Chapter 11
They finished eating rather quickly and departed Matt's house with a fond wave and a good luck from Matt. Xero walked back out of the garage to pick up Revolution. He stepped inside and the lights came on as he walked inside. He looked up and Revolution had been fitted with a new armour plate over the shoulder. He climbed up the stairs and up onto he core of Revolution. He climbed in and put his suit back on. "Revolution, initialize startup procedure."
"Yes, sir."
He stood silently, listening, as the generator of the AC roared to life. "Blaze, you ready?" He asked over the open comm.
"yeah, I'm here. Let's go." He walked out of the garage and started walking around Matt's house. He looked over and Blaze was standing in front of Matt's house, ready to go.
The comm. came up, "Xero, remember what I said. The time will come, not now. Don't try to rush things."
"yeah, yeah..." Xero was a little frustrated with the whole situation.
"and Blaze," Matt said over the comm.,
"Yes?" she replied.
"help him as much as you can, I have a feeling things are going to get a little dicey soon. He will need all the help he can get." The comm. closed as he finished his sentence.
"why are you telling her to help him? Do you feel the time is fast approaching?" Robin asked her husband back inside the house.
"I know the time is coming." He sighed as he dropped his head, "and the thing is, Xero is nowhere near ready for them to happen and I'm worried. He is arrogant and naïve. He may get himself killed." He turned to his wife and put a hand on her shoulder.
She put her hand on his, "it will be alright, we won last time didn't we?"
He looked up into her face and smiled. "yes we did..." he replied, "...but not by much."
Xero turned Revolution back in the direction of the garage and brought the comm. up. "C'mon Blaze, let's continue that race back to the garage."
"You're on..." she replied half-heartily. She continued to wonder what Matt meant when he told her to help Xero. She hit her boosters back toward the garage.
Xero closed the comm. then brought up another with Matt, "I hope you know what you're doing Matthew." He turned back and hit the boosters.
Xero beat Blaze back to the garage quite easily. Upon reaching the garage they came upon a dilemma.
"um... Xero? How are we gonna get back home? You left the truck at home in the driveway."
"crap. Well, we have a few options; one, we could park the ACs and take a bus. Two, we could take t he ACs home and get kicked out of the neighborhood. Three, I could run home really quick in Revolution and bring the truck back here. Or four, we could walk. Which would you prefer?"
a sarcastic moment of silence passed. "how long would it take you to get the truck and bring it back here?" she asked.
"Well, probably about five to ten minutes." Xero replied.
"I'll wait here, get moving..." she walked up to the garage and brought the comm. up with the garage control to open the gates.
Alright then, I guess I'm gonna go pick up the truck... he thought to himself.
Xero turned on his heel and ignited his boosters back toward home. Fifteen minutes later he was back at the garage helping Blaze into the truck. He closed the door and walked around to the other side, got in, and started the truck. Forty minutes from then they were pulling into the driveway in Trene city.
Xero checked his watch. "its only nine o'clock."
"well, what do you want to do before we head to bed?"
"I have no idea. There isn't anything to do really." He turned to her after they stepped inside and they both fell into the couch. "you have any ideas?"
"notta."
"alright then. This could get real boring real fast."
"and it probably shall." She leaned forward and grabbed the remote from the coffee table.
"TV? That is the best that you can come up with? Terrible..."
"you have a better idea?"
"nope. But I am going to head to bed early then. I have a headache, I'm gonna get some NyQuil and get some sleep."
"alright. See you later."
"how late you plan on staying up?"
"eh, I don't know, I will probably watch a movie then head to bed."
"alright, g'night."
"night."
Xero made his way up the stairs to his room. He got undressed and climbed into bed.
I wonder what Matt knows that he won't tell me? Why would he not tell me? And what the hell did he mean when he said that I will know soon enough? Know what? And I wish that whenever it is would hurry up...
he laid in bed for another half hour before finally falling asleep...
"Morrow!! Check left!!!" Morrow turned to the left just in time for him to put up an arm to block the impaling spike that ran through his left arm. The spike was attached to the core of another of those strange units.
"god damn!! That thing would've ran straight through my core!!" he pulled the unit above his head by lifting his arm and fired his KARASAWA straight through it. He threw the unit down behind him.
"YYYAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!" Xero looked back behind him and Angel was being chased backwards by two more units. She kept boosting backward until another unit came up behind her and ran its sword straight through her head. She stopped boosting and the units that were following her stabbed both of their blades through her core, blood tipping the ends that protruded from the other side.
"ANGEL!!!" Morrow screamed over the comm. as he hit the over boost and sliced the three units in half with his MOONLIGHT as he flew by. Angel's AC fell lifelessly to the ground, five great holes buried through her AC. one in her head, and four through the core. The units turned to sand and blew away as she fell limply to the ground.
Xero looked behind him and saw Blaze standing still, looking at Angel's AC fall to the ground. More units flew up behind her and beheaded Blaze's AC
"Xero! Behind you!!" he heard a strange new voice scream as he turned to face an AC that rocked his very sanity. Xero felt the color drain from his face as he looked upwards into the eyes of a demon. He looked the AC over and noticed the same blue and red veins running through the core, legs, and arms and then up into the head through the neck. the demon held a large scythe in its right hand, the scythe had two large red beams coming out of the edge and it appeared to be made of bone. the demon had a pair of horrible wings protruding from its back, they were extended out to the sides and the sheer size of the wings added to the size of this demon appeared to fill the area immidiately around it. the blood-red ribs running along the chest seemed the glow as they reflected the light of the glowing veins. Xero tried to take a step backward as the AC raised its massive scythe but his legs felt as though they were cement. his pupils shrunk and the only thoughts that rang through his mind as he watch the scythe lift higher above him were why me? what the Hell does this thing want with me?
"this is where I end it boy! You have caused me too much trouble, son of my enders!!"
"son of what?" he managed to gasp before the massive scythe ripped through his core again.
"XEROOO!!!!!" a distant scream sounded as Xero flew upright in his bed, covered in a cold sweat and breathing heavily.
What the Hell was that?! He took a few moments to regain himself and breath. A dream...?
"Xero...?"
he looked to his left and Blaze was sitting up in bed, holding the blankets up to her neck and tears down her cheeks.
"are you alright Xero? You were talking and yelling in your sleep. You really scared me..."
"oh Blaze, I'm fine... just a dream." He reached over and put his arms around her shoulders. "why are you crying? Did I scare you that much?"
"yeah... sorry, I guess I just... just..." she buried her head in his neck, "sorry..." she sobbed.
"quiet down now... nothing to be worried about." He paused, "your just a little quick to cry. I'm fine, everything is okay."
She pulled her head back and looked at him.
He looked into her eyes, "everything is fine, like I said. Now, how about we get back to sleep?"
She nodded her head and laid back down, he never let go of her shoulders though. They laid in bed for a few more minutes, Blaze's arms held up over her chest, Xero's arms around her shoulders and her head resting on his chest.
Xero opened his eyes to be blinded by more sunlight from the window. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. I had a dream right...? I remember now... he looked to his left and Blaze was sleeping on her side, the blankets pulled up to her neck and breathing deeply. There was no expression on her face. Normally she wears a small smile while sleeping but there was nothing, it was kind'ove strange. Seeing her like that sent a small chill down Xero's spine.
He got out of bed and walked to the shower. He undressed and got in, letting the cold water flow over his face and body. He stayed there for a few minutes until he got very cold, at which point we switched the water to hot shortly before turning it off.
He walked down stairs and ate some cereal. While he was eating he heard Blaze coming down the stairs. Nothing was said, she walked up and past him, not looking at him or making any sign of his existence. She walked past him and got some cereal out of the cupboard. She poured some in a bowl and put some milk on it. She brought it over to the table and sat next to him with her bowl.
"so..." she started, "how did you sleep last night?"
"well, after that weird dream... I slept okay." Xero replied, which was a lie but he wasn't sure about telling her too much about it.
"good. Well, what do we have planned for today?"
"well, I was gonna head down to the garage and look for a mission. I am getting bored sitting around here all the time."
"sounds good, mind if I tag along?"
"on what? A mission, or to the garage?"
"duh, a mission. What, did you really think I was gonna sit in the nest and wait for you to come back?"
"I guess it was a stupid thing to ask." He stood with his bowl, now void of cereal and the remaining milk sloshing about. He walked to the sink and dumped it down the drain. "I wanna leave pretty soon. Never good to take a mission late in the day." He recalled the last time he took a mission late in the day.
"alright, just let me get dressed." She ate the last bites of her cereal as Xero walked back upstairs to get his jacket.
They arrived at the garage a little over an hour later. They parked the truck and went to the nest.
They stepped inside and Blaze went straight for the snack bar. "I'm hungry!" Xero proceeded to the mission log computers on the far wall. He sat at a vacant computer and entered his account number and began searching the mission boards.
Mirage...Crest...Mirage...Mirage...Mirage... "I guess Mirage is moving out a bit." He laughed to himself a bit, "either they have made some new enemies or they are expanding their borders."
Blaze appeared behind him, "so...? Anything?" she took another bite of a small burrito that she had bought.
"well, there are quite a few Mirage missions. And I am not so sure that Crest really trusts us anymore."
"well then I guess its Mirage." She said with a half full mouth.
"well, not quite. Look at this." He pointed to a mission request from a new corporation. And read the mission description aloud. "search and destroy. Mirage has been expending their territory in leaps and bounds due in large part to the help of a particular raven that has been working exclusively for them. Mirage has been using this raven far too much and has been benefiting far too much from his existence. We request that you search out the exact whereabouts of this raven and eliminate him. We have learned that he will be in the canyon area between the times of eight and thirteen- hundred hours. Please make your way to the area and eliminate the target."
"sounds tough, a single raven that has been benefiting a single corporation that much. he must be damn good."
"yeah, but look at the reward, sixty K." Blaze's eyes widened. "quite a bit of credits. And look, three consort slots. That's twenty K each."
"I can do math. But if you only have two people run the mission, that's thirty each." Blaze responded.
"duh..."
"so, who is requesting?"
"they're called Vega Tech. apparently they are brand new, just formed a few months ago but they are already pushing into the mainstream corporations. they have been advancing quickly with the help of some major technology improvements."
"well, you wanna try it?" Blaze asked, stuffing the last half-inch of her burrito into her mouth.
Xero looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "you think we can take him?"
She chewed and swallowed, then she examined the ceiling for a moment. "I think so, two on one is good enough odds for me. Even if he is an ace, I mean, you beat the A-1 raven on your first mission in an AC. I think that gives us a pretty good chance." She paused again. "yeah, lets go for it."
"alright..." Xero said as he hesitantly clicked the 'accept' icon and passed off the comment Blaze made. "okay, we're in. this is a time sensitive mission. The offer ends tonight at midnight. So I suggest that we get going."
"alright then. Lets go suit up." She hurried off out of the nest and down toward the garages. Xero followed shortly after reading up on the mission parameters and checking the location.
They finished eating rather quickly and departed Matt's house with a fond wave and a good luck from Matt. Xero walked back out of the garage to pick up Revolution. He stepped inside and the lights came on as he walked inside. He looked up and Revolution had been fitted with a new armour plate over the shoulder. He climbed up the stairs and up onto he core of Revolution. He climbed in and put his suit back on. "Revolution, initialize startup procedure."
"Yes, sir."
He stood silently, listening, as the generator of the AC roared to life. "Blaze, you ready?" He asked over the open comm.
"yeah, I'm here. Let's go." He walked out of the garage and started walking around Matt's house. He looked over and Blaze was standing in front of Matt's house, ready to go.
The comm. came up, "Xero, remember what I said. The time will come, not now. Don't try to rush things."
"yeah, yeah..." Xero was a little frustrated with the whole situation.
"and Blaze," Matt said over the comm.,
"Yes?" she replied.
"help him as much as you can, I have a feeling things are going to get a little dicey soon. He will need all the help he can get." The comm. closed as he finished his sentence.
"why are you telling her to help him? Do you feel the time is fast approaching?" Robin asked her husband back inside the house.
"I know the time is coming." He sighed as he dropped his head, "and the thing is, Xero is nowhere near ready for them to happen and I'm worried. He is arrogant and naïve. He may get himself killed." He turned to his wife and put a hand on her shoulder.
She put her hand on his, "it will be alright, we won last time didn't we?"
He looked up into her face and smiled. "yes we did..." he replied, "...but not by much."
Xero turned Revolution back in the direction of the garage and brought the comm. up. "C'mon Blaze, let's continue that race back to the garage."
"You're on..." she replied half-heartily. She continued to wonder what Matt meant when he told her to help Xero. She hit her boosters back toward the garage.
Xero closed the comm. then brought up another with Matt, "I hope you know what you're doing Matthew." He turned back and hit the boosters.
Xero beat Blaze back to the garage quite easily. Upon reaching the garage they came upon a dilemma.
"um... Xero? How are we gonna get back home? You left the truck at home in the driveway."
"crap. Well, we have a few options; one, we could park the ACs and take a bus. Two, we could take t he ACs home and get kicked out of the neighborhood. Three, I could run home really quick in Revolution and bring the truck back here. Or four, we could walk. Which would you prefer?"
a sarcastic moment of silence passed. "how long would it take you to get the truck and bring it back here?" she asked.
"Well, probably about five to ten minutes." Xero replied.
"I'll wait here, get moving..." she walked up to the garage and brought the comm. up with the garage control to open the gates.
Alright then, I guess I'm gonna go pick up the truck... he thought to himself.
Xero turned on his heel and ignited his boosters back toward home. Fifteen minutes later he was back at the garage helping Blaze into the truck. He closed the door and walked around to the other side, got in, and started the truck. Forty minutes from then they were pulling into the driveway in Trene city.
Xero checked his watch. "its only nine o'clock."
"well, what do you want to do before we head to bed?"
"I have no idea. There isn't anything to do really." He turned to her after they stepped inside and they both fell into the couch. "you have any ideas?"
"notta."
"alright then. This could get real boring real fast."
"and it probably shall." She leaned forward and grabbed the remote from the coffee table.
"TV? That is the best that you can come up with? Terrible..."
"you have a better idea?"
"nope. But I am going to head to bed early then. I have a headache, I'm gonna get some NyQuil and get some sleep."
"alright. See you later."
"how late you plan on staying up?"
"eh, I don't know, I will probably watch a movie then head to bed."
"alright, g'night."
"night."
Xero made his way up the stairs to his room. He got undressed and climbed into bed.
I wonder what Matt knows that he won't tell me? Why would he not tell me? And what the hell did he mean when he said that I will know soon enough? Know what? And I wish that whenever it is would hurry up...
he laid in bed for another half hour before finally falling asleep...
"Morrow!! Check left!!!" Morrow turned to the left just in time for him to put up an arm to block the impaling spike that ran through his left arm. The spike was attached to the core of another of those strange units.
"god damn!! That thing would've ran straight through my core!!" he pulled the unit above his head by lifting his arm and fired his KARASAWA straight through it. He threw the unit down behind him.
"YYYAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!" Xero looked back behind him and Angel was being chased backwards by two more units. She kept boosting backward until another unit came up behind her and ran its sword straight through her head. She stopped boosting and the units that were following her stabbed both of their blades through her core, blood tipping the ends that protruded from the other side.
"ANGEL!!!" Morrow screamed over the comm. as he hit the over boost and sliced the three units in half with his MOONLIGHT as he flew by. Angel's AC fell lifelessly to the ground, five great holes buried through her AC. one in her head, and four through the core. The units turned to sand and blew away as she fell limply to the ground.
Xero looked behind him and saw Blaze standing still, looking at Angel's AC fall to the ground. More units flew up behind her and beheaded Blaze's AC
"Xero! Behind you!!" he heard a strange new voice scream as he turned to face an AC that rocked his very sanity. Xero felt the color drain from his face as he looked upwards into the eyes of a demon. He looked the AC over and noticed the same blue and red veins running through the core, legs, and arms and then up into the head through the neck. the demon held a large scythe in its right hand, the scythe had two large red beams coming out of the edge and it appeared to be made of bone. the demon had a pair of horrible wings protruding from its back, they were extended out to the sides and the sheer size of the wings added to the size of this demon appeared to fill the area immidiately around it. the blood-red ribs running along the chest seemed the glow as they reflected the light of the glowing veins. Xero tried to take a step backward as the AC raised its massive scythe but his legs felt as though they were cement. his pupils shrunk and the only thoughts that rang through his mind as he watch the scythe lift higher above him were why me? what the Hell does this thing want with me?
"this is where I end it boy! You have caused me too much trouble, son of my enders!!"
"son of what?" he managed to gasp before the massive scythe ripped through his core again.
"XEROOO!!!!!" a distant scream sounded as Xero flew upright in his bed, covered in a cold sweat and breathing heavily.
What the Hell was that?! He took a few moments to regain himself and breath. A dream...?
"Xero...?"
he looked to his left and Blaze was sitting up in bed, holding the blankets up to her neck and tears down her cheeks.
"are you alright Xero? You were talking and yelling in your sleep. You really scared me..."
"oh Blaze, I'm fine... just a dream." He reached over and put his arms around her shoulders. "why are you crying? Did I scare you that much?"
"yeah... sorry, I guess I just... just..." she buried her head in his neck, "sorry..." she sobbed.
"quiet down now... nothing to be worried about." He paused, "your just a little quick to cry. I'm fine, everything is okay."
She pulled her head back and looked at him.
He looked into her eyes, "everything is fine, like I said. Now, how about we get back to sleep?"
She nodded her head and laid back down, he never let go of her shoulders though. They laid in bed for a few more minutes, Blaze's arms held up over her chest, Xero's arms around her shoulders and her head resting on his chest.
Xero opened his eyes to be blinded by more sunlight from the window. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. I had a dream right...? I remember now... he looked to his left and Blaze was sleeping on her side, the blankets pulled up to her neck and breathing deeply. There was no expression on her face. Normally she wears a small smile while sleeping but there was nothing, it was kind'ove strange. Seeing her like that sent a small chill down Xero's spine.
He got out of bed and walked to the shower. He undressed and got in, letting the cold water flow over his face and body. He stayed there for a few minutes until he got very cold, at which point we switched the water to hot shortly before turning it off.
He walked down stairs and ate some cereal. While he was eating he heard Blaze coming down the stairs. Nothing was said, she walked up and past him, not looking at him or making any sign of his existence. She walked past him and got some cereal out of the cupboard. She poured some in a bowl and put some milk on it. She brought it over to the table and sat next to him with her bowl.
"so..." she started, "how did you sleep last night?"
"well, after that weird dream... I slept okay." Xero replied, which was a lie but he wasn't sure about telling her too much about it.
"good. Well, what do we have planned for today?"
"well, I was gonna head down to the garage and look for a mission. I am getting bored sitting around here all the time."
"sounds good, mind if I tag along?"
"on what? A mission, or to the garage?"
"duh, a mission. What, did you really think I was gonna sit in the nest and wait for you to come back?"
"I guess it was a stupid thing to ask." He stood with his bowl, now void of cereal and the remaining milk sloshing about. He walked to the sink and dumped it down the drain. "I wanna leave pretty soon. Never good to take a mission late in the day." He recalled the last time he took a mission late in the day.
"alright, just let me get dressed." She ate the last bites of her cereal as Xero walked back upstairs to get his jacket.
They arrived at the garage a little over an hour later. They parked the truck and went to the nest.
They stepped inside and Blaze went straight for the snack bar. "I'm hungry!" Xero proceeded to the mission log computers on the far wall. He sat at a vacant computer and entered his account number and began searching the mission boards.
Mirage...Crest...Mirage...Mirage...Mirage... "I guess Mirage is moving out a bit." He laughed to himself a bit, "either they have made some new enemies or they are expanding their borders."
Blaze appeared behind him, "so...? Anything?" she took another bite of a small burrito that she had bought.
"well, there are quite a few Mirage missions. And I am not so sure that Crest really trusts us anymore."
"well then I guess its Mirage." She said with a half full mouth.
"well, not quite. Look at this." He pointed to a mission request from a new corporation. And read the mission description aloud. "search and destroy. Mirage has been expending their territory in leaps and bounds due in large part to the help of a particular raven that has been working exclusively for them. Mirage has been using this raven far too much and has been benefiting far too much from his existence. We request that you search out the exact whereabouts of this raven and eliminate him. We have learned that he will be in the canyon area between the times of eight and thirteen- hundred hours. Please make your way to the area and eliminate the target."
"sounds tough, a single raven that has been benefiting a single corporation that much. he must be damn good."
"yeah, but look at the reward, sixty K." Blaze's eyes widened. "quite a bit of credits. And look, three consort slots. That's twenty K each."
"I can do math. But if you only have two people run the mission, that's thirty each." Blaze responded.
"duh..."
"so, who is requesting?"
"they're called Vega Tech. apparently they are brand new, just formed a few months ago but they are already pushing into the mainstream corporations. they have been advancing quickly with the help of some major technology improvements."
"well, you wanna try it?" Blaze asked, stuffing the last half-inch of her burrito into her mouth.
Xero looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "you think we can take him?"
She chewed and swallowed, then she examined the ceiling for a moment. "I think so, two on one is good enough odds for me. Even if he is an ace, I mean, you beat the A-1 raven on your first mission in an AC. I think that gives us a pretty good chance." She paused again. "yeah, lets go for it."
"alright..." Xero said as he hesitantly clicked the 'accept' icon and passed off the comment Blaze made. "okay, we're in. this is a time sensitive mission. The offer ends tonight at midnight. So I suggest that we get going."
"alright then. Lets go suit up." She hurried off out of the nest and down toward the garages. Xero followed shortly after reading up on the mission parameters and checking the location.