Chapter 5: Rust and Blood
Wow... I'm bored as hell. I never realized just how much time BT and Cooper spent traveling between maps. It'd been three hours or so since we'd first arrived on the trail, and literally, nothing has happened, whatsoever. We'd just been walking and walking down the dusty trail, for miles. The only interesting thing that happened was us crossing paths with a stray beast.
It didn't last for long though, as it was filled with holes within seconds. BT's X0-16 Chaingun easily tore through the thing like butter, each heavy bullet tearing away more and more flesh from its body till it toppled over on the ground. Lifeless. I guess Cooper's reaction time is way quicker than I thought.
"Pilot, we need to move, do not get distracted. We need to uphold the mission if we wish to survive"
"Yeah. Got it BT no need to remind me" Jack replied
"It is standard protocol to remind you, Pilot"
"Yeah, yeah," Jack said
And with that, it was back to trudging on endlessly. I couldn't run ahead, and I certainly couldn't leave BT and Cooper behind, I'd completely be ditching my one way to freedom. So for now, I just had to play the serious robot role and follow alongside them and do whatever Titans did. The trail continued onward, now shaded by the overhanging canopy.
And as we trudged onwards I guess BT's mapping caught something as he decided to speak up.
"Pilot, the IMC will continue to search for us. Our only chance at survival is to rendezvous with Major Anderson 60 klicks from our current location" "We have to improvise and adapt if we wish to survive" Good to hear we're at least close.
And as he finished, the sounds of gunfire and explosions reached our ears. Ringing out in the distance. Then a panicked voice entered our radio systems "This is Wombat 3-2. We're taking heavy casualties down here! Any Militia forces, please assist!" "We've suffered heavy losses!" Seems like we've got some more ass-kicking to do...
The trail suddenly ended around a sharp bend, just being a drop straight down into the battlefield, a red corrosive liquid of sorts lay in small pools about the barren wasteland, and scattered about were charred, dead trees and the burnt corpses of Titans, burning away like great bonfires. The wasteland wasn't all that large though, what really mattered was the massive water reclamation facility it connected to, sewage pipes ran all about, alongside small rivers of polluted acidic water. BT jumped down, with his Chaingun raised and Acolyte Pod at the ready.
"We've got a friendly Vanguard-class Titan." LT Freedom said.
"Is that BT?" LT Shaver asked. "Good to see you, Captain. We could use some help"
Two friendly Titans were being barraged by a flurry of missiles, If I had to guess, I'd say they were LT Shaver and LT Freedom, the Titans they piloted were both Tones. They hunkered behind their particle walls, firing potshots toward the enemy Titans, sometimes clipping their hull but taking enemy fire in return, the wall slowly decayed till BT jumped down and distracted them, firing a barrage of tracker missiles at the both of them, the missiles split up, racing after the two enemy Titans.
I followed in pursuit soon after, pulling my sword free from my back, and the pistol from its magnetic holster on my hip. As I unsheathed the two mighty weapons, they were brought back to life, the blade burning with a cyan hue, and the gun's munitions filling up with a fresh charge of element. There were a total of two enemy Titans, each being Bursts.
"What is that thing?" LT Freedom asked, slightly startled.
"I dunno, but it's on our side" LT Shaver replied.
BT ran off, raining hellfire down on both Titans, and dashing off behind cover whilst he reloaded, the enemies were under constant fire, whether it be from BT or the lieutenants. But I certainly wasn't going to let them get all the glory, Now's about time I join in. Alright Elijah, just imagine that they're auto Titans.
I ran off toward the nearest Burst Titan, I'd guessed it hadn't seen me yet as it completely fell flat on its ass as I barreled toward it, dropping its quad launcher while doing so. It scrambled for its gun, but I stomped down on it before it could grab hold of its weapon. My weight almost completely crushed the Titan's hatch, but it was still alive, feeling about for its weapon while pinned down.
I backed off it, raising my pistol, and silencing his shouts. The bolt pierced straight through the weakened hatch, turning the Pilot within into a thick red paste. I looked over to BT and he was doing just as well as I was, BT was absolutely hammering down on that burst, beating the shit outta it like he was a heavyweight wrestler, which he technically is I guess.
He finished the Titan off by punching his fist through the Titan's hatch, pulling the Pilot out from within, before crushing him like nothing and knocking the Titan down with a shoulder tackle, effectively killing the duo. Pretty brutal for a Titan such as himself.
As BT finished off his execution another Titan appeared from within the chemical plant, it was a Tone. He'd definitely taken notice of me as he shot me from the cover of a large sewage pipe. Each round kept digging deeper and deeper into my chassis and I wasn't having any of that, I sheathed both my weapons, all while rushing toward the Tone, and before it could dash away, I picked him up, knocking the gun from his grasp.
"Let me go!" He struggled out, slamming his arms down against my hands.
I swiveled around, throwing the Titan against the wall, with as much momentum as I could muster. The Titan smashed against the wall, breaking off most of its armor-plating. But before I could do it any more harm, LT Freedom ran up to the doomed Titan, digging his gun into the small space between the Titan's body and hatch, before prying it open, then shoving the gun straight into the open cockpit, and firing. The explosive rounds tore through the Titan's vital components and they most definitely killed the Pilot within.
Though we couldn't quite celebrate just yet. Two enemy Titans dropped from the sky, both again, being Tones, and as my allies readied themselves for another battle, grunts swarmed out from the facility, taking up tactical positions from beneath the cover of random pipes and crates. They readied their weapons, locking them into their shoulders, before firing upon all of us, this time they were equipped with anti-titan weaponry, and I can say, they pack quite a bit more punch than an unmodified Hemlok. It ranged from magnetic grenade launchers to Archers, each one tearing chunks from our chassis.
I'd let BT and the lieutenants deal with them. But right now, I've got my eyes on something bigger. I unsheathed my sword, before trudging toward the both of them, they readied their weapons from within the safety of their dome shields, but eventually, that barrier came down. They immediately fired at me, mainly locking on to my weak points, after all that's what Tones do best.
I ran up to the nearest Tone, bringing my sword crashing down, but it'd dashed out of the way before it got sliced in half. I immediately followed with a devastating right hook, sending it tumbling to its knees. Before I could finish it off though, the other fired its Multi Target Rockets at me, each missile landing its mark right on my face.
My vision was scrambled and I got to my feet, wildly swinging my sword in hopes of catching them off-guard. But my sword only dug into the concrete walls of the chemical plant. They continued shooting at me, explosions ringing out in my ears as I was barraged with shells. Yet alas, their salvation lasted not for long, as my visor stopped fizzling.
I locked on to the one I'd recently damaged, finishing what had yet to be done. I stabbed my sword straight through its hatch, killing him and detonating the Titan. I turned round to stare straight at the other Titan. He stared back in shock, frozen in place, gun still trained on me, from behind his particle wall.
Then, I activated my 'wasp missiles' hundreds of missiles leaving the bay and swarming the Titan. Each one threw themselves against the particle wall, slowly but surely tearing away at its health, till they completely tore the wall down, swarming the Titan with reckless abandon. Causing explosions from all about its chassis, but my missile battery grew dry, as every single missile had exited its slot.
Somehow, the Titan was still alive, but barely. Flames were roaring from its back-mounted vents, and its exterior was completely charred. It wouldn't take much to kill it though, I sheathed my sword over my back, and pulled my pistol free from my hip, pointing it straight at the doomed Titan.
"Surrender, or be terminated," I said, monotonously.
"Never" He spat, "The Militia are terrorists, I'd rather die" He stared me straight in the visor, the bright red data core of his Titan, piercing straight into my cameras.
"Beginning termination"
I fired a single bolt into its eye, it pierced straight through and out the back, causing the Titan to fall limp on the ground, dead. It wasn't easy imagining that as an auto-titan. And it made me sick to my stomach. Though I couldn't have a panic attack just now as the Lieutenants arrived, alongside Cooper and BT.
"Thanks for the assist sir. We'll secure this area" LT Shaver said, slightly out of breath.
Cooper nodded to them before walking up to the massive open drainage pipes of the water reclamation facility. He looked about inside, before beckoning me over. BT and Cooper had no issue at all with traversing the place, but for me. Oh, it was a nightmare, I had to crouch down and shuffle about just to move around. It wasn't nice at all.
A dead Titan was leaning against the wall, charred and gray. But what really stood out about it was the 40mm tracker cannon beside it, and on top of that, it was in mint condition too. BT trudged over to it, hooking his X0-16 Chaingun onto his back, before crouching down and picking the cannon from the shallow pool of acid, bringing the gun close to BT's eye, and inspecting it.
"Pilot, you currently possess a 40mm Tracker Cannon. That weapon can and will give you a tactical advantage during the mission" I added.
"Great, a new Titan weapon will be useful," Cooper replied
"Agreed. The IMC is well-equipped with advanced Titan weaponry. They will be most beneficial to our success"
"Pilot, with the Tone loadout we can lock-on to enemies and target them with tracking rockets. This will be useful in direct combat"
Cooper was straight back to business, taking his eyes off the gun and trudging on through the pipes, I followed in suit shuffling on behind them. It didn't help that Cooper made quick glances back at me every so often, I felt pretty embarrassed. But thankfully, the tunnel expanded, shifting from a cramped pipe to a decently large room. There was a giant fan mounted into the roof, slowly spinning, and there was some sort of water reservoir tank, leaning up against the wall, pipes emerging from it, straight into the contaminated water.
But we didn't stay for long as it only acted as a corridor between rooms, the only beneficial part about it being three battery cases that were lined up beside the wall. BT made short work of them, smashing open the crates and grabbing the batteries, swapping out his old batteries for the new ones.
He ejected his old batteries out onto the floor, before pressing on farther into the facility. He was nice enough to wait for me though, as I crouched down into the cramped tunnels and shuffled along behind him. The tunnel stretched on for a little bit, nothing too interesting to note at all, just a barren tunnel. But soon enough I emerged on the other end, out into a nice open room where I could finally stretch my legs.
Half the room was nice and open, consisting of a few platforms and a nice shallow pool of corrosive acid, but the other half was some sort of maintenance area, it had multiple rooms connected to it, with a concrete ramp that led up to each level.
I stood to my full height, stretching out my arms and legs, absorbing as much of this pleasure as I could.
"How you feeling buddy?" Cooper remarked. Well shiiiit, I may or may not have forgotten bout him. I stopped stretching, returning back to my normal, upright soldier stance.
"Apologies Pilot" I replied, diverting eye contact with him, he chuckled a little, but he stopped as two Tones emerged from behind a cluster of pipes and some sort of concrete wall support.
Cooper ran for cover, placing down a particle wall and firing upon them with his newfound weapon. Shells rained from his handheld cannon, each tearing away more and more plating from the enemy Titan's hull. They didn't hesitate to fire back, placing their own particle walls down and returning fire.
"Hey, a little help here?" Cooper asked, making a fast glance toward me.
"Apologies Pilot, attempting termination" I replied, pulling my sword free.
I rushed out, holding my vortex shield up, catching any stray shell they fired toward me, Cooper counter-fired while I covered him, shooting away at them, slowly tearing down their walls bit by bit. The Tones were smart enough to stop firing at me turning their attention to Cooper, but I didn't let them get even a shot in. Their walls were down, and my vortex shield was primed and ready.
I let go of the magnetic field, sending the shells flying. Each collective shell smashed into the Titans, leaving them just barely alive, nearly all their plating was gone, excluding a little on the torso, everything else was just stripped away. Leaving the endoskeleton exposed for the whole world to see. One got to their feet, using their gun to stabilize themselves as they stood, but before he could do anything Cooper rushed over, taking advantage of its state.
He Sparta kicked the Titan straight onto its ass, before smashing the butt of his gun straight into the Titan's face over and over, till the lock on the hatch broke off. Cooper then pried it open and fired BT's acolyte pod inside the open cockpit, each missile completely tearing through the Pilot within and fuckin up all the Titan's major systems, effectively killing it.
The other Titan had just gotten to its feet, struggling to hold the gun up to its shoulder. I trudged over to the Titan while it shakily aimed its gun toward me, before ripping the gun from its hand, throwing it away, and ripping the hatch off. I reached in and grabbed the Pilot, he pulled a sidearm from his belt, before shakily pointing it at my face, yet he struggled to pull the trigger. I brought him close to my visor, staring into his eyes through his helmet.
"Act dead" I whispered, before clamping my hand down acting as if I had crushed him into a red paste. I made sure not to actually harm him though, as the fingers clamped down over him, I slowly placed him back into his Titan. Making sure BT didn't see me. I looked down at him, he lay there completely limp, with no movement except for the slight rise and fall of his chest as he shakily breathed, keeping it as quiet as he could. I nodded down at him.
"Pilot, our path is blocked by a Flow Regulation Gate, there should be a control interface nearby"
Suddenly a rocket collided with my visor, exploding and blocking my vision. I stumbled, slightly disorientated at what'd happened before looking for the culprit, a line of smoke clearly gave out who'd shot me, it was a Rifleman perched atop a platform mounted on the wall, he was looking down reloading another shell into the Archer not paying attention to me in the slightest he was also surrounded by several other Riflemen, equipped with R-101's and Flatlines from what I could see. I wasn't going to kill them though, my wounds would eventually heal from the damage.
"ENEMY TITANS, TAKE COVER!"
Well great.
Cooper had most definitely heard the gunfire and the explosion, he'd even watched me get shot in the face with a rocket and he'd especially heard the shouts. So in retaliation, he rushed over to the ramp, safely disembarking BT and he began running up, rifle at the ready. Well, I don't want to watch this go down.
"Pilot" I called out, gently grabbing hold of his arm.
BT immediately swerved over, pointing his gun straight at me.
"Release the Pilot"
"Calm down BT," Cooper said, BT lowered his gun and turned to look at Cooper. "What is it?" Jack asked
"Is it necessary to terminate these Riflemen?" I asked.
"No offense, but they're literally shooting at us right now" Jack replied, he wasn't lying, bullets panged off my hull as we spoke.
I froze up, deep in thought. If I let them die, I'll never forgive myself. But they're also with the IMC, they carry out the IMC's horrible deeds! Well, some are not evil Elijah! They're all evil Elijah! Let out your rage! I don't have any rage! They drive people from their homes and steal their resources! Well... yeah they do that... maybe you should let Cooper after them, Elijah... Yeah! Let Cooper at em!
"Hello? Hello? You in there?" Cooper asked, urgency in his voice as bullets rained down.
"Apologies Pilot, let her rip!" I said, slightly differing from my robotic tone.
"What?" Cooper asked
"Nothing Pilot, terminate them" I replied. I let him go, and he stumbled forward a bit before catching himself, rushing forward, and firing upon the Riflemen. Their screams echoed out as they were mowed down by Cooper.
BT assisted with the termination of the Rifleman, hooking the 40mm Tracker cannon on his back, and retrieving his X0-16 Chaingun, firing upon any IMC Soldiers he could see, but I kept away from the fight. I could do Titans and Specters, and anything robotic, but humans are crossed off my list, nuh uh don't wanna kill any of those.
Eventually, Cooper had torn his way through the room, making his way to a control room on the left-hand side of the room. I could see him walking up to a tablet, held up by a robotic arm of sorts, before pressing down on what was most likely a button.
"Maintenance override engaged. Opening Flow Regulation Gate". As the voice rang out, the gate at the end of the room opened, the gate itself was just big enough to fit BT, yet that means it was half my height, well great, looks like I'm crawling through this one. Then as the gate fully opened, emergency sirens blared throughout the room.
"Warning. Toxic fumes dispersing in main chamber" "Activating control room safety airlock procedures"
"Pilot, the safety airlock has sealed you in the control room. You must find another way out. We have no choice but to split up"
"Got it, I'll find another way out" Cooper replied
"A nearby exit will most likely lead further into the Reclamation Facility"
"Stay safe Pilot" I added. Cooper turned around, running out of view, and BT waved me down the tunnel. We were considerably slowed down as I had to traverse the tunnel, prone. But BT was a patient Titan, slowing himself as I crawled.
"Pilot. I am tracking your location. Recommend you seek an exit."
"You got it BT, you two do the same."
"Copy that Pilot," We said in unison.
BT and I made our way through the tunnel, we weren't getting as much action as Cooper was, I heard him shooting his way through Rifleman after Rifleman, while we simply trudged on through the muck and grime. Eugh, I can't smell anything but I do know I'm going to have to get a shower after this...
As we pushed on through the darkness, only guided by BT's mapping system and the faint glow of his datacore, a voice rang over the facilities comms.
"Listen up! This is Kane..." "What we have here our IMC and Militia friends, is a failure to communicate!" "And that's ok! That's ok... That's all good." He snarled and then shut off communication right then and there. He sounded like he was high on drugs or something, don't tell me we're going to have to fight him...
"That guy doesn't sound stable," Jack said, his voice ringing out over our radio systems.
"Agreed. Scans indicate the source is somewhere in this facility. We should not waste time here"
Then, it was back to crawling, crawling, and crawling through the seemingly endless dark. How big was this facility? We crawled and crawled till Kane decided to make another big announcement, not even a minute after the last.
"To any Militia left in the facility. Just so you know, this is Kane's place" "You're welcome to stay as long as it takes to kill you, which by the way, will not be long!" He slammed something down, shutting off comms again, which I hoped would be his last announcement.
And as we trudged on, someone hopped onto our comms, and it wasn't Kane to my relief, I didn't wanna listen to that guy any longer, he just seemed like your cliché insane bad guy.
"This is Raccoon Three, 9th Militia fleet. We're held up in the Reclamation Facility." "The IMC has some new mechanized infantry. We're trapped" Raccoon said, panting.
"Pilot, I am detecting friendly Militia forces along your path. They may need assistance." Really BT? I thought they were just fine!
A few moments later, we overheard some voices from Cooper's comms, said voices probably belonging to the trapped Militia Riflemen. "Good to see a friendly Pilot, sir. Our squad has taken a beating. They could use some help up ahead" A tired voice said quietly from Cooper's comms. Shortly afterward, we heard the sounds of gunfire, heavy gunfire. The sounds of many guns going off, both Energy-based and Bullet-based guns, the shouts of Riflemen transferring over to us, alongside cries of pain as they got gunned down. Seems Cooper's found himself in quite the shootout. Well, best cross my fingers and hope he doesn't get slaughtered.
I guessed he survived as eventually the gunfire died down, with the celebratory cheers of Riflemen echoing through Cooper's radio. But there goes my entertainment for now, back to crawling.
I continued crawling for what felt like days, even Cooper noticed.
"I feel like we've been walking for days," Cooper complained.
"Do you require rest?"
"Yes," Cooper said, deadpan.
"You're vitals appear to be stable. We must uphold the mission"
Hey! I need some rest too! Heh just kidding, I don't sleep anymore
Aaaaaand back to crawling. Only accompanied by the heavy footsteps of BT and the sounds of hailing gunfire from Cooper's comms, seems we're having two very different experiences here. But eventually, Kane decided to speak up, much to my disapproval.
"So, I got word there's some Militia Titans and an SRS Pilot taking out my IMC support." "Whoever you are..." He began slow clapping "not bad. Not bad at all, my friend" "I just hope you're better than the last one I killed..." Yep, total douchebag.
We pushed on, farther through the tunnel. The flow of sludge got stronger and stronger, and BT decided to report on this.
"Pilot, exercise caution"
"You too BT. Where are you?" Jack answered
"I am following the stream of sludge. The current is strong up ahead, suggesting an exit. Keep moving forward"
And just then, the tunnel widened out into a nice wide-open room. A blessing from the lord! The room in question was really just a big platform, surrounded by short fences, well short to me at least, they went up about half my height, whether on BT's side, they were just a little taller than him. And on one side of the platform, there was just this huge flow of sludge, pouring down like a waterfall, I could hear it sizzling away. It would've given me goosebumps if it weren't for the... you know.
"Pilot, our paths will intersect just up ahead"
"Missing me already?"
"I haven't been shooting at you. That would be in violation of Protocol 3"
"Uhh" he sighed "Never mind"
And a few moments after that, Cooper showed up, from behind a massive pit, and a wire window.
"Long time no see," Jack said, waving a little.
"On the contrary, your helmet provided me with a live feed of your actions. You fought well out there, Pilot." What really? I didn't get one...
"I would congratulate you on your combat, but I was not provided with such" I added.
"The controls to deactivate the sludge flow are in the next chamber. Marking your HUD"
Cooper nodded to BT, before rushing off into the next room. Soon after Kane decided to speak up on the comms once more.
"IMC, security forces..." He sighed "I guess that's why they pay me the big bucks. You want something done right, you do it yourself." "All right scrubs enough's enough. I'm coming down" He snarled.
"We will need to deactivate the sludge flows in order to regroup. I have marked the controls on your HUD"
And just a second after he'd said that, a large siren blared out through the facility. "Overriding pump filter system. Emergency shutdown initiated" Soon after, I heard a faint voice over Cooper's comms. "Drop in the ticks! Flush them out!" "Lambda Four Airborne, releasing Ticks" Then once more over the comms "Pump shutdown sequence at 20%"
Seems, like he's gonna need my help. I activated my wasp missiles and waited for my missiles to lock on, yet they never did.
"The sludge falls contain a high concentration of heavy metals. They are interfering with both our targeting systems"
"How hard could it be! Just shoot!" Jack shouted
"Blind firing into my Pilot's combat zone would be a violation of Protocol 3"
I just had to sit back and hope Cooper would pull through, when I played Titanfall this part was the worst. I cannot specify how many times I died from those Ticks, but I know Cooper himself will do much better than I ever could.
Gunshots rang out, and explosions echoed every what, maybe 3 seconds. And I just had to hope...
"Pump shutdown sequence at 50%"
More and more gunfire, more and more explosions.
"Pump shutdown sequence at 80%"
Ticks exploding, Rifleman firing.
"Pump shutdown sequence at 90%"
The gunfire grew more and more rapid, as more and more Riflemen Rappelled into the battlefield.
"Pump shutdown sequence complete."
The sludge stopped flowing, giving BT and I a clear view of Cooper and the battlefield. Cooper was running about, ducking and dodging away behind cover as the swathes of Riflemen fired upon him. Ticks dropped down from the ceiling and chased after him, causing him to cloak and flee.
"Visual contact reestablished with Pilot. Commencing supporting fire. Danger close."
I raised my pistol and activated my missile battery, and cooper raised his X0-16 Chaingun and activated his Acolyte Pod. Tonight's gonna be a bloodbath!
BT and I fired upon the enemy, I focused primarily on the Ticks though, while BT mowed down the Riflemen. I didn't want to look as their blood splattered against the crates and walls of the battlefield, as they got torn to shreds by BT's Chaingun. But I happily tore away at the Ticks, locking away on every one of them, before taking out the populous with the press of a button, the miniature bullet-like missiles releasing from their pod and flying away, piercing through the explosive shells of the Ticks. Killing every last one of them.
Cooper managed his way to a high-up platform, jumping the gap, before double jumping into a wall run. But he slowly lost traction, losing more and more momentum by the second. I'd noticed this and rushed over to the fence, sheathing my pistol and reaching my hand out to Cooper.
He jumped off the wall, just barely grabbing hold of my outstretched hand. I pulled him over, behind the fence, before handing him down to BT.
"Thanks... buddy?" Jack said,
"Call me E-0001" I replied.
"Ok then, E-0001, hmm, I think it'll sound better if you lose the zeros," Cooper said
"Understood Pilot" I replied
BT grabbed hold of Cooper, before placing him within his cockpit.
"Transferring manual controls to Pilot"
Cooper and I continued on, leaving the Riflemen in the dust. Continuing down the tunnels. They'd grown a little less cramped, just enough that I could crouch down and I didn't have to look like an idiot crawling around like an ANZAC Soldier.
"Protocol 2: Uphold The Mission" "Our orders are to resume Special Operation 217." "Rendezvous with Major Anderson of the SRS"
Sometimes the trail differed into sludge waterfalls, leaving me enough room to stand until they went straight back into the tunnels. Eventually, the tunnel led up a flight of stairs, a rickety one that could barely hold my weight, but hey, at least it didn't immediately collapse. It led to another Sludge fall, but what lay at the top of it was non-other than whatshisface in his heavily painted Scorch. That's right, I forgot his name already.
We were in this kind of slope area, with a shallow stream of sludge pouring down the center of it, there were dead Titans littered about everywhere and there were multiple levels to the battlefield, each level having its own little open rooms on either side. Held up by thick pillars which could definitely take a beating.
Whatshisface ripped a still-alive Pilot from his Ronin-class Titan, popping the hatch of his Scorch. "You were not invited to Kane's party," He said pointing straight at the Pilot who was struggling in his Titan's grasp "And that's why you're dead" He broke out laughing. And he turned to face the two of us, throwing the Pilot hard into the wall, killing him instantly. "Well well well, another run-away hero! With his very own SRS Vanguard-class Titan..." "as well as, well, whatever you are" he said waving apathetically at me. He sat in silence. "Woo! Now we're talking. Bringing a knife and a sword to a knife fight!" He pulled his T-203 Thermite Launcher from his back and flipped the hatch down on his Titan.
An enemy Brute dropped down into the center of the battlefield as Kane laughed. "Let's get this party started, scrub!"
I ran up to the Brute, picked him up, and hurled it toward Whatshisface. He dashed out of the way, but that didn't stop the Brute from being heavily damaged and exploding. "Woah big guy! You've got some fight in you..."
Cooper then opened fire on Whatshisface, switching from his X016 Chaingun to his 40mm Tracker Cannon. I activated my Wasp Missiles, firing the whole lot at him, the hundreds of missiles swarming straight toward him, in retaliation he brought up his thermal shield. The missiles simply melted from the sheer heat of the shield, causing them to fall to the floor in a puddle of semi-liquid metal... Not before exploding though.
He was sent stumbling back, dazed from the explosion and I took full advantage of that. I didn't want to completely destroy the earpiece that Cooper needed from him, so I ran up to him, and smacked his Titan down the slope with the back of my Sabre. He toppled down, shards of his Titan's plating breaking off in the process, eventually skidding to a halt at the feet of Cooper.
He reacted almost instantly, switching from his 40mm Tracker Cannon back to his X016 Chaingun. With one single phrase probably being the last thing Whatshisface would ever hear, "Burst Core Online" BT's Chaingun started up almost immediately, firing a flurry of bullets straight into Whatshisface's hatch, but he was quick to react. Not letting the bullets pierce into his cockpit and kill him.
He punched the side of BT's leg, causing him to trip and fall, the Chaingun still firing wildly as he lay on the ground. But he may or may not have forgotten that I was there. I grabbed hold of Whatshisface's Titan's leg, pulling him from beneath his feet and hanging him upside down. He was quite heavy actually, but yet still not enough for me.
"Woah woah, hey calm down! I think we can work something out-" I flung him over my head, and slammed his Titan down on the ground. It didn't quite kill him, but I could easily finish him off, after all. He was a horrible person, it would do no damage to my conscious.
I placed my foot down on the back of his Titan, as he struggled to get up, and I flipped on the thrusters just enough to not lift me in the air, but enough to kill him and his Titan. Flames erupted from underfoot, completely scorching the Titan black and melting away at its chassis, eventually melting through its core functions, before burning into the cockpit, turning Whatshisface into a charred blackened corpse. There wasn't time to scream, or maybe I'd just not heard it, but either way, he was dead.
"Wow... That was brutal E" Cooper said from behind me.
"The Enemy is dead" I replied.
"Well done E-0001"
"Hey! We did something too BT" Cooper added.
"Most of the damage to its hull was mainly inflicted by E-0001's Jet Flames, the congratulations should go to them"
Jack huffed,
"Pilot, Kane's helmet radio is still intact. We should retrieve it"
Cooper disembarked from BT, jumping from his cockpit down onto Kane's dead Titan, he reached down through the massive hole I'd burned through his hull, before grabbing onto his charred corpse. He then pried the helmet from his head, and he pulled the blackened earpiece from it, chucking the helm back onto Kane's slightly aflame corpse.
He connected the piece to the side of his helm, it took a little while for it to connect to the signal, but when it did, oh it was good.
"Slone. This is Blisk. The IMC have almost sealed the Ark. It's time to prepare the Draconis."
"Copy. Got myself three captured Militia. What shall I do with them?"
"Ugh, just kill 'em"
The sounds of Riflemen pleading echoed over the radio, followed by three consecutive gunshots.
"I'm on my way. Slone out."
"The ability to decrypt enemy communications has a strong history in warfare. This will work to our advantage" "In order to survive, we must keep moving"
BT walked up to the giant cargo doors at the end of the slope, and pried them open, with Cooper alongside him. Once the doors had been pried open, Cooper looked back at me.
"Come on E, don't leave us waiting," Cooper called.
And with that, I sheathed my weapons, trudging up the stream of sludge and into the tunnel, alongside my new friends.
Hello! This isn't BT but me! Elijah! This has gotta be my longest chapter yet, maxing out at around 6,200 words! Thanks to those who supported this story, and thank YOU for reading it. But alas I have literally no fucking clue how many people did read it though because fanfiction's being a little bitch and not showing me how many views I have. But anyways, I hope you enjoyed it! please provide any feedback if you can, or want to. I don't mind. And I'll see you in two days! maybe.
