The entire facility shakes as a barrage of lasers and plasma missiles impact the Hard Light Dust shielding, James pulls Jacques out of the room into the hallway with other guests who are confused and panicked,
"What's going on?"
"Why are they shooting at us?"
"I heard they were pirates? What are pirates doing here?!"
"Everyone, quiet!" James shouts getting their attention, "We can't afford to panic in a situation like this. Is there a place we can take shelter here?"
"There's an emergency bunker. It was built in case Grimm overruns the perimeter." Jacques mutters, still shocked at what's going on. Thinking how things could have gone so wrong.
"Then that's where we're heading." James orders, "Once we're there we signal for help from the Atlesian Navy. There should be a training exercise conducted by the 56th Air Patrol flotilla at a nearby coast. If we can signal them they should arrive within hours."
"Hours?! We pay you with our taxes, quite considerably, can't they come faster?!" one of the shareholders demands in their panic and James glares at them.
"Unless you can talk to them over the radio on how to increase their engine output, then no." James says, "It's the best option we have, now everyone into the bunker! Now!"
"Wait!" Willow cries out, "Winter is still in our room!"
"She's a smart girl, she'll find her way here by following our staff!" Jacques waves off with a panicked look in his eyes as his wife looks at him in shock, then anger. Before an argument could break out, James intervenes.
"I'll search for her, the rest of you get to the bunker, I'll find my way once I've retrieved Winter Schnee." James says as he draws Due Process and turns to his men, "Make contact with the 56th once you can, tell them it's a Code 18-S."
Before he could run off, Willow Schnee grabbed him by the arm with a fearful look on her face,
"Colonel, please…make sure my daughter's safe." she pleads and he nods.
"What's going on?" Winter asks Ayre through her Scroll as she makes her way through the hallways lit red by the alarms.
"We are under attack, Winter." Ayre informs, "From what I've overheard it is theorized that an air fleet of pirates have snuck through while a virus was disabling the radar, using the clouds from the storm as cover. And the test pilot has gone rogue with Steel Blizzard."
"What?!" Winter says in disbelief as she processes that news, "Why would he do that?"
"Unknown." Ayre says before pausing, "...Winter, the facility has been breached."
"Already? But the barrier should still be up, right?" Winter asks.
"It is. However, the barrier does not encompass the waste disposal pipes leading underwater to a nearby lake. A well-armed team of infiltrators has used that as their entryway and while I am attempting to slow them down, they appear to have access codes to bypass the security measures. It appears this attack has been planned for a long time." Ayre explains, sounding worried, "And they appear to wear uniforms of those in the White Fang. Judging by where they're heading, I assume they're targeting the generator to disable the power of the facility, and therefore the shielding."
Winter freezes as she hears this. Everyone in the SDC knew who the White Fang was, a group of Faunus fighting for their equal rights and often targeting the SDC. If they find her, the heir to the company, they'll…
"Winter, you must flee and rejoin your family." Ayre says, "They are heading for a bunker in the lower levels. If you can-"
"I'm not leaving." Winter interrupts as she runs faster, "If they find you, you'll just be another prisoner elsewhere. I'm not letting those fiends get their hands on you, or Raven."
"...You are a brave young woman, Winter Schnee." Ayre says respectfully as Winter opens the storage area's control room with her access card, "Your parents must be proud to have such a daughter."
"Try telling them that," Winter mutters as she then plugs the Scroll into the console and uploads Ayre's program. Soon enough a familiar red pulse appeared over the terminals once the download was complete.
"Upload complete. Assuming direct control." Ayre repeats as the cranes in the ceiling of the storage area light up, as the shipping container with Raven and Ayre inside splits open allowing the Armored Core to be picked up and moved, "We are almost there Winter. I'll maneuver the AC to the assembly line next door. When we finish assembly you must remove the restraining bolt they've placed onto the neck of Raven's AC. Then we'll be free."
Winter nods as she heads to the next room, overlooking the assembly line as she uploads the program once more, watching Ayre take control and hook up the broken AC into the assembly line where large mechanical claws grabbed different premade parts in their inventory from arms, legs and weapons, bolting and drilling them onto the black core of the AC.
"Hm, it appears most of the advanced weaponry has been locked away." Ayre notes with disappointment, "We have no time to retrieve them, so we shall improvise."
Winter watches as on the left arm of the Armored Core, a scaled-up hydraulic hammer designed for breaking apart rocks for Dust nodes is bolted onto its forearm, then on the right arm, it gripped what appeared to be a gigantic assault rifle. For its shoulders, a cylindrical canister was mounted on the left, and the other was a strange device she didn't know of.
The machinery then forced the completed AC to kneel and bend over as conveyors wheeled it to a section of the assembly line where scaffolding would allow her to climb up,
"You did it!" Winter exclaims before jolting in surprise as the lights suddenly go off, "...Ayre, was that you?"
"Winter, that must be the White Fang." Ayre says with dread before speaking in a hushed tone, "They've disabled the main power supply but the backup generator will kick in soon. I lost my connection to the security cameras, but I last saw White Fang operatives split to head here, possibly hoping to find weapons. You must hide before they find you."
"But you're just right there." Winter argues quietly as she looks out the window down onto the dark assembly line where the inoperable AC lay kneeling, "I can run there now."
"Winter, no! They're-!" Ayre protests before Winter hangs up her Scroll in case the noise and light attract attention in the dark hallways. But before she could get far, she felt something hard smack into the side of her head.
"Well, well, look what we have here?" an unfamiliar voice says mockingly as WInter grasps her head in pain while lying on the floor dazed, "I'd recognise that white hair anywhere. A Schnee, ain't ya?"
Winter tries to get up, finding herself surrounded by Faunus dressed in White Fang uniforms one of them grabs her by the neck and lifts her up,
"Team A, come in." he says as he speaks to a communicator in his ear, "We were heading to the storage area to loot it as ordered, and guess what we found? A Schnee…yeah, you heard right, we got the heir to the SDC and Jacque Schnee's daughter right over here!"
Winter struggled in her captor's grasp but the minuscule Aura she could produce was no match for his as she was barely able to move the fingers. The rest of the White Fang squad then entered the room to find out what she was doing when one of them glanced down the window,
"By the brothers, would you look at that." one of them mutters in awe, "It's one of those Sentinel things we heard of. The one our spy was flying."
"It looks like a hunk of junk compared to the other one." another responds before humming in thought, "But if it could even do half the things we saw he could do…I think it'll look great in White Fang colors if you catch my meaning."
"Yeah, I get it." the one holding her, likely their leader, pulls out a knife and holds it to Winter's throat as she stops squirming and looks at it with fear, "So kid, being the CEO's kid probably means you're privy to some secrets, eh? Why else are you here in the control room? What was your plan, turn that thing on and use it to save the day or something? Kids these days, watching too many cartoons."
The group of White Fang soldiers laugh at this as their leader continues, pressing the knife closer to her neck but not hard enough to draw blood, "You're gonna take us down there, and tell us how to open it up and let us in. Then maybe we'll let you go without scratching you up too much, Schnee."
Winter gulps in fear at this. She has the feeling even if she gave them what they wanted she wouldn't be leaving unharmed, if she could even leave at all. But then she realizes, this was an opportunity.
"...If I do that, you'll let me go?" Winter asks, doing her best to look at the knife terrified, which wasn't difficult when she actually was.
"Of course." the masked Faunus smiles unconvincingly.
"Alright…" Winter agreed, trying to sound defeated, "It's all prepared, but there's a restraining bolt on its neck that needs to be removed before you can open it up. It's there to prevent theft."
"Great, now show us where it is." the squad leader demands as one of them blows open the powered-off doors with a grenade launcher, allowing them passage through it as they descend down the stairs into the assembly line where the Armored Core was kneeling.
"Brothers, it's as tall as a building." one of the White Fang mutters in awe, "And the size of those guns…"
"Imagine it wearing our colors, tearing apart SDC slave camps." the leader says in similar awe at the machine, "Imagine if we can get an army of them…"
He snaps out of his daydream and glares at Winter, "How do we get in?"
Winter gulps and nervously points at the neck, "Up there, on its neck. If the restraining bolt is removed, the power will turn on."
The leader grunts, gesturing for his men to stay where they are as he walks up the scaffolding with his arm firmly on her shoulder as they approach the neck of the deactivated Armored Core. As they close in, Winter spots something on the neck of the AC, appearing to be an object inserted somewhere in the neck with a large handle.
"So we just pull that off and we get it, right?" the leader stops her just before she can take a step forward, "Nothing funny that would get me or my friends hurt, right?"
He twists her head to face him, looking up at his yellow eyes through his mask appearing to peer through her soul. At that moment Winter's facade cracked as she found her words stuck in her throat.
"I…I…" she tries to speak, to agree with him that it wasn't a trap, that she wasn't going to awaken the AC to help save her, but her words fail her as fear spiked in her heart.
His yellow eyes peer through her soul with suspicion and growing realization as what little amusement there was in his face faded into a scowl. Winter quickly dashed forward for the restraining bolt but before she could make it, he grabbed her by the neck, choking her.
"Bitch! You had something planned didn't you." he scowls as he raises his knife, "I oughta-!"
Before he could finish his sentence, his head explodes, turning to fine red mist and Winter freezes in shock as some of the red splatters over her face. All eyes turned to where the shot came from to find Colonel James Ironwood standing on one of the elevated walkways of the assembly line with a large and heavy-looking pistol smoking from the barrel,
"Winter, run!" Colonel Ironwood screams as the White Fang recovers from their shock and opens fire at him, running along the walkway and returning fire whenever he can as bullets graze his Aura.
Winter looks at the headless corpse in shock before another shout from Ironwood snaps her back to reality as an explosion rocks the room when grenades are shot at the walkway, knocking Ironwood off and landing with a grunt as his Aura tanked most of the blow, firing while he was falling and killing another two White Fang soldiers.
Winter pulls herself out of the grip of the corpse, stumbling towards the neck of the AC and reaching for the restraining bolt, twisting it with considerable effort before pulling with all her might and prying it off.
In a flash, the red optics of the AC flared to life as engines inside it roared, capturing the attention of the White Fang soldiers who turned in confusion, and then terror as they saw a giant metal hand come down hard and fast, crushing them to paste.
The surviving White Fang began scattering but were too slow as the AC swiped its hand, slapping them all into walls as sounds of bones breaking were heard.
While this was happening, Ironwood ran up the scaffolding to Winter who had fallen onto her back in shock from all the events and beginning to hyperventilate. As this happened Ironwood knelt down and wrapped her in a hug with his organic arm.
"Winter. Winter, it's fine. You're safe now." he says trying to comfort the girl as her breathing slows. Then he sees the AC turn its head towards them and hastily draws his gun to point at it before Winter stops him,
"No! Wait!" she cries as she pushes the gun away, snapping out of her shock, "They're friends! They were just saving us!"
"They?" Ironwood glances between her and the AC confused and slightly intimidated but at least he wasn't pointing his gun at them anymore, "Winter what is going on?!"
"There's someone inside of that thing." Winter quickly explained as clearly as she could, "My father had been keeping them inside for an entire year!"
"What? Winter, slow down. I-?" Before he could finish, the entire facility shook from an explosion, "Brothers damn it, what the hell is going on?"
"The pirate fleet has fired a warning shot, Colonel Ironwood." a familiar voice speaks up as Ironwood and Winter glance everywhere as the voice echoes around them from intercoms.
"Who are you?" Ironwood asks cautiously,
"I am Ayre, and I speak for both Raven and myself," she explains.
"You…are inside that Sentinel?" Ironwood mutters as he glances back at the giant robot with mismatched parts.
"Armored Core, but correct." Ayre says before pausing, "I am receiving a broadcast from their flagship on an open channel. Allow me to patch it in."
As she finishes, a gruff male voice speaks over the intercom,
"This is the Admiral of the Lake Matsu Pirate Flotilla, and I speak on behalf of my clients in the White Fang." he says with an authoritative voice, "They have asked for you to come out of whatever hole you're hiding and surrender yourselves. Do so and you may live. Fail to do so in the next ten minutes and I have orders to bombard the entire mountain your facility is built on until there is nothing left but fire and ashes."
Ironwood pales at the news. Ten minutes wasn't enough for even the fastest shuttle in the Atlesian Navy to arrive, and even then what could shuttles do to a flotilla of pirate airships? As he agonizes over this the woman, Ayre, speaks again.
"Colonel, while you may not trust us yet, know this." she says firmly, "That young girl has risked life and limb to come this far to free us from her father. Taking great risks for her personal safety when she had no reason to when she had all the reasons to flee and hide. Rest assured, Raven and I will not let any harm come to her being."
"...I don't know what's going on, but I suppose I have no choice but to trust you," Ironwood mutters as he remembers what the Steel Blizzard could do. If this mismatched Sentinel, or whatever it was, could do even half of what he saw, maybe it could buy enough time for the Atlas Navy to arrive.
"We thank you for your trust, Colonel." Ayre responds gratefully as it turns to the metal doors of the assembly line leading to the hangar, "We will engage the enemy while you bring Winter Schnee to the underground bunker. Be warned, the White Fang has split into two teams with one we just killed and the other last sighted sabotaging the generators."
"Understood. I'll keep a look out for them." Ironwood nods as he holds out a hand for Winter to take before glancing back at the AC, "...Good hunting Raven. Ayre."
The AC nods in thanks before slowly walking towards large metal doors blocking its way before burying its fingers into the area where the two doors meet, straining its mechanical arms as it pries the doors open.
As Ironwood watches this he turns to Winter with a heavy sigh,
"You better have a good explanation for what just happened, young lady."
"Raven, I'm detecting a total of twenty-five hostile airships. They should be much weaker than a PCA interceptor warship, but I still recommend caution. A cannon shot is still capable of damaging, even destroying your AC."
Raven silently acknowledges her as he steps out of the open hangar and gazes into the stormy sky as shadows of airships are seen from the occasional strikes of lightning and his AC is showered with water. It took him a moment before he realized it must be something called 'rain'.
Rain…When was the last time he saw rain, let alone experienced it? Sure there was rain on Rubicon when he attacked the Watchpoint, but just like now he could only see it bounce off the metal shell of his AC, never touching it with his flesh. He never felt rain when growing up in the crowded underground bunkers of Mars, or as an asteroid miner in the belt of Jupiter, or working in the vacuum of space in a spacedock orbiting Luna or serving in the Corporation War that led to him volunteering for augmentations just to get food into his stomach.
"Raven." Ayre speaks up, interrupting his thoughts, likely listening to them due to their connection, "When this is over…perhaps we may experience the rain together?"
He pauses for a moment before sliding his AC's combat visor on in affirmation. The idea was tempting and gave him all the more motivation to end this quickly. His thrusters roar as Combustion Dust fueling his more primitive engine ignites, launching him into the sky with a trail of smoke and orange flames, unlike the circulating-current generators he was used to making his flight slightly shaky with his unfamiliarity combined with the whole year spent not actually piloting his AC outside of simulations.
The flotilla of ships noticed him almost immediately as soon as his thrusters came online, and he overhears them from Ayre patching into their comms.
"What the? Unidentified target approaching from the SDC facility, sir!" some ensign cries out.
"So the Schnees aren't giving up without a fight then? Fine, we'll be searching ruins for scrap then. Open fire!"
Target lock warnings blared across his AC as it highlighted every gun pointed in his direction. The ships appeared to look like wooden sail ships he'd only seen in picture books as a child, with sails and propellers only these appeared to have large engines keeping them afloat somehow.
They were all pointing their broadside cannons at him as they fired in a volley of cannon fire. But with ease, he casually uses his thrusters in quick bursts to maneuver around the enemy fire.
"We missed? All hands on the weapons deck, reload for another volley! What's everyone standing around for? Lock on and fire before it gets close!" someone, likely an officer of sorts, shouts down the radio as more ships lock onto him as he rockets closer.
It was slightly harder to dodge the second volley as many ships fire at different rates but when they all came in the same direction he was able to predict and avoid without breaking a sweat. Then he gets close to his first ship, using his thrusters to align his AC in front of where the bridge of the airship was and pulls back his arm with the hydraulic hammer, pressure building up to critical levels.
"Removing safety limiters and…firing," Ayre informs as he thrusts his arm and punches the bridge of the ship, as the heavy metal spike was shot forward at speed and force comparable to fire from an artillery cannon, smashing the bridge to pieces and silencing it.
"I…Crimson 15 is down! I repeat, Crimson 15 is down!" came the panicked cry of another officer, "All ships target whatever the hell that is! Take it down, now!"
"One airship destroyed, Raven." Ayre informs professionally as a counter in his HUD ticked down from 25 to 24, "There's still plenty left to go. Let's get to work."
"Winter! Oh, my daughter, how glad am I to-?" Jacques said, sounding happy as Willow tearfully embraced her eldest daughter with Weiss in her other arm, but then Ironwood interrupted him.
"Jacques." he growls, "Your daughter told me everything."
"Everything?" Jacques asks looking confused before James snaps,
"Keeping a man prisoner in such conditions…And here I thought you couldn't be any more of a bastard," he growls as Jacques widens his eyes in shock before narrowing on his eldest daughter,
"I don't know what fairy tales she's been telling you Colonel, but it appears she's been snooping her nose where it doesn't belong," he mutters dismissively as he glares at his daughter who tenses slightly.
"Shut up. Not one more word out of you. I will be speaking with you after this is over, understand?" he asks not giving Jacques a chance to answer,
Jacques growls at this but keeps his mouth shut as James shoves him aside to approach one of his men tinkering with a terminal in the bunker,
"Status report," he demands and the soldier responds, looking up from the terminal,
"I've got a message out to 56th sir." the soldier notes as he types into the terminal, "And I've rerouted emergency power to the radar to get a look outside. It looks like…something's eliminating the enemy."
He mutters confused as James nods, "That would be the Armored Core we found in the storage area."
"You let it go?!" Jacque shouts before turning to a slightly frightened Winter, "You stupid child, what did you-?!"
"What did I just say?!" James shouts louder, cutting off and silencing Jacque as he turns back to the terminal, "What's the status of our ally?"
"Sir, he's taken down an airship already…pardon, two airships…I mean six." the soldier mutters in growing awe and confusion as blips on the radar begin blinking out rapidly until only half is left, "How…how is he doing that?"
James watched in similar stunned awe before snapping out of it, "Get me a channel with our friend out there, now."
"C-copy that, sir." the soldier nods snapping out of it and fiddling with a nearby radio before they picked something up,
"Raven. Ayre. Do you read me?" James asked as he spoke through a microphone on the radio while putting on a headset to hear the audio, "This is Colonel James Ironwood, I repeat, do you read me?"
The radio crackled with static before a reply was heard, "Copy Colonel Ironwood, we're receiving you. Have you and Winter arrived safely? Over."
"We have, Ayre. I am calling because I have a request for both you and Raven. Consider this a personal favor for me. Over." James says as he hears a pause before an explosion.
"Apologies for the background noise, Colonel." she says as gunfire and cannon fire are heard in the background, "A request? I will relay that to Raven. Over."
"I want the leader of this flotilla, a pirate known as 'the Admiral', to be taken in for questioning. He should be located in the Cruiser-class airship called the M.N.A. Talisman. He's wanted for many crimes and with his possible connection to the White Fang, he must be questioned for information." James explains, "I and the Kingdom of Atlas, would be grateful if you could fulfil this request. Over."
Again Ayre pauses for a moment as if waiting for an answer before she responds, "I've relayed your request to Raven and he has accepted. He prefers a challenge anyway. We will disable the weapons and engines of the M.N.A Talisman forcing it into a crash landing, but leave the bridge intact. Is that acceptable? Over."
James sighs in relief that they were willing to listen, "That would be acceptable Ayre. Once the Atlas Navy arrives I'll do my best to reward your efforts to the best of my ability. Good hunting to you and Raven. Colonel Ironwood, out."
He says as he pulls off the headset and observes the rapidly depleting blips on the radar,
"How can just one person do all this…" the soldier mutters, "That's twenty-five ships…Twenty Corvettes, four Frigates and one Cruiser…How many ships do you need to take that on?"
"About twice their number if you want absolutely zero casualties," Ironwood mutters as he takes in all this. If just one of these Armored Cores was capable of wiping out an entire flotilla or pirates, what could it do against Grimm? What could an army of them do?
It looked like Jacques was right about one thing at least. This was the future of warfare he was looking at. And it was awe-inspiring.
Then the soldier interrupts his thoughts with a voice of alarm,
"Sir, I'm picking up another signature! Approaching at high speeds!" he says pointing at the screen and Ironwood's eyes widen.
"-our vanguard is completely wiped!"
"Half our fleet is gone, sir!"
-orders?! We need orders, sir!"
Admiral Reginald Steele watches slack-jawed from the bridge of his flagship as the fleet he spent so many years meticulously building up now falls apart in a rain of fiery debris. All because of someone, something , out there hunting them down. Swooping from one ship to another in a white and black blur, like some bird of prey.
Too fast for their cannons to lock onto, it ripped their bridges to shreds before they could react, filling the comms with panic screaming and babbling of last words begging for mercy they did not receive.
He had spent years in the Mistral Navy, getting dishonourably discharged after being discovered by his Kingdom that he was aiding and abiding smugglers they tried to have him arrested, but his men stood by him as he was the one that fed them and their families.
He built a small fleet with less than five ships that he used to escape captivity, then it grew to ten and then twenty until it reached the state it was now by sheer force of will, charisma, and reputation. He became a threat that even Huntsmen feared, for every time one was sent after him he'd have heads sent back to the Mistral Council.
But now…
"Sir, we're all that's left!" came a cry from a panicked ensign on the verge of breaking down, "He's coming for us!"
"Orders?!" another screech desperately holding onto the discipline he drilled into them but what came out of his mouth was nonsensical,
"...make sense…Doesn't make any damn sense…" he mutters as he stares ahead blankly as the unidentified target blew apart his ship's main guns,
"Weapon battery is down!" another ensign bellows almost in disbelief before the ship shakes again, "That was the engines! Why is he-?"
"Who cares?! All hands brace for emergency landing!" his loyal lieutenant cries out as all hands scrambled except for him who just sat on his chair overlooking the bridge with a blank look on his face,
"Doesn't make sense…It doesn't…" he mutters to himself.
"That's the last of them, Raven." Ayre congratulates, "I'm sure the- Enemy AC detected!"
She suddenly warns as the lock on warning sounds off, giving Raven just enough time to move to the left with a burst of his thrusters, barely avoiding a red laser beam as he spins around while hovering in the air.
He finds a blur with a trail of blue fire halting to a stop a fair distance away, a familiar AC in blue and white with the damned SDC symbols emblazoned all around it glaring at them with glowing blue optics as they hear something through an open channel,
"So…Raven? Ayre? That's what you're called." mutters a familiar voice of the test pilot, "Forgive me for listening in, you were having such a fascinating conversation with the Colonel."
"Raven, I should warn you. You're not accustomed to this AC, and it wields lower-grade equipment compared to his." Ayre says, "I have no doubt you will succeed, but I must ask you to be careful."
Raven nods as he focuses on his enemy, ready for any sudden movement.
"I knew it from the start. Nothing fights that hard unless they're alive." the pilot mutters as he primes his rifle again and his plasma missiles glow purple with energy, "Now show me just how hard you'll fight to survive this."