Vahn led me behind the control office. As I turned the corner, I saw
where he was heading: an expensive-looking black car. I slowed my stride
to get a better look at it.
"Wow," I said breathlessly. "Is that yours?" It was so beautiful, and the curves were so right. The thing looked like it could break 150 mph with ease. It felt like I was looking at a gleaming new AC. But then, this car would probably fit inside an AC's foot.
"It is," he replied. "Now hurry and get in. You can admire it later." I took his advice and jumped into the passenger seat. The interior was mostly colored light silver. The seats were nice and comfy, too. Also, along the dashboard, a series of three buttons were lined up and down the middle.
"What are those for?" I asked.
He chuckled and said, "One is for rockets, the other two for air conditioning and heating." He glanced at me and, noting my expression, assured me that it was true. I must have looked pretty shocked. Who is this guy, and what does he want with me?
He turned the ignition and the car started with a smooth roar. After putting it into gear, he tore out of the Mirage courtyard. I had a few seconds of regret about leaving my car behind, but it passed soon enough. It isn't everyday that I get to learn about my past. I decided it was better not to say anything and let him do the talking. Unfortunately, he didn't speak, but I was too nervous to push the subject. About fifteen minutes later, we pulled over next to another large building on the outskirts of New York. Beyond it was still, barren wasteland.
He got out, and I hurried to follow him. We came to a thin metal door. His hand disappeared inside his pocket for an instant and came out with a small key clutched in its grasp. He used it on the doorknob and swung the door open.
What was inside brought a gasp to my lips. For quite a ways in both directions, Armored Cores lined the walls. Each was of a different make and model. I even saw one with the exact parts and paint job of Lavaitean. But Vahn didn't wait for me. He was already a distance from me, walking into the middle of the complex.
My feet echoed off the metal floor as I caught up with him. He reached the center of the floor and pulled a small black object from his left pocket and pressed it. Immediately steel guard rails rose silently from the floor and surrounded us. Walls suddenly rose around us... or were we descending? My question was answered when we stopped, and I stumbled off it after Vahn and into a lit room filled with computers.
As I entered, a woman with chin length red hair stood and walked toward us. She had a thin build, and was of medium height. Her chiseled body was covered in a white jumpsuit. Her blue eyes shone from her angular face. Overall, she was quite beautiful. She smiled confidently at me, and turned to Vahn.
"Is this him?" she asked in a strong contralto. Vahn nodded. Seconds later, she was hugging me. I was a little surprised by this, but I let her have her embrace. She stepped back and looked at me.
"It's so good to see you! How have you been, Pent?"
I shrugged, not a little confused. "I've been alright, I guess."
She frowned. She looked at Vahn. "You haven't told him anything yet?" she asked, a little perturbed.
Vahn shrugged, and replied, "I had to get him out of the warehouses as soon as possible. They might have caught on to our location. And besides, I figured that it should be you who told him."
She nodded. Then she turned her attention back to me, and with a big grin, she told me to come with her. She led me into a smaller room, with a couch on the opposite wall. She sat down and motioned for me to join her.
"Alright. All of this will be hard to take in at first. We might not want to go over everything at once, and we probably won't need to. But first, let me show you something." With this comment, she turned over her left hand and showed me her palm. Engraved in black was the same design that was on my palm. "I can tell by your face that you recognize this. You have one on your left hand also, don't you?"
I nodded agreement, though hesitantly. She continued. "This insignia is only found on the hands of eight humans alive right now. Vahn also has one on his palm. We are three of the Eight, brothers and sister. Is this sounding familiar?"
My brain was still trying to catch up with all that I had experienced. Vahn, this woman, they were my siblings? And there were five more? What does this mark mean?
Suddenly, a ray of white searing light spiked through my head. I think I shouted in pain, but the hurt was gone instantly. In its place, I viewed a memory.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------
I was young, but not too young, perhaps sixteen or seventeen. An instructor stood in front of me, telling me of the training I was about to engage in. I was to destroy a mixed-unit phalanx made up of AI-ran light mobile combat vehicles known as MTs, floating drone defense units and two heavy-weapons MTs. Avelina would engage with me, as usual.
After the instructor was done, he waved me towards the docking bay. I took the hint, and headed through the west door. I emerged onto a catwalk into a large room which housed eight ACs. All were radically different, as according to the preferences of the Eight. Mine was second in line on the catwalk which I was on. I approached it, slightly admiring its dark green and blue hue. It was a bit of a paradox, how such a beautiful, sleek thing was so capable of destruction. I had to admit, though, that the grenade launcher folded at the back of Lavaitean's left shoulder helped dispel the image.
Avelina's AC was across from mine. I saw her walk along the parallel catwalk, her red hair bobbing in time with her stride. She noticed me from across the way, and waved. I was too far away to tell, but I was sure she was smiling. I felt a small grin appear on my face thinking about it. Avelina had always been different from the rest of us. She was optimistic and always happy, though they had no concern for our happiness. I guess some of her happiness had rubbed off of me, too.
I cleared my mind of these thoughts, as I was taught to do. There was no place for emotion in combat. I popped open the AC cockpit by means of a small computer console. The hatch silently slid up off the opening. I entered the AC and sat in the command chair. My hands worked efficiently to prep the systems. In a few seconds, we were ready for combat.
The HUD and main view screen appeared in front of the control console. The cockpit took on an eerie blue glow as its light illuminated the dark area. The sight displayed on the screen expanded to give me a 220 degree view of the docking bay. Seraph, Avelina's AC, was powering up across from me. It gleamed brilliant white, with black trim along the harsher edges of it. Its arms had built-in machine-guns. A missile launcher was attached to its right shoulder, and I could see the modifications on the sides and legs of her AC that provided the machine-gun arms additional ammunition.
I manipulated the controls gently, causing Lavaitean to slowly step forward. At the end of the AC dock, I turned Lavaitean and we walked out of the docking bay and into the mission area. Avelina in Seraph followed me. The clanging of metal on metal echoed through the compact docking bay. Like Titans, we took the field of battle unafraid.
I opened up the comm link to Avelina. "You ready?"
She uttered a sound of disbelief. "Of course I am, Pent. I'm always ready for a skirmish. We have to be, don't we?"
I soundlessly conceded the argument. In a softer voice, she said, "Why did they separate us earlier? It feels like a week since I've seen you."
"It's only been three days. But yeah, I'm curious too. We've never been consciously apart for that long since before I can remember." Avelina and I were wing mates. We had been together since birth for all I know, and though we slept in separate rooms, we spent almost all of our waking hours together.
We both stepped onto the training room's floor. Huge pillars supported the room, which was equally massive. Walls rose from the stone floor, creating plenty of cover to use. A crackling voice cut over the radio system informing me that the enemies had been released. As if on cue, the targeting system picked up multiple targets moving forward through the layers of steel slabs that were between us.
Avelina immediately hit the boost and shot into the air. Once considerably airborne, she glided to the left entrance of the metal maze. I followed her cue and went for the right. As I was nearing the gap in the steel, I primed Lavaitean's grenade launcher. It rotated to firing position and the aiming system re-calibrated to reflect the shooting style of the explosive device.
I drifted into the gap. There was one entrance to the main section of the metal maze from here, placed right between the two gaps on the opposite wall. Seraph was already next to it, covering me if anything chose to assault me as I neared. Avelina's AC was extremely fast, but couldn't withstand much of a beating. Not that it mattered, as her piloting skills were not something to be scoffed at. In a few seconds, I had reached the other side of the entrance.
I clicked the comm once as a signal we had worked out earlier. As one, we turned into the gap, guns bristling... and were greeted with silence.
"That's curious. Usually those MTs attack immediately," I said into the radio. My targeting system was getting no locks... "They've disappeared. Avelina?"
I got no answer. I tried my comm a few times, but it was no good. The radio was shot. There must be a jamming field over the middle of this arena. That would be why no targets were showing up on the radar, and why my locks had disappeared. Metal obstructions were strewn about the center of the combat arena, providing plenty of places for the MTs to hide. We would have to proceed carefully. The MTs were probably already in position, ready to strike at us when we were vulnerable.
The world slowed. My mind raced through the situation, mapping the terrain, predicting enemy positions, running scenarios of ambushes, and reaching conclusions. I laughed out loud. The MTs had the upper hand, but only for the moment. They underestimate us. The scales would not be tipped in their direction for much longer.
I raised Lavaitean's MG. I hated to waste bullets, but I had plenty, and this would hinder some of the MTs advantages. My finger danced on the trigger, sending bursts skyward. After about a minute, and two hundred rounds, the central light fixtures were all destroyed. The skirmish would take place in complete darkness, as the lights in the other areas of the maze were cut off by the walls. All ACs are equipped with high-quality night-vision systems which makes complete darkness seem as bright as day, and in full color, too. MTs have second-rate equipment, the stereotypical "green" night-vision, which would slow down the reactions of the enemy pilots.
When that was finished, I turned toward Avelina to make sure she was looking my way. When I affirmed that she was, I turned and boosted right along the wall behind us. I was nearing a place in which I was certain an ambush would take place. Considering the forces the instructor mentioned there are only three places in this entire arena facility where an ambush capable of dealing any serious damage to either of our ACs could take place. I set down outside of the open area's perimeter, and began a search around the metal structures that the MTs would have sprung from, unleashing torrents of shots at our helpless Cores.
Sure enough, there were a few beds of the potential threats, but we bore down on them so quickly they didn't have time to react. A few grenade shells and machine gun shredded the first two bands. I thought for a moment, and pinpointed the location of the inevitable third band, behind a smaller crate which could provide cover fire for the other two bands without putting themselves at risk. I maneuvered Lavaitean around the right corner of the crate. I hoped Avelina had taken the cue and ran around the left side.
As I turned the corner, a bazooka round whizzed past Lavaitean's chest. I hit the boost and began to strafe towards the area where the firer was. A second shot was unloaded and missed, but just barely. A stout, shield-bearing MT stood defiantly between two metal slabs, firing desperately at me. A loud boom, and it was consumed by a massive explosion as my grenade round hit it square in the chest. I zipped around its corner, and helped Avelina finish off the last two units.
I stopped for a moment to get my bearings, which was a mistake. An explosion lifted Lavaitean off its feet, and we crashed down hard onto the steel floor. I saw Avelina take to the air, and heard the sounds of rapid gunfire. Lavaitean righted himself, and we turned to see fire burning in empty air. The fire fell to the ground, and the mystery resolved itself when the heavy-weapons MT's cloaking device failed, revealing its large metal chassis torn by Avelina's multitudes of bullets.
I wanted to thank Avelina, but there was no way to do so now. It'd have to wait until later. For now, I had to stay focused on the situation at hand. Or else something worse than being knocked down might happen.
My vision blurred then, and everything dissolved to nothingness.
"Wow," I said breathlessly. "Is that yours?" It was so beautiful, and the curves were so right. The thing looked like it could break 150 mph with ease. It felt like I was looking at a gleaming new AC. But then, this car would probably fit inside an AC's foot.
"It is," he replied. "Now hurry and get in. You can admire it later." I took his advice and jumped into the passenger seat. The interior was mostly colored light silver. The seats were nice and comfy, too. Also, along the dashboard, a series of three buttons were lined up and down the middle.
"What are those for?" I asked.
He chuckled and said, "One is for rockets, the other two for air conditioning and heating." He glanced at me and, noting my expression, assured me that it was true. I must have looked pretty shocked. Who is this guy, and what does he want with me?
He turned the ignition and the car started with a smooth roar. After putting it into gear, he tore out of the Mirage courtyard. I had a few seconds of regret about leaving my car behind, but it passed soon enough. It isn't everyday that I get to learn about my past. I decided it was better not to say anything and let him do the talking. Unfortunately, he didn't speak, but I was too nervous to push the subject. About fifteen minutes later, we pulled over next to another large building on the outskirts of New York. Beyond it was still, barren wasteland.
He got out, and I hurried to follow him. We came to a thin metal door. His hand disappeared inside his pocket for an instant and came out with a small key clutched in its grasp. He used it on the doorknob and swung the door open.
What was inside brought a gasp to my lips. For quite a ways in both directions, Armored Cores lined the walls. Each was of a different make and model. I even saw one with the exact parts and paint job of Lavaitean. But Vahn didn't wait for me. He was already a distance from me, walking into the middle of the complex.
My feet echoed off the metal floor as I caught up with him. He reached the center of the floor and pulled a small black object from his left pocket and pressed it. Immediately steel guard rails rose silently from the floor and surrounded us. Walls suddenly rose around us... or were we descending? My question was answered when we stopped, and I stumbled off it after Vahn and into a lit room filled with computers.
As I entered, a woman with chin length red hair stood and walked toward us. She had a thin build, and was of medium height. Her chiseled body was covered in a white jumpsuit. Her blue eyes shone from her angular face. Overall, she was quite beautiful. She smiled confidently at me, and turned to Vahn.
"Is this him?" she asked in a strong contralto. Vahn nodded. Seconds later, she was hugging me. I was a little surprised by this, but I let her have her embrace. She stepped back and looked at me.
"It's so good to see you! How have you been, Pent?"
I shrugged, not a little confused. "I've been alright, I guess."
She frowned. She looked at Vahn. "You haven't told him anything yet?" she asked, a little perturbed.
Vahn shrugged, and replied, "I had to get him out of the warehouses as soon as possible. They might have caught on to our location. And besides, I figured that it should be you who told him."
She nodded. Then she turned her attention back to me, and with a big grin, she told me to come with her. She led me into a smaller room, with a couch on the opposite wall. She sat down and motioned for me to join her.
"Alright. All of this will be hard to take in at first. We might not want to go over everything at once, and we probably won't need to. But first, let me show you something." With this comment, she turned over her left hand and showed me her palm. Engraved in black was the same design that was on my palm. "I can tell by your face that you recognize this. You have one on your left hand also, don't you?"
I nodded agreement, though hesitantly. She continued. "This insignia is only found on the hands of eight humans alive right now. Vahn also has one on his palm. We are three of the Eight, brothers and sister. Is this sounding familiar?"
My brain was still trying to catch up with all that I had experienced. Vahn, this woman, they were my siblings? And there were five more? What does this mark mean?
Suddenly, a ray of white searing light spiked through my head. I think I shouted in pain, but the hurt was gone instantly. In its place, I viewed a memory.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------
I was young, but not too young, perhaps sixteen or seventeen. An instructor stood in front of me, telling me of the training I was about to engage in. I was to destroy a mixed-unit phalanx made up of AI-ran light mobile combat vehicles known as MTs, floating drone defense units and two heavy-weapons MTs. Avelina would engage with me, as usual.
After the instructor was done, he waved me towards the docking bay. I took the hint, and headed through the west door. I emerged onto a catwalk into a large room which housed eight ACs. All were radically different, as according to the preferences of the Eight. Mine was second in line on the catwalk which I was on. I approached it, slightly admiring its dark green and blue hue. It was a bit of a paradox, how such a beautiful, sleek thing was so capable of destruction. I had to admit, though, that the grenade launcher folded at the back of Lavaitean's left shoulder helped dispel the image.
Avelina's AC was across from mine. I saw her walk along the parallel catwalk, her red hair bobbing in time with her stride. She noticed me from across the way, and waved. I was too far away to tell, but I was sure she was smiling. I felt a small grin appear on my face thinking about it. Avelina had always been different from the rest of us. She was optimistic and always happy, though they had no concern for our happiness. I guess some of her happiness had rubbed off of me, too.
I cleared my mind of these thoughts, as I was taught to do. There was no place for emotion in combat. I popped open the AC cockpit by means of a small computer console. The hatch silently slid up off the opening. I entered the AC and sat in the command chair. My hands worked efficiently to prep the systems. In a few seconds, we were ready for combat.
The HUD and main view screen appeared in front of the control console. The cockpit took on an eerie blue glow as its light illuminated the dark area. The sight displayed on the screen expanded to give me a 220 degree view of the docking bay. Seraph, Avelina's AC, was powering up across from me. It gleamed brilliant white, with black trim along the harsher edges of it. Its arms had built-in machine-guns. A missile launcher was attached to its right shoulder, and I could see the modifications on the sides and legs of her AC that provided the machine-gun arms additional ammunition.
I manipulated the controls gently, causing Lavaitean to slowly step forward. At the end of the AC dock, I turned Lavaitean and we walked out of the docking bay and into the mission area. Avelina in Seraph followed me. The clanging of metal on metal echoed through the compact docking bay. Like Titans, we took the field of battle unafraid.
I opened up the comm link to Avelina. "You ready?"
She uttered a sound of disbelief. "Of course I am, Pent. I'm always ready for a skirmish. We have to be, don't we?"
I soundlessly conceded the argument. In a softer voice, she said, "Why did they separate us earlier? It feels like a week since I've seen you."
"It's only been three days. But yeah, I'm curious too. We've never been consciously apart for that long since before I can remember." Avelina and I were wing mates. We had been together since birth for all I know, and though we slept in separate rooms, we spent almost all of our waking hours together.
We both stepped onto the training room's floor. Huge pillars supported the room, which was equally massive. Walls rose from the stone floor, creating plenty of cover to use. A crackling voice cut over the radio system informing me that the enemies had been released. As if on cue, the targeting system picked up multiple targets moving forward through the layers of steel slabs that were between us.
Avelina immediately hit the boost and shot into the air. Once considerably airborne, she glided to the left entrance of the metal maze. I followed her cue and went for the right. As I was nearing the gap in the steel, I primed Lavaitean's grenade launcher. It rotated to firing position and the aiming system re-calibrated to reflect the shooting style of the explosive device.
I drifted into the gap. There was one entrance to the main section of the metal maze from here, placed right between the two gaps on the opposite wall. Seraph was already next to it, covering me if anything chose to assault me as I neared. Avelina's AC was extremely fast, but couldn't withstand much of a beating. Not that it mattered, as her piloting skills were not something to be scoffed at. In a few seconds, I had reached the other side of the entrance.
I clicked the comm once as a signal we had worked out earlier. As one, we turned into the gap, guns bristling... and were greeted with silence.
"That's curious. Usually those MTs attack immediately," I said into the radio. My targeting system was getting no locks... "They've disappeared. Avelina?"
I got no answer. I tried my comm a few times, but it was no good. The radio was shot. There must be a jamming field over the middle of this arena. That would be why no targets were showing up on the radar, and why my locks had disappeared. Metal obstructions were strewn about the center of the combat arena, providing plenty of places for the MTs to hide. We would have to proceed carefully. The MTs were probably already in position, ready to strike at us when we were vulnerable.
The world slowed. My mind raced through the situation, mapping the terrain, predicting enemy positions, running scenarios of ambushes, and reaching conclusions. I laughed out loud. The MTs had the upper hand, but only for the moment. They underestimate us. The scales would not be tipped in their direction for much longer.
I raised Lavaitean's MG. I hated to waste bullets, but I had plenty, and this would hinder some of the MTs advantages. My finger danced on the trigger, sending bursts skyward. After about a minute, and two hundred rounds, the central light fixtures were all destroyed. The skirmish would take place in complete darkness, as the lights in the other areas of the maze were cut off by the walls. All ACs are equipped with high-quality night-vision systems which makes complete darkness seem as bright as day, and in full color, too. MTs have second-rate equipment, the stereotypical "green" night-vision, which would slow down the reactions of the enemy pilots.
When that was finished, I turned toward Avelina to make sure she was looking my way. When I affirmed that she was, I turned and boosted right along the wall behind us. I was nearing a place in which I was certain an ambush would take place. Considering the forces the instructor mentioned there are only three places in this entire arena facility where an ambush capable of dealing any serious damage to either of our ACs could take place. I set down outside of the open area's perimeter, and began a search around the metal structures that the MTs would have sprung from, unleashing torrents of shots at our helpless Cores.
Sure enough, there were a few beds of the potential threats, but we bore down on them so quickly they didn't have time to react. A few grenade shells and machine gun shredded the first two bands. I thought for a moment, and pinpointed the location of the inevitable third band, behind a smaller crate which could provide cover fire for the other two bands without putting themselves at risk. I maneuvered Lavaitean around the right corner of the crate. I hoped Avelina had taken the cue and ran around the left side.
As I turned the corner, a bazooka round whizzed past Lavaitean's chest. I hit the boost and began to strafe towards the area where the firer was. A second shot was unloaded and missed, but just barely. A stout, shield-bearing MT stood defiantly between two metal slabs, firing desperately at me. A loud boom, and it was consumed by a massive explosion as my grenade round hit it square in the chest. I zipped around its corner, and helped Avelina finish off the last two units.
I stopped for a moment to get my bearings, which was a mistake. An explosion lifted Lavaitean off its feet, and we crashed down hard onto the steel floor. I saw Avelina take to the air, and heard the sounds of rapid gunfire. Lavaitean righted himself, and we turned to see fire burning in empty air. The fire fell to the ground, and the mystery resolved itself when the heavy-weapons MT's cloaking device failed, revealing its large metal chassis torn by Avelina's multitudes of bullets.
I wanted to thank Avelina, but there was no way to do so now. It'd have to wait until later. For now, I had to stay focused on the situation at hand. Or else something worse than being knocked down might happen.
My vision blurred then, and everything dissolved to nothingness.