Chapter 28: Yang And Blake: Mech Fighters
Hey! Miss me, you guys? Sorry for the delay on this chapter. But, you know, it's hard to keep a story this long on a serialized schedule. I mean, it's really taxing to write a chapter a day for almost thirty days. I really needed a break, and find my motivation to fight again. But, hey, I'm here now! And, if you're reading this chapter in some unspecified period in the future, then you don't need to worry! This apology doesn't apply to you! Anyway, who's ready to see Yang and Blake kick some arse? You are! Let's get to the story!
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Yang and Blake walked up towards the cargo bay.
Neptune was right, it wasn't all that hard to miss. The large garage door was a dead enough of a giveaway. Plus, the large sign labeled "CARGO BAY" hanging right over the door was helpful. It was almost as if the White Fang wanted them to know where their stuff was.
"So… How many dudes we lookin' at?" Yang asked Blake as they walked towards their goal.
"Hmm…" Blake mused. "Well, considering the size of this operation, there can't be more than at least twenty people in this warehouse right now."
"I meant in the cargo bay," clarified Yang.
"I dunno, I'm not in there, am I?" Blake replied, rolling her eyes.
Yang clicked her tongue playfully. "Tsk tsk. Touchy, are we?"
"Look, can we just focus on the mission, please?" Blake groaned. This really wasn't the time to joke around, considering that this was the best chance to stop the White Fang in Vale City right now.
Yang scratched her head awkwardly. She knew when to lay off with her girlfriend. And now was definitely one of those times. "Right, right. Sorry."
By now, Blake and Yang were close to the cargo bay. Now, they had a choice on what to do here. "Should we go through the garage door, or the service door?" Blake pondered out loud.
"I vote garage door. It'll shock the shit out of 'em" Yang said.
"But the smaller door gives us the element of surprise," countered Blake.
"Look, do you want shock and awe, or surprise? Both kind of work the same way," pointed out Yang.
Blake felt her cat ears twitch under her bow as she thought. Sure, Yang could be a hot head who didn't mind getting her hands bloody, but she also did know her stuff about ambushes. After all, that was the type of thinking that made a good huntress. Meh, Blake didn't have much to lose with this choice. It would still end with the White Fang being stopped, after all.
"…Shock and awe," Blake decided, cocking the pistol form of Gambol Shroud.
Yang gave off a slight grin as she activated her Ember Celica gauntlets. "Love ya, sweetie."
"Same here," Blake said with a matching smile. She could trust in her partner. Why not enjoy that trust a little?
Now the two huntresses stood at the ready. The large cargo bay door stood in front of them, waiting to be opened. And, once it was, then their real fight would begin. Not that either of them minded. Yang was feeling as excited as a young puppy to beat up some terrorists, and Blake was almost feeling relieved that she was going to stop those bastard's operations in the city she swore to protect.
Now was the time to act.
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Meanwhile inside the cargo bay, Mercury wasn't having a good day. First of all, that asshole Roman Torchwick had apparently decided to bail on them today, when they were supposed to talk about the next part of his job. Now Cinder had to rearrange everything, and that pissed Mercury off to no end. That only meant that he had more work to do, coordinating this and that to finalize their plans for Mountain Glen. And now, these two god damn grease monkeys working on the mechs in storage were complaining to him about the quality of parts they had.
"Sir, if you'd just get the parts we're talking abou—"
Mercury cut off the complaining mechanic with an annoyed rant. "Look, I'm not the one paying for this shit? Does it look like I sign your paychecks? No! So stop complaining, and work with what you have! …And why are you asking me anyway? I'm not a mechanic! That's YOUR job!"
"But sir, the Shiden—" the second mechanic tried to say.
Mercury rolled his eyes before he cut off that mechanic. "I don't even want to hear ANYTHING about that piece of shit. I don't even know why you're even bothering to calibrate that thing! We're probably just going to get rid of it."
The mechanics didn't say anything as Mercury turned his back to them and stared at the open cockpit of the Shiden. Mercury himself was almost baffled as to why they kept this thing around. It's not like it would do them any good for their plans. The regular Paladins could do that job easier. Hell, even a fucking Scopedog would be better.
"Just get this thing out of my sight…" muttered Mercury, turning back to the mechanics.
Before anyone could do anything, the collected group heard the cargo bay door begin to open. All three of them looked at it, confused. They weren't expecting anything to be delivered, nor any other visitors. What the hell was going on?
That unspoken question as answered by two people Mercury had never seen before pointing weapons at them. "Freeze! Vale Huntresses! The jig's up!" the blonde girl yelled at them.
"Get on the ground!" her black haired partner yelled also.
There was a brief beat as the two sides froze in decision. The seconds hung in the air as one side waited on the other to make a move. Mercury started to move backwards, trying to analyze the situation. Instead, he bumped up against the ladder leading into the cockpit of the Shiden. At the same time, one of the mechanics decided to pull a small revolver out of his tool belt and point it at the two huntresses.
It was at that exact moment that shit hit the fan.
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For Yang, time ran into a blur of gunfire and adrenaline. She could feel a small caliber bullet whiz past her head, and she could hear Blake fire her Gambol Shroud at the offending White Fang member.
"Get down!" Blake yelled as she pushed Yang behind a crate and dove after her.
Blake fired over cover at the White Fang members. By now, a second one had started firing at them. But, neither Blake nor Yang could tell what was going on with the guy with the weird greaves who was near the mech. Regardless, Yang and Blake needed to take out the immediate targets first.
Getting on her back, Yang let the recoil from her fired Ember Celica propelled her and let her slide across the ground. That took one White Fang member by surprise. That look of surprise was short lived as he got a stomach full of dust enhanced shotgun pellets. The one mechanic slumped over to the floor, holding his stomach in agony.
Taking the opening that Yang's surprise attack offered, Blake vaulted over the crate she was using as cover, while also laying down surpassing fire with Gambol Shroud. Aiming at the second White Fang mechanic, she put two bullets in his knees, and one in his gun hand. He went down without a struggle. Two down, one more to go.
After kicking the guns away from the White Fang member's wounded bodies, Blake and Yang cautiously scanned the room. "Where'd that one bastard go?" Yang asked through her teeth. Neither had noticed that the cockpit to the mech had closed while they were in cover.
Suddenly, to their shock, the mech's operational lights turned on. A mechanical whirring hum filled the area as the lights lit up on the mech's camera systems, and some parts of the cannons mounted on the shoulders. Slowly, the mech rose to a standing positon as Blake and Yang watched on. But, the two cannons suddenly pointing directly at them broke them out of their trance.
Just in the nick of time, Yang and Blake dove towards a metal crate as the dual vector cannons began to fire. They let out a deafening roar as the bullets carved into the ground. Then, to Blake and Yang's horror, the guns began to fire towards their cover. For a mounted gun to adjust it's aim that quickly, it must have had a targeting system. That wasn't good. That meant that it could follow their every movement within a certain radius.
"A fucking mech?!" Yang exclaimed over the sound of gunfire.
"We need to take that thing out! Blake shouted at Yang.
By now, the targeting system had adjusted to where it predicted that Blake and Yang were hiding. They didn't have much time before the bullets would rip through the metal protecting them. It was already beginning to severely dent their cover. They could hear the metal start to give way more and more.
Desperate, Yang began to think. If that thing had a targeting system, then that meant it could only be effective up to a certain range. And, if something came to it from out of that range quickly, then that meant that the targeting system would need to readjust it's parameters to compensate. So, they needed something to hit that mech fast and hard.
"Blake!" Yang shouted. "I have an idea!"
"What?!" Blake shouted back.
"Try to get that mech near the door! I need you to distract it!" Yang explained quickly.
"And you?!" asked Blake.
"I'll be back with something to take that fuck out!" Yang said with a smirk. Yeah, she really did have something good in mind for that metal bastard.
Blake briefly glared as she absorbed Yang's idea. She was to be playing the party of bait. Great. But, before she could even remotely protest to Yang's idea, she heard a bullet whiz above her head. The metal crate was pretty much done for as cover. It wasn't like she had much of a choice now. Yang's suggestion as the only thing she had to act on. Hopefully it was a good plan.
"Fine!" agreed Blake. "Be back quick!"
Yang gave Blake a quick peck on the cheek before turning away from her. "Love ya! And I'll be back soon!" she yelled.
Yang sprinted out of cover. The vector cannons began to follow the huntress' path, spraying bullets in her direction. But then, the targeting computer shifted its parameters to another target: Blake darting from behind the metal crate and behind the abandoned shell of a forklift. That gave Yang the time she needed to get out of the targeting system's range.
Now this fight was in Yang's hands.
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Yang made sure to jog as fast as she could back to the Gabby. The van was still untouched, fortunately enough. It was going to serve her needs perfectly. Ripping open the door, Yang looked around the driver's seat for the keys. Opening up the sun blocker, the van's keys flopped onto the seat. Perfect.
Grabbing the keys, Yang then dashed to the front of the car and stopped in front of the van's cow-catcher bumper. She acted just according to her plan. Taking out the ammo belts from her Ember Celica, and two more from her pockets, Yang stuck the dust ammo in the grate in front of the engine. There, that was just what she needed. There was enough fire dust on the front now to make the van's engine explode on impact. It was a pretty good improvised bomb, Yang liked to think.
Wasting no time, Yang didn't bother to buckle her seat belt as she climbed into the driver's seat. She closed the door and put the keys in the ignition. As the engine sputtered, then roared to life, Yang couldn't help but mutter to herself, "Man, Sun's not gonna like this…"
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Blake, for the first time in a long while, was getting seriously worried. Every single bit of cover she used, from the forklift, to a large crate of spare parts, and now a discarded leg of a mech, were getting shredded to pieces by those vector cannons. So far, in the past few minutes that the guns had been firing, she hadn't gotten a good opportunity to try and land an accurate shot on that damn mech. If only she could take out a sensor, then maybe she would have more room to move around.
Damn it, what was taking Yang so long? Here Blake was, holding out for her, and now it seemed like her partner was going to take too long with her plan. Blake had already done her part: from where she was hiding, that mech had to walk into the center of the room, in front of the cargo bay door. At least Blake could slightly appreciate that it was a slow mover. That meant whoever was piloting it would probably try to keep it in place as much as possible.
Blake tried to take a peek over the metal leg to check on the mech. But, she didn't see much before the bullets started to trail towards her head. It was a disheartening to think that that metal juggernaut wasn't going to stop anytime soon.
As Blake slipped back fully into cover, she stared straight at the bay door. She furrowed her brows at something that was approaching rapidly. Wait, were those headlights? Wait… Yang's plan was to ram the police van into the mech?!
The eyes in Blake's head nearly bugged out of her skull as the van drove straight into the cargo bay. At the last minute, she saw the driver's door open and Yang bail from the car. Good thing too, because it was about to ram into the mech's legs.
The Shiden didn't have time to react as the vector cannons tried to readjust its parameters towards the van. By the time it had managed to get a lock on the car, the dust shells stuck on the front of the van made contact with its legs. And, as anybody who used dust enough could say, the kinetic force of the impact was more than enough to make the fire dust ammo explode violently.
Blake could feel the intense heat of the explosion that engulfed the mech and van. Heck, she could have sworn that a few of her arm hairs had gotten burned off from the sheer temperature. It was a good thing she was behind cover, otherwise she would have most certainly gotten injured by the flying debris. If only those other White Fang members were so lucky. She was more than certain that they were grievously injured, if not outright killed in the blast. Well, she better check, just to make sure. After all, the point of trying to arrest someone was to keep them alive.
At that thought, Blake stepped out of cover and walked over to the two prone bodies of the White Fang mechanics. One of them was assuredly dead, a large piece of metal jutting out of his head. The other was still breathing. That much was fortunate. The crate he was by must have protected him from the blast slightly.
Wait, Yang!
Blake dashed over to where she saw her partner jump out of the van. Her heart beat faster as she saw something that frightened her. Yang was lying under a sheet of metal. Panicked, Blake got to her knees and yanked the metal off of Yang.
"Yang! Yang! Yang, please! Are you okay?!" Blake cried, worried about her partner.
Fortunately, Yang let out a cough and sat up against Blake. "I got… into a car accident…" she said in a shocked daze.
"Yeah, but y-you're okay now," Blake said, almost choking up. That incident was a little too close for comfort with her.
In the distance, Blake and Yang suddenly heard something move. It sounded like it was coming from the direction of the now-flaming van and mech. Getting some help from Blake, Yang and she walked over to the wreckage to investigate the noise.
To Yang and Blake's surprise, they saw that one grey haired guy flop out of the remains of his mech's cockpit. And, by the looks of it, his jacket was now on fire. The guy let out few yelps of panic as he ripped off his flaming jacket and shirt, leaving him topless. "Fuck… oh fuck…" he panted as he sat on the floor in a daze. He was completely out of the fight now. Anyone who got rammed by a van laced with explosives would be. Hell, he was still lucky to be able to use his limbs, let alone breathe.
Mercury didn't even try anything as Yang and Blake walked up to him. Not that he was in any state to do anything, anyway. But, to be safe, Blake trained Gambol Shroud on his head as the huntress pair made their way towards him. Off in the distance, they could hear fighting going off deeper in the warehouse. Well, it sounded like the others had gotten started too.
But, for the time being, Yang and Blake were content to just take in the two guys who were still left alive in the cargo bay. Kneeling down, Yang restrained a dazed Mercury.
"Got anything to tie him up with?" she asked.
"Uhh…" Blake muttered as she looked around. Ah, there was some rope! Grabbing it, Blake got down next to her partner and tied together Mercury's hands. He wasn't going anywhere now. Cutting off a section of the rope with Gambol Shroud's sheath blade, Blake then made sure to bind the White Fang mechanic that survived. There, now every White Fang person in the room was restrained.
Getting back over to Yang, Blake offered her partner a satisfied look. To her, this was a major internal victory. Now these people would pay for their crimes. And that was more than what Blake could have wanted out of this situation.
"We did our part," Yang simply said with a smirk.
"No kidding," Blake sighed in agreement.
Looking around, Blake realized for the first time that her cat ears were tensed up. Not that she could blame herself for that. A LOT just happened in the span of a few minutes. But, like Yang said, their part in this fight was over. Now it was on their friends to do theirs. But, they had faith. How couldn't they?
After all, they could hear the fight go on from there. And from the sounds of it, it sounded like someone was making headway. Good, good. That's just what hunters were expected to do.
And they were doing it well indeed.
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So… Is that true to form, or what? I mean, I promised hype, and I damn well delivered. Ramming a van into a mobile suit, which then explodes? How isn't that cool? Well, cool, or crazy. Or kind of stupid. Or all of those. But, you can come to that conclusion on your own time. Heck, go ahead and tell me what you think in the reviews section. And, while you do that, I'll go write another chapter!
This is The Draigg, and I'm outta here! (Guitar riff)