A/N: What's this? My very first attempt at a crossover story? Partly inspired by both Cross Ange: Rondo and Waltz (a Cross Ange/Gundam Wing crossover) and Armored Geass For Answer (an Armored Core and Code Geass crossover). This crossover will take cues from both as I try to explore how the protagonist of For Answer would get on in the world of Cross Ange.
If you haven't played Armored Core: For Answer, this story will contain a fair amount of spoilers for that game, as well as several references to both it and Armored Core 4. If you haven't played those, and can't shell out the money for the games (For Answer is very pricey these days) or allocate the disk space for an emulator and ROM, I recommend having the Armored Core Wiki on hand for reference.
As an over-obsessed fan of Armored Core, and a casual fan of Cross Ange, let's get the legal disclaimer out of the way: Project Ange (Cross Ange) is property of Sunrise, and Armored Core: For Answer was developed by FromSoftware, and published by UbiSoft outside Japan.
The gunbattle that had been in progress within Arteria Cranium had taken a turn for the dramatic turn with the defeat of the NEXT My Bliss and with Reiterpallasch on the back foot. The NEXT that attacked Arteria Cranium was a white 03-AALIYAH frame, based on Berlioz's legendary design, with a number of changes to the original design. A former aviator twenty years of age, LYNX Arthur Bradshaw found his habit of taking to the air impossible to break, but rather than trade out his 03-AALIYAH for the more aerial-oriented TYPE-LAHIRE, he modified it to optimize flight time.
This NEXT – formerly called Strayed and currently the third NEXT to take on the name White Glint – replaced the back booster for the BB11-LAYTONA and the side booster for SB128-SCHEDAR custom-tuned for extra thrust, allowing for more aerial tactics. Shoulder units were dropped completely. The 04-MARVE that Supplice originally used was swapped for the less powerful, but more accurate and lighter 063ANAR; the same assault rifle Anatolia's Raven used in his iteration of White Glint. The generator was swapped for an ARGYROS/G to up power and KP output, and a SALINE05 spread missile launcher. Lastly, the INBLUE FCS was switched with an FS-JUDITH so that the missiles could be more effectively used, with the tuning compensating for the loss in lock speed.
Altogether, the modifications greatly increased energy efficiency, granting prolonged flight capabilities and a substantial increase in PA durability at the expense of some ground speed – still, evasion was in the cards when needed. However, Primal Armor was irrelevant against Reiterpallasch's complement of energy weapons – it was a game of pure evasion, and the modifications delivered. Arthur, having cheated death more than he cared to remember while in a fighter, took evasion and turned it from a battle tactic into a pure art form – Wynne's energy weapons were easy to track and traveled just slowly enough to be evaded, all while she was pelted from Arthur's rifles. Arthur jinked his NEXT off to the right, narrowly avoiding a direct hit from Reiterpallasch's HLC09-ACRUX Hi-Laser cannon. The grazing hit to his NEXT's left arm left a trail of warped armor plating in its way.
"Why are you doing this!?" Wynne roared as a fast slug shot forth from her NEXT's KAPTEYN rail gun, the impact penetrating White Glint's Primal Armor and embedding itself into the right shoulder actuator. "Don't you have any idea what your actions will bring?"
"With any fortune, a future for humanity in space. I'm well aware of the risks that I'll be putting the people of the Cradles through," Arthur replied, willing through the AMS to ready the OGOTO grenade cannon for firing. Firing, the first shell went wide and missed, with the second only barely catching Reiterpallasch within the explosion, stunning it as fragmentation filled its rear armor.
"I have no choice. Sorry, Wynne. I regret that we only worked together once," Arthur transmitted on an open line, an image of his face also being transmitted.
"Arthur…" she responded, her eyes widening as all the pieces clicked. "I remember when we dealt with Wonderful Body, saying you showed promise. Then you went dark after Line Ark's Raven was eliminated – I didn't want to believe it when I heard reports that your NEXT had attacked Arteria Ulna. To think you'd sink so low as to side with ORCA – I'm disappointed in you."
"If you knew the truth as I did… Sorry, but I can't leave things as they stand – call me a villain, if you must, but inaction dooms humanity even worse than what I hope to accomplish," Arthur said. "Either humanity dies in the Cradles due to the endless wars of the League further polluting the atmosphere, or it takes the risk of getting to space before the pollution the corporations wrought on the Earth claims them."
"That still doesn't excuse this," Wynne said. "Did you even try looking for another way?"
"Every scenario I've projected came to the same conclusion – there is no time left to reverse the atmosphere's pollution," Arthur said. "Did your handlers at the Interior Union ever tell you about what their predecessors have done – all in the name of greed?"
"The Assault Cells…" Wynne muttered.
"I see you're aware of them," Arthur said. "But more than just them; all the debris in orbit beyond them must also be cleared if humanity is to even attempt escaping this irradiated hellhole. I'm risking half of humanity to save the other half…don't you dare suggest I make that choice lightly."
"I understand your position, Arthur: you feel your solution is the only one that gives humans any chance," Wynne said, resuming fire with her NEXT's rail gun. "It doesn't mean I have to agree. Understand my position; I have family in the Cradles. I'll finish you off to save them, and I'll look for another way – because unlike you, I'm not willing to give up."
"So be it," Arthur said as he resumed dodging. "We've made our choices; let's see them through to the end."
Ammunition was starting to run low, with only a handful of grenade shells and about two mags worth of rifle ammunition left for each of his rifles. Arthur's play became to back Wynne into a corner to make her a sitting duck for the OGOTO.
"Tell me, Arthur: why tip off Roadie about Old King if you planned to bring the Cradles down, anyway?" Wynne asked, venomously firing a duplet of bolts from her ACRUX cannons.
"Risking innocent lives for a gamble on humanity's future is one thing: it's what I've chosen," Arthur replied as he jinked to the left, avoiding the incoming energy. "Killing for the sheer fun of it? That doesn't sit right by me; he had to be stopped."
"At least you still have some humanity left; I'll make sure those words go on your headstone," Wynne growled, slashing at his NEXT with her own NEXT's laser blade.
Engaging his retro thrusters, Arthur willed the OGOTO to ready. He fired a single shell, and Reiterpallasch, despite avoiding the direct impact, was nonetheless caught within the radius of the explosion. With his left arm's 051ANNR, Arthur laid shot after shot into the fireball, pinning Reiterpallasch down by the structure's corner – a second OGOTO shell was launched, slamming into the wall directly behind the enemy NEXT. Staggered, Reiterpallasch fell forward into the ground, leaving it a sitting duck for the coup de grace of both rifles unloading into the head and torso.
"No…I can't fail," Wynne D. Fanchon muttered out. "Not while they're still…"
Reiterpallasch had fallen silent. Arthur should have felt good about winning; but instead, he felt an emptiness fill him. All he had was a solemn feeling of respect for the Interior Union LYNX he had just finished off.
"Sorry, Wynne," he uttered, picturing her looking at him with rage and disapproval. "I wish things could have gone differently. You'll get a proper burial when it's all over."
The young Lynx landed his NEXT close to the computers that controlled the flow of power, moving them from the Cradles to the Ehrenburg Anti-Satellite Cannons. They were the key to opening up a new path. Earth has always been the cradle of humanity; but children are not meant to stay in their cradles forever.
"And so, the Cradles will fall, and with them, a new frontier to colonize for all life," Serene Haze – Arthur's operator – summarized. "Is that your answer?"
"It's the only answer I have now," Arthur confirmed. "All we can do is pray that humanity won't squander the chance. I'm redirecting the Cradles' trajectories – with any luck, they'll land in the lesser-contaminated areas on the surface."
"I just received word from the remnants of Line Ark; they've offered to assist with civilian rescue efforts," Haze said.
"We'll take what we can get," Arthur said as he strapped himself back into his NEXT. "I'm returning for rearm and repair."
"Affirmative," Haze said, before an alert went off on her end. "You'll need to cut that short, Arthur – it seems that the League's had a last-minute change of heart. I'm reading squadrons of Normals, Eclipse-Type Arms Forts, and it looks like Strix Quadruped is assisting the assault. Get back here and fend them off. Briefing over."
"I think that's the shortest briefing of my career," Arthur remarked dryly as he moved his NEXT out of the facility, getting it settled into a Vanguard Overed Boost unit. "Damage assessment shows that I'm still in good shape; combat damage less than twenty percent. Pretty good, considering who I just took out – the bigger worry is ammunition. Here's hoping that the VOB holds together, unlike the ones I used under the League."
Inertia hit him hard in the sternum as the intensive Gees hit practically sank his brain into his chest when the thrusters on the VOB ignited and accelerated him close to Mach 4. AMS or not, and as well-conditioned as he was, Arthur fought with every fiber of his being to keep from passing out.
"Arthur, where are you? They're getting too close for comfort," Serene Haze said.
"I'm supersonic. Be there in under two Mikes," he replied. "Any new units in the area?"
"None-wait one…No way. It can't be," Haze trailed. "You're not going to believe this: Stasis is entering the battlefield."
"What the Hell? He's supposed to be dead," Arthur said.
"It gets worse," Haze said. "He's supporting the League attack!"
Arthur gritted his teeth; not from the G-forces his body was being subjected to, but from anger. What the Hell was Thermidor doing? It was something of an open secret within ORCA that Maximillian Thermidor and Collared's previous rank one LYNX, Otsdarva, were one and the same.
Otsdarva had been Omer Science Technology's golden boy for as long as anyone remembered, trusted with their biggest assignments. Was ORCA one such assignment?
Neo Nidus…Julius Emery…Arthur himself…
Were they all just being strung along on some Omer sting operation?
Stasis weaved through incoming fire from the automated gun emplacements, the Eclipse-Class Arms Forts already thinning out the ranks of Normals and MTs. Things went off without a hitch until a VOB unit slammed into one of the Eclipse Types. Detached from the VOB unit was a white 03-AALIYAH unit.
A NEXT that was traditionally a ground attack craft, the 03-AALIYAH was outperformed in all ways by his TYPE-LAHIRE, save for armor alone. Only three LYNX he knew of used such a craft – two of them were already dead.
"Thermidor! You traitor! This was your fight to start with!" came the voice of the latest LYNX to take up White Glint's mantle, Arthur Bradshaw.
"The man called Thermidor has already passed. The man standing before you is Rank 1 – Otsdarva," he replied.
"Call yourself whatever," Arthur said. "Wynne and Roy already fell at Arteria Cranium; you're next."
"Hmph. You fancy yourself the next coming of Anatolia's Raven? Prove it!"
Stasis had attempted to get a bead on White Glint with its laser rifle, but White Glint was hardly stationary, which made it slim pickings.
"We did this dance before at Line Ark, Otsdarva. I've only improved since then; you won't find me any easier," Arthur said, retaliating with a pair of shots from his rifles. A single missile was launched from his NEXT's SALINE05 launcher, dividing into smaller missiles as it approached.
The missiles were deceptively agile; in spite of the speed and mobility of the TYPE-LAHIRE, Stasis still found itself pegged by a few warheads. Even so, the missiles weren't the main threat – it was White Glint's rifles.
Using the distraction of missile evasion, Arthur went to get into Otsdarva's blind spot and unleashed ballistic fury on him. Only timely fire from Strix Quadruped forced him to disengage before he could hit his intended spot.
"Pff…Wong Shao-Lung returning to a fight? Now, I've seen everything," Arthur quipped, going evasive as he engaged his Over Boost and raced behind a cliff face that was out of Wong's line of fire.
"I haven't been idle, rookie," Otsdarva said. "I'll flush him out, Wong."
Otsdarva subsequently engaged his own Over Boost to chase after, only to immediately notice the issue with chasing after Arthur.
"ECM near the cannons, huh? Clever," Otsdarva muttered.
Arthur was no Shamir, but he was not above using terrain and combat conditions to set up and prepare traps. The coloration of his NEXT alone made spotting him against the snowbanks in the area difficult, especially now that the wind was kicking in. As Arthur was already an experienced aviator used to fighting without missiles, the ECM didn't deter him from firing manually into Stasis's rear armor, even managing to hit the main boosters a few times – the exact same way he forced Otsdarva into the ocean at Line Ark.
No such luck here. Stasis was merely forced to land on the ground as his vertical thrust suffered. The thrust was only enough to cushion his landing, with him dodging to the side to avoid a blast from the OGOTO.
For his part, Wong Shao-Lung was hit with new orders which forced him to withdraw from battle. The Original was unhappy with this arrangement, but upon seeing why he was being ordered, he understood.
"Arthur, there's a problem," Serene Haze updated. "The other Eclipse Arms Fort and the Normals are withdrawing – I'm picking up a massive power spike…it's an Answerer-Type Arms Fort!"
"How did they cobble together a second one!?" he exclaimed.
"I don't know, but if it clears the area, there'll be nothing we can do to stop it," Haze said.
"Still tangling with Otsdarva, here," Arthur grunted. "Can the cannons alter their firing arc?"
"Somewhat, but…"
"Let the Answerer come…right into the cannons' line of fire, then hit the thing dead center," Arthur explained.
"Sounds like a plan," Haze said.
As the fight between White Glint and Stasis continued on, the Ehrenburg cannons began to manually alter their firing arc along the Answerer's predicted flight path. The massive Arms Fort hovered just around the lowest point that the cannons could rotate, allowing them to have a firing solution on the upper half of the monstrosity. Even the strengthened Primal Armor of the Arms Fort couldn't fully protect it from the bolts of energy that came its way.
Two shots were left in the OGOTO, and Arthur had to use them wisely. As Stasis took to the air as well as his damaged boosters allowed, Arthur used his Over Boost to jet under him, doing a rapid turn to once again immediately go to guns on the rear armor. The warning indicator came that his left arm weapon's ammo was on its last magazine…and then the right arm. This was a problem…the AALIYAH arms were mobile, but not rated for pinpoint firing when used with any FCS.
Again, Arthur had to get creative, and he switched to manual aiming for his arm weapons. The HUD projected a couple of horizontal lines that estimated the direction his shots would go, and he clocked in his head how the time it would take for the projectiles to hit an enemy traveling at the speed Stasis was going. It was like firing from the hip with a rifle on foot: you had a rough sense on where your shot would go, but not an exact idea. Still, any aviator had practice with manual aiming – the difficult part was catching sight of an opponent early enough to do the necessary mental math.
Otsdarva came up on his rear, and Arthur made the daring move of Over-Boosting, gambling that his enemy would also do so. He was rewarded with the sight of Stasis barreling towards him, and he cut his main and Over boosters completely, before going full reverse and switching to missiles. The acquisition was instant, and he fired, tying Otsdarva up in evasion as he tracked him manually with rifles.
A few well-predicted shots knocked Stasis's main boosters clear out. With no thrust to cushion the fall, his foe staggered as he hit the ground, and Arthur capitalized on this to plant an OGOTO shell straight into his back.
Otsdarva's HUD went haywire as his combat damage indicated that his NEXT was unable to continue fighting.
"Last survivor of ORCA…seems you earned it. I always knew how to pick them," Otsdarva said, as his nervous system joined his NEXT in inactivity.
"Whose side were you on? Answer me!" Arthur demanded.
Only silence greeted the young LYNX. Arthur swallowed the rage in his mind, refocusing on the mission.
"Status?" he asked.
"Answerer is falling to the surface, but its still active," Serene Haze reported.
"Needs one final knock, eh? I'm on the way," Arthur replied as he engaged his Over Boost. "Looks like a one-way trip. Sorry, Teach. This wasn't where I pictured us both being when you took me under your wing, Kasumi Sumika."
"I have no regrets, Arthur Bradshaw," Haze said. "Let's finish the job."
As he approached Answerer, the AMS interfaced with his nervous system in a way it never had before, filling his head with great pain. For a second, he could have sworn he was hearing something…
…it sounded like roaring.
"Got some strange feedback through the AMS," he said. "It's like I'm hearing…"
"…roars?" Kasumi finished for him. "I hear them, too. Energy fluctuation around Answerer detected!"
"Assault Armor?"
"No, it's…something else!" Kasumi said.
A blinding light emitting from the Answerer's core, and the roars getting louder drowned out anything else she may have said.
Arthur's world went black as the sensory overload sent him drifting into unconsciousness…
A/N: That concludes the First Chapter for this fic. In terms of the parts used.
Core: 03-AALIYAH/C
Head: 03-AALIYAH/H
Arms: 03-AALIYAH/A
Legs: 03-AALIYAH/L
Generator: ARGYROS/G
FCS: FS-JUDITH
Boosters
Main: 03-AALIYAH/M
Back: BB11-LATONA
Side: SB128-SCHEDAR
Over: 03-AALIYAH/O
Armaments
Right Arm Unit: 051ANNR
Left Arm Unit: 063ANAR
Right Back Unit: OGOTO
Left Back Unit: SALINE05