Disclaimer: See previous chapters

AN: Another short chapter. Sorry. Working on it.

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Chap. 39

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The bunker area was alit with fire and destruction as the Nightwatch clan was pressed in battle against the three MT. Despite being fewer in number, the ivory machines had the firepower to back them up as well as the heavy defense to repel the AC's attacks. Professional and Havoc were locked in battle with one while Cloak and Phantom were dealing with another.

That left Bloodhand to deal with one on his own.

"Come and get me, you piece of trash!"

Bloodhand skipped backwards as it fired upon the MT, unloading whatever it could on the machine. To his credit, there was damage on it, but despite that, it was still coming after him. A grenade shell flew out from the machine's back and impacted with a structure, missing Bloodhand's head by just a few inches. And it had the scorching burn marks to prove it. Strafing to the right, Bloodhand fired wildly, his machine gun going on seemingly endlessly. The white machine stopped and took the fire, but only because it was now settling down.

'Oh, crap. Not this again!'

The MT's plasma blasts soon shot out at the AC, shredding and demolishing anything it came near to and hit. Luckily, none of that was Bloodhand, but unfortunately, he was no closer to beating this brute than before. Koemai frowned within and glanced over at his compatriots. At least they have a two-on-one advantage. 'Everyone gets all the luck.' He could have had backup if Cain was there with him…

If he was there…

On his previous missions, whenever things were tough, his partner was there with him, slugging it out and dishing out vengeance/justice on whomever they fought. They were the team of teams, the Hands of God. But as time passed, it seemed, his partner drifted from him to take care of his own responsibilities. He didn't mind it though. 'A man's go to do what a man's go to do.' But he didn't leave him alone. Justice was there, just with a different face. And if they were going to make this work, then he had to shut up and fight.

TKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTKTK!

Meanwhile, on another part of the battlefield, Professional and Havoc worked together to bring down the white MT. Though they weren't fighting as hard as Bloodhand, the battle was still difficult. Havoc occupied it was a couple of round, causing it to be distracted long enough of Professional to set up his grenade launchers and fire down of the machine. The two went through this tactic a while now and so far, it was their best bet. The only problem was dealing with the MT's reaction time. It seemed to catch on quickly enough to dish out its own damage on the two. 'Whatever AI system that is used to run it, it much be quite advanced' Charles though as Professional broke away in run from a flying grenade. This only served to reinforce his mission to breach the Line. He had to see what was in there. But he had to get through his current battle first.

Which brought to mind his current partner, Elijah. Charles was impressed by how the youth managed to fallen two Death Dealers on his own and he also was impressed by his current skill. Havoc was firing, but not wildly. He was taking his shots when necessary and never using more than he need to. That was quite different than the boy he first met up with. Before, he had only accepted Elijah into the clan in order to gain Cain. But now it seemed that Elijah had developed into a true Raven.

'He's left the nest and flying on his own.'

Reminiscing over, Professional targeted with his dual grenade launcher and locked on to the distracted MT.

BLAM! BLAM!

Koemai was once again reduced to dodging the MT. Despite the good shots he got it, the thing keep coming. He already realized that his machine gun wasn't having such a great effect on it. He couldn't settle down and use any of his back weapons. By the time he had a clear shot, the MT would be on him and he may not recover from such an assault. He could try going in close range, but his laser blade was much shorter than many other such blades. He would have to get in really close for it to be truly effective. And getting close to this guy was a negative.

Unless…

He would have to wait for this one. And he would hurt himself more in the process even if he got it right. But he couldn't keep up this pace forever. And he couldn't wait for the others to come and help him at the moment.

'Do or die time…'

Bloodhand suddenly stopped fly altogether and stood still, strangely enough, causing a grenade blast that was flying at him from ahead to miss. The MT soared in and landed, firing its chain gun weaponry. Bloodhand strafed back, but not by much and he kept to the ground. Missiles came at him next, but he allowed them to hit him, using the shield extensions he had to weaken the hits.

'Come on, you overgrown toaster oven. You know what you want to do.'

The MT soon settled as well and unfolded its plasma cannon arm. 'Gotcha!' Bloodhand suddenly discarded most of his weaponry and flew right at the MT. Had the machine have a pilot, he or she would have been pretty surprised. But since that wasn't the case, the MT simply locked on and fired. Bloodhand skipped to the side and continued coming. Without the weight of his weapons slowing him down, he could get in close and hopefully finish this. When he came within range, the laser blade flashed out in a glow of orange and he attacked.

"Guh!"

However, the increased speed of the blade coming from a flying AC, put pressure of Koemai and he felt the impact it as soon as he attacked. His blade still hit the target, but not as damaging as he planned on and only left a gash on the side of the machine. The MT began rise from is cannon stance and resume his attack. Bloodhand began to move away, but Koemai was still trying to fight off the pressured pain he had and this slowed him down a bit.

"…I will be a second or two slower."

The truth was more deadly that he realized now as the MT fired a grenade blast at him. Out of desperation, he dodged it, but not totally and was caught in by the shockwave, nearly hurling Bloodhand to the ground. Koemai grunted, taking control of his machine, but the MT began to close in on him, ready to press the attack.

PSSSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHH!

Koemai feared that it was the MT using its plasma shots again and braced for impact. But as he looked, he saw something else entirely. A white stream of energy flew out of nowhere, hitting the MT on the side. Koemai might have been wrong (or delirious), but he could see the MT taking severe damage. Both machines turned to the source of the attack.

"Say cheese."

A second laser stream fired out from the laser cannon of Cloak, hitting the machine square-on and actually causing it to reel. But the MT was far from finished and launched a salvo of missiles at her. Cloak disengaged and moved away while Bloodhand moved in. Her attack had given him just the time and opening he needed to correct his mistake.

"Eat this!"

Instead of slashing, Koemai stabbed his blade right into the MT. The machine tried to turn to him, but Bloodhand continued to drive the blade in until the hand of his machine disappeared within the thick armor. The MT shuddered and shook and Koemai pulled out and moved Bloodhand away from what would be a classic, old fashioned explosion.

KABOOOOOMMMM!

Koemai sighed in relief and turned to his savior, Diana. Bloodhand waved at her and she waved back in return.

"Then I'll have to be a second or two faster."

Just then, an explosion echoed from nearby. As Bloodhand went to retrieve his fallen weaponry, Cloak flew in to investigate. It was probably another fuel tank exploding. At least, that was how they got rid of theirs. Along with Phantom, the two of them wove around the MT, taking shots one by one. With their speed, it was easy enough to evade it, but their initial weaponry lacked power and they could afford to settle for their cores would be more prone to damage. But as it turned out, they didn't need to. As they were fighting, the MT landed on top of a old fuel tanker. Taking a chance, Phantom had fired at it itself, result in engulfing the MT in a big explosion.

And it still kept going…

But the damage was significant enough for them to finish it off with few difficulties and soon it fell. Seeing their comrades still in battle, Ellie flew off to aid Professional and Havoc while Diana went to Bloodhand. Now that Bloodhand was safe, Diana went to check on the explosion and was pleased to find that the source was the third MT. Its smoldering bits smoked on the dry ground with the remaining three standing over it.

"Well, that was interesting." Ellie muttered from Phantom.

"That's a way of saying it." Diana said in response. "I can't believe it takes so much to beat these things."

"We didn't."

Diana turned to look at Havoc, in which Elijah had answered her. "Huh?"

Charles answered her. "We didn't beat it. It self-detonated."

"It…blew itself up?" Koemai asked as he flew into the scene.

"It was trying to get in close to Charles and blow him up with it." Ellie explained. Luckily, Elijah and I slowed it down enough before it blew."

"These things are a lot smarter than they seem." Charles continued. "It knew it couldn't survive against the three of us so it tried to reduce our numbers."

Of course, the implications of this were not lost on anyone. Reduction of numbers is a move of preparation. Something else was waiting for them. Something below knows they are coming.

And it was smart…

Suddenly, a red beam of light shone down just behind Phantom. The AC quickly flew away just as a massive beam of light shot down from the sky. Looking around, the entire team saw similar beam forming around them, one by one. The satellite cannon…

"Let get in, now!"

All were in quick agreement as they flew into the bunker where a massive elevator awaited them. Entering in, the elevator doors closed behind them and took them down.

Down into the true mystery of Silent Line…