08-19-2012, 01:46 PM
(This post was last modified: 01-12-2013, 08:08 AM by gomezcreative01.)
_____________________________________________________
Armored Core: Silent Calamity
Chapter 9
___________
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.
Armored Core: Silent Calamity
Chapter 9
___________
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.
Buffy Anne Summers
1981- 2001
Beloved Sister
Devoted Friend
She saved the world
A LOT
1981- 2001
Beloved Sister
Devoted Friend
She saved the world
A LOT
