Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Armored Core series. That belongs to Agetec and From Software. I only own the characters: Kaze, Chief, Pyromaniac, Tsubasa, Bug, Rebel and Hyper. Thank you.

In TALON's Grasp

by: T.R. Fanatic

AN: I'm shifting gears. From here on out (or when I change my mind), it's now a third person's perspective.

Chapter 3: Moving In

Another sun-less morning greeted the underground warehouse-like base of TALON (an acronym for The Aggressive Line Of Newcomers).

"Mornin', Chief..." the redheaded pilot muttered to the burly gray-haired veteran pilot, working on his AC: a heavyweight caterpillar model with grenade launchers for arms and a dual missile launcher carried on its back.

"...Second to the last one up, Pyromaniac." Chief grunted back. "A new record..."

"Is the new pilot here, yet?"

"He got here last night."

"Really?"

"Just don't wake him, 'kay? He got into an ambush by Murakumo..."

"Is he alright?"

"...He is fine, Pyro..." muttered a third voice. The third pilot, an enigmatic sort, with long naturally white hair and cold blue eyes, sat at the meeting table reading a copy of Battle Royale ...a rare find in this day and age. "You need not worry..."

"Tsubasa?" Chief asked. "Didn't even hear ya come in!"

"...If you want to see the new pilot's prowess," he said without looking away from the book. "Bug managed to extract the black box from the AC and now he and Rebel are watching the two battles. ...I might as well add that I am impressed."

Chief and Pyromaniac gasped at two things: first, Tsubasa talking for this long within an hour, and second, the fact that Tsubasa was impressed at a newcomer's piloting abilities.

"Be right back!" The stunned pilots said as they rushed over to the monitor and watched the replay of the newcomer's battles.

"It's almost supernatural, I tell ya!" the young pilot with the round framed glasses known as Bug, noted as he watched the second battle begin.

"The Nest said that he got forty hours of trainin' in." one of the two female pilots on the team, Rebel, noted. "But that's gotta be a lie! He threw his own rifle at the enemy and knocked two fighter jets from the sky. That's something only ace pilots could do!"

Everyone took their eyes off the monitor and looked at Tsubasa, still reading his book.

"I told you he was good..." he noted as he turned the page.

The pilots quickly looked back at the monitor.

"His last move's really strange..." Pyromaniac noted. "Driving his fist into an MT that could surely punch him back and send him flying. That's suicide!"

"No, that was survival." Chief corrected. "He saw something that we couldn't see."

"A hidden weapon?" Bug asked.

"No, it was something only his mind's eye could see."

Tsubasa glared in shock at Chief, almost dropping his book.

The other pilots fell into a confused silence, just as the new pilot entered the meeting room/garage. He fell into embarrassment over the silence.

"Did I get up too late?" the blushing Kaze asked, rubbing his head. "I-I'm sorry if I did. It won't happen again."

The pilots looked over at Kaze and blinked once in chorus.

"Um..." the nervous Kaze stuttered.

"You're Kaze, right?" Bug asked.

"Yeah... Why do you ask?"

The pilots quickly turned and looked back at the monitor and turned back to look at Kaze.

"I wanna give 'em the tour around!" Pyromaniac cheered, raising his hand. "Me! Me! Me-"

"The hell you will!" Rebel belted. "You gave a tour to a newcomer the last time! And that was when Hyper moved in!"

"Now wait... Maybe we should settle this over in a battle..." Bug suggested.

"Fine with me!" the hotheaded pilot said, rolling up his black sleeves and putting his fists out in front of him.

"An AC battle." the nerdy pilot corrected.

"Aww..." Pyromaniac whimpered, dropping his fists. "But, my AC's being repaired on!"

"Then it'll have to wait. In the meantime, I'll take Kaze on the tour."

Rebel gave Bug a death-glare. "Trying to be sneaky, are ya?"

"W-what makes you say that?" the stunned pilot asked. "I-I wouldn't do such a thing, really!"

"Uh, where did Chief and the new kid run off to?" a confused Pyromaniac asked, looking the space where Kaze and Chief once stood.

"Chief went to give Kaze a tour around while you three were fighting..." Tsubasa informed while staring at the book. "You should really mind your manners when company arrives."

"And you do?" Pyromaniac shot back.

Tsubasa looked away from the book and glared at Pyromaniac with his midnight blue eyes.

"One death-glare, and it's only morning." the redhead pilot said, hiding behind the short Bug. "Is it going to be one of those days?"

"...One more thing." the monotoned pilot said, looking back into his book. "Hyper is coming back..."

"Really?" Rebel asked. "When?"

No sooner was her question answered when a "THUD!" came from outside of the garage.

"I'm home, everyone!" the cheerful voice of the second female pilot, Hyper, sang from the white AC.

Tsubasa turned the page from his book. "...Right now."

To be continued...