Armored Core: Lunar Battle

Chapter 2: Encounter

Team Doom's ACs parked just near the Raven's Nest, waiting for the operator to notice them. Lians saw them almost instantly. "I see you three are back already. Just send in your IDs, and.."

Nick interrupted. "We can't enter right now. We need to speak with a Global Cortex representative immediately."

Lians frowned. It isn't often that a Raven requests to speak to a representative, but she couldn't ignore them. "FYI, I am a Global representative," she flatly stated. "What got your panties in a bunch?"

"Simple," Ed replied. "Your organization sent us on a mission to figure out what landed on the surface this morning. We returned to share the information."

"Then why sit in your cockpits when we can sit at a table and discuss this?"

"Because our fearless ACE leader discovered something that needs to be looked at immediately." Chris hated speaking to representatives, but it really was important.

Lians rubbed her temples. "Hang on a second. Pulling up files." She worked at her computer quickly. "Alright. You were sent to assess the situation. Well, what's the situation."

"Lians, pull up the video data from last nights news report. Topic, War on the Moon. Duration, thirty seconds, then freeze frame." Nick knew what she would see when she was done.

She frowned again. What could a news clip have to do with a Raven mission, she thought. But she did as she was commanded, pulling up last night's war file. She froze it at the point specified, which showed the Zio Matrix pod starting to pass the camera. "Done. What am I supposed to be seeing?"

Nick grinned. "Your looking at what dropped down onto earth early this morning. That pod was the object, and we have reasons to believe that the AC pictured in that clip may have survived the crash. I saw an AC's foot tread surrounded by thruster wash in the sand."

Lians looked at the clip and saw the blue AC within it. She was about to reply when all the Comm channels got pinged. "I need help! Someone, HELP MEEEEEEEE!"

She noticed a red and black armored AC approaching the Raven's Nest at overboost speed. All of his weapons were gone. "AC, identify yourself!"

"Damn you, bitch!" Lians's right eye twitched at the word. "FINE! MRO-1423-N-earth, Bloodlust. Now help me!"

Lian scanned the data, coming up with a match. "Raven confirmed. You are supposed to be in an arena battle with Demolition. What is the problem?"

"An unidentified AC entered the wasteland arena and was getting in the way. We halted combat and warned the AC to get out, but it ignored us. Demolition fired at the AC as a warning, but that made the AC attack us. We tried our best, but that blue machine was too fast for us." Lian and Team Doom started paying attention. "I haven't a clue who made it, but that pilot was able to trick a set of missiles into hitting the wrong target. The AC didn't even fire a shot, even thought it was seemingly well armed."

Nick keyed into the conversation. "This is ace raven, Grim Reaper. Did you say a blue AC of unknown origin?"

Bloodlust was shocked that the ACE was listening in on him. "You heard me. An unknown, blue god dammed AC."

Nick sent the frozen clip to the pilot. "Did it look like the one pictured in the pod?"

Bloodlust stared at the picture, then gasped. "That AC was MARTIAN?!? I DON'T BELIEVE THIS!!! I had no idea mars ACs were that powerful!"

"They're not," Demon butted in, "but their pilots are said to be aces. Reaper, I think we're going to need backup. That AC is too dangerous to tangle with alone, according to our friend here."

"Hate to admit this, leader, but Demon has a point," Devil mentioned. "I may be up to a challenge, but I think we all would like to return alive rather than matchboxes."

"Agreed. Lian, are there any AC teams that have nothing left and are in peak condition."

"Should I contact them upon finding them?"

"No, I want you to call them when we are all long dead. OF COURSE YOU SHOULD CALL THEM, ASAP!" Lian muttered about impatience and began her search, while also setting up Bloodlust to lead the recovery team to where Destructor currently was.

"I could get you four ACs, but that's the best I can do."

"As long as they're good pilots." Nick relaxed and decided to wait for the four to arrive. It wasn't that long a wait, for the doors opened within five minutes. The first machine out was blue, and its configuration made him groan. He recognized the Re-008 head and MX/002 EO core easily, further augmented with Orc legs. The arms were modified from the light Marte to the medium Sol, but still carried the XCB/75 rectangular shaped laser rifle, the handy LS-2551 laser blade, M24-2 missile launcher, and M30 rocket. "TANJA!!"

The machine turned towards him and flashed its visor at him. "Were you seeking assistance? I brought the whole team and the B-4." She jerked Hunter III's sword arm behind her, pointing out the team. Quik Death V was next out of the Nest, its bright blue and green colors standing out. The Rachis head and Ner core were mounted atop an aircraft type hover leg, granting Sprint the best possible speed and keeping it twenty meters off the ground. The arms were large and powerful laser cannons, making it impossible for the suit to go close quarters. It also wielded M30 rockets, M36-4 missiles, and featured R20 interlocking missiles, making her quite the missile master.

"Sprint here, and I'm ready to spin circles around the target." She opened and closed her right arm cannon, noting her eagerness.

"Big Shot here, and I'm ready to unload on them." Her Ac, the Hell Bringer, rolled out. Its deep black armor glistened in the sunlight, showing off the parts with relative difficulty. Consisting of an MM/004 head, IKS core, and bulky Casks on a D3ta tread legs. This black behemoth also wielded the FTL450 flame-thrower on the left, GR-12 Grenade rifle, LQ/35 laser cannon, and CNG-300 gattling gun. Further equipped with napalm rockets, this AC is well known for burning up her opposition.

The fourth machine walked out of the hanger. It wasn't a part of the Breakers or Doom, but he was the only other AC available to fight. It was clear that he has cash problems due to his machine, but is pretty damn good to be the B-4 ranker. Equipped with the RE/004 battle head, ORCA mech gun EO core, Marte arms, and the MX/EDGE speed legs combined with flight boosters make this one fast, but weak machine. Taking only the SOL throwing blade, the SRF-80 sniper rifle, and a RE/111 radar, it was painfully clear that he wouldn't last very long if left in battle too long. The greyish white machine shined its blue 'eye' at the team leader. "Raven here, One Shot is ready."

" 'One Shot?' Guess your a good sniper. And what's with the name 'Raven?'" Nick just loved to test unknowns.

"Damn right I'm a sniper, but the computer didn't record my name. So, I just go out as Raven."

Nick sighed. "Oh well, at least you lot are great pilots." He started to send out the image from the news to all ACs. "We are going out to locate this AC, which is currently roaming around somewhere near the Wasteland arena site. Lian, how much will we earn for getting this guy?"

Lian thought about it. "I'll pay each raven about 90,000 credits if you guys bring it back with the pilot alive. This will be increased to 120,000 if you had to bring it down to drag it back. But, you will forfeit the reward if the pilot is dead. Considering the situation, the AC should be the only target. As ravens, you know that nothing is always as it seems. With the conflict on Lunar, we may have a few enemies that wish to take this AC down. Good luck to you all."

Tanja's mech was the first to move. "Well, what are we waiting for. The sooner we go, the sooner we get paid."

Nick smiled. That was the Tanja he knew in the arena. "You heard the ladies. LETS ROCK AND ROLL!!" The two EO mechs hitched an overboost ride from the tanks as all seven ravens sped off after their target.

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Destructor led the tiny team of ACs as far away from the installation as they could. Their mission was washed up. Their entire fleet of freighters destroyed, nineteen fine Ravens dead, and three more lost in space. They were all that were left of the 25 Martian team sent to cripple Neo Core to nothing. There was little hope for the three that survived, who couldn't even dream of getting repairs for their machines if they got attacked. Red Death was busy scouting ahead. They had to make sure they weren't about to enter an ambush, their machines would never make it. Because of his speed, there was little chance of him being spotted or hit, whereas Midnight could attract allot of attention. Destructor is in no position to fight either, for half his ammo was used giving cover fire earlier and fighting off pursuing MTs. He faced the facts. Either they get killed by an enemy attack, die of suffocation (which would be a possibility in a little under 72 hours), or die of hunger. Dying in a blaze of glory was starting to look like a good idea.

"Destructor, come in."

"Destructor here. What did you find, Death?"

"No enemy units to speak of yet, sir, but I did manage to locate something that we can use."

"Hold on, we'll be right there." He looked at the dark machine next to him, barely able to see due to the dark, starry sky behind him. "We better move. If we can use it for extended periods of time, then we could keep this up."

"And if not, we cut it down. No point in wasting any more ammo unless necessary." Destructor grinned. At least these Ravens were skilled and smart, whereas most others couldn't handle doing both simultaneously. The duo overboosted to Red Death, who was crouched down and ready for anything. He stayed his ground as the duo arrived, and he pointed his sword arm towards a crater. Destructor and Midnight took a look.

"What in the name of..." There was a facility embedded in the crater, rather old by the looks of things. The doors were large enough to allow the three machines to enter side by side, with lots of room to spare.

"My scanners picked up no activity inside," Death reported, "but it does have rather high levels of oxygen. If there are materials inside, we could use it as a base of operations."

"Let's check it out then." Destructor led the team into the facility, noticing that this stuff was well over a century old. Possibly during the time before the Great Destruction. They entered cautiously, guns trained for any sudden moves. They got through the corridor, which was an airlock, and entered the facility further once it was pressurized. Lights went on as the machines examined the area, revealing old crates of weapons and metal plating. A nearby sign said "Battleship repair hangar," and the weapons were easily large enough.

"Ravens, welcome to home base." Destructor said, confirming that there was no real danger. He opened the cockpit and exited the machine. He removed his helmet and breathed in the air. His brown hair stuck up all over as his grey eyes scanned the place. He appears no older than 20 and has an average build. "Come on out, guys. We got air to breathe and things to do."

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"I see something up ahead." Raven peeked into his sniper scope, spotting a blue machine traversing the landscape. He looked down at Hell Bringer, who was still bearing his machine's weight as well as its own. "It looks like our target guys. I'll keep lookout from here." With that, One Shot jumped off the bigger machine and kept low. The rest of the group overboosted into position and examined the area. No form of cover around, just them and the Martian AC. Hunter III dismounted from Pain Bringer, walking forward. Deathsythe went ahead, followed by Speed Demon and Quik Death V. The four machines made their way to the slow moving mars AC.

"Hey, Demon," Sprint said, so that they weren't bored. "I like what you did to your machine."

Demon blushed slightly. "Thanks, but this thing is going to kick your ass when we get into the next arena fight."

Sprint grinned in her cockpit. "We'll have to see about that when the time comes."

"Cut the chatter, Sprint. Reaper's trying to communicate to the raven." Tanja's voice on the Comm sounded quite harsh.

"Unidentified AC. This is Grim Reaper. Hold and identify yourself." The machine continued to walk forward, as if it didn't hear a thing. "Identify yourself." It stopped and turned its head, its red visor glaring from the sun. It looked each of the ravens over, slowly moving its head and examining each and every one. Static was heard over the Comm as the mech scanned for the channel. The seven ACs had their alarms go off, but their pilots ignored them, knowing that the AC had no weapons armed, yet.

"IS honor something that this planet lacks?" the Comm asked. Nick stared at the AC, which had turned completely around. "Having seven Ravens like yourselves surrounding a single AC sounds hostile."

Nick sent his response. "With reports that you defeated two ravens with relative ease earlier, precautions had to.."

"Ah, so your hear for VENGEANCE for what I did to your comrades. IS that IT? Last I recall, the other bolted when his friend was felled."

"We didn't come for a fight. We came to locate and..."

"Too bad, because you really got me in a bad mood now!" The AC charged towards the team, Moonlight engaged.

"Get clear, but don't fire a shot!" Nick yelled before engaging his thrusters to evade the incoming machine. But the Martian AC was far too fast and was about to hit when a shot was sounded. All ACs looked to the source of the sound, reconizing Raven. He was dashing full speed backwards, shooting his sniper at another AC. This one was built bulkily, and it was equipped with some hellish looking weapons. Amongst them was the wierd Karasawa that team Doom had destroyed last night. "What the..." Nick scanned the newcomer, but couldn't ID the name of the unit. Hell, he couldn't even ID who the hell built the damned thing.

The tan machine armed its gernade launcher mounted on its back and fired. Raven dodged, but all the ravens were shocked at the moment. That AC was a bipedal, but it fired that gernade while dashing forward as if it were a tank. Tired of running, Raven charged in and made a quick slice before the machine could react. He barely could get any penetration with the weapon, and was sent flying when it swung its bulky left arm into One Shot's core.

"Give him some cover! TAKE THAT BASTARD DOWN!" Nick yelled on the comm. Even the mars AC charged in, with it's gun armed this time. The weapon was identified as a mars pattern Karasawa MKII, and the AC fired the weapon with precision. Even thought the shots hit, however, the titan was unphased and fired a retaliation shot of plasma from another back weapon on the move. All the ACs were keeping their distances from the AC, not wanting to get too close to get hit hard. The tanks fired their gernades and the speed machines fired their main weapons, while the mars unit fired laser rounds, Tanja fired her missiles, and Reaper fired his machine gun. The AC just accepted all the hits, easily enough to have turned the two tanks into scrap ten times over, yet not even a spark emitted from it.

Raven charged in again and fired his sniper, until he got in close enough to use his blade again. The Titan ignored the hits and grabbed the machine by the head, crushing the equipment and lifting the machine into the line of fire. They stray shots of delay damaged the light machine, but Raven wasn't through yet. He activated his core's EO and fired the last of his sniper rounds while continuing to slice the machine up. His efforts were futile. "Damn you, bastard! Go down already!" Nick over boosted. If he didn't act fast, that machine would easily destroy One shot with just that much. He swung is sol blade, sending a wave of energy at the side of the AC, catching its attention. It armed its rifle and fired a shot at the ace, who barely managed to dodge the large blast.

"Holy shit!" Nick had no time left, charging in to try and free Raven. The AC swung One Shot into Deathsythe, sending the Ace too far away to make any difference. The other ACs surrounded the monster and fired where they saw openings, but then the monster had enough. He pointed his rifle at the still struggling Ac and pressed it against the core. Nick got to his feet and fired his missiles, but those didn't stop him. The gun fired, tearing a hole right through the cockpit of the machine, Raven's yell deafening the pilots as the cockpit was turned into slag. It then chucked the now useless AC into Quik Death's hover legs, shorting them out with the powerful impact. The AC landed into the dirt and continued to fire its lasers. The monster aimed for Linda with the deadly rifle, preparing to finish her. Eddy saw this and engaged his overboost, ramming the hover unit out of the way as the shot was fired. It tore throught the boosters of Speed demon, leaving it a greatly handicapped heap on top of Sprint.

Tanja was about to react, when she noticed that Deathsythe had stopped moving. She analyzed the stat of the armor, only to discover that the pilot was heating up. "OH SHIT!! EVERYONE, RUN!!!!!!!!! BERSERKER!!!!!!!!" All the ACs that heard that hauled ass, excluding the immobile Quik Death, Hunter III, and MARS. Nick screamed in rage as he unloaded all of his ammunition into the macnine, accompanied by any ally that could fire on it. The AC started to take damage before Deathsythe charged in for close quarters, cutting the rifle in half. Tanja and the mars pilot charged in and helped, slicing up the monsterous machine. Its weapons were all destroyed by precise attacks from Deathsythe as the other two damaged as much armor as possible. Sensing defeat, the AC vanished as quickly as it appeared, leaving several damaged ACs and one decimated machine behind. Nick started to calm down, his body heat returning to normal. He immediately opened the cockpit and landed into the soft dirt. The other ACs converged on his position, eisembarking from their machines as well. Tanja got out and went to Nick, trying to comfort the young man fighting back tears. He may have just met Raven, but he never wanted to leave a battlefield with his ally dead. Linda stood next to Eddy, her ebony hair whipping around in the wind, her blue eyes showing sorrow. Her body was rather slim from running around, but she was in no mood for that at the moment. Big Shot stood next to Chris, the same expression on her face like everyone else. Better known as Sara, her sandy brown hair blew around little, staying close to her shoulders. Her green eyes surveyed the sight, flexing her hand in anger. Her body was well toned from continuous training, and her bust was above average in size.

The sound of an AC moving snapped them to attention, noticing the mars AC kneeling down in a funeral like fashion. The cockpit opened, letting the pilot get out. She wasn't wearing her helmet, letting her red hair fly in the wind. Her eyes were a brownish red, and were currently showing some sorrow for the lost mercinary. Her body was well built, with the right proportions in all the right places. Her bust filled out rather nicely, but weren't so bloated that they literally stuck out like some girls. Her appearance seemed to be that of an eighteen year old. She walked over to Nick and kneeled down before him. She then grasped the side of his head with her slender hands and pressed her forhead onto his, muttering something in Martian. When she backed away, all the ravens present looked at her.

"I apologize for my action earlier. It was wrong to assume that you were picking a fight." She spoke rather calmly, probably because she didn't know who was piloting One Shot. She looked at the wrecked AC. "And I am sorry for your loss. I feel it too, but I have grown used to losing a valuable friend in battle." She spoke in a softer tone. "Too many friends."

Nick looked up at the martian. "I understand. I know I haven't known that raven for too long, but we took the same job." The others then spoke all at once. "We are Ravens, and we know the risk of every mission accepted."

The girl smiled slightly. "We are Ravens, and we never stop fighting till the mission is over." She walked over to her machine and inputted some commands. The machine moved automatically and picked up the fallen Raven. "The best we can do for him now is park his AC in the Garage and clean it up. The Raven's AC will act as his grave, and his soul can seek the afterlife in safety." She noticed the odd looks every one gave her for her comment. Blushing slightly, she explained. "Martian tradition for fallen pilots. It's been our belief for decades."

Nick then walked up to the martian. "Allow us to introduce ourselves, then, before we go back to the nest. Grim Reaper, ace pilot of AC Deathsythe VII."

Chris was next. "Devil, raven pilot of heavy tank AC Painbringer."

"Demon, mercinary pilot of agile AC Speed Demon."

"Tanja, pilot of battle AC Hunter III."

"Big Shot, commander of tank AC Hell Bringer."

"Sprint of the hover AC Quik Death V."

Each pilot had put a hand in the middle of a circle, with a space left open for the martian. She smiled briefly before sticking her own hand in. "Pilan, martian ace of the battle AC Zeo Streak." They broke the circle and boarded their own ACs. They traveled the distance to the nest in silence. Speed Demon held the still damaged Quik Death, Hunter III hitched a ride on Hell Bringer, and Zeo Streak carried the remains of One Shot. The trip was silent, excluding when they were halfway home. "Reaper," Pilan asked, "Who was the pilot of this AC?"

The Skyeye of Deathsythe peered over its shoulder. "He called himself Raven, sniper expert." On the comm, they heard her murmur something in Martian, with the only translatable part being the mentioning of Raven.

"What did you say?" Tanja asked.

"I was wishing that Raven could rest in peace, knowing that we will avenge him for his death."

Nick smiled. "Trust me, we never leave a debt hanging around."

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That's it for this one. Love it, Hate it. I'd want to know. The end was probably the suckiest I've ever had. I don't think that they acted right, knowing that one of their own was dead. Who was that mysterious AC? Find out next time.

We have one new reviewer now.

Ryuushen: Thanks, and I hope you do great on your fanfic as well. I know the prologue was a little confusing, but I didn't want to spoil the identity of Zeo Streak just yet at that time. And i bet that trio, who appeared to be the main chars, threw you off a little as well, right? Hope to hear from you soon.

Don't worry, the next chapter will come soon. I promise (as long as there are still intrested readers)