Disclaimer: See previous chapters
-
Chap. 41
-
"Move now!"
Pzzzzzhh! Pzzzzzhh! Pzzzzzhh! Pzzzzzhh!
The trio of Havoc, Phantom and Cloak all scattered away from the plasma energy blast of the white MT as the beams soared and tore at the door behind them. As the three moved to retaliate, the MT folded its cannon and resumed its attack, firing heavy rounds of grenades from its launcher, causing them to spread apart once more.
"I can't believe we're dealing with this again." Diana growled as she fired back.
The bullets of the machine gun hit their target, but as before, the heavy armor of the white MT made it ineffective and in return, the machine fired chain shots in lieu with its grenades. The grenade shells missed, but the chain gun bullets found their mark in Cloak's left shoulder, tearing off the extra shielding extension.
"Ghhh!"
Meanwhile, both Havoc and Phantom had managed to wheel around away from the machine's assault and fired together, with a combination of laser beams, howitzer shells, and machine gun fire. The machine took all the shots with barely a scratch and turned around to them and fired with its own combination of fire, which was vastly more devastating.
"Look out!"
The two machines dodged, but the shock from the grenade still hit them, sending them both spiraling to the ground. Due to the closeness of the space, the shock from the grenades was almost as bad as the shell itself. So even if the MT missed, the force of the shock would still hit, as the Raven of Phantom found out.
"Ah!"
Ellie moaned low as she was hit by shock and the crash and covered her face as a set of sparks erupted before her within the cockpit. 'Damn it. Not now.' The white MT turned on her and was ready to destroy when fire from the two remaining ACs diverted its attention.
"Ellie. Are you alright?" Elijah asked as he was pressed back by the MT.
"Yeah. But I don't think I will be of much help now."
Cloak swerved around another assault. "What do you mean? Are you hurt?"
"My AC's been hit bad. The control systems are mostly fried. I'm not sure I can get her moving again."
During the battle with the first set of white MTs, Phantom's control systems were badly damaged. She had been able to compensate for it with quick repairs, but that didn't hold up long after they entered the cannon chamber. And with the great shock from both the grenade launcher and the crash, that pretty much did it for the AC.
"I'm sorry. But you guys are on your own."
Diana heard the low tone she used in her voice; the one that spoke of the feeling of uselessness when it was needed. She felt the same way, now that she and Koemai were separated from each other. If he were in trouble now, she wouldn't be able to do a thing to help him.
But Elijah saw things differently…
"Just do what you can. We'll handle this guy."
Both Diana and Ellie blinked as Havoc suddenly charged at the white MT, moving feverishly to dodge the fire coming at him. The MT fired upon the machine and Havoc was forced to dodge altogether. Ellie then saw that he was working to buy some time and looked back at her controls.
"Alright, Phantom. Let's see what you have left."
Cloak soon soared along with Havoc, firing whenever she could, but mostly dodging due to the machines excessive fire. Luckily, her hover legs were key in her out maneuvering the bulky machine and with Havoc extra work as a distraction; she was able to get in a couple of decent shot. But the white MT's armor was quite thick and her weaponry wasn't doing anything more than ruining the paintjob.
'What does it take to kill these guys?'Havoc was handling the hardest part of the job, serving as a distraction both for Ellie and Diana. He knew that their machines were lightweight and thus unable to take as much abuse as his; thus proven by Phantom's downfall. While Cloak worked on attacking from behind and Phantom in repairs, he had to keep the machine focused on him to buy time
For what, that was another story…
However, he remembered the words of his former teacher during his initial training. 'Time is our greatest obstacle, but it can also be our greatest weapon. If you can buy time, you can buy life.' He didn't understand it at first, despite seeing the numerous times when patience and waiting had served to be a great asset in battle. But now, the full extent of those words came in. Time had to be bought.
And he was a big spender…
But he didn't simply maneuver around in avoidance. Whenever he got the chance, he fired back, chipping away at the MT's armor. He knew it would take some time before the thing succumbed and was destroyed and in doing so, he would use up a lot of ammo that would most likely be needed later. If he could get in close and use his saber, that would be a big help. Even though it wasn't powerful enough to destroy it, it would do significant damage. But getting in close to that thing was just plain suicidal. In order for that to happen, someone else would have to be the bait and he couldn't risk that.
'Time…Wait for an opening…'But time was suddenly cut short as the white MT suddenly veered away from him and began turning to the fallen Phantom. Its laser cannon arm unfurled and it began to lock on. Havoc flew immediately toward the machine, knowing that such an attack on her would mean utter and complete destruction.
"No! I won't let you! Not again!"
In another chamber, things were no different for Professional and Bloodhand, as they fought their own white MT. Because there were less of them in a closed environment, it would be natural for the two Ravens to have the advantage. But that wasn't the case as the white MT hammered in on the relentlessly, cornering them near the very entrance they had come in.
"What the hell! This is utter crap!"
Charles grimaced in agreement, trying to find a way around the machine, but finding his efforts to be wasted as they were being cornered in like rats. 'There has got to be a way around this. Wait, that's the problem. We've been trying to get around him.'
"Koemai. Go above him!"
Koemai turned to his comrade for a moment and looked back and his eyes widened. Although there wasn't much space, there was sufficient room to fly above the white machine and get back in the game. But with the way the machine was blasting at them, flight could land them in more serious trouble, as they would have to go toward the machine.
'More trouble than this? Like hell!'Immediately, the two ACs flared up their boosters and moved to the air. The white MT traced them and fired. Professional managed to weave around the gunfire, but Bloodhand wasn't as lucky as the pain of his freshly reopened wound caught Koemai by surprise.
"Gh!"
It was only a moment, and it was enough for the white MT to hit him with a salvo of chain-gun fire. Luckily, the extra armor extension held, but the dark AC drifted off to the side and landed heavily back on the ground, with the Raven wincing inside.
"Gah!"
Bloodhand stumbled on one knee, the fall damaging some of the circuits in its right knee. And to make matters worse, the white MT was now focused solely on him. In rush, Koemai flared the engines to move, but he was barely able to get a forward momentum when a grenade shell exploded in front of him, with the shock knocking his machine back again. Koemai was a little disoriented, but okay. If that had been a direct hit, he would have been in serious trouble.
Kind of like the trouble he was in right now…
As the machine continued to advance on him, it was bombarded by a set of grenade shells. Professional had managed to settle in and use his dual grenade launcher in attack. But this puzzled Koemai somewhat. 'Why didn't he use it in flight like he usually does?' That was until he saw Professional's extensions, or what was left of them, on the floor. At some point during the early bombardment, Professional had been hit and Charles simply discarded the extensions. The white MT soon turned back to Professional and the tan machine broke out of its stance and took to flight, a second before the firing started again. Koemai saw this too, seeing that without his extensions, Charles would be unable to use his grenade launchers effectively again and his only offensive was his sniper rifle, which was somewhat poor in a battle like this.
'That means I'll have to get my carcass up and help, before that machine takes a shine to me again.'
Gritting his teeth, Koemai pressed his machine to rise and it seemed that Bloodhand seem to be sharing the same pain as its Raven. Nevertheless, Bloodhand was on its feet and soaring in. The white MT was on its side, so Koemai had to move in fast. The pain increased due to the speed, but he bore it down as his machine ignited it laser blade. The white MT noticed his approach and turned to him, but by that time, Bloodhand was in its face, its orange blade flying.
"RAHHHHHHH!"
The blade hit home, razing the side of the machine and leaving a glowing gash in its wake. But the white MT didn't fall and simply turned sharply, knocking down Bloodhand with its cannon arm.
'Not again…Guahh!'Bloodhand crashed down and the white MT began to bear on it. Charles saw this and flicked a few of his switches within the cockpit. The view of the FCS screen changed and Professional locked solely on his sniper rifle, pinpointing the blade damage on the white machine.
'Come on…training sight…there!'Profession took a single shot, hitting the machine from within. Koemai looked at him like he was nuts. 'What the hell was that supposed to…?' But his question was answer when the MT began to jerk around and sputter sparks. It didn't take a rocket scientist to see that Charles had hit something critical and the thing was able to explode. Grabbing the controls and yanking hard, Koemai quickly flew off the ground and out of the way, just as the machine exploded behind him.
KABOOOOOMMMMM!
Koemai looked at the wreckage in relief and then back at Professional. That machine had made a pinpoint accurate shot. No machine he knew could do anything like that. No Raven could either.
"How the hell do you do that?"
Professional simply lifted its rifle as Charles answered him.
"Tricks of the trade, my friend."
A professional indeed…
Havoc soared straight and true as the white MT locked on to the fallen Phantom. But even as he went, he realized that what he was doing was pointless. Even if he hit the MT, the blade would do only minimal damage and it would not stop it from firing on Ellie. And given the state her machine was in, she would not survive the plasma cannon assault that the MT was readying.
"NO!"
The blade of his AC ignited, ready to slash down. But before he could strike, it soon occurred to him. 'I can…yes!' Havoc soon veered off slightly to the side and the blade descended on the machine.
Slicing the cannon itself…
The result was an explosion of white, knocking Havoc back. The MT had fired at the same time that Havoc had sliced its cannon, resulting in a self-implosion and explosion of energy. Havoc was slammed near the wall. Its laser blade was gone, but it had served its purpose. Phantom was safe and the white MT had been blasted. 'I can't believe I didn't think about that…'
But his thoughts were cut as he saw the white MT emerge from the fading light of the explosion. Its entire right arm and plasma cannon were gone, but it was still armed with the rest of its weaponry and it began to focus that weaponry on Havoc.
'This sucks.'
He almost didn't hear the swarm of missiles that flew from behind the machine and soon, the white MT was hammered from the back. 'Huh…Dual warheads...? Those are Phantom's weapons!' True enough, the fallen AC was smoking from the back after firing the weapons. Ellie had managed to reroute and fix the controls of her strongest weapon. The white MT was now in sparks, turning back slowly in order to deal with Phantom. But it would never get the chance, for it was torn apart by high energy cannon blast couple with a few howitzer shells. 'Diana…' The white MT, no longer able to take any more abuse, crashed to the ground and exploded before them all. Elijah pulled his machine upright and grimaced at the smoldering remains.
"I don't get paid enough for this."