"Flynn?" The agent asked as the disembodied brain went silent for 30 minutes...
"You asked for me?"
"Youve been on rest for a while. I was hoping to pick up where we left off on Axxiom's relation to Icon's death.'
The brain grumbled quietly...
'Fine. What do you need to know?"
"Following the satellite deployment,you were called by Axxiom to return to base. Icon was found with a lethal ashmead wound."
'Right...'
The Storm Burners gathered in the bay,where an empty husk of Icon now stood,harnessed into place. Many Engineers and MT pilots were gathered at Icon's feet to bid their goodbyes,setting candles,COAM chips,among other small offerings. Nearby,a similar memorial was being placed for Rust,with the first being a pair of candles sharing the same pan.
"Who could have done this...?" One engineer asked,as they began investigating the damage,short of nightmarish circumstance,the Pilot was most definitely killed.
"Whoever did wanted to send a message that we are no longer safe. Im going to make sure that warning is taken back." Axxiom growls gently,his green lights brifly turning red before returning to their natural color.
Flynn was also harnessed nearby as engineers ran mandatory checks. Very little damage,other than his burns could be made out.
"Flynn? Are you okay?" His attending engineer asked.
"I...Dont know...Its as if something great was taken from me..."
"Hey,big guy,Rust has been around since before The Fires of Ibis. He lost a lot living as long as he did. The last thing he would have wanted to lose now,was one of us,or Ravens forbid Axxiom. Be glad he isnt around to see Icon dead." The engineer attempted to soothe.
"Yeah..." Flynn said quietly.
"Flathead-" Axxiom began
"Its Flynn,Axxiom."
"I know youre grieving the loss of our comrade,but the wicked shall not rest until the storms are silenced. Tomorrow you are expected to sortie with Final Evaluation,to begin working on making room for a Mass Coral Filter. We need to place it in the eye of the auroras. Ground Zero."
"The Vascular Plant crash site..." Flynn said softly.
"Much of the Coral there is high intensity,so as a precaution we're sending you in with a Coral Torch to prevent any more permanent damage to you or your frame. As an extra note,due to the intensity we are expecting,youll be asked to go weapons free,or use a pulse weapon."
"Coral Torch..?" Flynn questioned.
"Its a special shield that protects against raw coral energy. Using what little atmosphere we have left it basically blows an air bubble in dense energy pockets. Downside? You become a bomb and the sheild is virtually useless. So much coral being filtered at once is volatile,so if you find yourself in a fight,avoid it." The Engineer explains.
"You still cant fix me,can you?" Flynn asked
"Short of reviving the crashed AC market,no. On that note youre stuck in the same ship with us."
"Did you investigate the situation at all?"
"We did,couldnt find much,but it was definitely messy. Since Icon didnt detonate,we assume the pilot impossbly escaped through the wound,or was killed. We could not find the body."
An attendant steps in,handing off a slip of paper to the female agent,leaving as quickly as she came.
'Mr Coppertip...we have some news regarding Axxiom. His wreckage was recovered on the edges of the Rubicon Blast Zone. He has C-wavelengths."
'Wait- Axxiom is here?"
'A matter for later. You were due to sortie with Final Evaluation?'
[Warning:Coral intensity at 65%]
Flynn was moving on foot over rocky terrain,the coral torch emitting a vermillion glow that reached a short distance out. Harnessed to his frame was a large coral generator.
"Final,would you care to tell me why Im doing the heavy lifting and not Braxx? How come he's not roped into this with two bombs strapped to him?"
[Axxiom accquired a contract for Braxx to do a freelance raid. He may be gone for months.] Final Evaluation spoke in an automated male voice.
Flynn growls as they reach a slightly flooded crater,with the ruins of the Vascular plant scattered about within.
[The fluid in the basin of this crash site is a highly acidic coolant used to maintain coral cultures. It is ill advised to make contact with this fluid.]
The machine looks down into the basin,and scans the horizon. The Mass Coral Filter revealed itself,on its side.
'Can we even operate that any more?'
[Affirmative. We must raise the filter out of the coolant,and up toward the atmosphere.]
Flynn jumps down,sliding along the crater wall,and jumping to land on a piece of wreckage. Scattered along the shores of the broken vascular plant's wreckage were rusted cadavers of armored cores...A graveyard...
Final Evaluation joins Flynn on the wreckage.
[From here,we must preserve our fuel. The radiaton is too intense for our generators to produce more.]
With that,both armored cores began to approach the filter,leaping from island to island. As they did,their vermillion glow burned brighter,as the sun lowered over the horizon,until the graveyard was dark...
Shadows of the rusted cadavers began to play,lengthening as the glow came and passed. Some Armored cores were new,untouched by rust,but locked in time,many trying to help an ally that couldnt be helped.
'Yeesh this place got creepy fast.." Flynn said as they came to rest on a large,open piece of wreckage.
[Fear is a proper response to have,as this area qualifies for 8 of the major 10 fears found in humans.]
[Warning : Detecting multiple enemy signatures]
Flynn rose his pulse weapon some as the pair make it to the filter. Everything was unmoving. .
"Weird,im not seeing anything.."
Overhead,a coral aurora was assembling,shedding a blood red light onto the graveyard..
It revealed many shambling corpses of armored core and MT...
"Ohhhhhhh shit..."
[It is best we get the filter upright. I will do what I can to control the reawakened.]
Flynn began to locate the top,moving with urgency to attach a line. Off in the distance,a roar emits. "Oh that's even worse!!" Flynn yells as he drew out the line. An MT attempts to attack him,only to be sliced by a coral oscillator.
[We need to get the Filter upright now. I do not think you are going to like the trouble coming our way.]
Flynn engages his boosters and began pulling on the line. The tower didnt even budge.
[Warning,fuel at..50%]
He lets go of the line and lands,as a heavy tetrapod lands...
It was BRAXX,his only weapon being an Earshot.
He had been fatally wounded,with an ashmead wound.
SCATTER!" Flynn shouts.
The pair flee,as Braxx gave chase to Flynn. Braxx fires the earshot,unleashing a terrifying path of superheated flames.
After a series of narrowly dodged fireballs and grabs,he manages to shake Braxx,taking to cover and hiding as the larger machine searched.
[We have to deal with that earshot before he cooks us alive...]
'Final,You need to distract BRAXX. That earshot will rip me apart without something occupying it! On top of that we need Braxx active long enough to get filter out."
[You are crazy,pilot. I like it.]
Silence falls on the battlefield as BRAXX searched aimlessly. 'Hey Final,you see something familiar about that wound BRAXX has?'
[Ashmead,45 Calibur bore spike doused in coral. Similar to that of Icon's injuries.]
'You think the same guy who killed Icon killed BRAXX?'
[It is likely. The placement of the wound is identical,ideal in killing pilots.]
BRAXX turns an empty corner,as Flynn and Final stalk the machine for more evidence.
'So,This far did you have any expectations it was Axxiom?' The agent asked.
'As far as we both knew we had an identical killer. We were still as unaware as drones at the time. In dealing with Braxx we had to resort to keeping him functional to raise the filter."
Flynn and Final were ready to deploy their trap.
Final charges first,deploying a pulse blade,cutting off the large cannon,disarming the large machine. As Final kept Braxx's attention,Flynn deploys a roped harpoon into the dense armor,and ties off the free end. Flynn fires a few pulse shots at Braxx to make him give chase,the rope pulling taut and beginning to lift the filter.
Flynn backed up to further encourage the filter to lift. Finally the wreckage corrected itself,scattering coolant about as it came to a stable stand.
[Fuel depleted.]
Flynn plummeted like a stone toward the wreck,as Braxx pulled himself loose and chased him. Flynn lands,now hindered without fuel,and a large generator strapped to his back.
[Flynn. Catch.]
A pulse blade drops in front of him,allowing him to quickly equip it,as Braxx stood there,preparing to charge.
'Final,I need to eject this generator. I dont have fuel to dodge.'
[Do it. Ill take care of the filter. You deal with the reawakened.]
With a loud hiss,the bulky generator lets go of Flynn,falling to the ground. It was now a standoff ..
"Braxx ...If youre in there,im sorry." Flynn said as he charged,as did the undead machine. The pulse blade deploys,cutting away one of Braxx's arms. The large tetrapod kicked,sending Flynn sliding a short distance before engaging again with increasing aggression.
Another slash was stopped short by Braxx,the equipped hand now slowly being crushed under the grip of Braxx. "Little...bird...I am stronger than you...and I will take..."
Braxx puts his front left foot against the smaller form,and beginning to pull..
"Nonono-"
Flynn's arm easily tears away,and the machine falls a short distance facing Braxx.
[WARNING: Left arm compromised. Functions offline.]
"...What world is so rightly belonging to the Coral."
[Hey fatass,you forgot something!]
A bright red slash came down upon the machine from above,the oscillator making quick and easy work of the heavy armor. Divided in two,Braxx fell,revealing the horrors of coral posession. Within the cockpit of Braxx,raw coral ore was painfully growing out of the pilot that operated him.
Flynn carefully brought himself to a stand,looking at the halved cadaver...
[Flynn,are you okay?]
"Im down an arm...But im still kicking..." Flynn said as he covered the wound with his now free hand.
"So thats what coral posession looks like...Seems painful."
[I am detecting C-Waves emitting from Braxx. Whatever did this is a Voice of the Coral.]
"This was your first account of knowing what all a C-wave does to Armored Cores,isnt it?"
"Yes. Its horrifying just thinking about whats implied with standard pilots." Flynn said with an audible shiver.
"So where did you go from there?"
"After losing an arm,and hemmoraging any remote chance of flight,we began radioing for some kind of help. We were out of reach with Sec-12,so we had to broadcast on open channels..."