before he was close enough for a blade attack. His left arm reared back and he thrust his blade into and through the AC's core from a forward-left angle. He winced as his ears were filled with a piercing woman's scream, presumably whoever was in the AC he had just skewered. He jetted back in case it was about to explode, but it just froze in place.
"Kara!" A male this time (the other pilot Sean assumed) yelled and he started firing a flurry of pulse cannon shots at Sean, who took to the air to dodge them.
"Run dammit! Gaia needs you!" The woman yelled in a pained tone. Being able to intercept the little conversation they were having told Sean one thing, that they weren't using scrambled frequencies like Ravens or military would have. Terrorists they may be, but they weren't professionals.
The male pilot growled loud enough that they could hear it over the comm. and he started making short boost jumps to speed himself up a bit as he fled "I don't think so!' Lance yelled and he started firing at the AC with his machine gun, but the pulse cannon fire coming back at him was to heavy and he had to duck behind a building as the white tank AC escaped into the city.
"Let him go Lance, he won't pose much of a problem in the future." Sean said turning his Karasawa to the AC he had downed. It was smoking and didn't look like it would be going anywhere since Sean was fairly sure the pilot was hurt.
"You bastards… He'll be back. We won't… be stopped." The pilot spat at them, though her voice was staggered and her comm. was fuzzy.
"Yeah, yeah. Like we haven't heard that before." Lance said as he ran over to Sean and his catch.
"Power your AC down." Sean ordered, and the woman complied "Good, now we just wait for the Guard to show up and haul that sorry wreak of yours away." After that last taunt Sean collapsed forward against his harness into unconsciousness. Seemed that head injury had finally caught up with him. Course the terrorist didn't know the man behind the Karasawa was having a little nap so she still didn't make a move.
* * *
Sean had to forgo his planned break into arena combat due to his injuries. Well, not so much because he couldn't pilot but because after his fainting episode at the controls Luna absolutely insisted he at least wait until he had recovered from his concussion. She would have preferred he also wait until the cracked bones in his left arm and the broken rib healed to but she knew that was wishful thinking. As it was Sean was limping about and had a metal splint on his arm.
The phone next to his bed rang, and Sean drearily rolled over and picked it up "Hello?" he said into the receiver. He was in the bed of his new apartment in Trene City about seven blocks from his battle with the two terrorist ACs. It was a fairly high-class part of the city but he could afford it, all but the worst Ravens were pretty loaded. He hadn't gotten around to decorating yet so all that was in the big four-room apartment was his phone and a mattress on the floor, both in the bedroom.
"Hey Sean, I know you're still recovering but I received a odd mission request." Luna said over the phone. It must be pretty weird considering it was her that's making him recover "It's from the president of Commence, and it was sent straight to us. Apparently he caught word of your performance and did a little background check on us. He wants you for a mission. It's all very hush-hush and he wants to talk to you in person."
Sean grumbled something incoherent. Whether he wanted to or not he was kinda irritated about someone disturbing is R&R "How much is he willing to pay…"
"Between forty and ninety thousand credits."
"… I'll be right over."
