Armored Core: Liberty's Calling

[Angelo Credo]

"The message I received from Nest would suggest otherwise, according to them, I've been placed under your command, which is laughable at best and insulting at worst."

Angelus grabbed the helmet and looked over at Crow.

"And you, you're aware that the message sent from Nest regarding your new CO here places me under his command, are you not? I have no intention of being ordered around by anybody, you don't understand where I'm coming from, so don't go telling me to chill out!"

He took one final look at Zazz.

"You can try to earn my respect, but it won't come easy, Crow had to risk his own life to save mine to get there, you...You're Nest, you're much further down on the ladder, try as hard as you like kid."

Angelus turned around, starting for the footpath leading back towards the reservoir the tram passed on the way back, he threw his helmet at the floor, with a crack, it splintered in two.

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Crow merely looked on with a shocked look on his face. "Uhhhh... I don't think he's right in the head right now. Just give him a few minutes to chill out. And here's going to be your first and only order to him, okay? Just tell him "do as you please.", otherwise he might go berserk. He's already steamed beyond comprehension just from the sight of you, and he's only heard what, two sentences out of your mouth? Talk about being an ass." Crow looked at the tram that Angelus left on. 'That was totally uncalled for,' He thought. 'He should know that not all Nest are assholes like the majority of them are. There ARE exceptions, Harper being one of them, and Zazz is another. He needs to learn to soften up a bit.'

 

[BlueDevil]

Zazz looked at the helmet on the ground with amazement. "Well...uhm...uggggh." Zazz sighed, and looked back up at Crow, "That's not exactly what I expected to happen. Did something-" Zazz was cut off by a small beep coming from his pocket. He reached in a grabbed a small cellular device, and flipped it open, punching a button. Reading the message for several moments, Zazz looked back up at Crow, "AIs. Reports say that there may be an attack on one of the Space Stations in our Asteroid Belt." Zazz looked at the message once more, "The sponsor is Rosenthal...do you think Angelus will be coming?"

 

[Angelo Credo]

The path before Angel wound back past the tram tracks, a public footpath designed to be taken when the trams were out of service, clearly it hadn't been used in a while, as all the weeds, bushes, branches and trees hadn't bee cut back for what appeared to be years.

Brushing back branches out of his way, Angelus continued on without any real sense of purpose, all he wanted was to get away, clear his head and just calm down, the reservoir he passed earlier on the tram seemed to be an ideal place to get such a thing done, the tress finally opened up.
A current flowed through the reservoir where a waterfall from the mountains supplied the headquarters with its water supply.

Small waves lapped at the bank on which Angelus was now stood, not much time had passed since arriving, as such, the sunset still bathed the entire lake in an eerie, yet serene orange glow, he kicked off his boots and peeled away his gloves before sitting down on the dirt and letting his eyes take in the sight before him.

"Why did I do that...It wasn't necessary, I don't even know the kid and I snapped at him, didn't even consider that he might not be like the rest of Raven's Nest...What's wrong with me? I feel like I'm losing myself..."

Angelus leaned forward towards the water, cupping his hands and taking a handful of the clear liquid from the lake. He took a sip of the purified water before grasping for another handful and splashing his face.

"Just feels like...Ever since I...No, it can't be that, don't be silly, you're not thinking straight Angel, get some rest whilst you still can."

He sighed deeply, laying back, he closed his eyes as the still warm air carried him off into a light sleep.

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Crow turned to Zazz. "Nah. Let him cool off for a while. I'm sure he's just stressed out as much as I am from Harper's death." Crow knew in the back of his mind this isn't what was truly going on, but it was as good an excuse as anyone. "So, let's go fry some AI. Orbital Base in the Asteroid Belt, eh? Don't suppose it might be Delta Station, is it?" At that moment, his PDA beeped. It was a message from Rain Storm.

Repairs are complete. New mission available. Please hurry back.

"Rain Storm wants me back. Let's go. This should be the perfect time-waster anyway."

OOC: Crow looks like Dingo Egret from ZoE:2, but he's younger. This should fit right with Angel's AC being Anubis and all.

 

[BlueDevil]

Zazz nodded, heading for Maiden, "Hey, Crow...I guess I'll meet you outside of the base?" He paused for a moment, before adding a bit more, "And...I suppose I can send a message to Angelus' AC. Maybe she can tell him, just in case he wants to come." With that, Zazz took a few more long strides before full-on running to Maiden.

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Crow took off in the opposite direction to the hangar that Rain Storm was in. He quickly jumped in the ****pit and keyed the thrusters online. A message was patched through to his comm system. It was from the flight control guys. Great...

What are you doing?! You're not cleared to take off yet!

"Sorry, but It's an emergency. AI were spotted at Delta Station, so I gotta go NOW." Without waiting for a response, Crow jetted out of the hangar. He saw Maiden floating at the other end of the area. He opened up a channel to Maiden. "Hey. Time to go."

 

[Angelo Credo]

Angel's communications device flared up, Lex's soft voice promptly blared through the speaker.

"Angel, a text log just came through for you on Anubis' command console, I'm patching it through to you now, seems like it's from that Zazz kid, something about a new mission, take a look at it and see what you think, the upgrades haven't been finalised yet but I'll ping you when they're finished to let you know.

Angel's eyes flickered open, the sun had all but gone down, the sky was pitch black and a cold breeze floated through the air, the text log arrived on his PDA, vibrating in his pack pocket. He sat up, removing the hand held device, he touched the screen and opened the message.

Mission contract: Forwarded To Angelus.
Sponsor: Rosenthal.
Details: One of our Space Stations in an Asteroid Belt close to your location is under heavy attack, we request that any available ACs assist in the defence, anyone able to come to our aid will be rewarded handsomely.

~Rosenthal.

"Alright, I'll go for Crow's benefit to back him up, and I suppose it'll be a good a chance as any to give the new upgrades on Anubis a spin. Lex, if I forward you a text log, could you pass it on to Zazz?"

"Sure thing, go fo- Damn it!

A large, metallic clunking noise played through the device.

"You okay there girl?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, just dropped my wrench off the scaffolding, fell down to the next level, now I gotta go all the way down there to grab it! Anyway, send me the log and I'll pass it on for you, yeah?"

"Alright, I'll pass it on in a second."

Angel tapped in the message into his PDA.

To: Sazz.
Subject: Rosenthal contract.
Body: I just got the message you passed on to me, I'll join you, not doing it for your benefit though, I suppose I'll see you out there after my upgrades are done, ETA: Approximately 20 minutes.

~Angelus.

"Passing it on to you now Lex, forward it for me.

"Sure thing, passing it on for you now...And done, anyway, I got some serious work to do if you want this done to get there in twenty minute, Lex out."

"Thanks again, I owe you...Several."

Angelus leapt to this feet, slipping his PDA in his back pocket once more before sprinting back towards the hangar.

 

[BlueDevil]

(Hey guys...sorry. I might not be able to post until Monday because my computer at home doesn't have internet. We switched from cable to DSL and the people fixing us up with internet didn't send us our damned Modem XD...so cya then. ~Sent this from a school compy)

 

[BlueDevil]

(short post...unexcused. Just lazy right now.)

Maiden began drifting into space, flying out of the atmosphere as soon as he received the reply from Angelus' AC. Zazz slightly smiled, but soon went back to a serious expression. He halted above Earth and turned back to face Rain Storm, "Yo, Crow. Should we wait on Angelus? He said he'd come along. It's your call."

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Crow smirked. "Yeah, we'll wait. I'm not leaving my friends behind. You're the first CO that's ever given me a say on what to do, strangely. It's weird having a bit of freedom." He looked out into the stars. "But, the longer we wait, the more those AI are going to terrorize the station. I say it's your call whether we should leave or not."

 

[Angelo Credo]

(Nice to be back on this one.)

Angelus waved his hand over the reader next the the hangar door, it slid open before his pace landed him face first into it, slipping through the crack before it opened fully, he carried on his way, running up the flights of stairs, Anubis came into view, he shouted ahead.

"Lex! Is Anubis up and running yet?!"

"Yeah! She's good to go! Hop on in and make me proud Angel!"

"No problem!"

The catwalk connected to the scaffolding Anubis was affixed to, Angel sprinted up the final flight of stairs, the door of the pilot's seat opened ahead of him, Angel slowed down to a slow walk, jumping over the support bars, he seated himself in Anubis, hooking himself into the systems, the communications device flared into life.

"Angel, one more thing, I swear to god if you wreck her after all the work I put in, I'll wreck you!"

"Yeah yeah, I got it, thanks again."

Angelus brought up the command console, tapping in a string of orders, the AI processed before speaking.

"Angelus, it's nice to have you back, processing orders...Affirmative, locking on to Crow's Armoured Core, plotting a course...Auto-Pilot engaged."

Anubis' thrusters burned into life, the scaffolding fell away from the massive frame as it lifted into the air, the hanger doors in the roof opened up and with a flash of light, Anubis vanished into the atmosphere in an effort to catch up with Crow and Zazz.

 

[BlueDevil]

Zazz paused, "Well...you better start getting used to the freedom then." He chuckled, and then paused, "I say we wait on Angelus. A few more minutes isn't going to make the fight and harder on us, and three ACs is better than two." Maiden froze in place, turning back to face Earth, when the ACs voice came on, "Friendly Heat Signature closing in on our position. Detailed readings suggest that it is AC Anubis."

"Well, Crow...it looks like he's already on his way here."

 

[Angelo Credo]

Anubis' scanners picked up two glints in the sky.

"Heat signature detected, confirmation: Friendly, Rain Storm and an unidentified AC, most probably belonging to Zazz, 300 meters and closing...200...150...100...50..."

Anubis stopped dead, a loud bang ripped through the sky as the thrusters screamed to a halt, it's tail whipped quite calmly, Angelus motioned for Anubis to to go for the vibro-spear, it followed his command, it's long, slender arm reaching down for the retracted pole-arm affixed to it's waist. It clicked the release mechanism on the shaft, the two blade ends sprung forth.

"Anubis, open up a voice comm with Zazz and Crow."

"Affirmative, connecting...You are now connected."

"Right, I'll start with this, Zazz, I apologise for my outburst, it was out of line, I'm still not your biggest fan but I should not take out my personal issues on you, I'll work with you, but not for you, so...Let's go try out these upgrades, huh?"

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Crow smirked. He was itching to test the Zero-Shift in an actual combat operation. Chances are the AI had never seen something like it. "Angelus, I think our AC's are going to have quite the surprise for those dumb AI. They don't know what they're getting themselves into." Rain Storm turned towards the direction of Delta Station. "So, let's smash some AC's, alright?"

 

[BlueDevil]

Zazz smiled, "Yeah, let's go!" This would be, in all, his fourth combat experience. He'd already destroyed two AI in the past, so the current mission wouldn't provide a problem for him. He only feared one thing. As Maiden dashed off towards the meteor field, Zazz thought to himself, 'I wonder if I'll see him.'

Zazz was the only one to ever encounter the thing he thought of, and he knew it, because when he mentioned it to any of the other pilots or corporate employees at Nest, they laughed at him. He remembered very few details, but he knew it was an AI AC, no bigger than Crow's AC. A bead of sweat trickled down his forehead, and Zazz pushed the thought back, "You guys think we can get em' all?"

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Crow whistled a low note that slowly went lower. "I don't know if we can get all of them, but who says we can't try? I wonder if that super-rare one the guys were all laughing about will show up. Of course, since everyone laughs about it, it must've been some idiot that said it." Crow laughed a bit. "Maybe we'll get lucky and prove those idiots wrong, right?"

 

[Angelo Credo]

"Let's blow these sons of bitches out of the sky, Anubis, is the burst laser upgrade synchronised to the AI Core yet?"

"Affirmative, ready to fire at your command."

"Great, now we can really give this thing a work out, plot auto-pilot course for the station, stop at about 5km away so we can survey the scene."

"Affirmative, course plotted, thrusters engaged."
Anubis' thrusters lit up, it took off once more.

"Come on, try and keep up with the speed enhancements!"

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Crow scoffed. "Speed enhancements my ass. Rain, engage the Zero-Shift drive."

Coordinates?

"Delta Station, duh."

Course laid in. Hold on to something.

With that, Rain Storm whizzed past Maiden and left Anubis in it's dust. "Sucks to be them right now." He said to himself.

 

[Angelo Credo]

"Cheeky, Crow! But don't forget, I gave you that drive! The upgrades in Anubis retro-fitted it with an enhanced version, so don't get ahead of yourself."

Angelus keyed in a code into the console.

"Anubis, cue up the enhanced Zero Shift drive, four shifts, start behind, match speed, then shift below, above, then finish in front, still leaves us with enough energy to get to Delta Station, right?"

"Affirmative, cueing up shifts now...Jumping."

The AC vanished into thin air, just as ordered it dropped out behind Rain, matching it's speed.

"I told you not to get ahead of yourself Crow."

Anubis vanished once again, a metallic clunk accompanying its disappearance, only for it to reappear below Rain.

"Use that drive carefully now, Anubis has a bigger generator core that was designed to use your Zero Shift drive and I could only manage three before being dangerously low on energy."

Once more, the frame vanished, followed by the metallic clunk, it reappeared above Crow.

"Not sure how many you can manage, but this one's running of it's own power supply, I could go all day!"

And just as ordered, Anubis disappeared one final time, much like the first race between the two, Anubis popped up in front of Rain, hand held out to Rain's head module.

"Now slow down, we're closer than 5km."