Deadly Research
Disclaimer: As usual, nothing except my OC and AC, (heh, heh) are mine. Any Core designs and their pilot info will be given their own creator's credit.
Please Note: All my other fics (see my profile), will be on hold until this one is either complete, or I come up with a massive writer's block and switch to another fic. Notifications will be sent out should this occur. Thank You.
Reviewers
Kenshkrix: Thanks for mentioning him! I had nearly forgotten about him. The reason he hasn't been mentioned or appeared yet is because it isn't the right point in time yet. Introducing all the key players early kinda wastes the fic.
Final Saber: I'm glad you like the story! (WOOT!) Yes, dial up is a problem, sorry, I've got cable modem. In terms of long chapters . . . they're just so darn hard to write. Plus most people can't read huge sections of writing in a single sitting. Legacy of Honor by Silveran on the Final Fantasy Tactics is my favorite FFT fic. The chapters are LONG, but very worth the reading. He's not finished writing it.
Bloody Kitsune: Your guess as to the 'other side' of Avel is correct. Yes, and it WILL be interesting to see Gundams vs. Armored Cores won't it? (Laughs maniacally)
Dra Gan: I look forward to receiving your Core designs. You will be given credit for them. Which ever ones you send me that I choose to include. What about the last chapter did you enjoy? Specifics will help me know what my readers want more of. Good luck with the computer hunting!
Recap
System Overweight.
"I've got a problem. My AC is overweight. I'm afraid that I'm going to have to use that Option part."
"The Opt-I! You've got it on board?" The Opt-Intensify was a Kisaragi masterpiece. Only a select few had obtained the part, but those who had received it had been known for their piloting prowess before being granted it.
"Yeah, hopefully it'll be enough. Melissa, if I can't pull my half of the weight, I may have to activate my other side. Don't let me." She nodded grimly. His past was the main reason she had stayed with him. When she had made that discovery, he had nearly killed her.
This escape was going to be difficult.
Chapter 5: Perilous Rescue Pt. 1
"JEEZ! How many security guns do they have!"
A pale cream white AC with lavender highlighting took cover behind another boulder. The feminine Raven gave her scanners another look over. Her AC hadn't taken many hits, but her ammunition was wearing thin. She'd soon be left to the relatively weak laser blade.
"Valkyrie! You okay?" A calm professional voice questioned her as their leader stopped from midair over boosts. Despite the close to literal cloud of gunfire, he was dodging shots left and right, only paint was singed off the AC. It was like watching a dance, his skills were superior, and he was after all, the current A-1 ranked pilot in the arena: Mobius.
"Doing fine Mobius. My ammunition's running into the red zone soon."
"I understand. I have to ration my ammo as well. Take a breather; stay here for a little bit."
"Roger."
Valkyrie was the only long range unit the four AC pilots had brought with them. Her mobility and skill combined with the long range 100 round sniper rifle had shot her into the mid-ranked B Ravens in the arena.
A short chirping on her communications line pulled her attention away from the fighting. The female voiced system requested a course of action.
Incoming Transmission . . . open communications signal?
"Open the line under encryption level A."
Static filled the protective helmet. She winced at the high pitched screeching until a voice began to fill her ears in place of the shaky hiss of the earphones. Her eyes widened as gunshots, explosions, and screaming came from wherever the communicator was.
"Ravens . . . this is Dark Heart . . . do you copy?" Her heart jumped. One of the targets was alive, and by the sound of things, giving the enemy hell.
She personally had accepted the mission because the Fallen Angels had saved her bacon during a co-operative mission several months ago. She and Maiden Sword, or Melissa as she knew her, had become good friends afterward.
"Dark Heart, this is Valkyrie, I read you. However you're shaky at best. Where are you? These security elements are impossible for the four of us combined!" Laughter on the other end didn't help her.
"I apologize Valkyrie. Good to hear from you. You think the gunfire out there is bad . . . inside's nuts! By our mapping, we are at the north end gates."
A digitized map appeared on her HUD showing the entrances to the factory which were split between the four points on a compass. She and Mobius were on the North Side gate while Shade and Nikita had taken the South Side gate. A gigantic chunk of rock disintegrated above her which sent Valkyrie to scurrying to find better cover.
"The cannon fire sounds intense, give us two minutes and that problem will be long gone. Be careful, one of the new weapons is an MS with both radar and optical stealth that seems to specialize in melee assaults. Maiden Sword's got one arm now."
She was shocked. Maiden Sword was known for her single blade combat ability when everything else failed. Secretly she hoped that it wasn't the left arm that had been lost. If she had lost it in a fight with that MS, then she surely didn't want to be in melee with it.
That was her biggest weak point as a sniper AC.
After she had securely hidden from the guns again, Mobius showed up. He still remained in the same shape he had before. Most of the dark colored paint had peeled away from the heat of weak projectiles and infantry guns. She was impressed, even with his reputation preceding him. He truly was the A-1 ranked pilot.
Letting him in on the transmission, he relayed the message to Shade.
South Side Gate
The deep blue camouflaged AC of Nikita had taken refuge in a nearby nook of the factory's outer wall. The guns couldn't pivot to face her, and she had taken full advantage of their weakness.
Her dual laser blade SAMURAI arms shredded through the gun emplacements; leaving her partner with a lot more breathing room. Shade was the third best Raven in the Arena and was well versed in short-to-middle ranged combat with his dual shotguns.
At long range he was a dark red target, but when the gap closed, he was devastatingly powerful. Three bursts from the right hand double-barrel shotgun reduced five more turrets to fragmented steel enforced cement.
The two ACs were having a kill contest, their piloting abilities and enemy types fitting them perfectly compared to Valkyrie and Mobius. Shade was taking three to four targets down with a single shot shell.
The formations of the guns were tight triangular clusters. While that provided them with merciless power against a single point, it also proved to be their greatest fault.
The wide spread of incendiary, couch-sized lead balls hit every gun in each cluster, melting the insides once penetrating the armor plating. This had detonated the ammunition within each gun, sending a chain effect through two more clusters every now and then.
Shade couldn't be anymore pleased. It was saving him a ton of funds for reloads later.
Nikita was thrilled after her initial frustration with the lack of close ranged targets. The guns were like apples for the picking to her energized "shears". Every now and then a stray MS would appear; just to become another target for the glistening lavender blades.
The sheer destruction the two were leaving behind was unreal. The South Side gate sent up a billowing cloud of solid charcoal black. Shade was engaging two other MS units that had taken positions behind a steel barricade.
Incoming Transmission . . .
"Shade, this is Mobius. The targets are alive and active. Get back to the North Side Gate! We're pulling out once the Fallen Angels are clear."
"Understood Mobius."
A bright explosion range through the air as heat waves rippled pass the two Ravens. A dark green and black suit appeared from a crippled gateway. One of its jade green eyes glowed in dust filled air.
"Check that Mobius, we need backup."
"Understood, we're on our way. The Fallen Angels might get to you first though."
Nikita changed trigger functions as she reactivated the twin laser blade arms. An electrifying pair of wide energy waves flew toward the newcomer. The blades passed through thin air as the mobile suit jumped high into the air.
The pilots stood mesmerized as the target did a double front flip, changing into a 540 spin and landed solidly on its feet. Shade realized his mistake in standing still all too late as the enemy brought two double barreled chain guns to bear; unleashing a fatal hailstorm of gunfire.
Nikita barely had time to take cover as Shade took the brunt of the rain of bullets.
His left arm exploded in a crimson fireball, the left arm shotgun fell uselessly to the ground. The left back unit crumbled under the assault, the mounted joint and socket held half of the weapon, crackling at the exposed live wires. The head units armor plated melted, the camera lens cracked into little lines, ruining the vision panels in his cockpit.
The core somehow held under the cloud of lead as chinks and sparks flew from the unit. Half way through the firestorm, Nikita took a peek around the corner to see the shoulder and leg armor of the chain gun wielding unit open up to reveal in impossible weapons set up. Micro missiles; what seemed to be two dozen in each launcher.
The situation worsened as the leg units gave out, the knee joints sparked and smoked.
She grit her teeth, her mind racing to save her partner. The bio sensors in the head unit on her core was still giving out a positive reading on Shade, he wasn't dead yet. Another glance at the unit seemed to drain the hope from her soul.
On the right side of the unit's face, was the mask of a circus clown, its half smile staring with an empty, dark, humor.
That's just disturbing. I never did like clowns. He can't launch the missiles effectively until he quits firing the guns. I'll ram Shade out of the way and evade the missiles launched and then close in.
Nikita's faced paled as her thoughts did not apply to this pilot. The mystery unit widened the spread of fire, still pelting Shade with half the rounds fired, its arms out stretched. The missiles flew from there launchers . . . all simultaneously; the hailstorm of lead continued the entire time.
Her head radar couldn't keep track of the firestorm, the whole radius between her, Shade, and this opponent went purple with missile indications. Ramming Shade into a crack in the walls, she now stood in his place; her arms tore off their joint connectors under the guns. They turned into chunks of debris as they fell, riddled full of Vulcan cannon shells. There would be no recovering those expensive parts.
Miniature klaxons blared as her temperature skyrocketed, the armor point count draining inexplicably fast. The missiles continued there ever deadly approach. Punching both over boost and extension switches, she dashed to the right, as the CROW anti-radar attachments began their work.
144 missiles all at once! Oh, gods, I'm going to die. Not like this!
The young female pilot clenched her eyes shut, waiting for the unavoidable moment of impact. She had evaded and thrown off a third of the missile assault, but the rest had retrained themselves and she had run out of energy reserves.
Was this to become her resting place?
"No, no, no, no, NO! THANATOS!" the image of her boyfriend appeared before her eyes, a cool, confident smile played across his lips. Tears filled her green eyes.
He was rumored to have been the Raven who had destroyed the Controller and let the people of Layered come to the surface world. No one had known what had happened to him after that though. Not even her. That was the reason why she had become a Raven, to find him.
Now, that moment was to be lost forever. A blinding vermilion light shot through the air as a hail of explosions blinded her vision as she accepted that she would never again see him . . . she saw white . . .
Cliff hangar! I need a vote! Her Death or No? Your opinions will influence the flow of the next chapter, and possibly the ending!
Will Nikita die? What about Shade's condition? And who exactly is Thanatos, the man responsible for the destruction the Controller?
Is Heavy Arms that powerful? Well, keep reading for the answers!
R&R!