Chapter 23

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Nui: thank you so much, I am flattered that you read all my stories (BTech stories only or all?). I hope you enjoy this one.

Colonel: Everybody has to mature at some point. Jeremy's time is now. And you can leave review without logging in. If I don't like your review, I can always delete it, ha ha :)

Ground Control Stable, Montenegro,
Solaris City, Solaris VII,
Freedom Theater, Lyran Commonwealth,
July 30, 3069

Major Tom, Stan, Jenny and Kilroy were discussing the situation of the stable when they heard a mech thundered into the complex. Nobody was scheduled to have a training exercise, so the thundering footsteps put them in high alert. Major Tom took a peek and saw a Black Knight with a distinct paint scheme entered the training area. He hadn't seen that mech in a long time, and he felt his stomach churn.

"Mac," he hissed.

"Mac Storm? What is he doing here?" Stan asked.

"I don't know but it doesn't look good," Major Tom replied. "Get out of here, all of you."

"No," Stan replied. "Jenny, Kilroy, take Major Tom away. I'll slow him down."

"Stan, you're crazy," Major Tom knew what Stan's intended to do. "You can't win against Mac! He'll kill you. Let me deal with him…"

"With what?" Stan interrupted him. "With your wheelchair? He'll just gonna kill you, then he'll kill me, Jenny, and Kilroy too. I can hold him long enough when you escape."

"We're not leaving without you," Jenny said.

"Don't be stupid Jenny," Stan said. "Somebody has to avenge my death, and it has to be you. Go now, take Major Tom and Kilroy with you."

Major Tom and Jenny tried to reject the idea but Stan walked toward the hangar. He mounted his CP-25G Cyclops, a lumbering antiquity with a Hammerfist Heavy Gauss Rifle, then took it outside. Mac had been waiting for him. Stan didn't expect to stay long against Mac. Mac had always been the best mechwarrior of Ground Control Stable. He was too fast, too strong, and too good for anybody. Stan only hoped he could stay long enough to give Jenny and Major Tom a chance to escape.

"Step aside, old man," Mac said through his speaker. "This is between me and Jeremy."

Jeremy… where was he when he was needed? Stan leaned back on his chair, thinking about how Jeremy turned the Ground Control upside down. The Ground Control Stable sunk financially without Mac, but the members bonded closer like they had never done before, with Jeremy as the glue. And yet, Stan still hated him. Of all the good things he brought into the Ground Control, nothing changed Stan's mind about Jeremy. He didn't know what it was, but Jeremy's presence was the antithesis of everything he believed a good life should be.

Stan was actually glad that Jeremy was not in the stable at this moment.

"Jeremy's not here," Stan replied.

"Like I'm gonna believe that," Mac sniggered curtly. "I know Jeremy is Major Tom's golden boy. I know he's in there somewhere. I'm the master's hand of the Word of Blake, and by hiding Jeremy you are the enemy of the Word of Blake. Hand him over, and I will spare your lives."

"I don't really like Jeremy, and if I could I would hand him over to the Word of Blake myself," Stan growled. "But not to you, because you are not Word of Blake. Major Tom and I have been supporting Jerome Blake for a long time. You, on the other hand, do not know anything about Jerome Blake. You're just taking opportunities in anything and everything."

"You talk too much, old man," Mac laughed. "For the last time, step aside or I'll kill you."

"You're wasting your time," Stan replied. "He's not here."

"Fine, you ask for it!" Mac said and fired his PPC and Gauss rifle. Stan's Cyclops staggered hard and jerked behind. A big hole was carved on the center torso, and half of the screen went black. Stan gripped his joystick hard to keep his mech from falling. The Cyclops staggered to maintain balance.

"Eat this!" Stan yelled and fired his Heavy Gauss. The massive gun blasted and the nickel-ferrous shell scourged Mac on the waist. The Black Knight rocked back and forth, but quickly found purchase. Coolant and smoke bled from the gruesome hollow where the shell struck, but the Black Knight stood insolently, taunting Stan with its physics-defying stature.

Stan fired his lasers in unison, but the Black Knight lurched sideways, and the energy bolts hammered the hangar wall, carving deep craters. Mac fired his own lasers, double blinding javelins that stabbed the Cyclops on the right torso. Stan knew Mac was aiming for the Heavy Gauss rifle, the critical explosion of which would cripple the Cyclops. He twisted his mech, covering his biggest weapon, while peppering Mac with his ER mediums. But Mac exposed different armor pieces to Stan's attack, spreading damages evenly to prevent critical hits, while waiting for a chance to deliver a crippling shot.

Stan risked overheating and chased Mac down with his laser, but Mac found Stan's blind spot and launched two unanswered attacks. His lasers incised a deep gush on Stan's left elbow, burning myomer bundles, rendering the lower arm useless. His Gauss slug tore the lower arm completely off, taking away one laser cannon. The Cyclops lurched, and it took Stan everything he got to maintain his footing. But as he fought to keep his mech standing, Mac took a good aim at his Heavy Gauss cannon. Mac's PPC ripped the casing open, sending sparks and armor fragments into the air. Only by the grace of God that the Heavy Gauss rifle had not exploded yet.

Stan understood his position. His slow, outdated mech couldn't hold off Mac's firepower, even though his Cyclops outweighed the Black Knight by 15 tons. His lethargic skill couldn't match Mac's razor-sharp gunnery prowes. And Mac seemed to develop a faster reflex that blunted even his best punch. He knew he wouldn't survive Mac's wrath. One more shot to the Heavy Gauss cannon and he was done for. But surviving wasn't his intention in the first place. He was just buying time. He just hoped that, by the time Mac found his way to deliver his knock out punch, Major Tom and the rest of the team was far away from Mac's range.

So in desperate attempt to occupy Mac he fired his half-fried Heavy Gauss cannon. The slug missed the target miserably, flying a few meters away from the Black Knight's shoulder. Mac raised both hands and fired all guns at Stan's right torso. Stan felt like being struck with a lightning bolt. His Heavy Gauss rifle erupted, taking half of his right torso with it. The Cyclops right torso disintegrated into smithereens amidst a fireball. The big mech tumbled, legs sprawling in the air, waiting haplessly for the Black Knight to drop the hammer on it.

Lying on the command couch, coughing and wheezing from the acrid smoke, Stan watched in dazed blur a monstrous shadow coming toward him. He recalled that Mac tried to squash Jeremy out of his cockpit during the Factory match several years ago, and he could only assume that Mac would the same thing to him. He dragged his aching body, inch by inch, and managed to push himself out of the cockpit, seconds before the Black Knight's foot crunched the head of the Cyclops.

Mac didn't stay long to check on Stan. As soon as he stomped on the Cyclops' head, he turned his attention to the hangar. His Gauss slug eviscerated the coolant tank, spilling green fluid to the floor. His lasers singed the ammunition crates. In a split second the entire hangar set ablaze. Jeremy's Apocalypse, Amber's Vindicator, and Mickey's Jenner disappeared behind a wall of flame and explosions. Mac turned around slowly, admiring his handiwork, then faced the living quarters. His alpha strike ravaged the concrete structure, taking down half of the building and burnt the rest. Only after he was sure no one could have survived his rampage he left the Ground Control complex.

Stan watched Mac running amok, hopeless, helpless, while still leaning on his beaten Cyclops. Anger and desperation turned his stomach inside out, watching Mac destroying the place he called home for years. Fire consumed everything he held dear, and against his will, he started to wish that one day Jeremy would avenge everything.

That was the last thing he remembered. Everything turned black after that.