Work the story.

Data File 0112: Monarch Titans

Created during the Second Titan Generation, the Monarch class titan (now known as Monarch Mainline Titan 1, or Monarch MT-1) was created as a civilian defence robot. These robots were stationed in urban areas as a means to keep the populace in check. While these titans usually came armed with the standard XO-25 chaingun, missile rack, and energy siphon loadout, some Monarchs have been upgraded, via their core, to be better than the norm. These upgrades include better armor, electric bullets, larger missile rack, target locking missiles, and more destructive electric smoke canisters. These titans were no secret to the outside, and were usually present at diplomatic ceremonies with other countries. However, when the war in the Middle East was stagnating, the Vinson Dynamics corporation presented their newest titan, this titan jumpstarting the Third Titan Generation. The Monarch MT-2, also known as the Knight Titan. These titans have had their left hands replaced with a smaller version of the Rotary Cannon, a triple barrelled gatling gun, capable of firing a .90 caliber round at 600 rounds a minute. While it pales to other gatling guns, it does more damage. The MT-2 also has more armor and better speed, along with built in sonar capabilities. However in the past few weeks, a couple of models have gone missing...

Arena

"I don't think those are Hammond's." Gio stated.

Rin turned to the other pilot, her eyes conveying her fear. "Wait, so they're not Hammond models?"

"They are Hammond models."

"But they aren't Hammond titans?"

Gio nodded. "Yes, that is correct."

Rin stared at the enemy Monarchs, and then turned back to Gio. "You mean someone else built these?!"

Gio blinked, then his eyes went wide. "Rin, those need to be destroyed, now." He loaded another clip in. "I think I figured out where the missing Hammond models went."

Rin twirled her scimitars. "Any info we could use? They are from your country. And what do you mean 'missing models'?"

"Those are the Monarch MT-2, known as the Knight titan." Gio explained. "A Third Titan Generation model, made to combat the Third Generation of IS models. As to the other question, well…"

Rin narrowed her eyes. "What?"

"Three models went missing from one of the main Hammond armories, and there are three here. So that means I found them."

Rin twirled her scimitar, facing the titans. "Good for you. Now do we destroy them?"

Gio nodded. "With the utmost prejudice." He aimed his Trebuchet, and fired the opening shot. His shot hit the center Knight, ripping a hole in the cockpit. The AI unit in the center was destroyed immediately, putting the Knight out of the fight.

Rin rushed the Knight on the left, trying to dodge the volley of shells it was firing at her with little success. They ripped her shields, but Rin reached the Titan and swung. The scimitar bounced off, leaving a scratch on the mech.

"What?!" Rin shouted. "That would've ended any IS easily!"

Gio swung his sword at the other Knight, which also bounced off too. "Rin, these are more armored than the regular titan! Also, they're not ISs!" Gio swung again, leaving a bigger mark. His 40mm would've been great here, except he had it change shell types before the fight started. His Trebuchet was doing the same thing, leaving it out of the fight.

Rin fired at the Knight, using the Impact Cannons she was armed with. These did a little more damage, but it still wasn't enough. "Gio! What other information you have on these titans?!"

"The regen shield amount is around 2000 points!"

"That's low."

"The armor shield amount is around 25000."

"What the FU-" Rin was interrupted by a barrage of .90 calliber shells destroying her shields.

Gio grimaced, the Knights were made to be tough, and unbeatable. What could he do to defeat them?

Gio suddenly remembered something from the briefing he had about the titans back in basic.

Basic Training- one year ago

Gio and the other officer cadets sat in a classroom, listening to an instructor talk about the titan models they would see in combat with them from now on. While Gio had already done basic when he was in the TLC divisions, illegally no doubt, the titan lessons were new to the course for officers and enlisted alike.

"When in battle with an opposing force, you will be support for the Titan pilots of our military. They will direct you from their cockpit to areas they cannot access. Most likely these will be buildings or lower hanging areas. However, these titans are not infallible. In the event that the mechs are in danger of exploding or being captured, the pilot will activate a 'kill switch'. This kill switch will eject the pilot from the titan, and detonate the nuclear core of the titan. Allied units can and will be hurt in these explosions, as will enemy units. However, if the core does not detonate, it must be done remotely. As officers, you will have the permission to detonate the cores, and you will do so. The core will countdown from 15, and detonate." The instructor explained. "Now, onto how to integrate your squad into the combat role…"

Present Day

Gio ran towards the down titan, and grabbed the chassis. He reached into the hole he created, and dug around in it. His hand brushed something hot, and his built in Gieger counter went a little wild.

"Gotcha." He said, as he pulled out a small grey orb.

The titan nuclear core.

Gio wasted no time attaching it to his wrist via a magnetic pulse. "Rin, you gotta leave, now!"

Rin nodded, and flew out of the arena. Gio turned to the two remaining titans. They turned to him, and raised their cannons. Gio raised his 40mm, and fired off shots, as did the Knights. The Knights' shots bounced off Gio's shields, depleting them little by little. Gio's shots, however, did not bounce. His 40mm cannon, was upgraded to do much worse than the average shot. He had switched the shells to the smallest SABOT rounds in the world. The shots killed the regen shields of the Knights, and started taking chunks out of their armor. The two Knights started running towards Gio, while said pilot pressed a button on the titan core he was holding. The countdown started beeping. 15...14...13…

Gio ran at the Knights. 12...11…

The Knights raised their fists in a combat stance. Gio kept firing 40mm SABOT rounds, screaming as his shield now took the full brunt of the .90 caliber rounds. 10...9...8…

The titans started to falter, so did Gio. 7...6...5…

Viewing room

"Ms. Orimura! Scans show an influx in radiation in the arena!" Ms. Yamada exclaimed.

Chifuyu was still fixed to the arena floor, watching an IS/Titan Hybrid fight off two of the mechs that were meant to destroy it. She was reading what info the world, save Hammond, had on the models, and had missed Gio taking the core. But she knew that all titans had a kill switch, a nuclear option…

"NO!" She shouted, watching as Gio leapt up to ground pound the two titans. His right fist was glowing, and she heard him shout something along the lines of…

Arena floor, same time

"Fuck you!" Gio shouted as his fist exploded with the force of a supernova.

Viewing room

The room glowed for a second, and then the shockwave hit. Chifuyu and everyone inside was thrown to the floor, the wall closest to the arena disintegrating as if it were paper.

Then...silence. The door was thrown open a second later, with rescue crews moving swiftly to evacuate the injured. With them, was Kanzashi Sarashiki, who moved towards Chifuyu immediately. While she wasn't hurt badly, Kanzashi did see some scratches that were bleeding lightly. A paramedic quickly took Chifuyu before Kanzashi could say anything, leaving the introverted pilot alone in the room. She looked around at the damage, wires frayed and sparking, display monitors cracked and destroyed, chairs broken into pieces. It was like a bomb went off.

Kanzashi then realized a bomb had gone off, and she quickly ran to the new hole in the wall, which led directly to the arena floor. What she saw terrified her.

Gio was on one knee, his left hand holding him up. His right arm was totally gone, reduced to atoms. His IS was burnt and generally not in good shape. This wasn't what terrified Kanzashi, however.

In fact, it was that the arm was growing back that scared her. A flame had ignited on Gio's now stump of an arm, and was slowing rebuilding it new. Kanzashi stared, slightly in awe and mostly in shock, watching as the arm grew back and wondered what was going through Gio's head as this was happening.

..

The way the Hammond Republic came into this world is tumultuous and violent. From what I've learned from my time in school, the nation was born through promise of survival and the reality of war. Hammond is, as many know, made up of multiple sectors of what used to be the Balkans Peninsula. When the IS was created, sometime around the late months of the year 2019, the nations of Serbia and Kosovo put aside their differences and united under one flag for defense, since they lacked the funding to build IS and lacked the military to fight them off. They were joined by Romania, Hungary, and Bulgaria, and became the Hammond Republic, united for defense. However, the nations of Macedonia, Greece, Bosnia and Heregozevonia, and Croatia disagreed. They valued their sovereignty, and thought the IS nations would never attack them. They felt threatened by Hammond, and each of them declared war on Hammond. They weren't united under any flag, and fought separately. They even fought each other, hoping for more land. The EU and the Big Three laughed, saying it was only natural we fought each other. Hammond and the others shrugged it off, it was only when we all denied outside help did they get upset.

Why was that so bad? We were fighting for our lives while they were looking to make money off our fight. They sent aid to Turkey, hoping they would jump in and fight to get someone to buy foreign 'aid'.

Turkey indeed attacked, and pushed through Greece. When the non-Hammond countries saw this, they quickly realized their assumptions were wrong. The big countries would attack us. So peace was made, and the region was united. The full force of the Balkans was then turned towards Turkey, and they were pushed out of Greece and lost the northern part of the isthmus that connected them to Europe.

Turkey never really forgave us for that, nor did the Big Three.

But why is this relevant? Well, since the Hammond Republic has been ahead in everything tech-wise, other countries have been trying to steal our technology, and have failed every time.

Well, maybe. Those three missing Knights appear in the only place where enemies could attack a pilot, whose was from a nation who the Big Three would like to see destroyed, it is hard to miss the scathing evidence and hard to ignore the possibility of this being an attack on Hammond and not the ISA.

But what do I know? I just punched a titan with a nuclear core, I'm not smart, right?

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Sorry this one was short.