Chap 6 rescue
I drove on for about an hour. I took it slow, i wasn't in any real hurry to get there. It was funny but i didn't mind driving home with these two at all. I would look back at blaze, sleeping silently with a happy look on her face. She had layed down in the backseat and had her arms pulled close for warmth. Then i would look over at angel who hadn't moved at all, she had wrapped herself in my jacket from the backseat and had her head against the window. Her face was stoic, no emotion showed on her features. She wasn't smiling, she didn't look angry or sad. she was sleeping silently, her chest rose slowly with her every intake of breath and dropped again with every exhale.
When we did finally get to my house it was well past 11:00 o'clock and pushing midnight. I pulled into my driveway and stayed there for a moment. I looked over the two of them for a moment and felt guilty knowing i would have to wake them up to get them inside. I decided against waking them up for now and instead left the car running with the heater on. I got out and locked the doors. I walked up to my front door and placed my thumb on the sensor. The door responded by clicking open, allowing me entrance. I stepped in and proceeded upstairs to the guestrooms. I made sure that the beds were ready by pulling back the tops of the blankets, letting them easily slip under the covers. After this was done i went back to the truck and, very carefully, unlocked and opened the passenger side door. I caught angel as she slid out.
"wha? Are we there?" she asked half asleep as i carried her into the house.
"sssshhhhh. Go back to sleep. Were home." i carried her upstairs to the first room and slipped her into the bed. She went without protest and i pulled her shoes off then pulled the blankets up to her neck. she fell right back to sleep.
I went back outside to the truck. I closed the passenger door and walked around to the driver side. I turned the car off and pushed the seat forward to allow me to get to blaze. I unclipped her seatbelt and picked her up. I carefully maneuvered her out of the car, being careful not to knock her head on anything. I got her out and closed the door with my foot. I walked her back inside the house.
"close." i said as i passed through the doorway and the door closed behind me.
I walked up the flight of stairs again and to the third bedroom, the second was mine. I placed her on top of the bed and pulled her shoes off and pulled her feet back so i could get her under the blankets. She didn't make any movements at any time that this was happening.
"you sleep like a rock, blaze." i pulled the blankets up to her chin and left the room.
I walked to my room and pulled my clothes off. I threw them into the basket and climbed into my bed. my head hit the pillow and i was sleeping.
The alarm went of at 5:30 as always and i promptly threw it across the room. A few minutes after this i decided to get up and face the unescapable day and hours of work ahead. I slid out of bed and slumped my way to the shower in an attempt to wake myself up. I took off whatever flimsy clothing still lathed my body and stepped into the shower. I turned on the cold water and let it run over me. I woke rather quickly in response to the cold water rushing down on me. I was about to turn the water off when i remembered all that had happened the previous day. I was a raven now, i didn't have to get up at this un-godly hour anymore! I could get up when i want... from now on. It was already too late to save this morning as i was already wide awake. So instead of turning the water off i turned it to hot and enjoyed a nice, long, twenty minute shower; a luxury i had not allowed myself in a very long while.
thus sated from the shower i exited my bathroom and headed downstairs to the laundryroom to dress myself. I wrapped a towel around my waist and walked downstairs. As i stepped off the spiral staircase i walked through the kitchen.
"good morning." a yawning but cheery Blaze said to me as i jumped a foot into the air. "hey now, don't lose that towel. We wouldn't want any unnecessary conversation starters to 'pop up', now would we?" she started laughing.
"no i don't think that would be a good thing." i regained myself and saved the towel. "what are you doing up at six o'clock?"
"I've always been an early starter." something dinged in the background. "oh, you want some coffee? Sorry but you have my favorite kind. I couldn't help myself." she stood from her barstool and walked back to the coffee maker by the micro-wave.
"ya, i would like some, thanks." i said as i continued through the kitchen to finally get some clothes on.
"no need to thank me, its your coffee!" she giggled a little more as she started searching the cubboards for the coffee-cups.
I made it to the laundryroom and grabbed some jeans and a gray t-shirt. I stepped back to the kitchen and saw blaze now looking for sugar and cream.
"let me help you." i walked over and stood behind blaze at the fridge. "I keep it in the back so company doesn't steal it, I like the good stuff that everybody likes." i reached my arm over her shoulder as i said this and grabbed the hidden bottle of coffee creamer in the back of the fridge. "and the sugar is in that cupboard over there." i pointed to my spice cupboard across the kitchen as I stepped back to the table. I sat in the chair next to one of the steaming cups of coffee.
"which ones the sugar?" she giggled a little more at her inability to find anything.
"the small white bowl with a matching lid. It has a little spoon sticking out of it too." I answered her question as I poured a small amount of the white liquid into my cup.
"I thought it was that one." she grabbed the bowl and walked back to the table.
"you really don't need sugar with this kind of cream and this blend of coffee." I pointed out to her as she sat down and prepared to dump a large spoonful of sugar into her cup.
"I have always liked sugar in my coffee, whether it was sweet or sour, Light or dark." she poured the sugar in and mixed it with the coffee. "can you pass the creamer please?"
"oh, ya sure." I picked up the bottle and unscrewed the cap. "here ya go."
"thank you." she smiled and yawned again as she took the bottle from my hand. "I like this place. Its really nice and clean; one would think that a woman lived here as well." she laughed quietly under her breath. "Its really comfortable here. I dont know why but it just is." she put her spoon in her coffee and swirled it around a bit. "ive never owned a house of my own. I have always just traveled around wherever work takes me." she paused for a moment. "but i always came back to Cercall. Ive always found my way back. I guess that garage has been my home more than anything else ever has."
"well, i bought this place because i never warmed up to the idea of living in a garage apartment. This place is too big for me. This place gets kinda creepy sometimes. The house really isn't THAT big but when theres just one person living here..." i took a drink of my coffee.
"i know how that is." blaze took another sip as well. "when i was growing up my family was very wealthy. My father was a corperate excecutive and my mother was his secratary." she took another drink before she continued. "its kinda funny how that worked out. Anyway, we lived in a huge house. It was enourmous, any bigger and it would have been a mansion. My father definetly wore the pants in the family. And because of her position, whenever my father had to work, my mother had to as well. My father worked a lot. most of the day he was at work. Which meant my mother was as well. Which left me alone at home. I had no brothers or sisters. There was only the housekeeper that was here to keep me company, and she wasn't very good at it. She was usually very busy with cleaning the house and she often got in trouble for not doinng her job when she was helping me."
"i understand." i took another deep drink. "i never knew my parents. They died about two weeks after i was born. i dont usually like to talk about it." i took another drink.
"thats fine. Im not trying to push you into any uncomfortable subjects." she did the same.
"i know." i looked up and around for a second, kinda've looking for something to talk about. "so how did you sleep?" i didnt really like those awkward silences.
She took another sip of the coffee. "i slept fine. how did we get here though?" she laughed a little under her breath. "the last thing i remember is talking to some people about the mission at the garage." she drank again.
"well after you and angel passed out, morrow wanted to leave you there." i laughed a little. "i couldn't do that consiously so i carried angel and morrow carried you down to the parking lot and to my truck. We put you both inside and i carried the truck to Cercall with my AC. Morrow followed me there and then he ditched us as soon as we got to Cercall."
"jerk." she took one last deep drink. "you want any more?" she held up her cup.
"oh, No thank you. But could you..." i quickly took the last large drink of mine and held the cup out to her. "put this in the sink for me?"
She gave another underbreath laugh. "sure." she took the cup and walked to the sink.
"then after he was gone i carried you guys to the garage, docked my AC, and then ran around the garage back to the truck. i got in and drove here from Cercall."
Blaze had finished with the cups and sat back into her chair next to me.
"when i got here, you guys were still sleeping so i unlocked the house and just carried each of you in and put you in bed."
"ohh, how nice." she cooed then started laughing.
"shuttup! I wasn't gonna leave you there. And you didn't make one sound, blaze. The whole time i was moving you, you didn't make one peep. I would've thought you were dead if you weren't breathing."
"i know, i know. I was just messing with you. And ya im not surprised. I have always slept like a log." she patted me on the back and stood up to stretch. After a big yawn she asked, "hey, can i watch some TV?"
"ya sure. The remote should be around or in the couch somewhere."
"thanks." she started walking over to the liviing room. She stuck her head back through the doorway. "hey, did you know that your computer is Blinking?" and her head disappeared behind the doorway again.
"oh, i have mail." i stood up and walked over to the computer in the living room. As i walked in i saw blaze searching for the remote. when i looked over, sure enough, there was the small yellow light on the computer strobing on and off. I walked over and took a seat at the comp. "lets just have a looksy." i opened up my mail option and, to my surprise, was not bombarded with porno spam. I had three new mails. I clicked the first mail from the Cortex, it read:
"to Xero, Congratulations on your completion of the raven test. We are also glad to see that you have, so far, a 100% mission completion rate. Because of this we will be giving you special regard when we get any particulary difficult mission requests."
Oh great! Special regard? So they are going to give me special request for all the hard missions they get. And a 100% mission completion!? I've only been on one mission! Oh jesus... I clicked the next mail from my old supervisor, Charlie:
"Xero, i just got the news and i saw the repair crews working on what i guessed was your AC. I thought that the heavy-mid weight with the gold, white, and blue paint job would be yours. Anyway, I'm glad to hear about your advancement and i am being sent a copy of your test by a friend of mine. Can't wait to see it." best of luck, Charlie.
!!! Being sent a copy! oh my GOD! How many people are gonna see that? And they are working on my AC already? I know that charlie gets up early but i guess that the repair crews get up even earlier. I opened up the last mail which intrigued me because it didn't say who it was from.
"Xero, i have recently heard of your advancement to the AC platform and i am prepared full-well to keep my word to you." who the hell is this? "i cannot however upgrade all of your ACs at the same time. So i will accept your AC first for upgrades. After which i will do the same to your allies ACs. Meet me in front of the garage nest in Cercall city at 7:00 pm tomorrow evening."
"sweet!" i shot my fist into the air.
Blaze stuck her head above the couch. "how many times a day must a full grown adult yell 'sweet'?"
"Thats the mechanic from the other day. I completely forgot about that guy." tomorrow. I wonder if they will have my AC done by tomorrow?
"hey everybody." angel was making her way down the stairs with one of my robes on.
blaze popped up from the couch. "well good morning. How did you sleep? Did you take a shower?"
"ya i took one, i had to and i slept fine, how about you guys?"
"we both slept good. Do you want some coffee? The pot is in the maker and the stuff is on the table if you do."
i shut-down the computer and stood to stretch. I looked at the two of them: angel was standing at the base of the stairs looking at me. Then i looked at blaze who was sitting on the couch with her arms crossed over the top of the couch and her head resting on them looking at me.
i just stood there with a sideways grin on my face and my arms outstretched above my head. "this is awkward. so, uhh, what do you guys feel like doin' today?"
They looked at each otherthen back at me smiling.
"what?"
They both laughed. Blaze spun around on the couch and flipped through the channels, coming to some morning cartoons. Angel walked over towards me, "how about we do a whole bunch of nothing." she patted me on the shoulder and walked to the kitchen for some coffee. "Xero, do you have anything to eat?"
"open your eyes, you'll find plenty of food. i always try to keep plenty of food on hand."
We didn't do much of anything the rest of the day. At four o'clock we all drove in to the city and i checked on my AC and the other two called to have their AC shipped over to Cercall garage. My AC had almost all the armour removed and the weapons were gone. I went to talk with the repair manager.
I walked up to a middle aged looking man with blue overalls, a blue hat, and holding a clipboard. He has looking up at the AC and directing the workers. He looked up as i got closer. "hello sir, are you..." he glanced at the clipboard, "Xero, correct? And you are the owner of this AC?"
"yes i am. And your name is?"
"im James. Nice to meet you Xero." he stuck his hand out.
i shook his hand and continued. "so, how much longer would you say the repairs are gonna take?"
"well, we started pretty early, so i think that it should be done pretty soon. Maybe 4 hours or so."
"alright, well as long as it is done by tomorrow night."
"got more plans already?"
"kinda."
"alright then. It will be done by tonight so don't worry about it." he looked back at the clipboard and then back up at Revolution. "HEY YOU JACKASS!!! Thats part of the left shoulder armour! You dumbass, cant you see the rift for the lower half there!? No wonder it wont fit on there!" i jumped about six inches into the air and thought he was yelling at me. Then i looked from the AC to him and saw him looking at a man standing on the right shoulder, guiding a crane with an armour plate. The worker was startled as well and had to catch himself on the armour before falling off. The supervisor looked back at me, "dont worry Xero. I'll make sure that they get her together right. I know these ACs from the inside out. Ill have them refill the ammo on your shotguns and rifle too, OK?"
"alright and I had a machine gun that got destroyed, it was one of the eight-hundred rounders."
"ok, ill have them bring one over."
"I'll probably see you later."
"c'ya."
I walked back to the nest where angel and blaze were waiting for me. I stepped inside and found blaze and angel sitting at the same Booth as the night before. I walked over and took a seat. "hey, did you call in on your ACs?"
"ya, we called but they were already half-done with the repairs, so we are gonna wait until they are finished to have them moved over." blaze answered.
"so are you ready to go?" angel spoke up.
"ya, i talked to the repair manager. My AC should be done by tonight."
"well, i guess we could head back home then?" blaze stood and stretched.
"did you gts get your stuff out of the apartments?" they were gonna stay with me for a while. No sense in them paying for a room each when i have two free ones.
"well, blaze got he s and they are gonna send mine with my AC tomorrow."
"Alright, well if you guys are ready, i have nothing to do so, ya, we could leave."
"then lets go." angel stood, stretched, and pointed to the door.
So leave we did.
"Why do i have to sit in the back!?" angel bitched when i informed her as we aproached the truck.
"because you always sit in the back. Well, not always, but every time we have been in the car you have had shotgun. I figured it was blazes turn. Its really no big deal."
"i am a full grown woman, i don't sit 'in the back'."
"So is blaze."
Blaze was walking behind us the whole time and she didnt say a thing. Her head would move from angel to me as we traded off arguments. "I'll sit in the middle if angel has that much trouble with the backseat and you insist on my sitting in the front."
"but? Dont you want to sit in the front?"
"sure i do, thats why i said the middle and not the back."
"i cant believe we're arguing about this!" angel interrupted.
Angel ended up sitting in the front and Blaze in the middle. Which i didn't mind at all. We drove all around the city trying to find somewhere to eat. After an hour and after passing the same office building three times we said screw-it and decided to go home.
"well one would think that you would know the city that you WORK IN!!!" angel exclamed.
"hey, no need to yell." i pointed to blaze who was sleeping on my shoulder. "i only know how to get to the garage. And if it wasn't because the garage is HUGE then i probably wouldn't know where it was either. Its not my fault you didn't want to eat at the garage."
"o- whatever. And there is perfect reason to yell, i dont care if 'your girl' is sleeping!"
!
"what do you mean 'my girl'? what the fuck angel? Ive known her for three years and ive known you for a week. No need to get jealous." i started laughing hysterically.
"o, you little bastard." she folded her arms and looked out the window. She stayed this way for the rest of the way home.
when we finaly made it to the driveway angel got out and slammed the door, waking up blaze.
"hey dont rip it off the hinges! Jesus Christ..." i turned the car off and looked to blaze. I snickered again at angels last remark.
"what?" she said yawning.
"nothing."
"whats her problem?" she nodded her head toward angel as she stretched.
"her? Well, ill tell you sometime." i opened the door and got out then held the door for blaze.
"o..k... Whatever. Ill remind you someday."
I laughed a little. "sure."
We walked up to the door where angel was waiting for me to unlock it. "did you see how i closed the door? Thats how you do it."
"shuttup and open the door."
"alright. What do you plan to do once we're inside?" i moved forward to open the door.
"i am going to go to the backyard and relax."
"whatever." the door clicked open and angel pushed me aside as she walked in. i looked down at blaze who looked at me and just shrugged. We parted ways when we got inside: blaze to the TV, i to the computer, and angel was laying on a loung chair in the backyard. non of us really interacted much for the rest of the day. I didn't eat dinner, blaze had a little cereal, and angel didn't eat either. At about 7 angel came in and announced she was going to bed after a bath. at about 9 i told blaze that i was going to take a shower and then head to bed.
"dont stay up too late." i said as i walked up the stairs.
"ok, dad."
"shuttup! Not my fault i care." i could hear her laughing as i stepped into my room.
I took a shower and then slid into bed. I layed there for awhile. After a while i heard the TV turn off downstairs and hurried foorsteps. I was wondering why blaze was hurrying but i didn't really care as i slipped into sleep.
"XERO!!"
"am i gonna get to sleep tonight!?" i sat up in my bed. "what Blaze?!"
she ran into my room holding the phone. "its morrow. Apparently we pissed Crest off more than we thought we did."
"what?" Im awake now. "what are you talking about?"
"morrow just called, says he is in a holding facility somewhere behind the old silent line."
"how the hell did he call? Whatever, c'mon lets go." I jumped out of bed and threw some clothes on. "ill have to go alone, you guys wont have your ACs till tomorrow."
"your taking your AC?" she seemed surprised.
"well, ya, what do you think im gonna do? Walk up and ask them to let him go? I'm gonna bust him out."
"whatever, is your AC repaired?"
"it should be. The repair manager said that it would be done by tonight. It better be done or somebody is gonna have hell to pay." I bolted from the room and out to my truck. I jumped in and hit off toward Cercall at 90 mph, leaving both of the girls behind at the house.
Blaze was standing at the door with a fist over her heart. "Good luck Xero."
I was at the garage in 10 minutes. I parked and ran into the garage. "good thing they leave this place open twenty-four seven." I ran past the front desk and went straight to the AC garages. I found Revolution in the third stall over which was lucky for me cause I would've never found it.
"good evening, Xero." The computer said as I opened the hatch and put the suit on.
"good evening Rev, get ready to initiate battle mode. And contact the main office to get us a transport." "alright. Where do we need to be transported?"
that was when I stopped what I was doing and started thinking. "I don't even know where he is. how am I supposed to find him when all I got was his call." That's it. "He called me! I can trace that. Computer, belay the transport order. Hack into the phone systems for Trene city."
It took about fifteen seconds, "done."
"now locate the last call that was made to the number 675-3944."
"confirmed."
"trace that call. Where did it originate from?"
I got an answer about thirty seconds later, "call originated from the Crest penitentiary behind the Silent Line. Corrordinates: Y-54, X-78, north eastern hemisphere."
"that was easier then expected. Computer, save that location data and get us a transport to that area."
"confirmed."
In ten minutes I was in the fastest transport I could get and was on my way to the silent line. The silent line. that place has quite a history: mystery, battles, disappearances. The list goes on. A few years ago a raven was brave enough to go in there and secure a fortress that was found there and then she went into a new layered that was found underground. He went in response to an AI disruption signal that was originating from there. She was dropped in and half an hour later she walked her AC out of that hellhole. That raven had disappeared shortly after the event though only a few believe that she died. That raven is known as Nydem. Most think that she is still alive somewhere.
"raven, get ready, we're almost there." The pilots voice rang through the onboard speakers.
"well, its time." I stepped out of the lounge and into the hanger. I stepped through the doorway and looked upon my AC. It glowed in the dim lights of the hold, the deep gold colors stood out against the white and black. I walked forward and stepped inside the cockpit. I closed my eyes as the thousands of tiny lasers traced my body and the suit tightened to fit me perfectly. I opened my eyes as the inside of the cockpit walls glowed and mirrored the outside world. "I'm ready."
"opening hanger doors. Good luck raven and Godspeed."
I felt the rollers that Revolution was resting on begin to move backward, bringing me out of the transport. I began dropping as I checked the altimeter.
"ground is 500 feet down." The computer warned.
"I got it." And I activated the boosters to slow my decent. I touched down softly and looked around. The silent line had been monopolized after all the threats had been neutralized but there were still strange happenings now and then. "computer, estimate the location of the coordinates saved earlier."
"position located, due east 7 kilometers."
"Gotcha." I turned and hit the overboost.
"Warning." I switched off the overboost. I had been running and overboosting for about ten to fifteen minutes.
"What is it, Rev?" I stopped and looked ahead. I could see a large gray building ahead. There was nothing else around it except for a few hills and some scrap metal that stuck out of the ground. No guard towers, no MTs, nothing.
"Security system detected, if we advance much further we will activate the security measures."
"Good. We'll force through the security then break the building."
"That plan is not advised." The computer warned but I had already picked up my shotguns and hit the overboost.
I had traveled about 500 more meters when my radar went crazy. Red dots, blue dots, yellow dots. They were everywhere.
I looked ahead and saw the ground open and three battle MTs were lifted above ground. "lets rock!" I flew forward and rammed my shoulder armour into the first one. I lifted my shotguns to the other two to my left and right. I fired my shotguns three times, wrecking the two MTs to my sides. Then I jumped above the stunned MT that I rammed and landed on top of it. I pointed my left shotgun down and blew the front of it off. My radar lit up with six blue dots that were moving quite fast. "Missiles." I boosted backwards, leaving the MTs to explode. I looked to my right and sure enough there were at least six missiles coming towards me. I jetted to the left and let two of them fly by me, three hit me and the last flew over my shoulder.
I looked to my right and saw four more heavy MTs coming towards me. But what I saw next I didn't expect: a bright flash further to my right, and I saw a small orange AC in full overboost flying at ungodly speeds toward the MTs. Next thing I knew the MTs were in four pieces each and the AC was floating across from them.
"your pretty brave, trying to take on Crest all by yourself all for a friend."
"that AC. is that you Dash?"
"aww, you got me."
I laughed. "nice entrance. "
"you ready to bust in yet?" he pointed one of his blade arms toward the holding.
"always, but I don't know where they are keeping Morrow. We might kill him on our way in."
"that would be a waste now wouldn't it? It helps to use the resources that are available to ravens. I am sending you a map of the facility, he is in the east block. Now, he is in a wall cell, so if we take out the wall he will have a clear escape."
"ok, but how do we not kill him in the process of taking out he wall?"
"you let me handle that." We waved one of his blade arms around a bit. "you just cover me."
"alright. You ready?"
"I just asked you that." He laughed and hit his overboost, he launched forward and took out five more MTs on his way to the base.
I did the same and switched on my overboost as well, which shot me to the building. Dash got there well before i did and he took out six more battle MTs on his way. I shot out the guard towers that were launching rockets everywhere and especially at dash.
"ya-know, they won't hit me." he said as he reached the wall, and i shortly after.
"well, best not to take chances." i turned and fired three missiles each at two incoming MTs. "hurry and find his cell! I can't hold off an army!"
"im going, i have to trace my map with the wall." he turned the attention of his high powered maping head back to the wall. He began moving his arms up and down the wall , back and forth. "he should be... there!" he activated one of his blades and stabed it into the cement wall the traced a small square into the wall with his blade. The whole time i have my rifle and one shotgun going as fast as they will allow me to fire, picking off targets that got into range. "i got it! the wall is carved, get over here and pull it out."
"alright, your turn to guard!" i put my shotgun away and walked over with my rifle in hand. Dash floated past me and then lowered his AC to the ground and brought his chain gun and small linear cannon over his shoulders and began firing full blast at everything that got too close.
"i thought morrow said that you had a missile launcher instead of that linear gun?" i asked as i used my rifle and blew two big wholes on the outside of the square.
"well i did, but then i used the test arena and found that i was almost as fast as the missiles! So i made a few adjustments and dropped the missile launcher and replaced it with the gun." he fired more chaingun shots into a nearby MT then fired a linear gun round into the chest of another MT, blowing a hole in it.
I put my rifle on the clip and i punched each of my fists into each of the respective holes, knocking out some more wall in the process. After my hands were in i opened my hands and brought them towards each other until i gripped the square. After i had the grip, i pulled the square back and threw it behind me and it crushed the head of an MT Behind me.
"watch where your throwing the stone tablets, Xero! You almost knocked me in the back of the head!"
"'close' only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades." i looked inside and sure enough, there was morrow, gripping the bars on the front of his cell for dear life, trying to rip them off. "hey, morrow, jump in!" i leaned my AC's core in close and opened the hatch but Morrow wasn't moving. "c'mon morrow! Its me Xero! i'm getting shot at here!" it was gradual but eventually he got in. "what the hell happened? Why are you here?"
"you scared the shit out of me! Holy god Xero!"
I turned around and faced dash. "You ready to go yet?"
"Hell yea, let's get the hell out of here!" He fired a few more chaingun rounds into a nearby MT then hit his overboost across the darkened expanse, thus drawing fire away from me. Unfortunately I didn't understand what he was doing exactly. "What are you waiting for Xero? Get moving I'm taking fire for you!"
"Oh! Shit, sorry! I'm moving." I took a few steps out of the wire fencing directly around the compound. "Morrow, I hope your holding on to something!"
"What am I supposed to hold on to?!" He stood underneath me and was looking around the cockpit furiously trying to find something to brace himself with.
"Revolution!"
"Yes sir?"
"Extend the passenger grab bar."
"Yes sir, extending. Be warned that the bar will not be very helpful should an overboost be initiated."
"Yes Rev, I know." Two small bars extended out of the back of the cockpit, one came out a bit further than the one below it.
"Wait, Xero? How is this thing supposed to help me if you guys are going to be over boosting all the way out of here?"
"Would you rather have nothing?! Now hurry and get in those things, dash is almost out completely already!"
"Fine." he jumped up to the first bar and worked his way up so that he was standing on the first bar and he had slid his chest behind the second bar.
"Hold on!" I hit the overboost and listened as the mechanical whine grew louder and louder until exploding with eruptive force out of the back of my AC. I shot forward at an excess of 500 mph. I could hear morrow's bloody cries of terror as he was being pushed into the cockpit screens behind me. "I'm on my way dash!"
"Hurry up, your gonna get all kinds of fire for waiting for so long."
I veered slightly to the left as a pair of rockets impacted the ground where I was. "Yea, I know." I continued dodging weapons fire, paying special attention to the rockets, which were easily the hardest hitting weapon on the field. I let go of the overboost to allow my generator to rest. When I landed I unclipped my sniper rifle and one of the shotguns. I looked to the left and fired a sniper bullet into the chest of a nearing MT; the MT stopped in its tracks and fell flat backwards. Next I looked to me right and unloaded four shotgun blasts into another nearing MT, the MT's head and right arm fell clean off because of the structural damage. The MT proceeded to fall forward and explode. I checked my gauges, with the generator being fully charged I turned back to my original direction and engaged my overboost. Again, I was shot forward and toward dash, who was zipping this way and that, dodging and slicing.
"Where are you Xero!? I can't hold this up much longer!" He took another hit to the left side of his core as he said this.
"I'm right here!" I sped right in front of dash, taking three or four rifle shots for him in the process. I switched off the overboost and spun around to face the opposite direction and started firing my rifle and shotgun relentlessly into the crowd of high-end MTs that were pursuing me. I managed to take out five or six before they began to gain ground. Dash jumped in front of me and lowered his chaingun.
"GO!!! I'll hold them off as long as I can! You get out of here, I can outrun these guys, you can't!" He started firing his cannon, sweeping left to right in a slow pattern, taking out MTs that were impaled by the massive bullets.
"What are you doing dash!? You can't take them all out!"
"Stop trying to play the hero damnit! Just go!"
Damn him. And who's trying to play the hero here? He has a good point though. "Dash! If I don't see you in the nest tomorrow, I'm gonna hunt you down and kick your ass! You hear me?"
"Yea, yea, I got ya." he started laughing a bit under his breath.
Damn you dash; you better make it out of here. I looked once more before my overboost readied to shoot me away and I saw dash lower his cannon and charge forward with his blades heated. I turned forward and made my way back to the garage. Morrow had passed out long before so it made for a quiet trip.
- -- --- back at the compound -- -
"Sir!" The soldier came to attention upon entering the presence of his senior officer.
"At ease, soldier. Report!"
the soldier lowered his hand and locked his hands together behind his back and spread his legs to present a more powerful stance. He proceeded with the report, "The subject has rescued his companion as planned. But his accomplice appears to still be fighting on the grounds."
"Still fighting huh? He must be holding our forces back while the subject can escape. this may work out better than planned for us. Capture the AC that is still fighting and bring me the pilot, he could prove to be a well placed ally. I will bring him to Cataclysma." The officer sat back in his chair to think.
"But, sir. he will never come willingly if he is doing this for a friend." The soldier pointed out.
The officer sat forward in his chair again. "True, true. But have any of us come willingly? Cataclysma has ways of bending a person's will. now, give the order!" The officer sat again back in his chair.
"Yes sir." The soldier left the room briskly.
- -- ---back at the garage (7 hours later) -- -
I docked my AC in the repair garage, much to the repair manager's horror.
"Holy shit, boy!!!" He looked like he was having a heart attack. "I was damn proud of the way that AC glowed in the lights! And now look what you've done! You gotta slow down!!" his eyes traced up and down Revolutions battered armour and scolded paint.
"Sorry buddy, but I had some urgent business to attend to." I pulled morrow out of the top cockpit hatch. "This monkey got imprisoned by Crest, and I had to bail him out."
"ya'know, you could go to prison yourself for that little stunt."
"they imprisoned him for something he did on a mission."
"Oh, well that's a different story. A raven has the freedom to do whatever he or she desires so long as they are engaged in a mission." The mechanic recited.
"I know the law! Explain that to Crest." I pulled morrow down from the AC, sat him on the catwalk and leaned him against the guardrail. "C'mon morrow, wake up you jackass!" I slapped him across the face.
"Oooh, bitch-slap!" The manager joked.
But after I slapped him, morrow awoke and returned the favor.
"Oooh, gut-check!" The mechanic joked again.
I keeled over onto my knees and clutched my stomach. "What was that for morrow!? Holy god that hurts!" I fell back and sat on the catwalk with my back leaning on the guardrail across from morrow.
"Well, first you scared the ever-living shit out of me with your little break out." He sat up and rubbed the side of his face. "And second, you just hit me!"
"But why hit me harder?"
"Well, you got two points on me and that will be a lesson not to ever do that again."
We both laughed.
- -- --- back with Dash -- -
An orange and silver AC lay destroyed on the ground. Both of the back weapons destroyed, the left half of the hover leg unit is missing, and the left side of the core is melted away along with the arm.
The pilot is unconscious.
The shadow of a bloodthirsty AC looms over the defeated.
I drove on for about an hour. I took it slow, i wasn't in any real hurry to get there. It was funny but i didn't mind driving home with these two at all. I would look back at blaze, sleeping silently with a happy look on her face. She had layed down in the backseat and had her arms pulled close for warmth. Then i would look over at angel who hadn't moved at all, she had wrapped herself in my jacket from the backseat and had her head against the window. Her face was stoic, no emotion showed on her features. She wasn't smiling, she didn't look angry or sad. she was sleeping silently, her chest rose slowly with her every intake of breath and dropped again with every exhale.
When we did finally get to my house it was well past 11:00 o'clock and pushing midnight. I pulled into my driveway and stayed there for a moment. I looked over the two of them for a moment and felt guilty knowing i would have to wake them up to get them inside. I decided against waking them up for now and instead left the car running with the heater on. I got out and locked the doors. I walked up to my front door and placed my thumb on the sensor. The door responded by clicking open, allowing me entrance. I stepped in and proceeded upstairs to the guestrooms. I made sure that the beds were ready by pulling back the tops of the blankets, letting them easily slip under the covers. After this was done i went back to the truck and, very carefully, unlocked and opened the passenger side door. I caught angel as she slid out.
"wha? Are we there?" she asked half asleep as i carried her into the house.
"sssshhhhh. Go back to sleep. Were home." i carried her upstairs to the first room and slipped her into the bed. She went without protest and i pulled her shoes off then pulled the blankets up to her neck. she fell right back to sleep.
I went back outside to the truck. I closed the passenger door and walked around to the driver side. I turned the car off and pushed the seat forward to allow me to get to blaze. I unclipped her seatbelt and picked her up. I carefully maneuvered her out of the car, being careful not to knock her head on anything. I got her out and closed the door with my foot. I walked her back inside the house.
"close." i said as i passed through the doorway and the door closed behind me.
I walked up the flight of stairs again and to the third bedroom, the second was mine. I placed her on top of the bed and pulled her shoes off and pulled her feet back so i could get her under the blankets. She didn't make any movements at any time that this was happening.
"you sleep like a rock, blaze." i pulled the blankets up to her chin and left the room.
I walked to my room and pulled my clothes off. I threw them into the basket and climbed into my bed. my head hit the pillow and i was sleeping.
The alarm went of at 5:30 as always and i promptly threw it across the room. A few minutes after this i decided to get up and face the unescapable day and hours of work ahead. I slid out of bed and slumped my way to the shower in an attempt to wake myself up. I took off whatever flimsy clothing still lathed my body and stepped into the shower. I turned on the cold water and let it run over me. I woke rather quickly in response to the cold water rushing down on me. I was about to turn the water off when i remembered all that had happened the previous day. I was a raven now, i didn't have to get up at this un-godly hour anymore! I could get up when i want... from now on. It was already too late to save this morning as i was already wide awake. So instead of turning the water off i turned it to hot and enjoyed a nice, long, twenty minute shower; a luxury i had not allowed myself in a very long while.
thus sated from the shower i exited my bathroom and headed downstairs to the laundryroom to dress myself. I wrapped a towel around my waist and walked downstairs. As i stepped off the spiral staircase i walked through the kitchen.
"good morning." a yawning but cheery Blaze said to me as i jumped a foot into the air. "hey now, don't lose that towel. We wouldn't want any unnecessary conversation starters to 'pop up', now would we?" she started laughing.
"no i don't think that would be a good thing." i regained myself and saved the towel. "what are you doing up at six o'clock?"
"I've always been an early starter." something dinged in the background. "oh, you want some coffee? Sorry but you have my favorite kind. I couldn't help myself." she stood from her barstool and walked back to the coffee maker by the micro-wave.
"ya, i would like some, thanks." i said as i continued through the kitchen to finally get some clothes on.
"no need to thank me, its your coffee!" she giggled a little more as she started searching the cubboards for the coffee-cups.
I made it to the laundryroom and grabbed some jeans and a gray t-shirt. I stepped back to the kitchen and saw blaze now looking for sugar and cream.
"let me help you." i walked over and stood behind blaze at the fridge. "I keep it in the back so company doesn't steal it, I like the good stuff that everybody likes." i reached my arm over her shoulder as i said this and grabbed the hidden bottle of coffee creamer in the back of the fridge. "and the sugar is in that cupboard over there." i pointed to my spice cupboard across the kitchen as I stepped back to the table. I sat in the chair next to one of the steaming cups of coffee.
"which ones the sugar?" she giggled a little more at her inability to find anything.
"the small white bowl with a matching lid. It has a little spoon sticking out of it too." I answered her question as I poured a small amount of the white liquid into my cup.
"I thought it was that one." she grabbed the bowl and walked back to the table.
"you really don't need sugar with this kind of cream and this blend of coffee." I pointed out to her as she sat down and prepared to dump a large spoonful of sugar into her cup.
"I have always liked sugar in my coffee, whether it was sweet or sour, Light or dark." she poured the sugar in and mixed it with the coffee. "can you pass the creamer please?"
"oh, ya sure." I picked up the bottle and unscrewed the cap. "here ya go."
"thank you." she smiled and yawned again as she took the bottle from my hand. "I like this place. Its really nice and clean; one would think that a woman lived here as well." she laughed quietly under her breath. "Its really comfortable here. I dont know why but it just is." she put her spoon in her coffee and swirled it around a bit. "ive never owned a house of my own. I have always just traveled around wherever work takes me." she paused for a moment. "but i always came back to Cercall. Ive always found my way back. I guess that garage has been my home more than anything else ever has."
"well, i bought this place because i never warmed up to the idea of living in a garage apartment. This place is too big for me. This place gets kinda creepy sometimes. The house really isn't THAT big but when theres just one person living here..." i took a drink of my coffee.
"i know how that is." blaze took another sip as well. "when i was growing up my family was very wealthy. My father was a corperate excecutive and my mother was his secratary." she took another drink before she continued. "its kinda funny how that worked out. Anyway, we lived in a huge house. It was enourmous, any bigger and it would have been a mansion. My father definetly wore the pants in the family. And because of her position, whenever my father had to work, my mother had to as well. My father worked a lot. most of the day he was at work. Which meant my mother was as well. Which left me alone at home. I had no brothers or sisters. There was only the housekeeper that was here to keep me company, and she wasn't very good at it. She was usually very busy with cleaning the house and she often got in trouble for not doinng her job when she was helping me."
"i understand." i took another deep drink. "i never knew my parents. They died about two weeks after i was born. i dont usually like to talk about it." i took another drink.
"thats fine. Im not trying to push you into any uncomfortable subjects." she did the same.
"i know." i looked up and around for a second, kinda've looking for something to talk about. "so how did you sleep?" i didnt really like those awkward silences.
She took another sip of the coffee. "i slept fine. how did we get here though?" she laughed a little under her breath. "the last thing i remember is talking to some people about the mission at the garage." she drank again.
"well after you and angel passed out, morrow wanted to leave you there." i laughed a little. "i couldn't do that consiously so i carried angel and morrow carried you down to the parking lot and to my truck. We put you both inside and i carried the truck to Cercall with my AC. Morrow followed me there and then he ditched us as soon as we got to Cercall."
"jerk." she took one last deep drink. "you want any more?" she held up her cup.
"oh, No thank you. But could you..." i quickly took the last large drink of mine and held the cup out to her. "put this in the sink for me?"
She gave another underbreath laugh. "sure." she took the cup and walked to the sink.
"then after he was gone i carried you guys to the garage, docked my AC, and then ran around the garage back to the truck. i got in and drove here from Cercall."
Blaze had finished with the cups and sat back into her chair next to me.
"when i got here, you guys were still sleeping so i unlocked the house and just carried each of you in and put you in bed."
"ohh, how nice." she cooed then started laughing.
"shuttup! I wasn't gonna leave you there. And you didn't make one sound, blaze. The whole time i was moving you, you didn't make one peep. I would've thought you were dead if you weren't breathing."
"i know, i know. I was just messing with you. And ya im not surprised. I have always slept like a log." she patted me on the back and stood up to stretch. After a big yawn she asked, "hey, can i watch some TV?"
"ya sure. The remote should be around or in the couch somewhere."
"thanks." she started walking over to the liviing room. She stuck her head back through the doorway. "hey, did you know that your computer is Blinking?" and her head disappeared behind the doorway again.
"oh, i have mail." i stood up and walked over to the computer in the living room. As i walked in i saw blaze searching for the remote. when i looked over, sure enough, there was the small yellow light on the computer strobing on and off. I walked over and took a seat at the comp. "lets just have a looksy." i opened up my mail option and, to my surprise, was not bombarded with porno spam. I had three new mails. I clicked the first mail from the Cortex, it read:
"to Xero, Congratulations on your completion of the raven test. We are also glad to see that you have, so far, a 100% mission completion rate. Because of this we will be giving you special regard when we get any particulary difficult mission requests."
Oh great! Special regard? So they are going to give me special request for all the hard missions they get. And a 100% mission completion!? I've only been on one mission! Oh jesus... I clicked the next mail from my old supervisor, Charlie:
"Xero, i just got the news and i saw the repair crews working on what i guessed was your AC. I thought that the heavy-mid weight with the gold, white, and blue paint job would be yours. Anyway, I'm glad to hear about your advancement and i am being sent a copy of your test by a friend of mine. Can't wait to see it." best of luck, Charlie.
!!! Being sent a copy! oh my GOD! How many people are gonna see that? And they are working on my AC already? I know that charlie gets up early but i guess that the repair crews get up even earlier. I opened up the last mail which intrigued me because it didn't say who it was from.
"Xero, i have recently heard of your advancement to the AC platform and i am prepared full-well to keep my word to you." who the hell is this? "i cannot however upgrade all of your ACs at the same time. So i will accept your AC first for upgrades. After which i will do the same to your allies ACs. Meet me in front of the garage nest in Cercall city at 7:00 pm tomorrow evening."
"sweet!" i shot my fist into the air.
Blaze stuck her head above the couch. "how many times a day must a full grown adult yell 'sweet'?"
"Thats the mechanic from the other day. I completely forgot about that guy." tomorrow. I wonder if they will have my AC done by tomorrow?
"hey everybody." angel was making her way down the stairs with one of my robes on.
blaze popped up from the couch. "well good morning. How did you sleep? Did you take a shower?"
"ya i took one, i had to and i slept fine, how about you guys?"
"we both slept good. Do you want some coffee? The pot is in the maker and the stuff is on the table if you do."
i shut-down the computer and stood to stretch. I looked at the two of them: angel was standing at the base of the stairs looking at me. Then i looked at blaze who was sitting on the couch with her arms crossed over the top of the couch and her head resting on them looking at me.
i just stood there with a sideways grin on my face and my arms outstretched above my head. "this is awkward. so, uhh, what do you guys feel like doin' today?"
They looked at each otherthen back at me smiling.
"what?"
They both laughed. Blaze spun around on the couch and flipped through the channels, coming to some morning cartoons. Angel walked over towards me, "how about we do a whole bunch of nothing." she patted me on the shoulder and walked to the kitchen for some coffee. "Xero, do you have anything to eat?"
"open your eyes, you'll find plenty of food. i always try to keep plenty of food on hand."
We didn't do much of anything the rest of the day. At four o'clock we all drove in to the city and i checked on my AC and the other two called to have their AC shipped over to Cercall garage. My AC had almost all the armour removed and the weapons were gone. I went to talk with the repair manager.
I walked up to a middle aged looking man with blue overalls, a blue hat, and holding a clipboard. He has looking up at the AC and directing the workers. He looked up as i got closer. "hello sir, are you..." he glanced at the clipboard, "Xero, correct? And you are the owner of this AC?"
"yes i am. And your name is?"
"im James. Nice to meet you Xero." he stuck his hand out.
i shook his hand and continued. "so, how much longer would you say the repairs are gonna take?"
"well, we started pretty early, so i think that it should be done pretty soon. Maybe 4 hours or so."
"alright, well as long as it is done by tomorrow night."
"got more plans already?"
"kinda."
"alright then. It will be done by tonight so don't worry about it." he looked back at the clipboard and then back up at Revolution. "HEY YOU JACKASS!!! Thats part of the left shoulder armour! You dumbass, cant you see the rift for the lower half there!? No wonder it wont fit on there!" i jumped about six inches into the air and thought he was yelling at me. Then i looked from the AC to him and saw him looking at a man standing on the right shoulder, guiding a crane with an armour plate. The worker was startled as well and had to catch himself on the armour before falling off. The supervisor looked back at me, "dont worry Xero. I'll make sure that they get her together right. I know these ACs from the inside out. Ill have them refill the ammo on your shotguns and rifle too, OK?"
"alright and I had a machine gun that got destroyed, it was one of the eight-hundred rounders."
"ok, ill have them bring one over."
"I'll probably see you later."
"c'ya."
I walked back to the nest where angel and blaze were waiting for me. I stepped inside and found blaze and angel sitting at the same Booth as the night before. I walked over and took a seat. "hey, did you call in on your ACs?"
"ya, we called but they were already half-done with the repairs, so we are gonna wait until they are finished to have them moved over." blaze answered.
"so are you ready to go?" angel spoke up.
"ya, i talked to the repair manager. My AC should be done by tonight."
"well, i guess we could head back home then?" blaze stood and stretched.
"did you gts get your stuff out of the apartments?" they were gonna stay with me for a while. No sense in them paying for a room each when i have two free ones.
"well, blaze got he s and they are gonna send mine with my AC tomorrow."
"Alright, well if you guys are ready, i have nothing to do so, ya, we could leave."
"then lets go." angel stood, stretched, and pointed to the door.
So leave we did.
"Why do i have to sit in the back!?" angel bitched when i informed her as we aproached the truck.
"because you always sit in the back. Well, not always, but every time we have been in the car you have had shotgun. I figured it was blazes turn. Its really no big deal."
"i am a full grown woman, i don't sit 'in the back'."
"So is blaze."
Blaze was walking behind us the whole time and she didnt say a thing. Her head would move from angel to me as we traded off arguments. "I'll sit in the middle if angel has that much trouble with the backseat and you insist on my sitting in the front."
"but? Dont you want to sit in the front?"
"sure i do, thats why i said the middle and not the back."
"i cant believe we're arguing about this!" angel interrupted.
Angel ended up sitting in the front and Blaze in the middle. Which i didn't mind at all. We drove all around the city trying to find somewhere to eat. After an hour and after passing the same office building three times we said screw-it and decided to go home.
"well one would think that you would know the city that you WORK IN!!!" angel exclamed.
"hey, no need to yell." i pointed to blaze who was sleeping on my shoulder. "i only know how to get to the garage. And if it wasn't because the garage is HUGE then i probably wouldn't know where it was either. Its not my fault you didn't want to eat at the garage."
"o- whatever. And there is perfect reason to yell, i dont care if 'your girl' is sleeping!"
!
"what do you mean 'my girl'? what the fuck angel? Ive known her for three years and ive known you for a week. No need to get jealous." i started laughing hysterically.
"o, you little bastard." she folded her arms and looked out the window. She stayed this way for the rest of the way home.
when we finaly made it to the driveway angel got out and slammed the door, waking up blaze.
"hey dont rip it off the hinges! Jesus Christ..." i turned the car off and looked to blaze. I snickered again at angels last remark.
"what?" she said yawning.
"nothing."
"whats her problem?" she nodded her head toward angel as she stretched.
"her? Well, ill tell you sometime." i opened the door and got out then held the door for blaze.
"o..k... Whatever. Ill remind you someday."
I laughed a little. "sure."
We walked up to the door where angel was waiting for me to unlock it. "did you see how i closed the door? Thats how you do it."
"shuttup and open the door."
"alright. What do you plan to do once we're inside?" i moved forward to open the door.
"i am going to go to the backyard and relax."
"whatever." the door clicked open and angel pushed me aside as she walked in. i looked down at blaze who looked at me and just shrugged. We parted ways when we got inside: blaze to the TV, i to the computer, and angel was laying on a loung chair in the backyard. non of us really interacted much for the rest of the day. I didn't eat dinner, blaze had a little cereal, and angel didn't eat either. At about 7 angel came in and announced she was going to bed after a bath. at about 9 i told blaze that i was going to take a shower and then head to bed.
"dont stay up too late." i said as i walked up the stairs.
"ok, dad."
"shuttup! Not my fault i care." i could hear her laughing as i stepped into my room.
I took a shower and then slid into bed. I layed there for awhile. After a while i heard the TV turn off downstairs and hurried foorsteps. I was wondering why blaze was hurrying but i didn't really care as i slipped into sleep.
"XERO!!"
"am i gonna get to sleep tonight!?" i sat up in my bed. "what Blaze?!"
she ran into my room holding the phone. "its morrow. Apparently we pissed Crest off more than we thought we did."
"what?" Im awake now. "what are you talking about?"
"morrow just called, says he is in a holding facility somewhere behind the old silent line."
"how the hell did he call? Whatever, c'mon lets go." I jumped out of bed and threw some clothes on. "ill have to go alone, you guys wont have your ACs till tomorrow."
"your taking your AC?" she seemed surprised.
"well, ya, what do you think im gonna do? Walk up and ask them to let him go? I'm gonna bust him out."
"whatever, is your AC repaired?"
"it should be. The repair manager said that it would be done by tonight. It better be done or somebody is gonna have hell to pay." I bolted from the room and out to my truck. I jumped in and hit off toward Cercall at 90 mph, leaving both of the girls behind at the house.
Blaze was standing at the door with a fist over her heart. "Good luck Xero."
I was at the garage in 10 minutes. I parked and ran into the garage. "good thing they leave this place open twenty-four seven." I ran past the front desk and went straight to the AC garages. I found Revolution in the third stall over which was lucky for me cause I would've never found it.
"good evening, Xero." The computer said as I opened the hatch and put the suit on.
"good evening Rev, get ready to initiate battle mode. And contact the main office to get us a transport." "alright. Where do we need to be transported?"
that was when I stopped what I was doing and started thinking. "I don't even know where he is. how am I supposed to find him when all I got was his call." That's it. "He called me! I can trace that. Computer, belay the transport order. Hack into the phone systems for Trene city."
It took about fifteen seconds, "done."
"now locate the last call that was made to the number 675-3944."
"confirmed."
"trace that call. Where did it originate from?"
I got an answer about thirty seconds later, "call originated from the Crest penitentiary behind the Silent Line. Corrordinates: Y-54, X-78, north eastern hemisphere."
"that was easier then expected. Computer, save that location data and get us a transport to that area."
"confirmed."
In ten minutes I was in the fastest transport I could get and was on my way to the silent line. The silent line. that place has quite a history: mystery, battles, disappearances. The list goes on. A few years ago a raven was brave enough to go in there and secure a fortress that was found there and then she went into a new layered that was found underground. He went in response to an AI disruption signal that was originating from there. She was dropped in and half an hour later she walked her AC out of that hellhole. That raven had disappeared shortly after the event though only a few believe that she died. That raven is known as Nydem. Most think that she is still alive somewhere.
"raven, get ready, we're almost there." The pilots voice rang through the onboard speakers.
"well, its time." I stepped out of the lounge and into the hanger. I stepped through the doorway and looked upon my AC. It glowed in the dim lights of the hold, the deep gold colors stood out against the white and black. I walked forward and stepped inside the cockpit. I closed my eyes as the thousands of tiny lasers traced my body and the suit tightened to fit me perfectly. I opened my eyes as the inside of the cockpit walls glowed and mirrored the outside world. "I'm ready."
"opening hanger doors. Good luck raven and Godspeed."
I felt the rollers that Revolution was resting on begin to move backward, bringing me out of the transport. I began dropping as I checked the altimeter.
"ground is 500 feet down." The computer warned.
"I got it." And I activated the boosters to slow my decent. I touched down softly and looked around. The silent line had been monopolized after all the threats had been neutralized but there were still strange happenings now and then. "computer, estimate the location of the coordinates saved earlier."
"position located, due east 7 kilometers."
"Gotcha." I turned and hit the overboost.
"Warning." I switched off the overboost. I had been running and overboosting for about ten to fifteen minutes.
"What is it, Rev?" I stopped and looked ahead. I could see a large gray building ahead. There was nothing else around it except for a few hills and some scrap metal that stuck out of the ground. No guard towers, no MTs, nothing.
"Security system detected, if we advance much further we will activate the security measures."
"Good. We'll force through the security then break the building."
"That plan is not advised." The computer warned but I had already picked up my shotguns and hit the overboost.
I had traveled about 500 more meters when my radar went crazy. Red dots, blue dots, yellow dots. They were everywhere.
I looked ahead and saw the ground open and three battle MTs were lifted above ground. "lets rock!" I flew forward and rammed my shoulder armour into the first one. I lifted my shotguns to the other two to my left and right. I fired my shotguns three times, wrecking the two MTs to my sides. Then I jumped above the stunned MT that I rammed and landed on top of it. I pointed my left shotgun down and blew the front of it off. My radar lit up with six blue dots that were moving quite fast. "Missiles." I boosted backwards, leaving the MTs to explode. I looked to my right and sure enough there were at least six missiles coming towards me. I jetted to the left and let two of them fly by me, three hit me and the last flew over my shoulder.
I looked to my right and saw four more heavy MTs coming towards me. But what I saw next I didn't expect: a bright flash further to my right, and I saw a small orange AC in full overboost flying at ungodly speeds toward the MTs. Next thing I knew the MTs were in four pieces each and the AC was floating across from them.
"your pretty brave, trying to take on Crest all by yourself all for a friend."
"that AC. is that you Dash?"
"aww, you got me."
I laughed. "nice entrance. "
"you ready to bust in yet?" he pointed one of his blade arms toward the holding.
"always, but I don't know where they are keeping Morrow. We might kill him on our way in."
"that would be a waste now wouldn't it? It helps to use the resources that are available to ravens. I am sending you a map of the facility, he is in the east block. Now, he is in a wall cell, so if we take out the wall he will have a clear escape."
"ok, but how do we not kill him in the process of taking out he wall?"
"you let me handle that." We waved one of his blade arms around a bit. "you just cover me."
"alright. You ready?"
"I just asked you that." He laughed and hit his overboost, he launched forward and took out five more MTs on his way to the base.
I did the same and switched on my overboost as well, which shot me to the building. Dash got there well before i did and he took out six more battle MTs on his way. I shot out the guard towers that were launching rockets everywhere and especially at dash.
"ya-know, they won't hit me." he said as he reached the wall, and i shortly after.
"well, best not to take chances." i turned and fired three missiles each at two incoming MTs. "hurry and find his cell! I can't hold off an army!"
"im going, i have to trace my map with the wall." he turned the attention of his high powered maping head back to the wall. He began moving his arms up and down the wall , back and forth. "he should be... there!" he activated one of his blades and stabed it into the cement wall the traced a small square into the wall with his blade. The whole time i have my rifle and one shotgun going as fast as they will allow me to fire, picking off targets that got into range. "i got it! the wall is carved, get over here and pull it out."
"alright, your turn to guard!" i put my shotgun away and walked over with my rifle in hand. Dash floated past me and then lowered his AC to the ground and brought his chain gun and small linear cannon over his shoulders and began firing full blast at everything that got too close.
"i thought morrow said that you had a missile launcher instead of that linear gun?" i asked as i used my rifle and blew two big wholes on the outside of the square.
"well i did, but then i used the test arena and found that i was almost as fast as the missiles! So i made a few adjustments and dropped the missile launcher and replaced it with the gun." he fired more chaingun shots into a nearby MT then fired a linear gun round into the chest of another MT, blowing a hole in it.
I put my rifle on the clip and i punched each of my fists into each of the respective holes, knocking out some more wall in the process. After my hands were in i opened my hands and brought them towards each other until i gripped the square. After i had the grip, i pulled the square back and threw it behind me and it crushed the head of an MT Behind me.
"watch where your throwing the stone tablets, Xero! You almost knocked me in the back of the head!"
"'close' only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades." i looked inside and sure enough, there was morrow, gripping the bars on the front of his cell for dear life, trying to rip them off. "hey, morrow, jump in!" i leaned my AC's core in close and opened the hatch but Morrow wasn't moving. "c'mon morrow! Its me Xero! i'm getting shot at here!" it was gradual but eventually he got in. "what the hell happened? Why are you here?"
"you scared the shit out of me! Holy god Xero!"
I turned around and faced dash. "You ready to go yet?"
"Hell yea, let's get the hell out of here!" He fired a few more chaingun rounds into a nearby MT then hit his overboost across the darkened expanse, thus drawing fire away from me. Unfortunately I didn't understand what he was doing exactly. "What are you waiting for Xero? Get moving I'm taking fire for you!"
"Oh! Shit, sorry! I'm moving." I took a few steps out of the wire fencing directly around the compound. "Morrow, I hope your holding on to something!"
"What am I supposed to hold on to?!" He stood underneath me and was looking around the cockpit furiously trying to find something to brace himself with.
"Revolution!"
"Yes sir?"
"Extend the passenger grab bar."
"Yes sir, extending. Be warned that the bar will not be very helpful should an overboost be initiated."
"Yes Rev, I know." Two small bars extended out of the back of the cockpit, one came out a bit further than the one below it.
"Wait, Xero? How is this thing supposed to help me if you guys are going to be over boosting all the way out of here?"
"Would you rather have nothing?! Now hurry and get in those things, dash is almost out completely already!"
"Fine." he jumped up to the first bar and worked his way up so that he was standing on the first bar and he had slid his chest behind the second bar.
"Hold on!" I hit the overboost and listened as the mechanical whine grew louder and louder until exploding with eruptive force out of the back of my AC. I shot forward at an excess of 500 mph. I could hear morrow's bloody cries of terror as he was being pushed into the cockpit screens behind me. "I'm on my way dash!"
"Hurry up, your gonna get all kinds of fire for waiting for so long."
I veered slightly to the left as a pair of rockets impacted the ground where I was. "Yea, I know." I continued dodging weapons fire, paying special attention to the rockets, which were easily the hardest hitting weapon on the field. I let go of the overboost to allow my generator to rest. When I landed I unclipped my sniper rifle and one of the shotguns. I looked to the left and fired a sniper bullet into the chest of a nearing MT; the MT stopped in its tracks and fell flat backwards. Next I looked to me right and unloaded four shotgun blasts into another nearing MT, the MT's head and right arm fell clean off because of the structural damage. The MT proceeded to fall forward and explode. I checked my gauges, with the generator being fully charged I turned back to my original direction and engaged my overboost. Again, I was shot forward and toward dash, who was zipping this way and that, dodging and slicing.
"Where are you Xero!? I can't hold this up much longer!" He took another hit to the left side of his core as he said this.
"I'm right here!" I sped right in front of dash, taking three or four rifle shots for him in the process. I switched off the overboost and spun around to face the opposite direction and started firing my rifle and shotgun relentlessly into the crowd of high-end MTs that were pursuing me. I managed to take out five or six before they began to gain ground. Dash jumped in front of me and lowered his chaingun.
"GO!!! I'll hold them off as long as I can! You get out of here, I can outrun these guys, you can't!" He started firing his cannon, sweeping left to right in a slow pattern, taking out MTs that were impaled by the massive bullets.
"What are you doing dash!? You can't take them all out!"
"Stop trying to play the hero damnit! Just go!"
Damn him. And who's trying to play the hero here? He has a good point though. "Dash! If I don't see you in the nest tomorrow, I'm gonna hunt you down and kick your ass! You hear me?"
"Yea, yea, I got ya." he started laughing a bit under his breath.
Damn you dash; you better make it out of here. I looked once more before my overboost readied to shoot me away and I saw dash lower his cannon and charge forward with his blades heated. I turned forward and made my way back to the garage. Morrow had passed out long before so it made for a quiet trip.
- -- --- back at the compound -- -
"Sir!" The soldier came to attention upon entering the presence of his senior officer.
"At ease, soldier. Report!"
the soldier lowered his hand and locked his hands together behind his back and spread his legs to present a more powerful stance. He proceeded with the report, "The subject has rescued his companion as planned. But his accomplice appears to still be fighting on the grounds."
"Still fighting huh? He must be holding our forces back while the subject can escape. this may work out better than planned for us. Capture the AC that is still fighting and bring me the pilot, he could prove to be a well placed ally. I will bring him to Cataclysma." The officer sat back in his chair to think.
"But, sir. he will never come willingly if he is doing this for a friend." The soldier pointed out.
The officer sat forward in his chair again. "True, true. But have any of us come willingly? Cataclysma has ways of bending a person's will. now, give the order!" The officer sat again back in his chair.
"Yes sir." The soldier left the room briskly.
- -- ---back at the garage (7 hours later) -- -
I docked my AC in the repair garage, much to the repair manager's horror.
"Holy shit, boy!!!" He looked like he was having a heart attack. "I was damn proud of the way that AC glowed in the lights! And now look what you've done! You gotta slow down!!" his eyes traced up and down Revolutions battered armour and scolded paint.
"Sorry buddy, but I had some urgent business to attend to." I pulled morrow out of the top cockpit hatch. "This monkey got imprisoned by Crest, and I had to bail him out."
"ya'know, you could go to prison yourself for that little stunt."
"they imprisoned him for something he did on a mission."
"Oh, well that's a different story. A raven has the freedom to do whatever he or she desires so long as they are engaged in a mission." The mechanic recited.
"I know the law! Explain that to Crest." I pulled morrow down from the AC, sat him on the catwalk and leaned him against the guardrail. "C'mon morrow, wake up you jackass!" I slapped him across the face.
"Oooh, bitch-slap!" The manager joked.
But after I slapped him, morrow awoke and returned the favor.
"Oooh, gut-check!" The mechanic joked again.
I keeled over onto my knees and clutched my stomach. "What was that for morrow!? Holy god that hurts!" I fell back and sat on the catwalk with my back leaning on the guardrail across from morrow.
"Well, first you scared the ever-living shit out of me with your little break out." He sat up and rubbed the side of his face. "And second, you just hit me!"
"But why hit me harder?"
"Well, you got two points on me and that will be a lesson not to ever do that again."
We both laughed.
- -- --- back with Dash -- -
An orange and silver AC lay destroyed on the ground. Both of the back weapons destroyed, the left half of the hover leg unit is missing, and the left side of the core is melted away along with the arm.
The pilot is unconscious.
The shadow of a bloodthirsty AC looms over the defeated.