Armored Core: Liberty's Calling

[Angelo Credo]

Anubis went seemingly lifeless, limp in the air, yet still hovering, an indication alone that something was wrong, if the energy core were removed the all systems would have been shut down...

Anubis' dark red eyes flickered back on as the backup generator kicked in.

"Damn it...I forgot about that, Anubis' AI should be slower now though, the backup generator doesn't output enough power to fully supply an AI that advanced, it'll only have access to basic functions, not enough to predict your moves beyond one or two steps..."

Anubis begun acting of it's own accord, gripping the vibro-spear tightly, it moved straight for Crow, bring the weapon to bear down on Rain Storm's head.

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Crow slammed to the right almost instinctively. "Not gonna happen!" He shouted. Then, turning around, he kicked Anubis in the face with both feet.

Duoss extended his laser rifle and fired a few shots, and then let loose a barrage of 8 missiles, all of them hitting Anubis with computer precision.

 

[Angelo Credo]

Anubis flipped right back up, recovering from Duoss' shots, the AI spoke up.

My apologies Duoss, did I forget to mention? This armour upgrade was designed specifically to counter-act your weapon's fire, I'm afraid there's not a great deal of harm you can do to me at this stage. The AI laughed in a sinister manner.

Anubis shifted out of view, accompanied by the trademark thunderclap, it reappeared behind Rain Storm.

Good night, dear Crow. It said, as the lethal spear was swung sideways, connecting clear with Rain's torso unit.

 

[BlueDevil]

Maiden blasted behind Anubis, both bayonettes extending from her rifles, and swung them both down at Anubis like a pair of axes.

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Crow, nearly losing his head as the spear slashed into the c0ckpit, gripped the controls even tighter. He could see the open sky through the gash in the armor. Rain Storm was talking to him, but he wasn't listening. Something about his chances of winning being under 10%. He didn't care. Yelling, all four of his blades extended as he charged Anubis. "You have no right to say that war has no morals! If that's true, than since you have none, you're nothing more than a mindless machine of war! You try to justify your actions, but that makes you no better than the NEXTs who fight for Tempest and the Closed Plan! You don't deserve to control Angelus! What did he do to deserve this from you, after he's been so nice to you! You don't deserve to exist!" He kept slashing Anubis, making sure not to hit the c0ckpit.

 

[The crazy demon]

"Time to ear the name Savior".

The AI responded Drake with some words and activating the Vibra-Blade."I think i had it already". The AC charged towards Anubis, he slashed her back, and with the other hand he grab the arm holding the spear."Crow now is the time".

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Crow and Duoss both flew forward at the same time, Duoss, with his huge foot, kicked Anubis in the face and then Crow stabbed Anubis straight through the chest, tearing out the rest of the wires, letting the energy core fall out. "You don't deserve to exist." He bit out as the AC's eyes flickered and died.

 

[Angelo Credo]

Anubis' AI let out one final utterance, one last, stuttering defiance before it was entirely shut off.

This...Is my destiny...It is bigger than all of you could possibly hope to comprehend...I will...Destroy. Everything. You. Have. Ever. Held. Dear.

The AI's voice stuttered, growing closer to pure static as it finished speaking, Anubis dropped, lifeless and limp, still impaled on Rain Storm's blade, Angelus used his personal PDA to open up communications with the others.

"Thank you...Just...Thank you, I don't know what I would have done without you guys, thank you..."

Angelus' breathing was heavy, laboured, his voice carried with it a sense of great tiredness, almost as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

"It's not over yet though...This is just the start, I have to keep going, hopefully Lex can work up something that'll supress the AI for the time being, whilst we work on taking out Tempest...But for now, if you don't mind Duoss...I just need to...Sleep..."

Angelus passed out in the c0ckpit, the strain of battling Anubis' AI for dominance of his mind had taken it's toll, devoid of all energy, the first calm, clear bit of sleep Angel had been granted in years came to him.

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Duoss carefully lifted Anubis into his arms and cradled it almost like a newborn. If only you had remembered what your true purpose was. I can tell you've already lost it, like I have. But I'm starting to remember what it felt like. How good it felt to protect humans. I wish you could remember, but you find pleasure in destruction. He looked around, and found a large plateau, capable of resting all of the ACs. Without a word, he motioned for the others to follow, and, landing on the plateau, gently placed Anubis on the ground.

Crow got out of his damaged AC, looking towards Duoss. "You aren't such a bad guy after all, eh? Too bad humanity didn't take to kindly to your views of them."

Duoss ignored the statement, instead looking at Crow for the first time. This human is the skilled one? I hardly believe it. He thought.

 

[The crazy demon]

Savior was in the plateau and Drake drop from it, he walked towards Crow and asked him."Do you are ok?, you dont see to be bad after all". He looked at the giant figure of Duoss and talked to him."It looks that after so many time you changed a lot".

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Duoss sighed. It feels better to help than to hurt. If only Anubis could remember that.

Crow smirked at Drake. "I nearly got my head taken off thanks to psycho-bitch Anubis over there, but otherwise I'm fine. Lost some hair though." He said, pointing to where some of his anime spikes were cut off. "Gonna take forever to grow back, too."

 

[The crazy demon]

"Crow, i may have to go to my planet soon, but i stay a little time, until Genu warp sistem regains its energy". Drake looked his AC, Savior."The real thing is that Savior is made with salvaged parts of a ship even bigger that Duoss".

 

[BlueDevil]

Zazz had remained still in the air for quite a while before drifting down to the plateau where the others had rested. He remained silent for the time being. Maiden simply stood still a few meters away from the other ACs and Duoss.

Then Zazz spoke, "So...we have to face Tempest now. Was there anything more powerful than Nine-Ball residing in there?"

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Duoss looked at Maiden, which was about half as tall as he was. If I had to run away, you all can bet they're packing serious firepower. Of course, the way I am now, I couldn't shoot down a basic AC, let alone a NEXT.

 

[Angelo Credo]

Angelus stirred, he groaned, hand going straight to his head, he opened his eyes.

"Are we...Where are we? What happened?" He scanned his surroundings, still inside the c0ckpit of Anubis, Angel tried to move the frame's arm to no avail.

"I can't move...Crow? Zazz? What happened? Aaahhh...Damn it, I feel like I've been hit by a train."

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Duoss ripped the covering off, and gently took Angelus out, bringing him to his eye level. Duoss seemed even larger than he had before. We're on a plateau, not far from where you threw Nine-Ball. I was the one who suggested we land. I'm happy to report that Anubis is completely incapacitated and all she can do is spark and sputter.

 

[Angelo Credo]

"From here you seem...Rather imposing you know?" Angelus chuckled, he looked around, scanning their surroundings before turning back round to Duoss.

"Nine-Ball...I killed him didn't I? Not even sure why, I couldn't stop myself, it was like Anubis had total control over me...I mean I knew it was coming, just not this soon."

He looked down at the wreck of his Armoured Core and sighed deeply.

"Lex is going to be ****ed...Or not given the circumstances, still, thanks for helping me, all of you, now I suppose we'd best get Anubis fixed, I'll ask Lex to see if it's possible to suppress the AI's base commands, so it doesn't try and control me, it'll mean it's just me flying in there, but I've had enough experience that I wouldn't be flying blind, hopefully it'll give us enough time to take out Tempest, now, would you kindly set me down Duoss?"

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Duoss put Angelus down, putting the other hand on the back of his head. Sorry. I uh... Forgot how intimidating I am. You know, the more time I spend with you people, the more human I feel. It's very enlightening.

Crow looked at Anubis. "Angelus, have you ever piloted without AI? I've done it plenty of times. Maybe you could just get rid of it altogether? I mean, if it's that dangerous, it shouldn't even be kept around. Not even a data fragment."

 

[The crazy demon]

Drake walked towards Angelus, he looked him, he closed more and show his hand waiting for a hand shake."Hello, my name is Drake, whats yours".

 

[Angelo Credo]

"I've flown without one before, but I've never been too confident in it, I can think ahead pretty far in terms of my battle plans, but I'd rather have an AI backing me up at least part of the way, make sure I don't screw up...And anyway, I don't think I have much of a choice where Anubis is concerned, the AI is part of the central core itself, it can't be entirely removed without taking the AC out of action, can only be suppressed..."

Angelus glanced towards Drake, looking at his outstretched hand, he ignored it, much like he did with Zazz, simply acknowledging his greeting.

"Angelus, not sure who you are or where you're from, so you'll excuse me if I don't quite trust you just yet."

(OOC: Sorry about the time taken here, had a total writer's block.)