Chapter 11: Finding the Path

"What the hell is this!" The young female slapped a piece of paper onto the desk. Sitting in the desk was a man with short white hair. He was known as Jack-O, the head administrator of the Ark and revered Raven. The female standing in front of him had black hair down to her shoulders, she was known as Sara Landfield. She was a new Raven, and had come to clarify what the previous announcement was all about, "I know Wind and he would never do anything like this!" she yelled. Despite the girl yelling at him with such fury, Jack-O maintained his calm demeanor and simply cuffed his hands together on the table.

"And what might this be?" He asked, calmly.

"This was an announcement made from the Ark! It stated that Vanguard and Wind were both traitors! What is going on! Wind was just with me on a mission and then he disappears and now this!"

Jack-O picked up the paper in a smooth motion, his eyes scanning the page, "Hmmmmm…that's interesting…"

Sara seemed puzzled by his comment, "What is!"

"This announcement…I had no idea nor did I arrange for such a thing…"

She retracted a little, "So…what does…that mean then?"

The administrator placed the paper down and calmly looked up at her, "The Ark is acting up again…"

"Acting up? What do you mean? You're the head administrator of Ark! Your supposed to know what happens here!" she slammed both of her hands on the table.

"No…that is not really how the Ark works…" Sara rage was soon replaced by confusion, "You see…I'm only the head of Ark…I only arrange for important matters only. The Ark's main activities like missions and announcements, are made by a group of representatives. These representatives were selected because of their knowledge and wisdom…it is possible…" Jack-O stopped, seeming to fear something.

"It is possible that what? What's possible?" she asked, panicking.

"Its possible that…the Ark's representatives were all Revelation members, I'm sure you've heard of the group…a bad uprising organization wishing to do away with the Ark. They use forbidden technology to their advantage making them a fierce force. Fortunately, I am the head administrator…"

"So…what now?"

"Heh…I have an assignment for you…its connected to Windbreaker and Vanguard…"

"Whats the mission?"

"Mirage and Crest have supposedly, spotted some weird activity within the vicinity of Bayload's ruins…I believe that's your hometown. This mission was not assigned to normal Ravens because of where the location is."

"…"

"Two ACs were seen…one of them fits the description of Windbreaker's AC, with its oversized shoulders that seemed like auxiliary boosters."

She nodded, "That's it alright…no other AC would have boosters on its shoulders."

"I'm assigning you the mission. Investigate and assist in Windbreaker's and Vanguard's mission as much as possible."

"Their mission? Wait! What the hell are you talking about?"

Jack-O hesitated for a moment and then responded, "When you find them, ask them yourself…it is better if they talk to you about what is going on." His gaze was that of a dreamy gaze. He seemed to be spacing out, "I've also assigned the Ravens Shade and Carom to this mission…don't worry, their professionals…so then…are you willing to accept to mission?"

Sara had no intention of backing out. She was willing to go to any extent to help Windbreaker and find out what was going on, "I accept!" she said, with a stern face.

"Hmmm…alright then….you'll probably find Shade in his quarters in C-11…and Carom…you'll have to look for him, that kid is always so random…" he said, still holding his calm position.

"Kid?"

His gaze shifts to the side, "Uhhhh…never mind…just get going on your mission as soon as possible and…good luck!" Jack-O stood up from his desk and saluted the young female.

"I'll try sir!" she replies with a salute as well and left the administrator's room.

The white haired man sat down slowly, looking at the paper that she had left on his desk, "…those two…every time I give them a mission they create more problems then they solve…" he lets off a sigh of pain and slouches his shoulders slightly, "…I guess I have to restructure the Ark…again! This is the fifth time this year."

A knock on the door seemed to have aroused the man's attention. He was laying on his back on the bed, staring at the ceiling, still wearing his barely transparent shades and a buzzed black hair style, "Come in!" he said, looking to his side at the silver door that slid open.

"Ummm…excuse me…are you…Shade?"

"Yeah, that's me…I suppose you're the new rookie that Jack-O mentioned I'll be working with," he said, looking back at the ceiling. Sara nodded at him in a shy manner. She was a bit nervous that she would make a bad impression to one of the top rankers, The man snatched his leather jacket from the chair beside the bed and walked over to her, "Okay then…lets go," he put a hand on her shoulder, "Your pulse is tense…try to relax…panicking will get us nowhere."

"Oh! Ahhhh…okay…" the realization hit her when she remembered something, "Ahhh! Sir, aren't we supposed to find Carom first?" she said straightening up again as his icy gaze turned to her through his shades.

"Oh yeah…right…that kid…" He sighed, "Right, I know where to find him…"

Shade had taken her to a place in the Ark where she had never seen before. It was a large opening in the wall and various sounds were coming out of it. She stood there, gawking at the fact that Shade had led them here. The black haired man crossed his arms and stood there. Sara broke the silent, "The Arcade! Carom is in the Arcade!"

He scratched the back of his head, "Uhhhh….yeah…"

"Whoa! Hey Shade, and what are you doing here? Oh! You finally gave up on being all downright cold and decided to join me on the little fun huh? I knew you couldn't resist!" A man with blonde hair and a dark orange jacket came out holding a large stuffed teddy bear at his side with one hand.

"Ahhhh…no…don't you remember the mission, Carom?" he said shaking his head in disappointment.

"Oh! Right! Its just that I got caught up resting! Gotta lighten up a bit, man!" he said seeming to laugh with his sentence.

Shade only screwed up his face, "You gotta shapen up, Carom. Your record in battle so far has been declining and…what the hell is that for!" he pointed to the stuffed toy under Carom's arm.

"This? Uhhh….its…a present…for….Stephanie!" he said flushing a bit.

Shade raised an eyebrow, "Okay…well….do your stuff quickly and lets go quickly, we don't have much time!"

"Okay, okay…sheesh…a guy can't get a break for once…" he walked away slouching while mumbling to himself.

Sara stood there, baffled at how the top ranker she had previously praised in her mission, seemed to act no more than a six year old…now I know why everybody keeps calling him a kid…

The transport carried the three through the winds to the ruins that lay below. Sara only thought of painful memories when she saw the display through her screen, Dad…mom…the Ark's situation seems so deep…am I doing the right thing in getting so involved?

"Since this mission was disclosed I'll be your operator for the time being," Jack-O interrupted through the rough static of the comm-link, "There's some unnatural ECM frequency that's affecting the communications, its not strong enough to severe connection with the Ark communication but it is enough to interfere with your link, be careful Ravens…I have a feeling someone will try to stop you…"

"Copy that! AC Blade moving out," Shade announced. Three ACs descended from the transport onto the ruins. A black AC took the lead, it was a quad type equipped with a shotgun and a machine gun and a backmounted slug gun. Its DRONE head made it look all the more intimidating.

"Alright Ravens…spread out, we'll search the ruins separately, cover more ground," Shade said through the static that appeared even more rough on the surface. Blade boosted off into the distance. Carom's orange AC, Pyrobird, seemed to have landed elsewhere. All that was left in the center of the a tall building was a dark red AC known as Crimson Tear.

"So…what am I supposed to be looking for?" Sara asked, to no one in particular.

"Anything suspicious…and keep an eye out for Vanguard and Windbreaker's AC…" Jack-O replied.

Right…like there's gonna be any suspici- She was cut from her thoughts when a solid shell had been fired her way. The lightweight AC quickly dodged out of the way, scanning for the gunner that had made the shot. A large dark green figure stepped out, with a single red eye and an oddly shaped gun in its hand. Four more of the mechs stepped out from the cover of the buildings as well. Crimson Tear took a step back in response to the newcomers. The five figures in total started boosting towards Crimson Tear with great speed, as if hovering above the ground with ease and fired their odd rifles.

Crimson Tear made no hesitation in overboosting to the left and fired a grenade shot from its left hand unit. The shell made contact with one of the units, attempting to turn around while boosting. A large explosion made the green mech recoil and crash into one of the already ruined buildings. The other four mechs disappeared, hiding behind the buildings. Smoke could only be seen in the spot where the mech collided with the building. A shadow could be seen behind the curtain of smoke, its movement was humane and the figure itself seemed to breath. As the smoke began to blow away, the green mech could be still plainly seen, standing as if nothing had happened, not a scratch on its dark armor. A mist began to engulf the entire ruins, "What the hell! What's with the sudden mist!", the dark mech took the opportune moment and boosted to the left, firing its rifle. Crimson Tear reacted by boosting up in the air taking careful aim with its sniper rifle, it fired piercing rounds, some of which seemed to make holes through the iron giant, "Ha! That'll teach you to mess with me!" the giant merely boosted backwards, its feet met with the ground with a thud. It stood there as if nothing happened, "What kind of MT is this! I've never seen anything like it! It just keeps on coming," she soon realized something horrific, her radar was in static and her lock-on was not functioning properly, her eyes flashed to the display screen that indicated the ECM frequency, "ECM! 1620 joules! It wasn't that high before…so….these guys are using some heavy ECM equipment too…" it seemed as though only seconds before the other four MTs reappeared behind her, sending Crimson Tear crashing to the ground and firing at every second at its vulnerable torso. The red mech turned over as soon as it could but met with one of the MTs pushing it into one of the nearest buildings, causing the building to collapse and part of the AC to explode, "Ahhhhhh!" The red AC, defeated, sat there in the ruins, sparks flying from each joint from the major damage it had received. Sara sat in the cockpit, blood trickled down the side of her head. She was panting hard, her eyelids ready to give way because of the lack of energy she was feeling. "This…can't be the end…I haven't helped Wind yet!" the five black figures started to approach her when a wave of destruction swept past them, all five of them demolished through the mist. Various shots caught the MTs off guard, only in a matter of seconds were they reduced to nothing more than smoke and flying pieces of shrapnel. Sara was barely able to keep her eyes open but managed to see through her fading vision, "…Wind?" she could no longer keep her strength and passed out.