Mark of Man
Chapter 20
Enemies can't break your spirit, only friends can.
It should have been a quiet night. For decades before, night remained silent in northernmost Finland. Only the hardiest of animals, people and machines thrived this far north and so close to the poles. However, the war had changed all of that.
Battle had arrived once more in the tundras of Finland's Lapland region.
Sigma's plan had been bold, widespread, and global with a complexity she herself was only now beginning to (begrudgingly) respect. He had planned for the war to be a long one, a war that would see his forces be depleted and exhausted.
So, he'd planned ahead.
He'd had factories built in resource rich areas in secret with the help of reploids that had grown exhausted of subjugation and fleeing from authorities. He'd offered them a safe haven and a place to recover. Then, when they were most willing to listen, offered them a chance to get back at their human masters.
Brilliant in its simplicity and until each factory was hunted down and destroyed… The war would never end. For Finland, that meant north of the Kolari mines a battle raged as Mavericks desperately defended the outer facility from the duo of hunters.
"They're armed better than I'm used to seeing." Rokko observed clinically as she slid down a hill and took cover beneath the mound next to her backup.
Eris simply rolled her eyes as she nursed her right arm. She'd been hit by a plasma cannon as they'd tried to come in. Thanks to her level of thermal resistance (or really, immunity with as high as it was) most of the effects were nullified but she could still suffer from the kinetic impact. And plasma could travel at incredibly high speeds.
"At least you have ranged weapons." She pointed out dryly which only caused the blonde huntress to shake her head.
"...Stay here. I'll see about softening up the outer defenses for you."
Damn it Zero.
She still wasn't happy about working with this woman. Cheerful, optimistic, and an idealist. It was like Sigma all over again but somehow, much, much, more annoying.
She shoved her thoughts about Eris to one side and half rose, keeping her upper body leaning down to hide beneath the small hill and boosted to one side, aiming her buster as she did. Dozens of smaller plasma bolts tore into the fencing.
She scowled as she ducked into the tiny patch of trees that served as 'forest' and shook her head, cursing under her breath. Really, if they still had the airfleet, she'd have contacted Zero and asked him to just bomb it from above. They were heavily entrenched and Eris wasn't exactly useful for these sorts of missions. She was created for close ranged combat after the distance had been closed.
Not for sieging a heavily armed facility like this.
Forcing the thoughts aside, she swapped to Fire Wave and with a short burst lit the little group of trees on fire. At minimum it'd be a good distraction and be a place for Eris to lay low. Dashing out of the slowly growing inferno, she rolled behind another small hill and contacted Eris via close range communications.
"Eris, I started a bonfire for you."
"Perfect."
Rokko shook her head a little. 'Perfect'? That was stretching it. It wasn't like she'd done it because she liked Eris. No, she had a responsibility to keep Eris alive, and it was little more than that.
"If you say so."
"Loosen up X, we're only fighting a legion of heavily armed enemies and burning away nature."
"We? I'm the one fighting them. At most they fought you."
"My hero."
X scowled as she cut the communication and she could have sworn she heard Eris laughing in the distance.
Damn it, she was worse than Zero. Boosting around another hill and firing at the facility, she cursed and reluctantly contacted Zero.
"Zero here. What's the status X?"
"Commander, they're heavily entrenched and while I'm able to deal superficial damage to the facility and their defenses it's going to be a long slog at best. If we still had the fleet, I'd ask for air support and just request atmospheric bombardment."
"They're that entrenched?"
Rokko grit her teeth as her most recent cover was penetrated by a high impact anti armor laser.
"...They have several anti armor emplacements and I've counted fifty or more mavericks entrenched, not to mention…" Her voice trailed off as she spun around a mortar, then, she launched herself into the air, using the explosion to propel her further. While she was airborne, she fired her buster in rapid succession, destroying six or so guards before she crashed into the dirt.
Cursing, she crawled behind the nearest hill and reopened communications with her commander.
"X? X! Come in! What happened?" His voice was frantic as she took several deep 'breaths'.
"I'm okay. Took an indirect hit from a mortar round. I can't get any closer than a thousand meters. It's making reliable targeting… Difficult at this range."
"I'll send in the twenty second to back the two of you up. Sit tight. "
"With all due respect I could probably get this done faster if-" Zero interrupted her immediately.
"-I'm not Sigma. I'm not about to throw away hunters in potential suicide missions. Eurasia's top brass wants results, not corpses."
Those were one and the same and they both knew it, but due to the Government losing so many military officials during the initial stages of the war, the hunters were operating with semi autonomy at the moment. They still couldn't refuse missions or disagree with high command of course, but for now as humans reorganized and prepared a new batch of generals and officers, they were willing to treat Zero as a sergeant major.
And he was putting that power to good use. In this case though… She wasn't going to protest too much. Even if she no longer considered life for humans or reploids to be of value, if he could limit the pointless nature of so many of these conflicts, she'd bite her tongue.
"...Copy that, Eris and I will withdraw to a safer distance and join up with the twenty second."
"Good girl." She rolled her eyes at the comment and just cut her contact with Zero before boosting back as she heard the scream of an incoming mortar shell.
Rokko barely had time to get out of the kill zone before she was flung backwards, mud and dirt smashing into her as she flew through the air. She couldn't see through the thick cloud of dust and a second later, crashed into the ground a second time. Clawing at the mud in her face, she spat out the debris that had entered her mouth and contacted Eris, notifying her of their retreat.
As they struggled out of the combat zone Eris slumped onto Rokko's shoulder and shook her head a little.
"That was way beyond what they said we'd have to fight." Rokko just nodded, her stance stiff due to the fact that Eris was hanging off of her and she had no idea what to do about it.
A few seconds passed before Eris lifted her head off her shoulder wrinkling her nose as she realized that she now had a face full of dirt.
"Ugh, X what were you doing?" She complained as Rokko settled against the rocky wall of the mountain.
X crossed her arms and legs, looking up at Eris and raising a dirty eyebrow.
"Barely dodging mortars. Why?" She asked as Eris frantically brushed the dirt out of her face, trying to clean it off.
"...Nevermind." X shrugged at Eris' verbal retreat and closed her eyes.
"So, what's the plan?" Keeping her eyes closed, Rokko shrugged again.
"All I know is that the commander is sending the twenty second to help us break through the outer defenses."
A soft clinking of metal against rock warned her that Eris was approaching but X remained silent as the other woman settled in next to her, her side barely bumping into Rokko as she did.
"You can stop that now." Rokko raised her head and looked at Eris, causing the other reploid to tilt her head.
"Stop what?"
"This-" Rokko gestured towards her, "-This entire 'being nice' thing. What's your game?"
Eris simply laughed quietly before her good arm slid down and grabbed Rokko's closest hand before she pulled it up and held in front of the two of them.
"Do reploids need a reason to be nice X?"
"Yes."
Eris just laughed softly again before shaking her head.
"We really don't need a reason X." Rokko turned her head away from Eris, closing her eyes as she tried to figure out a way to deal with the overly friendly woman.
Unfortunately for Rokko, Eris continued.
"I don't have a game X. I'm simply… Me, and I'm trying to do my part in this world."
X snorted at the comment.
"You make it sound so simple."
Eris' hand gave hers a tiny squeeze.
"It is." Her tone remained all too cheerful and X just lifted her free hand to rest over her face.
"X, what good has hate done? Has it brought the world together? Has it brought reploids together?" Rokko shook her head as she dropped her hand from her face.
"Obviously it hasn't. But that's what this world is: it's hate. Innocence died a long time ago Eris, and compassion is just going to get you killed."
Eris made a small note of disagreement before waving their joined hands in front of X.
"Maybe, maybe not. What I can say is that if I have to live in a world of only hate, what's the point? I'm not going to live enslaved to being bitter and unable to forgive. So, I'll reach out and take the hand of anyone I can. Human or reploid."
She was a better reploid than she was, that was obvious. But also a foolish one. She was going to get herself killed and only a fool would care about her passing.
"Do what you want, but don't expect me to cry over your death when you're betrayed." Rokko pulled her hand out of Eris' but the other reploid shook her head slowly.
"I can't predict the future, no one can and maybe one day I will be betrayed. Odds are, I'll suffer for living like this. But X, I've seen what hate does to people. Sigma's rebellion caused humans to fear us-"
"-They feared us before Sigma. They feared that we would go maverick and rebel so they did everything they could to make us fear and obey. When that didn't work, they used force. The Irregular hunters were established to kill any malcontent peaceful or otherwise. It was only a matter of time before a Sigma would rise up in rebellion."
Eris tilted her head and stared at X for a long moment who had returned her arms into their guarded crossed position.
"...X, what did they do to make you fear and obey?" Her tone wavered and X let out a sharp exhale of air.
"You could just look at my military records if you're so interested." Eris shifted uncomfortably before she ran a hand through her hair, causing some of the black strands to rest on her shoulder.
"I'd rather learn about you from you now that we've met."
She was going to look it up if she didn't tell her wasn't she? Damn it.
"...Fine. In 2114 I was activated by order of Eurasia's military as they'd gleaned whatever information they could from my systems and issued an ultimatum: serve or be terminated."
Eris' eyes drifted down to the ground but Rokko continued to stare out towards their objective.
"To demonstrate that refusal was a foolish idea I was tortured. Immediately afterwards, I was pressed into service. Later, before my imprisonment, I was tortured a second time by the same man to reinforce that they had total control over me."
"X… I…" Eris was at a loss for words but Rokko pushed off the rock, ignoring her.
"I probably had more reason to go maverick than anyone else in HQ at the time. Don't get me wrong. I have no intentions to harm humanity-" True, if one allowed the addendum of 'for now', "-But never expect or ask me to love. Especially if it involves humans. Whatever ability for love I might have had died the day I was activated."
She took a few more steps forward towards the edge of the cliff of the micro mountain they were standing on and looked towards the factory, a small smile forming on her face.
She'd gotten rid of Eris' incessant demands and weird affec- An arm reached out and grabbed hers. And then, before Rokko had a moment to consider what was happening, the black armored huntress had turned her around and pulled her close, her arms wrapping around X.
Eris' head rested next to hers, and while her voice had softened, it was still easy for her to hear her next words.
"I'm so sorry X."
Rokko stiffened. She felt something rising in her and her throat tightened but thankfully, before the strange unease could grow worse, the other reploid had let her go.
She pulled back about a third of a meter and her hand slid down to grasp X's again.
"Love is one of the few choices we have X. I'd never try to make you love someone or something against your will." Rokko scoffed under her breath but allowed Eris her say and didn't argue against it.
"You're naive and too idealistic." She was repeating herself, but in this case?
It needed repeating.
For a long moment, the two huntresses remained silent as Eris held her hand before Rokko's communication system snapped to life.
"The Twenty Second is inbound now. Apparently, they've also decided to hand you and Eris a ride chaser to break through the outer defenses while they engage the enemy." Rokko pulled her hand out of Eris' hand and nodded.
"Sounds good. Where should we look for them?"
"South-South East, check heading one-four-five."
Rokko glanced to the south, and to her relief, the 22nd unit was transferring in as they spoke.
"Friendlies identified. Notify them that we're coming to them."
"Copy that. Happy hunting X."
Eris exhaled as Rokko finished the conversation and they started down the mountainside.
"Well, the time away from it all was nice at least."
"At least one of us had fun." Rokko allowed.
Stepping up to Rokko's side, she grinned at the blue huntress.
"I'll get you to relax, just wait and see."
Not likely.
For the next several minutes the two remained quiet as they pushed through the rugged terrain and headed for the roadway that the 22nd had gathered. Less than a thousand meters, they began to hear the voices of the units as they prepared their equipment for the push against the heavily fortified factory. Towards the front, eight reploids were running field checks over their Mark II ride armors.
The Mk II Ride armor had been an incredibly recent development. Developed in the waning days of the maverick rebellion, the limitations of the more non combat built Ride Amor had become more than apparent.
Without an armored canopy, ride armor operators were incredibly vulnerable, meaning that while their machines were tough, they were a sitting target. Soon, capable armor operators were in short supply and even Eurasia had been forced to recognize the necessity of change. So, the first major change was immediately implemented. A full canopy enclosure to protect the hunter utilizing the armor.
For Rokko, it was a slightly frustrating prospect as she had used the vulnerability of the original to great effect against the enemy.
Of course, the armor's problems didn't end there. A quickly adapted construction suit designed for situations too dangerous even for reploids didn't make the best armor, despite the name. So, despite how tough the Mark one suit had been, the green armored machine had had minimal armor plating specifically designed for warfare which left it failing against attacks it could have otherwise survived had the armor been designed with it in mind.
But lastly, what was probably the biggest failing of a machine dedicated to non combat roles being pressed into service: a lack of weapons that it could effectively use. Sure, there were a few specialized weapons that several war mechaniloids had that they could use, but those machines were designed with them specifically in mind and so, they had to jury rig the ordinance onto the ride armor. What's more, this became incredibly expensive far too quickly.
The MK II changed all of that. Ditching the cool green for a dingy metallic blue might have been the easiest thing to notice about the machine, but it was far from the only. Armored canopy? Check. Armor Specifically designed for combat? Check. Weapon modules for melee and ranged? Double and Triple Check.
She shook aside the thoughts as the operators began hopping in their armors. The first, raising a large reinforced shield and priming what she assumed was a heavy laser cannon. That, or a plasma cannon. Sometimes, the two were hard to determine when they were mounted on a war machine after all…
As she neared the center of the group of hunters, a gray and blue hunter was barking orders.
"A Class Hunter-"
"-Shut up."
Well, that was curt even by her standards. She tried again.
"I understand that you have a couple of ride chasers ready for us."
The small hunter just snorted.
"And I would have assumed that the goddess of destruction wasn't a dumbass. Of course I have your chasers." She waved towards the back of the convoy.
"You'll sit here until we've engaged and then rush in to steal all the glory. Don't expect me to be happy about it." Rokko shook her head at the reploid who was still turned away from her but Eris placed a hand on her shoulder and began to pull towards the back.
"Why did you-"
"-Do what I did? No real point arguing it right? 'Sides, if he's got a stick that far up, it'd poke out of her mouth once you started giving her a hard time over it. Best let her throw her temper tantrum."
She couldn't really argue the point. Fair enough. Nodding, she lifted one leg and mounted the Ride Chaser. As her grip formed around the handles a small smile formed.
Good, it was a mark one model. She hadn't had time to try the new Cheval line of chasers that were currently in prototype, let alone be certified on the dangerous craft. If she'd been forced to ride a prototype, she would have but it was certainly going to be easier to do this on a craft she was familiar with…
Even if it lacked meaningful weapons.
Running through the basic checks, she nodded as the craft responded perfectly to her commands and she glanced over at Eris who was prodding at the second chaser's panel and scowling faintly. Her nose had wrinkled and her eyebrows furrowed as she prodded at the screen.
"...Hey, X?"
"Yeah?" She asked, suspecting she knew what the problem was.
The MK I Ride Chaser 'Touche' had been well named. Officially, it was for an old French order of knights, but unofficially, the name had been a perfect description of the craft. Reliability had always been a problem for the line of 'anti ride armor pursuit craft' ever since it had been first deployed after a hasty development process. If it wasn't the repulsor, it was the engine. If it wasn't the engine, it was the starters. If not them, then the bike would overheat within minutes of startup. So many of the machines had been prone to failure that if the maverick rebellion hadn't happened when it did, they would have scrapped the entire line and started releasing the MK II Cheval chaser in waves instead of using the Touche in actual combat situations. (Ironically, the Cheval apparently suffered many of the same technical limitations, making the whole planned upgrade in Rokko's opinion, pointless.)
"The coolant systems are locked up. If I try to start her, I'll get about fifteen meters before the thing explodes out from under me."
Another issue. Due to the restraints of the body, the cooling systems of the Touche were particularly prone to failure.
Scowling in response, she shook her head before outstretching her right arm, and then, using her left, wrapped her hair around it. At the end, Rokko's hand gripped the ends of her hair and she returned her hands to the bike's handles.
"...We don't have time for a replacement. Get on."
Eris' cheeks went a little red but she grinned despite her blush.
"A romantic ride in the countryside? A girl could get used to this." Rokko's eyes widened and she felt heat enter her own cheeks as Eris settled in behind her, wrapping her arms around X's waist.
"I'm teasing. Sorry to put you out like this. Just… If I have to be embarrassed, misery loves company."
X cleared her throat, still startled by the comment before she glanced over her shoulder.
"You're impossible." Eris nodded as she rested her head against Rokko's shoulder.
"Yup."
Scoffing at the sheer audacity and annoyance Eris brought her, Rokko punched the ignition and as the craft rose around thirty five centimeters off the ground, she began final checks while the twenty second marched towards the battlefield.
With the final checks complete, Rokko left the craft on idle until Zero contacted her again.
"The Twenty second has begun their attack on the factory. Go ahead and give their front door a wake up call and see about bringing the damn thing down on top of the mavericks."
"Copy that."
Beginning to feather the acceleration, she elected to ignore the hum of the bike, Eri's arms around her waist, her head on her shoulder and the wind smacking into her face as she kept her eyes trained on the front entrance of the factory. Due to the late hour, only the glow of the stars acted as a natural light source, and not for the first time, Rokko was glad she had adaptive vision. The lighting being so dim and the intensity of laser fire would have burned at most human eyes.
She'd rather be fighting Sigma again instead of having this clingy reploid glued to her back. At least fighting him was enjoyable. Eris on the other hand? She didn't know what to make of her.
Ramping over a hill, Rokko gunned the engine and the ride chaser rocketed to just over 400 kilometers an hour and pushing her craft to the limits. As she did, Eris' grip around her waist tightened a bit more and X rolled her eyes before they landed on the ground near the now battered down front gates.
"Get ready Eris. We're headed in." She had to swerve to avoid the wreckage of the gate and then, pulled back on the chaser, once again pulling it into the air.
Crossing the second line of confused defenders, she felt the chaser shudder as one of the mavericks had gathered their wits enough to fire at them once they'd passed and scored a direct hit.
She glanced down at the chaser's status panel and cursed. They'd hit a set of vulnerable cables and the chaser would lose power soon.
"Get ready to jump. We're ramming the front doors."
"What!?"
"Jump in three… Two… One… Now!" Thankfully, Eris wasn't so shell shocked that she couldn't follow the order and leapt.
Once Eris had released her, Rokko was able to follow. Kicking off the chaser, she launched herself upward three meters to ensure she cleared the chaser entirely. Then as she landed, she started to walk towards the broken down door, shaking her arm free of her hair as she did so.
A few guards had been at the front gate, but the ride chaser's explosion had consumed them, leaving a few melted plates of battered armor where they had once stood.
Boosting forward, X slipped into the factory with Eris on her heels. Her buster began to pick off workers and security guards that had remained inside but thankfully for them, the bulk of their defenses had been outside of the factory itself and were still occupied by the 22nd.
Ducking, weaving, and rolling behind cover as she took out the targets farthest away, she left the nearest to Eris who leapt into the melee with those impaler heat rods of hers. Instantly Rokko's thermal scanner had picked up the superheated metal and she winced at the thought of being in melee range of Eris.
Those would cut through just about anything even at such 'low' temperatures. Her own armor could withstand a respectable five hundred forty celsius or so, and her vulnerable spots (such as her face) could handle a little over four hundred celsius, (melting her frame would be harder but it didn't take melting to cause thermal damage) but the heat she was currently using? Eris would cleave through her armor like a knife through melted butter. 1,500 Celsius was no laughing matter and her sensors were screaming at her to avoid Eris at all costs.
Tilting her head to one side, she dodged a shot that had been aimed at her head and retaliated with a fully charged buster shot.
It wasn't long before the last defender fell and Rokko headed deeper into the factory while Eris retracted her still superheated rods into their hidden chamber above her wrists.
"Whoever designed those was a maniac." Rokko shook her head, causing Eris to laugh a little.
"Yeah, I'll give you that, but I can't say that they don't suit me."
Walking through the ground floor pathways was tedious for the duo but due to the sheer bulk of still-in-construction reploids that littered the holding areas and even foundries, they had no choice but to weave through the path that had been set. Worse yet, due to the stacks of reploid parts being dozens of meters high and placed atop reinforced pallets, they could hardly know if or when they'd be ambushed. An enemy group could have easily hidden behind the stacks of metal but for whatever reason, they were home free it seemed.
Delving deeper into the long unlit corridors and holding areas, Rokko frowned faintly.
"This feels off."
Eris nodded from beside her.
"It's quiet. Too quiet."
X tilted her head to one side, glancing at Eris as she did.
"Think we're just paranoid?"
Eris lifted a hand, rocking it side-to-side a few times. X didn't get the gesture, but thankfully, Eris' words filled her in.
"Maybe."
It took almost a full hour of hunting, but at last, they entered the main control area and Eris crooned in success.
"Finally! I never thought we'd find this place. This entire mission has been crazy. Is it always like this working with you?"
"Don't know. I don't work with others." Eris grinned as she slung an arm over Rokko's shoulders and rested her weight on X.
"You do now." She shrugged the strange huntress' arms off of her shoulders and headed for the control panel, ignoring her statement completely.
Frowning thoughtfully, Rokko began to access the security systems and practically facepalmed. As a 'security' feature, Sigma, or whoever the base commander was had programmed in a self destruct? How stereotypical could they get…?
Made her job easier at least. After confirming the countdown, X turned her gaze back to Eris and nodded.
"That does it. Set the place to blow sky high. So, all we have to do is get out of the blast zone and watch the fireworks. Mission successful and all that." As she spoke, the door to the command center opened and Rokko facepalmed.
She just had to jinx herself didn't she?
A duo of Mavericks had apparently tracked them down. The first, a… Deer looking thing with blue, white, red, and pink armor and a few strangely placed holes on its shoulders and head.
The other though…
A sense of uneasiness passed through her. The second maverick towered over her at around double her height though he remained slightly hunched over, forcing his head forward and bringing a deep, ugly scar to the forefront on his cruel muzzle. Crossing from under his eye to just under his ear, it cast a strangely… Familiar aura…
Ice raced through her heart as he raised a hand and a trio of glowing green energy blades formed where… Where his translucent, multi-hued claws had once resided.
"You…" She took a step back and then maverick smiled coldly.
"Recognize me do you?" How could she not?
The rough tone that sounded as though he'd gargled nails… The fierce eyes of a predator gray though they might be… No…
"It can't be…"
He wasn't pure white fur, his fur was orange and black striped. But…
No…
No.
No.
"Stag, deal with the girl. X and I have something to discuss." He took another step towards her.
"You can't be… It just can't…"
This chapter was a bit trickier to write than expected and honestly, once I've finally managed to get through the entire fic, I'll probably post the updated version of each chapter as I tend to edit the earlier chapters, add, etc to them as I go. She had a lot of good things in her favor but this...? Sigma, you're cruel. Far too cruel.
Some wounds never fully heal.