Chapter Null
So, you clicked this. My first ever published fanfiction. Hope you'll be gentle, because I'm no literary genius. I'm just a dude that likes to write whatever nonsensical ideas come into his mind. The idea of this fic was born after reading Shidou Haruka's IS/IBO Crossover, alongside other Gundam Crossovers with Infinite Stratos. Then, it turned into a pseudo-rp with two of my friends that involved dice rolls, RNG-tables, crazy stuff. So I decided to write down whatever shenanigans we had into a story form.
The horror.
Please, do enjoy this word salad of a fic.
Clang!
"Hey, be careful with that! Those are literally one-of-a-kind tech, and you're handling them like a bunch of dolls!"
The foreman snarled at the foolish crane operator as they eased from the sudden impact of the claws against the containers on the truck beds. He was tempted to go up there and teach the idiot a lesson in following instructions. This operation would net them one hell of a payday so long as they followed the steps to the letter.
One often doesn't often receive a contract that'll net them a seven-figure pay, and that was before the individual hush money that came with it.
So you bet your ass he would make sure everything goes well to retire as a millionaire.
'You know what? Fuck it, I'm going up there. I'm not leaving it up to chance to lose my money!'
Setting his tablet down, he marched up to the crane and climbed the short staircase leading up to the booth. Seeing the young man behind the controls, he banged on the window that separated them.
"Hey! Get the hell out here!"
Turning to him in apparent surprise, the man set the controls back to their idle states as the crane stopped. Getting off of the chair, he reached over and opened the door.
In the back of his mind, the foreman wondered if the crane operator had dyed his hair, as he recalled him having black hair the last time they spoke-
Click…
-and all thoughts of such were immediately pushed away when he felt the cold steel of a gun's suppressor pressed against the underside of his chin.
Snap!
With a spray of blood and brain matter, the foreman's head snapped back as his body took an instinctive step backward. It pushed against the metal railing before falling over and down to the floor, between two more workers that had been surprised at the gunshot. They looked up only to eat two more shots as their construction helmets barely protected them against hot lead.
Snap! Snap!
And like a dam bursting, the sounds triggered a wave of panic throughout the entire docking bay. Several workers pulled out side-arms from within their work jackets and began firing up at the crane. The young man jumped off of from the stairs and landed on a nearby truck, quickly rolling off of it and out of sight when bullets began ricocheting off of the metal.
After a few seconds of firing, the gunfire stopped as a few of the scant security team members began to close in. With the alarm blaring over the sudden silence, they were quick to surround and a brave few turned the corner of the truck to see-!
"Where the hell did the bastard go?!"
-nothing.
Nothing but the discarded uniform and safety helmet of the then-crane operator.
"He's down there!"
A panicked cry from one of the other workers caught their attention and they quickly looked at the sole place 'down' could have meant; underneath the truck bed.
Whump!
In the blink of an eye, two of them were unbalanced by the sudden sweeping kick. The sheer force and speed of the blow had swept both of their feet off of the ground, and all they could see was a blur as the intruder quickly wrapped an arm around the neck of one of the unbalanced guards and whirled around.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A volley of rifle rounds impacted the human shield, breaking the ceramic plates behind the black plate carrier as the dark-clad intruder pulled out his own small arm once more.
Snap! Snap!
Two .45 ACP bullets punched through the unprotected eyes of a couple more security team members, their bodies dropping like puppets with their strings cut. With another whirl, the killer tossed the spent human shield into the group behind him, their rifles barking as trigger fingers squeezed instinctively and by accident upon impact with the body.
A glint of silver and the security member scrambling up to his feet suddenly had an open throat as the intruder walked by. Blood gushed out from the wound, staining the black balaclava and the plate carrier, the guard choking as he collapsed to his knees, desperately trying to stem the flow.
Snap! Snap! Snap!
A series of shots from the matte black USP45 pistol made short work of the disoriented guards, the killer double-tapping them to make sure that they stayed down. The empty magazine soon slid out of the pistol, right into the waiting hand, where it was then put into one of the many pouches on the body belt harness. A new magazine was then fished out, and the intruder calmly reloaded the pistol and turned towards the panicking dock crew, even as bullets pinged off the surfaces near him.
The full-face gas mask stared back with unnerving silence, and the bullets stitched a line in the metal converging towards him, and just as the holes were inches away from his head, a series of explosions rocked the area.
And at that moment, the lights shut off.
"Hmm? Oh, what's this..?"
Plum eyes widened somewhat when one of her AI's directed her focus away from a separate screen.
"Well, well..!" Robotic rabbit ears twitched as she hacked into the audio of the surveillance system, lowering the volume instinctively as the sounds of chaos went through.
"Intruder alert! All personnel to the docking bay! Intruder alert! All personnel to the docking bay!"
"Hangar?" The woman mumbled, her curiosity piqued. The flat and robotic tone of the voice on the PA caught her brief attention. "Find a camera there."
"Warning! No life signs detected in sub-level 3 and 5, no signal from the Security Quarters. Unable to detect Head Researcher Narud's lifesigns. All remaining researchers, please evacuate-"
Immediately, the screen displayed a large docking bay. Amidst the fire, smoke, and grainy quality of the camera, she can only barely make out the details.
Bodies littered the ground, all in varying states of how they died. Some were slumped on the floor, a pool of blood underneath them, while others were in piles with brass bullet casings strewn about them. It was like a miniature war had sprung up in the docking bay, and that line of thought was all the more likely when her eyes gravitated toward the trio of figures exiting individual containers.
They were all uniform in design, with the same light armor and dark-colored inner workings, but had different weapons for each. Each of them had a backpack that had two handles sticking out of them, just over the shoulders. Sharing a V-fin on similar helmets, the three suits walked off of the truck beds and gathered near the sizeable closed metal doors of the bay.
"Astray Containers Aleph, Dalet, and Shin have been compromised. Security Teams Viper and Dragon– have shown no life signs. Security Team Hawk– no life signs. Security Team Moray– no life signs–"
" 'Astray'? Hmph...fitting..."
One of the 'Astrays' seemed to turn its head towards the camera, and-
Brrrrrt!
-with a flash of the two holes behind the V-fin, the feed was lost.
Tabane Shinonono pouted.
"How rude!"
(BGM: Gaia x Chaos x Abyss )
Turning away from the ruined camera, a gold-framed suit of armor adjusted its grip on the 35mm Rail Bazooka in its right hand and a shield of similar coloration to its inner frame in its left.
"What kinda idiots were they to store the weapons by the berths..?" The pilot grumbled, sea-green optics flashing amidst the smoke.
"Hey, if it makes our escape easier, I'm all up for it." A heavily armed blue-framed brother unit chuckled, inserting a box magazine into the top of the 50mm recoilless rifle held in its right hand. Around its legs were rocket pods, and over its left shoulder was a missile rack with 8 tubes. Its left hand finished attaching a spare 50mm recoilless rifle to its backpack before grabbing a black and blue shield similar to its golden counterpart.
The last suit, red framed and equipped with a winged backpack, merely unsheathed its katana. It had humbler weaponry in the form of a single carbine-like rifle stowed on a mount on its back skirt. The blade glinted in the embers and fire, reflecting the light from the suit's glowing optics.
"I didn't expect it to look that… beautiful. I still don't understand why you get the Red Frame, R."
"Are you really talking about something so casually… Look around us, and as if we knew which container held which suit. We aren't shopping here." The Gundam Astray Red Frame turned its head to look at its blue brother unit, seemingly in annoyance as it sheathed the sword. It then grabbed the physical shield, of black and red coloration, with its left and unstowed the rifle. "-and the last time I remembered, you're not even a swordsman."
"Yeah, but there's this upgrade to it called the Red Dragon that I'd like to have-" 'D' started to rant but was interrupted by the third member of their hijacking team.
"We'll talk about upgrades later." The Astray Gold Frame stepped between the other two, the Gae Bulg Rail Bazooka already on its shoulder. "First, we rinse this base of any files on the suits. After that, we get out of here. And by that, I mean that you need lead us out of here, R."
"… Did both of you even bother to remember the layout of this place?" 'R' questioned, turning the head of his Gundam ever so slightly to look at his friend. "I thought you'd know, E."
"I know the layout of the Docking Bay, not where the emergency exits are."
"Honestly, we're running blind here." 'D' inserted.
"It won't be our first time doing so. We've got a fresh new start, born through a baptism of blood and bullets."
"Edgy." D deadpanned as he hefted his Cattus Recoilless Rifle and checked its sights. "What of the survivors? I don't think we got them all…" His voice had an undertone of distaste, and the head of the Blue Frame turned to glance at all the bodies around them.
E clicked his tongue, the Gold Frame's head shaking side to side ever so slightly. "Leave them to me, just more sins to add to my pile, anyway... For now, we loot this place for all its worth. Get a startup on our liquid assets, lay a foundation for our activities, and all that jazz..."
BOOM!
A muffled explosion came from deeper within the facility they were in, shaking the walls and loosening some metal panels from the roof. The Gold Frame let out an amused chuckle as it looked around itself, undaunted by all the bodies and carnage surrounding it.
"And we better do it fast. Gundam Jacks are supposed to be blitz events, anyway."
.
.
.
Location: Sicily
The moon was high in the sky, the stars twinkling joyously in the darkness of space. The sleepy village in Sicily shut off their lights, the residents preparing to enter their dreams as the cool and temperate winds blew through the hills and dells.
Gray eyes watched as tarp-covered palettes were loaded into steel containers, a frown marring his lips. The ocean wind blew slightly and flipped the fabric, revealing white bricks familiar to the young man.
Cocaine.
Switching out from the Complete Sensor Unit pack to his Full Weapon Systems, the Blue Frame pilot stood up from his crouch. Looking down at the smuggler's landing, he equipped the Cattus 50mm Recoilless Rifle and aimed at the refurbished PT Boats.
Fwoom!
BOOM!
The round impacted one of the steel containers, tipping it over from the sheer kinetic force before the payload detonated. The explosion sent Molten metal flying, and the shockwave knocked back those who survived the initial blast. The pilot grinned as he leapt off the steep overlook, his sensors already locking on to various targets.
"Indiscriminate firing!"
A swarm of missiles surged from his rocket pods, impacting more steel containers and bathing them in an angry fire. The thermobaric warheads cleaned up whatever drugs and illegal substances were within, and the Blue Frame's backpack carried it down to the concrete of the smuggler's dock amidst scrap and ruin.
The smoke and flames illuminated its silhouette like an angry demon, the V-fin gleaming ominously as the optics glared at them.
"Evening, boys." The pilot chuckled, eyeing all the small arms aimed at him without much care. "Hope you didn't mind me dropping in."
The quiet whir of his helmet's 7.62mm vulcans was lost amidst the groaning of metal and the crackling of burning wood.
"But...the party's over."
Brrrrrrt!
Location: The Caucasus
An armored convoy made its way through the lesser-used mountain paths, the masked insurgents peering out from trucks and pickups with their weapons at the ready. It was late in the afternoon and the sun was beginning to set, so they drove slowly through the treacherous terrain that was both familiar and unfamiliar to them.
Fwoom!
The lead APC suddenly lurched to the side, exploding a moment later.
Boom!
Panicked screams and yells filled the valley as they disembarked, looking up in the skies for any signs of an attack. A fair few of them gathered around the center Soviet-era BMP-3, weapons pointed outwards in alarm.
Fwoom!
Boom!
The rear IFV suffered the same fate as the lead APC, lurching to the side before exploding. With both the front and end of their makeshift convoy having exploded in the narrow pass, the insurgents found themselves trapped with only the remaining vehicles as cover. With their backs towards a mountain and the other to an exposed cliff face, they all hunkered down like cornered animals. They all screamed at each other, bringing out MANPADS as they aimed for the skies.
Fwoom!
Boom!
Another car exploded, and the insurgents panicked further. A fair few of them were running away, but the staccato of gunfire stopped any notions of cowardice, as those who turned tail were gunned down mercilessly. A white-clad individual jumped out of the BMP-3, their actions nervous and nigh-mutinous.
"There you are…"
The speaker muttered under his breath, purple eyes narrowing as the optics zoomed in to have a better view of the situation. Positioned underneath an overhang, the Gold Frame utilized the shadows to hide its obvious lustrous inner frame. On top of that, a large canvas tarp covered its torso, further camouflaging the suit.
"Gave me the slip for a good month or two, but this is where it all ends."
Fwoom!
Boom!
"And with that, no more loose ends." He mumbled, lips curling a bit in dark triumph as he watched the railgun round pierce through the turret of the BMP-3. There was a brief second of silence before the entire vehicle exploded, the ammunition within quickly detonating in secondary explosions, quickly mulching the people near it. The pilot watched as the white-clad figure was ripped to shreds by molten metal, and he quietly stowed the Rail Bazooka to its makeshift mount on his backpack.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Glancing at his sensors, he saw a trio of incoming aerial contacts closing in. He looked to his East, where he could faintly see some blobs in the air in the far distance, and he sighed as he shook his head.
"Air patrol…" The Astray pilot muttered as he quickly ducked behind the boulder he braced himself against, having been prepared for this very situation. Pulling the tarp hood over the Gold Frame's helmet, he stayed in his position as the sounds of rotors and jet engines came closer.
He stilled his breath, his mind unexpectedly pulling out a random memory of crawling in the grass as men and APCs rolled past.
'Same vibe…'
The pilot noticed an incoming contact and decided to shut down the suit's battery. The optics died, and the HUD shut itself off, leaving him in darkness with the only light coming from what was coming in through said optics. He could not move his head, so he could only rely on his muffled senses and hampered sight.
Dust and rocks were kicked up by some form of strong wind, most likely from a rotor of an attack chopper– and given his location, he surmised that it was a Hind that was part of said air patrol. His canvas poncho quietly flapped from the stray winds, but the large boulder he hid around was sufficient in its duty of hiding him away.
It was a tense dozen seconds of waiting before the winds died down, and he waited for a dozen more before he turned the suit on again. The optics gleamed as he peeked out from around the boulder, watching as a trio of Hinds and an Mi-7 circle around the beleaguered insurgents, flares popping as MANPADS were fired.
"Mission Complete." He muttered, turning towards the edge of his alcove. "Loose ends tied up."
He quickly made his way down the mountain slope, jumping and dropping from rocks and ledges without a single wasted movement. With a burst of his thrusters, he jumped off of the mountain slope and into the canopy of the forest below, unnoticed by all.
.
.
.
Location: Unknown
"Y-You!"
Clang!
The katana easily parried the large buster sword, chipping the latter as its wielder sidestepped the boosting IS.
"How the fuck?! HOW?!"
Sea-green optics stared back at her soullessly, and the red-framed monster merely got into an open stance with its sword.
All around her, the base was in utter shambles. Numerous pieces of equipment were melted from their enemy's beam rifle, and those that tried to shoot it could barely touch it due to its speed and the skill of its pilot. She hissed in pain as blood streaked down her side from a cut she had taken earlier in their bout, and it merely served as a punishment for her overconfidence.
Her shields did nothing to stop that blade.
Her plasma spray? Deflected.
Her agility? Outpaced.
Her skills with her blade? Utterly inferior to that monster.
"I'm going to gut you, you bitch!" She roared, fury fueling her strikes as she continued to wail and bash against the suit's flawless defense.
"I'm sorry..."
She stilled.
The tone was too low, lower than a contralto.
Lower than anything a girl could voice out.
'So that meant..!'
"THE FUCK-?!"
The blade flashed, and she suddenly found her world spinning.
She impacted the ground heavily, rolling and...
Her headless body fell in a slump, blood only starting to gush out a few seconds later.
The Gerbera Straight dove down, splitting the Core of the IS unit in one clean slice.
"..."
In her darkening vision, tear-streaked and bloody, she could see the red demon sheathe its sword. It was practically clean, unstained, and untainted from all the blood spilled and the lives taken.
The Astray Red Frame walked away, secondary explosions erupting in the Phantom Task base as the leaked gasoline finally reached the raging fires.
With blue fire blazing out from his Flight Pack, the Gundam Red Frame took to the skies, disappearing as quickly as it had appeared.
"Oh, I bid farewell to the port and the land..."
It's a bit short, but I have the world-building skills of a chameleon.
Like, Follow, and Review...or whatever it is the popular authors say.
I haven't slept in almost a day, so...Cipher out.
[Rewrite Date 5/31/23]
This is Future Cipher, just cleaning up a few kerfluffles here and there. Don't mind me.
Future Project Ryo: A few?