"…I don't mind standing everyday day, out on her corner in the pouring rain, look for the girl with the broken smile, ask her if she wants to stay a while, and she will be loved, and she will be loved…"
Gods above, she could listen to him all day with a voice that beautiful.
Currently Jason was working on cleaning his massive autocannon. Sara was helping him, her arms covered with grease. So was her tank top.
Good gosh it was hot today. Due to a giant damaged air-conditioning unit, the cooling system was off. All the doors and windows were open, letting in a breeze every now and then. The fans were working overtime to keep the techs cool.
Standing up, she readjusted the leggings on her tech suit, and retied the arms around her waist.
Getting back down on her knees, she bent into the massive autocannon, taking off this and reattaching that. Looking down, she was quietly amused. There was still swamp water in it.
"Hey Jason, can you hand me that vacuum you were using earlier?"
The singing stopped. "I would but someone stole it-"
"I have it." Alice walked over, carrying a small portable vacuum. "Sorry, I was using it to get rid of some stuff I found.""
Sara groped for the vacuum, and began to suck the water out. The vacuum was quiet, the only sounds coming from it was the water traveling up the tube.
This was a huge weapon, almost too big for the 60 ton mech to carry. Five 240mm barrels were placed on a revolving mechanism, attached at the front with a thick band. 240mm was no tank cannon, it was a monster. The Ultra Autocannon 10 was the true descendent of the tank's main weapon, having five 120mm barrels on a similar design.
Due to advancements in armor, the guns had to be made heaver, and more powerful. The answer was the Autocannon 20, a massive weapon capable of ripping the most advanced armor to shreds. But this was an Ultra Autocannon 20, able to fire twice as many shells more accurately. It was devastating.
The Champion was known as a fleet footed heavy mech with rather weak firepower, with a tendency to run hot at times. It often consisted of a single heavy weapon, usually an Autocannon 10 or and LB-10X, with an assortment of lasers and short range missiles. The main problem was that it lacked the firepower and the armor to stand up to mechs of similar weight.
Despite its oversized engine, the Champion was loved by their pilots, as its 84.6 KPH speed abilities allowed it to escape almost anything it couldn't outgun. Hundreds of Champions had survived, though many had disappeared over time.
Jason had a unique Champion, one that fixed many of its problems. The massive autocannon gave it the ability to stand up to mechs far larger than it, and added in with its speed, allowed it to get up close and use it effectively. Due to the heat problems caused by the ER Medium Lasers, they were unusable because they made the Champion run hot. Jason fixed this problem by removing them and replacing them with Magna IV Medium Lasers, which were not as powerful, but ran cooler. He also installed double heat sinks in the arms and torsos, dramatically increasing its efficiency. The previous owner had scrapped the C3i computer and the SRM launcher for money and free weight.
The ammo was kept in the left torso along with a CASE, a large container that would vector an ammo explosion out of the mech. 150 rounds were fit into a drum magazine, which was ejectable through the CASE.
The Champion did not have as much armor as Jason wanted. Sara knew he wished he could install Ferro Fibrous armor on, but there was no space for that due to the endosteel internal structure.
Yep, it was a marvel of engineering.
"Sara, can you come here for a moment? I need help with this."
Slowly she got up. Jason never needed help with fixing anything; he was going to tell her something.
Walking around the autocannon, she knelt down besides Jason and poked her head through the opening.
"Do you still love me?"
She paused. "Of course I do, you know I do."
He handed her tickets to the next day's matches. "Thanks for being patient with me."
She looked at the seat numbers. Row AAA Seats 193 and 194. Front row seats! And near the uprising too! (The uprising was a piece of land that rose well above the rest of the fighting ground, next to the wall and coveted by LRM junkies.)
"Where'd you get these Jason? Front row-"
He put a hand over her mouth. "Hush, it's for you and Alice."
She blinked. "Wait a second, why aren't you going?"
"Cant, I'm busy tomorrow."
Well shucks, for a moment she thought she was going on a date.
"Well alright… thanks." She tried to give him a genuine smile, even though she knew Jason would see right through it.
He just winked at her.
This meant he was up to something.
With that, he turned and continued putting the massive autocannon together. She knew it was pointless to ask what he was planning; Jason was a master at keeping secrets.
The stadium buzzed around them as the mechs were pulled off the field. Another match was over. No one ever got tired of these games. The mere sight of these lumbering giants blowing the stuffing out of each other was a thrill far beyond the gladiator games of Rome.
On Solaris, there were many types of tournaments. Exoskeleton, Light, Medium, Heavy, Assault, Unlimited, Team, Lance, Unlimited Team, the list goes on and on and on. Currently Light mechs were being dragged off the field after a spectacular 12 mech match.
Jason was in the Unlimited Tournament. This section often gave the most money, especially if you were lighter than an Assault mech. They would put eight to twelve mechs in a single round, as one on one was considered unfair for pilots lighter than the Assault class.
Sara really wished Jason was here to watch the games with her.
"Sara?"
She was snapped from her imagination. "What?"
"It's the main event."
This was the best match of the day.
Loud music pumped from the speakers as one by one the mechs marched onto the field.
First up was an Awesome pilot, Terry Alastar, who had mutated his Awesome into a Masakari. A Hitman, he was well known for shooting for his opponent's ammo bins or the reactor or anything that went boom, as he was given the nickname 'Starbright'.
Yah, weak.
A second mech walked out, a Cyclops. She didn't know who the pilot was, but he had been a runner up in the assault tournament last year.
Then a Kraken walked out of a hole.
The Kraken was an assault mech made by Clan Jade Falcon. Armed with ten UAC 2s, the mech literally put up a wall of lead, shredding any mech to pieces.
In other words, this mech was bad news. Really bad news.
Next to it, a Marauder walked out, piloted by Mark Steiner. Steiner had been a powerful opponent in the team battles, but his partner had died. He elected to participate in the Unlimited series, which wasn't turning out for him so well.
The Templar pilot was a vet named Natasha Simmings. She had seen a lot of successful action against the Falcons, and already she was trash talking with the Kraken pilot. There would be fireworks between these two.
The rest of the mechs consisted of a Gargoyle, a Shadowhawk, a Flea, a Catapult, a Viper, an Ares, and a Champion, painted in a familiar swamp green. The autocannon was too big to be a standard UAC 10, and it was obvious it was a customized design. What was Jason doing out there?
"He told you he was busy today." Alice said; her wide eyes still on the Kraken.
Oh Gods above he was in deep trouble. A Kraken! A 100 ton clan assault mech with murderous firepower. This was bad news for everyone.
Her eyes went to the Champion.
It passed the stopping point. Jason's mech kept walking, even though everyone else had stopped. What was he doing?
It was walking towards her.
Finally it walked up the uprising, a section of land that was elevated enough so a pilot could walk out of his mech onto the stadium.
Jason halted his mech in front of the wall. The force field blocking the way disappeared, and the cockpit opened. Jason got out and walked onto the stadium, grinning at Sara. Merely glad to see him, Sara jumped up and hugged him. "Jason what are you doing here?"
He pulled back and smiled. "I have something to say." He took her hands in his and covered them. "Sara, I'm sorry I yelled at you, I'm sorry I hurt you, and I'm sorry for being such an ass about the whole thing. Will you forgive me?"
She just gaped at him. "Why are you apologizing? I'm-"
"Will you?" He was serious.
She nodded.
Smiling, he pulled her close, embracing her. "Thank you."
Oh man it felt so good. Everything was going perfect.
It was only then did she realize the holocameras were focused on them.
"I believe we have an audience." She said, pulling back slightly and looking into his eyes.
"Let 'em watch." He grinned wolfishly.
And the second they kissed, the crowd roared.
Slowly, they separated.
"Go on Jason, you're gonna need a lot of luck in this fight."
He just winked at her.
With that, he turned and climbed into his cockpit before proceeding to his starting point.
Sara walked back to her seat and sat down, not noticing the wide grin on Alice's face.
"Wow."
"You go girl."
"Just wow."
The countdown began, and reality set back in. Jason was not going to have an easy time.
The horn blared, and the Kraken unleashed a torrent of lead onto the Templar, shredding to torso beyond recognization. The Templar didn't stand a chance, and it fell on its back.
Immediately, the other assault mechs opened fire on the clan mech. The Kraken reeled under the weapons fire, stepping back. The Catapult marched up to a hill, bombarding the assault mechs, only to be knocked off its feet by an alpha strike from the Marauder. The light mechs charged into the fray, dancing around the massive assault mechs.
Sara watched as Jason's Champion pulverized the Viper from behind, penetrating its back armor with its massive autocannon. The Marauder turned and fired at the Champion, its PPCs striking the left torso. Jason sidestepped just as a gauss shot rocketed by.
The horn blared again, and the Gargoyle fell at the Krakens feet. From the looks of things, the Kraken was dominating everyone on the field. Lead shells spewed forth from the multiple autocannons, tearing into the hull of the Cyclops with a vengeance. The Cyclops answered back with its gauss rifle.
The horn blared twice, and Sara looked to see the Marauder and the Ares smoking at Jason's feet. Smoke wafted from its autocannon and laser ports as it jogged off to join the rest of the fight.
The Flea was caught in the crossfire of the three assault mechs, and literally dissolved from a clan PPC. The Shadowhawk was clubbed into oblivion by the Cyclops, cast aside-
-The Cyclops exploded, white light blinding everyone in the stadium momentarily. When their sight returned, a Champion dashed through the place where the Cyclops once existed.
Starbright reacted first, racketing his Awesome at the Kraken. The tremendous amount of firepower ripped into the Kraken's torso, finally putting it down.
Jason lost no time, firing at the Awesome. The massive shells blew off the left arm, and the Awesome leaned right from the sudden loss of weight. The Awesome returned fire, hitting the Champion with all its PPCs.
Rocked backwards by azure bolts of lightning, the Champion fired off one last shot-
-A massive supernova burst from the Awesome, enveloping both mechs. Sara gasped in horror.
No he can't be-
-the Champion came flying out of the supernova, crashing into the ground and skidding to a stop.
---
"…This is horrible, I see no movement from the cockpit, and the Awesome is gone. No one could have survived that kind of explosion."
Duncan Fisher zoomed in on the motionless Champion. "I still see no movement, we don't know if… wait, there's someone running on the field!" The cameras zoomed in, and everyone recognize the girl he was with earlier. "How did she get on? She's running up, it looks like she has a crowbar. She's opened the cockpit-" He was cut off as the sound began to filter through.
---
With a hiss, the cockpit opened. Sara tossed the crowbar aside. "Jason! Jason are you okay?"
He had already removed his nurohelmet. "Ugg…"
"Oh gods above I thought you were dead."
"Get me out of this thing, I'm bleeding."
Sara climbed into the cockpit, and began to pull him out of cockpit. Finally getting him out of the mech, she ripped off his coolant jacket and his shirt.
Massive scars on his back were bleeding profusely, oozing onto the field.
"Oh Jason I'm so sorry-"
"Sara-"
"I shouldn't have-"
"Sara, its okay. That was the past." He closed his eyes, trying to shut out the pain. Not a sound came from the stadium, all watching the massive screens intently.
"Will you be okay?" She kissed his head, cradling it.
"Yah." He paused. "Are your hands burnt?"
"Yah. Your mech is still hot."
"You think?" He rebuked milady as she brushed his hair.
She pulled him up and leaned him against her, his blood staining her white shirt. "I was so worried about you."
"I never thought I'd see you running up to me like that." He closed his eyes.
Gently she rocked him back and fourth as medevac units rushed up to them. "Will you forgive me Jason?"
He found her arm and squeezed it. "Yes."
She kissed his forehead; her blonde hair covering his face. "Thank you."
Slowly she rocked him back and forth as both silently waited for the medevac unit to pull up besides them.
Sara leaned down and kissed him again. She never wanted him to leave her again.