"Wow..." Kal was too shocked by the strange contract to keep his reaction confined to his head. "That's a lot of moola..."
The contract had been issued by Kisaragi, one of the smaller corporations. They wanted him to check out an old, abandoned factory on the outskirts of the currently corporate held territory, right on the edge of the Silent Line. That was odd enough as it was, but even odder was the fact that it paid over 1,000,000 credits.
"Holy jesus. That's enough to pay off this dump."
"What's enough to pay off this dump?" Sophie had snuck up on the raven, and spoke right over his shoulder. Kal yelled in surprise, almost falling off his chair. Sophie started to giggle, but that was abruptly cut off as his head slammed into hers, sending them both crashing to the ground, hands to their foreheads.
"Ow..." Kal groaned, rubbing his head. "That really hurt."
"You can say that again." Sophie cradled her head in her hands, rocking back and forth gently. "Did you get a metal plate grafted onto your skull?"
"Well... not really, but I DID have this accident playing football a few year--" Sophie's hand closed around his mouth before he had a chance to continue. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to stop the Raven, as he just took her mouth off of his hand and launched into his football accident.
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About ten minutes later, Sophie snapped out of her daze, noticing that it was completely silent. Kal was sitting next to her, waiting for a response of some sort. She gladly obliged him. "Now that was long, boring, and completely unnessicary. Why'd you tell me all that?"
"Dunno." Kal shrugged. "Just felt like telling a long, boring story."
"Well. Hopefully some other Raven didn't take the contract while you were telling me your stupid little story." Sophie walked over to the computer, and noticed that the contract was still up. Before Kal had a chance to do anything, she quickly accepted the contract. "You'll be leaving tomorrow afternoon."
Kal could swear he heard a whip crack in the background. Sophie noticed his silence and turned back to him on her way out the door, and looked him up and down. "What's your problem?"
"Well..." Kal began. "I'm perfectly capable of accepting contracts for myself thank you very much. And second, you didn't even apologize for startling me and making me bash your head like that. Third, you accepted what's probably a suicide mission for me and expect me to go on it without a question asked or anything? That's my problem." He paused for a second. "Well, three actually."
"You wouldn't have taken that mission, so I took it for you. All you have to do is what you're told." Kal felt rather dominated at Sophie's response. "Is that clear?" Although it was phrased like one, her tone implied that it wasn't a question.
"Quit dominating me." Kal whined. "I'm a grown man dammit."
"Then act like one Kal. Jeez, you always act like a kid. Even Eddy's more grown up than you."
Sophie's response hit Kal like a few tons of bricks, and he sat rooted to the floor, unable to come up with a suitable counter for that. Finally, he shot back the first thing that came to him. "Quit being a bitch."
"That's all I can be. Pretty hurtful coming from a 'fat, ugly cow' huh?" Sophie laughed as she left the room, the normally pleasant sound grating on Kal like nails on a chalkboard.
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Unlike Lysander, Faye and Kenja, who preferred to work on their machines with their hands, Sophie liked to use the computer terminal's manipulative arms to work on the three ACs in her charge. Desert Rose was the AC currently in the scaffold, being armed for its coming mission. Rounds clicked into place as they entered the dual machine guns grasped in the machine's hands, and the legs were switched for another model to accommodate the heavy boxes being attached to the core's shoulders. Another arm came in from the left and attached a blade to the left arm of the unit. As the unit was being prepared, Kal walked up and looked at Sophie with puppy dog eyes.
"Why do I have to do this?" He asked in a rather whiny voice.
"Because I said so." The reply of steel left him no room to maneuver, and he just slunk into the AC, sinking down into the cockpit and sitting numbly in the seat.
"Hey Soph." Kal started to recover his backbone shortly afterwards. "Give me that two-piece mabob that you have in storage, I might be able to use it."
"What are you talking about? Oh... you mean that rifle Dylan used to use? Alright, but I don't know how much use you'll find for it." Sophie pressed in a few more buttons, and the rifle emerged from the wall, carried in two halves by some manipulative arms. "I'm attaching the two halves to your legs."
"Understood."
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As Desert Rose thudded to the ground, Kal looked around the city uneasily. "I don't like this place, it's creepy." Once, a long, long time ago, a huge war might have been fought here. Huge chunks had been blown out of the buildings, exposing the materials within to the elements. The roads running around the city had been ripped and torn, and now commuters could no longer travel by them, that is to say, if there had been any in the first place. The creepiest thing about the city, however, was just the general air of decay about it, as if its inhabitants had suddenly vanished, and no new ones came in to take their place, letting the city fall into ruin. As his AC crept through the city slowly, Kal slunk into his seat. "Why me?" he let out a quiet whine. Suddenly, a laser shot narrowly missed his head, slamming into a building to the right of him, blowing a huge chunk out of the abandoned structure. Kal looked up at his radar, to find it filled with contacts. Enemy contacts.
Kal cursed and kicked the AC into a rapid boost. Zeroing in on the first contact, he spun around to find an MT facing him. Desert Rose raised both arms and unloaded both machine guns right into the chest of the MT. The enemy unit made a clumsy attempt to dodge the attack, but four out of every five rounds hit anyways. The gray unit soon slumped to the ground, exploding in a shower of armor fragments.
As the raven looked at his radar, he noticed that another contact was just around the corner. As the AC spun around and pointed both guns ahead, he encountered the last thing he expected to see. Four gray units flanked one green one, which had what looked like a small tuning fork spinning above it. However, the gray units recovered from the unexpected sight of the AC much faster than Kal did, and four laser streams carved chunks out of his armor, the hissing fragments dropping to the street, where they promptly melted. The Desert Rose retreated as quickly as it came, and spun back around the building, occasionally peeking out to trade gunfire with the four gray MTs. He engaged himself so thoroughly in the fight that he didn't notice he was surrounded until the five units were scrap metal, and a huge ring of contacts showed in his radar.
Kal looked at the radar, swore, and got to work. As his AC strafed and circled the Gray MTs, streams of laserfire lit up the sky. Occasionally one would land a hit, but Kal would land far more hits than the MTs, and occasionally one of the units accidentally shot one of its own.
Just as he finished off the last MT, 5 new contacts showed up on his radar. The yellow AC let go of the double machine guns, the weapons dropping to the ground. It bent over and unsnapped the Segment Rifle from its legs, then snapped the two halves into a single weapon. After pulling back a bolt and watching a few empty "test rounds" eject from the weapon, Kal wrapped Desert Rose's hand around it, and boosted off towards the new contacts.
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The Raven didn't like the looks of the new contacts. They were huge, red reverse-jointed MTs. Although they lacked hands, or even arms, those were made up for by the huge racks of missiles resting on their backs. They plodded slowly forwards, like armored beetles of destruction. Kal watched silently from a hole in a building, knowing that they hadn't spotted him yet, but he knew that if he stayed there that was soon to change.
As the MTs got closer, Kal yelled and burst out of the structure, debris flying everywhere. The MTs quickly turned towards him and started shooting huge swarms of missiles at him, the warheads separating several times until a huge cluster of missiles was hot on his trail. The raven simply stared at the missiles with wide eyes, before he ducked behind a nearby building, which was blown to pieces by the huge swarm of missiles.
"Holy crap." He muttered quietly, then popped out from behind the husk of the building and started blazing away at the group of machines, who took slight to moderate damage from his rifle. A few rounds splattered the ground, missing their intended targets. One of the MTs sagged to the ground, the victim of a lucky headshot. "Score!" Kal shouted as another swarm of missiles forced him to duck behind a building.
The other four MTs plodded forwards ever so slowly, preparing another volley. Their numbers were cut by another as Kal unloaded on the lead unit with his rifle, blowing out its knees and then blasting it onto its back. The remaining 3 MTs shot another group of missiles at the Desert Rose, which simply dodged them, then zigzagged towards the red units while firing a volley of rifle shots. The lead MT took a blade slice to the head, then a half-dozen rounds through the missile rack. The second and third MT fell seconds later, victims of the powerful Segment Rifle.
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The Yellow AC's pilot grinned foolishly as he stood before the huge gates of the abandoned factory, looking much like a kid who'd stolen cookies from the cookie jar without his mother catching him. As the rain started to pour from the sky and drench everything in sight, he giggled insanely, the promise of a million credits a bit too much to stay serious over.
As the empty back magazines clattered to the ground, their purpose having run out a long time ago, a sudden explosion rocked the top of the gates. Scores of rocks cascaded down the ancient metal doors, barring them completely.
"What the hell!?" Desert Rose turned around to face a teal AC standing in the pouring rain, a grenade launcher retreating over the core's shoulder.
"AC Godhand identified." The Rose's computer spoke gently.
"If you value your life, you won't go in there." An emotionless voice came over the comm, yet the voice was full of strength.
"Humph." Kal snorted dersivley. "Who the hell do you think you are, to tell me what to do?"
"I am one who knows more about that place than you know currently, or will ever wish to know."
"Sure..." Kal rolled his eyes.
"Question me if you wish. But you will surely die if you venture in there."
"From who? You? Doubt it."
"Are you questioning my skill?" The voice seemed on the edge of irritation, yet didn't quite venture into that territory.
"No. I'm questioning your threats."
"It's not a threat. It's a warning."
"Well then, warnings are different. But nevertheless, I'm going in. I need that reward."
"Then you will fight me first. If you defeat me, you may enter." The voice from the teal AC gained in strength.
"Why would I want to fight you? We've got no business. I'm not here to battle, just to get my crew and I out of poverty."
"Money does no good to a dead man."
"Neither do words." Kal was getting annoyed by the pilot of the teal AC now. What right did he have to come here and mess up everything? Desert Rose spun around and unleashed a volley of rifle shots at the teal AC, which dodged it with surprising ease. The chaingun on the smaller AC's shoulder flipped up, and it spat a volley of hot metal at Desert Rose, which nimbly dodged the projectiles. Godhand boosted to the right as the Rose boosted up and to the left, avoiding most of the shots, save for a few scattered impacts that scorched the paint job. The yellow AC landed a distance away from the teal one, and charged towards it, rifle shots announcing its arrival. A blue colored laserblade flashed out in a wide arc, but was shattered by the bluish-white hue of Godhand's MOONLIGHT. Kal stared in shock as the grenade launcher unfolded from his enemy's shoulder. He can use it while standing?! How the hell?! All further thoughts were cut off as the grenade launcher bellowed, hitting Desert Rose at point blank range in the chest. As the light yellow AC stumbled back, not having had a chance to recover, a flurry of machine gun darts slammed into its chest, shredding the armor and critically damaging the internal systems of the machine. Kal let out a hoarse shout of frustration as the Moonlight of his enemy skewered the generator, then sliced off his AC's head, rendering it completely useless.
"Pathetic. You have a long way to go before you can beat me." Through the optical cables attached to the core, Kal still got a naked-eye view of the outside world, but without the head he had no radar, no lock-on sight, or anything else for that matter. He roared in frustration as the teal AC glanced back at him one last time, then the back of its RAY core opened up and energy began to gather there. "By the way." The other pilot spoke again. "You might want to get rid of that illegal weapon mold you have. If the corporations find out you have one of those, they will stop at nothing to destroy it. And you as well." The energy flared out from the RAY core, and Omega's AC streaked away.
Kal sighed and gripped the controls to Desert Rose lovingly, despite the fact that the AC was almost completely destroyed. "Let them come..."
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That fool. Omega thought quietly as his AC blasted further out into the wastelands. He's getting into a war with no winners, no losers, and no survivors.
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AC Analysis: Prairie (coughcoughDesertcough) Rose-
Description: Fast AC that's capable of rapid-fire attacks. Lots of ammo but no backup weapon should its machine guns run out of ammo.
Tech Base: Armored Core 3: Silent Line
Head: CHD-SKYEYE
Core: CCL-01-NER
Arms: CAL-44-EAS
Legs: MLM-SPINE
Booster: CBT-01-UN8
FCS: PLS-ROA
Generator: KGP-ZS4
Radiator: RMR-SA44
Inside: N/A
Extension: N/A
Arm Unit R: MWG-MG/1000
Arm Unit L: MWG-MGL/300
Back Unit R: KWM-AD60
Back Unit L: KWM-AD60
Optional Parts: OP-S-SCR
OP-E/SCR
OP-LFCS
OP-L/BRK
OP-L/TRN
Colors:
Uniform Color Scheme
Base; R: 200
G: 180
B: 10
Aid; R: 200
G: 160
B: 35
Optional; R: 200
G: 200
B: 60
Detail; R: 180
G: 80
B: 0
Joint; R: 200
G: 140
B: 0
Other Attributes: No, you can't build the REAL Desert Rose. There's no such thing as a Segment Rifle (But it would be pretty cool if there was), plus you can't have a machine gun and blade on your left arm at the same time. (Which doesn't really make much sense, because the machine gun is held in the hand while the blade attaches directly to the arm, but oh well, it's not my game.)
Author Notes: Despite the fact that my friend (Yes, FIAOblivion) is going to be royally pissed if he finds out that I published a part list for an AC practically identical to his precious Desert Rose, (which I'm planning on trashing a few more times), I'm not going to compromise my little AC Analysis thing, the goal of which is to let anyone who actually has the games know how to build the ACs of the main characters. Besides, life doesn't always go the way you want buddy. Suck it up and deal with it.
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Author Notes: I don't really like the way this chapter came out. (Sigh) The compromises I make to be able to use those 3. I don't like Desert Rose, it's too super-powerful. That's why I trashed it so badly (Smiles)
To the Readers-
Duo: Thanks for the encouragement there. (Smiles again) always great to look in my mailbox and see the "review alert" mail, especially since I know what it's for! Don't worry, I'm doing my best to update faster than the other authors. (Steals Kitsune's glare for the "slow updaters of doom")