Chapter Two: Desert Man
"This is Raven Infinite, mission complete, returning to base. Hey, Rachel,
when I get back, you want to go out for something to drink, and maybe later
we can..." A young man spoke through his comm. in the cockpit of his mech,
standing in front of a mangled armored core.
"Get a life Raven." A woman said back to him.
One year had passed since the battle at St. Jurgeville. Life had gone on as if nothing had happen, yet everyone still remembered the names of Sacri Axez and Sephiroth Barb. The last Nine-Breaker had been beaten by some upstart newbie named Aries. Leos had gone on his life as a mercenary, and received Sacri's last armored core as a gift from the widowed Mrs. Axez. He had become sponsored by a small company named Magitech, and joined their Special Forces team. He quickly ascended through their ranks, and became leader of their squadron.
Leos yawned as he walked through the hallways of Magitech's flagship, people just looking at him friendly, calling him Raven Infinite. "Idiots, Raven Infinite, who ever thought up such a stupid name?" He was now a grown man, despite only a year had passed. He had a reddish brown hair, with large blue eyes. His skin was lightly tanned, with a scar on the back of his neck which he got during that battle a year ago. He stepped into his quarters, falling face first onto his bed, turning around, looking up at the posters of all those beautiful women he dreams about.
He put his hand up in the form of a plane, moving it as if it was flying. Quickly, a light little knock came from the door. He quietly stood up and opened the door. There stood in front of him a young woman with blonde hair, large green eyes, and small, cute little glasses. "Hello, Leos." The young woman looked up at his face, smiling. "Raven, it seems you have got a new mission."
"For your next mission, you and your squadron will need to travel to Mars for a raid on a terrorist organization's camp. Be warned, their leader and two of his companions are all ex-Ravens. The location of the attack will be at Falna Crater at twenty four hours. The targets are as follows; Former Raven Sephiroth Barb......" She is suddenly cut off a Leos shouted out in surprise.
"What! Did you just say Sephiroth? The man who killed..." Leos was amazed that Sephiroth could still be alive, even though he knew he shouldn't have been surprised. After one year, Leos got a chance at revenge. "Yeah, it is that Sephiroth. And I'm sure you know one of the other men, Matthais. The other is Leon Kalias. You may have heard about the Mars Civil Commotion. Leon Kalias was the man that killed the leader of that coup attempt and although the Government revealed he had died, he was actually captured by remnants of the Frighteners, and he later formed them into his own terrorist unit." She nodded her head as she spoke.
"Mars it is then." Leos shot her a smile as he fell back down onto his bed.
The air over Falna Crater became deathly quite as the AC transport passed over head, a bonfire below it with six armored core standing around it in a circle, all in standby mode. "This is Raven Infinite, ready to drop; I'll be back soon enough." "This is War Lord, I'm going down." "This is Lizard Man, I'm going home." "This is Frightener, I'm going down, love you babies."
At that moment, four Armored Cores dropped from the sky, landing behind the derelict space ship in the center of the crater. As they land, a recoil is sent up the cold steel of the armored cores, their feet kicking up the sand beneath them. The Armored Cores thrust around the ruined cruiser. "Hey Leos, Raven Infinite, from what I heard, this Sephiroth guy it pretty powerful. Any idea how tough he is?"
The pilot speaking to Leos was Reptyle, a well known arena Raven who had become in debt after winning it big, but getting drunk and spending it all and then some when he went gambling. "He is more powerful, than any of us can ever hope to achieve." Leos whispered under his breath to Reptyle.
"Oh, okay." Reptyle felt a little confused and threatened, as a missile hit his AC in the back of the head, knocking it forward into the ground.
At that moment, a small red bleep appeared on an enemy MT's radar. "Huh, our enemies are here already?" Sephiroth, Matthais, Leon, Jiro, the enemy is, the enemy is- fuck, it's coming this way!" As the pilot sent the message to his superiors, a bolt of energy streaked across the sky, hitting it, disintegrating it into nothing but dust and shrapnel.
"Crap, the enemy, they know were here, so much for the element of surprise!" War Lord, actual name Gret Forge, an old military ace called out to his friends as a confused Leos held a smoking Karasawa.
"We might as well attack them all out then." The old Frightener member Remillie found herself a perch upon the forsaken ship. When, all of a sudden, a shadowy thrust from below Remille, causing her to explode into rubble. As the Armored Core lands, it is revealed to be a Raven, Jiro. His fiery quad legged monster rolls along the ground back into the shadows.
"No!" Remillie screams for her life as she is engulfed into flames and incinerated.
"Heh, burn, fire." Jiro stands in front of the pieces of the AC, admiring his work. Jiro is a pyromaniac who loves the taste that he gets when he kills.
"Damn, Remillie is dead! Everyone scramble!" Leos yells, but everyone just ignores him and his allies began to circle around Jiro.
"Seems they have hired a Raven as well? Damnit!" Gret is cut off as Jiro slams into him, knocking his AC to the ground. In a rush, Gret fires off a series of shots up at the violent Jiro, slapping the Raven in the face. At the moment, a pair of overboost extensions rise from a core, sending Leos' favorite armored core, Arch-Nemesis into the center of the camp, equipping its chain gun, as it enters the center of the terrorist's camp, locking onto the pair of Muscle Tracers, as it puts it knee to the ground and places several shots into their back, causing them to explode in a fiery mess.
"We got no more reason to be here, Matthais, Leon, Jiro," Sephiroth barks order to everyone.
"Ahhhh!" Sephiroth is cut off as an emergency message comes from a dying Jiro, a blade cutting off the upper torso of his AC, the beam of energy meeting from Reptyle's left arm.
"Make that Matthais and Leon, let's get out of here!" The triplet of Armored Cores' overboost functions come to life, the Armored Cores blasting out into the sky, retreating from the battlefield.
"Get a life Raven." A woman said back to him.
One year had passed since the battle at St. Jurgeville. Life had gone on as if nothing had happen, yet everyone still remembered the names of Sacri Axez and Sephiroth Barb. The last Nine-Breaker had been beaten by some upstart newbie named Aries. Leos had gone on his life as a mercenary, and received Sacri's last armored core as a gift from the widowed Mrs. Axez. He had become sponsored by a small company named Magitech, and joined their Special Forces team. He quickly ascended through their ranks, and became leader of their squadron.
Leos yawned as he walked through the hallways of Magitech's flagship, people just looking at him friendly, calling him Raven Infinite. "Idiots, Raven Infinite, who ever thought up such a stupid name?" He was now a grown man, despite only a year had passed. He had a reddish brown hair, with large blue eyes. His skin was lightly tanned, with a scar on the back of his neck which he got during that battle a year ago. He stepped into his quarters, falling face first onto his bed, turning around, looking up at the posters of all those beautiful women he dreams about.
He put his hand up in the form of a plane, moving it as if it was flying. Quickly, a light little knock came from the door. He quietly stood up and opened the door. There stood in front of him a young woman with blonde hair, large green eyes, and small, cute little glasses. "Hello, Leos." The young woman looked up at his face, smiling. "Raven, it seems you have got a new mission."
"For your next mission, you and your squadron will need to travel to Mars for a raid on a terrorist organization's camp. Be warned, their leader and two of his companions are all ex-Ravens. The location of the attack will be at Falna Crater at twenty four hours. The targets are as follows; Former Raven Sephiroth Barb......" She is suddenly cut off a Leos shouted out in surprise.
"What! Did you just say Sephiroth? The man who killed..." Leos was amazed that Sephiroth could still be alive, even though he knew he shouldn't have been surprised. After one year, Leos got a chance at revenge. "Yeah, it is that Sephiroth. And I'm sure you know one of the other men, Matthais. The other is Leon Kalias. You may have heard about the Mars Civil Commotion. Leon Kalias was the man that killed the leader of that coup attempt and although the Government revealed he had died, he was actually captured by remnants of the Frighteners, and he later formed them into his own terrorist unit." She nodded her head as she spoke.
"Mars it is then." Leos shot her a smile as he fell back down onto his bed.
The air over Falna Crater became deathly quite as the AC transport passed over head, a bonfire below it with six armored core standing around it in a circle, all in standby mode. "This is Raven Infinite, ready to drop; I'll be back soon enough." "This is War Lord, I'm going down." "This is Lizard Man, I'm going home." "This is Frightener, I'm going down, love you babies."
At that moment, four Armored Cores dropped from the sky, landing behind the derelict space ship in the center of the crater. As they land, a recoil is sent up the cold steel of the armored cores, their feet kicking up the sand beneath them. The Armored Cores thrust around the ruined cruiser. "Hey Leos, Raven Infinite, from what I heard, this Sephiroth guy it pretty powerful. Any idea how tough he is?"
The pilot speaking to Leos was Reptyle, a well known arena Raven who had become in debt after winning it big, but getting drunk and spending it all and then some when he went gambling. "He is more powerful, than any of us can ever hope to achieve." Leos whispered under his breath to Reptyle.
"Oh, okay." Reptyle felt a little confused and threatened, as a missile hit his AC in the back of the head, knocking it forward into the ground.
At that moment, a small red bleep appeared on an enemy MT's radar. "Huh, our enemies are here already?" Sephiroth, Matthais, Leon, Jiro, the enemy is, the enemy is- fuck, it's coming this way!" As the pilot sent the message to his superiors, a bolt of energy streaked across the sky, hitting it, disintegrating it into nothing but dust and shrapnel.
"Crap, the enemy, they know were here, so much for the element of surprise!" War Lord, actual name Gret Forge, an old military ace called out to his friends as a confused Leos held a smoking Karasawa.
"We might as well attack them all out then." The old Frightener member Remillie found herself a perch upon the forsaken ship. When, all of a sudden, a shadowy thrust from below Remille, causing her to explode into rubble. As the Armored Core lands, it is revealed to be a Raven, Jiro. His fiery quad legged monster rolls along the ground back into the shadows.
"No!" Remillie screams for her life as she is engulfed into flames and incinerated.
"Heh, burn, fire." Jiro stands in front of the pieces of the AC, admiring his work. Jiro is a pyromaniac who loves the taste that he gets when he kills.
"Damn, Remillie is dead! Everyone scramble!" Leos yells, but everyone just ignores him and his allies began to circle around Jiro.
"Seems they have hired a Raven as well? Damnit!" Gret is cut off as Jiro slams into him, knocking his AC to the ground. In a rush, Gret fires off a series of shots up at the violent Jiro, slapping the Raven in the face. At the moment, a pair of overboost extensions rise from a core, sending Leos' favorite armored core, Arch-Nemesis into the center of the camp, equipping its chain gun, as it enters the center of the terrorist's camp, locking onto the pair of Muscle Tracers, as it puts it knee to the ground and places several shots into their back, causing them to explode in a fiery mess.
"We got no more reason to be here, Matthais, Leon, Jiro," Sephiroth barks order to everyone.
"Ahhhh!" Sephiroth is cut off as an emergency message comes from a dying Jiro, a blade cutting off the upper torso of his AC, the beam of energy meeting from Reptyle's left arm.
"Make that Matthais and Leon, let's get out of here!" The triplet of Armored Cores' overboost functions come to life, the Armored Cores blasting out into the sky, retreating from the battlefield.