Armored Core: Controller Chronicles

Chapter 2: Mission

As the artificial sun of Layered glowed through the sky, some of its rays shone through the window of the room. Jen stirred as it shone in her face, slowly starting to wake up. It took her only a minute before she was fully awake, and she instinctively checked her surroundings. She looked around the room, noticing how simply it was set up. It left little room for privacy, minus the bathroom at the far end of the room. It was primarily a single room with a bed, small sofa, TV, refrigerator, stove, cupboards, table chairs, desk, and computer system all crammed into it. The bed was meant for a single person and was closest to the bathroom. The table, chairs, fridge, stove, and cupboards were all crammed into the opposite corner of the room, making it a designated kitchen. The TV was placed in the opposite corner, with the sofa facing towards it. The sofa itself wasn't exactly new, but it hadn't been sat on for months. The computer equipment took up the last corner of the room. The room itself was large enough to fit a few more beds in it, but it would require the computer desk to be wedged between the sofa and the nearest kitchen chair.

Jen bolted up in the bed, unfamiliar with her surroundings. She was still wearing the grey pilot suit from last night, having not taken them off due to how tired she was then. She looked around for a moment before spotting a blue pilot's suit thrown over one of the chairs. She sighed after seeing it, recollecting everything from last night. "I forgot," she said to herself. "This is Mobius's room." She stretched herself out as she got out of the bed, making her way towards the bathroom for a shower.

As she shut the door and started to undress, Mobius himself was waking up from the sofa. His pilot suit was currently on the chair, but he was wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt since he went to sleep. He sat up with eyes half open, then started stretching out as he gave a yawn. 'Damn sofa,' he thought, rubbing his head as he made his way to the bathroom. 'Haven't needed to sleep on it since I got it, and I rarely ever sat on it either.' He gave another yawn. 'Damn thing is stiff as a board.' He started stretching himself out a bit more as he got to the bathroom door. He didn't even hear the humming from inside as he opened the door. He barely even noticed the scream that emanated from inside the room, but it was enough to have him look up for a moment.

Jen was humming a tune inside the bathroom as she got undressed, but froze when she heard the bathroom door open. She looked at the door, wearing only her pair of panties. She saw Mobius enter, and she turned red in the face with rage. "GET OUT OF HERE, YOU PERVERT!" she yelled angrily, grabbing the nearest thing and throwing it towards him. He looked up in time to get hit in the face by a metal bucket, which he normally used to splash himself with cold water in the mornings before taking his shower. Since he always woke up kind of groggily, he uses it for a quick wake up call.

"YEOW!" he yelled as the bucket flattened his nose before both he and it fell onto the floor. He quickly got back up in a sitting position, his hands over his nose. Blood was starting to trickle from underneath his hands as he looked up at his attacker. "WHAT THE HE…" He stopped when he saw Jen standing there, getting a good view of her bust. However, he was more worried about her hand grabbing the shampoo than her lack of clothing. He immediately got to his feet, turned around, and got his ass out of the bathroom as she threw the shampoo, soap, and a razor blade at the Raven. The shampoo missed, hitting the side of the door as the soap bounced off the back of his head. As he turned to shut the door, the razor caught his hand with its blades just a second before the door closed. He swore loudly from being cut, blood pouring out of his hand from the trio of cuts on the back of it. He gripped his wrist as he moved to the kitchen sink, turning the water on to wash the cuts. He gritted his teeth in pain as the water washed into the wound. "Holy… she freaking cut me!" he growled. "And the damn med kit's in the freaking bathroom!"

Jen heard him swear loudly as the door closed, breathing deeply from being startled and seen as she was. It took her nearly a minute to realize what had happened, her instincts having taken over when she saw him just barge into the bathroom like that. After she had recovered from the shock, she started to realize what she had done, especially since she threw a razor he had left lying around on the sink at him. "Damn," she murmured, getting her clothes back on as she moved towards the door. She slipped into her grey pilot suit again, keeping it unzipped in her haste before she opened the door. She saw the trail of blood lead away from the door, with the bloodied razor still next to it, which led to where Mobius was now. She heard him grumbling in anger, and knew why he would be angry. "Mobius?" she started, unsure what to do at the moment.

He shot her a look as he pulled out some paper towels, wrapping his hand as tightly as he could to slow the bleeding. It was already starting to seep through. "Get the med kit," he said quickly. "Bottom cabinet!" She nodded and returned into the bathroom, crouching down to open the cabinet under the sink. It wasn't too hard to find it, since it had a large red plus sign on a blue cover. She pulled it out and left the bathroom quickly, nearly stepping on the razor as she left. She moved over to Mobius and placed the med kit on the counter, opening it and looking at what he would need. "Hydrogen peroxide," he said. She looked at him questionably. "Do you know how to treat wounds?" he asked, gripping his hand tightly.

"Only mid scrapes," she admitted, picking up the hydrogen peroxide. She was about to open it when she noticed how bad the wound was. Mobius had started to unwrap it, showing three slashes that poured blood out at a rather steady rate. "Holy.."

"Welcome to wound treatment 101," he said jokingly, flinching from the cut. He moved over to his pilot suit and wrapped the sleeve around his wrist. He then started to twist the end of the suit with the base of the sleeve, causing it to tighten around his wrist. "Tourniquet," he stated. "With it bleeding like this, or worse, it is best to slow the blood flow. Not too sure I'm doing that right." He then nodded towards her, his teeth gritted together. "Uncap the peroxide, then place a cotton ball on top of the opening. Turn the bottle over for a moment, then turn it right side up." She nodded in understanding, doing what he said while accidentally spilling a little peroxide. She then pulled off the cotton ball, now soaked with the peroxide, put the bottle down, and recapped it. She then held the cotton ball. "Gently, and I mean gently, apply that to the cut." She nodded and placed it gently on his hand, only to flinch when she saw him shut his eyes tight and grit his teeth even harder, noticing that it must've hurt him more.

"I'm sorry," she said.

"Don't," he said. "It's my fault, and that was only the peroxide doing its work. Keep applying it, ignore me." She shakily continued, noticing how he still flinched in pain for at least another minute after it was applied. The flow of blood had slowed down, making it easier to clean the wound. She knew the next part of it. While Mobius kept his tourniquet on his wrist, she placed a square of cotton over his hand. He stopped her from placing the gauze on his hand. "Not yet," he replied. "Press the cotton onto the cuts, so that they can heal up for a minute. Besides, this square of cotton could become soaked in blood within three minutes." She nodded as she followed his instructions. "You're doing better than you let on," he said.

"Sorry about the cut," she said, changing the subject.

He looked at her somewhat sadly, then shook his head. "No, that was my fault," he said. "I should've warned you about my morning habits. I was half asleep when I entered the bathroom." He lifted an eyebrow at her. "I will say the bucket was still used for its original purpose."

"You mean you slam your head with it?"

"Not a chance," he said, having completely forgotten about the bloody nose. Only now did he taste the blood on his tongue, and he disliked the taste. "I use it to wake myself up, but I use cold water, not cold steel." He lifted his head back to stop the blood from running out his nose, only to feel it drip down through the back of his nose into his throat. "Just forget about it right now," he said. "As soon as I'm all bandaged and cleaned up, you take your shower. Then we'll visit the garage and get Hunter III, but that'll be after I check for any new missions we can take." She nodded as she noticed his hand starting to turn blue. "Damn, gotta loosen this up, or else I'll risk killing my left hand…"

………

A young man yawned as he got out of bed. He took a quick shower, brushed his teeth, and got dressed in a pilot suit. The youth is about 19 years old with short brown hair and deep brown eyes. He stands nearly 5'9" tall and appears mildly muscular. The suit was all black, a skull with scythe emblem embroidered on it. 'Can't waste much time,' he thought as he checked himself out, then left his quarters. 'The operation should be starting soon. I've got a team to lead.' He then ran down the halls, remembering exactly where to go in the Crest facility to get to the MT hanger bay.

"Hey, Nick," another man said. He was roughly the same age and height as Nick, but had black hair. He was also a lot leaner and wore a red pilot suit, his with the wings of a dove embroidered. "You're running late."

"I know, Joe, I know," Nick replied, giving Joe a high five as he entered the hanger. "Are Chris and Eddy here yet?"

"They're already at their MTs," Joe replied, tilting his head to the side. Nick looked, and saw what he meant. Another boy was near one of the new plasma MTs, similar to the ones that were sent to Trene City just last night. He stood about 5'7" tall with black hair and golden brown eyes. He was relatively lean as well. Eddy was only 18 years old, but he was quite good with the cycle MTs, so he believes he could handle the new plasma MT. His pilot suit was brown, but he didn't have an emblem on it yet. Neither did Chris, who was near his own MT. His machine was an Anti AC model, similar to the ones that humiliated Nick during his Raven test a year ago. This boy is about 17 years old, stood about 5'6" tall with an average body appearance. His hair was a dirty blonde with a set of brown eyes. His pilot suit was grey, an emblem of a numbered rocket surrounded by flames embroidered on it.

Nick then noticed a stall empty, and he frowned because of it. "Wait a minute," he said, recognizing the stall. "Where's Linda?"

Joe rubbed the back of his head, averting his gaze towards the ground. "She…she went to Trene City…" He looked away. "I'm sorry."

Nick groaned. She was supposed to be transferring to his team for the operation, and would stay among them as part of the team. "What happened?"

"They went with a group that asked Crest for assistance. They refused to tell us what their objective was, but Crest sent her with the others." He shook his head. "The survivors claim that a blue AC was in the operation area, and it wasted little time taking on anything in the way, including the bomber that the group was using. More survivors claimed that a trainer AC attacked a few other MTs and choppers. The last retreating survivor said that she went and attacked the blue AC before being hit by the trainer. They don't know if she's dead or captured."

"Wait, a trainer AC?" Nick asked, suddenly angry. "A trainer AC is only in Trene City for the Raven's test."

"We can't worry about it now," Joe said. "We're to get ready for the attack against one of Mirage's Gran Mining Facility." He turned towards his own MT, a red machine that was just as new as the plasma MT. It was a special transformable MT, capable of firing pulse rifle rounds while flying and a machine gun or plasma cannon while landed.

Nick sighed. "Right," he said, looking at his own MT. Like Joe and Ed, he also got a brand new model MT, namely a prototype for one they plan on having out by next year at the latest. It was loosely based on the common combat MT used on both sides, but its shotgun was replaced with a laser rifle, its core appears to be a cruder STO, and it has a laser blade. It is further equipped with a missile system on its right shoulder and a reinforced armor plate on the left shoulder. He had it painted black and white, suiting him just fine. "Let's do this then," he said as he entered the MT. All four of them mounted up on a pair of transport choppers. They were lifted up into the air along with a series of additional choppers. One of them was also carrying an AC. The AC, known as Doom, is a mixture of dark green and black colors, and is a machine to not mess with. Its appearance included the STO and SKYEYE parts, along with the CAL-44-EAS arms and MLH-MX/VOLAR heavyweight legs. It utilizes the CBT-FLEET boosters for high speed, VREX-ST-12 FCS, CGP-ROZ generator, and RIX-CR14 radiator. Its weapons were to be feared, for it uses a CWM-M36-4 missile launcher augmented with MWEM-R/24 missile interlock system, CWC-GNS-15 grenade launcher, MLB-MOONLIGHT laser sword, and the devastating power of the MWG-KARASAWA laser rifle.

………

Jen sat within her new AC, not overly surprised that the layout is identical to the trainer she flew last night. It was exactly as she had seen on the screen just the night before. She looked over at AC Mobius, which was crouched down inside the transport plane. She looked left and right, hearing the whirr sound as the RE/008 followed. She smiled as she removed the battle helmet. She was still wearing the pilot suit from last night, but she was told by Mobius that they'd go and get her a new suit and some new clothes after their new mission. As she took the helmet off, she saw Mobius motioning for her to get out of her AC. She was out of it within a matter of one minute, hopping from the core to the hand, then down onto the ground. "What's up?"

"Just want to make sure you know the mission," Mobius replied. He was wearing his blue pilot suit again, but his right hand had gauze on it from that morning's escapade.

She paused and thought a moment. "We were employed by the corporation Mirage," she replied. "They had received word that Crest was planning an attack the Gran Mining Facility in the industrial research area, Layer 3. It is believed that the enemy will be in range to attack at 1300 hours today. Our objective is to neutralize the enemy forces and defend the facility."

"Good," he replied, nodding in satisfaction. "Remember that, since that is part of your contract. Also remember that the situation may change, and I'll be the judge of the situation."

"Just don't hog all the action," Jen said.

"I was planning on just watching this time. They did say it was a good mission for a class D raven such as yourself. If there's a problem, I'll intervene."

She nodded as she sat down on a bench in the plane. "By the way," she started. "I remember hearing about a Yasuke being responsible for damaging unit 2 nearly a year ago. Is that true?" Mobius looked at her oddly, then gave a small nod. "Did you wreck it?"

"No I didn't," Mobius replied. "What makes you think that?"

"Well, I recall Greg calling you Yasuke," she replied. "I thought that, since it was a Yasuke that wrecked it, I thought you were the pilot a year ago."

"Well, I didn't," he replied. "I was in unit 1 when it happened."

"What happened?"

"You do realize you're being nosy, right?" he asked. She nodded.

"I just want to know, since unit 2 crapped out on me while I was flying it."

He sighed. "Alright. It will help, then, if you know who I am." He took a breath. "My name's Dan Yasuke, raven pilot for nearly a year. The one that had unit 2 wrecked was my younger brother, Nick." He looked at her. "Now that I think about it, he should be about as old as you are about now."

She looked at the deck plate of the plane. "I'm sorry," she said.

He looked at her. "Sorry for what?"

"I opened an old wound. I'm sorry for your loss." He blinked in confusion, then started laughing. Jen blinked in confusion in return. "What's so funny?"

"I never said he was killed," Mobius replied. "He survived, but his results were very poor. He didn't have what it takes to fly an AC yet, so he's doing what he can to prepare for next time." A beep was heard, notifying the pair that they were now approaching the combat area. "We'll, enough of that. We've got a mission to accomplish." He stood up and moved towards AC Mobius, while Jen ran back to Hunter III. Their ACs were powering up when the announcement was made.

"Now entering the combat area. Deploying ACs," the pilot said over the comms, opening the rear hatch for the two ACs. "Happy hunting." Both machines stood up on their feet as the door opened completely, then both jumped out of it.

"System engaged," their computers droned as they landed, the unit's bending their knees to minimize the damage stress on their legs. Their radars then came alive as the transport choppers arrived, dropping their MTs.

"Watch it," Mobius said, the SKYEYE head watching the units drop. "It looks like a combination of AC busters and plasma MT units with combat chopper support."

"This'll be too easy," Jen said as she boosted ahead, arming her laser rifle. She saw the Anti AC model glare at her with its box like lens, then lift its bazooka at her AC. She dodged to the side as a round flew past her, and she retaliated with a few well placed laser rounds. The MT collapsed in a heap, then exploded as her last laser round detonated the generator. She quickly started to move again as a chopper moved at her, firing its guns and rockets. A bullet hit the shoulder plating, but she evaded the rest of the fire and shot it down with one beam.

Mobius stood to the side, watching as she shot her way through the forces. 'Not bad,' he thought, watching as she dodged a plasma MT, causing the shot to hit and destroy one of the other larger MTs. She then got close and sliced the plasma MT clean in half. 'Seems that a rank D mission may just be too easy for her after all.' He saw as she pointed her rifle down and her missile launcher open up. Missiles fired from it, striking down a few more choppers. He couldn't help but smirk as he saw that she had already taken down roughly half the present forces. He was about to say something when a circuit started to beep in warning. He looked down at his console, seeing the chip he installed glowing purple. "Oh no," he said, looking at his radar system. He saw four purple dots further away from the red markers, which were disappearing as Tanja took them down. "Tanja, slow down a moment."

She shot down another MT, then looked at Mobius. "What's wrong?" she asked.

He looked at his radar, noticing that one was approaching them. "We've got something else here…"

"Not now, Mobius," Tanja replied, boosting to her side. The laser beam passed by her AC by an inch, leaving a small burn mark on the armor. "Another MT. Looks like a new model!" The MT was completely black with white armored segments, and was sporting a laser rifle, armored plate, and missile launcher system. She lifted her own laser rifle and opened fire at the MT, but was surprised as to how it evaded the attack with ease.

Mobius swore, noticing the other three readings approaching Tanja's position. "This isn't good," he mumbled, moving towards the two battling machines. He saw as their shots were getting closer to hitting their marks. "The system I installed is supposed to react when Nick's nearby. One of them has to be him." He saw as the two prepared to fire again, and realized that Tanja was aiming for the core of the MT. He moved his AC right between the two just as they fired. Tanja gasped when she saw her shot slam into the back of AC Mobius as the MT's shot hit the front of the core. Scorch marks now were visible on the AC from the shots. He then retaliated by firing a spray of bullets from his machine gun at the MT's legs, managing to hit one of the ankles. The MT fell to a knee, but it pointed its rifle back at Mobius, its armored head staring at the red 'eye' of SKYEYE.

"Mobius! What the hell are you doing?" Tanja shouted. "Move before he shoots you!"

"He won't fire," he replied, switching his radio transmission just before he said that. "Isn't that right, brother?"

"Dan?" a voice said on the radio before a vid image popped up in Mobius's cockpit. Tanja heard it from her connection with Mobius. "I thought that was you," Nick replied, grinning on the screen. The MT dropped its rifle down. "Should've realized, considering that is the same stunt you pulled in the Raven test."

Mobius frowned. "Seems that gadget worked."

Tanja chose to but in, matching the frequency perfectly. "What the hell is going on here?" she asked angrily. Nick's eyes widened in surprise as his own screen showed the blue haired girl.

"Picked up a girl already?" he asked, giving a cocky grin. Mobius simply frowned at him.

"You realize the situation we're in right now," he said, completely ignoring the question. "I did warn you a year ago this might happen."

"Nick," another voice said as a flying MT arrived in the area.

"Hold your fire, Joe," Nick said sharply. "This mission is over. These ACs destroyed the rest of our forces. Even if we defeat them here, we won't stand a chance inside the facility."

"That means you forgot something," a deeper voice interrupted. Mobius growled.

"Tanja! Move it!" he said. She responded as he told her to, but her AC took a hit from a laser shot. The shot burst into a ball of blue energy as a boom sound was heard. Both ACs looked into the direction of the source, locating a darkly colored AC.

"Doom!" Mobius seethed through his teeth, recognizing his rival. "Crest sent you, didn't they?"

"Indeed they did, Mobius," he said in a rather calm voice. "I would say this mission is beneath you, but I see your accomplice is someone new." He grinned to himself. "I would just let you go, but I know you never abandon a mission. Prepare to be scrapped!" He charged in at high speed, firing his Karasawa at Hunter III.