Chapter 8 Blind Decisions
Independent Mercenary Hangars – Central Belius
"…" That hadn't felt right, salvaging the battlefield for information on a potential ally. But it had been the job, courtesy of Balam. And it got her mind off that little machine…
What she had learned, gleamed from the wrecks of RLF MTs left near The Wall, was that Rusty was fast enough to evade FCS tracking, intimidating enough to force a coward to eject early, and that the RLF knew something more about him. As well as the fact he preferred light weight and kinetic weaponry when the rest of the Vespers did not.
"Interesting…" Handler Walter commented.
What was even more interesting, was the next job request.
Prisoner Rescue – RLF / Reward 250,000 COAM
"Raven, there's a mission I'd like you to take on." The RLF representative sounded very young. "We have authorized a solo helicopter sortie to rescue a group of imprisoned comrades. There are three to rescue in total, including some particularly significant personnel. Raven. We hope our struggle will inspire you to aid the Liberation Front's cause. Coral, abide with Rubicon!"
"…" She truly had no particular care for this planet or the people living on it. But the job seemed easy enough for it's reward, and she was still making up for her losses after…a previous mission…
"Looks like your reputation left an impression on the Liberation Front, in spite of how many of their toys you've broken." Handler Walter noted positively. "Guess we have you to thank for this job."
"…"
Prisoner Rescue – RLF / Contaminated City – Southern Belius/ Wednesday, Tiberius 14th
/MAIN SYSTEM: ACTIVATING COMBAT MODE
"Commence mission. Escort the Rubicon Liberation Front's transport helicopter." Handler Walter ordered. The helicopter itself was a four-rotor heavy transport, capable of carrying either a full squad of MTs or an Armored Core in it's internal bay.
"…" Assault-boosting forward, 621 flew a kilometer closer to the target, wiping out a squad of light guard MT's along the way. She tore the few humanoid MTs in half with her blade.
"We appreciate your support, Raven." The RLF helicopter pilot announced. "We have to rescue our captured comrades…failure is not an option. Coral, abide with Rubicon!"
"We're under attack! It's a Liberation Front chopper…and an escort AC!" The Balam defense squad warned.
"They must be here for their friends. Intercept!"
"…" Half a kilometer past the first rescue point, was a staging area and rapid response team. Two transport choppers with another squad of MTs ready to deploy against possible attack. 621 was already on them, destroying the transports and crushing the MTs underneath their husks.
"Landing at Site A." The RLF pilot reported. "Commencing extraction of Comrade Ziyi."
"…" 621 remembered that name from reports she had read about the RLF. Little Ziyi. ALLMIND ranked her as 24/E in the virtual arena. The only survivor of a crash landing on Rubicon, as an infant she had been taken in by the RLF and had been literally raised from the cockpit of an AC.
Too young for this world…fighting a war not her own that was all she had ever known…
"…" 621 smirked. Saving her today…tomorrow? Who knew?
"621, Secure the area." Handler Walter advised, but she was already ahead of him, spreading out and down into the nearby city, purging MT patrols with heavy mortars whenever she could.
"You…You came for me…" Little Ziyi thanked the rescue squad once she was on the transport. It sounded like she'd been through some rough treatment by Balam.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Ziyi." The RLF pilot apologized.
"I'm okay…Still alive, at least…a little rest…and I'll pay 'em back…" Little Ziyi promised venomously.
"Heading for the next site, Raven. Keep us covered." The RLF pilot requested.
"…" 621 spotted a BAWS tetrapod up on a nearby ridge. Being thorough and quick about it, she staggered it with artillery and shotgun fire, then lanced it through the cockpit with her blade. She returned quickly to escort duty.
Wiping out the MTs defending the second site, reinforcements came in the form of three quad-copter drones, each carrying an MT underneath. 621 was quick about taking them out before they had a chance to land, the MTs falling from beyond their maximum deployment height, breaking their legs and crushing their pilots.
"Landing at Site B. Extracting Comrade Messam." The RLF pilot announced. "Raven, keep watch."
"…" 621 noticed a whole squadron of quadcopters with attached laser cannons, and an MT squad approaching from the ground. She moved in and went to work.
"Focus on the chopper! Shoot it down!" The Balam MT squad ordered.
"Don't let them go! We need intel on the wells!"
"…" 621 sighed. It was all about the Coral. Any whisper or rumor promoting whole corporate operations to scour whole swaths of the most desolate wastelands on this planet in utter desperation.
"What?! No…!" The RLF pilot grieved. "We've extracted Comrade Messam…but we were too late."
"Damn it! Not Messam…!" Little Ziyi cursed.
"Heading to the last site. Just a little more, Raven." The RLF pilot was noticeably desperate.
"The Coral 'wells' are the Rubiconian's lifeline." Handler Walter explained. "He must have refused to talk."
"…" 621 moved ahead of the transport, clearing the way of-holy shit what the fuck? A pair of quad-gatling turrets were right in the transport's flight path as it hugged the flooded streets below. Braving the fire to keep the transport safe, 621 weaved between the long streams of armor piercing rounds and destroyed the gatling artillery.
"…!?" Okay…Balam had seriously upgraded the defenses near the third landing site as she spotted four heavy VLS launchers nearby. Not particularly well armored but a lot of fire power crammed together. 621 had to move swiftly to protect the transport from a rain of missiles.
Clearing the way at the landing site, the transport hadn't even landed when an enemy transport came at them from behind, another quick reaction force. 621 was certainly getting her work in tonight.
"We're at Site C." The RLF pilot announced reluctantly. "Extracting Comrade…Father Dolmayan."
"…" Ah…the cult leader himself, "Father" Thumb Dolmayan. No wonder this mission was so unusual…and the RLF would hire their most formidable recent adversary. 621 had proven her worth, and they trusted her not to fail this desperate mission.
"Father Dolmayan has been extracted." The RLF pilot reported.
"Thank goodness you're safe, Father." Little Ziyi sighed with relief. "Coral, abide with Rubicon!"
"You…You don't know what you're saying, girl…" Father uttered distraught. "There'll be nothing left…but dying embers…"
"…?" Odd. Weren't cult leaders supposed to make you feel good about their bullshit? She had no sympathy and no disrespect for the RLF philosophy, but from what little she knew…that didn't sound…right…
"…Mission accomplished. Leaving the combat area." The RLF pilot reported.
"621. New enemy confirmed." Handler Walter warned. Five new contacts came down a valley from the north, along their escape route.
"That's…that's a Redguns AC!" The RLF pilot panicked.
"Escorting a prison break all alone?" G2 Nile questioned smugly. "You're daring, I'll give you that." His green colored heavyweight bipedal AC, Deep Down, was armed with a handheld railgun and three different missiles launchers in two-cell, four-cell, and twelve-cell configurations.
"…" Despite the odds, suddenly being opposed by an AC and surrounded by MTs, 621 was still on the clock. She moved to intercept G2, doing her job. Cutting him off, she challenged him silently, forcing him to engage.
"But I've fried bigger fish than you." G2 Nile didn't seem impressed. Why should he? He was rank 07/A, and she was still a lowly F rank.
But in truth, 621 was no stranger to battle. Her rank on Rubicon did not reflect her experience in war.
"G2 Nile…The Redguns deputy commander, and the brains to Michigan's muscle." Handler Walter warned.
Dodging his near constant missile attacks, 621 tanked his railgun shots in order to get in close with her own double-barreled mortar and shotgun. The railgun rounds hurt as they dug into her armor, but it held, and she powered through to stagger him. She cut his armor down, but had to evade as he recovered and resumed firing.
"Pathetic, G13." G2 Nile mocked. "What did Michigan see in you?"
"…" 621 took to the air and fired her mortars down at him. Closing the distance, she finished him off with a double strike of her blade.
"Heh…No wonder Michigan took a shine to you…" G2 Nile gasped out, before 621 put him down, shotgun round to the cockpit.
"…" There were still a handful of MTs, and even a reinforcement transport inbound, but 621 was quick about mopping them up.
"Confirmed. G2 Nile is down." Handler Walter reported. "…Well done, 621."
"…"
"They won't have anything left to throw at us now." The RLF pilot reported. "Thanks for the support, Raven."
"Confirmed. The chopper has exited the combat zone." Handler Walter noted. "Mission accomplished."
"'Raven…' A symbol of resolve…" Dolmayan uttered. "But mark my words…there'll be nothing left but dying embers!"
"…"
Independent Mercenary Hangars – Central Belius
As a thanks for rescuing their cult leader, and taking out G2 Nile, the RLF had added a nice 110,000 COAM as a bonus. So after expenses she'd easily made over 300,000 COAM.
/ONE NEW MESSAGE
/SENDER: RLF Representative
"Let me thank you again, Raven." The RLF pilot from the mission called. "We couldn't have rescued our comrades without your help. Father Dolmayan is a key figure to the movement. A great Coral Warrior who witnessed the Fires of Ibis, and a guide to us all…but…now, it seems like he's…No, I shouldn't. He carries a heavier burden than any of us. Oh, and a personal note before you go. Thanks for saving Ziyi. I owe you one."
/END OF MESSAGE
"…" Sometimes the only way to survive on Rubicon was to rely on someone stronger. Even an enemy. Kinda like…
621 shook her head. She didn't want to think about that little machine. She needed another job. Something to keep her busy.
"Got a job for you, 621." Handler Walter got her attention. He knew how to clear her head, how to keep his Hound in line. This…partnership…was to both their benefit. He got his Hound to scout and scavenge Rubicon, and she got a direction to be pointed in.
"…"
Northern Belius / Tiberius 17th
It had taken as long as it did to cross over to Northen Belius as opposed to Western Belius because there were several mountain ranges they had to climb over. Additionally, the PCA was more active on this part of the continent, so they had to be extra careful to avoid humans, uncertain of their loyalties.
Unfortunately, the oil reserves of the three Murder Drones started running dangerously low. Their inefficiency seemed intentionally designed as an internal kill switch that they never noticed until Uzi pointed it out, to take effect when they ran out of sources of oil. Being a more efficiently designed Worker Drone, Uzi did have the internal mechanisms necessary to turn certain raw materials into the oil they needed to survive, and that meant that they had started to feed on her.
N and, oddly, V, were always quick and gentle about it, as much as could be expected. They also each took the time to lick her wounds closed after a "feeding session."
J wasn't as gentle.
"Ahhh!" Uzi screamed as J's teeth pierced her shoulder. Unlike N and V, who settled for a slow tap from one of her arms, J seemed intent on swallowing Uzi whole with her glutenous, gaping maw.
J hissed gleefully, and shook her head, sinking her teeth deeper. Her eyes were currently set to a large "X", the Murder Drone default for their hunter-killer mode.
"Hey! J! No shaking! You're just hurting her!" N shouted, pulling J off of Uzi. She'd gotten her fill for the moment.
"Crap." V sneered, and went to work licking the wound closed. Still, for as much as she tried to control herself, Uzi could see the excitement in V's eyes as fresh oil hit her tongue, how she lingered over her, breathing deeply.
It seemed to take all of V's will power to turn away, throw herself back and sit in uncomfortable silence, shivering uncertainly.
"Heh." J laughed, licking her lips. "Thanks little Worker. You might be the sweetest tasting drone I've ever had~"
"J…you can't keep biting her like that. You're going to damage her too much and we won't be able to repair her." V advised sourly.
"Oh trust me, I know what I'm doing." J purred cruelty. "Besides…I like it better this way."
"…" Uzi wondered if she meant that she was too tired to speak or too weak to stand. Probably both.
"Okay! Just a few more hours and we'll be at the Arsenal. Then maybe we can find the Coral and make it big!" J announced, already walking away.
"Uzi…you good?" N asked quietly.
"…No?" Uzi whimpered as indignantly as she could.
"…" V hissed quietly. "I got her. It's my turn."
N patted Uzi on the back before he started walking away. V stood up and picked Uzi up, placing her on her back.
"…" Uzi didn't have a lot of control over her life right now. It was terrifying. The only possible allies she had wanted to eat her, and she didn't have the strength or chance to fight them off. "I can't…keep this up."
"I know." V noted. "You're too weak and too warm. We're taking too much."
"Are you guys…just going to kill me?" Uzi wondered.
"I don't know." V admitted. All she'd ever done was kill the weak. Because she could, because no one had stopped her. Now that seemed so…unfulfilling.
"What happens when we get there…and there's nothing there?" Uzi suggested.
"We'll…find something. Some clue or something to point us. We've been on this world nearly a month…we'll…survive." V assured her.
"Is that all we can hope for…just…survive and wander this desolate world?" Uzi questioned.
"…Get some rest. It's a few hours to the Arsenal. We need your smarty Worker brain to figure stuff out." V advised, feeling Uzi tap out and lean her head tiredly forward against her own head.
It seemed a lifetime ago…and a world away…that she would have looked up to a girl like Uzi. Back when she…
V closed her eyes, trying not to think about back when. She looked up, and stared out at the snow-covered drifts, and the megastructures that blotted out the sun, turning the region into an uncomfortable twilight.
Independent Mercenary Hangars – Central Belius
Investigate BAWS Arsenal No.2 – RLF / Reward 180,000 COAM
"The loss of The Wall dealt us a heavy blow." The RLF Soldier lamented. Oops. "Yet we believe you are more than a corporate pawn. Perhaps we can even work together. I want you to investigate BAWS Arsenal No.2, a major MT factory in the Belius region. The BAWS corporation sells to anyone…but, they've been essential to maintaining our firepower. Now, their second arsenal has gone silent within the last week. If it were only a comms failure, a simple check-in would do…but…well, after the Strider, more cautious voices have gained influence. This isn't our finest moment, but we'd appreciate your help."
"Some advice before you go, 621." Handler Walter warned. "'Expect the unexpected.'"
"…"
Investigate BAWS Arsenal No.2 – RLF / Northern Belius / Saturday, Tiberius 17th
/MAIN SYSTEM: ACTIVATING COMBAT MODE
"Commence mission." Handler Walter announced. "Investigate BAWS Arsenal No.2. I've been checking the perimeter…and I'm picking up nothing. What happened here?"
"…"
The Arsenal was built into the side of a cliff, overlooking the shallow ocean that surrounded it's outer perimeter. There were four main outer walls making it look like a fortress, minus the defenses guns, with the highest wall being two hundred meters tall from the outside. Assault-boosting into the facility, 621 landed on the fourth inner wall, looking down into the main cargo area at a depth of nearly a half kilometer below sea level. It looked like a port, except that it was meant for truck-trains able to transport more than a dozen cargo containers at a time.
"It's too quiet…" Handler Walter pointed out warily.
"…" Behind one of the buildings in the port, she found the wreckage of an MT, having suffered severe laser damage. Accessing the black box, she found a partial audio file of an employee assuring a coworker.
/BEGIN PLAYBACK
"You're just on edge, man. BAWS supplies MTs to the off-world corps, too. No one would ever touch this arsenal. Gotta move as many units as we can to bankroll Elcano. That's the only way we Rubiconians stand a…What was that? The connections-"
/END OF MESSAGE
"…" Whatever happened here happened fast, and without warning.
Past the land-port there was a production line making 100-meter-wide conduit for heavy industry, which comprised a massive outdoor section of the Arsenal. Behind another building she found another wreck with obvious laser damage.
Tapping into it's black box, there was a still frame of the nearby area, from where the MT could look up and see the massive sections of conduit being moved into position. There was, however, interference…noise on the image in one corner, which Handler Walter suspected could be the result of Monitor Display Deception jamming, a technology designed to make something invisible to basic cameras.
"…" What happened here?
BAWS Arsenal No.2
Having gotten some rest riding on V's back, Uzi was well enough to walk with her captors, as they strolled along a production line for massive conduit.
"This arsenal is massive…how many of these conduit sections could they make a day?" Uzi noted. "Just on this production line alone is a half kilometer of pipe as thick as a skyscraper…that's just…"
"'What it is' is not helping us find the Coral." J chastised.
"Something that important is probably going to be hidden. Further into the facility." Uzi declared. "Let's check out the end of the production line, there might be-"
Uzi felt two tails wrap themselves around her body, pulling her back. Yep, this was it. Those glutinous Murder Drones must have finally let their hunger get the better of them.
"No! Wait-!"
"Quiet!" J hissed at her. V gave a "Shh!" and N just stared at her with his finger over his mouth. All their eyes were hollowed with distress. V and N unwrapped their tails around her, as they hunkered down, hiding in the cover of the production line as they stared out into the factory area.
Curious, Uzi looked down beside them, but didn't see anything different. "What?" She whispered back.
"You don't see it!? It's right freaking there?!" J pointed while whispering harshly.
"…No. I don't see anything." Uzi answered.
"…" J glared at her, but decided to believe her. Looking back down, she shifted through her sensor suite, looking for an answer. "It's not showing up on basic visuals."
"Okay…what is it?"
"It's a large humanoid machine. It's hunched over, but very big, with a massive circular head." V described. "It's armed with some kind of laser weapon."
"Look, there's more." N pointed across the industrial chasm. "Oh…there's a lot more! There's like…a dozen!"
"So an invisible mech army. Great. Guess we know what happened to the Arsenal." Uzi mused, not seeing anything still. There was one thing she could see though.
The Tarnished Armored Core was there, gliding forward across the factory floor.
"Oh…it's…them." Uzi realized.
"…Hey…it…it doesn't see those stealth machines…" V realized. "It's going right past them!"
"And they're moving in after it!" N noticed as well.
"Then…that sounds like an ambush." Uzi pointed out. "You said there's a dozen? That AC is strong…but fighting a dozen invisible enemies is going to be a long shot."
"Yeah." V agreed. "Ah…crap."
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Uzi suggested.
"If what you're thinking is incredibly stupid and suicidal but probably the right decision…then yeah." V admitted tiredly, rolling her eyes with a cocky grin.
"Wait…what are you doing?" N wondered.
"That AC saved us…it's only right we try and help them survive this ambush." Uzi explained.
"W-Wait! We can't fight those stealth machines! We don't have the weapons to hurt them!" N rationalized.
"I don't plan on fighting them." V smiled confidently, pointing at her secondary eyes. "I just have to guide their shots. They have the artillery, I'll be the spotter."
"And I've got one shot on this railgun. Been waiting for a good excuse to use it again." Uzi smiled madly. "N, if we run interference, even distracting one of those machines will help that AC out a lot."
"A-Alright." N nodded nervously. "I won't let you guys go alone."
"Stop."
Uzi, N, and V turned to see J staring at them with an extremely displeased frown. "Where the heck do you three think you're going? We don't owe that AC pilot anything."
"That pilot saved V and me! You can't expect us to just sit back and do nothing while they're ambushed by an enemy they can't see! It's not right!" Uzi argued.
"We are not involving ourselves in this world's conflicts!" J shouted, deploying her EMP cannon, pointed up for optimal spread. "We are…tiny…weak little machines on this planet! Everything is bigger and scarier than us! We don't belong here, and involving ourselves in this random, senseless battle won't amount to anything! That…Tarnished AC saved you on a whim, and you can be sure that as soon as a price gets put on your head, it will come to collect!"
V and Uzi glared at J, while N stared wide eyed at this rift that suddenly formed in his squad, uncertain of what to do.
Then V smiled cruelly and confidently, realizing something. "Nah, go ahead, set that off, J."
"W-What?" J hesitated at her newfound confidence.
"Sure, you can stop us with that EMP, but setting it off will alert those stealth machines to your presence, and then it will just be you fending off a small army alone." V pointed out.
"Err! You!" J growled, putting her EMP cannon away. "If you idiots want to die in a stupid battle helping some no name Hound, then go ahead! I'm not joining you!"
"That's fine! We'll do better without you!" Uzi shouted back. "Come on N!"
"R-Right!" N squeaked, picking up Uzi. Then, V and him deployed their wings and took off, following the direction of the Tarnished AC.
"According to the blueprints, there's a massive water reservoir deep inside the Arsenal." Handler Walter advised.
"…" 621 followed a long corridor past the factory floor and into a large open pit two kilometers deep.
"Is that…a Coral response?" Handler Walter sounded interested. "621, get down there and take a closer look."
"…" 621 obeyed, jumping into the deep pit. At the bottom were six water reservoir tubs, each filled with shimmering red water.
"No doubt about it. This water…it contains faint traces of Coral. Must have been an underground vein." Handler Walter noticed. "BAWS was hiding a 'well' all this time."
"…"
"[Encrypted Traffic]." Static buzzed quietly on the radio.
"621! Above you!" Handler Walter warned desperately.
"[Encrypted Traffic]."
"[Encrypted Traffic]."
"…" 621 dodged out of the way as a heavy laser beam shot past her. She was forced to dodge again as another came from a completely different angle. Then another.
Before she'd even been able to process that, a humanoid mech suddenly popped into existence. Or…more accurately, it got within range of her sensors such that she could see through it's invisibility cloak. It lunged at her with a plasma laced whip, the long metallic line glowing with purple energy that pulsed and exploded in a cloud of static that she barely dodged back from. She fired at it with her shotgun, only for it's energy shield to stop the round, as the machine jumped backwards and out of her sensor range.
She had to dodge again as more heavy lasers fired down at her from unseen attackers, and two more shielded enemies flung energized whips at her.
"…" Bad. Untenable. The positioning was the absolute worst that could be managed. Caught in a kill box by an enemy she could not see and kept there by melee types she could not hurt.
"I'm counting ten…maybe more…" Handler Walter advised. "You're badly outnumbered. Pick them off one by one, 621!"
"…" She agreed, and slowly managed to evade the fire long enough to get close to one of the snipers clinging to the wall, her sensors perceiving them long enough for her to fire her mortars, blowing the target away.
Unfortunately, there were enough near misses and glancing blows that her armor had suffered noticeable damage. She couldn't maintain this position, but there was no escape. In the few seconds between laser volleys, she considered-
There was a heavy *thunk* against the upper slope of her armor, prompting her to turn her head. Kneeling on her Core, right next to her head unit…was that little machine she was trying so hard not to think about.
"…!" 621 sneered hatefully, not certain what to do about this unusual circumstance.
"Hey!" The feminine machine yelled at her. "I see them! I'll shout! You shoot!"
"…" That cold, calculating, battle hardened part of 621's mind focused on that statement. She couldn't dwell on what it looked like…she had a fight to survive.
Two more Jenson model androids, the male Disassembly Drone, with the purple Worker Drone on his back, circled above them. The Disassembly Drone fired a missile at an unseen enemy at one end of the reservoir, doing little damage but getting it to focus them and not her.
"Take the help, 621." Handler Walter ordered. "I'm marking those three contacts as friendly for the moment. Use them to eliminate all cloaked enemies."
"…" The situation had changed too quickly, and 621 couldn't think about it as she dodged another volley of laser fire, the little machine she'd been trying so hard not to think about hanging on tightly to her armor.
So be it.
"186! Elevation! 43!" V shouted as the Tarnished Armored Core dodged away from the intense laser fire. As she had hoped, the AC pilot, that unnamed Hound, listened, and turned that way, pointing their two-barreled mortar up at that angle, firing a heavy one-two punch that destroyed another laser sniper.
"234! Elevation! 66!" V advised, seeing the AC turn at her orders and destroy another invisible machine.
She noticed N and Uzi having problems, barely dodging out of the way of the machine they had aggravated, a bright beam of light burning past them. Before V could say anything, the Tarnished AC had followed that line of laser fire not aimed at themselves, flown up to it's source, and fired a shotgun where they suspected the enemy was hiding. It's cloak disturbed, the enemy was vulnerable and subsequently thrust through with a laser blade, destroying it.
"Thanks…" V admitted, glad that their impromptu alliance was holding better than she expected. "Six-o-clock! Closing fast!"
The AC spun around, double-mortars barking that thundering one-two, breaking the shields of the stealth melee, causing a feedback that left it staggered. It was finished off quickly with a wide blade swipe that cut it in twine.
"[Encrypted Traffic]."
The invisible machines changed tactics, from volley fire to staggered fire. A constant stream of lethal long blue beams lanced down at them. The other melee type stealth started to attack relentlessly, keeping the Tarnished AC on the defensive.
"N! Get that thing off them!" Uzi demanded.
"Right!" N swooped in close, firing two missiles from his arms to distract the melee type.
"Okay! We're clear!" V shouted at the AC. "038! Elevation! 52!"
The AC under her responded, taking a hit from the lasers to fire their artillery at the unseen sniper, destroying it.
"094! Elevation! 63!"
In between boosting away from lasers, the AC found the time to send two mortars at the designated point, causing an explosion and a rain of shattered metal.
"267! Ele-Correction!" V changed her callout as the sniper mechs started to change position. "321! Elevation! 37!"
The AC shifted their aim based on her words, and fired again. With another sniper destroyed, the battle seemed much more survivable.
"359! Elevation! 46!"
The AC snapped to the north, and fired again. The exploded scrap of a laser sniper fell in it's wake.
The remaining melee type stopped chasing N, and pounced on the Tarnished AC.
"Eight-o-clock! Look out!" V shouted, jumping away as the melee stealth grappled with the AC, grabbing it by the arms to prevent it from using it's weapons. It fired anchors in it's feet to prevent the AC from escaping, so that the remaining snipers could shoot it easily.
"N! Uzi!" V shouted up, as N flew in close and landed near her. Uzi jumped off his back.
"Oh no! What do we do!?" N panicked.
"We split up!" Uzi declared. "You guys take out one, I'll shoot the other. Just…point me in the right direction."
V leaned down close to her side, and pointed up the side of the wall. "Shoot right there. We'll be right back." Then she and N flew in the opposite direction.
"…" Uzi sighed, aiming right where V had pointed her. "One shot." She pulled the trigger.
"…" Damn suicidal stealth machines. 621 struggled as the machine with a much too large circular head grappled with her, holding her arms up.
There was something like an explosion, a blast of green energy. An unassuming, normal sized rifle carried by the purple Worker Drone ended up discharging a hypervelocity plasma bolt that lanced through one of the invisible snipers, and tore a large hole clean through it.
Across the reservoir, the two Disassembly Drones fired well-placed pulse-laser-wave lances from their arm mounted cannons into critical exposed components of the laser sniper's legs, causing it to lose control and fall to it's death.
With the only remaining active enemy just feet away, 621 sneered hatefully. She raised her own arms up, forcing the stealth machine to do the same, and kicked it in the leg. Staggered back and no longer holding her, 621 leaned down, firing her dual-mortars to break it's shields.
Staggered and on it's knees, the stealth machine was helpless as 621 thrust her shotgun through it's face, and fired. The resulting blast tore a hole clean through it's head, with exploded and torn apart bits of machine mind splayed out in it's wake.
"[Encrypted Traffic]."
"…Seems that's the last of them." Handler Walter noted. "This wasn't a simple check in after all."
"…" 621 regarded her unexpected allies coldly. Those three little machines. The small, purple haired android girl. The android boy in a long coat. And…the silver haired android girl…with a gleeful smile…that looked just like…
"Interesting." Handler Walter noted. "They were pretty crafty back there. Perhaps we should-"
"…!" 621 hissed hatefully, and turned her back on the three little machines. Engaging her assault-booster, she quickly ascended the reservoir, and left the area. She didn't want to see that little machine. Didn't want to think about her.
"…It's your call, 621." Handler Walter sounded disappointed. "Head back and rest up."
"…Okay…you're welcome I guess!" Uzi shouted as the Tarnished Armored Core left them. "Jerk."
"…" V sighed. "That was…exciting…but…" She frowned, looking down at Uzi. "That spent most of our reserve energy…"
"…" Uzi grimaced at what she was implying. Yeah, she should have expected that. At least J wasn't around. "How bad are you guys?"
"Uh…we…might not have the reserves to fly out of this reservoir…" N admitted sheepishly.
"…Fine. Let's just check to see if there's Coral down here." Uzi suggested, walking to the edge of one of the water tanks. While the water glowed ominously with an alluring red glow, it seemed…diluted, and underwhelming. "Well…crap."
"What?" V questioned.
"It…looks like there is Coral in the water…but to such a limited extent. It would not be worth it for us to try and transport this stuff. It's not worth the weight for how diluted it is. It's another dead end."
"…Okay, but…" V wondered. "Maybe…maybe there's something in the arsenal? We could steal some MTs and sell them to the RLF…can't we?"
"Maybe…but…I doubt this Arsenal is just going to be sitting here unoccupied long enough for us to make a profit. Either BAWS or some other corporation will come occupying it with a force we can't oppose. We shouldn't stick around too long to find out." Uzi considered. "Plus, my gun is practically useless for the next two and a half days, so…"
"…Right…okay…" V sighed. "N, we need to refuel and get out of here. We have to find some new place to go. And…" She hesitated, looking down at Uzi. "We need to figure out what we're going to do about J. Okay N…N?"
V and Uzi turned to look at N. He seemed preoccupied, counting the wrecks around them.
"How many mechs did that AC kill?" N asked with concern.
"Uh…all but two." V tried to count. "So seven of the snipers…"
"Of which we also got two, and two of the melee types." N finished counting. "That's…that's short one mech."
"[Encrypted Traffic]."
One of the melee type stealth mechs had faked being downed, deactivating most of it's systems and hiding in plain sight among the wrecks. With the Tarnished AC gone, it reactivated, and leapt towards the three androids.
V and N placed their arms over Uzi protectively, but there was little they could do as the stealth machine that outweighed them a hundred times over and then some glared down at them. Their own energy reserves were depleted, so they could not escape.
The melee type stealth mech armed it's plasma whip, and flung it over their heads. In it's wake, a discharge of energy overwhelmed and cooked their systems, forcing them into a state of inactivity similar to unconsciousness.
Left unaware and helpless, Uzi, V, and N did not hear the machine speak.
"Jenson model androids. You are aberrations to the plan. Perhaps some value can be derived from your existence."
Author's Note: I felt giving the Murder Drones better sensor suites than ACs was a fair balance considering how overwhelmingly outclassed they are on Rubicon. Between that and their pulse-wave laser, they are a decent threat for their size, enough to kill an MT. Still, in their current state, Rubicon is still far too dangerous for them.
One of the reasons I write several chapters ahead is so that I can release chapters with something of a schedule even if I'm stuck. I don't have writers block regarding chapter 14 of this story, rather that I don't have the energy to devote to it while I work on finishing DBB. I'm still excited to write this story, and I can't wait to share what comes next!
Stay tuned, and abide with Rubicon!
To undead3: Oh trust me, I plan to do much worse things to the drones than wiping JCJenson out from the universe. There are horrors and terrors they've yet to face!
As far as how the lore has changed, Earth is post OTK Earth (or post League), so it was recovering from the Third Great Destruction and, if everything went according to plan, would be habitable again for human life around 2700. Laconia is now the homeworld of JCJenson and all their Drone products, which means that N, V, and J have never been to Earth. Their backstory would take place on Laconia in this story I've created (this also means that Tessa was Laconian, but I won't spoil my plans for her just yet). As for why Laconia is so important and why there seems to have been a war that led to JCJenson being wiped out, you'll just have to wait and see.