Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Armored Core series. That belongs to Agetec and From Software. I only own the original characters. Thank you.
In TALON's Grasp
by: T.R. Fanatic
Chapter 6: Corporations
"And all of that you say is true?" asked the president of the corporation known as Murakumo Millennium as looked of out the massive window in his office and to the sun setting off in the distance.
"...Yes, sir..." Yamagata, a subordinate of Murakumo (who, yesterday, acted as a spy and drove the cargo truck that Kaze rode upon), muttered, glaring at the president's back. "I had witnessed this with my own eyes."
"You're absolutely certain that an entry-level AC pilot managed to take out three aerial units and a MT with an entry-test AC?"
"That's right. What are your orders for dealing with this pilot?"
The president scanned his eyes at the city below, a city that he created. "We'll do nothing, for now. Of all the pilots that I've witnessed in the past years, that boy's actions was nothing more than a fluke! It'll never happen again!"
"I have a bad feeling about this one, sir." Yamagata objected. "What if his piloting abilities, like the one I saw, wasn't really a fluke?"
The president turned and looked at Yamagata with his gray-eyed stare. "If that is the case, I will order you to send Sora out to sanction him."
"You want to send out my own son?" an appalled Yamagata asked.
The president looked back to the view of the above-ground world, the sky tinted a dark blue and the stars, one by one, coming into view. "He has proven himself to be quite a capable pilot. He is ten times stronger than that pilot that trained for a measly forty hours!" He rose an open hand out to his side and then quickly closed it. "He'd crush that weakling in a matter of seconds! Haha! I'd pay to see that!"
"B-but... My s-son..." Yamagata interjected with a trembling lip.
"No buts! When the matter appears to be critical, he will be sent out. For once, he'll go out on real missions and leave no opposing AC alive!"
Yamagata was left with nothing else to say.
"In the meantime, I want you to begin Project Mobius as soon as possible," the president ordered. "do I make myself clear, Yamagata?"
"...Yes, sir." Yamagata muttered with a bow before he left the president's office.
Standing out in the hallway, the subordinate pulled a picture from his pant's pocket. A picture of a younger version of himself and his only son, four years old at the time, riding piggy-back. Smiling as though they were oblivious to the world around them.
"...Sora..." he blubbered as the tears began to flow. "...where have you gone to?"
"I am right here, Father..." an eerie voice said from behind.
Yamagata didn't want to look, he refused... but he had no other choice. His eyes took notice of the gray uniform-clad young man standing before him with a head of short jet black hair and cold sapphire-colored eyes staring back at him. "Y-you're not my son!" he belted.
"Of course I am, Father..." the teenager corrected. "I am Sora Yamagata. My father is Ryu Yamagata: one of the five executives of Murakumo Millennium. My mother-"
"That's enough! ...Please, snap outta of it..." Ryu got to his hands and knees, staring at the floor. "You were never like this... I wanted you live a normal life, not to become a test subject to a rich and greedy bastard!"
"Does that mean you will not begin Project Mobius?" Sora asked. "Do not worry, Father. I will be flexible with your actions as you see fit."
Ryu looked up at his son in surprise. He stood up, balancing on his shaky feet and knees, and embraced his son. As usual, as it had been for five years, Sora did not hug back.
"I'd never start that project!" Ryu replied, the tears still flowing. "I do not want you to go out in battle and have you die before me..."
"Father..." Sora uttered as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a black object. "You need not worry, Father, for you have disobeyed the orders of the president of Murakumo Millennium..."
Ryu opened his eyes, wide. He had heard that phrase being recited by Sora many times before... then had to bear witness at what happened afterward. It could only mean one thing...
Sora pointed the black object at his father's chest, right below the ribs... and cocked the hammer.
"Sora..." Ryu whimpered. Fear kept him from freeing his hands. "...Don't do this, please! ...I beg of you!"
And for once in five years, his son smiled. "You do not need to worry, Father. I will not die before you..."
"Sora..." Ryu said, almost sensing the trigger being pulled. He embraced his son in a tighter hug, hoping, somehow, it would change his mind at the last second. "Sora-!"
The sound of a gunshot muffled Ryu's last word to his son. His bear-hug hold relaxed all too quickly.
The assailant's smile faded back to a cold and emotionless smirk as Ryu slowly slumped to the floor with a fatal bullet wound... and a picture with a bullet hole, right through the two faces.
"Commence Project Mobius..." Sora muttered. "The first step is to construct an AC that can easily sanction those that oppose Murakumo..."
--...--...--...--...--
The three walked down the hall: the president of Chrome, his executive and a prison guard who was ordered to escort the two to a certain cell...
Each held their silence, listening to the mind-numbing chorus of the deranged and angry prisoners talking, calling and swearing to the visitors.
The executive bravely dared to shift his eyes to one of the prisoners reaching out through the bars...
"Pay them no mind, Sanjuro." the president, walking in front of the executive, sternly spoke. "All they want is attention, and they sought an unlawful way as a last resort."
Sanjuro looked away as he passed the prisoner and continued to stare at the back of the president's head of gray hair. "You're not going to let this rumor rest will you, sir?" he asked.
"About Murakumo's elite team of AC pilots?" the president asked back. "No, of course not. If those fools are creating such a unit, we should counter now before they even have a chance to strike!"
"The problem is we don't know how far they are in their training or how many pilots they have..."
The president chuckled. "Relax, m'boy... There's really no need to be pessimistic. Murakumo still cannot rival our military strength after the great loss they had in the Zam City Massacre. Now, they're mostly throwing the taxpayers' money around on useless, outdated and obsolete technology for medical research, rather than on advanced weaponry and armor!"
"Sir, ...um, we lost at Zam City..." Sanjuro pointed out.
"Only because they got help by Murakumo-loyal AC pilots! The bastards!"
The three made it to the end of the hall a minute later, surrounding a cell that housed a sleeping prisoner.
"Well, here's the one that you wanted to see, Mr. Taka." the prison guard said.
The prisoner quickly awoke to the sounds outside of his cell, glancing at the three silhouettes looking at him.
"...It's been a long time, Berserker." the president greeted the convict with a friendly wave.
Berserker rushed over to the bars, looking at his ally, through the steel bars, with delight.
"How would you like to be fighting for Chrome once more?" the president continued.
Berserker gasped in joy. It was a silent gasp, however, as he had refused to talk since he was charged of his heinous crime.
Sanjuro, on the other hand, was stunned. "Sir, are you sure about this?" he whispered to the president. "He was the one that deliberately leveled a crowded shelter at Zam City, remember..."
"I'll make sure he's under strict supervision, Sanjuro. Both on and off the battlefield." the president replied in a hiss. "Besides, he'll possibly won't remember anything after he's goes through a life-changing experience..." He looked back at Berserker. "I cannot grant you your full freedom, only the freedom to fight as an AC pilot. Under those conditions, are you still willing to come along?"
Berserker nodded. A gleam in his eyes and a wicked smile pinned to his face.
"An AC pilot?" Sanjuro asked.
"Am I spoiling him too much?" the president countered.
"No, sir. Not at all..." He looked over to Berserker and thought, 'Life-changing experience?' I wonder what he means by that?
To be continued...