Disclaimer: See chapter one

AN: Sorry if it's a little short, but I'll work on it.

Chap. 12

Hospital...

It has been three days since Cain returned badly injured. Surprisingly enough, the wounds weren't too bad and he began to recover quickly. Elijah was glad to see his mentor recovering, but still felt bad about leaving him. He walked down the hall toward his room and entered inside. Cain was sitting near one of the windows and looking outside. His body was still bandaged, but none of that seemed to affect his current pose.

"How are you?"

Cain turned his head slightly, "I've been better."

From behind Elijah, Koemai strolled into the room as well, "Hey, Cain. Slacking off on the job I see."

"Funny." was the emotionless reply.

Elijah moved closer to Cain and softly spoke, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I told you to leave and you did." He turned fully to his student and fellow Raven, "It wouldn't have done any good to come back for me anyway.

"Uhhh...I guess."

Koemai decided to break up the tense moment, "So what happened to you? Who were you fighting?"

Cain sighed and turned his head back to the window. "His name is Bane. He pilots the AC Reaper, a dark machine that personifies death."

"Sounds like my kind of guy." Koemai joked.

However, Cain wasn't laughing, "I wouldn't say that. He's really good. Anyone that faces him, anyone that's so much as unfortunate to get caught in his crosshairs, meets a final end."

"You're kidding." Elijah exclaimed. "He's not that tough."

"No, he's worse." he replied lowly. "The machine he's in uses custom enhanced dual laser scythes."

Elijah blinked in surprise, "Scythes? Are you serious?"

"This is the second time we fought like this." he said darkly.

"Wait a second." Koemai started again. "If he's so good, then how come you're still breathing?"

"Strength of a survivor, I supposed." Cain chuckled briefly to himself. "Considering my current injuries, I got off pretty easy."

"Easy?" Elijah exclaimed again. "What have you been smoking? When we found you, you were practically swimming in your own blood."

Cain looked at the two once again and silently stood up from his bed. He slowly removed his robe and began to take off the bandages. His scars gleamed angrily and it looked at though he would bleed again. When he took off enough, he turned his back to them. Both Ravens gasped at what they saw. Amid the tender scars on his back was a gigantic gash that ripped down across his back like thick lightning. Koemai was especially surprised. 'He never had a scar like that before.'

"I first encountered him during a mission a year ago." Cain said. "I didn't know anything about him or his AC. If you think what you saw when you opened my cockpit was bad, imagine what it was like to be impaled by damage from your own machine after being sliced apart by this guy. I was in the hospital for two and a half months. The doctors thought that I either should have died or crippled. This scar is a reminder of that battle."

"Geez..."

Cain continued as he began to replace his bandages, "I met Bane later on after he found out I survived. He didn't say anything, but I knew what he was thinking. What kind of person was I to defy death? Since then, we've met each other randomly."

"What?"

"There nothing to worry about. He'll only try to kill me when we're in ACs. He tried again and I survived again." Cain chuckled again, "He must be really steamed now."

Koemai was bewildered at his friend's obvious humor to several near death. Shrugging himself, he decided to take the same approach, "If this guy wasn't trying to kill you, we'd probably make good friends."

"Probably." Cain then asked seriously, "What about the mission?"

"We pulled it off." Koemai answered. "Charles delivered the goods and we got paid quite a bit. In fact, I still have your cut right here."

Koemai reached into his pocket and pulled out a credit pad. He then tossed it over to Cain who caught it in the air, not without wincing from the pain of course.

"Thanks." he muttered. "I'll need it." He began to access the pad, "After the damage I took in that fight, I'm guessing Glaive must be pretty wrecked."

Elijah rolled his eyes in amusement, "That's the understatement of the decade. The grenade launcher was totaled and various joints and circuits were either shredded or fried. In a nutshell, it looks like it's been through a grinder."

"Hmph. I see."

Koemai waved lightly, "Hey don't worry. You have more than enough money for repairs."

"No I don't." was the quiet response.

Koemai blinked, "Huh? What are you talking about?" He looked at the pad's accounts. "This is enough to make a whole new core."

Cain simply stared outside and Koemai noticed a dark mood within his friend. But it quickly faded away.

"...Nothing. I'll just have to repair it myself."

"Are you...?" He then stopped himself and sighed, "You just have to do things the hard way, huh?"

Beep, beep.

Elijah pulled out his minipad and checked it. "Hey, I got a message. I'm being challenged to an arena battle."

Cain looked over at him, "Are you going to accept?"

Elijah grinned, "Am I not the hand of salvation? I'll show him the way to oblivion."

"That's right." Koemai grinned as well.

Cain shook his head, "You've been hanging around Koemai too much."

=================

Arena...

Havoc stepped out from the metal doors and into the wide arena. This was his favorite stage to fight in. It was open area sealed in a dome. He could move around without having to worry about being disqualified about going outside the boundaries. And there were no obstacles to block his fire. As he thought about these things, he looked at his opponent. It was a yellow mid-heavyweight AC. It was armed with a high powered rifle in the right hand, a grenade launcher in the left, and a chain gun and an orbiter on the back. The pilot spoke over the comm to Elijah.

"You are Havoc. Hmm. Good speed, balanced defense, high ammo. But your weaknesses are well known to me as well."

Elijah narrowed his eyes, "And you are Chain Impact. You don't look like much yourself."

"Believe me, I am more than enough to deal with you." The machine bent down and the boosters began to flare. "Now let's begin."

Elijah activated his own boosters and Havoc propelled forward into battle. While this occurred, Koemai and Cain were watching the battle from the monitors.

'Elijah. Be careful.'