Chp. 5

Alex found it difficult to understand as to why the rich needed to spend their money on incredulous and more so expensive items that have no possible use whatsoever. Kind of like the thirty-three million credit Pre-Great Destruction Vase that just happened to be sitting right next to him as he entered the grand'o'house of the great and mighty big spender Ryan Skyler. How was he supposed to know it was there when he starting spazzing out at the size of the house. But there was one good thing to it, at least it was still worth thirty-three million credits, just only about hundred per piece.

And nobody had bothered to tell him that the sword he decided to grab and suddenly enter himself in the Feudal Era had belonged to the Legendary Japanese Warrior Miyamoto Musashi, which priced in at over two hundred and thirty thousand. Alex was defiantly sure though it was only worth about "Half" that now. Of course the gash on the gold and bronze Budda Statue that had caused the sword to snap like a twig shouldn't have been so close to the three Ancient Chinese Carpentry pieces that used to be hanging up on the wall and now looked more like kitchen napkins then full body rugs.

After a while they had found a way to restrain him by throwing him into a chair and tying him up. Of course he had protested but even Kristi had agreed to it and Sasha had already kindly departed fearing that anybody within Alex's company for next couple years would either be killed or neck deep in debt. She didn't need that. Besides, Ace had already given her a call about a mission of another Raven pilot. It paid well, so he needed her confirmation.

Being bound down by rope and masking tape though wasn't exactly the most comfortable thing in the world though. But he did have to admit, it did give him a good perspective of the room since he got bored of listening to Kristi's and Ryan's politics. It was a like a large office with a single desk near the back. The desk looked expensive though, made of what looked like dark oak with a shine to it that seemed to reflect Alex's own ridiculous image off of it.

Then there was the fact that the back wall wasn't even a wall but a row of wall sized windows that overlooked Ryan's backyard as well as most of the city that rested not too far from here. It was a wonderful view.

Then there was stuff on the right and left sides of the room. On the right, Alex's right that is, there was a wall dedicated to ancient items such as swords, books, tablets, and even artifacts.

On the left side, Alex's left as well, was the coolest little mini-bar in the world. It even had it's own bored out of his mind as well bartender. Behind the Bartender himself since the bar itself jutted out a little was nothing but incredibly expensive wines, beers, brinks, and pure alcohol. You name it, it was there. The Bar was centered in the middle of the wall covering about a little more then half of the wall itself. On both sides of the bar however were actually human sized models of Acs, all with Mirage type parts from what Alex was able to tell.

Well at least there was one other thing that could entertain Alex. Azura was still here. And she rested cross-legged across from him, sitting on top of the desk. And she was looking at him, very hard.

"So what is this mission about?" Kristi, sitting beside Alex in the same three seated burgundy couch, decided to start off by asking the most simple of questions.

Ryan, leaning back against the smooth polished oak wood desk, cocked an eyebrow and commented, "My, my, my. Straight to business aren't we?"

Kristi glared at him and said professionally, "I don't let entertainment get in the way of business. That's why I'm still alive."

Ryan chuckled quietly and then popped himself off the desk. Then waving a hand to the side pointing to his personal mini-bar, he offered, "May I at least interest you in some nice Bourbon. Or perhaps your favorite as well as mine, Bacardi?"

Kristi's face never faltered from it's focused composure, "I don't drink and deal."

Ryan grinned and replied, "Well, it helps me think." Then he turned to the bored Alex and offered him as well.

"Would you like a drink young Alex?"

Alex jumped at that request but Kristi, like the ever-watchful mother over her children, cut him off and said, "No that's alright. Besides, he is only eighteen."

Ryan on the other hand commented, "I know."

Alex started nodding viciously and said, "I want anything you got." While Kristi gave Ryan a look that would wilt flowers. She didn't like this Ryan. He was trying everything in his power to put this little meeting to his advantage. Hell, if Alex can hardly contain himself when he eats Ramen or plays video games, then what makes him think he can handle a drink?

Ryan snapped his fingers and his own personal Bartender that looked like he was busy determining how his life went in the wrong direction, snapped to.

"Mario, give me a glass of Bacardi and our young Raven here a wine glass of our finest wine." Ryan ordered.

The bartender merely nodded and started to prepare the drinks.

Ryan then turned to Kristi as she looked at him hard.

"Do you disapprove?"

"It's illegal to give alcoholic drinks to minors." She reminded him.

"I'm the Ceo and owner of Mirage." Ryan stated with a power-hungry grin, "What makes you think that anybody would say anything to me. Especially something as trivial as this?"

"That's not the point. If I don't approve of the mission, hint, hint, the person offering the mission or what the mission is about then I will refuse the mission, thus forcing my Raven to refuse the mission. Otherwise and he will lose me as being his contact." Kristi then turned to Alex as he impatiently awaited his drink, "I seriously doubt that he wants that."

Alex wasn't even paying attention to her. He spotted the wine that the Bartender was about to use and noticed that it was a wine of rich and luscious flavor. And it was dated back to the year 1967. That was way before the Great Destruction and that meant that it had reached a flavor that would be sweet and satisfying.

Ryan gave Alex a wary look as he caught him drooling over the wine.

"Oh, I think he can handle himself. He has been involved in a lot more then you think."

That rose Kristi attention. "What do you mean?"

"Just a statement made by a knowing person." He merely commented.

While the statement itself made no sense to Kristi whatsoever, the mere mention of Alex being involved with more then what he seemed to be involved with peeked her interest. She would have to ask him at another time.

Now would be pointless seeing as how he got a handle on the wine that Ryan had offered. And even though he now sat there trying to figure out the best way to attack this drink while he was bound down, this would most likely end with him not being able to hold his liquor and end up a mess of a bigger fool then he already was. Which is not the thing she needed right now.

Kristi turned back to Ryan and asked again, "The mission."

Ryan had just graciously received his own drink and after taking a quick whiff of the delicious aroma, he looked at Kristi from the corner of his eye and said with a sly voice, "Of course, the mission."

He walked back to his desk and reached over near the side of the desk and pushed what looked like a button. Suddenly the lights dimmed and then he pushed another button. A foot long opening appeared in the middle of the floor and an elongated silver pillar came out of the ground. It rose about four feet then stopped with a slight hiss. Ryan walked up to the pillar and said, "The latest in Mirage Holographic technology." He tapped a button on the side of the pillar and it started to spit out lights in every direction till a image of the solar system as we know it filled the whole room. It was drawn to a much smaller scale but it was definitely convincing.

Kristi looked at the hologram visibly impressed with how far Mirage has been pushing themselves. Alex on the other hand was ohhing and ahhing.

Ryan then decided to throw in, "It's only three and forty thousand credits. On sale now at your participating retail stores."

Kristi shot him a "piss off" look and he bowed.

Alex could be seen struggling to jump up and touch one of the rotating planets that past right in front of him. It looked like Jupiter and Alex really wanted to touch that big red spot.

Ryan then tapped another button on the side and ordered aloud, "Zoom in, sector's three to four."

The area that contained Earth and Mars was suddenly magnified. It expertly represented everything up to date. The Earth looking back to it's old self again. Mars looking a lot like Earth now but still with its red landscapes. The Moon heavily industrialized with its massive cities and so forth. The Rangor Space Station orbiting the moon. And then the strip of massive space stations that were each one enormous city that extended from Earth to Mars. Each of them were only about a forth of the size of the moon, but they were an entire flat panel station that had a city on it encased and protected by an extremely durable see through dome. Five of them laid out in a straight line that once every year, would become the joining path between earth and Mars. At the moment they laid by themselves waiting to the annual event that proceeded with the joining of them, Earth, and Mars.

Of course the fifth one, Neo Vass City was a tad bit more darker then the rest of the hustling and bustling siblings.. It used to be the most populated of all the cities with a population running more then one and a half billion occupants. But an event had happened there when the Frightners had attacked it. It was supposedly an attack that had happened because they were bored. Some think that the corporations had something to do with it. But nobody knows exactly the reason for it.

"Impressive." Kristi decided to mention. Right now the Earth was far from Mars and the Stations, but Kristi had a feeling that Ryan's mission had something to do with either the stations, the moon, or Mars. But ever since the last scuffle between Zio Matrix and Mirage, she had a big feeling that it was Mars.

"The mission…." Ryan had started as he took a quick sip of his drink. He relished the flavor for only a moment and restarted, "The mission will take place on Mars."

'How did I know?' Kristi thought to herself. She turned to Alex who was back to his original problem of trying to figure out how to drink his drink. Then she noticed that Azura, who had been watching and giggling this entire time, had gotten up and walked over to help Alex with his problem. She took a pair of scissors that was left on the floor and cut the rope and tape that was binding him. All the while, she was mumbling something in her ear and he was grinning a little too hard.

For some reason, Kristi felt anger and resentment at Azura, either for messing with her client or because of jealousy. Hmmm, jealousy. Nah, it was because he was her client and he was her responsibility. That and she didn't need an incompetent client that was being seduced by some two-cent whore.

"Kristi?"

Kristi snapped her head toward Ryan and then glared at him, watching him grin in amusement.

"Interesting." He merely stated.

Kristi then glared twice as hard at him and snarled, "Ever see a woman rip off a guy's arms and beat him down with them?"

Ryan countered, "Ever see a man empty a twelve round clip using just his toes?"

That one was definitely something odd and Kristi decided to just get on with the briefing, hopefully, Alex, for his own good, was listening at least a little bit.

"Continue please." Kristi asked kindly.

Ryan grinned a little harder and then went on, "The mission consists of a simple insertion and destroy mission. Alex's main objective will be a massive reactor that rests inside of a somewhat large base."

"A Zio Matrix base?" Kristi put on the table.

Ryan decided to snag the bait and nodded, "Yes, a Zio Matrix base." He then ordered his new toy, "Zoom in northern hemisphere, Mars. Target Area 40 by 35 by 106."

Mars suddenly got a lot larger and it pretty much filled the room and then flattened out showing them a very detailed Zio Matrix Bunker that most likely housed the base underground. The top though was armed like a bitch and would be just as hard to get through. The Bunker itself looked like a rectangular fortress that had on each corner, a massive Linear Cannon. Then on the tops of the walls, about five on each, if Kristi's scales were correct, hundred foot wall, were very large Missile Racks. If her memory served her correctly, they were the Zio Matrix made, Mark Eleven Apollo Archer Missile Systems. Each weapons system held four racks, each rack holding about a hundred Apollo Class missiles. The very same missiles that were based off of the design of the Mirage Meteor Cruise missile which just so happened to be the missile that was sent after that one lone Raven not too long ago. Anyways, each rack had four hundred missiles and there were five on each wall. Four walls…..meant about eight thousand missiles! What type of base requires eight thousand missiles and four Massive MT grade Linear Cannons to defend it!

"If you haven't noticed by the defense system of this base, it is pretty much impenetrable. Because not only what you see here is a threat, but also Zio Matrix has already taken the liberty of making it's own army, buying most of their five hundred AI controlled MTs from MT Empire. Reports from within say that they are soon sending in another hundred in by the end of the week. Not only that, but they are also sending in several Kisaragi made AI ACs. Roughly about four of them."

Kristi, as much as she wanted to just jump up and scream at him for even bothering to ask her about this mission, knew from past experience that they had trick up their sleeve. Better have because it would take an army of Ravens to take down that base. But this just begs a question. What could they possibly have inside this base that would require this much firepower?

"Of course as much defense as their little base has, even the largest giants can stumble." Ryan started to walk around the illusionary base and explained. "We have hired another Raven. His orders are to head to another base nearby that we have found evidence as to being of relative importance to Zio Matrix. He will attack their facility with everything he has including a squad of Class S MTs that we have procured from MT Empire."

"Interesting how the business worlds revolves, isn't it?" Kristi scoffed at the loyalties of the Corporations. On the inside she was cringing at the dreaded thought of the Class S MTs. They were almost to the level of an AC carrying the firpower and armor level of one. The only thing that separated the two was that the Class S, known widely as Biggy, was manufactured only by MT Empires and there design came preset.

Ryan smiled and said, "Isn't it interesting?"

Kristi just glared at him.

Ryan continued while walking back to his desk, "Once that base falls under attack, we think that Zio Matrix will pull the reserves from this base labeled as Zio-563-43, thinking that this base will not be engaged, and send them to the other base. We estimate that it will be roughly about half of the MTs and all four AI ACs. That's almost forty percent of their firepower"

Kristi thought about this for a moment and realized that Alex's normal style of combat, go in and raise hell, would not work. He would need some serious stealth tech to first get through the main defense system and then need another miracle to get through the checkpoints and into the actual base. And what about the Reactor? How would he get about destroying that? Will they provide a timed charge? Or will they play it by hand and hope that he can find his way out in time? This was too risky, way too many variables, way too many problems, way too many things to go wrong. She didn't like it. But the ultimate decision would be Alex's though. She was there to confirm and acknowledge, not make the actual decision. She could force him to think otherwise, but he might do it anyways.

Kristi turned to Alex who most likely hadn't heard anything because he was too busy giggling and having a golly-good time with the seductive Azura. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea intentionally getting him killed.

"I assure you Kristi," Ryan said snatching her attention from Alex and his newfound friend, "your Raven will be paid handsomely for this. If he succeeds, then Mirage will finally be able to get a solid foothold onto Mars. Since whatever Zio Matrix has here is obviously very profitable, they will be hit where it hurts the most and a power vacuum will ensue. Once the vacuum is in place, Mirage will move in and claim some territory in the name of business. The other thing that is stopping us is Zio Matrix; soon, they will not be a threat."

Kristi thought about this even harder at the moment. This was the part of the job that she couldn't stand. The morality of the missions. They contained none whatsoever. Instead it was the biggest dog eats the little dog and then takes his turf. In this case, it was Mirage trying to get Zio Matrix to fall to it's knees so they can come in and claim some of the rich materials that Mars is abundant with.

Even though the Corporations themselves are different in terms of power, Zio Matrix has always had the advantage by being the more benign of the two corporations, willing to talk it out instead of Mirage's more "You submit or die" attitude. Because of that, the people of Mars favor Zio Matrix. Also Zio matrix does a lot for the communities because they realize that having the people backing them gives them a lot of ground in case of such a move from Mirage or perhaps Crest.

Unfortunately, since Zio Matrix is the largest of the Corporations on Mars, they have made a lot of enemies. Bicentennial Enterprises have always argued that Zio Matrix hogs all of the resources while MT Empire just sells its soul to the highest bidder. Even though the Raven Nests have no problems as long as they have jobs open for them.

So in this little corporate war, Zio Matrix is pretty much alone, even if they are very strong. Stronger then both Crest and Chrome, but not as well equipped or experienced as Mirage unfortunately. Hopefully, this mission won't affect Mars too much.

Kristi turned back to Alex and finding herself disgusted from the fact that Azura was now sitting in his lap nibbling on his ear and he was just drooling all over himself, she decided to interrupt him and yell out his name, "Alex!"

Alex, through his third glass of wine and trying to aim for the bottle that sat two inches away from him snapped his head back, with Azura on his lap glaring at Kristi for bothering them, asked, "Yo? What up?"

Kristi hoped that this answer would come out better then she though it would, "Alex, did you get what he said? It sounds like a very dangerous mission. I'd advise against it."

Why did it seem like after she had said that, Azura's glare turned viper.

Alex looked at Kristi for a moment and then looked at Ryan, "I'll do it."

Why didn't that surprise her? "Alex rethink this." Kristi asked almost begging, "This mission is suicidal. The alcohol must be affecting you or something because even the most greenie stuck-up Raven would think otherwise."

Alex looked at her with a straight face, "I'm not that drunk. Besides it pays good and is a good challenge."

Kristi looked at him with a incredulous look on her face and then snapped, "This isn't a game Alex. Not even Ace or Mobius himself could do this."

Alex countered, "I'm not them. I'm Alex."

"Exactly the reason why you shouldn't do this."

"Kristi in the end, I'm the one who accepts the mission. So let me accept it."

"But!"

"Kristi!"

Alex yelling like that caught Kristi off guard. He had never raised his voice like that to her ever. Most likely in fear of her beating him down to a bloody reminisce of his former self.

Alex kindly and gently moved Azura off of him and stood up through the mars Lanscape and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I got this."

Why on Earth he placed his hand on her shoulder like he knew her for years upon years was beyond her. However why she suddenly felt so comforted by the way his boyish grin peered into her eyes and the soft touch of his warm hand rested on her shoulder trying to reassure her was beyond her just as much. But one thing was for sure, there was this air around this young man that seem to place people in a comforting trance, just laid back and the sort. Why he was like that, and why him never made sense to Kristi until much further down the road.

(Mars Orbital Station SkyEYE, A.E. 347)

"Why did I accept this mission again?"

"Probably because you were drunk?"

"No I wasn't. I would remember if I was drunk."

"Oh now I remember, it was the 'challenge.'"

"Well next time I see a challenge, you need to convince me otherwise." Alex growled while he sat impatiently in his newly modified Gunner MK II. Well, it wasn't really the MK II yet. It had some newer age parts thanks to the kindness of Mirage. That and they really wanted him to succeed. Everything was pretty much just an updated version of the older gunner this time. He had dropped his other machine gun and missile launcher for the thousand round machine gun and a small but effective missile launcher. He had also switched his extension boosters for missile extensions. Luckily he had the ability to spot a sale for a quarter mile out and found the latest in missile retaliatory missile extensions for only a faction of the price. These babies have thirty missiles and can fire six missiles per salvo. They are a little heavy but since Gunner didn't have much of anything else weighting down the core, it wouldn't affect him that much.

Well, except for the fact that the person who sold him the extensions looked a little shady. But hell, all merchants look a little shady one time or another. They just want your money in the end anyway.

Ah yes, but now back to the problem at hand. Ryan did tell him that he was going to assault a Zio Matrix Base. He also told him that it was far off in the middle of nowhere on the surface of Mars. What they didn't tell him was that he was going to do a Halo Drop right smack dab in nearby. Far enough so the base sensors won't detect him but close enough so it would only include about a couple hour run. Maybe shorter if he used his OverBoost a lot but that might allow the enemy to detect him so he was tied to running instead.

Now if Alex's memory served him correctly, and with stuff like this it unfortunately did, a Halo Drop was pretty much what Earth did to Mars a lot after the Age of Nine-Ball. Every so often Earth would send a group of Acs, particularly teams of three or more and use one of multiple Stations they had orbiting Mars. Now for the most part they were retrofitted to transport cargo to certain areas. Of course stick an Ac inside of a cargo container and launch it to the planet and you have a mobile transfer system for Acs to blow shit up.

But Alex couldn't stand it. The Internal Dampeners designed to nullify the effects of OverBoost still let some of the G's go through. A drop like this, being launched from the upper atmosphere would be a lot more then a couple G's and the Internal Dampeners wouldn't be able to stop all of it. Hell, he'd be lucky if he could knock out half the G-Force that he is going to go through.

And that wasn't really the worst of it. It was the force of impact when he hit the ground. See, cargo isn't flesh and blood, and for the most part, it is well protected with tons of insulation. An Ac on the other hand was something that you don't usually throw into one of these pods and wasn't designed to protect it as well. He would be lucky if he made it to the surface in one piece let alone make it through the net of sensors, then the base defenses, and then god only knows whatever the hell else was in that base. He had accepted a mission that was way beyond what he could take or accomplish.

And for some reason or another, that is the exact reason as to why he was so fidgety. He wanted to get this show on the road! The white side of him was coming out and he was getting excited. That and he was getting that itchy trigger finger. He really wanted to blow something up. Hopefully that base was primarily A.I. controlled. That way he would have a good time blowing up mindless robots. If the situation was that they were human piloted, then he would have to take the extra effort to not kill them. Then that would complicated things.

"You ready Alex?" Kristi called through the comm.

Alex rolled his eyes and said, "What do you think? I'm a fifty ton robot about to hit the atmosphere at about two hundred miles per hour then when I hit that oh so wonderful ground, I'm hitting that at about five times that. And that is hoping that the reverse thrusters actually work!"

"Well, then your fine, aren't you?" Kristi said sarcastically.

"Oh yeah." Alex sneered. "I'm just dandy." Alex checked up on the rest of his equipment, making sure everything was in tiptop shape. He had a new FCS so that part of the problem wasn't a bad thing anymore. Well, everything seemed okay. Now was the moment of truth.

"Well, then. Let's get this shit over with."

There was a short pause on Kristi end and then she came up on the comm. With her business voice. "Alex we have a problem."

"Damn!" Alex snapped annoyed. "Already! Shit the mission hasn't even started!"

"The other Raven is nowhere to be found. They are trying to contact him now to see if he is still doing the mission but it isn't looking good right now. They are already at his place and it's empty. That and his Ac is still in the garage. Zio Matrix may have found out about the mission and already got to him. Since he was a Elitist Raven, it would be easier to find out about him and his mission and then easier to dispose of him."

The way she had said dispose so callously frighten Alex. That wasn't exactly something he enjoyed hearing. "So now what?" Alex asked curious as how this mission was going to start.

"Well, I'm waiting for confirmation from Mirage. They should have had a back-up plan in the works."

Alex mused to himself for a moment and then after using his right side screen to punch some numbers as well as pull up some displays of the base, he suddenly had an idea. Of course it was a stupid idea, but hell, an idea's an idea.

"Yo, Kristi." Alex called out.

"Yes?" She responded somewhat busy on her end.

"Change the target location of this station to point 40 by 35 by 106, then power up the launch mechanism for an Emergency Launch."

Kristi had put two and two together way faster then Alex had thought, and for this he received the normal but vicious chewing out.

"The hell! Are you crazy! That throws you smack dab in the middle of that hornet's nest! And then use an Emergency Launch? You can't survive that! No human can!"

"It's possible. The highest this thing will go up to is fifteen G's. I already know I can take ten. I think I can take five more." Alex then started to prepare his Ac for the harsh fall. Hopefully his calculations are correct and he won't become just another stain on the base floor. A big one mind you but a stain none the less.

"Wait, what do you mean 'you know you can take ten G's?' You haven't had that kind of training. Starting Freelancer pilots are only trained for OverBoost speed and that is at most three hundred miles per hour." Kristi asked curious, suddenly reminded about what Ryan had said earlier. Something about Alex being involved in a lot more then one would think.

"Trust me. I can take it." But even Alex was unsure if he actually could take it. He did lie about what he could take. It was more like twelve G's, but that alone almost rip him in half. Fifteen was pushing it a little.

"Even still," Kristi snapped trying to spin Alex out of his sudden ridiculous plan, "The force of impact will be like hitting a concrete wall at over 20,000 thousand miles per hour. The pod can take that. The Ac and you can't. You guys will be crushed under your own weight!"

"Kristi, I did the math and it will work just launch me now or we end up losing the window for the launch. It's now or never!" Alex was getting tired of arguing. If he succeeded, he will forever remember this as the stupidest thing that he had ever done in his life. If he failed…… Well, hopefully he might look like a pretty stain.

Kristi thought about it for another moment and realized that there was only another minute for this poorly constructed plan to work. Well, Alex seemed like he was confident that it would work. But it-

"Kristi!" Alex yelled as loud as he could.

Kristi shook her head and then decided to go against her better judgment, "Give me a couple of seconds."

Soon, Alex heard a series of clangs against the pod and then something hissed and dislodged itself from the pod. Since this was going to be an Emergency launch, the sudden blaring of Klaxons wasn't exactly unexpected. It was the sudden weightlessness and drop that had caught him off guard. And he was right; this wasn't going to feel good either. Already he felt his body trying to dismember itself from the seat and then out through the back end. Alex grabbed his seat buckles and tightened them as hard as he could then while using all of his strength, he activated his Ac to combat mode, knowing he would need it ready the moment it hit the base.

Then he activated the outside cameras. He had already past the upper atmosphere and could see the base. This trip would be over in only a couple more seconds and already he felt like he wouldn't make the journey itself. This was way worst from the last time he did a drop like this. It felt like his skin was peeling off, and all of his organs were in his head. His ears heard nothing but the roar from the outside.

He couldn't even hear himself scream out in the top of his lungs, "This was stupid!"

No one had seen it coming. Reports from headquarters indicated that the Raven that was sent to attack the base had already been taken care of. So there wasn't anything to worry about. They had hired her for nothing, fearing an enemy that couldn't even get off his feet to fight let alone assault a base with Mts provided by the callous MT Empire.

That would mean that she would get paid for just guard duty. Easy money for an easy job, right? Well then why the hell did she hear a sonic boom that nearly flattened the base and then barely have time to see something that look like a DropPod come in and rip through the bunker and finally stop about halfway through the base?

After being dazed, she hit the comms and started screaming out to the supervisor asking what the hell was going on. He had said that the pod that she had just seen had stopped at about level 23, halfway through the base and had gotten stuck on the roof of one of the lower Ac garages. Where they stored the un-activated AI Acs. And that after they had sent a team of Mts in to check things out, the pod had opened and an Ac had boosted out and wiped out the team. At the moment they were trying to activate the Acs without him knowing and before he targeted them.

Sophia Galarza, Raven Name 'Last Ark' of the Knighthood Ravens, had already gotten into her Ac labeled as Sapphire Knight. A middleweight design with an Overboost core and armed with a Moonlight Blade, a Karasawa rifle and ECM makers, she was ready to fight this enemy and destroy him.

All right then, don't know how well this will come out for you guys. Hopefully it will go good. Maybe you guys might recognize Sophia. If you don't just skim over the first chap and you'll see. And I know I didn't go into detail about what Sophia looks like if that is problem. There was no point since she is in the Ac. And detail on the Ac will be provided next chapter. So will details as to how Alex survived that fall. It's not impossible. It's just very unlikely. And sorry for taking so long as well. School and video games got in the way of my writing so I got a little behind. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter out by the end of next week. Read and Review please!