Armored Core: Liberty's Calling

[BlueDevil]

"Huh, well, as long as you can still fight...because I don't think one NEXT is going to settle this ordeal down." Harper smirked inside of his AC, pushing Cerberus forward, deeper into the colony. The farther he went, the more certain things seemed to be out of place. After a short minute of walking, Harper finally stumbled upon something very out of place. A large, purple, glowing spire stuck from the ground, four blade-like objects protruding from each of its sides. It was at least three times as tall as his AC, and it looked just as deadly. "Crow...you seeing what I'm seeing?"

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Crow looked at the tower that stood in front of him. "Yeah, I'm seeing this, but I don't believe it. What the heck is this thing?" He walked up to it and kicked it, but it didn't even scratch it. "Whatever it is, it's pretty resilient. What do you think it is?"

 

[BlueDevil]

Harper studied the device for several long moments, "Maybe...it's a communications device? That's the only thing I can think of right off hand. That...or maybe a weapon of some sort." Cerberus strode forward, touching the object slightly above where Rain Storm had kicked it. The machine's glow pulsed, rippling like water. All of the sudden, the four prongs that stuck out from the sides expanded, moving away from the central spire. Sparks of purple electricity streamed back and forth in between each prong, and suddenly, a massive beam of light shot straight up from the machine to the ship. Harper stared in absolute amazement, "I certainly do wish that there were more of us."

(~cue in Angelus~)

 

[Angelo Credo]

Angelus stared down the barrel of his high powered rifle, closely watching the events unfolding before him.
As if the energy spike Anubis picked up on wasn't strange enough, the huge beam of light that just shot up into orbit certainly piqued Angelus' curiosity.

"Now what exactly is going on here..." Angelus thought to himself, considering whether or not to take the shot at the AC trained in his scope.

"The stronger looking one of the two should go down easy enough if I aim the shot right...The smaller one, well, shouldn't have a problem with him up close, what do you think Anubis?"

Various screens flickered on display in the pilot's seat, tactical analysis and AC scanning devices to evaluate the weapons systems of the ACs, as well as appropriate tactics for dealing with them, the central screen flickered for a moment before a feminine robotic voice sparked to life.

"Recommendation: Do not engage, ACs appear to be on an operation from Raven's Nest, upon inquiry your orders are as follows; Render assistance to the ACs as necessary and continue routine patrol."

"Great, just another pair of Nest Mercs to slow me down...Just what I wanted, Anubis, lock on and engage boost drive."

"Boost drive charging...10%...20...30, 40, 50%, 60, 70, 80, 90...Jumping."

Angelus holstered Anubis' rifle as the AC's wings unfolded, then with a thunderclap ringing in the air, it vanished, only to reappear in proximity of the Nest Merc ACs.

"So, dare I ask what a pair on a mission from Nest are doing all the way out here?"

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Crow involuntarily twitched and made his AC freak out for a second, but he regained his composure before the Rain Storm had a seizure. He cleared his throat and spoke.

"First of all, who are you? Second, we're here because of THAT." He made Rain Storm point to the cube. "Raven's Nest picked up that thing on heat trackers and had us come here to get rid of it. Rumors say White Glint was killed by something that looked like this cube."

 

[Angelo Credo]

"Angelus, I'm on orders to patrol this sector and specifically offer you assistance as needed, that's all you need to know."

Angelus motioned for Anubis to reach for its' Vibro-spear, clicking a button on the hilt, the spear extended.

"So, mind telling me what this thing actually is? Must be something special if it took out White Glint...Shame that, I had a lot of respect for Glint..."

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Crow turned Rain Storm towards the cube. "I have no clue what it is, but we got a message from it earlier. It said that they were human, but I think it's just another dirty trick. You know how these AI work. And besides, White Glint being dead is only a rumor. I wouldn't worry about him. He's been through tougher scrapes than a fight with geometry." Crow had Rain Storm grab the vibro-spear and point it downwards. "And be careful where you point that. You almost poked me."

 

[Angelo Credo]

"My apologies, I wasn't aware that a light poke could damage your AC's armour...But nevermind."

Angelus had Anbuis sheath the vibro-spear, then glanced upwards towards the cube.

"From all the press coverage you'd begin to think that the rumours about Glint being taken out are true, still, I suppose you're right, he's a better man than that, so what do you intend on doing about this thing, and how, pray tell, might I be able to offer such as you assistance?"

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

"Sorry about the poking thing. My AC's pretty lightly armored. As you can plainly see, the joints are in plain sight. That's why I have so many boosters. I gotta make sure I don't get hit. And the cube thing. They wanted us to go inside, but I'm not sure if that's a good idea. As for THIS," He said as he kicked the tower again. "I'm not sure what it is. It's either a communications device, a weapon, or part of something much MUCH larger. Either way, it's not good for us. If you want to help, then just stick around. Chances are we're going to be attacked again."

 

[Angelo Credo]

"Hmm, so you're lightly armoured, but you make up for that in speed, takes guts to go for that kind of set up...They want you to go inside that thing? Whatever they're paying you, it's not enough, then again, Nest were never what you'd call generous..."

Angelus tilted Anubis' visor to the tower, eyeing it up.

"Take a leaf from my book, in situations like this, expect the worst, you'll live longer, chance are that it's a weapon of some variety and probably acting as an extension of the cube up there, the energy readings are simply off the scale...Far too high to be a simple communications device, still, I'll stick around and help, I suppose it's what I'm here for.

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Crow nodded. "That's exactly what I was fearing. You're right. In this line of work, you gotta expect everything to go wrong. Anything that goes right is just an added bonus. And yeah, Raven's Nest has been rather stingy with their money lately. And Raven's Nest doesn't want us to go inside... The "people" inside it "invited" us in. I still don't buy it though."

 

[Angelo Credo]

"Murphy's Law, whatever can go wrong will go wrong, and in the worst possible way. Huh, figures the Nest would've contacted you by this point and nigh-on demanded that you go on and take a look, surprised that they haven't really...You've got the right idea though, I doubt whatever is in there is really human, still, has to be said that it is quite intriguing..."

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Crow took a moment to think. "You know, you have a point. That thing is pretty interesting. I wonder if we should sneak off without Harper and take a look? No, that wouldn't be smart... Never mind. Let's wait for Harper's command. He IS my superior after all."

 

[Angelo Credo]

Angelus weighed up his options for a moment, considering whether or not to do some brief recon work.

"So, the other one's Harper huh? Right, need to know who I'm talking to I suppose, you never did tell me who you were, tell me that and I'll run a quick idea past you..."

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Crow felt incredibly stupid that he hadn't told this new ally his name. "My Name's Crow. It kinda fits my personality. And this baby, my AC, her name is Rain Storm. Say hello to Angelus, Rain Storm." Rain Storm responded by sending a message to Angelus that stated: "Greeting: I am Rain Storm. Do not cross master's Crow or Harper, or there will be hell to pay." Crow looked at the message and winced. "Come on, Rain Storm. I didn't think I programmed you with THAT much of a personality... Sorry Angelus. Her AI is a bit more advanced than most AC's."

 

[Angelo Credo]

The message from Rain Storm flickered up the central monitor, where it was openly displayed, Angelus scanned through it, a slight smile spread across his face.

"Hahah, your AC has attitude, I like it, right, so Crow, nice to know who I'm talking to, this beauty is Anubis, might as well respond eh?"

Anubis' feminine vocal AI flared to life.

"Interrogative: Must I associate with such an aggressive and rude AI? It seems somewhat unnecessary to be quite so defensive."

Angelus sighed to himself before opening up voice communications with Crow again.
"My apologies, Anubis has a bit of an attitude herself, I'm starting to wonder if the manufacturers implanted a superiority complex into her..."

He looked up at the cube once again, eyeing up the ominous looking menace before speaking up.

"Okay, so this idea I want to run past you...I planned on checking out the cube, I never intended on going inside, but just getting close enough to get some initial readings on my close range scanners, might give me enough info to be able to tell what this thing is, what do you think? Or should we run it past your CO first?"

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Crow looked back at Cerberus, which wasn't doing much of anything at the moment. "I don't think he'll mind if we leave for just five minutes. But I'll need to ride Anubis' wake when we go back into the atmosphere, or I'll burn up." A message popped up on Crow's dashboard. "Query: I don't trust him. Be careful." Crow sighed. "Sorry, old girl, but I have no choice but to trust him." Another message appeared. "Advisory: Be careful." Crow shook his head. "Yeah yeah, I'll be careful. Jeez. Since when did you get so talkative?"

 

[Angelo Credo]

Angelus glanced over at Cerberus, whether or not the mech had shut itself down had yet to be seen.

"Right, it shouldn't take us too long, the cube seems pretty inactive at the moment, with any luck we won't come under any fire just yet, let's get going."

Anubis' wings spread out and lit up, lifting Angelus' AC up into the air whilst kicking up quite a bit of dust around him, before long, Anubis took off at an intense speed, the red trails of motion blur from it's wings following it.

"Come on Crow, let's see you keep up with her!"

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Crow smirked. "Is this a challenge that I hear? It rings loud and clear!" Every booster on Rain Storm lit up at the same exact time, making Rain Storm overtake Anubis in mere seconds. "Told you she was built for speed!"

"Advisory: Don't get too ****y."

"Oh, you're no fun, old girl."

 

[Angelo Credo]

Angelus watched in fair amazement as Rain Storm shot past Anubis.

"Hahahah! Impressive set up you got there Crow, you weren't lying when you said she was built for speed, but let's see you try this one on for size, huh?"

Anubis stopped dead, arms and legs locking into position whilst its wings folded out further, lighting up crimson red, an almighty thunderclap ran out through the air as Anubis vanished into nothing, the AI's voice came to life again.

"Advisory: Angel, be careful, extended use of the Zero Shift places a significant drain on our core generator."

"Huh, you called me Angel, that's a first...Anyway, yeah I know, I'll be careful about it, but it'd be no fun if we didn't show the kid what you're capable of, hmm?"

Anubis appeared a few feet ahead of Rain Storm, Angelus motioned Anubis' hand out in front of Rain.

"Got you now!"