DR: Nice long chapter for you all now, in compensation for the last one... Raven gets a little foul-mouthed here (well, by my standard)
O'Neill: It's not that long...
DR: It's long for one of mine alright!
Carter: Right...
DR: Carter, shouldn't you be snuggling with your Colonel right now? (Starts to wave hand, then remembers that it won't work on her, being ex-Goa'uld host)
Carter: (Sighs) I want to...But I can't! It's against regulations!
DR: (Sighs) Screw the regulations. You two are meant to be together!
Chapter 40: An Old Debt
Leon sank back into his seat, shock riding clear across his face. Sarah's face was pale and her eyes where unfocused. Unconsciously they both reached for each others hands, seeking reassurance in the others touch.
Hiltz and Ambient! Those two names were never spoken aloud, so vile had both beings been. While Hiltz had been the schemer, playing two sides against one another to distract them from his own goals, Ambient had been the bloodthirsty killer. No remorse, no pity. Together they had almost wiped out all life on Zi. Their rein of terror, brief though it was, was scared onto the minds of everyone who lived now. They were held up as the epitome of evil and selfishness.
Compared to them, Raven had been nothing more than a rogue warrior. He had levelled military bases, wiped out whole divisions of troops… but never a defenceless town or village. He had never preyed on those unable to fight back.
And to think, for the last year he had been piloting a zoid that had Ambient inside of it! Leon felt almost violently sick at the thought.
At last he was able to force out a question. "How?" His voice was quiet, weak.
"That's Raven's story." Christian answered, leaning back in his own seat. Raven threw the older man a scathing look, before picking up the tale.
"It starts the day we defeated Hiltz and the Death Saurer…"
X-X-X-X-X-X
Raven stood on the cliff edge, looking out over the sinking city of Eveopolis. Despite the terrible pain in his arm, he refused to display any kind of weakness. Shadow stood to one side, his jaw hanging over Raven's shoulder. Shadows arms hung limp; he was exhausted after the battle.
Resse stood on the other side, holding his hand. Beyond her was her organoid Specular, trying to watch both Raven and the rapidly disappearing city at once. Behind them all Ravens Geno Breaker stood, its once smooth and gleaming red hide dinged and scared. One crab claw hung limp, and the zoid was blacked by soot. It looked like Raven felt.
And what did he feel, really? For the first time in his memory Raven was not sure. All he really knew was that his arm hurt like hell, Shadows return from the grave filled his heart with joy, and the presence of Resse by his side filled him with pride.
But what was most unsettling was what was missing. His deep-seated anger and hatred of zoids and all but one organoid, was gone. At last his soul felt complete, and at peace.
Even the approach of Van in his Liger failed to ignite his rage like it used to, though there was still a lingering resentment of the man for defeating him before.
As Van and Fiona dropped to the sands, the last peak of the city disappeared. The sand continued to churn as they and Zeke stepped up to join Raven and his group. Together they all watched the sand finally still. At last Van turned to him.
"Man, what a fight!" He crowed. "Glad to see you made it out of there in one piece!"
"And why would you what that?" Raven sneered. "After all, I am going to kill you one day…"
"Raven, you've been threatening to kill Van for how long now?" A deeper, older voice cut in before Van could reply. "A year almost? And you still haven't done it?"
All seven of them, humans, ancient Zoidians and organoids spun round. Standing a short distance away was a man, dressed in navy blue pants and an off white shirt, with a long leather coat over the top. A slight smile creased his mouth. "One has to wonder if you really mean what you say…"
"I will kill him!" Raven snarled. "It's his punishment for killing me!"
The man made a show of looking him up and down. "You don't look dead to me." Was that humour is his voice?
"I was as good as dead!"
"Then why haven't you killed him back?"
Raven faltered. "I've… needed him alive to deal with older debts..."
"Raven, admit it, even if only to yourself." The man cut him off. "You have no intention to kill Van, not anymore. The destruction of the Death Saurer, the death of Ambient, has healed that old wound. You don't feel the need to kill again."
Raven scowled, but he had to admit, the man made a lot of sense. Where as in the past he always had a wellspring of hatred and anger to draw on, giving him the strength to ignore his wounds and carry on fighting, now he just felt tired. Tired and in physical pain only. The old pain, the pain from the death of his parents, had faded away.
Raven drew in breath to continue the argument anyway, just to keep his reputation, but the motion strained his bruised ribs. Instinctively his hand went to his side.
"God, Raven are you all right?" Resse was besides him in a flash. Shadow too gently growled, concerned over his masters well being.
"I'm fine… it's just…" Raven trailed off, as motion out in the sand over the city caught his eye.
"What? What is it?" Resse asked, staring into his face.
Raven couldn't answer her, so fixated on whatever was forcing its way free of the sand. Even from this distance, he could tell it was blacken by heat. But as it finally stood tall, the outline was clear, and a ray of light reflected off an un-charred section.
"You…" He whispered.
"What?" Van asked, before following Ravens line of sight. "Oh man!"
"No…" Fiona wailed as she too saw what it was. Resse couldn't say a word; her eye's growing wide in fear.
"Drat! I'd hoped he'd be dead!" The man cursed, and from the dune behind him, a deep-throated growl resounded.
Out on the sands, Ambient slowly limped away from the hole he had dug. Hearing the growl, he looked up, and saw the agents of his master's defeat. Snarling once, he weakly opened his booster packs before fleeing.
All at once Raven felt his old rage return, and all of it was focused on one thing. "Ambient!" He snarled. He turned towards his zoid, but the motion caused the broken ends of the shattered bone in his arm to rub together, and he doubled over in pain.
As his vision cleared, he noticed Resse, Fiona and the other man besides him. Resse was trying to comfort him, while Fiona and the man looked at his arm.
"Hmm, broken I'd say." He commented. "But looks like a clean break to me." Fiona finished her examination several seconds later, determining the exact same thing. She looked up, throwing the other man a curious look, to which he shrugged. "Experience."
"I'm going after him…" Raven ground out though gritted teeth.
"Not with that arm like that your not!" Resse told him sharply, and Shadow echoed her statement.
#She's right. You're in no condition to pursue that… scum.# That caused Raven to look at his only friend oddly. He had never known Shadow to inject so much passion into a single word.
"Listen, we'll catch him." Van said. "We'll bring him to justice."
"The only 'Justice' he deserves is death!"
"I agree." Van looked at the older man in shock. "An eye for an eye, as my people say."
"Look, just who are you?" Van asked.
"Sorry. My Name is Christian Masters. Fiona, and maybe Resse, you should know my zoid, and his mission."
"What zo…" Fiona began, but then a massive zoid head cleared the dune to settle besides Christian. Her eyes went wide with shock and awe. "Guardian Mnementh!" At that name Resse looked up from Raven, her eyes wide.
"Who?" Van asked confusion plain on his face.
X-X-X-X-X-X
"And that's how we learned about Christian and his team." Raven was secretly enjoying relating the tale to the Blitz. "He invited us into his group; as friends should we ever need them.
"I allowed myself to be treated for my injuries, while Van and the rest of his 'Guardian Force' buddies tracked Ambient down." He scowled at the memory. "That bloodthirsty monster lashed out at anyone it crossed. But the GF struggled to predict his movements." Raven looked to Resse, before looping an arm round her. The Blitz noticed that she was shaking.
"We all figured that at some point Ambient would come after us for revenge, but when he did…"
X-X-X-X-X-X
"You sure you'll be okay?"
"I'll be fine Van." Resse yelled up at him. While Raven had almost recovered in hospital, Resse had wanted to lay the last of her ghosts to rest. So she had asked Van to take her to the cave where Nicholas's Hellcat lay. While Van had asked why, she refused to answer him. The bouquet of flowers she carried had raised his eyebrows, but fortunately he had not commented.
Now she was here, where an innocent young lad, not much younger than Van had been when he had found Fiona, had released her from her pod. He had been her friend, and had tried to help her regain her memories. But when soldiers had arrived to take her, he had stood before them… and died.
Years later, when Van had turned up here wounded, he claimed to have been helped by a young lad called Nicholas, who's Hellcat lived in the cave. But when his friends arrived, the boy had gone, and the Hellcat had been dead for years.
Resse had seen them meet up, and had seen a chance to destroy them all at once. She had been piloting her modified Genosaurer at the time. But out of nowhere a Hellcat had appeared, and within the cockpit had been Nicholas…
Her shot had never landed, nor had Van or his friends even noticed her firing. The sight of what had to be the ghost of her old friend taking the hit had shocked Resse deeply, and it had been a major turning point in her life.
As she stood there outside the cave, Specular at her side, she could still recall his face as her bolt had struck the Hellcat. It had been filled with sadness, and a child like pleading…
With a heavy heart, she walked into the cave. Despite the years that had passed, it remained the same as she remembered. The only sounds where her own footsteps, the odd drip of water into pools, and the heavy clunking of Specular's metal feet.
At last they reached the stone Hellcat. She could tell just by looking at it that it was the one Nicholas had piloted. The breach into the core was still clear, and she suspected that the body of the young lad, whose heart had been filled only with honesty and compassion, remained entombed within the cockpit.
With tears running down her face, Resse slowly stepped up to the Hellcats head. Specular remained behind, knowing better than to intrude on her mistress's grief. Slowly Resse laid the flowers over the canopy, a fitting tomb for a brave young boy.
"Nicholas, I know I haven't exactly been good these last few years," she whispered gently as she knelt down. "But I hope you can forgive me for what I have done." Her tears fell off her chin with her words.
Down on the floor of the cave Specular stood quietly, following Resses wishes, despite not knowing the reason behind them, and really not caring. So what if a young human's body lay in the dead zoid, it wasn't important! What was important was what were her mistress's intentions towards a certain raven-haired young man. That man was nothing but trouble…
A slight noise drew the attention of the bored organoid. Glancing back at Resse Specular stepped into a shadowy crevice…
Resse couldn't speak for a few minutes, hoping that her confession would allow the young lad to finally rest in peace. Slowly warmth spread out from her heart, and Resse at last felt peace within her soul. A smile creased her face.
"Thank you, Nicholas."
As she slowly climbed down, Resse noted that Specular was not where she had left her. Thinking the organoid had simply wandered off Resse opened her mouth to call out.
But even as she drew in breath, a harsh shrieking sound rang out. Turning her head towards the sound, Resse was shocked to see Specular come flying out of a shadowy corner. The blue organoid crashed down at Resse's feet, and her breath left her in a scream of shock and horror.
The organoid had been sliced apart, and her throat ripped out. Zoid fluid gushed out of the wounds, and one eye had been split. One arm was missing below the elbow, and a leg almost ripped clean off.
As she dropped to her knees, trying to stem the flow of fluid from the gapping wound in Specular's neck with her hands, Resse threw a fearful look up into the shadows. What kind of monster could have done this?
She got her answer a moment later, as a darker shape emerged from the darkness, with two glowing green eyes…
Ambient stepped forwards, and Resse screamed again…
X-X-X-X-X-X
Outside the cave, Van sat on his Blade Ligers foot, Zeke curled up besides him. He had always wondered about this place, about what had happened. He was pretty sure now that he must have either been delusional, or he had seen ghosts. Neither prospect was appealing…
"Van! Come quickly!" He jerked up at the voice. Looking towards the cave, he was startled to see the same young lad as he had seen all that time ago. Zeke too snapped up, staring at the boy.
"Van, you must hurry!" The lad raced into the cave.
"Hey, wait!" Van charged after the boy, Zeke hot on his tail.
No matter how hard he ran Van just couldn't catch the smaller lad up. Stumbling, he pushed himself up… and the boy was gone. Zeke growled with astonishment.
"What the…" Van's comment died in his throat as he heard Resse scream.
"Come on Zeke!" He cried as they both charged forward, deeper into the cave.
Rounding the last bend, Van slowed down in shock. There before him was Specular, surrounded by a pool of fluid, unmoving. Resse was pinned down against some rocks, her blood glistening in the light of the torch she had brought. And standing over her… was Ambient.
Zeke snarled, and Ambient turned to face them both. As they got closer, Van could see that Ambient was scarred by his near-death experience. One leg was partly withered, and the right side of his head was misshapen. Some of the panels that made up his body did not appear to fit right, and the whole pose was of one whose spine is not quite straight.
Snarling back, Ambient kicked out with his withered leg. The claws on the foot tore into Resse, who screamed again before fainting. Just as Zeke charged in, Ambient ignited his boosters and tore off over his head. Van dived for the cave floor as he drew his pistol. Just in time: Ambient had let his feet hang down, clearly meaning to take Van's head off. Spinning around, Van fired several rounds at Ambient as the organoid touched down. Most struck and Ambient howled in pain before blasting off again, heading out of the cave.
"Zeke! Go after him. Don't let him get control of the Liger!" Zeke roared in agreement before blasting off himself. Van quickly holstered his pistol before running over to check on Resse and Specular…
X-X-X-X-X-X
Raven stood there, staring into the intensive care room. Resse lay on the bed; IV's feeding into her arms. Beneath her surgical gown she was wrapped up bandages, and her eyes were closed. Monitors surrounding her traced her breathing, heart rate and a dozen other things about her.
Van stood besides him, his face clouded with regret. "I'm sorry man, but she insisted that she should go in alone…"
"I want him."
Van looked at Raven in confusion. "Huh?"
"I want Ambient." Raven stated coldly. Van found himself taking a couple of involuntary steps back. Raven hadn't used that tone of voice for several months now. "When you find out where he's heading, tell me."
"Raven, if we knew, we'd…"
Raven swung round, his eye's filled with hate. "You'd better get out of my way when I come for him! I will not take prisoners!" Van knew that he meant every word he said.
X-X-X-X-X-X
Raven sat there, waiting. For several weeks, the Guardian Force had combed the planet looking for Ambient. The damned organoid refused to show, only his trail of carnage. It was as if he intended to finish what he had started with the Death Saurer. If it meant he had to kill every human with his own teeth and claws, then so be it.
The only bright thing in these past few weeks was Resse's slow recovery. Christian had taken her to his city, where she would be safe from Ambient. The death of her organoid badly affected her, but she was reported to be slowly improving. Raven had visited several times, and each time she had looked a little better. In his last visit, she had confided to him about why she had been in that cave.
"I had to ask forgiveness, to a young lad who tried to protect me. I think, at long last, he can rest in peace." Raven couldn't figure that out, so he went to Van, despite his misgivings.
Surprisingly, Van had been able to help enlighten him.
And then at last there was a breakthrough. Ambient it seemed could only go short distances under his own power. He had struck at a village on the edge of the central plains of Europa, and there was only one other village close enough for him to reach.
So now Raven sat, waiting. He had hidden the Geno Breaker behind a rocky outcrop, and dragged some borrowed camouflage sheeting over the top. Shadow was watching for any sigh of the Red Menace, as he had become known.
Shadow had undergone a startling change when he had heard about the death of Specular. His eye's seemed narrower than ever, and he was always in a bad mood. When pressed, he had snapped #No Organoid takes another's life! And certainly not like that, without a fair fight!# Raven also suspected that the two of them had been getting along rather well.
So now both of them had a reason to want Ambient dead. Ideally Raven stroked the old large calibre pistol he had borrowed…
Shadows growl from the rocks sent him into action. Quickly throwing the switch, Raven rode the pilot seat up into the Geno Breakers chest. Once there, he activated the targeting system and aimed high. He could track the rogue organoid himself now, moving far slower than an organoid should. Clearly he was still lame. Smirking to himself, Raven fired.
Hitting such a small target at such a height was almost impossible, but Raven managed to wing Ambient. The red organoid plummeted into the sandy ground a short distance ahead. Smiling, Raven piloted his zoid towards him.
"Shadow, stay out of it for now…" Shadow growled in understanding. Raven had the bigger claim on Ambient's head.
Ambient looked up to see the red Geno Breaker stalking towards him. Cursing, he looked around for anything he could use. The shifting sands revealed the rump of a long dead zoid, and Ambient took his chance. As he settled into the zoid and began to resurrect it, he realised what it was.
…An experienced Shield Liger! How ironic!
Raven watched with narrowed eyes as Ambient vanished into a half buried dead zoid. But he quickly became alarmed when the sand was flung away, to reveal a fully alive, blood red Blade Liger glaring back.
'Well, looks like I will be fighting Van one last time after all, after a fashion…'
With a roar, the Liger charged forward, and Raven eagerly accepted the challenge. Both arterial red coloured zoids slammed together in a grinding of metal. Raven lashed out with the side-mounted claws, but Ambient danced away. The organoid had fought Van and Zeke before, so knew about the various moves that the Blade Liger could do. Also, Ambient was a rare organoid in that he could bring any zoid to its full combat potential. Even with Raven's vastly superior experience in fighting against a Blade Liger and more powerful zoid, it was going to be tough match.
On a near by dune Christian stood, watching the battle. Besides him stood Van and the heavily pregnant Fiona, along with Zeke, Irvine, Moonbay and their zoids. Moonbay's Gustav was parked just behind the dune.
"Well, are we going to help him?" Moonbay asked.
"I'd doubt he'd accept any help right now." Christian stated calmly. Above him his zoid nodded its great head. "This is his battle, not ours."
"I never thought I'd say this, but I hope Raven wins…" Van quietly said. Fiona gently took his hand in hers.
Out on the dunes, Raven sweated within his zoid. So far neither of them had managed to land any real damage on the other. Ambient had knocked out one of his hover jets, preventing him from gaining a height and mobility advantage. But one of Ravens earlier swings had torn the upper shield unit apart, disabling the Liger's strongest defence. The two zoids circled each other, sizing the other up. Shadow remained off to one side, staying out of harms way, but close enough to swoop in if Raven needed him.
Ambient dived right, and Raven swung his zoid in the other direction. Ambient began to double back, but before he could fire, the Geno Breakers heavy tail slammed into the side of the liger, sending it flying. It crashed down on to the dunes hard and lay on its side, winded.
Raven smirked as he brought his side claw down to grip the liger firmly. He raised it up into the air, letting the limbs dangle. But before he could celebrate, Ambient flashed out of the Liger. He barely stood on the ground before leaping again, but this time fusing with the Geno Breaker!
Watching this sudden turn of events, Christian whistled softly. "Well, this is going to be interesting!" To his side Fiona moaned in worry, promoting Van to put his arm round her.
"What if Ambient takes control of the Breaker?" Irvine asked out of concern.
"Unlikely. The Breaker is so powerful that most organoids can only fuse with it for a short time. Shadow has much greater stamina than normal, so he can hold on for three times the duration that any other organoid could. As for Ambient…" Christian shrugged. "I'm not sure, but I'd reckon he's only going to last about a minute and a half. Of course, Ravens got to survive that long…"
Raven suddenly found him-self having to fight the controls of his zoid. 'Why that cheating little…' He thought as he struggled to prevent being ejected from the cockpit. On the main display was the same grid-like pattern he got when Shadow fused with the Breaker, only the bars were red and were disappearing faster. Somewhere in his head a small part of Raven's brain remained analytical. 'Ambient can only remained fused to the Breaker for so long! If I can just hang on…'
The Geno Breaker thrashed about, fighting to dislodge the stubborn man within. Every now and again the guns would fire at random sending lethal bolts of destruction out. When a brace of bolts tore towards the watchers, Fiona gasped and Van prepared to drag her down, despite the risk it would be to their child. But he didn't have to bother. Christian's zoid simply extended a wing rapidly over them all as a shield, and took the hits himself. The laser blasts struck the angled wing plates and were reflected up into space.
"Ni… Nice move." Van stuttered as the great zoid brought its wing back in.
Inside the Breaker, Raven was hanging on for dear life. On the screen, the bars were disappearing faster. Raven was fighting Ambient mind to mind now, and it was tiring for the already injured organoid.
At last the final bar faded, and the zoid ceased to struggle. In his displays, Raven watched as Ambient crashed down before his zoid. Although it was tempting to simply step on the troublesome organoid and grind him to dust, the battle of wills had fried half of the systems in the Breaker. Besides, revenge demanded to be face to face.
Raven quickly exited the zoid, dragging out his heavy pistol. Even before he set foot on the ground, he saw Ambient begin to stagger up.
"Oh no you don't…" and he opened fire.
Each bullet slammed into the weak organoid, knocking it back a few paces. The weakened and damaged armour wasn't up to job of withstanding such heavy rounds at such close range, and each bullet bit deep.
As he continued to unload into the rogue, Raven felt tears run down his face, and he started yelling, screaming at Ambient. "This is for my parents! This is for Shadow! For Specular! For Resse! This is for all the people you've killed, you murdering bastard!"
When he ran out of rounds, Raven ran towards Ambient and began to club the organoid with the heavy pistol. Ambient tried to fight back, but weakened by the fight, and wounded with many gunshot wounds, he was barely able to do so. One weak kick pushed Raven back and knocked the pistol out of his hand, but Raven was not to be out done. He pulled his holdout backup weapon from its holster at the small of his back. It was a lightweight pistol, not really that powerful at all, and held only six rounds. But Raven was beyond caring. He fired into the tears in Ambients armour, but before he fired the last round, he charged forwards and jammed the barrel against the organoids eye.
"This is for me, my life."
The round smashed apart the organoids eye, and torn around inside the head. Ambient slumped down, seemingly dead.
Raven slowly got his breathing under control, and began to acknowledge all the pain his body was in. That contest of wills had truly battered him around. As he walked back to the Breaker, Shadow joined him.
#Is it over?#
Raven started to reply, but the sound of scraping metal made him spin round. Ambient was slowly getting to his feet again! Zoid fluid leaked from the tears in his armour and from the ruins of his eye, but he slowly staggered upright.
Shadow stepped forward, but before he could attack, Ambient made one final leap. With a weak, gurgled growl, he fused with the Blade Liger. Slowly it stood upright, wavering on its feet.
Raven slumped to his knees. He simply couldn't take any more. It seemed Ambient could never be killed…
The Blade Liger tottered forward, acting as if it was drunk. Raven recognised the signs. Ambient was probably dieing, but he intended to take Raven with him.
'Why not? He's the one most responsible for my life, it's fitting we should go to hell together…'
Shadow stood by Raven, urging him to get up.
#Come on! Get up!#
"No Shadow, it's my time…"
The Liger took another faltering step. 'Just a couple more…'
Suddenly the Liger stiffened before it fell forwards, thudding into the ground. Sand billowed up and coated Raven. As it settled, the nose of the Liger was barely a foot from Ravens knees.
Raven slowly leaned forward, resting his hand on the Liger. He only noticed when the others came up when their shadows fell across him. He offered no resistance as they rolled him over.
"Is it over?" He asked weakly. As one they all turned to Christian, who stood slightly aside, his face locked in a far away look. His huge zoid was standing over the Blade Liger, nosing at it.
After a moment, Christians face returned to normal. "Yes, it's over. Ambient is dead."
Van looked over at the Liger. "What about the zoid?"
"It will sleep for a time, and then awaken. It may have access to some of Ambients memories, but it will be itself." Christian stepped forwards. "Leave it. Now, let's get this warrior some place more comfortable hmm?"
Raven slowly allowed himself to lie back, letting his mind wander to Resse and the great city where she now rested and recovered…
DR: Well, that's all for now.
Specular: You killed me!
DR: Yep. I never really like you anyway... Too creepy.
Ambient: YA! He dislikes you more than me! (starts dancing in joy)
DR: Actually, I loathed you Ambient.
Ambient: (Freezes in shock mid dance, causing him to fall flat on his face)
Shadow: Idiot.
Carter: You said it.
DR: Till next time...