Chp. 6

For some reason or another, Alex had survived the drop. It was just as he had planned too. The base was hastily constructed to protect whatever was in here, which meant that it had a lot of structural deficiencies. The very center of the base wasn't built as well as the rest of the base so Alex had projected, more like guessed, that it would collapse easily under the force of impact. Hoping that this proved true for the rest of the base, he pretty much used half of the installation as a giant metallic cushion. Of course it didn't come without cost. His armor suffered dearly losing nearly half of it and he was still crying over the loss of his missile extensions that he had just gotten.

Of course, he couldn't cry for long. They had already sent in a small squad of five A.I. Mts. Alex suddenly grinned at the realization of the fact that they were un-piloted. This would allow him to unleash all of his effort of them. It was one of the many flaws that his character had been blessed with.

But first he would have to find his way out of the drop-pod he had just used. Activating his Elf2, he sliced through the pod armor bulkhead and then boosted straight into it. It dislodged after some convincing and fell to the ground opening the door to the five Mts. Alex immediately charged them and with his famous battle cry, well famous to him, and he charged the slow reacting Mts and pretty much ran through them with a barrage of machine gunfire and energy blades.

After they were taken care of, Alex decided that in his best interest to see exactly where he was. Pulling up the map on his main screen, it pinpointed him to be approximately two kilometers from his objective. For an Ac, that was a stroll through the park. But the fact that this base is this large made Alex wonder exactly what could they have hidden in here.

Still, he had a mission to complete and complete he shall. Activating his OB, he flew out of the room not realizing that he had just left three fully armed A.I. Acs completely unharmed.

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"I've found the target. I'm about four hundred feet from him, three floors up." Last Ark reported to the base commander as her Ac, Sapphire Knight skimmed its way nimbly through the corridors.

"His target is most likely that recent package that was sent in from the polar division. Damn." The commander, aged and now weary from the recent job of turning havoc into order, thought for a moment.

"Unlikely." Stated Last Ark through her headsets microphone.

The Base Commander looked up at her, wondering what she looked like from under that Reflective helmet that she almost always wore, and asked, "What do you mean?"

The Raven flicked some switches and grunted as the Ac squealed under it own weight obviously doing a difficult maneuver.

"He is most likely heading for the main reactor to find a quick solution to this problem. Besides, it is highly unlikely that whoever sent this Raven knew that quickly about that particular item."

The Base Commander mused to himself and then really started to get worried, "If that's the case then this whole base could be in trouble." He though hard, bunching together his face in serious thought and then yelled out to the subordinates behind him, "Activate the A.I. Acs and send them after that Raven! Also send all of our Class A Mts through the back elevator shaft to intercept him at the bay leading to the Reactor Room!"

"You might want to also evacuate all non necessary personnel as well." The Raven advised.

The Commander looked at the floor for only a second and then ordered for the whole base to evacuate just as she had said. Then looking up at her, he asked more gently then any other person had spoke to her during her duration here, "Please, don't let it come to this base going up in smoke. There are too many people here to die like that."

Last Ark was silent as she gazed through her helmet into the man's eyes trying to see if he actually meant it. Once she found her answer she stated grimly, "I can't promise anything. It all depends on how strong this enemy's Raven is."

He turned white with fear while trying to retain his composure.

Last Ark noticed this and then reassured, "Rest assured commander, I am a Raven of the Knighthood, I am bound by honor to try my hardest. Even if that means my own death."

The Commander nodded and smiled, "I'll try to give you as much support as possible." Then he clicked off to let the Raven concentrate on the mission ahead.

Last Ark sighed solemnly and then commented to no one in particular, "Hell, any man crazy enough to pull a stunt like that and then actually pull it off might need something bigger to take him down." Her worst fear was that it was a heavily armored Tank. Her Sapphire was a blader through and through. A Tank's weapons would shred her to pieces in a closed-in room that might carry severe restrictions. Hopefully she could catch him before he reached the Reactor room. Then she would have a chance. Hopefully.

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Alex yelled out as he charged forward rushing the tenth group of Mts that has run into him. This was getting ridiculous. How they had so many Mts inside the base beyond Alex. Of course at the moment he wasn't worried about that. He was worried about trying to stay alive while trying to conserve his ammo reserves. His Ac was specifically equipped with a small backpack that was filled with ammo that rested on his leg joints. There were four in total, two for his machine gun, one for his missiles, and the last one for his grenade launcher. Each pack would only supply him with ½ the full ammo that the actually weapon carried. Hopefully it would be enough.

Gunner rammed the first Mt while slicing through it then unleashed a flurry of bullets on the other four. Three were destroyed while the last one attempted to hop towards him. Alex grinned as he jumped up into the air and landed on top of the Ac with no penalty to his armor. Then he boosted forward through the tunnel-like corridors and suddenly found himself in a large room filled to the brim with boxes of mystery items. He didn't know what they could possibly be but he didn't care. He lifted his machine gun to mow them down with no mercy; since they couldn't fight back he would end up getting a kick out of it. Mindless destruction, go figure, it was one of his darkest desires.

And just as he was about to light the crates up, a beam shot past the head of his Ac, shearing steel and armor with immense heat. The beam continued on it's course unhampered by the close call and ignited against the boxes with torrent of power that shook the room Alex was in. A firestorm raged, reached it's peak and then subsided into smoke and burning wood and steel.

Alex turned his Ac back and started tripping as he saw three other Acs armed to the teeth looking at him. All three were middle-heavy weights, armed with at least one cannon, a missile launcher of their choosing and then an assortment of dual handheld weapons. One with dual machine guns, another with dual shotguns, and the third with dual rifles. The middle one flipped back the beam cannon that it had just tried to use on Alex and then boosted forward.

Alex checked his sensors as he nodded to himself and said aloud to no one in general, "Human Plus?"

His sensors read no one piloting the Ac, any of them actually.

"So then, AI Acs?" Alex laughed. "Oh yeah, this will be easy and a half!"

Alex dashed back as the first Ac, armed with the twin shotguns, took a salvo at him. Alex dodged it nimbly only taking pecks of damage from the shotguns wide range. Then attempting to dash back forward with his Halberd, he charged and tried to swipe the Ac but a warning on his main board, and inside his head, screamed at him to dodge the incoming missile salvo that attempted to take his life. Alex dodged to the right then hard back to the right as the missiles harmlessly past him into the rubble of broken crates only to explode against the wall and make a gaping hole in it.

Alex had noticed through that group of missiles that there were heavy missiles and micro missiles in there. These guys are packing some serious firepower, Alex thought to himself. He knew he had to end this quickly. He started his charge again against the Shotgun Ac, but the AI Ac made a tactical retreat weaving through the steady stream of machine gun fire that Alex tried to hit him with. Suddenly another Ac came from the Shotgun Ac's right and focused both it's machine guns and missiles on him. Alex cursed as he was forced to move back again but nearly jumped out of his Ac as he saw the third Ac already behind him trying to outflank him with it's grenade launcher.

Alex screamed as he jumped up while moving backwards and dodged the incoming grenade that would have most likely spelled instant doom had it hit him like that. However he couldn't dodge the Machine Gun Ac and the Shotgun Ac when they both came in sliding across the ground, rotating around each other, taking potshots at him. Expertly maneuvering his Ac, Alex dodged some of it, but it quickly taken a nasty toll on his armor and he soon realized that he was running out of room to fight in. The Rifle Ac had decided to constantly stay behind him while firing Grenades and missiles as the other two Acs kept his attention on them with their main weapons bearing down on him.

Alex soon realized that he was getting a little too cocky and thought about making a strategic retreat. He remembered the earlier missile salvo and looked around finding the gaping hole in the wall that led to god only knew where, but he didn't have much of a choice. Dropping from midair he waited till he had gathered enough energy and hit the OverBoost just as he hit the ground. Gunner immediately dusted off in the direction opposite to the AI Acs. For a moment the Acs froze but they quickly adapted to the sudden action and made quick haste.

Alex stopped his OB as he reached the end of the hallway and then turned left running down that way trying to conserve his energy for at least a moment. He already knew that this was turning out bad. His armor had taken a beating with multiple sirens going off due to the damage. He also had suffered damage to his back beam cannon so he had no choice but to drop it. As it fell clattering to the floor, Alex thought to himself that he might not have any weapons left by the end of this mission. His Elf2 might not even make it seeing as how it took a full shot up close from one of the enemy shotguns. It didn't seem like ti was working but the computer said it did.

Of course he activated it and it nearly exploded taking his whole arm with him. He dropped the flaming Elf2 and then activated his only Hanger part, his secondary blade, the Elf. It wasn't powerful, Alex knew this, but it was enough. Suddenly, his radar glowed with three red dots heading his way fast as hell.

His energy gauge was completely filled as he dashed off trying to stay ahead of the Al Acs while still getting to his mission objective. Hopefully he would make it out alive.

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Waiting was one part of the job that Sophia couldn't stand. Even if she wasn't alone and surrounded by three full squads of Class A Mts. This particular model of Mt was amongst the best that MT Empire had to offer. They were very slow but armed and armored to the level of an Ac. They carried bazookas on top their right shoulder, a missile launcher on their left shoulder, and a massive shield in their adjoining hand.

Right now, all Sophia could picture was a GOMAP model Ac just rushing in and laying waste to every thing in sight. Sure they might be able to do damage to the damned thing but the race would be sorely in its favor. Even in a room as large as this one.

The room adjacent to the Reactor room, which in comparison was much smaller, was where they carried massive shipments of parts and the sort for constant Ac maintenance. This room was designed with Mts in mind going in and out of the Reactor room doing the necessary repairs or maintenance as needed. It was not designed however for the idea of having a full feldged Ac battle go off inside this room. In fact far from it.

But! It would be her duty to defend this base. Two reasons for that really. For one it was her duty as a Raven of the Knighthood of the Ravens to defend this base due to the fact that she accepted the contract and she was obliged to her duty.

And this objective was two-fold now. Just before she had responded to the request of this mission she had received the same request from someone other then a corporation to do the same thing. Of course, it was a little more personal. The same man, known as Marcus Barrington, Lone Wolf, had asked her as a favor to accept this mission. At first she didn't even want to bother with it but since she owed Marcus one for saving her little brother from the wrath of the Frighteners, she didn't have much of a choice. It was that or her honor and that she held very dear to herself.

As to why he wanted this base to make it was beyond her, she still accepted it and now faced a horrid dilemma. Her best bet was to have the three A.I. Acs put a dent in her enemies armor then use the Mts as a leverage against him or her. Since they were un-piloted it wouldn't matter that much.

"Still," She spoke quietly as she got a message that a single unit was making its way done the corridor leading to her location at a moderately slow pace only confirming her suspicions, "It might not matter that much."

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"Son of a cocking-sucking bitch!" Alex screamed as he twisted his Ac around to face the Rifle Ac that had yet again found it, sway behind him. He fired a barrage of machine gunfire and then fired a small stream of missiles.

The AI Ac took the full brunt of it losing both its rifles and it's arms. It still had it's own missiles and a grenade launcher and computed that using those would better at the moment.

It fired both in unison and nailed Gunners right shoulder for some almost arm-ripping damage. And unfortunately for Alex, he was moving at max speed as he got hit and found him self-spinning around nearly tearing his Acs ankle joints clean off. He finally regained control just as he hit a massive sized door leading to only god knows where.

The three AI Ac's stopped just out of Alex's firing range and started to formulate plans through a network linking the three of them. For a moment nothing came up as they analyzed critical data from the three encounters they had with their target. But in each one they soon found that their target's skill was quickly growing at a pace that was nearly higher then what the CPUs of the AI Acs could handle themselves. They calculated that the more they fought, much contrary to their own design, the more Alex got angry, and the more angry their target became, the stronger and faster he fought.

There was also something else that disturbed the Al Acs if they could even be disturbed. More like befuddled. The level that their Target, this Alexander Xavior Torrin, fought at was at a level that should be far more then what the Ac designated as Gunner should be able to handle.

Alex waited impatiently as the three machines of annoyance, as he soon started to call them, stood their ground far away from him. It was definitely a much-needed break considering that he had been getting heated throughout the battles. During their second encounter through the hallways, they had repeatedly pinned him in places he didn't want to fight in. Sure he had dished out some damage to them but it wasn't as much as they had done to him. He was at barely yellow level, around three thousand Ap, by the time he had entered this oddly cone shaped room. All of his Ammo reserves were shot to hell with his Grenade Launcher biting it also. And the last blow had completely shredded his armor to the red level at nearly less then two thousand.

With blood dripping down his face from the right side panel shorting out and sending shrapnel at him, sweat pouring out of every pore in his body, and heat constantly rising in the cockpit only making it all the more uncomfortable. He realized that he needed to end this now.

So he decided to stop bullshitting around and get serious. He closed his eyes for a moment and then said the words, "And then the Raven cried Nevermor." It wasn't anything special. For him it was the only good thing that he remembered from his somewhat painful past. In his past he had done a lot of things, most of them really really stupid. But the one thing that he cherished beyond anything were the memories of his deceased sister. She had been the only thing that he had truly treasured and with her death, he had nearly lost it.

However, when he had ever came close to getting really angry, a level of anger that he had only been in once before and he had nearly paid for it, he always said the one thing that his sister loved to say.

And then the Raven Cried Nevermore,

She always said with a smile that always reminded him of what he lived for and yearned to become a pilot for. It had always filled him with such a surge of energy and tingling for real Ac combat.

Grinning slightly, he clutched the controls to his Ac Gunner and looked forward at the only working screen in view. With the left and right out of commission he would have to use all of his senses. And with all three Acs in his view he decided to end this here and now starting first. He dashed forward firing as many missiles as he could. One after another they came out each one finding a target to claim .

The three AI Acs reacted as fast as any supercomputer could react and nimbly dodged the missiles with no problem. But even as fast as they could compute, Alex had hit the OB on his Ac and disappeared to the left from their view.

As they dodged the last of the missiles, he continued forward and then twisted against the straining from his Acs joints, and struck the Rifle Ac from the side with a full force stab from his Elf. The AI Ac didn't even see it coming. The Blade sliced through the core's armor with no problem and sputtered as the generator inside died cutting off power to the computer.

The other two AI Acs saw this and charged Alex with an emotion less fury. Alex grinned again and ripped his blade out from the dead Rifle Ac and charged the other two.

They resumed their earlier tactic of rotating around each other, alternating their fire. But Alex weaved his way through the incoming fire and found a gap in their firing sequence. The empty time between when Shotgun Ac came up to fire was longer then the Machine Gun Ac. He saw that and charged through with no remorse and he past the Shotgun Ac and sliced through the Machine Gun Ac's midsection joint. Then he spun around hard hearing the Ac groaned against the endeavor, protesting loudly at their pilot. Once he spun around he flipped up his machine gun and fired at the Ac with every round left.

Drilling the Ac in the back where it wasn't as heavily armored, it tore quickly through it's Titanium S shell and started shredding everything that the poor Ac needed to continue fighting.

The Ac first fell to it's knees then slowly tumbled forward hitting the ground with an echoing thud.

Alex sighed as the feeling he had from earlier dissipated. It had always felt like he was filled with a glowing sensation. Of course no one had ever mentioned anything. But right now he felt like shit. He was exhausted and hot as hell considering the temp in the cockpit spiked up to ninety plus degrees.

So desperately needing air that wasn't filled with his own stench, he hit the release button for the cockpit and watched relieved as the blastshield to his little furnace opened sucking the hot air out and throwing in the coolest little breeze he had ever felt. He nearly pissed his pants as he unstuck himself from the trap he was just in and walked out to the edge of the flipped down blast shield, feeling the cold air enveloping him and cleansing his body of that abhorrent heat from earlier. There he stood looking over the path of destruction he just laid out. He couldn't help but have mixed feelings about it.

For one he was a man dedicated to enhancing himself to become better through tests of endurance and skill. Even for just AI Acs, it had been a while since he had a battle that rigorous in nature. Even the battle with Ace didn't compare.

But he often questioned himself, wondering if he still reserved the right to fight with such a powerful weapon of mass destruction. This little scene was just a testament to what he could do with an Ac. And even if he didn't kill anyone or hurt anyone in this battle, it showed that he had the same power that every Raven for some reason or another took for granted. He didn't like it. But then again, he loved the feeling of battle. He couldn't get enough of it. He loved fighting human opponents also because it had always given him the greatest and best challenges he could ever hope for. With this type of mindset, the two had always conflicted but he was always able to retain his sanity and never take his power for granted.

To do so would only repeat the horrors of his past that were etched into his mind.

But now there was something else on his mind. Something that he really couldn't explain. He did know that what ever it was that was clawing at the back of his mind started to the moment he had entered this room. Now looking throughout the room, there was nothing here save for a two adjacent pillars and a massive sized gate on the other end.

The moment Alex looked at the door, a wrenching feeling in his stomach took over and he knew for a fact that even though every sensor and warning in his body was screaming "don't think about it!", he wouldn't be able to help himself. He gazed at the door for a moment longer, curious to know exactly what was on the other side and then decided to chance it.

He jumped back in Gunner's control center and restarted the machine up again. He could hear the whine of the Ac protesting, so desiring a quick repair job but Alex ignored it and continued on.

For one thing the closer he got to the unopened gate that beckoned him away, he quickly realized that he really needed to stop his course of action. His body was tingling danger and he couldn't help but get this sense of foreboding danger if he opened this gateway to the unknown. As if he knew for a fact that something was here that would grab him even before he opened the door and just tear him in two. It didn't happen of course and even against the screaming wishes of his entire body, Alex mindlessly hacked in to the gate panel and watched with awe, fright, and suspense as the whole room shook with the rumbling and creaking of gears forced the wall of a door to open ever so slowly.

Alex almost couldn't stand it as the wall took its precious time to open but when it did, he could see nothing but darkness. Whatever room this door led to, it was offly dark.

Suddenly Gunner's external lights activated trying to force some light into this vacuum of electrons and photons. He still couldn't see hardly anything. Moving Gunner in slowly but surely, he took only a couple of steps before something started to appear in front of him. At first he couldn't tell what it was. Continuing his pursuit forward, he guided Gunner through what seemed like a jungle of cables and equipment hanging down.

As wires and cords slither off of Gunner mangled armor harmlessly, Alex, armed with his usual over active imagination, was seeing things that weren't even there. At first, it looked like nothing but then It looked like something was moving in the shadows. For a moment Alex thought about shooting it, but then realized that he had used up all of his machine gun ammo and he really didn't feel like going after whatever was supposedly moving with only a blade. So instead he tried to imagine it away until his Ac suddenly hit something in front of him.

Startled beyond anything, Alex moved back a couple of steps before stopping and trying to take in what had just happened. Other then the fact that he had hit something, he had no clue as to what had happened. He focused his attention to the obviously present object in front of him. At first there was nothing there. Then a she peered harder, he could make out distinct shapes. It was oval in shape, with the lower section jutting out a bit. In the middle there was something that curved out and extended only as far as the lower section. Slightly above the middle there were two gaping hole and at the top there were these rods sticking out.

Alex maneuvered his Ac closer even though no it felt like the Ac it self was trying to stay away and made out more of the mysterious shape in front of him. Soon, it dawned on him what exactly the shape was. And it had made Alex nearly shit in his pants. Slowly moving the Ac back as he felt fear trying to seize him of his control, Gunner stepped on a switch lying on the floor crushing it but sending one last signal to the massive overhead lights above.

As the luminescent lights exploded from up above, Alex cringed at the pain sent through his eyes to his brain. It wasn't much it just startled him. But what startled him even more was the object that so delectably decided to reveal itself to him at that moment.

Reeling back in putrid fear, Alex recognized it at a moment's notice. It was one of the monstrosities known as the "Massive Mts."