Armored Core: Silent Calamity

[gomezcreative01]

Armored Core: Silent Calamity by Javier Gomez

Quick note and Warning!!!!:

I'm very exited to share my writing with more Armored Core enthusiasts. My story does take some liberties with the world history according to the video games. It is set in a world after the re-surfacing events. The story is above else consistent with itself, so if ever you get lost trying to place events within the context of Armored Core then just focus on events and history given in the story itself.

Finally, my warnings: 1) My story does include a couple of curse words but isn't heavy on them. I don't mean to offend anyone, really. 2) There is one sexual scene in the story (so far). Again, it is a brief scene and not explicit at all. 3) Finally, my story is still a work in progress. I've completed up until chapter 9 until now, but have been hard at work on it. I do plan on finishing it, but it will be a long work so be prepared to wait for further installments.

One final note,
My story was originally written for my family and friends (non-Armored core fans) so my story stands mostly on its own and describes the AC's only superficially. If you really are interested, however, I can give all the specs and assembly lists for the AC's featured in the story. Any additional information about the story or its progress, comments, or constructive criticism is encouraged. Thanks.

Please enjoy Armored Core: Silent Calamity (Not to be confused with Silent Line Armored Core :p)
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Armored Core: Silent Calamity
Prologue
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To Angel

The universe slips into entropy: a randomness and slow decay of any semblance of order. At the end of the grand time line, the universe will decay into a single homogenous substance equilibrated only by randomness, with the inability to produce any order. This is the foundation of the universe; it stands as a simple and irrevocable truth that governs us all. More than just an impending doom above our heads, this natural inclination is undeniable in every aspect of the world…

The year is 20XX and the world has suffered what might have been the apocalypse at the hands of war hungry governments and greedy corporations. During the third world conflict in which governments pushed the war machine into overdrive, certain weapon and robotic research and development corporations began to grow stronger with the higher demand from the war effort. It was during this thirty year war that simple factory and manufacturing robots began to be fitted with weapons to aid the war effort. These robots, Muscle Tracers, or MT’s, then began to become standardized as military weapons, and soon they stopped being modified factory robots and began to become mass produced as solely war machines, with no other function but destruction.

One day the deafening roar and noise associated with the thirty year war came to a chilling halt. This day was the first of a new world, a world born from what became known as the Great Destruction. The world had succeeded in destroying itself. Governments fell to ruins while corporations grew into powerful giants. It is important to note that while governments and nations had been felled by a terrible calamity, it was a golden age for technology. The lunatic dream of war mongers had bared fruits, and the dark science of destruction had taken great leaps forward.
One such technological advance was the evolution of MT technology into the Armored Core (AC). The Armored Core had allowed for a base part which could be fitted with humanoid metallic limbs and mounted with a vast array of weapons. This freedom allowed pilots to customize metallic titans, standing ten meters tall, and catered to different battle styles. This flexibility to the old war game had allowed for a new threat, for although one can argue that no two AC’s (like humans) are alike, one attribute can be seen in all of them- the power to level entire armies. These metallic war gods ruled battle and became the deciding factors in combat.

This new age had not only brought the advent of new war machines, but also bred a new kind of man. With governments crumbled, and greedy corporations eager to take its place the fighting had not ceased, and a new war was waged: a silent campaign waged by big corporations to eliminate the competition for dominance. Big corporations with enough money could hire loyal armies, but never AC’s. The new breed of humans was composed of those that piloted Armored Cores. With the power to level entire armies, the only fear these men harbored was for others of their own kind. With the strongest war strength the world had ever seen, but insufficient resources, these men naturally became mercenaries that never remained loyal to a single corporation or effort. This opened the opportunity for an intermediary to negotiate between these pilots and those seeking their services. This intermediary is Global Cortex, and they like the AC pilots remain neutral, but offer a wide array of services to the AC pilots, such as AC storage, maintenance and modification. The fickle, untrustworthy, and free will of the pilots earned them the name Ravens, for there is a saying “Raise a raven and it will peck out your eyes”. Global Cortex became their nest.

Appropriately enough, the Armored Core was developed around the time of the Great Destruction. One cannot be sure whether this development came prior to the Great Destruction or right after. The somber and chilly silence that overcame the world, I’ve only heard one thing like it: the loud and silent ringing of my ears- the calm after an AC battle…
-Victor Valentino


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Armored Core: Silent Calamity
Chapter 1
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Tears and Dreams

Like a mad dog the young hoodlum wore an expression of aggression that only a life of hardships could carve on a man’s countenance. His eyes were wide and bulging, dilated from the white smoky rage and desperation that led him to deal the blow. His teeth clenched and bared, nostrils flared and sucking air franticly. Blood streaked down from his forehead down to right below his left ear. The kid was on his back, with a bloody rock clutched in his right hand, and his other hand up defensively as if shielding from an invisible attacker. Lying across the youth’s lower body is an unconscious man that might well be twice his size. The man’s head bled into what quickly was becoming a puddle of blood. This filthy, wild and unfortunate soul in torn and ragged clothing is one of many in this harsh era, the era that began at the end of the Great Destruction. The bleak and dreadful slum he sat in was, however, a sad affirmation that the destruction was far from over.

Reason began to slip through the white hazy rage that currently blinded the kid. The easy part was incapacitating (and possible killing) a man twice his size, the youth reflected. He was newly aware that people were watching him, and if he handled this new development wrong, he could possibly lose his life, and even his crew’s life. His crew had accepted him when the rest of the world had forsaken him. They followed him and it was his duty to protect them, they expected it. His only brother was among those faces that composed his crew. Finally, he thought of the AC legs, he had risked too much to lose what he was entitled to.

The young man removed the motionless body from on top of him and slowly got up as he dropped his tainted weapon. He focused on recovering his distorted face to its original form before he raised his head to display it. A group of strangers stood in front of him. They all looked as dangerous and filthy as his crew, which stood behind him. Each side composed of roughly seven or eight individuals. Slowly he looked across the group facing him and eventually made eye contact with their gang’s leader. He was an older man, possibly of twenty-eight or twenty-nine. Undoubtedly he was a man of experience and, to the young man’s relief, a man of reason. He knew he had a chance.

The kid no longer a wild animal displayed the attributes that had landed him at the top of his gang. Incredible composure and intelligence shined in his dark eyes. He was a young man of roughly twenty-one years, dark short messy hair, and dark tan complexion. He displayed a strong confidence, a confidence he might have denied having but was plainly visible and acquired from years of carrying the burden of commanding those below him. He cleared his throat, loosened and swallowed the phlegm and saliva that his confrontation had produced. He looked in the eyes of his counterpart, the leader of the other gang, and spoke with presence without losing his composure or the calm flow of his voice.

“The trade is not off, and we did not come to fight. We are paying you more than triple their value. The more time we waste, the less time you have to steal the credits from this,” as he said this cold wave traveled down his spine and clenched his stomach in a painful hold. In all the commotion he had forgotten about the Personal Credit Device (PCD). He realized he was not holding it anymore. Fear began to shake his foundation and although not visible to everybody else, he felt his knees tremble and lose strength. He was aware that that device was the only thing that could possibly secure his crew’s wellness. Suddenly, he felt cold plastic against his left hand. The reassuring lifeless feel of the plastic let him know immediately that he was safe. He turned to see who handed him the device. A handsome young man was there. The family resemblance is undeniable, even if it is obvious that the second young man took on some of the more attractive qualities of the family. The reliable younger brother had retrieved the device the moment the man, which now lay motionless in a pool of his own blood, punched his older brother to the ground. That lovely angel of God had just saved the lives of all of them. The older brother composed his voice and resumed-

“The man that owns this will realize that it is missing soon and will close the feed to it. The only reason we can’t hold on to this ourselves is because we lack your connections. We have what you want and you what we want…”

“I apologize for Frank, he is a hot-headed idiot and he put us all in danger,” the man interrupted “we won’t miss him. Everything will go as planned. The transport vehicle is ready,” he motioned a truck forward, “It’s yours.”

The young man and his crew moved as group cautiously toward the truck. The younger brother and two other crew members went around the back and opened the hatch on the truck. He smiled a beautiful wide smile and signaled with thumbs up that the goods were in place. He closed it and returned to the larger group, which then proceeded to board the large vehicle. The older brother was the last to get in and took the driver seat. He then motioned the leader of the other gang forward and dropped the Personal Credit Device in his hand.

“I got what I came for,” the young man told the gang leader, “But just as important as that, we hope we have not severed our ties with you.”

“You’re an intelligent man and a man of valuable skills. You handled yourself well in a rough situation. Anyone of us would have done what you did in your place. Our gangs are ok. We’ll contact you again.” The young man smiled and with that set off onto the road.

“We did it Victor! We are so close now.” The younger brother happily turned towards Victor. His face quickly changed as he examined his brother’s stony face, ”Victor, you did what you had to do…”

“Did I kill him, Angel?” Victor interrupted with a somber low voice. He turned to his brother after the silence that followed. Angel nodded affirmatively. Victor felt his eyes begin to ache from holding back his own tears, and turned back to the road.

“Victor, I’m sorry. But you heard what he said, they won’t miss him…”

Victor stomped on the brakes and the vehicle screeched to a halt. He turned to Angel and slapped him. His slick black hair was rearranged from the impact and a burning red blemish ruined the young man’s otherwise flawless beauty. Angel’s eyes looked down immediately in shame, and he laid his hand on his cheek to soothe the pain.

“A man is nothing without the people that love him! That man’s existence is testament enough that he had ties to this world, and that he affected others. He had friends and a family; if not friends, HE HAD A FAMILY! Everyone is born to one, everyone!” in his passionate inertia he forgot to hold back his tears and a few poured out. Realizing this, he cleaned them on his dirty sleeve. Everyone in the vehicle was now looking at him with an undivided attention. This man was their leader, and the passionate and stern sermon he had just spewed had obviously touched them. They all quickly remembered why they all put their trust in that man.

“I’m sorry,” Angel apologized, “I should have said that you had no choice. If he would’ve taken the PCD from you we could’ve all died in a bloody retaliation at worst and at best we simply could’ve lost all of the respect from the other gangs. Victor, he could have killed you then and there! You had no choice. We could’ve lost all that we have worked so hard for. We stole the PCD from a dangerous AC pilot, a raven!” Victor started the truck again and began driving.

“I had many choices, but I chose one. The best one I could. Angel, don’t forget that. We always have choices. No choices are reserved for those without imagination and for those with closed opportunities. You know more about that than any of us, we are only here because of your brilliant dream. After years of life in the slums, stealing and fighting to survive, it was your crazy idea to build an AC from battle remains that gave us hope that our poverty can be escaped,” Victor laughed, “ Angel, no one has ever been that crazy. AC scraps are best just sold for credits, and even that is only for those adventurous enough to risk their lives retrieving the giant metal remains from a battle field.”

Laughter broke out among all the others in the truck. They had taken that as a compliment of their intrepid spirit. With a hardy laughter Victor put his right arm around his beloved brother and hugged him tight. Angel looked up finally and flashed a happy smile. The two brother’s tears were still flowing.


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Armored Core: Silent Calamity
Chapter 2
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The Factory

The transport vehicle arrived to the old factory, or home rather. The factory was dilapidated and cold from the exterior. The great gate at the entrance of the building was opened and the vehicle drove right in. Once parked inside, the home aspect of the old place began to really shine. There four young children, no older than 11, ran in a circle chasing one another laughing and yelling blissfully. They were dirty, smudges on their cheeks, and their hair was messy and uncombed. They were lovely. Two young adolescent girls around the age of Victor and Angel watched the carefree play of the children. An older woman of about twenty-eight or so walked out of one of the many doorways in the building when the sound of the vehicle’s engine stopped. They all looked to the vehicle as it parked.
They all rushed to greet the party. The band stepped out of the vehicle to answer their worry. The older woman noticed the cut and blood over Victor’s left eye and hurried forward to get a closer glance at him. She was brunette with hair that was relatively short for a woman, but feminine nonetheless. She was of fair skin, and was slightly shorter than most of the men that stepped out of the vehicle. Although quite stunningly beautiful, her beauty was dulled by a lifetime of hardship and worry. Victor saw her light brown eyes glance him up and down quickly as if sizing him up. She suddenly rushed him and shoved him out of the way.

“Move you jackass!” She barked as she made her way past him. Her demeanor changed when inspecting every one else. She gently inspected the party, quickly and methodically, “Everyone is here, right? Everybody is okay? John, Jimmy, Clay, Angel, Brian, Jeremy, Antwon?”

“We’re all okay, Chris.” Angel laughed “Victor pulled through for us, like he always does.” Christine turned to him angrily. Everybody from the party felt their stomachs tense up.

“I cannot possibly expect only one of you to get hurt. Slum gangs are dangerous. While you idiots were out we had to sit here and stew in our worry over you guys. Who will provide for these children if you guys get hurt or worse? That jackass was supposed to keep you safe. You weren’t to fight anyone! What is that bruise? Huh? All it takes is one small mishap for things to get out of hand! That can’t happen! I need to know it won’t happen aga-”

“Negotiations broke down for a second, but we pulled through. I’m sorry. It won’t happen again, doll.” Victor approached her and buried her head in the nook between his head and shoulder. “They will only get hurt over my dead body, you know that.” He kissed her neck.

“That is less comforting than you think. You leave and deal with that human filth and I have to stay and worry about everyone. I hate you.” She began to sob lightly.

“I love you. Soon I’ll give you and everyone else a comfortable life. Your happiness,” he now looked at the faces of all the smiling children and smiled back, “is worth it all and more. She looked up with tears in her eyes and kissed him in the lips.

“I’m sorry I overreacted. I missed you, and I’m glad you’re back.” She smiled smugly now that her worry was laid to rest, “Did you bring us a souvenir?”

The entire party smiled at the question. The kids jumped excitedly and tugged at Victor’s shirt. They jumped and asked things like ‘Did you?; ‘How big is it?’; and ‘Can we see it?’

“Of course you can!” Victor smiled at Chris, kissed her on the forehead, and let go of her to pick up young Tommy and Ashley under his armpits. The other two young children, Sergio and Sarah, jumped on his back. Victor felt that maybe that was too much weight for his scrawny body, but the children’s giggles cheered him on to carry them to the back of the truck. Chris and the two younger girls, Sarai and Renee, followed. Chris hit the hatch button and opened the transport. Dormant in the back of the truck laid what could easily be 3 tons of metal. A pair of scuffed metallic legs with square protective plates and large bolts lay with their toes point directly up. The children laughed and they all jumped off of Victor to get into the back of the vehicle to investigate the strange sight. This had been the first time Victor had seen it with his own eyes too, and as he stared into the sole of the lifeless feet he felt his heart jump with excitement, the excitement at being near the end of what had been a long and hard journey. Soon the AC would be complete.

“Uuh! Guys, be careful with it. Remember we need it.” Victor became alarmed at the children’s playful exploring and jumping on top the AC legs. Chris laughed and put her arms around the worried Victor’s neck. He smiled at the comfort of her embrace. “We’ll unload it later guys, go eat and take a load off.” Victor coyly ordered feeling the need to spend some time alone with his girl. Chris snickered into his ear.

“You guys have been gone a week, why don’t you let the rest of the men do that? We’ve been boxed up in here up until now.” A gruff and familiar voice came from behind both Victor and Chris. Victor laughed, “You heard the man; you’re free. Get outta here. I want you guys in the conference room early tomorrow morning.” With this everyone left and Victor turned to greet his friend Sajon. Sajon was a little older than Victor, but not nearly a year older. He was his best friend, and he trusted no one more to guide the security at the home base while he was away. Sajon was taller and more muscular than Victor. He had short blonde hair, with bright blue eyes and a short stubby blonde beard.

“Still a little scrapper, aren’t you Victor?” Sajon looked pointedly at Victor’s bruised and cut eyebrow. Victor felt Chris’ disapproving frown, as she still hung on to his neck.

“Well, you know the trade, it never goes as smooth as one hopes.” Victor tightened his arm around Chris’ waist to comfort her.

“So I guess it’s almost time then,” Sajon turned his eyes to the AC legs. The children were still playing and jumping on them like fleas on a dog, “all we need is the core. Unfortunately, that will be the hardest part to acquire. The AC power supply and pilot are located there so naturally it is what ravens aim at in battles. It is unusual for Ravens to aim at the peripheries of an AC, that is why we’ve been able to rescue arms, a laser blade, a rifle, the rockets, a head and now these legs.” As Sajon listed the parts he counted them off with his fingers.

“We’ll get it,” Victor said assuredly. Chris becoming quickly bored with the talk began seductively kissing Victor’s neck, “aaah, we’ll have this conversation later, man. I’m actually reeeeally hungry.” Victor began walking away slowly towards his bedroom.

“That idiot,” Sajon smiled and shook his head. He then ordered,” Hey, you mooks! Bring the lift, we got our shipment. And you! Little mooks,” he turned to the children “move it, we gotta work.” The kids sighed disappointed and got off the truck obediently. Sarah was the last out and as she got off she stuck her tongue out at Sajon. Sajon laughed.

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Armored Core: Silent Calamity
Chapter 3
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The Shooting Star

“What happened?” Chris inquired as she ran her soft hands across Victor’s bruise. Both lay bare on their bed embraced comfortably. Victor turned away from her slowly and lost his smile.

“I flashed the PCD too soon and a man from their gang attacked me thinking he could steal it. I defended myself with a rock that lay near, but,” he frowned “I-I killed him, Chris.” His face contorted. Chris looked at him lovingly, with an empathetic frown.

“I’m sure you had to. Then what happened?” She asked slowly and carefully with a fear of what might come next.

“Nothing, I did what you would’ve wanted me to. I composed myself and reasoned with the leader. The leader was reasonable and was as surprised of the attack as we were. He pardoned us and that was that. I understand I had to do it, and what my reasons were, but I still wish it never happened. But, in a strange way I’m grateful that it still hurts, you know. I mean- wouldn’t it be worse that I felt nothing of robbing a man of his life? I’m afraid of what this life is doing to me, all this death surrounding me, soon I might even become accustomed to it, I’ll become an empty apathetic monster that-“

“You can never become that,” Chris put her hand over her lover’s mouth to silence his uneasy ranting, “I promise you. From where I stand, all I see is a scared angel of mercy. Your goal is to ease the pain of those you love. You hate to see pain. My goodness, do you remember the first time I met you?” Chris stared at his now watery eyes. “I was about twenty, and I happened to cross a sniveling pair of kids standing over a dead rat trying to piece together what might have happened to the poor animal. You were probably like fourteen and Angel twelve or thirteen. You were trying to concoct a philosophy about the nature of the world, and Angel held on to every one of your words.” She laughed, “But anyhow, your innocence moved me. I took you and Angel back to the shelter and slowly we assumed the positions we are in now. After the shelter got leveled we continued caring for all the others as the elders had done for us. You grew in my eyes and in those of all the others. You quickly took the role of leader when you realized that they needed you. I see how much it hurts you to see anything happen to them. You feel the weight of your duty, and that has made you bloom into the best patriarch this family could ask for: the man I love, the man we all love. They follow you because they trust your guidance and trust that you lead to ensure their safety and happiness. You’ve taught us your love for life, even in these miserable times. And yet, no one will match your very own love for life. Rest assured, my Victor, that this well of love,” she placed her hand over his heart, “will not go dry. I will personally see to it.” She began to kiss and caress him lovingly.

They were startled later that night by a loud whirring sound followed by a heavy explosion outside the factory. As if by reflex Victor got up and quickly clothed. Then he ran out of his room where he was met by others including Angel and Sajon.

“You two,” he pointed at Jimmy and Brian, “go to the back door and secure it. It doesn’t sound like an attack on us but be prepared for the worst.”
The rest of the men ran toward the main door of the factory and after peeking slowly through the door to make sure it was safe, ran outside to witness a huge chunk of metal about two miles away in the eastern sky flaring across the heavens and finally crashing loudly into the ruins of an ancient business district.

“Victor, Oh my god, did you see that? That heap of metal is it! I saw a cannon sprouting from it! It’s an Armored core. I’m sure of it!” Angel exclaimed shocked. “This is our lucky break! It looks like it’s in pretty bad shape, but it might be salvageable.”

“Sajon, whose territory is that?” Victor asked promptly.
“Nobodies. It’s neutral, but there are two other gangs that control the areas around it. They are probably about the same distance if not closer to it than us.”

“Shit.” Victor began calculating. “Okay, Angel, Antwan, you two are with me. Get packed,” the two ran inside and picked up a crowbar and a couple of lead pipes, “Sajon go get a party of five ready and fall behind us, we’ll scout ahead, follow us on the transport vehicle in 30 minutes. Make sure to load the lift, we are going to salvage that core. Be prepared on the walkie talkie, we might ask for back up. Lady luck has smiled upon us; we will not take it for granted. You ready?” Victor turned his gaze to Angel and Antwan as they returned. They nodded. “The rest hold down the fort while we’re gone.” The party broke and everybody did as they were told. The scouting party ran ahead.

“Now remember, avoid confrontation. We really want this, but unless we can get the upper hand do not confront. We can always try to break a deal with another gang for the core.” Victor warned. After running for about thirty minutes, they arrived at the crash site. “Stay low.”

The party witnessed the wreckage from about fifteen meters. The core, lay on its side and stood over three meters high and wide. It had only its right arm attached to it, and that was being crushed under the core. At what would be the bottom end of the core there was only twisted and charred black metal and sparking live wires to mark the spot where legs once were attached. Likewise the left arm and head only showed remains of their former structure. Unexpected chatter echoed through the hollow buildings and became increasingly louder. The party quickly took cover behind an old rusted car.

“I think we can find a buyer for it, right?” A large man walked into the party’s view. He was surrounded by nine other individuals, all fully armed with cheap slum weapons.

“Okay. Angel you take the three on the left, Antwan you the three on the right, and I’ll take three in the middle. Then whoever finishes first takes a crack at the big one.” Victor calmly whispered the order. He slowly turned smiling around to see the shocked and confused faces of his comrades. He laughed, “ Oookay, but we’re going to miss one hell of a party.” With no laugh other than his own, they continued their watch.

“How the hell do you open this thing?” The large man asked. He began walking around the sparking core until he found a hatch near what would be the top of the core. “There’s no handle or keypad, or keyhole. Nothing!”

“Knock on it, maybe the pilot is alive. He can open it.” A second man commented.

The large man banged hard against the door using a hand wrapped in heavy chains. Prompted by a loud alarming siren the man stopped his banging and stepped back. Smoke and fire began to break out in small bursts around the core. The hatch opened mysteriously and slowly. Nothing could be seen past the dark doorway that had opened. Then-

“HELP! The generator is leaking! The core is going to explode! I’m stuck; my buckle release is not working!” A frightened cry echoed from the inside. The smoke grew thicker and the flames burst into higher towers, while the terrible siren continued its monotonous shrill cry. Everybody’s heart skipped a beat. The man’s band quickly began to run back for cover. The large man, too, turned tail and ran. Angel turned to Victor frightened.

“Move out, Now! Run and take cover behind that building. And stay low!” Victor pointed and ordered with a tone of finality. Before Angel could spit out his question, it was answered. Victor burst into a fast sprint toward the core and quickly made his way into its depth. Angel frightened hesitated, but putting his trust in his brother’s orders he pulled Antwan forcibly toward the building Victor pointed out.

The inside of the core was uncomfortably small and cramped. Once inside Victor saw a man suspended in the air strapped to a seat on the wall horizontally. He was wearing a helmet with a visor and a full body uniform. Victor produced a small switchblade from within his rags and wrestled with the buckle straps. The siren’s monotone began to mutate and gargle, and suddenly it became ominously silenced. Only angry eruptions from the outside could be heard while belligerent sparks exploded periodically out of the cracked screens that decorated the inside of the core. It was only through the fragile and periodic blank flashing of these screens and sparks that Victor was able to see anything at all inside the core.

The last strap Victor wrestled finally gave a comforting and blunt snap, and it was quickly followed by the impact of the pilot on the floor of the core. Victor got ready to bolt but before he could he looked down at the man on the floor. He did not get up. The man desperately looked up and stretched his arm to Victor.

“My legs,” as soon as Victor heard this he turned to them. He saw the blood pouring onto the screens on the floor. Victor shuddered and hesitated for a second, but he quickly got a grip of his nerves. He picked the man up and flung him over his shoulder. He took a hold of the man’s bloody legs and the man moaned in pain. Victor hurried out of the core and broke into a run as soon as he was lit by the pale glow of the moon. His small body began to wobble, he could not keep up that speed, nonetheless he kept moving as fast as his legs would allow.

Finally, there it was. When he reached about six meters of distance from the core a terrible groan began to reverberate across the core behind them, it was like the sound of a floor exceeding its weight capacity. Without more warning the core exploded and spit fire every which way and shot metallic debris everywhere. The blast could be heard for miles.

The explosion angrily pushed Victor and the pilot meters forward like rag dolls. And they both hit the floor hard. Victor’s ears rang, his vision faded in and out of a pale haze. He felt dizzy and nauseated. He was lying on his stomach with his head off to the side. He couldn’t move, and could see no trace of the pilot. He began to vomit blood.

Over the ringing of his ears he was able to make out a voice. Angel ran towards his brother yelling at the top of his lungs. Angel found Victor. He began sobbing as he examined the bloody mess. Victor’s back was bloody and his clothes were almost completely shredded. The pieces that weren’t were collecting heavy pools of blood. His flesh was split in a multitude of areas across his back, and the pink and white layer of muscle lay exposed in many areas. These spots cried tears of blood that could be seen as little red streams across stripped pink hills of muscle. Angel turned begrudgingly to the second body on the floor; the pilot was banged up and only slightly bloodied. Angel deduced that the full body uniform he wore was protective gear.

Sajon and the transport vehicle arrived. He had witnessed and heard the catastrophe and only assumed the worst. When he got to the site his suspicions were confirmed. Angel rubbed his eyes hard to clean the tears from them. As he stared at the slow shallow breaths of his older brother he shook all doubt and fear and became fully determined.

“Antwan carry the pilot, take him to the back of the vehicle. You and you!,” he turned and pointed at Jeremy and John inside the vehicle, “Open the hatch, and help Antwan keep an eye on the pilot. He could be dangerous, pat him down and check for weapons of any kind but don’t hurt him, Victor wouldn’t have it. Clay and Bill, you guys run home and tell them what happened. Be careful.” Angel’s short pointed commands were reminiscent of those of his brother, and everybody did as they were told without a second word. Angel bend over, picked up his brother and carried him in his arms to the back of the truck while issuing his final orders, “Sajon, take us to Dr. Garcia’s place.” Halfway towards the back of the vehicle Victor recognized his brother’s face.

“I lost him-” Victor whispered weakly to Angel, as he struggled to get a grip of what was happening around him.

Victor’s words melted Angel’s hardened resolution to hold his tears back. He walked faster and cried into Victor’s dazed face.

“You idiot. Be quiet. I need you to strong. We need you,” Angel boarded the back and John shut the hatch, Sajon heard his cue and sped off toward the hospital, “I need you to focus on staying awake, ok?” Angel tried to apply everything he knew about caring for an injured person. “Look at me, Victor. Do you remember when we first met Antwan?” Angel pointed at a sobbing Antwan, but unfortunately the gesture was lost to Victor.

“Yeah…Antwan…” Victor began softly.

“Let me tell it,” Angel sobbed, “I have a better memory…” and so Angel worked hard to keep his possibly concussed and dying brother awake by retelling the stories of their past adventures.

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Armored Core: Silent Calamity
Chapter 4
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The Value of Life

Hospitals in this era were not funded by the government, but they were absolutely on demand given the hard times. In the slums they were small privately owned clinics that mostly ran on public donations. They remained local sanctuaries free of violence; there was an unspoken agreement among even the scum of the slums to leave hospitals out of territory struggles. One such hospital was Dr. Garcia’s clinic, and luckily for the party, it also doubled as the doctor’s home.

The vehicle arrived, and they all quickly carried the two wounded men toward the door. Sajon knocked frantically at the door. It was quickly opened.

“Come right in.” The doctor wasted no time at the sight of Victor.

“The man can wait, Victor is critical doc!” Angel’s tears had dried up, but his desperation was still high.

“The explosion woke me, and I felt in my gut that I’d be working tonight. I guess I don’t need to ask where you boys were.” The doctor spoke as he directed Angel, carrying Victor, to a steel table in the back of his house. Angel lay Victor face down and the doctor cut through what remained of Victor’s shirt with scissors. “Boys go clean your hands over there; I’m going to need your help.” The doctor knew the Valentino brothers, and their gang. At the age of fifty-one, this old man remembered all his patients, and knew the Valentino brothers personally, as he had treated them since they had a blood family.

“Someone hand me lots of towels from that cupboard, and you bring me three bottles labeled ‘sodium chloride’ from that shelf.” Everybody followed his directions. The doctor cleaned up Victors back with the towels and the solution in the bottles. As he did this he caught a glance of Angel’s tortured face. “Angel, listen to me,” he said without removing his eyes from Victor, “There is no way a boy this soft on the inside could have survived this long in this wasteland if he was just as soft on the outside.” Angel let out a hoarse laugh choked in renewed tears. Truly his brother was the toughest man he knew. If anybody could pull through, it was –

“Damn it all, he’s got a punctured lung,” the doctor announced as he saw bubbles form through a wound on Victor’s back, “Bring me that respirator, and keep the mask on him. He’s going to need immediate surgery. You there! Bring me one of those bundled packs. Quickly!”

An hour later Chris opened the door to the doctor’s home unannounced and startled everyone. They were still in surgery. Chris instinctively went over to the sink and cleaned her hands. She had unfortunately been there before.

“What can I do?” Chris asked impatiently.

“Help your friend clean up the other man. Keep pressure on the major wounds. I’ll be there as soon as I’m done here.” Chris was disappointed that she wasn’t going to help Victor, but she obliged. There was also a mixed guilty feeling of relief that she felt when she realized that she wouldn’t be seeing Victor. She wasn’t sure she could handle looking at him in that state. She wasn’t able to keep herself from checking in on the surgery however, and each time she did she would only catch a glimpse of a severely burned victim. She would have to look away and tell herself that it was because they were still in surgery struggling that Victor could still be saved. The rest of the night was spent working on stabilizing Victor and the other man.

Late the next morning, Victor woke to a sharp pain. He was wrapped in bandages from head to toe and lay on a white bed that was slightly tarnished by small droplets of blood. There was a catheter in his right arm that was connected to a crystal container hanging from a rack at his side, inside the container was blood. He saw bodies laying around his bed, they belonged to his friends whom were fast asleep. He groaned weakly. There was still a low timbre in his ears.

“Ya ain’t going nowhere for a while. Don’t even try.” A blonde stranger in a wheel chair addressed him in a strange jovial accent. He had a cast on his left arm and leg. His right leg was heavily bandaged, “They took out a wholatta metal outta ya.” He pointed at a small tray, with sharp blood tarnished objects. “Ya got some friends. They stayed up all night helping patch us up. And you, ya got some balls on ya, kid. Hate ta say it, but I owe yeh meh life.”

“You’re the pi-“As Victor forced the weak words out he felt a sharp pain in his chest that caused him to cough.

“Yeh, that’s me. Don’t blow ya stitches now. I was awake through it all. I heard yer friends say ya got yer lung stitched up. I’m the raven ya rescued. Name’s Albert, buh that stays between us. Call me Sinister, it’s mah raven name; I pilot the Villain,” He said this proudly hoping to incite awe and excitement in Victor, but was disappointed in realizing his words had no impact, “I’m ranked 12 in the Arena,” he tried to explain his stature, but Victor only nodded politely not knowing what the man was speaking about.

Although Victor didn’t remember at the time, he had heard about this raven arena before. It was rumored around the slums that ravens did battle with one another for prizes and recognition. These events were very exclusive, and mostly those seeking to contract ravens and other fat cats were allowed to witness the spectacles. On a similar note, Victor knew about the cash prizes because half a week ago he began staking out a man rumored to be a raven. Word had it that that raven had come across an obscene amount of money from an arena match. It was further rumored that he was in the slums visiting a woman and Victor agreed to steal the man’s personal credit device in exchange for some salvaged AC legs.

“I was saved bah a bumkin’,” Sinister sighed, “Well, I’m greyful. Don’t leh the name fool ya, it’s mostly ta intimidate my opponents,” he laughed, “In gratitude for saving mah life I’ll grant ya something. Kid, what is it ya wish?”

Victor wheezed trying to get a word in but quickly recoiled from the pain. Sinister laughed.

“Oh, right. Guess this a moh-nologue. Ya know, yer friends despise me. They blame me for what happened to yeh, it’s very clear in them eyes. But they also only helped me cuz of what ya did. Ya command alotta respect ‘round these parts, I reckon.” Victor smiled at the compliment.

“We were there to steal your core, Albert.” Angel interrupted as he lifted his body from the floor, he had listened to the entire conversation. He got up, and sat on an open space on his brother’s bed looking at Victor with intense relief, he then petted his head lovingly. Victor was able to notice Angel’s puffy swollen face; Angel had cried through the night. He also noticed that Angel’s arm had a small tape, explaining the origin of Victor’s blood donation.

“That so,” Sinister said non-chalantly, “Villain’s head was blowed up, so I couldn’t see just in what shape I escaped. Reckon it couldn’t ah been purty though. Who the devil’d be interested in that scrapa-“

“We are.” Angel exchanged an inquisitive look with Victor as if asking for approval. Victor nodded, knowing exactly where Angel was steering the conversation. Angel turned back to Sinister defiantly. “We are building an Armored Core of our own, we want to become ravens.”
Sinister changed his impish and friendly expression and examined Angel’s face thoroughly as if expecting the kid to flinch.
“What do you know about piloting an Armored Core?” he sneered.
“Not a damn thing.”

“Don’t kid yourself, kid. An AC battlefield is the closest thing to hell you’ll ever experience. Ya saw what happened, just a scrap of an armored core almost stole yer friend from ya. Ther’ death machines. Death is what they deal and death is all they hope to reap. That is all.”

“I’m your raven” a soft raspy voice interrupted. Sinister turned to Victor. He met Victor’s fixed resolute stare, and reflecting on the kid’s actions the night before Sinister gave in respectfully and sighed with a smile. He knew the kid would have no problem jumping into the hell Sinister was all too familiar with.

“I’m a raven, ah measure life’n money,” Sinister shrugged “mah life alone ain’t ‘nough ta buy ya an AC.”

“You don’t have to. We have been collecting parts for years. All we need is a core.” Angel mediated.

Sinister grinned, he couldn’t believe the nerve of the two young men. “What ya’ll got?” Angel listed the parts, crudely in Sinister’s opinion. “So ya do,” Sinister said condescendingly, “Ya also need an FCS, a radiator, and a generatah, not ta mention cores are hella ‘xpensive-” And as if struck by a thought, Sinister began mumbling to himself and counting odd figures in his fingers. He added and subtracted multiple times to himself. The Valentino brothers couldn’t make sense of the man’s rambling. Finally, as if he was done calculating, he looked at the brothers and gave his final decision.

“One life falls somewhat short ah buying ya the rest of the parts,” Victor and Angel were disappointed to hear this, “but, I’ll do it.” This confused the brothers. Sinister explained, “‘Pear-rantly there’s a contract on mah head, so it’s not a bad idea ta keepa debt in mah favor an’ make an ally. I can take ya ta Global Cortex. I’ll show ya the ropes and ya can take the ‘nitiation test.” Victor and Angel exchanged a joyous look. “Now, I’m spending big money on ya, so don’t ya dare fail and die.”

“Die?”

---

[gomezcreative01]

_____________________________________________________
Armored Core: Silent Calamity
Chapter 5
___________
Vivify


“District 5 has reported multiple terrorist attacks by a band of MT pilots. Crest corporation is seeking to expand into this sector and hired these MTs to scare off the residents in the area” The operator briefed in an irritatingly calm voice over the computer’s communication channel. “You’re mission is to remove this pest. Zam’s government is still new and it’s eager to build trust and gather support, so they are paying us a small amount for this mission. Complete the mission and you will be registered as ravens. Fail and you’ll die. Good luck.” With these final words Victor’s already tense stomach flipped at the uncomfortable sensation of free fall. Two Armored cores had been dropped from a large cargo helicopter. Inside one of those ACs was Victor, inside the other was a woman by the name of Sylvia. She was an MT pilot that was finally getting her chance to upgrade to piloting an AC. She was tall and had short spiky blonde hair. She was very good looking in Victor’s opinion. They didn’t formerly meet but had crossed each other when they boarded their ACs in the hangar. He disliked her right now though, for his only memory of her had her looking surprisingly calm.

Victor was scared. He was approaching the battle field. He had never been in a battlefield in his AC. He had only piloted his AC once and that was simply to understand how to operate it. Finally, his only other experience was that he had witnessed an AC battle. Sinister had taken him to an AC arena match since he was going to check his competition. He, however, felt Victor could benefit from witnessing a real raven ‘get down and dirty’, as he described it. The battle was imprinted in Victor’s mind. Those pilots were amazing. Their AC’s seemed to move as fluently as people. The two metal alloy giants gracefully slid and glided across the arena. They also exchanged heavy fire quickly and with great accuracy. They were colored extravagantly and beautifully, this of course was strange to Victor, seeing as how these beautiful ACs deal in battlefields where they inevitably will be tarnished and ruined. On the other hand, this confidence was inspiring; it demonstrated the raven’s unfaltering spirits in the face of doom. Victor awoke from his daydream with a heavy thump and a hydraulic click. His AC had landed. His main screen showed a normal residential sector with not much going on.

“Combat system engaged.” The computer said in a robotic male voice. Before Victor could calm his anxiety the second pledge in her AC set forward into a flight powered by a booster mounted on its back. Her AC was a dull metallic grey and was armed with a box, undoubtedly a missile pack, on her left shoulder, and a rifle on her right arm. Her left arm didn’t hold anything but had mounted on it a cylindrical device on its forearm. Victor knew this was a laser blade. Not content with being outdone Victor in his operating cockpit moved the left joystick forward. The AC began to run forward. Victor ran through what Sinister had taught him in his mind once again. ‘Left stick is movement, right stick lock on, petal-boost… and above all, this is your new best friend: the radar’. Victor looked up to a screen on the upper right hand corner of his cockpit. The screen showed a dark circle intersected through the center with orange lines and further sectioned into a series of smaller circles. He saw a lone blue-red dot to the upper end of the radar screen: this belonged to his partner’s AC. But what he saw next brought back all of his anxiety. He saw in the radar six other dots further up than the lone blip produced by the other initiate. This, he knew, was his opposition.

Victor took a deep breath and stomped on the petal. His AC dropped the jog and crouched lightly as he began moving rapidly forward in a boost. He could see the buildings to his sides begin blurring slightly across his main screen. The dots moved closer on his radar screen and to his surprise there were more dots behind them; in total ten enemies.

Victor was far behind Sylvia, and suddenly he saw her AC begin making evasive maneuvers in the distance. Victor didn’t comprehend until three missiles flew past her and exploded on contact with the floor. Debris flew up in a tower of dust. A fourth missile had hit its mark, but after the dark smoke cleared Sylvia’s AC seemed fine. Only a small dent and soot mark could be seen on her core. Victor’s turn was coming, and he knew it. As he brazed himself he caught sight of the enemies, there were three of them together. They were green bipedal humanoid looking MTs, about three fourths the size of an AC. They had two missile boxes on their shoulders and guns for arms. Suddenly the first of those MTs blew up. Sylvia had taken out her mark with a blade attack. As her AC remained in a position with its left arm held to its side she was retaliated with machine gun fire by the surrounding MT units. She moved out of way with a boost.

Victor suddenly was startled by a red light that turned on in his cockpit. His AC began shaking violently and rattling with loud pings outside his cockpit. Victor realized he was being hit by machine gun fire, as his partner had, and he strafed to his left while he looked for the possible source of the attack on his radar and on his main screen. He found the culprit in his radar. Two additional volleys shook his AC, these were much larger than those from before. The sounds of explosions from the outside confirmed them as missiles.

“Shafters, kid. That’s what those MT models are called. They carry machine guns and missile launchers. Be careful and don’t die, we need to pull through; if we fail the raven’s initiation test we will be executed. Don’t die on me; I’m counting on your back up.” Sylvia informed him over the communication channel.

“Shafters, got it.” Unnerved by the execution bit, Victor’s voice cracked as he answered. Embarrassed he cleared his throat and repeated, “Got it.”

Victor finally found the one responsible for the attack in his main screen. The shafter had sneaked up behind him as he was mesmerized by the battle scenes earlier. Victor focused and centered his lock box, outlined on his main screen, around the MT with his right joystick. A red circle immediately superimposed over the enemy, this was the Firing Computer System (FCS) locking on automatically to an enemy inside the box. Not knowing exactly what to expect Victor pulled on the trigger under his right index finger. He had never fired his weapon before. A muffled gun shot was heard from outside the cockpit. The main screen showed the enemy jerk hard. The hit was good. A strange series of spasms on the MT confirmed the strength of Victor’s war machine. The sight shattered Victor’s uneasiness, he was beginning to understand the power he wielded. He continued to shoot multiple times until he saw the grafter explode internally and drop motionless on the floor.

“Got it.” Victor grinned proud. Victor looked up at the radar screen and saw only eight blips including that of his ally. She had already taken out another one! He was behind and he didn’t like it. Victor kicked the petal and his AC jumped high in the air and with a second stomp the boosters turned on and he began flying forward as Sinister had taught him. This triggered a second memory in his head, one he thought might be valuable now:

After Victor had asked him how the arena combatants avoided the gunfire so well Sinister answered: ‘Bullets are teh fast ta see. The only way ta dodge them is ta avoid the dark o’ the gun barrel’ then he made a gun gesture with his hand and waved it in front of Victor’s face as if steadying the aim on it. With this in mind Victor then thought of the double machine guns on the grafters.

From the air he spotted a second MT beginning to steady his aim on him from the ground. He locked on to the grafter quickly but with a steady hand and beat the MT to the shot and caused the enemy to stall for half a second, a half a second he used to land to the MT’s side, safe from its firepower. Victor then used his laser blade trigger in his left hand joystick. The AC pulled its hand to its chest and boosted forward as it slashed outward in a diagonal motion that cut the MT in two. Almost immediately both pieces exploded in conjunction. The debris hit Victor’s AC and structures nearby. Most of the glass from a nearby small building shattered from the explosion’s force alone. The smoke and debris temporarily blinded Victor’s AC screen.

Ping ping ping! The red light was on again. Victor was under fire. As the smoke cleared Victor tried to boost out of the way but a loud series of beeps let him know he had exhausted his energy supply. A message reading ‘Charging’ was printed near a blue bar outline in a black screen labeled: ENERGY. He looked up at the radar and saw a bleep to his 5 o’ clock. He tried to turn while standing still but the alarming sound of the machine gun on his AC pressured him to move. The movement was effective in lessening the amount of direct damage he was taking if only a little bit. He finally caught a glance of the grafter at the edge of his screen as he slowly pivoted. The MTs firepower skipped a beat oddly, and before Victor could steady his lock on the enemy he realized Sylvia was shooting at that same MT and destroyed it.

“Be more careful and manage your energy, kid.” Sylvia reprimanded as she flew past him.

“Thanks.” Victor blushed. The AC was done charging. He discovered another MT sneaking in from behind a row of tall buildings. Victor shot him down quickly but not before the MT could shoot a pair of missiles at Victor. Victor reacted and avoided one but the second hit his AC’s core near the head. Victor unburdened moved on and turned around following his radar to the nearest blip. Unfortunately as he found it, Sylvia was just done thrashing the source. Disappointed he moved toward the next MT boosting to make sure he beat her to it. As he spotted and closed in on the next target a stranger’s voice came through over the intercom-
“Ravens turn back. We have requested back up.”

“Bring it.” Sylvia laughed smugly feeling the worst was over.

“You were warned.”

“Reinforcements confirmed to the east. Estimated arrival in 2 minute.” Victor’s AC computer interjected with its mechanical voice.

“Lets finish cleaning up and prepare for the second wave, kid.” Sylvia ordered.

“Right.” Victor agreed, “And stop calling me kid.” He heard a snicker over the intercom.

“Alright. Gimme a name to work with.”

“Victor.”

“Sylvia.”

They both separated and took out a final unit each without too much trouble. This cleared the battlefield. They both came a long way from the beginning of the battle and had become accustomed to their ACs. Both pilots felt impervious to harm in their almighty ACs. Unfortunately their ACs wore many scars that told a different story. Dented plates, scratches, and the occasional crack in the armor decorated the ACs of both pilots. Victor caught wind of this when he checked on a number given in one of his screens next to a vague schematic of his AC. It read AP 4003. This was a numerical estimate of the vitality of their machines according to Sinister. Victor was sure that when he first boarded his AC the number was above 8000. As he reflected on this a beep signaled a new development.

“Reinforcements detected” Victor turned around to catch sight of the reinforcements as they arrived. What he saw scared the color out of his face. He gasped.

“An AC!” Sylvia shouted losing her cool for the first time in the whole ordeal. Panic overtook them. In the sky a yellow and brown colored four legged AC flew through the sky at high speeds with what seemed to be a huge boost supplied by its core. He led 4 jet fighters in the young pilots’ direction. His arms were different than those of Sylvia’s or Victor’s AC. They resembled more those of the grafters they defeated. On his back it carried two gatling guns. Both Victor and Sylvia’s stomach’s began twisting as if trying to escape out of their place.

“We are not ready for this. We took out several MTs; that should be enough to pass the test. Get us out of here” Sylvia pleaded to the operator over the communication channel.

“Although you are right, our hands are tied. To venture into a live battlefield in an unarmed transport helicopter would be suicide. We can’t pick you up unless you remove all the hazards. The client must have underestimated Crest’s interest in this sector, in fact, we did too. This is unfortunate.” The operator apologized.

“Can’t you call him off?” Victor demanded.

“I’m sorry, we can’t control what raven’s do. The truth is that ravens are our clients. Global Cortex works for them offering different services, but we aren’t the boss of them.” The operator explained this in a detached and assertive voice.

“Lets run-“ as Sylvia suggested this the warning light turned on in Victor’s cockpit and it began shaking furiously. PING, PING, PING, PING! Victor was under attack already. Victor tried frantically to boost out of the stream of fire but his AC’s response was sluggish. Finally he got out of it and the stream of bullets stopped. AP 2712.

“Greetings from my Maggot. This is pilot Pestilence.” A wicked voice jeered over the intercom.

“We don’t want to fight. We’ll go peacefully.” Victor tried to mediate after seeing his opportunity in the opened communication channel.

“Well, orders were to chase you off.” Pestilence replied.

“Great.” Victor sighed with intense relief, but this was short lived.

“Those were my orders, but you did piss off Crest. So they offered a nice little incentive. I’ll get a bonus for destroying you both. And from your awkward movements, cheap parts, and pathetic plea for your life, I can tell you are new to the game.” He cackled manically, “This’ll be an easy buck.” The communication channel closed and the Maggot opened fire on Victor again. In his fearful adrenaline rush Victor reacted immediately and boosted away from the attack, but the barrage wouldn’t stop. Maggot followed him with a steady stream of bullets. The stray bullets lay waste to buildings in its wake. The bullets tore through building walls like if they were made of butter, and in some cases the buildings collapsed from the damage to their structure. Victor saw the destruction and was further motivated to avoid being the attack’s target.

A missile hit Victor’s AC from behind unexpectedly and machine gun fire rained from above him. Victor was confused, since Maggot still hadn’t licked him.

“The jet fighters, they aren’t very strong but their support will ensure our defeat. I got them, keep Maggot occupied. I hate to do this, but it should only take a second.” Sylvia shot down one of four jet fighters with a single bullet and moved in to hunt the rest.

Victor felt he could count on her, but as he glanced at his AP 2106 he wondered if he’d survive long enough to fight alongside her against this death merchant. Out of choices he took a deep breath and readied his rocket launcher. His main screen changed, his lock box disappeared and a series of red horizontal lines lined up to make the figure of a small trapezoid in the middle of his screen indicating the rockets intended trajectory path with the smallest line being the forward direction. This was a manual targeting system for the rockets. Sinister had warned him that rockets were harder to use, but they packed a heavy punch. Victor felt that he better pull out his best weapon, he wouldn’t want to die knowing he didn’t use every possible resource. Victor had not been given a moments rest, and he was actively running away from Maggot’s line of fire while making this decision.

He tried to aim his difficult manual lock from the air, as he flew away from the fire, and took a shot. He missed by about 6 meters. It was hard to steady his aim in his state of panic. He grunted, and took a second deep breath and focused completely. He couldn’t die; his friends were expecting him to return with money. He had survived a pitiful life in the slums, and fought to survive every day for the past 9 years in the slums. Fight to survive! He wasn’t doing anything now he hadn’t done before, he was fighting to live. As long as he lived he had a chance. His enemy could be beat. As he thought this the damn red light came on again. Ping, ping, ping, ping. He got careless. It was only for a moment though and he escaped the attack once again. AP 1834. He had to keep moving, or he’d be grinded down by the enemy’s fire. As he thought this, something occurred to him: Maggot, unlike him, was fairly stationary, and even when he moved it was a slow tread across the ground. Victor’s AC was definitely more mobile and faster.

“Two more, Victor, hold on.” Sylvia announced over the intercom.

“Ok.”

Victor felt his spirits increase. Maybe he had just figured out how to beat Pestilence. He changed his trajectory, he stopped running away from the line of fire and surprisingly he dived toward Maggot in a boost. He did, however, focus on staying away from the “black o’ the gun barrel” by making circular lariats. With his experience, however, he didn’t manage to avoid all the damage and as he approached Maggot the damage he was taking increased more and more. AP 910. A siren began reverberating inside Victors cockpit and two red warning lights began rotating. His AC’s damage was critical. Close to Maggot now. Victor shot his rocket. It was a direct hit and the impact shock caused Maggot’s fire to cease for moment, and as he did with the MT Victor broke his dash to the right to enter Maggot’s blind spot and began slashing Maggot with his blade and bombarded with point blank rocket shots desperately like a wild man.

Pestilence tried to tread away but was too slow, and Victor didn’t give him a moments rest. He knew he was doing lots of damage, since Maggot’s protective armor had began warping and cracking open. He focused his attack on the weakened spots to ensure that the damage leak through. If he kept going he would win for sure, unfortunately Pestilence turned the tables. Maggot took a huge leap similar to that of a spider and landed directly behind Victor, as indicated by his radar.

“Fuck!” Victor cursed. But in his deep focus he reacted quickly and strafed right in a boost and began turning slowly left but the sounds of the machine gun on his back and side had already begun. He saw his AP start dropping rapidly and all he had left was the hope that he’d straighten his AC fast enough to take a final blind shot. AP: 250! And there it was! The trapezoid in his screen was about to intersect with Maggot, now about thirty meters away. Victor took his shot, and miraculously it hit Maggot, but in his inertia Victor continued to turn past his mark. The bullets stopped. Victor sighed in relief. He survived. Then his relief was shattered. The bullet onslaught resumed. AP 78. With his mark unaligned again he panicked. He wouldn’t have time to realign his mark to take another shot! Still he violently crossed his lock on joystick right. AP 28! Before he could align his mark again a missile hit Maggot in the left side of its core and the firing stopped. Fire broke out from the collision site and Maggot began spazzing and jerking unpredictably. Finally it exploded and disappeared behind a ball of fire and thick black smoke. Sylvia had finally joined the fight. Victor let out a gasp. He realized that his face was distorted from the ordeal. His eyes were opened exaggeratedly, and he felt them burn lightly from not blinking. He was also breathing hard and fast.

“You alright, Victor?” Sylvia asked in a quick and alarmed voice. All she heard was hard breathing over the intercom. “Victor?!”

“Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I’m alright.” The incoherent response came as a relief to Sylvia.

“Guess you really aren’t a kid. You practically took him out single handedly!”

“You saved me, I was about to have it.”

“I’ll say, your AC looks like swiss cheese.” They both laughed nervously but with intense joy.

“Transport helicopter is on its way, ravens. Congratulations, you passed.” The operator said with a surprised tone. The comment at that point didn’t so much anger the two pilots as much as it annoyed them. The operator then added: “Personally, I can’t believe you guys pulled it off. It’s nothing short of a miracle. You two did exceptionally. I look forward to working with you.”

The helicopter arrived, strapped their AC’s with thick steel ropes, and carried them back to the hangar. The hangar was huge and stored many ACs. Many vehicles, assembly and maintenance machines, and staff were located there too. There they un-boarded their 10 meter tall giants from the core and stepped out onto a high steel bridge. After going through such a close call both pilots felt the need to meet each other. They felt like if they had formed an intimate bond through the shared near death experience. They ran towards each other excited to meet the voice behind the intercom.

When they met on top of the steel bridge their exited demeanor changed. It was awkward. They examined each other’s unfamiliar faces and realized they were strangers. She was a tall pale Amazonian beauty. He was a dark man with bald spots behind his head. He was also missing half of his right ear. Red-brown wrinkles and discolored splotches on his skin patched part of his left cheek, his neck, and even deeper into his shirt. His accident had left him with a gimp on his left leg too. An uncomfortable silence followed. Then the ice was broken by a simple “Hi”, and with it all the feelings came fleeting back. They recognized each others voices.

“We’re ravens.” Sylvia smiled comfortably at Victor.

“The power of that machine is incredible!” Victor replied

“I know! I actually piloted MTs for the Mirage company before this. But I worked hard to earn my chance here today. MT’s are strong, but nothing like Armored Cores. I’m just lucky that in my years as an MT pilot I didn’t run into an AC, I probably wouldn’t be here today.”

“Pilot, the MT?” Victor lost his grin. With all the joy over surviving, and the power trip in his AC he had forgotten that there were people inside each one of those lifeless machines he shot down. Sylvia was confused by the change in his demeanor.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing. You were lucky.” He smiled trying to mask his guilt.

“Ugh, yeah.” Sylvia smiled uncomfortably feeling the tension. “They are waiting for us downstairs. They’ll want to ID us.” She tried to steer the conversation in a different direction.

Catching on, Victor nodded. Downstairs he found a small jeep waiting for them. They got on and they drove away at a slow speed. As he passed his AC, being moved around in a platform trailer, he noticed a man looking up at it. He yelled at the man driving the trailer in an irritated voice:
“Get that piece of crap outta my hangar, it’s useless. Just build a replicate.”

Sylvia and Victor exchanged a look and giggled. They finally arrived at a small office outside the hangar.

“Here you go. Go inside and ID yourselves for records, I’ll wait here for you.” The driver directed them.

Inside they found a clerk behind a computer and a counter. He seemed to be waiting for them. He waved them closer and smiled.

“So you are the newly inducted ravens. Congratulations. I’ll just be registering you into our database. This won’t take long. Pilot name?” he asked Sylvia.

“Cupid.” She replied. Victor looked at her with a teasing confused look. She blushed. “It was my MT pilot name, I think it’s cute.” Victor rolled his eyes.

“AC name?” the clerk continued.

“Sharpshot.”

“And you young man? Pilot name?”

Victor hadn’t given this much thought before, but it was probably wise to use an alias too. He thought hard, but only one word came to mind. It haunted him. Victor lost his playful expression once again.

“Apathy.”

Sylvia looked at Victor without expressing judgment, but she was really reading hard into Victor now.

“AC name?”

Trying to shake his somber mood, Victor thought about the recent events aboard his amored core, his fight for survival, and why it mattered. His AC was his link to a new promising world that could bring hope to those he loved. It was the whole reason he was there. His AC was a harbinger of death, and a weapon for destruction, but there was something more it could offer: It would help deliver the life his friends deserved and give them a shot at happiness. It would give them a real life.

“Ahem, AC name?”

“Vivify.”

_____________________________________________________
Armored Core: Silent Calamity
Chapter 6
___________
Father's Curse

A young nubile brunette in a yellow sundress walked from the end of her garden towards her home along a stone path that intersected a lush grass landscape. The bright splendor of the white-yellow sun reflected off the mildew on the newly cut blades of grass. Her neat landscape was decorated by two small pine saplings. The street was lined with many modest but neat houses like her own. Rose bushes lined the front of her house, and vibrant red blooms peeked out through the thorny intertwining bush branches. The girl slowed her walk with a slight frown as if trying to remember something important. Nothing came to mind, so she followed her path with an up-beat step and a smile. As she came near the entrance to her home she turned towards the roses and caught sight of an especially large and colorful one.

She approached the rose and knelt down to get closer. Slowly and carefully she took the rose by the stalk and brought it near her nose. Closing her eyes she sniffed the feeble soothing smell. A petite prick from a thorn caused the woman to twitch slightly. She let go of the stalk and searched her snowy white hands. A small red bead was forming on her right index finger. The sight of the blood made her cringe, and her face became distorted by a look of despair and recognition. She was overwhelmed by terror. Trembling she looked around and discovered the sun shine was gone and replaced only by a thick darkness. She began to scream at the top of her lungs but as if the scene was muted no sound followed. She remembered it all now.

The girl squirmed backwards as if trying to run away from the garden. She retreated in a crawl until her path was blocked by an obstacle from behind. She knew she was going to hate what came next even if she was unsure of what it might be. She turned around slowly, dreading the moment her fear would be confirmed. She turned around mechanically and as if by habit alone. Behind her lay the putrid corpse of a mangled man. The corpse was charred and lifeless but still fresh enough to be flowing with juices. The expression of the cadaver was one of terror. Although his eyeballs were gone, as was most of his flesh, the scorched cadaver’s piercing stare unhinged a thousand different torments on the woman. She howled and sobbed. A second look around her home revealed that the garden was now littered with dozens of similar dead bodies. Some were charred remains, other mutilated fleshy corpses, and most terrifying of all, there were bodies that seemed to still live and breath, horribly disfigured as they were. They groaned and moaned at her, pawing as if to try and reach her.

In a painful cry the woman buried her face into her hands as if to un-see what afflicted her. But this led to a horrible discovery. Her face met the warm and wet texture of something lining her hands. The metallic taste on her lips confirmed further fears. She knew this feeling all to well. Before she even examined her hands she knew they, and now her face too, were drenched in blood.

She removed her hands from her face and opened her eyes. She was behind the familiar layout of her AC’s cockpit. Her hands dripped with a never ending supply of blood. Her face too was dropping orbs of blood onto her controls. And slowly her cockpit’s walls began oozing blood to her distress. In an un-illuminated part of her already dark cockpit she saw what she knew was the final act to her torment: the dark face of a man. The man was responsible for this torment. She feared him, she hated him, and she knew him. He fooled everyone she loved. But he couldn’t fool her. His penetrating macabre stare hurt her. She tried to scream for help once again, but again found no comfort in the silence that followed. This ugly abomination of a man was deformed to match his rotten core. He had burn scars across his back, neck and partially on his face. Discolored blotches of pale skin contrasted with his dark tan complexion. His right ear was severed. As if a silent scream in her head grew louder, she felt the tension rise and the scene grow more terrifying with every passing moment. She was in hell!

The girl woke up in a violent toss. She was facing her bed, and noticed that her pillow was moist from a little drool, and unsurprisingly further up from the drool pool she noticed her tears also moistened her pillow. She turned around and sat pensively at the side of her bed. She cleaned tears and then a little drool on her lip. She was wearing a frilly white gown, a very feminine piece considering her tomboyish personality. Her room was completely empty save for her small bed, two portraits hanging above it, and a small dresser next to her bed resting a loaded semi-automatic hand gun. One of the portraits above her bed was a picture of her, her mother, and uncle. They were smiling and were at a small natural reservoir. They went to visit it two summers ago. The other picture was way older. In it was the man from her dreams holding a baby. He was smiling warmly and wide, with what seemed like tears in his eyes. He and the baby seemed so happy. The man was obviously a burn victim and was deformed in a significant way, but the picture was heavy with emotion and happiness.

She looked at her snowy white hands and sighed as if she could still feel the blood dripping from them. The relief that the night was over was great, but the fear of the next night burned in the back of her head. She got up and slapped her face with both hands softly as if to prepare for the day ahead. She had a date with Whirlwind today. She went to her closet and took out her pilot uniform. The uniform wore a vibrant emblem on its left shoulder of a small green sprout growing in dry cracked dirt housing two other dead withered trees. The words “Fight to live” lined the bottom of the emblem. She put on the one piece and Velcro-ed it shut. It was a little heavy, but it was a fair price to pay for her safety inside the AC. She walked over to the dresser and took her gun, put its safety on, and hid it in a back pocket. She then opened the mostly empty dresser and took out her PCD and another small electronic with a wide screen. In it she checked her mail.

From: Whirlwind

‘I hope you’re ready for today. You’ll remember this day for the rest of your life.’

“Asshole.” She muttered.

Back at a Global Cortex hallway, two pilots spoke in front of the arena ranking list, on a computer screen on the wall.

“Apathy is going to fight Whirlwind today at noon. I feel bad for him, even if he is a smug bastard.” The first pilot commented as he fingered the list.

“I hear the last pilot Apathy faced is still in the hospital.” The second gossiped.

“Are you kidding me? He’s lucky to be alive! She’s a beast. Which is odd, because she is so mild outside of her AC. I mean she talks tough but she’s fairly tame. Aboard her Revivify, though, she turns into a lunatic. I seriously think Global Cortex might have just picked out a mental case from one of the local infirmaries.”

“You met her? I hear she’s a real babe.”

“Maybe so, but who’d be crazy enough to ask that head case out?”

“I guess you’re right. But she’s climbing the ranks fast. In fact,” he laughed, “she’ll be facing you soon.”

The first pilot checked the list scared. His friend was right, Apathy was 3 spaces below his name.

“Yeah laugh it up asshole, she’s five spots away from you.” The second pilot glanced at the list and sighed. “I guess, but I’m a real raven, I’m not scared.” He said this mostly to himself, as if trying to reassure himself.

Back in the room: the girl, Apathy, turned to her portraits and stared as if she was looking at the people reflected in them.

“Mom, I promise after my match I’ll go visit you at home. And dad,” she stalled as she looked at the man with the baby. Her nightmare was fresh in her mind. Feeling guilty about the way she felt she continued louder: “Dad, grant me strength today and keep me safe.”

The to her room opened automatically in a sliding motion and she disappeared through it. She walked down Global Cortex dormitories’ hallways and reached a door hiding the stair well. She didn’t like the confining space of the elevator. She walked down several flights of stairs and finally got out in the bottom floor into a white hallway. She walked toward an office and addressed a familiar face.

“Yo, Joe. I have a date today. Just checking in.”

“Of course you do. What rank are you now? 37? Kid, you gotta slow down. I mean, Global Cortex is pleased. You have a big following and they pay a lot to see your fights, but as a friend, I gotta recommend you take break. This is your second arena match this week.” Joe mettled.

“You’re right, I know. Sheesh, nag much. I’m fine, I’m young and full of life, nothing can slow me down. But if it makes you feel better, I plan on going out after the match to take a well deserved break. But first, I gotta earn it right?”

“One other thing: be careful. Don’t tear into your opponent like you did with poor Conan.” Joe scolded. Apathy lost her smug smile, and began screaming mentally. She remembered Conan. She blasted his Barbarian beyond recognition well after the match was over in a panic fueled frenzy. Conan survived but was still recovering from shell shock. Indignant Apathy slammed her fist on the desk.

“Just mind your own business and sign me in!” Apathy in a fit stomped out of the office. Joe the registrar, was shocked at the display, but after a moment he composed himself and simply shook his head in worry as he typed into his computer.

Apathy left the building and caught a ride from a nearby military jeep that she whistled to. Global Cortex was immense. Many soldiers, cars, and facilities could be seen almost endlessly. The jeep took her toward one of many hangars at Global Cortex, each as massive as the last one. Near her destination she caught glimpse of her Revivify near the front of the hangar and easily visible from the outside- it was ready to be deployed. The AC was colored a bright white with black ridges along the edges of its alloy armor. It’s face was vacant and dead. The cameras that generally give the AC the illusion of eyes were shut behind eyelid-like steel shutters. Lots of engineers and mechanics made some finishing touches on the AC atop large scaffolds. The AC was bipedal, and had large black protruding plates extending over the knee joints giving it the appearance of wearing large black knightly boots. In a similar manner his shoulders also protruded over past the arms like shoulder pads. Its core was rounded and had two mysterious spherical cylinders in the back. Two metal tassles hung from each hip. Revivify was only fitted with two weapons, each held by a hand. The left hand held a small gun, this was a howitzer-it shot a powerful explosive. The right arm held a large cylindrical bazooka with a handle similar to a gun.

The jeep stopped near the entrance and Apathy jumped off. She thanked the driver as he drove off. She then went into the building and turned immediately to her right where she flashed the emblem on her uniform at another officer guarding a stair case with an automatic rifle. The emblem matched the one on Revivify’s left shoulder. The officer stepped aside. She climbed the staircase and finally arrived at the high steel bridge, where she walked toward the core of the AC. Facing the core she took out the small computer she used earlier to read her email and typed in a code that opened a hatch in the back of the core. She looked into the darkness that lay past the hatch and sighed gloomily. She made her way in. Inside she sat in her seat, and buckled herself in. She flipped a single switch by reflex in the dashboard. A beep followed and her many screens turned on sequentially starting with the main screen. The AC opened his light blue eyes. The engineers and mechanics finished their last adjustments and then signaled a crew at the bottom to remove their scaffolds. Inside the cockpit a voice was heard over the intercom:

“Revivify is ready, and the crew is a safe distance. Pilot Apathy, you are ready to deploy.”

Apathy flipped a series of switches and with each additional switch a new sound responded. The whirring of the generator warming up, and the hiss of multiple hoses letting go of the armored core were among the many sounds that echoed through the cockpit. Apathy reached for her helmet in the bottom of her seat and strapped it on.

“Raven, your opponent is waiting in the parking lot.” The operator directed over the intercom.

“The parking lot? That’s gutsy of him, I would have pegged him as an open arena kind of guy.” Apathy talked to herself.

“Combat system engage.” The robotic male voice greeted.

“Let’s party.” Apathy said smugly, however, she transpired fear.

Apathy boosted in a direction familiar to her. The parking lot was an arena lined with multiple concrete columns and was fairly crowded for ACs. Not a lot of flight could be achieved in there. The parking lot arena was also on Global Cortex grounds so no transport plane was needed. Apathy simply piloted to the arena ground. She finally arrived to the front door of a large building encased by a protective energy shield powered by large generators and machines- this was a safety precaution. In front of the entrance she keyed into the computer in her dashboard a code to open the huge door. Revivify entered the dormant battlefield. The door shut behind her. She was in a single floored cramped arena. Her radar displayed a red bleep nearby out of sight past what seemed like endless rows of square concrete columns.

“Pilots ready?” The operator asked over the intercom.

“Ready!” The overlapping responses of the pilots over the intercom attested for their familiarity with the setup.

“Remember, ravens, this is friendly contest to determine the best. When we signal the end of combat, the combat is over. It is not a battle to the death, and a reward is reserved only for the winner along with the 36th rank in the arena. The count down will begin now.”

Both pilot’s main screen displayed the following large words in sequence:

‘Ready.’

‘Go!’

_____________________________________________________

[gomezcreative01]

Armored Core: Silent Calamity
Chapter 7
___________
First Day on the Job
[size=small]
A large almost comedic hole was blown at the side of the concrete column. Pieces of cement littered the floor of the columned hallway. Apathy was no longer tired from a restless night, and was fully committed to the fight now. He had to be. Hyruler was giving him little space for error. Vivify, Victor’s AC, had only been tagged once by Hyruler’s hellish weapon and was already suffering from an infernal fever. Vivify’s radiator was hard at work combating the heat created from the weapon seconds after the attack. AP 4985. Right now Apathy was fighting his own anxiety and struggling to keep his thoughts cold and calculating-as Sylvia had recommended that morning. Vivify had found refuge for the time being behind the very same column that now wore a cartoon-like bite. He had boosted behind the column instinctively moments after getting hit by Hyruler’s attack. The attack buckled Vivify’s legs and left them inoperable for a couple of seconds, but his booster thrusters remained operational. Following the first successful attack a second shot narrowly missed Vivify as it hid behind the column.

“I’m glad you made it, raven, I was afraid Crest’s mission’d be a dud. I’d still get paid, but where’s the fun in that?” Hyruler’s pilot said coldly and, more frighteningly, he said sincerely.

“I’m guessing this will be the last conversation one of us is ever going to have.” Apathy hoped, in vain, that the other pilot’s mission wasn’t what he feared. The pilot laughed.

“Yeah, those’ll be your last words.” Apathy heard the familiar sound of booster thrusters. The pilot was done talking and had begun his hunt. Apathy had only a few moments to think now. The day had escalated in intensity since its sluggish start.

Sylvia came into Victor’s room that day at 6 in the morning. This would be the first of many visits from her as Victor won her affections. Victor was slow to get up to open the door for her. He had spent the entire night obsessing about his actions from the day before. Victor had killed five men in the raven’s initiation test. As a slum thug and in 8 years he had killed a vexing two people. These two deaths weighed on him and always would, he suspected. But in a matter of minutes inside his AC he had more than tripled his death toll. His AC facilitated the process. It made the process of stealing a man’s life a simple affair mediated by the pulling of a small trigger.

No. The worst part of the ordeal was not simply the speed and efficacy of his transgression. The first two men he slayed haunted him. They tugged at the most sensitive parts of his humanity because Victor had met them. They had faces and names, stories, histories, and hopes and dreams. The AC battlefield was different. Cold metal walls separated the victims from their aggressors. Victor knew nothing of the men felled by his weapon. They were masked and almost none existent. His sin hardly seemed a crime.

The world had forgotten those men that died almost immediately after their demise. Sylvia didn’t speak about them nor the clerks and operators in Global Cortex. Even Victor had not brought them up. How could he? They had no stories; they were but nameless pilots aboard lifeless machines. Victor had a hard enough time remembering the instant each one of his victims died. It was this terrible silence and indifference that hurt him. The apathy was a guilty pleasure. The pleasure of the world’s forgiveness was all too terrifying. Victor was afraid of this curse’s implication. The cost of apathy could be nothing less of losing his humanity! Victor, terrified, deliberately obsessed and went out of his way to make himself pay his penance due. He was a villain, a monster, and a murderer. His penance was inflicted by defaming himself. Even this was an act of selfish need, he continued, not spurred by the loss of lives but rather the fear of how it affected him. Victor was selfish and self centered. He was disgusting.

Victor was inflicting all sorts of mental attacks on himself. It was hard for him to stop once he started; Chris wasn’t there to soothe his aching heart and mind. Her warm words and body normally would lul his worries away. Being one of the closest people to him, she knew him inside and out. She knew how to disarm his self destructive tendencies, and she also knew that Victor was far from being the man he portrayed himself as during these painful pangs of remorse. His duty toward the gang had led him to become too critical of himself. Sadly, Chris wasn’t there. She couldn’t save him from his self inflicting wrath. All Victor had was the lonely darkness of a room without windows or furniture. His only piece of furniture was a small unused cot that lay in the opposite side of the room. Victor sat in a corner of his room holding his knees like a mad man through out the night. The night was long and tiring. Sylvia’s unexpected visit was a blessing.

As Sylvia entered the room she felt the corrosive atmosphere. The dull dumb look in his dark eyes and the bags under them explained just enough for Sylvia to know that she had just walked into a sad lunatic’s dungeon. Her camaraderie burned brightly in her. Although she knew very little about this man, she had become attached to him inexplicably. He seemed honest and good willed. Sylvia didn’t know much about those two qualities, given that they were very rare in her line of work, but she found herself attracted to them.

“Turn on the lights, it’s a cave in here!” Sylvia began treating her friend’s invisible wounds, beginning with the depressing darkness of the room. “You look like hell, Victor, go wash your face. I’m going to take you to buy your pilot gear. I noticed that for the initiation test you were wearing those nasty rags- you seem so fond of.” she said the last part mockingly with a laugh, noticing that he was wearing the same thing she last saw him in.
“I don’t have money.” Victor responded grimly.

“Don’t worry about it. Consider it a gift for a job well done during our mission.”

“Ugh, th-thank you.” Victor didn’t know what to say.

“I don’t suppose you’ve even checked out the update on your Personal Organizing Computer? It’s pretty neat. You can read mail, check personal mission requests, and even modify your AC, Vivify, right?” Victor nodded, “yeah, you modify the blue print in it and the hangar mechanics will work it out. Pretty nifty, right?” Sylvia had worked a smile on the sad man’s face. Proud at her accomplishment, Sylvia’s thin pink lips arched into an attractive smile.

“Really, nifty?” Victor toyed, “lemme take look at that gizmo. Sounds real neat-o.” He mocked her.

“I’m sorry, but you have to be at least this cute,” she pointed to herself,”to talk like me. When you do it, it’s just sad.” Sylvia retorted and they both laughed.

Victor walked over to his bed where the small piece of equipment lay. He picked it up and examined it. The black screen of the device turned on and displayed a new layout. He had learned how to use a few of the functions prior to the initiation test: Sinister had taught him how to create a pass code to open his AC’s hatch mostly The main menu displayed an orange circular dial with different tabs labeled: Garage, Mail, Mission, System, and Organizer. The word “New” was written on the upper right hand corner of the Mail, and Mission tabs. Sylvia walked over to Victor and found an intimately close spot behind him to peek over his shoulder.

“Look, you have mail. How exiting, I love mail.” She hinted. Victor complied.

There were three pieces of mail:

From: Ana Burkov

‘Hello raven, I am Ana Burkov, and I will be your Global Cortex representative. I will be your link to contracts and missions as well as offer you limited computer support on the field. I look forward to working with you, and please contact me if you need assistance. On a personal note, I’m new to this position, but I pride myself on my dependability. We will make a great team.’

“She seems nice. My operator is a dude, and kinda sounds like a tool.” Sylvia added.

From: Global Cortex

‘Congratulations, you are now a registered raven. You are now entitled to all the privileges associated with this title. Our facility offers many services to accommodate you. AC tune-ups, modifications, maintenance, and storage are available for you. Ammunition stocks and an extensive AC part shop is conveniently available through your POC (Personal Organizing Computer). Finally, lodging is also available on location. We recommend the AC Arena as a means to further advertise your skill. Remember that a reasonable fee is associated with most of our services. We look forward to working with you toward a mutual benefit.’

“I got that same one last night too.” She commented.

From: Mirage Corporation

‘Raven, we heard about your exploits during your initiation test and were intrigued. Your skill seems to be higher than the average inductee. We would then like to recommend you for a mission we will launch tomorrow night. We hope to hear back from you.’

“Hey! I didn’t get a request like that. I did just as well as you, and if I remember correctly, it was my missile that saved you during your ‘exploits’.” Sylvia poked Victor in the ribs jealously.

“I guess I’m lucky.” Victor responded as he turned to his friend with a humble smile. Sylvia was indignant, but after she caught a glimpse of Victor’s uncomfortable response she sighed away her jealousy.

“Psh, we’ll that was sent yesterday. We better go get your uniform and get you ready for your special secret mission. Hmf, it won’t take long before Mirage realizes they backed the wrong horse.” The last part was said teasingly but with a small tinge of sincerity. Victor then went on to check the mission briefing on his POC. Sylvia hit him in the back of his head.

“Those are confidential you idiot! You should have told me to step out or something.” She explained, but her curiosity kept her looking over Victor’s shoulder.

Operation Code: Tooth Fairy
Client: Mirage Corp.
Reward: 25,000c
Briefing:

‘Our chief rival, Crest Corporation, has been expanding forcefully into specific locations even if it means tearing down residential sectors. This expansion is very uncharacteristic of Crest and has birthed 4 new facilities. Our sources tell us that these locations will be used strategically and coordinately to launch a devastating strike against competitors in the future. We are not entirely sure what that means, but Mirage will not stand for it. You and three other ravens will each visit one of these baby facilities and obtain information located in a computer room within each of the buildings. Secondly, you will also destroy the same computer room so we can slow Crest’s progress and buy us time to analyze the data you will obtain for us. Because the facilities are brand new and small, we don’t expect that you will meet heavy opposition. Finally, we will offer bonuses for any additional damage you do on the building.’

A small dialogue box appeared in the middle of Victor’s POC: ‘Accept mission?’

Vivify had just walked into a hallway in the Crest facility. Metallic alloy walls were a portent of the welcome he’d find in there. Vivify was still a dull metallic grey color. Most of its parts were cheap, and easily recognized it as a beginner’s AC. A gun barrel protruded from its chest giving it an awkward pointed appearance. A rocket launcher on its left shoulder, an assault rifle in its right hand and a laser blade mounted in its left forearm decorated it.

“Okay, Apathy, hurry now, taking too long can incite reinforcements to arrive. In fact, just make it a rule to work through your missions as fast as possible from now on.” Ana recommended over the intercom. Using Vivify’s proximity to the front gate of the building, she was able to hack through an entrance of the building, allowing Vivify in.

“Roger.”

Vivify set off in run down the long cramped hallway. The hall was hardly twice the size of Vivify, inhibiting almost any non-linear movement. Apathy was focused. Sylvia, his new friend wanted him safe: ‘Don’t blow it, Victor. Remember that you stole my position in this mission, so make it count.’ Although Sylvia had spent most of the day speaking condescendingly and enviously to Victor, she said this with a playfully reassuring but worried voice.

Two purple bleeps appeared at the top end of the radar. Apathy noticed immediately but saw nothing on his main screen. Ping Ping Ping, the faint sound was heard inside the cockpit. Apathy began looking around the empty hall way to no avail. Taking a second look at the radar, Apathy ran down the hall to get closer to the invisible sources of the attack. Finally, looking up, Apathy caught glimpse of two miniscule spherical turrets on the ceiling of the hallway. He shot them down immediately and laughed as he took a look at the miniscule damage displayed on his AP counter. AP: 8100. He moved forward, and found more turrets before reaching a closed gate that occupied the entire width of the hallway. He destroyed the turrets. Apathy then opened the door with the press of a button on his control panel after he approached a small gridded device that flashed green and red lights. The device was resting in the middle of the left wall of the hall way. Vivify had just sent a wireless signal to the small device that controlled the door.

The gate opened upwards and revealed a small room. Vivify boosted forward, reacting to the movement of a sliding four legged MT, across the upper left corner of his screen. The MT was hardly half the size of Vivify and had a single arm, shaped like a cannon at its left side. As expected, Vivify narrowly avoided a strange attack by the sneaky unit. The attack seemed like that of a gun, but from what Apathy could discern, the shots were slightly slower. This allowed the young raven to make some conjectures about what he thought he had just seen. The bullets, if they could be called so, were large and orb like. They had a pink glow to them and almost seemed like flying over-sized egg yolks attacking in a rapid burst of three or four at a time. A curious sound seeped into the cockpit: Teeh, teeh, teeh, teeh.

“What the hell was that?” Apathy spoke into the mouth piece on his helmet.

“What? The MT?” Ana asked confused.

“No, what it shot.”

“That, raven, is an energy attack produced by a pulse rifle. It’s a fairly common sight, I’m surprised you don’t know.” Ana responded unprofessionally.

Vivify struggled to turn left and take aim on the sliding MT given the confining space of the room. Teeh, teeh, teeh, teeh. The red light turned on in the cockpit. The damage was small. AP: 7812. A second unit, unnoticed by Apathy until this moment had successfully hit Vivify’s back. This MT had waited in the right corner of the room near the entrance Apathy came in through. He was surrounded. Apathy strafed left evasively as both MTs began shooting at him while skittering around. Luckily most of the attacks missed. Apathy decided on a course of action coolly. He charged at the first MT, causing it to retreat to a corner were it was unable to move further. Apathy began pulling his left trigger, but something odd happened. The trigger pushed back and Vivify halted his movement as if frozen in time. The damage on Vivify increased steadily as both MTs continued their attacks. Vivify retreated in a boost and collected more damage. AP: 7081.

“Raven, what’s wrong. What are you doing?” Ana interrogated angrily. Only silence was heard from Apathy.

Victor was shaking. He couldn’t bring himself to do it again. These MTs were different from the gun turrets. Victor knew these machines were piloted.

“Have you gone completely daft? Shoot them! They will kill you.” Ana ordered.

Apathy reacted. He had no choice, this was the wrong place for Victor’s conscience. Making it through the ordeal at hand was Apathy’s first priority. He took aim and shot multiple times at the MT until a loud crack and hiss released a thick dark smoke from it’s innards. The MT collapsed between its four legs lifelessly. The red light indicating damage had been on so long in the cockpit that Apathy had completely forgotten he was still under fire. Realizing this fact he boosted right and jumped in the air twisting Vivify around to catch a glimpse of the MT. Teeh, Teeh, Teeh, Teeh. The attack missed over Vivify’s head as he landed but a second followed. Apathy was one step ahead though, and skidded towards the MT using his back mounted thrusters breaking slightly to his right to avoid the pulse rifle’s burst attack. The MT now in range, was hit by a rifle shot in combination with a devastating blade attack that opened a large slit in the MT’s body armor as well as scathed its front left leg. The MT hiccupped and began spewing hazy smoke. A second blade attack caused the MT to explode almost immediately after initial contact.

“What the hell is wrong with-?” Ana began.

“Shut up, your job is to provide back up not commentary.” Apathy snapped at her in a fit of rage. She couldn’t possibly understand, Apathy thought to himself indignant.

Ana, insulted, huffed but did not retort. Vivify began walking toward a second door and opened it. As it slid open-

“Wait, raven” Ana interjected, “I’ve got an update. Mirage is informing me that all of the other raven’s employed for Operation Tooth fairy have been eliminated. Apathy, this is bad. It seems unexpected security was hired. Mirage is recommending you abort the mission, it’s too dangerous. Get out of there!”

Vivify had just entered a large hallway with two rows of large round concrete columns. The gate closed behind him. A loud mechanism clicked inside the gate.

“The gate seems to have lock-“ Ana was interrupted.

Vivify’s core received an unexpected attack that buckled it’s legs. A powerful loud explosion shook Vivify violently and Apathy felt the temperature inside his cock pit sky rocket in an instant. A message reading “Danger Heat” appeared under Apathy’s AP counter, now reading 5078, and dropping steadily. Instinctively Apathy tried to run but Vivify’s legs were unresponsive. Alarmed, Apathy, stomped on the boost petal and slid to the left behind the closest pillar. As he disappeared behind the pillar, a second shot blasted a piece of the column into smithereens.
“AC Hyruler identified. The pilot is a seasoned fighter, raven, proceed with caution.” Ana did her best to update Apathy. A second transmission came through.

“I’m glad you made it, raven, I was afraid Crest’s mission’d be a dud. I’d still get paid, but where’s the fun in that?”

“I’m guessing this will be the last conversation one of us is ever going to have.”

“Yeah, those’ll be your last words.”

Apathy stopped to think for what he felt was an eternity. Over the rapid beating of his heart, the enemy’s thrusters, and the siren going off inside Vivify to signal the heat hazard, Apathy shouted to make sure he was heard.

“Ana, what did he hit me with?”

“A grenade rifle. It is a very powerful weapon, I’d be surprised if you are able to withstand three more shots.” Ana informed in a detached voice. She had already given up hope, her raven was as good as dead. Hyruler’s pilot, King, was ranked 42 in the arena and was a lot more experienced in battle than was her clumsy raven appointee.

Apathy was in the frying pan now, ironically, as he thought this his AC recuperated from its excess heat. The warning light and siren turned off. One pilot would be slain within minutes, Apathy realized the odds were stacked against him, but at an early age he learned that giving up was the only sure way to lose. He would fight to live.

Quickly, he turned to the radar and found Hyruler’s bleep. Given its constant path, Hyruler would meet up with Vivify in less than three seconds, at close a range. Apathy immediately came up with a plan using every possible bit of experience he had earned until now. He turned away in the opposite direction of the site where Hyruler’ was expected to show and switched his weapon to the rockets. He then calculated coolly and expertly, and jumped back.

He was surprised to find that everything went as he planned! Vivify jumped back but as he landed he was looking directly at the back of a bright silver AC trimmed in gold. This AC was heavily armored and had thick arms and legs, as well as a big core, bigger and thicker than that of Vivify. Intimidated but resolved, Victor opened fire with his rockets. The rockets were unleashed in quick succession. Given the close proximity of the attack Apathy did not miss, and Hyruler took four attacks in succession to the core. Apathy noticed that the rockets were not as damaging as he’d hoped, Hyruler’s armor was strong. However, the explosions’ smoke lazily slithered up the AC and wrapped around its head. Apathy laughed hysterically. Back in the slums, when Victor faced an opponent bigger than him, he would have to resort to all sorts of tactics to avoid a match of power. Apathy began moving the cursor of his weapon up. He was going for the head! Hyruler’s head was in the shape of a dome. A rocket hit the head and exploded, and a second one followed but was avoided after Hyruler split to his right.

Apathy became frightened once again. He had engaged, and destruction of one AC was eminent. However, given his focus, he overcame his fear and took notice of a strange wing-like protusion extending from Hyruler’s back on the left shoulder, as well as a large box mounted on its right shoulder.

“What’s that wing device on his back?” Apathy inquired while on pursuit and steadying the aim of the rockets.

“Wing? Oh, Hyruler is equipped with a radar unit on its left shoulder and a missile box on its right shoulder.” Ana answered, now fully engaged in the events. Apathy’s impressive pre-emptive strike amazed her. Apathy proved to be a more capable pilot than his skirmish with the MTs had shown her.

“Radar? But Vivify has a radar and it doesn’t equip anything like that.”

“Your radar is a function of Vivify’s head. It is not as extensive as his radar part. Hyruler’s head is heavily armored, but is not equipped with a radar function like yours. He equips the back mounted radar to compensate for that.” Ana explained, at the edge of her seat back in her operator room miles away. Ana’s computer was being fed the information on Apathy’s screen through a satellite up link.

Apathy took a couple of shots with his rockets but these were shaken off by a Hyruler and missed. Hyruler was beginning to turn around slowly, given his large size, to its right. This frightened Apathy for he new hell awaited at the completion of Hyruler’s turn. Hastened by this fear and close on Hyruler’s tail, Vivify, attacked with its blade. The loud screeching sound of the burning blade damaging Hyruler’s core was heard. Now at a close range again, given the forward dash executed for the blade slash, Apathy unleashed more rockets. Three met its mark. Ana muttered “Yes!” under her breath and hit the palm of her hand with her fist.

Hyruler, however, retreated backwards and turned as each successive rocket hit him. Apathy realized he was in trouble, for now he could see the front of Hyruler. Hyrulers right arm came up. Vivify boosted left immediately but it was too late. Vivify’s right arm was reduced to black twisted charred remains that bled out sparks. Vivify was impacted against a pillar nearby. Apathy again was in the red lit oven of his cockpit, with a siren resonating within. AP: 2989 and dropping; the schematic of Apathy’s AC in one of his screens had its right arm shaded in red now. His right arm was destroyed.

The second shot wasn’t too far behind, he assumed and in a drastic measure, Apathy pumped the booster petal twice and began flying. A second shot grazed Vivifies toes as he was boosted into the air. The explosion of the grenade shook Vivify and destabilized its flight. Apathy fully aware of the risk involved stabilized the flight the best he could and faced Hyruler. Here Apathy was struck with a difficult decision. His first instinct was to retreat and hide behind the column for safety, but as he noticed that Hyruler began lifting his hand to take aim at Vivify, Apathy thought of another riskier maneuver. Hyruler was aiming because he wasn’t locked on yet. Apathy gambled. He hovered in his enemy’s direction keeping his altitude steady so as to pass over the enemy. He was going to race King in a match to see who could aim faster!

Victor pushed his right arm joy stick forward aggressively to drop the cursor of his weapon and as the steady decent of the marker approached Hyruler he readied his trigger finger. He might only get one chance. In the opposite cockpit, King was sweating profusely cold drops of terror and shock at the unexpectedly difficult battle he had engaged; he was tugging at his right hand joystick to elevate his lockbox into position. However, given Vivify’s approach, he had to look further and further up to lock on.
By some cosmic coincidence, both pilots finally pulled their trigger fingers at the same time. Both explosives traveled past each other in the air. King’s grenade missed the moving Vivify but given the close proximity of the explosion on the ceiling behind the AC, Vivify was propelled forward faster. Apathy’s rocket hit Hyruler in the head, and the young raven in his euphoria and focus, readied his aim again- the propulsion had unaligned his mark. Apathy shot once and missed narrowly, but with a small adjustment he fired 2 more consecutive shots that hit Hyruler on its core. Hyruler was sparking and releasing thin smoke now. Vivify had flown past Hyruler so Apathy let go of the booster petal and landed behind Hyruler. Both ACs were back to back now.

King was in total shock, but quickly composed himself. The fight wasn’t over until one raven was wasted! King, taking a play from Apathy’s book, kicked his petal to make Hyruler jump back to face Vivify. Hyruler landed. Apathy saw the smoke and multiple scars on Hyruler. He was on the final lap! Reacting quickly as Hyruler brought up his arm to shoot his hellish grenade rifle, Apathy pulled his left trigger for a blade attack. He slashed Hyruler, but it wasn’t enough, Hyruler was still standing. King’s trigger was pulled.

Apathy brazed himself for the blast. Nothing came. Hyruler’s arm kept jerking up and down repeatedly. Before Apathy or King could understand what had just happened, Apathy shot a rocket. The rocket hit Hyruler’s core, and he dropped to his knee. Lots of tiny explosions began erupting around the fallen foe’s core.

“Raven, it was an honor-“ King uttered over the communication channel respectfully but solemnly before a large explosion erupted inside the core. Bolts and bits and pieces of the thick core got expelled from the explosion, but the AC remained intact for the most part in the dramatic position.
“Enemy destruction verified. Great job, raven!” Ana jumped of joy out of her seat. “Will you finish the mission?”

“Unless I’m killed from here to the computer room.” Apathy affirmed. The question remained. “Why didn’t Hyruler’s pilot take the last shot?”

“Well, you attacked the AC head a couple of times with strong attacks. AC heads, much like human heads, contain powerful computers that coordinate many of the AC’s movements and calculations. That last shot to the head must have caused a system error and consequently the right arm to malfunction. King didn’t willingly not shoot, he couldn’t shoot.” She theorized. Head on over to the next Gate, I’ll unlock it for you.”

The heavily injured Vivify turned to his left and saw the door near by. Ana hacked through it and Apathy carried on to the next room, which was significantly smaller than the hall that had just served as his battle field. Two MTs similar to those before were waiting for him. Apathy was ready for them too. Vivify charged at the first and slashed it with its laser blade. The second MT, sliding behind the first, exploded after a rocket attack, that was shot over the slashed MT, hit it. The slashed MT retaliated with the energy pulses from a point blank range into Vivify’s core. Vivify boosted back just enough to once again slash the MT into an exploding ball of fire, smoke, and metallic debris.

“That is the computer room to the left.” Ana directed.

“What about the right door; where does that lead?” Apathy inquired.

“I’m not sure.”

Curios, Apathy took the right door. He found himself in a big room filled with all sorts of crates and transport vehicles, as well as lifts and other storage machines. Apathy was looking at his bonuses. He began destroying everything with his laser blade. He was having a blast destroying the motionless and defenseless targets.

Three security MTs, similar to all the others, appeared from behind a group of crates. Using fancy boosting maneuvers and close range rocket attacks, Apathy disposed of all three MTs with ease. There was not much more the Crest facility could throw in Apathy’s direction that could stop him. The fledgling had bested a powerful raven in his first mission, and he had survived where others had perished. Apathy was unstoppable.

With the entire storage room destroyed, Apathy returned to the previous room and went on into the computer room. The room was even smaller than the one before and stored three large computers in the back. Ana hacked into each of the computers from her operation room and retrieved many encrypted files.

“I got the files, go ahead and make your way out. Remember to-“

Ana stopped when she began hearing and seeing the destruction that Apathy had begun on the large computers. Apathy had grown into his position as a raven. With no more enemies in the facility, Vivify made it out to the escape point uninhibited. Apathy felt a strange exhilaration. He had single-handedly thwarted an army that was bent on taking him out. He was stronger than any and all of them. Outside the building a transport helicopter awaited him. Apathy’s fun was over, which was just as well, since he was fatigued. Victor was ready to go home.

[gomezcreative01]

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Armored Core: Silent Calamity
Chapter 8
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Family

“You don’t even know how Victor is doing and you are already working new dealings? Seriously, at a time like this? You guys already made one of those wretched machines-“ Chris objected angrily.

“He’s my brother! Of course I care, how dare you accuse me of that? He’s been gone for two weeks, Chris. Life can’t stop just because he isn’t around. Should we stand still until he comes back, hold our breaths and leave the entire weight of our futures on his shoulders?” Angel was insulted, but deep down he knew Chris was partially right. He was worried about Victor- Neither Angel nor Victor had told Chris just how much was at stake during the initiation test. Victor could have died without even becoming a member of the raven order. Chris was right, but at this depth in the argument Angel wouldn’t admit it. Angel’s true motivation stemmed from his own desire to become a raven. Angel was jealous of Victor. Building the AC was Angel’s idea, and Angel’s dream.

“I telyu, those damn ravens. A bunch of blood thirty war hounds they are!” The old man was clearly drunk, and although his story was one that incited his own anger he was pleased to see that the young boy was completely engrossed with his tale. The boy couldn’t have been older than 13 years of age. Lustrous black hair, innocent shiny eyes and a dark complexion decorated the otherwise filthy pup. The man had just walked out of the tavern where he had overstayed his welcome. Nobody listened to him. His story was old and used, but as he was bounced out of the tavern his tale had caught the ears of the poor whelp, a child that happened to wander by in the lively slum market place. Innocently he asked the man what a raven was. Finding a willing audience the drunken man told his tale.

“Ravens are dirty money suckers! I lost my job back in the city because of those damned ghouls. I was a manager atta Kisaragi facility. I was well respected you know. I was well respected. I was soon ta be promoted, I was good…”

Behind his innocent eyes, lay a cunning street wise boy. Clearly the man was getting sidetracked. Patience is hardly a virtue of the young, and little Angel was no exception. He knew better than to be rude, though.

“What did the raven do?” The young boy asked coyly.

“…and Liz knew better than to cross me again, I was strict but fair. Yeah, the raven! Bastard came and destroyed the facility. It took out the security system easily, and next thing we know, we are evacuating the facility because it has been targeted to be destroyed by a Mirage bomber. Not that the raven left much to destroy. All of our guns and machines didn’t even slow it down. I saw him with my own eyes! I saw him leaving the facility as I evacuated. That dirty son of bitch, left his mess behind without once looking back.”

“You saw him? What did he look like?”

“I don’t know. The coward was inside his robot. But I tell ya, if I ever cross him in the streets. I’ll show him how a real man fights.” The man hiccupped and the intoxicating stench of alcohol caused the young Angel to flinch. Still the young child was confused.

“A robot? Ravens aren’t persons?”

“That’s right! That prick wasn’t human. He was soulless is what he was. He’ll rott-in hell, he will.”

Angel was becoming impatient and frowned.

“What was the robot like?”

“It was huge, ya know. That coward can’t take me in a fight! I once punched this one asshole so hard that he took a nap on the sidewalk! To this day, Ben still has a click in his jaw. He was trying to see my girl, ya know. A man’s gotta be a man, ya know. Oh, she was a beauty thogh…” the old man dragged his story on. Angel had realized that his source was tapped. Frustrated he sighed.

“Angel, get over here. Don’t talk to strangers unless I’m around, do you understand?” Victor reprimanded. Angel was relieved; his older brother had called him just in the nick of time.

“Sorry. Gotta go, grandpa.” Angel said without giving a second glance back. He ran towards his brother across the street. Victor had just bought a pair of eggs and some beans.

“Come on, lets go eat.” Victor and Angel walked back to an abandoned building a long ways from the market place. The two boys lived by themselves. Inside the ruins of the abandoned building was the only thing of value they owned- a small gas grill.

“Ever heard of a raven, Victor?” Angel began conversation as they sat down to eat their small breakfast around the grill.

“The bird?”

“No, not the-“ Angel frowned and looked up at his brother. Two very familiar wrinkles frowned back at Angel.

“I know what you meant,” Victor started slowly, “can’t say I know much. Beings of incredible power, yeah?”

“So it seems.”

“Never even seen them, but I’ve heard they are responsible along with the large corporations for the ruins and misery. They pilot the latest in war technology, a very elite bunch. But from what I’ve made out they are bounty hunters. Now, I know what you are thinking. I see it in your eyes. You’re so excited. Angel, everybody hates them. They are destructive and powerful. Don’t you go idolizing those mercenaries.”

“But, Victor! Power can be wielded both ways, right?”

Victor chuckled. Truly his younger brother wasn’t a fool. He was very smart, and unfortunately had picked up on a lot of his Victor’s own traits.

“Victor, all swords are dangerous and scary. I understand that, but have there never been any white knights behind them. You yourself have protected me using your fists in street fights. You turn scary when you get like that. But I know it is because you are fighting for something you care about. The force behind a sword is mutable!”

“Mutable? Angel, you are becoming frighteningly eloquent. Eat your beans you idiot. You are right, though. Weapons can be wielded righteously or as is often the case, malevolently. Care to take a guess why that is, smarty pants?”

Angel smirked. He loved his brother, no one like Victor to turn his well articulated argument into a smaller part of a bigger conversation. “Wait, I know this. Because strength is rare. Strength is relative-“ Angel frowned hard as he tried to recite one of Victor’s many verses as if he was quizzing him.

“And?”

“And, so only a few stand out as strong. The weaker, living under the stronger’s shadows become cruel. They try to prove themselves by lashing out on those they can prey on!”

“That’s what I believe anyway. Angel, most people are weak. I do believe in the good will of people, I really do. But being weak, most will try to hurt each other because it makes them seem strong. They dominate others with fear. Be strong brother, remember that we all can. The weak are cruel, the strong gentle. Don’t forget it.”

“So do you think it’s possible for there to be a strong raven?” Embarrassed by his brother’s obvious concern and love Angel resumed eating his meal looking down away from his brother piercing stare.

“Not until now, Angel. I think you’d have a hard time finding one, but there is a definite possibility.”

Victor might be overbearing when he was being protective, but Angel always knew he meant well. What was more, he treated Angel with respect. Angel felt older than he was whenever he conversed with Victor. Only Victor treated him like if he was the mature young man he was.

Angel’s eyes began to water at the memory so he broke eye contact with Chris. He was worried about his brother. There was no way to know if he had passed his exam. Would Sinister have the courtesy of contacting them if anything had happened to his brother? Would they just have to worry until they grew tired of it, gave up hope, and made peace with Victor’s death? Angel squeezed his eyes with his right hand to stop himself from crying. He knew better than to despair. Victor had to be ali-

“Victor!” Chris exclaimed. The sound of stampeding feet filled Angel’s aching heart with a warm enthusiastic feeling. Angel removed the hand from his eyes and squint them open. The blur in front of him became clearer. Surrounded by a mob of people was the man he respected above all else. Victor was laughing and crying all at once. Hugging his family and answering the barrage of questions they had for him. Chris was hanging from his neck. Angel like the rest of them couldn’t hold back. He ran forward and made his way through the crowd and hugged his brother.

“Victor! What the hell are you wearing!? It’s like Sinister’s! A pilot suit! You made it, you dog, you did it!” Angel took a step back to admire the uniform.

“I did it. A raven. I couldn’t believe it either. I almost didn’t actually-“

At this time the noise died down just enough to hear a strange voice from behind the crowd.

“Wow, they really missed you. I can see why you wanted to come so bad.” A tall pale blonde with a similar uniform to Victor’s addressed the man of the hour. “It would be nice if you introduced me, don’t you think?”

“Who’s the babe?” Sajon interjected as he walked in from behind Sylvia hauling large bags of groceries. Sajon was bringing in the food Victor had brought from the city. He was outside as Victor and Sylvia arrived. After greeting Victor he rushed him in to see everyone else while he stayed behind to bring in the goods.

“I’m sorry, that was rude. This is Sylvia. She took the initiation test with me. She’s a friend.” Everybody turned to her.

“I’m a little more than that, aren’t I, Victor?” Sylvia said devilishly.

Chris let go of Victor’s neck and immediately huffed and slapped Victor. She began shoving him angrily and began interrogating.

“So you go to the city and find yourself a brand new squeeze? Is that it? Did you like what the big city had to offer, did you? How dare you even come back-“

“I meant his story skipped on the part where I saved his ass during the initiation exam. He’d be dead were it not for me.” Sylvia laughed. Chris’ blood ran cold. She felt sick and tense. She turned angrily to Sylvia.

“You what? He almost died?” Chris questioned. Sylvia brazed herself; she knew she had just crossed the wrong line. “Was this not a qualifying test?”

Sylvia wasn’t sure if she should answer, luckily she didn’t have to.

“Chris I came back. Ravens are mercenaries, you know that. Sooner or later I would face situations when death would be a possibility. It’s no different than here in the slums.” Chris turned back to Victor.

“Don’t give me that, Victor. You knew what you were doing. You lead me to believe it was just a test. You knew, didn’t you?” Chris was shaking with a mixture of anger and fear.

“I didn’t tell you. I’m sorry, but if I did I would’ve had a harder time convincing you I should take the exam. But don’t kid yourself, you know what ravens and AC’s are. They are things of war. Did you think that I’d take a test, and what? I wouldn’t have to do more?”

“Of course not! I know what the business is. But I thought I’d have more time before I’d have to worry about your well being. I’d have time to prepare to- to worry.” Chris was disarmed. She reflected on what she understood was a foolish thought. Sooner or later the ravens are called to battle. She only believed what she did because she wanted to. She had fooled herself. She began to cry.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean-“ Sylvia apologized. Victor turned to Sylvia with a generous smile and shook his head.

“It wasn’t your fault. Don’t be sorry.” Victor dismissed Sylvia’s apology. He then walked forward and took the grieving Chris into his arms.

“Baby, you are such a fool. I love you for it. You couldn’t stop worrying about me even if my life wasn’t on the line Are you going to tell me that you didn’t worry while I was away at all?” Victor grabbed Chris’ head, lifted it, and butted his head against it gently. “You know that as long as I live I will be your heart’s burden. It is not a kind thing to say, but it is the truth behind love. But it is that very same love that gives me the strength to keep returning to you. I need you, and I’ve missed you. You and your beautiful eyes, those beautiful bright pots of honey. This white milky skin-“ Chris was beginning to become comforted. Victor leaned in slowly and kissed her softly and passionately. “Sylvia is a great pilot, but she’s not the only woman I owe my life to.” Victor whispered to Chris. Flattered and flustered Chris laughed and rolled her eyes.

“You’re a devil, Victor Valentino. You might want to give that silver tongue of yours a break. Your spell won’t work on me. You’re still in trouble, buster.” Chris said as she resumed her embrace of Victor’s neck. “Why do I put up with you?”

“Can’t be my looks,” Victor frowned teasingly, “Why do you love me?”

“Someone has to, and with a mug like yours who will do it if not me?” Chris teased back.

Sylvia frowned at the warm scene. Their love seemed so tight, and yet nobody else but her seemed surprised at just how lovely they looked. This man, Victor, was undoubtedly to blame. Victor, as Sylvia suspected, was special. He had obviously contaminated all of the people present. Malice within any of them seemed out of the question. The love in the room was thick and ubiquitous. Sylvia alone in the room was the only person to find it strange. Not only Chris and Victor’s love, but everybody else in the group that was congregated around him reeked of love and good will. Sylvia liked it, but below that and even to her own shame, she felt resentment towards Chris. Chris was a woman that she hardly knew, but she was the object of passions and love- Victor’s passionate love and devotion. This was an enviable position to be in for some reason. Victor was homely, and furthermore he was slightly disfigured, but he was a man of exceptional talents. Or at least, that is the only way Sylvia could explain the feelings Victor stirred in her.

“You’re pretty.” Sylvia looked down to meet the tug on her suit by little Sarah.

“You think I’m pretty?” Sylvia smiled.

“Yes. Chris is also pretty, but she’s prettier than you. And I’m also pretty.” The little brat struck a nerve but Sylvia couldn’t help but to laugh at the innocence of her insult.

“Chris is Victor’s girlfriend, that pretty brunette?” Sylvia pointed at the smiling woman around Victor’s neck.

“Yes. She takes care of us. I sometimes call her mom, she likes it when I do. That’s when she looks more pretty. One time she cried when I called her mom, though. Do you think I’m pretty?”

“I do think you’re pretty. Much prettier than me.” Sylvia humored the admittedly cute four year old.

“That brat isn’t pretty. She is naughty. Get outta here and go give uncle Victor a big old kiss, he missed you. Go on now.” The blonde man they met outside approached Sylvia. Sarah giggled and ran away to greet Victor, her beautiful dark hair trailed behind her.

“She’s my girl. As lively as her mother was. Name’s Sajon. So you saved Victor, did you? You, a raven, saved him. Why?” Sajon tone became increasingly cold. Sylvia’s surprised and indignant look caused Sajon to step back and apologize.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t. I’m glad you did and I thank you in behalf of everyone here. We all love him very much. I’m sorry I grilled you, but we all just want to make sure he is okay. We’d hate for something to happen to him. I mean that is obvious.” Sajon turned to look at the mob crowding and greeting a willing and smiling Victor.

“I understand. I’m a mercenary, soulless and dirty. I’ve heard it all before.” Sylvia said.

“No, you aren’t. I don’t think you are. Victor trusted you enough to show you his treasure- this family of his. He went as far as to call you a friend, and that is all the credentials I need. But I do know you come from a different world. This place is strange, no? I remember when I first stumbled on to the realization that a sanctuary like this is hard to come by. Victor and Chris have built something beautiful here. I could see from your reaction that it was startling to you too.”

“I haven’t been a raven long, but I’ve been a pilot in the corporation’s war for some time now. So yeah, this place is strange. Everybody here seems so sincere. People in my line of work don’t act like this as a rule.”

“We live in the slums, slums that are littered with gang violence. Frankly, this home is unlike any other place you’ll find anywhere. Victor is the patriarch around here, so his gentle teachings have touched all these lives. I used to dismiss him as a fool back in the day. Beat him up a couple of times myself. He’d never back down. He is a scrapper to a fault. There were times I felt bad for beating him so bad, but unfortunately that kid doesn’t know how to quit. You’d think a kid like that would grow to be incredibly introverted or mean. But I guess he was too foolish to wise up that way. Never met a more caring soul. And well, that is what we love about him. With that in mind, I know how dirty your business is, Sylvia. Keep his gentle spirit in mind, and do us all a favor: Help him keep his spirits high, nobody deserves to believe in the possibility for a happy world more than him. As his friend, look out for him.”

Sylvia turned to Victor, who was preoccupied with little Sarah at the moment. She couldn’t tell whether Sajon’s collected voice had just spelled out a warning to her or whether he was welcoming her to the family- a family that revolved around Victor.

“Let’s make some food. I’m hungry. Also, I have presents for all of you.” Victor dispersed the crowd. “ Tons to talk about. Get on now. Kids come here, lets see what I got for you.”

The kids jumped for joy and followed Victor outside the factory. Angel followed him too. Outside a small blue car was parked. Angel feared what Victor’s reaction would be. Angel was going to get it for sure, but he had to break his news to Victor sometime. Victor went to the already open trunk of the car and rummaged through some bags until he found what he was looking for.

“Look, here you go Sarah, this pretty dress is for you.” Sarah giggled and took it shyly.

“Thank you.”

“Wow, since when are you so polite. Don’t you usually terrorize all of us, you little devil.”

“I’m always polite.” Sarah stuck her tongue out at Victor and ran into the building to show her dad her new dress. The rest of the kids began to tug at his shirt. Victor gave them all new clothes, which the kids were excited to try on.

“Thank you, Victor. Are you leaving again?” Sergio asked innocently.

“I’m going to have to. But not for a while okay. But who knows, maybe if you’re good I’ll take you with me.” Victor answered.

“Really? Don’t go until you tell me okay?”

“I promise.”

Sergio like Sarah scampered away too. Tommy and Ashley then began to get rowdy.

“Victor, what about me? Take me too.” Tommy pleaded.

“I’ve been good too. Ask Angel. Yesterday I helped Chris make food for everyone.” Ashley made her case.

“You did? That is good. But you know what, Chris is probably making food right now, maybe you should give her a hand. You both are always good, maybe I’ll just have to take you all. I’ll have to think about it, but it depends on how good you guys are.”

Both kids looked at each other with presents in hand and ran into the building hoping to win Victor over. Angel sighed and turned to Victor.

“What are you doing? They are going to be so hurt when you leave.”

“What do you mean? I plan on taking them.” Victor explained. “I’m going to take you all to the city. It’s a lot safer than here. Unless, Angel have you been bad? Can’t take you if you’ve been naughty.”

“You plan on taking the entire gang to the city? Don’t get me wrong, sounds great but do you expect everyone to be okay with it?”

“I guess I didn’t think anybody would object. You haven’t seen the city, Angel. There’s order there. Some people even have homes with green gardens. There’s huge stores and living buildings, unlike the dead ruins we know. It’s a while away but worth the drive.”

“And the ravens and the war?”

“Global Cortex isn’t far from the city. By that I mean it’s a couple hundred miles away from there. Still closer to it than here. I still wouldn’t be living there entirely with you all, but I’d be able to visit more often and have the peace of mind knowing that you guys are safe.” Angel was smiling inadvertently, and didn’t realize it until he remembered he had to break his news to Victor. His smile faded. Victor’s smile did too. He brazed for what was coming next.

“Victor, I was going to do a job this afternoon. I was going to salvage a non-functional AC. I’m hoping some of it is still operational.” Angel said timidly. Victor laughed and turned around and began taking bags into his arm. Angel knew this treatment. Victor was dismissing him. Insulted Angel pressed.

“The AC is at the periphery of a battlefield. The battlefield is at a stand still so no one has ventured to retrieve it. But if we don’t act now the AC can be damaged further.” Victor began to walk away from the conversation but Angel followed and took Victor by the arm.

“Victor listen to me. I’m doing this-“ Angel burst out.

“Lower your voice.” Victor answered coldly and closed the open door to the factory. “You are not doing that. There is no more need, I’m a raven. We already got what we wanted.”

“I didn’t. You know I wanted to be a raven. You took it from me. It was my idea, remember?”

“You don’t want to be a raven, Angel. It’s not a game. I was lucky to make it. We are not risking your life unnecessarily. It’s silly.”

“It’s not silly. I’ve wanted it for years. You know I have. I didn’t argue with you about who should take the AC we built, because I trust you, brother. But I want what’s mine too, I’m sick of having to be protected by you. I’ve learned so much, I can help you Victor. I can help the family too.”

“You can help by staying out of trouble and being there for them.”

“You don’t get to do that. Don’t make my decisions for me! I’m sick of it. I’m strong too. You didn’t build that AC by yourself, I helped you every step of the way.”

“I became a raven so that you wouldn’t have to. Angel, it is not a game. Sinister was right. The AC battlefield is not like those in the slums. The slums are light years behind in the art of destruction and murder. Angel, I’ve killed more people than I can remember all within the last two weeks! Do you want to be a murderous marauder like me!?”

Angel’s heart jumped and hurt empathetically, but with the escalation of tempers he fired off his mouth before thinking.

“Maybe you didn’t think of the consequences. Maybe Chris isn’t the only fool. Did you think you’d talk conflicts out? Ravens are tools of war, Victor! I’m not you or your pet! Maybe I have thought about it before, and maybe I’ve been ready to be a killer all along. I have my own thoughts you know, but you wouldn’t know. You’re too busy barking orders. I’m ready to be a killer, Victor, I just need my tools-“

Victor’s wrath exploded and he grabbed his brother by the back his hair forcibly and slapped him across the face multiple times. Angel was in terrible pain but couldn’t fight back as his brother submitted him face first into the ground.

“Are you ready to be a killer? Are you a big man now? Is it really that easy to set your mind to destroy the life of human being. Destroying the millions of possibilities that a single life contains. Dominating their will and imposing your own. Look at me! Look at me you runt. Look at the face of a real killer! Is this your loving brother looking back at you?!”

Angel, although drowned in tears, blood, and shame, could recognize that the man looking back at him was far from being his gentle brother. Angel could do nothing more than to comply with the bully wearing his brother’s distorted face.

“No, no! I’m sorry. Please. I didn’t mean it. Please it hurts Victor, it hurts.” Angel pleaded frantically.

Victor snapped out of his fit of rage and realized exactly what he’d done. He let Angel up immediately. Just as he was about to apologize he thought about the conversation. He thought that perhaps it was better to leave the scared Angel to stew in his fear. Perhaps that would deter him from chasing the dream of becoming a raven. Fear: he had a problem with that word. Something felt dirty about doing that to his little brother. He remembered something he said long ago to his brother. Dominating with fear was wrong. His brother might be young and brash but he was entirely reliable and very smart. Was he wrong to follow a dream he’s had since childhood?

“I’m sorry, Angel. I became a raven so that you wouldn’t have to. Understand please. I love you. I don’t want you to feel the torments that I feel. Killing is a double edged sword: every time you take a life, you take a little part of you too. It hurts, you know. You’re right, I wasn’t ready for it. I was a fool. But I can’t fool myself any longer. There is a part of me that is dying, Angel.”

“There isn’t.” Angel sighed after swallowing hard and cleaning the dirt and blood from his nose. “Victor, we all love you because you are strong. This is beneath you. I know you mean to protect me. I’m sorry I said those things too. I said it without thinking. Know that, no, I don’t want to be a killer. But I don’t want to give up my dream either.”

“Angel-“ Victor began, irritated that his fit was fruitless.

“Just listen, okay? I was just mad and stupid. I admit it. But there are so many real reasons for me to become a raven. Is it not safer to work together with me, your trusted brother? What if something happens to you? Who else would we fall back on? I can’t change things from the outside, but once inside do I not have as good a chance as anybody to be the white knight? Can I not set an example? We could work together to ensure the war never reaches our family. We’re stronger together. And there is also the fact that I am the brother that you practically raised. We’ve shared everything. How can I help you with your demons if I can’t even relate? Before Chris and even after, was I not one of your most trusted confidants? We discuss everything and always come out the better for it. You’ve protected me my entire life, now let me try to do the same for you. You shouldn’t carry the family’s burden all by your self.”

“You aren’t leaving anywhere today.” Victor said assertively. Angel sighed despairingly. “Today we spend time with the family. Tomorrow we’ll see what we can do to salvage that AC, okay?”

_____________________________________________________

[gomezcreative01]

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Armored Core: Silent Calamity
Chapter 9
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School Yard

“Your family is nice.” Sylvia complemented Victor as they walked down the Global Cortex hall ways.

Victor’s vacation was over. It was time to get back to work. The last mission had paid for the rooming expenses for the crew for as much as a month. Twenty-something individuals cramped into 4 apartments in the same complex. Victor had earned more money than he had seen in his entire life during the last mission, but taking care of that many individuals was not an easy task. Luckily the gang was not composed of free-loaders. Many felt the need to alleviate Victor in his duties and quickly took to looking for jobs to be able to repay his kindness, or so Chris had explained that morning to Victor over the telephone. Given that the gang didn’t have many marketable skills, or at least not legal marketable skills, this was proving a challenge for the crew. Still Sylvia and Victor had only been back to Global Cortex for three days. Victor and Sylvia only spent 3 nights with the gang before Sylvia suggested that they get back to work.

“They really are great. Did you meet the kids? They are hilarious.” Victor responded. They walked up the hallway slowly. There was more to their slow leisurely walk than just exchanging pleasantries. They were headed toward the Arena. Two days ago both Sylvia and Victor received a mass mailing on their POCs.

From: Global Cortex

'To all unranked ravens,
A recent wave of turbulence within the Nest has opened many ranked positions within the Raven’s Arena. Global Cortex is always interested in demonstrating the strength, skill, and variety of the ravens within the fold. This recent upheaval of many up and coming ravens on the field pleases us highly, and proves we have many willing and ambitious pilots with a great deal of unexplored potential jumping to show us, our clients, and the rest of the ravens what they are capable of. Two days from now on March 7, 20XX at 1000 hours, we will begin a series of matches to determine who deserves the ranking positions left vacant as of late within the Arena. Good luck.'

Sylvia explained to Victor that they couldn’t miss that event. Earning one of those positions meant securing a lot more missions from big wigs. She also explained how they were responsible for the “recent upheaval”. That Pestilence was ranked 49 in the arena. Ana had also shared that Hyruler’s pilot, King, was ranked 42 in the arena.

Both friends were really nervous about who or what they were going to meet there. Now approaching the intended office through the mostly empty white hallways, both Sylvia and Victor went oddly silent. Their pleasantries stopped, and they began to feel a savage but caged emotion emanating from the office. It is said that animals are able to at times sense the blood lust of their predators before any of their other senses detect their stalker. Comforted only by their mutual presence and urged by the shame of their fear they pressed on without a moment’s hesitation.
Victor and Sylvia turned the corner and counted three pilot suits immediately. Two of them were standing next to each other and talking loudly and reading over each other descriptions on their POC’s. They seemed friendly enough, if slightly boorish. The third, however, made a stronger impression on Victor. He had draping curly black hair and a pronounced forehead, which at the moment was wrinkled slightly. The man was sitting with his arms crossed and his eyes studying the competition thoroughly. The moment Victor and Sylvia walked in the icy calculating stare cut to them immediately.

“My guess is you lot will be the only to show up, but we won’t start until 10 o’ clock. To my experience all ravens show up early to arrangements like this. I’m surprised, though, I was expecting a bigger turnout. I guess most realized who’d be here. Three deaths of ranking ravens by rookies in three days, I guess the other rookies understood the strength of the competition. “ The clerk behind the counter explained.

The clerk was a young and groomed man with light brown hair and light complexion. He sat behind a counter and wore the familiar Global Cortex employee uniform, a grey outfit with dark grey trimming. He cleaned his glasses and finished his announcement, “three rookies are responsible for the death of three ranked ravens, almost immediately after induction into the fold. It’s ridiculous. Begs the question: do you guys like your odds?” The man looked up at the pilots mockingly. Everybody was looking at him now. “I know who the pilots responsible are too. Exceptional pilots they are. I’d hate to be paired up against those responsible for this event.” He mocked further. “Hmmm, I guess there are still 25 minutes left until we begin.”

All the pilots grabbed a seat. They stared at each other intently. Nobody’s stare loitered on any one pilot for longer than a second. The satyr’s prank was successful, and although Victor knew the clerk was really having a laugh now he couldn’t stop himself from examining his competition as if his life depended on it. He and Sylvia were responsible for two vacancies. But who was the third? Victor’s left arm and leg began shaking. Fear had poisoned his body. Quickly before anyone could notice he took a deep breath and tensed his muscles for a second then relaxed them all at once. He was going to fight the anxiety. As his muscles relaxed and his spasms came under control he looked at the situation from a new perspective. He alone was responsible for one vacancy. No. He was responsible for nearly two of them. Not even the third vacancy culprit could claim that! He was in good shape. He stopped looking around and relaxed. Almost an instant later he felt the uncomfortable sting of the clerk’s stare on him. He turned to him and confirmed his feeling. It is hard to tell for just how long the clerk had been staring at him. The clerk looked away lazily and looked at the clock.

“Pestilence, rank 49. King, rank 42.” The clerk began announcing in a loud nonchalant voice. The damn sorcerer was reading Victor’s mind! Still, what came next was worst than the intrusion into Victor’s mind, “Iron Eagle, rank 34. All dead in combat.”

Another raven in the room took out someone eight ranks higher than King! Victor gulped and as if on command all of his muscles tensed up again. The clerk smiled proudly after peeking at Victor’s reaction.

“Apathy, he’s just distracting us. We should use this time wisely. Lets look up everybody in the room. The arena only recognizes the top 50 ravens, but we all have public files. Look.” Sylvia’s voice was unsteady but gained confidence as she directed Victor through her POC. They began scrolling through a long list of registered ravens. They had to open each file individually for a picture to be displayed, one they could match to the faces staring back at them. Sylvia broke the clerk’s spell by opting for proaction, and so everybody took out their POCs and began looking for information on their opponents. “Mostly you’ll only find their AC setups, but I think that is all we really need to know anyway.”

Victor and Sylvia began looking for the contenders and exchanged information with each other.

“Look, that man with the curly hair is Renegade, AC is Anarchy.” Sylvia showed Victor her findings. Renegade, the ominous loner, looked up at them as he heard his name mentioned. He gave both Sylvia and Victor a hardened steely gaze. Victor’s blood went cold. “He’s got 14 missions under his belt. Mission success rate is 93%. That is really good. Apparently the only mission he failed was one were he was supposed to protect some cargo- wait, lemme see.” Sylvia began fiddling with her POC. “Yep, I knew it. Mirage’s cargo. They were transporting a prototype AC part.”

“He stole it.” Victor finished Sylvia’s thought.

“That’s right. It’s not an uncommon practice. Adding the successful coup on Mirage’s cargo, I’d say his success rate is more like 100%, wouldn’t you?” Sylvia said unenthusiastically. “Lets not get hung up on that. AC setup: Middleweight AC. Standard legs. Packs a bazooka, and a heavy laser blade. Yes, that laser blade is the stolen prototype- something called the Moonlight. Victor if you are matched up with him avoid that thing at all costs, it sounds dangerous. Radar is standard too. A missile pack-“ Snickering interrupted Sylvia’s analysis. Sylvia and Victor turned to the two pilots that were talking earlier. It was obvious they had found Victor and Sylvia’s profiles too as they were laughing and staring at them. They laughed and even pointed more obviously once they had been caught in the act. Victor and Sylvia were being ridiculed. Sylvia raised her hand and slowly but deliberately gave them the middle finger. Victor was insulted but ignored the two.

“Haha, I guess you guys are becoming acquainted.” The clerk began laughing too, then turned to Sylvia and Victor and directed his laugh at them too. Sylvia was too shocked to respond as she did with the pilots. After a good laugh the clerk began explaining his laughter like a man with an incomprehensible joke. “Haha, Cupid, one mission, one success. Apathy, one mission, one success. One mission’s experience?”

He began laughing heavily again, and so did the two other pilots. But after catching his breath the clerk continued, “Rico, 9 missions, 8 successes.” One of the two laughing pilots got quiet. “Racer, 12 missions 9 successes.” Both pilots looked at the clerk intently as if trying to decipher him. He turned to them with a friendly demeanor and spoke at them loud enough for everyone to hear “if you look at those two’s ACs you’ll see that they haven’t even modded them since the initiation! Their parts are so cheap!” He began laughing hard at his own joke, and the other two confused pilots turned to each other again and burst out laughing too.

As they quieted down again, the clerk out of breath ended his thought, “Those two were responsible for two of the vacancies on the Arena roster. One of which was during an initiation test. With those shitty AC’s!” He began laughing again loudly. The other two pilots did not. They turned to the Victor and Sylvia immediately with a look of disbelief.

“Hey, I hear there is a special breakfast deal this morning. I think if you leave now, you can still catch it.” The clerk stopped dead in his laugh and told the two jokesters in a bored voice. The two pilots looked at each other insulted and defeated. One of them motioned the other to the door with his head and began walking out. The other followed close behind. The clerk delivered the final punch line dryly after they cleared the room, “I hate paperwork. Best to thin the herd.”

“But now we are only three left. There are three spots? Are we just ranked just like that?” Sylvia interjected after celebrating the forfeit of the two pilots by bidding them farewell with both middle fingers enthusiastically.

“I guess. If no one shows up by ten. Five minutes left.” Sylvia shrieked in excitement and looked at Victor. “But you guys would need to be ranked anyway, so I wouldn’t celebrate just yet.”

“Psh, who cares? We made it!” Sylvia dismissed as they ran out the clock.

The clerk finally sighed and got up. Everyone else followed.

“Well I guess it’s tim-“ The clerk was interrupted by a red headed freckled man in a pilot suit. The man had a boyish, youthful, and handsome face. He walked into the office slow and dramatically. He looked up at the clerk. Quickly and pointedly he then glanced around at everyone present, then turned back to the clerk and spoke.

“You thought I’d miss this party?” The almost whispered words echoed in everyone’s head. The clerk began laughing. To everyone’s surprise so did the red head.

“Damn it, Sean. You messed up my cool entrance! I’ve been waiting outside the stupid office for 10 minutes straight; I wanted to get it just right.”

“Who the hell is this clown?” Sylvia said almost instinctively. The red head turned to Sylvia and eyed her from head to toe.

“I’ll be whoever you want me to be, gorgeous.”

“This is Heir. AC pilot extraordinaire.” The clerk rolled his eyes as he said the statement.

“Damn it Sean. Say it like you mean it!” The red head turned to the clerk. “I hope you realize I am not paying you now. We even practiced yesterday! You were doing it fine then. Pfft, whatever, without the proper entrance that statement wouldn’t have worked anyway. Oh, that’s right! I still got you your breakfast like you asked. They had a special on the pancakes.” Heir stepped out of the room and brought in a bag with a food box and placed it on the clerk’s desk.

“Great. You guys don’t mind if I chow down while I walk you through this, right?” The clerk said as he opened his breakfast.

“What the hell is going on? Am I in the right office?” Sylvia pouted indignantly.

“Yeah, unranked ravens looking to rank.” The clerk, Sean, said calmly. Sylvia threw up her arms annoyed and took a seat. Everyone followed her lead.

“Cupid, Heir, Apathy, Renegade.” The clerk pointed them all out as he announced their pilot names. Heir jumped to his feet and pointed at Victor.
“You mean Quasimodo here is Apathy?” He shouted surprised. Sylvia angered got up and pushed him into his chair. Victor got up and took a hold of Sylvia and sat her down.

“It’s okay, really.” Victor whispered to her.

“You’re going to let him talk to you like that?” She scoffed.

“Yes. We are here for another reason, right?” Victor said coldly and assertively. Sylvia stared intently at the resolved Victor and nodded.

“Oh, I get it. She’s your girlfriend. Nice catch man, really. I don’t suppose you’d match me for her?” Heir said in a strangely serious tone.

“She’s not-“ Victor began but was interrupted by Sean, the clerk.

“Quiet! We are here to award the 50th, 49th, and the 48th positions in the Arena’s roster to three of you.” Everybody became quiet. Sean seemed to be all business now. Everybody felt his scrutinizing stare. “Now, there are four of you and I was given full authority to conduct this event as I pleased.” Everybody looked at each other as if preparing mentally for the battles ahead. “Now, how shall we do this? Any requests?” Immediately after the question Heir jumped to his feet and pointed once again at Victor.

“I want Apathy!”

“Damn it all, Heir. Do you ever use your inside voice? I was talking about the ranking itself. Usually we hold a tournament for a single vacancy on the roster, winner takes the vacancy. This time though, there are more positions open. I figured a league style match up would be more appropriate.”

“So we’d all eventually fight everybody?” Sylvia thought out loud.

“Yes. Today you’ll fight one contender, then tomorrow a different one after repairs, and we’d end on the day after that with the final matches.” Everyone nodded. Sean smiled devilishly again, “As per Heir’s request, the match ups for today will be Heir vs Apathy and Cupid vs Renegade.”
“Yes!” Heir clenched his fist and stared Victor down laughing. “You will get to witness my amazing skills and cool battle style., Apathy. You best bring your best moves, cuz we are going to dance!”

Victor had to contain his laughter. Heir’s clever word choice didn’t seem to have been meant to amuse.

“Let’s get started.”

Apathy sat in the now familiar cockpit lay out of Vivify. About a kilometer away but still easily distinguishable stood the opposing mech: Magnificent. It was a light brown AC with dark purple trimming. It was Heir’s masterpiece, or so he made it seem like.

Victor’s walk towards the hangar was painfully narrated by Heir‘s colorful commentary. He went on bragging about Magnificent and even went as far as to describe his specs to Victor, simply to make him understand just how “cool” of an AC it was. “…so I found this one other machine gun with an 800 round capacity! I was like duh! Problem solved. Really Apathy, I can’t believe you don’t know what Extensions are. I have some on my AC, they give me an edge. They are support missiles that are fired with my main missile weapon. They are pretty sweet. Seriously, this battle is going to be epic. I’m fast and aggressive! You better be ready for my onslaught. I’m also very unpredictable, that’s what people tell me about my battle style. That’s why Magnificent and I are such a deadly combo…”

Heir was a little tiring, but Victor liked him. He seemed painfully honest and even during his extremely long brags he didn’t sound condescending at all. He seemed like a child looking to impress adults. He talked without a filter and with an in-exhaustible energy. Victor was ready for Heir though. Heir hardly seemed to have any of the qualities inherent in a raven. Most hurtful to his case, Heir didn’t seem very bright. Victor felt extremely confident about his battle, and at the moment was a little more worried about how Sylvia was doing in a separate arena. She had to fight Renegade, a seasoned fighter. He could only hope that she’d be okay.

Both Magnificent and Vivify stood on opposite sides of a huge circular arena with an extremely high roof. The arena was nearly as tall as it was wide. It was built to give maximum mobility to the ACs. It was painted various shades of brown and the single circular wall was mostly flat except for the entrance, a reinforced steel metallic door, and the occasional beam, which caused a protrusion on the wall to hold the structure together. As Victor contemplated the breathtaking view, his intercom beeped. Victor felt this was to announce the beginning of combat and clenched his controls rapidly.

“Isn’t this cool? The silent moment before the crash of battle? The magnitude which can only be compared to the eye of a hurricane. Silent and calm, but only a step away from the perfect storm.” Heir’s voice echoed through the intercom. Victor sighed annoyed. Did Heir truly have no off switch? What could he possibly have left to say after the eternally long rant towards the hangar?

“I guess, but you ruined the silent part by talking.” Victor said half annoyed and half amused by Heir.

“Aww, damn. You’re right! That’s not cool. Oh well, I just wanted to know if you were thinking the same thing. Were you? Oh, and what do you think of Magnificent, pretty cool, right?”

“Yes, he is. But did you stop to think that I’m your opponent, Heir? Why did you describe him in so much detail? You practically gave me all of its specs. Most ravens would try to keep that information a secret for as long as possible. The element of surprise as it were.”

“Well, so it could be fair. I know all of your specs. Your AC is terrible. It’s only redeeming quality is the rocket launcher. I want this moment to last.” Heir’s tone became uncharacteristically focused.

“How do you know-“ Victor was interrupted by a loud signaling cue.

“Raven’s be ready.” The stranger’s voice warned, most likely the operator.
The main screen on Apathy’s cockpit flashed a final set of commands signaling the end of the “silent” wait:

“Ready.”

“Go!”

Immediately after the final cue a loud whirring sound was heard from Magnificent as he boosted forward. A second later Heir’s AC exploded in a burst of speed that far surpassed the speed of a normal boost. A large white glint trailed behind Magnificent’s core. Shocked Apathy hardly had an opportunity to react before Magnificent was within hostile range. The chocolate colored AC had closed in on Vivify and was now halfway across the large arena. Round cylindrical protrusions from its shoulders opened a rotary compartment that revealed missile tips waiting anxiously. A flat heart shaped shoulder weapon on top of Magnificent’s shoulder twitched into what Apathy instinctively recognized as a ready position. Still moving at a high speed, Magnificent shot two missiles from the heart shaped shoulder weapon, and two from each shoulder extension.

Apathy kicked the booster and crossed his joystick right, but given the speed of the events his actions were all too slow. Six successful explosions shook Vivify and Apathy. Smoke blinded Apathy’s main screen, but a series of loud PINGS cued Apathy to action. Heir’s machine gun rounds had shorter and shorter intervals between each successive hit. He was closing in!

Vivify continued his boost right, but after much thought a second kick on the petal boosted him into the sky in a diagonal to escape the smoke. Once reaching a good vintage point and after hearing the last of Magnificent machine gun’s fire Apathy began frantically trying to get a hold of the situation. Unfortunately, the current attack was far from being under control. To Apathy’s horror Magnificent was airborne too, and now practically Vivify’s arm length away.

The crackling sound two heated blades crossing each other and tearing into the combating titans echoed through the cockpit of both contenders. Apathy’s instinctive reflex on the left trigger was practically miraculous given the speed of the occurring events. Heir’s blade strike caused Vivify’s radiator to cross its threshold. The spec screen in Apathy’s cockpit began signaling a heat overload along with the startling news that Vivify had just lost about 40% of its Armor Points within the first ten seconds of combat! Additionally, the heat excess was burning slowly through some more of the AC’s integrity.

“Going to have to do better than that, Apathy.” The Heir Victor knew was gone. In his place a collected and focused raven had sprout. “Show me the strength that bested Pestilence and King.” Magnificent dropped from the height of their flight onto the floor with a loud crash followed by the hydraulic click signaling its safe landing. The landing startled the now wired and extremely sensitive Apathy. Still airborne and almost afloat directly above Magnificent Apathy mustered the strength to fight his shock and ask the question.

“Who are you?”

“Your bitter rival. This is where our story begins.”

Hydraulic hisses signaled the end of conversation. Both rivals backpedaled simultaneously as if part of a choreographed performance. Truth was that both pilots recognized the maneuver as the fastest route to lock on to their foe.

“The pilot Apathy doesn’t stand a chance. This is really the match you were so adamant about us not missing?” A man in a suit asked the clerk Sean.

A large group of people in suits and Sean sat around a large high definition screen. In the screen one could see the exchange of fire between both contenders. This feed was being fed live through various cameras behind a highly shielded glass casing in the arena with the pilots and some unmanned filming drones skimming the battlefield.

“These two pilots, ladies and gentlemen, are among the strongest we have ever inducted. Their skill far surpasses that of any fledgling. Heir or William McDowell, excommunicated son of James McDowell. Mr. McDowell is, as you know, one of biggest CEO’s of Mirage Corporation. He began training his son on a company built AC and groomed him to be a tool for their interests from an early age. The boy’s enthusiasm and skill for AC piloting far surpassed their expectations. But as is the case with most ravens, Heir took flight and stole his Mirage funded war machine. Mr. McDowell embittered placed a contract on his son’s life. The contract was taken by one of our top pilots, Iron Eagle, ranking 34 in the arena. Iron eagle intercepted Heir on a routine bodyguard mission. This was the boy’s second mission after a successful protection of Crest’s interest, where he took down a rookie raven employed by Mirage. Mirage’s contract on Heir proved to be Iron Eagle’s last mission. He died at the hands of this boy.”

“Okay, so the boy is good, what about the other?” An impatient suit asked.

“Apathy, a.k.a Victor Valentino. Born and raised in the ruins of Old Zam. Atypical street thug. Lead a respectable gang in those slums. Highly respected by rivals for his intelligence. He built his AC painstakingly part by part with battle scraps and with the help of another high ranking pilot within our fold. During his initiation test, with little to no experience piloting an AC, he practically took out Pestilence, rank 49, single-handedly. In his first mission, he took part of a Mirage funded strike on Crest’s interests, the very same first mission Heir took only from the opposing force. He was the only surviving pilot employed by Mirage for the mission. He killed King, rank 42, during this mission. His growth has been exponential. Ladies and gentlemen, these two pilots hold incredible potential. And as you are interested in the most exceptional of our pilots, Global Cortex feels that these two are among our best. For the time being, they are also very cheap since they are no more than two missions into their careers.”

“But when compared, I still can’t see Apathy’s relevance.” A suit pointed out.

“I don’t expect Apathy will win this match, sir. But I disagree. Apathy is at a big disadvantage, both in equipment and experience, but not skill. He wasn’t groomed to pilot as his opponent, Heir, was. But given a short amount of time he will prove just as capable a pilot, I assure you. That is my personal guarantee to you, it would do you all well to employ him and push him to his limits. He will not disappoint you. Both these pilots hold incredible potential.”

Apathy was sweating profusely. What began as cold sweat born of fear quickly turned into hot steam fueled by an agitated and extremely active body within the cockpit. Apathy was all business now and had taken to the steep learning curve that was combat with Heir, AC pilot extraordinaire. Apathy, smiled momentarily at the thought of the red headed fool that had walked in the office that morning. That foolish child had layers and depth that were now beginning to show. Apathy was ashamed of having underestimated that man.

Vivify’s AP was plummeting and soon Apathy’s machine would have no more fight left in it. Magnificent on the other hand hardly seemed to wear any battle scars. One slash of the beam blade and one lucky volley with a rocket had been all Apathy had been able to land on his opponent. Apathy was too busy trying to avoid the hell fire that was Magnificent’s missile barrage and his machine gun fire. Apathy, was focusing all of his energies on taking defensive maneuvers. He hardly had a chance to fight back. Magnificent was stronger, better equipped and faster than Vivify. How could Apathy possibly win? Apathy shook his head violently and with it his crippling doubt. He resolved on not letting the match finish before he did good on Heir’s high expectations of him.

Heir’s mobility was incredible. Any time Vivify approached Magnificent, he’d blast away with the powerful boost that blind sighted him at the beginning of combat. This powerful boost was disorienting for Apathy, but empowering for Heir for he always kept his sight on Vivify. If Apathy was to win, he’d have to cut Magnificent’s mobility. That was nearly impossible in the huge arena that served as their battlefield. With Heir’s high mobility hiding Magnificent in Vivify’s peripheries and back side, and his unrelenting fire, Apathy could hardly detach himself enough from the current battle happenings to organize a plan. Vivify was now at 3000 AP and still being whittled down further by the tag of multiple machine gun rounds. The beginning of a plan began surfacing in Apathy’s mind and above the pandemonium that was the battle field.

Vivify, on the floor now after many aerial lariats which kept the damage from the unceasing machine gun fire in check, began boosting backwards towards the nearest wall. Apathy now with the wall of the arena to its back was able to see everything ahead of him and would not take any more damage from behind. Apathy had cut the places where Heir could hide significantly (in theory), but now he was faced with the daunting task of overpowering a stronger AC foe in a strict contest of power.

Apathy didn’t have much time to think about this as six missiles were already in pursuit of him and now instants away from blasting him. A quick instinctive look at the energy gauge stood the hairs on Apathy’s back. The unfortunate message “Charging” prompted Apathy to kick his petal to jump into the sky. Jumping was still a function available on his AC even without energy. This was lesson he learned through the course of that very same battle. Magnificent’s energy supply was larger than Vivify’s, and Heir had run Apathy’s machine dry a couple of times already.

The jump was done just in the nick of time and the six missiles crashed into the wall and expelled cement debris and fire away from the crash site on the wall. Heir, unrelenting was already in pursuit of Vivify and after the familiar priming whirring sound, Magnificent exploded in Vivify’s direction. Vivify still airborne but lacking energy defended itself the only way it could and shot a well aimed series of rocket volleys. The first missed, the second hit Manificent’s core, and the third nicked its right arm. The arm jerked hard from the scrape given the high speed of the colliding objects.

This sealed the machine gun fire that was about to rain on Vivify, but only for a moment. This bought enough time for Vivify to land back on its feet. Magnificent was only moments away from striking range with its blade. Apathy moved to the second phase of his quickly assembled plan.
Vivify jumped once again narrowly avoiding Magnificent’s flaring laser blade. The blade cauterized the cement wall behind Vivify. Additionally Magnificent’s inertia caused the AC to crash to stop against the cement wall. The shock caused the AC to lag for a moment before it could respond to Heir’s commands. Vivify still airborne had only a small window to do its dirty deed, and Heir would not be stupid enough to allow Apathy a second attempt at this coup.

Originally Apathy was planning on using his booster to press Magnificent into the wall and immobilizing it for a second but that was no longer an option with no energy. Adapting to the situation Apathy twisted Vivify as it jumped so that now airborne, Vivify was looking at Heir’s back. Apathy aimed his rockets and quickly shot them all the while keeping an open eye for his true objective: Magnificent’s boosters. The boosters unfortunately could barely be seen peeking from under a protective shield on the lower part of Magnificent’s core. The rocket volleys, however, began landing on Magnificent’s core and slowly began closing in on the shield and the boosters it protected. Had Heir not crashed into the wall and delayed Magnificent’s response, this opportunity would have been long over by now. Fortunately for Apathy, Heir had done all of his work for him and paralyzed his own AC. Four successive hits from the air began warping the shield and hurting the boosters slightly.

“Shit!” Heir’s frustrated voice was heard through the intercom.

Upon landing on the floor Vivify had a better view of the boosters behind a cracked and warped shield. Unfortunately Magnificent had regained mobility and had begun to move. A quick glance at the energy monitor revealed that Vivify was still a ways away from gaining use of his boosters. Without more pause than that used for the quick glance, Apathy took aim of the booster on the recovered but still slightly addled Magnificent. He shot two shots in sequence. One, which tore the shield protecting the booster like a rag. The second shot followed the first’s trajectory and hit the boosters directly. A loud crack and hiss verified the success of Apathy’s campaign. Heir in the opposite cockpit without knowledge of the severity of the transgression kicked his petal to boost away from the site of his shameful beating. A loud explosion and whistling warned him that he was still in the woods. Apathy saw Magnificent’s boosters bleed sparks and a weak dirty flame. Black smoke crawled out of the injured part as if to be the booster’s final breath.

Heir was quick to think on his feet and jumped, as Apathy had, to become a moving target. His AC began twisting around in the air but was harpooned mid rotation and mid-air by Vivify. Apathy moments before was waiting for only one thing, the charging of his generator to be done. Immediately after the completion of the charge, Apathy kicked his petal twice and tackled Magnificent into the concrete. Once again, Heir was immobilized. The left side of Magnificent’s body had dug into the concrete. Vivify pulled immediately back and began shooting rocket volleys. Cornered but not eager to be outdone, Heir took aim with his right arm and began firing back with his machine gun while frantically trying to squirm free. The familiar whir within Magnificent’s core let Apathy know he didn’t have long before Heir broke free. Two rocket volleys hit the immobilized AC and a third hit him on his way out using the violent boost to escape the concrete. Debris fell from the burrow left behind by Magnificent’s violent exit.

All the while Heir’s steady trigger hand and finger kept locked on Vivify. Apathy turned to his spec monitor and realized he was now at 2309 AP. Still, from watching Heir’s battle pattern he was sure he could not use the strong boost again for a while and that he had to rest his AC after each time he used it. Things were looking up, Apathy now held the high ground in the mobility turf.

Far away in a crowded room, jaws were dropping. Even Sean was amazed at how well Apathy had leveled the playing field. Sean taking a quick look around turned to the many suits in the room and made an announcement with a big grin on his face.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the future of Global Cortex. The finest warriors money can buy!”

Upon landing with a long screeching halt on the battle ground, and after being forced into fleeing, Heir switched his weapon to the missiles. Locking on a quickly approaching Vivify he fired what he realized was the last of the missiles in his reserves. Apathy, too close, to react was hit with the full power of the missiles.

Unwavering, however, his rockets poked holes out of the thick grey smoke screen lifted by the missiles’ impact on Vivify. Heir, blind sighted too, took the full assault of three rockets. The veil of smoke produced still one more surprise, an emerging Vivify at full speed as if he never stopped his trajectory for a second. The shocked Heir froze for a second and was tagged by fourth rocket strike. Heir’s cockpit began screaming in pain. The siren signaled Magnificent’s final 702 Armor Points. In the opposite cockpit a siren had gone off long ago, Vivify’s AP was at 512. Vivify was reaching striking distance with his beam blade.

Once again, two blades lit up and slashed savagely. Vivify’s blade was backed by the power of a boost, Magnificent’s only by the power of its legs. The crackling sound of a single blade reaching its target resonated within the arena. A loud siren signaled the end of combat. One AC lay on its knees hissing smoke. Defeated and beat almost entirely to death. The lifeless object lay surprisingly inanimate. The opposite AC stood in all its glory, strong and with fight still left in it. Both AC’s, however, had been stopped from an office overseeing the events after the final blow was dealt to avoid a fatal attack.

Both pilots returned to the original office they met in that morning. Both pilots walked together and even sat in the office together. Neither spoke, even the lively Heir couldn’t muster the energy to say a word. Both still seemed to be bursting with the adrenaline rush of their match. Shaking hands and jittery legs kept both pilots uncomfortable in the empty and silent room.

Minutes later Sylvia ran into the room with a huge grin on her face. Both looked up almost somberly but relieved that their waiting was over.

“That idiot only has a scary face! But his face alone wasn’t enough to keep me from winning! Mwahahahaha, you both are next!” Sylvia’s adrenaline rush had manifested itself differently than in the other two pilots.

“That’s pretty big talk, Cupid. As I saw it, the fight was pretty even, in fact, your Sharpshot is going to cost a pretty penny to repair. But nothing like these two’s. Their ACs are practically scraps of charred metal.” Sean commented as he calmly walked into the office. “Renegade won’t be coming. He was sore about losing to Cupid. But he assured me he’d be prepared tomorrow to take it out on who ever faced him next.”

“How’d it go?” Sylvia asked Victor impatiently.

“Ranking is done. Our now ranked ravens did exceptionally in battle and show tremendous promise. I’m sure they will climb the ranks within the arena in no time. The results for the contest were fairly linear, but far from boring. One contender won every one of his matches, the second only lost to the first. Finally the last ranking contender demonstrated extreme aptitude but was bested by the first two. The final raven did not win a single match, but do not let that discredit his skill. This round of competing ravens proved to be one of the fiercest and most competitive in a long time. I have high hopes for the future of the Nest.”

Back in his room, Victor looked at the list of the Top 50 arena contenders in his POC:

46) Rajin
47) Wristcutter
48) Heir
49) Apathy
50) Cupid

Victor sat down on his bed without removing his eyes from the POC. He was proud about earning a rank in the Nest’s elite, but the sweetness of this feat was embittered by the first defeat of his career. Had the battle been held outside the safety of the arena, he would not have been able to be contemplating his defeat. He’d likely be dead and unable to go back to his beloved Chris, Angel, and the rest of the gang. After all the love they showered on him, was this the way he planned on showing his gratitude? Dying on the field, and perhaps leaving his family with the painful and slow task of figuring for themselves that he’d died.

Victor would not allow that to happen. He was given the chance of losing a battle without losing with it his life. He would not let it go to waste. He would just have to resolve to become stronger so that his worst fears would not come to being. The ring at his door woke him from his reflection. Victor got up and opened the door. Sylvia had become a frequent visitor to his room, even after he defeated her. She had been claiming for the past couple of days that it was nothing but luck. Still, her demeanor towards Victor had not changed. She still acted like the boss of him. Victor didn’t mind though, he knew she didn’t mean anything by it. She was a good friend, she just had a big personality- it was part of her charm.

The door slid open. But before it was fully open the voice from behind was already talking.

“Room 307, huh? Cool. Whoa, hey Apathy! Man, you need to hire a decorator seriously. Just because you are a mercenary it don’t mean you should sleep in such a sad and empty room. Anyways, have you recovered from our epic battle yet? I feel like I can barely speak, you know? I’m so glad you are my rival, and not some two bit loser-“ Heir greeted.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Victor said impatiently and still bitter about his defeat.

“Had to check my main man’s fortress of solitude. Come to think of it, you don’t need a decorator. This place fits you. The dark and reserved and tortured thing looks good on you. Makes you more interesting when I tell people, you know, when I tell them about my rival.”

“Rival? We’re not rivals, we’ve only had one confrontation.”

“With many more to come. You can’t deny it. Our chemistry is undeniable. Our battle was amazing. Made me and even you cooler just for surviving it. It was so close. Oh, and so exciting! Not that AC battles are ever boring, but seriously they could write a novel about us. Best seller I tell ya.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be so rude. It’s just, I’m not handling my loss too well.” Victor apologized.

“Pfft, don’t worry about it, you’ll get me next time. Then I’ll take the next one. It’s what rivals do.” Heir laughed. He stopped his laugh shortly and changed his expression entirely. “I can’t stop thinking about the fight. I almost feel like I lost. My AC was better built than yours to boot. Our final attack: the only reason I won was because my Halbred, my beam blade, has a longer range than your blade. I admit I took it easy in the beginning of the match since you were ill equipped to fight me, but you turned the tables on me. You seriously cornered me, and made me pay for my cockiness. You showed me some amazing new moves. Our rivalry definitely will help us grow in ways we wouldn’t otherwise be able to. Are you ready for it?” Victor smiled at the honest sentiment.

“I would love nothing more. Err, in the spirit of this rivalry, would you mind teaching me how you boosted so fast in your AC?” Victor asked nervously. Heir’s expression transformed. Like a child that is finally indulged in his cries for attention, Heir smiled a very sincere wide smile and responded.

“Haha, totally. I knew you had no idea what it was! Our next match will be more exciting once you add that move to your repertoire. It’s called an over boost, originally an emergency escape function. Most ravens don’t use it effectively if at all, they find it archaic. But I really think it is a powerful tool in combat. It’s a function that only certain cores have, mostly Crest manufactured designs, yours is actually one of them. Let me show you.”

Heir walked into the room and the door shut behind the two rivals.

[gomezcreative01]

_____________________________________________________
Armored Core: Silent Calamity
Chapter 10
___________
Past It

It’s a trap! Thinking and talking about the past. But nobody would like to hear it. She used to fall for it too. Begging for the tales of father. The great war hero, and leader among men; sensible, strong, gentle and all that business. Victor Valentino was a hell of a pilot, or so she had been led to believe. She probably wouldn’t stand a chance in a match against him. On the other hand, she couldn’t help but to doubt his “greatness”. Battle is rough, blinding, and very hard to recall. Survivors are hardly credible sources. It is possible that with all the retellings that the exploits and the story grew larger than life.

Heroes! Who’s to say he was a hero anyhow? Death and mayhem. Those countless enemies he felled, they are nothing more than victims. Dirty scum they were, but still just victims felled before their time. She hated them all. Ravens, like her, are a cancer in this world. Without her kind, death might once again come naturally.

Angel is different. A raven nearly God-sent. He took only on missions that benefit those down-trodden. His money was covered in the blood of large corporations, the other disease of the world. Of course, this made him an enemy of powerful groups. She didn’t envy his position. He routinely thwarted contracts on his life. She feared for him, but it was comforting to know that he carried the weight of his title, Ninebreaker, solidly. The title is held only by the number 1 rank raven in the arena. Word is that the title dates back to a raven-hero of sorts, Leos-something or another. Defeated some big bad by the name of Nineball. Freed mankind from oppression, or restored their free will or some bullshit. The story is one as grand as that of Apathy. Old and retold, probably remixed and expanded too.

She was nothing if not burdened by shame. She felt shame carrying the pilot name of a grand figure, and not nearly deserving it. She felt shame carrying the name and trade of a murderer. Shame for her feelings toward him. She was ashamed in her impotence to understand the reasons behind her father’s decisions.

How was Angel different? He was a murderer too. He was, but he was also a protector. Who’s to blame the man that will fight to the death for the good of people? She was assured that that is exactly what Victor did. But she couldn’t see it. Every time she pilots the Revivify, she saw what he saw. Felt what he felt. Explosion. Fire. Smoke. Death. Destruction. Ruin. She knew he saw and felt it too- he bloomed in it. Angel too, but Angel’s eyes couldn’t be sweeter, hardened as they were. He still nobly bragged about how great his brother and fallen comrades were. Was Angel to lie to her? Angel loved her. That alone wouldn’t keep him from lying to her though. He could lie to protect her from the truth.

She loved her father. Never met the bastard, but he sounded like a great man. Fighting for justice, defeating great evils, and dying ultimately fighting for what is right. Angel made it easy to understand. One look into his eyes and his smile, and she could see the purity behind his intentions. Her father wasn’t offered the same chance. She had turned into a vile raven because of an ideal and a man that can’t even guide, council, or comfort her!

She didn’t hate her father. She hated herself. She couldn’t carry the name. It is much too heavy. She was all show. Not nearly strong enough to pause evil, and not nearly pure enough try. She couldn’t even reveal her identity as her uncle’s niece! She feared death more than the disgrace and shame. She wondered if her uncle was disappointed in her. Her father would be.

“Hello? Here I was indulging you and Chris with a tale about your father and you space on us.” The grizzly but handsome Angel teased his niece. Chris turned to her daughter.

“You used to love these like a treat, child! Besides, as a raven you should pay close attention. You could learn from your father’s tales. He and his friends went through so much. They weren’t granted the same privilege that you have as a second generation raven.” Chris, beautiful even at her advanced age was still scary when she turned stern. Long brown hair with a few streaks of silver draped over a sophisticated woman in a black conservative suit and long skirt. They all sat around in a living room adorned modestly and neatly.

“I’m sorry. I was listening. Please go on, you were talking about how you got your AC, Angel.”

“Come on Chris. Look at her, is she not the very image of Victor? Pensive was his favorite look too. He genuinely had thoughts in his head though, pea brain.” Angel laughed.

“Guess that trait skipped you too, huh old man?”

“Psh, I’m in my prime, kid. Besides, who needs intelligence when you are this good looking?” Angel countered.

“Yeah, you could get any girl you want,” the youngling rolled her eyes and then shot a glance back as she delivered her blow, “oh, that’s right, not ANY girl.”

“Sylvia! Be nice.” Chris snapped.

“Our romance was complicated,” Angel blushed and retaliated, “and at least I’ve seen romance.”

“Angel!” Chris got up. That was all the threat that was needed. Both combatants seized. Chris sat back down.

“He started it.” Sylvia whispered.

Angel chuckled and slowly laughed deeper. As he did he looked down and hit his knees.

“Angel, please continue.” Chris insisted.

Angel took a moment as he was still facing the floor chuckling.

“If only Victor could see, just how fitting the name he chose for you really is. Syl always had to have the last word too. Of course, she was also smart. Unfortunately, it seems u took more after Will’s brains.”

“Well you-” Sylvia began but stopped. She noticed the small dark spot on Angel’s shirt. A tiny droplet glittered its way down from the hidden face into the dark spot on his shirt. It crashed and disappeared silently into it.

“This is the first mission we took on together: Victor, Syl, Will, and I. We rescued a prototype AC from between two rival factions.” Angel got up from his seat and looked up.

His wet cheeks were hardly noticeable. Sylvia acted like she didn’t see them at all. She stuck out her tongue at the story teller. Angel was the best.

[gomezcreative01]

_____________________________________________________
Armored Core: Silent Calamity
Chapter 11
___________
Tug of War

”It’s too much time together. Just has free access to your room like some sorta roommate. I ALWAYS see you together when I go visit.” Sylvia’s voice was heard over Victor’s head set.

“You are there all the time too. I don’t understand what is going on.” Victor was perplexed.

“It’s just- I earned my right in there. Saved your life, remember?”

“Wait a second, are you jealous?”

A scoff was heard over the intercom. Sylvia was cute when she was all riled up like this. Victor could see her inner child at times like this.

“Please, that is absurd. I’m just saying. It’s weird and creepy. At least when people saw a beauty like me walk into your room, they’d show some respect. But that idiot! Two guys walking into a room together, that’s just unseemly. People are probably talking. I for one don’t want to be a part of it. They are going to think I’m a pervert by association.” Sylvia made her case indignantly.

“But it was okay for people to think you and Apathy had a thing going on?” A third voice spoke through their line of communication.

“Yeah, are you into Apathy?” A fourth voice joined, clearly that of William, pilot extraordinaire.

“You idiots! This is an A-B conversation. And just so you know, I’m just looking out for him. He is so helpless, I have to throw him a bone or whatever. Earn him some respect in the nest.” Sylvia defended herself. Luckily for her, the communication line hid her blushing red face.

“So like a friend then.” The third voice sounded reassured.

“Friend is right, I trust Cupid with my life. She saved it before already. Now be careful everybody, keep formation. White Knight, hold your position and jet at any sign of danger. In a transport helicopter you will be a sitting duck. Do you understand? We’ll be okay in the ACs. ” Victor said sternly. Angel was reliable, but piloting the cargo helicopter certainly put him in a disadvantage. “Now focus people, we are entering the field.”

In a triangular formation around a single transport helicopter were three ACs: Sharpshot, Vivify, and Magnificent. The three ACs were only about a fourth of the size of the transport helicopter. Sylvia had taken the time to paint her AC a bright pink with maroon trim. Vivify was still a dull metallic color. All four vehicles were now standing on top of a plateau over-looking a still battle field. Crest and Mirage forces were at a stand still as Angel had described over a week ago. There was a field separating both factions and there was a consensual silence over the entire battlefield. Both armies only paced back and forth around their campsites without losing site of each other. The armies were composed mostly of MTs- these were of all sorts and sizes. Few other vehicles such as battle helicopters, tanks and other land vehicles were also present. Scraps of what seemed to be one or two AC’s were scattered between the two platoons. Smaller MT and other vehicle debris also littered the rift dividing the combatants. Craters and scorch marks were painted across the entire field.

To a side of the small but formidable battle field, only about 100 meters away, was an immobile AC. It was fairly intact, but motionless and clearly not functional. This was White Knight’s target and it sat directly between the silent battlefield and Apathy’s group. Angel had been practicing for days how to fly the transport helicopter under Sylvia’s tutelage- she was experienced in piloting machines other than the AC. The helicopter had been rented from Global Cortex by Apathy with his monetary compensation for ranking 49 in the arena. It wasn’t much but enough to borrow it for a few of days. As long as it wasn’t destroyed it was relatively cheap to rent. Considering that Angel was aboard the helicopter, that wasn’t an option.

“Quick retrieve and escape. No cowboy stuff, you hear me? I’m talking to you Heir.” The final orders were given and the group moved into the battle field steadily and as quietly as possible.

As they approached the field the once tiny armies grew larger and more intimidating. The MTs were not as small as they had once appeared. MTs of all sorts were lined up along their camps. There were humanoid MTs with large cylindrical heads that carried a two handed sniper. There were hovering MTs with huge protruding cannons that gave them the appearance of ducks, and huge tank-like MTs that packed huge shielded cannons. Apathy gulped. The group was only about a kilometer away from the target now.

“Stop!” Apathy commanded. “Something is wrong.”

They all stopped and felt the chilling silence that had overcome an already quiet battle field. There was no more pacing along territory lines. The MT’s began turning around to face the sneaky group. Apathy’s group had been spotted. The group felt the pressure, but before anybody could think of a solution the angry buzz of the disturbed hornet’s nest was heard and seen.

“Shit. Apathy, incoming missiles. Too many to count. We’ve got to get out of here!” Heir informed as he prepared for evasive maneuvers.

“No! Stand ground and protect White Knight!” Apathy barked. “Stay close, White Knight, and flee when you see an opportunity. Do you copy?”

“Rr-roger.” The scared Angel stammered. Seconds later Angel heard the first rumblings of battle in his entire life. Gun shots filled his heart with tension. This tension was only relieved by the successful interception of a missile-cued by a distant explosion.

Sharpshot and Vivify had a hard time shooting down missiles with their slower assault rifles than did Magnificent with his machine gun spray. All of the pilots were running on fear and adrenaline. The missile barrage was thick and unlike anything they had seen yet. The end of the missile rain could not be seen yet and un-intercepted missiles had already begun landing. Luckily a majority were aimed at the AC’s over the helicopter. However, one or two shots did rattle the unarmed vehicle. Angel panicked, but much like his brother he entered a trance in which he began to steady his nerves. He began thinking and calculating. At this rate they could only hope the armies ran out of ammo before they were destroyed. That was unacceptable. His trance bared fruit.

“Cover me!” White Knight commanded. Apathy cringed, his brother once again was off his leash. He began leaving the safety zone created by his comrades and began approaching the target. Apathy cursed.
“Fuck. Follow that idiot. Protect him!” He bellowed.
“This fucking family is too eager to die!” Sylvia cursed too but willingly lept into the fray.

“I knew kicking it with Apathy was going to put hair on my chest.” Heir laughed and primed his overboost as he followed orders.

Vivify and Sharpshot offered some support from behind the transport chopper but it was clear that the rain of missiles had begun targeting him now. Apathy’s and Cupid’s support would not save him at this point. Angel was on the fast track out, and in a short time was about to be blown to bits.

“Angel!” Apathy screamed as he tried desperately to catch up to his reckless brother. Five successive explosions shook the helicopter. Victor’s tears steamed out. Black smoke and debris engulfed the vehicle. There was no way the chopper stoop a chance against five missile volleys. Victor’s heart sank, and his mind froze.

“I’m adding a babysitting fee to this assignment, Apathy.” Heir’s voice was heard. As the smoke cleared a scorched Magnificent emerged from in front of the chopper. With the help of his overboost, Magnificent was able to shield White Knight from the missile volleys.

“White Knight, are you ok?” Apathy desperately asked.

“I’m alright, thanks. Now outta my way!” The transport chopper weaved from underneath the protecting AC.

“Stay hidden, you idiot.” Apathy commanded as he and Cupid continued tracking and covering the chopper.

“I’m almost there. Trust me. Just cover me!” An angry scoff replied.

“The kid is right! Missile launches have seized, just help him survive this last wave.” Heir supported White Knight.

Apathy realized what his brother was doing. He smiled through his tears. His stupid reckless brother was reliable as always. The cargo helicopter landed directly behind the non-functional AC as if taking it hostage. The threat of destroying the fallen AC was too great and the fire seized. The final missiles were shot down by the team.

“I knew it! They are fighting over the AC! It had to be! It seems like the only thing of value around here.” Angel boasted.

“Good job, now stay hidden. They might yet change their mind.” Apathy replied. The triumph was short lived as the armies began mobilizing apart and began a joined effort to destroy the third party. They began approaching and surrounding the safety site.

“We better work fast, what are the orders?” Heir questioned. Apathy began thinking desperately.

“Heir protect my brother with your life, Cupid you and I are on clean up-” His order was interrupted.

“AC Snake identified to the north east.” Vivify’s computer alerted.

“Interesting, that’s a pretty heavy force Kisaragi employed to get that prototype back. Must really be worth something if they employed three ravens.” The transmission was clearly from the stranger.

“Damn it, just what we needed. Well can’t get any worse” Cupid sneered.

“AC Snow White approaching from the south east.”

Heir laughed nervously at the new development. “Never been in this bad a situation. I don’t know whether to hate or thank you Apathy.” Heir confessed.

“Nevermind, we will live through this! Now split up and each take an AC. As long as White Knight is near the target, he is safe. I’ll work on the MT forces. Move it!” Apathy knew that the biggest threat to Angel was the relocating armies. Soon they’d be able to get a clean scope on the chopper. Cupid and Heir followed orders without so much as a sigh.

Sharpshot boosted in the direction of the Northeastern transgressor, Snake. This trajectory would have to be taken over one of the approaching armies. She decided it would do some good to shoot down a couple of the MT’s on her way. As she approached she received the transmission.

“Take out some sniper toting MTs on your way. They are my biggest concern.” Cupid rolled her eyes at Apathy’s command, but she agreed with his sentiment.

Magnificent smiled as he turned toward the south east. The landscape was barren aside from the plateau they had previously emerged from. The approaching AC was clear in view . The AC was suspended in the air by boosters. It had no legs but instead slim fin-like protrusions that gave it a slick look. The AC, Snow White, was colored a silvery white and carried a sniper rifle in each hand. An AC made for mobility with light and thin armor.

“This actually couldn’t have worked out better.” This will be my personal best time.” Heir reached towards his neck and pulled out a simple timer from under his suit. Click!

Heir readied his missiles and extensions while flooring the booster petal to pursue the incoming AC. He did everything with the cool ease of a man in his element, and furthermore with the confidence of knowing every detail of the outcome of his coming battle. Now within locking range of his missiles, Heir primed his overboost by pressing a discrete small button on the top of his right joystick. Almost at the same time, and at the cue of the Firing Computer System locking on to its target he shot his missiles. Six missiles leaving a light trail of smoke behind began homing in on Snow White. Snow White cut to his left sharply to evade the missiles. The missiles adjusted their trajectory slowly, and although still tailing the hover AC, it was clear that Snow White’s mobility would be enough to shake them.

“Predictable,” Heir whispered smugly, “ it’s over.”

Magnificent now exploded with his overboost to the right and in a matter of moments was able to cut Snow White’s escape. Two fierce blade slashes cut into the dumbfounded AC. Before the pilot had a chance to comprehend the events, Magnificent took a hold of Snow White. The lighter Snow White tried helplessly to break away, but six successive volleys confirmed the success of Magnificent’s initial attack. A third and fourth slash dismissed the hopeless victim.

Heir opened fire with his machine gun as he backed away from a motionless AC. Snow White’s generator had crashed due to the heat created from Heir’s assault. Immobilized, Snow White was only able to retaliate with his snipers back on Magnificent, these shots of course were the raven’s last gasp. Now a comfortable distance, Magnificent seized his machine gun fire and shot his missile barrage once again. The missiles easily found their paralyzed foe. Behind the missile’s curtain of smoke the distorted priming of an overboost was heard. The overboost was pointless. Heir had but to drive the final nail on a bullet riddled and bombarded Snow White. Machine gun fire locked on to Snow White so that when the overboost kicked in it propelled only a deformed ball of flaming charred metal that erupted midair. The flaming remnant of the AC crashed into the arid floor hard and dug itself into a tight crater which later expanded with the subsequent explosions of the core. Click! 39 seconds. Personal best time!

On a separate front, Cupid trashed a Sniper MT in its platoon front line with two conjoined missiles shot from her shoulder missile pack. The small army separated her and the incoming AC, Snake. Immediately following her attack four rifle shots retaliated. Only two shots resounded through Cupid’s cockpit. Ping, ping! Sylvia avoided the full attack by breaking right As she strafed right, she shot down another of the MTs with four shots of her rifle. This prompted her to close in on the line of fire again. As she did so she spun lariats and shot some cover fire to keep the enemies off balance. This minimized retaliation, nonetheless one or two shots found their target in her. Now at range though, Sharpshot landed on its feet and cut an MT in half with its blade attack. This image was short lived as the AC leaped out of sight and over the front line without a pause. Cupid’s foresight and reflexes kept her one step ahead of the disturbed platoon. With a second kick of the petal in the middle of her leap she boosted out of the way of three powerful volleys supplied by the shielded cannon MTs.

“I took out three snipers, Apathy. Two are still active.” Cupid informed.
“Great job, be careful.” Apathy was unsurprised by Cupid’s efficacy. She had proved to be an amazing pilot and a reliable friend.

Cupid could now see the approaching stranger. A red quadruped AC with black rims was boosting in her direction. The AC was packing two guns and a shoulder missile box. The right hand gun was long and slender, and the left was thick and tall.

“This is incredible. Cupid? Apathy and Heir? Why it’s a gathering of all the freshmen. Rich-boy-wonder and the top of the graduating class.” Snake’s pilot guffawed.

“Care to test my credentials?” Cupid challenged.

“The name is Heathen. It’s not often that I get to meet celebrities. The nest can’t seem to stop talking about you guys. Personally, I think you guys are at the end of your fifteen minutes.” Heathen dismissed.
The alert Cupid was ever aware of her surroundings and elegantly sidestepped two more cannon volleys that came from the platoon at her feet. With this sidestep she saw her opportunity to snipe a battle helicopter down from about 100 meters. Unfortunately, two missiles collided with Sharpshot as she dropped her guard. This was followed by heavy attack that transformed the environment inside Cupid’s cockpit. The sensation of gravity was lost for less than a second and she lost her helmet as her head and limbs whip-lashed. She was as a rag doll buckled to a seat. A thundering crash tossed her limbs in the opposite direction. Her neck was severely traumatized by the unexplained event. A sudden jerk at the base of her esophagus was all the warning she got next. Blargggh! She threw up on her main screen. The vomit helped the disoriented pilot understand the direction she and her AC were now facing: face down on the floor.

Snake had tackled with an overboost the vulnerable Sharpshot immediately after his missile attack. The Snake, aptly named, had just stricken and was about to inject his poison. Now on top of the downed Sharpshot, Snake lifted his left arm weapon and an immense flame poured out and washed over Sharpshot. Cupid, now hearing the alarm signaling the quick spike in heat, came to. She did what came instinctively and pressed her petal to boost out of the way. The response was sluggish due to the extra weight of the AC riding her. She moved slowly and ineffectively while carrying Snake on her Sharpshot. Her energy began draining faster than normal due to the overheating of the machine. A second terrible realization was that her AP was plummeting quickly. AP 3017!

Three powerful and conjoined blasts dismounted the psychopath off of Sharpshot. Snake was not welcome in the Mirage camp any more than Sharpshot was. The three shielded cannon MT’s had just attacked him. Cupid relieved got up slowly and jumped behind the shield MT’s. Her overheat siren was still going off, but her stat screen showed that her radiator had begun combating the heat. Snake got up and laughed condescendingly at the rookie.

“You’ve never faced a real raven, my sweet. Consider this your graduation present. A few seconds more and you would be cooked alive within that toy of an AC.” This sentiment grew more threatening now that Cupid recovered her mind. She realized she was drenched in sweat and that she was breathing hard a thick and humid air. Snake strafed left and unleashed his flames on the battle field and the many MT’s and vehicles in Mirage’s camp. One of the Sniper MTs exploded within seconds of the attack, one of the duck-looking MTs followed. These hover MTs were highly mobile though so the rest took evasive measures and cleared out. With a sudden movement Snake turned and rushed the shielded MT’s Cupid hid behind. One of them exploded and Cupid once again was about to enter the inferno. Cupid reacted quickly and jumped over her bodyguards and over the treacherous snake.

“What’s wrong, princess? Where did the sass that greeted me go?” Heathen taunted.

“Why are they attacking you too? I’m just curious, best I ask now, dead men can’t talk.” Cupid replied in a cool voice that masked her fear and anger. She began turning her AC, as she knew that she was once again in the shielded MT’s line of fire.

“Well, aren’t we just full of spunk. Crest hired me to exterminate the pests keeping them from their target. My guess is that the scrap of metal and crater to the south was hired by Mirage here, to do the same for them.” He obliged. Sharpshot jumped intuitively at the sound of cannons discharging to evade the incoming bombardment of the shielded MTs. This was done without fully visualizing the attackers.

She wondered if there was any way to use the field to her advantage. As she turned she saw the second of three Shield MTs blow up at Snake’s bidding. Sharpshot still was charging its generator after the heat crash. But the temperature had been restored within the cockpit and the AC was nearly cooled completely. Upon landing she engaged the busy Snake by launching a pair of missiles. With a jump Snake jumped back over the missiles, which missed into the empty.

“Missile radar. You thought I’d be blind sighted twice?” Snake began turning around to face his challenger.

“I think you talk too much.” Cupid punctuated her sentiment with rifle rounds.

“What can I say? I’m a people person. And princess,” Snake was now facing Sharpshot. It lifted its right arm, “Trade that pea shooter for a real gun.” Zeeee!

An impact was not felt, but the damage was noticeable. AP 2603, and a heat spike could be seen in the heat gauge. Cupid steeled her nerves and continued to shoot back. This began a quick shoot off. Snake was both slower in movement and retaliation, but his shots were graver. Snake took most of Sharpshot’s attacks while Cupid had managed to get away unscathed by all but Heathen’s first shot. Now better comprehending Snake’s limits, Cupid tested a suspicion. She jumped and at the height of her jump launched her missiles. Snake, could not crawl away in time and because the missiles were coming from high ground he could not jump out of the way effectively. Two blasts on a jumping Snake confirmed his vulnerability to attacks from the air. Zeee! A second laser shot bit into her as she landed on the floor. Two huge volleys hit Snake from behind in sequence while a third and fourth volley missed Sharpshot. A fifth volley was avoided narrowly by Cupid with a jump. Cupid took the chance to launch another set of missiles.

“Vermin.” Snake grunted irritated and began turning around to retaliate on the MTs but was stopped in place by Cupid’s twin missiles. He grunted angrily, “You are beginning to get under my skin, princess.”

Snake locked on to Cupid again, and launched his own set of missiles. Cupid, ready, boosted out of the way narrowly, with a revitalized Sharpshot. Unfortunately, she was tagged by three rockets launched by battle choppers passing overhead. Irritated she shot one of them down. The attack, however, grounded her head and warned her to tread carefully in the hostile field. Three of the duck hover MTs rushed after her. They released missiles in conjunction. As she began evasive maneuvers she realized Snake too had launched a pair of missiles from the opposite direction. She fled toward Snake’s pair of missiles, and away from the six that hounded her from the opposite side. She shot down one of the missiles in her direction and boosted right through its partner. She was hoping to lead the dogs to Heathen.

“Don’t even try it.” Heathen warned as he flushed fire in her direction. Realizing she couldn’t approach the angered Snake, she took a detour around his right flank. The missiles crashed and exploded into the floor. Near Snake, however, she slashed at him quickly and fled as he and his flamethrower turreted around to get her. As she backed away she shot at him, and jumped to shoot a pair of missiles. Without skipping a beat she shot down an incoming chopper to her right. The missiles hit an overwhelmed Snake that was currently shooting down the last battle helicopter. Cupid’s defensive abilities were giving her an edge in the hectic battlefield.

“AC Striped approaching from the north east.”

“I got your back, cutie.” Heir announced.

“Don’t ever call me that.”

“Psh, just thought I’d try it.”

As Heir entered Cupid’s battlefield he opened fire on Snake. Snake calculatingly and coldly located Cupid and jumped into the air.

“I’m afraid three’s a crowd. We’ll have to settle this some other time, sweetness.” Snake threw his flamethrower in front of Sharpshot in what seemed to be a sign of defeat. Cupid chuckled victoriously at her frightened foe. Zee! The flamethrower was blown up from under Sharpshot’s feet. The explosion was devastating. Sharpshot was devoured by flames.

“Cupid!” Heir called out.

A wicked smile welcomed the scene. With his opposition busy, however, Heathen blasted away with an overboost. The flames dissipated and a scorched and badly damaged Sharpshot emerged on its knees. Sharpshot screeched its siren annoyingly inside Cupid’s cockpit. Cupid scared realized that she was still on the battle field. She tried to move out of the way of two approaching radar bleeps homing in on her from her 10 and 4 o’clock. Sharpshot’s response was sluggish. AP: 589.

“Help!” Almost immediately after her cry both bleeps disappeared courtesy of her comrades.

“Sorry, I took so long. Get to a safety with White Knight. The field is cleared and we have one more threat on its way. I’m sure Heir and I can handle.” Apathy dismissed the wounded warrior.

“Thanks.” Sharpshot left slowly and with a lot of noise. Black smoke bled out of it. The machine was clearly in pain. Her two comrades awaited the next contender. Magnificent was still in good condition. Vivify did not look as good.

“Looks like your AC took a nasty tumble down some stairs.” Heir lit a match on the pair’s rivalry. Apathy felt the burn, but was at a loss for words. He had clearly been out done.

“Well, the stairs took it worse than Vivify. I spotted him.” Apathy embarrassed changed the conversation to the quickly approaching red striped yellow AC. It was a standard legged AC, with a double conjoined missile pack to his back, a long barreled bazooka and what seemed to be a blade mount. Additionally purple box extensions were attached to his arms.

“Watch me break these stairs Apathy.” Heir readied his missiles.
As soon as Striped reached Magnificent’s range Heir pulled his trigger. Six missiles hounded an uncaring and un-flinching AC. The boxes on Striped’s arms opened and revealed ominous holes.

“Damn.” Heir predicted.

Six tiny missiles shot out in retaliation, but, amazingly enough, tracked and intercepted Heir’s dogs. Almost immediately the large conjoined missile boxes on Stripped’s back opened its covers and shot eight missiles at Magnificent. Heir smiled and boosted into the air and began running away from a dangerous pack of missiles. Striped primed his overboost and within seconds approached a firing Vivify.

Black smoke and clouded Apathy’s view following a bazooka attack. Apathy responded blinded by boosting out of the site and ready to retaliate. After shaking the smoke in the air he realized that Striped had disappeared.

“Cupid, White Knight- he’s headed your way!” Apathy warned as he deciphered his radar.

Sharpshot, now more able, quickly turned around to catch a glimpse of the AC sneaking past her too. The sound of eight explosions raised the hair on the entire team. Smoke covered White Knight and the motionless AC. Striped screeched to a stop and began raising his large barreled weapon to add more damage to the victim. The bazooka fired three explosives- these were clearly visible as they flew off to the left and into the sky. A rocket volley hit Striped’s right flank had deflected the attack off to the side. Vivify had caught up to the berserker with his own overboost and shot a hail mary attack at the top of the overboost’s speed. Two missiles followed from the behind, Cupid followed by opening fire with rifle rounds.
Stripped began strafing left but continued to lock on to the black screened area. Six missiles rained from behind him and the yellow AC was halted for long enough to open it to more attacks from Sharpshot and Vivify. Like rabid animals the two ravens tore into the prey with rockets and missiles. Cupid’s missiles were intercepted, but without breaking the rhythm she unloaded what was left of her rifle ammo on the enemy. Apathy unloaded his rockets one after another as if trying to empty his launcher clean. A pitter patter was heard from the distance as Heir too joined in by raining bullets above the helpless victim. Within seconds Stripped caught fire and the AC toppled over. It burped painful boils that practically robbed it of its life before it hit the floor and convulsed dead. Apathy turned to the slowly clearing missile field.

“He was behind the AC. The AC shielded him. He’s okay. He is.” Apathy swallowed and whispered almost at the same time, and his body convulsed from starting at a tense stomach.

“White Knight, do you copy?” Sylvia asked over the intercom.

“Holy crap, I thought I was a goner when I saw those missiles approaching. Is it safe now?” Angel said in an insultingly easy voice.

Victor’s stomach erupted with a low mad laugh. His spasms still convulsed his body. As if barely catching up to the events, Victor’s tears drained slowly down the center of his face.

“It’s safe. Go ahead and strap our trophy. It’s looking a little cooked but it shouldn’t much worse off than before.” William laughed at Angel’s ironic response. He caught the happiness his friend Victor was feeling. Will slowly realized his face was damp with a few tears too, all over a silly kid that didn’t even realize how close he was to biting the big one.

Back at Global Cortex news broke the party’s celebration.

“An A.I. AC? So it isn’t even pilot-able?” Angel questioned a mechanic in the hangar.

“Oh hell no, I didn’t just get beaten to an inch of my life for nothing.” Sylvia joined Angel in harassing the now scared mechanic.

“I’m sorry, but there isn’t even a hatch on this model.” The mechanic defended himself.

“It’s not his fault guys, give the man a break. We’ll have to find another way.” Victor said in a calm but equally irritated voice.

“Are you crazy? You see that over there?” Sylvia turned to Victor and pointed at a crusty, cracked and steamed Sharpshot. “I did this mission pro-bono. I gave you a 5000 credit price tag for my services. But that was only because the mission was not supposed to be this difficult. I got wailed on, and barely survived. I’ve been saving my credits to buy myself some new equipment, but thanks to you, now I have to spend my earnings on repairs. I lost BIG on this mission, you scatter brain!”

Sylvia huffed and puffed more at Victor. Victor was aggravated by this but kept his cool and silence. This only irritated Sylvia more and she continued to yell at him. Giving up on him, and his stoic response, she turned to the next victim.

“You! You should have known better you little ponce.” Sylvia had taken a hold of Angel’s shirt and began shaking him. Amazingly enough, Angel relaxed in her grip and only blushed. He had been the target of Sylvia’s anger before but it had yet to bother him. She looked beautiful with her light blue eyes ablaze, her cute indignant incoherent response, and her heaving bosom. Being now at the closest he had ever been to her, he found the sight quite breathtaking and simply melted into her insults nearly forgetting his troubles. “…What kind of jack-ass hires three elite ravens on a mission you only know half the information to?”

“Yo! Cutie, I think I know what we can do.” William interrupted.

“I swear I will strangle you with your own hands if you call me that again.” Sylvia glanced back at the red head.

“Well, Apathy built his AC by rescuing AC remnant’s right? But generally people, if they are lucky enough to find themselves in that position, they will instead sell them, no? I figure, something that was so hard fought for has to fetch a high price. Lets sell it to one of the fighting corporations.”

“How could we? We can’t just put out a sale sign. Those corporations aren’t going to be happy that we stole their AC, and blasted their troops.” Victor retorted.

“You’re right, we are not the ones for the job. But I have a friend that can unload it for us. This guy looked out for me and gave me a heads up about the contract on my head.”

“Who?”

The group found themselves in the arena office again staring at a perplexed Sean. The tone had definitely changed before and after their entire story was told. At first Sean greeted them openly and hailed them as causing a huge buzz in the community with their latest exploit. He laughed about how the biggest corporations were both very mad but interested in the talent that stole their goods. After they explained that the mission was nothing more than a stunt to salvage an AC outside of a contract by any corporation or without the supervision of Global Cortex, Sean’s smile faded.

“And you still have the audacity to involve me in this? You ask that I sell the object that is directly tied with the unrest amongst Kisaragi, Mirage, and Crest? I ought to kill you myself! However, you guys did kick all three of those corporation’s asses. That is quite a stunt alright.”

“Three? We fought only two armies. Why is Kisaragi mad?” Victor asked.

“You mean, you didn’t even know what was going on?” Sean put his palm to his face. “The AC prototype was developed by Kisaragi. Crest and Mirage in a joint effort tried to steal it, but once they succeeded they turned on each other before it was delivered. They fought for two weeks over it. Kisaragi has intermittently sent attacks to destroy the AC to destroy the secrets to its technology. Crest and Mirage have been defending it in hopes of finally being able to retrieve it.”

“Well, it is useless to us. But it is ours. They can try to pry it from us or they can just buy it. We just need someone who can talk to them.” Victor said decisively after finding Sean’s tone insulting. Sean smiled.

“Okay. Well said. I can do that for you, I hate seeing things go to waste. Name your price.”

“We simply will trade it out for a conventional AC. With parts of our choice.” Angel entered the conversation. Everybody turned to him.

“Ah, I see. So I suppose you are the beneficiary. The family resemblance betrays your identity, White Knight.” Sean glanced at both Angel and Victor.

“What of it? That should pose no problem, right? Just joining the family business.” Angel replied.

“Those seem like reasonable terms. I will let you know as soon as I have a buyer.” Sean dismissed.

“Thanks Sean, you’re a good friend.” Will thanked him.

“Now, listen to me, Heir. I am not your friend. I simply have been helping you out because you are an investment of ours. I see your value as a raven, plain and simple. But you all are treading thin ice, stunts like this are weighing against you. At a certain point you guys will cost more than your worth. Don’t come to me with demands like this again. You all might be chummy with each other, but our relationship is strictly a professional one.” William was clearly hurt by the speech. His silence was unsettling for everybody in the team.

They stepped out of the office and Victor looked at the dejected Will. He understood what was unspoken. Will didn’t have many, if any, friends. He punched him in the arm and laughed.

“You saw that badass shot I nailed Striped with when I was OB’ing? You couldn’t have made that shot.” Heir looked up and slowly looked consoled.

“It was a pretty awesome shot, still I think I was the MVP in that battle. Saved your brother, destroyed an AC in 39 seconds, and saved Syl there.” Syl turned around and her face flared up again as if she remembered her grudge.

“Save me? You idiot, you nearly condemned me. Because of you I got blind sighted, I didn’t need saving until you showed up. And you,” she turned to Victor, “what the hell was all that noise about having to pry the AC from us? You can’t afford me anymore, Victor! You already owe me, plus I’m bringing up my price for any other mission you have for me. And the kid, don’t get me started on that dim wit. Goes and finds a dangerous, low paying job, then nose dives into what could have been his grave if it wasn’t for us.”

Angel blushed at his inclusion into the rag tag group. He couldn’t help but to steal glimpses of Sylvia. Up and down he eyed her innocently enamored. He only looked back at the group to conceal his admiration. It was during one of these glances back that he noticed Will’s eyes on Syl’s figure. Angel pretended he didn’t see it, but was lit afire with jealousy. The group walked back to the dorms arguing and laughing.