Armored Core: Liberty's Calling

[BlueDevil]

Maiden quickly followed up behind the two ACs, and Zazz was amazed, "Hah, you two are fast...I honestly didn't think there were any ACs quicker than mine...but then again, I'm just a rookie, so I don't know much."

There was a quick pause, and then Zazz spoke up again, "My scanners aren't picking up much of anything from Delta...think they've purposefully gone silent? Or do you think this was the AIs?"

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Crow nodded. "It was most definitely the AI. The first thing they always do during an attack is knock out communications. Then, they systematically sabotage the generators until they destabilize. Running a scan now." Rain Storm silently scanned the station. There was a ping as the results came up on the viewscreen.

Two generators have abnormalities in their energy inflow. Too much is going in and too little is going out. The other three are functioning fine, so far.

"Did you guys get that?"

 

[Angelo Credo]

"Got it."

Anubis turned round to face the station, vibro-spear at hand, just itching for an opportunity to fight.

"Now the real question is...Where the hell are the AI?"

 

[BlueDevil]

Maiden drifted forwards a bit, closing in on the station. Pressing up against the outer-hull of the building, Maiden floated across the side, reaching one of the airlocks. A quick synchronization with the door, and the lock opened up to let him in, "You guys think we should investigate from the inside?"

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

That won't be necessary. A monotone voice said over their speakers. I will not allow you to disturb my ally until our task is complete. A gray, standard issue AC flew out from above the station and breezed towards them. Crow gritted his teeth, and then laughed when he saw what model the AI was. "You're so stupid! Taking on three advanced AC's with that standard issue garbage? Guys, let's toast him." He aimed his weapons at the AC that was still trying to get close. "On three. One... Two... Three!" He fired all his weapons at the AI, making sure to hit the head where the main computer was located. "Come on, guys, fire! There won't be much left for long!"

 

[Angelo Credo]

"Standard issue ACs trying to take on three heavily modified frames? I thought these things were meant to be intelligent."

Five more of the AI ACs dropped down, seemingly out of nowhere, surrounding Anubis.

"You guys seem to forget that space features three dimensions, I can quite easily blow you up from above!"

Anubis' tail flicked out at one of the ACs, gripping it around the torso, Angelus let Anubis run on auto, testing out the enhanced AI.
The AC flew up into the air, the tail whipped round, releasing the AI and throwing it into one of it's comrades.

"Two birds with one stone, Anubis, let's try out the burst lasers shall we?"

"Affirmative." The feminine, metallic voice said in response.

Anubis held out it's palm, pointing at the three remaining ACs, red streaks of plasma burst forth from it's arm, curling through space, closing the distance between the AI contacts.
"Burn..."

The AIs exploded into a fiery red mist, spraying coolant fuel and various other junk parts and debris everywhere.
"Oh this is getting fun, please tell me there are more to kill." Angelus laughed, turning Anubis in an attempt to locate more of the AI contacts.

 

[BlueDevil]

Zazz chuckled, "Well...they fall like flies. Kinda boring if you ask me...I was hoping for more of a challenge." Almost seemingly answering Zazz' wish, a blue beam of energy shot past his core. "Whoa!" Zazz said, dodging to the left. Looking in the direction of the shot, Zazz finally noticed the attacker. The enemy AI's AC was navy blue with black stripes going down both of his sides, and it looked like all four of his weapons were rail-guns. "Long range, eh? Let's see you get me when I'm up close and personal."

Maiden dashed towards the AC, firing her rifles until she was close enough to physically touch the Core. Two bayonets spread out of the tips of her rifles, and Maiden engaged in a series of quick, slicing maneuvers. The AI effortlessly dodged the attacks, and sped away from Zazz, firing more beams of energy.

 

[Angelo Credo]

"Oh no you don't! Anubis, zero shift!"

Affirmative.

Anubis dropped out of view, appearing directly in front of the escaping AI, it's tail whipped round, gripping it by the head before throwing it back to Zazz.

"All yours kid." Angelus laughed over the comm, watching the AI helplessly ragdoll through space.

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Crow furrowed his brow. "No, that one's mine!" He retracted the miniguns into storage racks on his AC's arms and activated both his wrist mounted and his hand-held energy sabers. "You aren't the only one with swords, kid!" As the AC ragdolled in space, he flew into it's path and caught it. The AI had just enough time to look up before a saber went into it's head, disabling the drives and shutting down the computer. "We should sell these things for parts later. They would probably fetch quite a bit of spare coin, if you catch my drift." A couple missiles flew past, and he looked over his shoulder at an AI copy of Rain Storm!

What do you think after looking at a mirror image of yourself, Raven?

Crow scoffed. "You may look like me, but you have no idea what makes my AC really tick."

Two more AC's drifted over the edge of the station, and they were exact copies of Anubis and Maiden. Crow's face suddenly went pale. "Those must be brand new. They aren't even painted yet." Three voices said over their comms in unison,

You will never return home alive. Surrender peacefully and your deaths will be quick.

 

[BlueDevil]

Zazz turned Maiden to face the new enemies, "This is interesting. Shall we take on each of us ourselves?" Zazz chuckled, aiming both of Maiden's rifles at the clone AC. "Whaddya guys say? All at once?"

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Crow was still stuck looking at the clones until Zazz' voice came over his comm. "Yeah, let's do this!" He dashed forward, giving the wrist mounted blades more energy to increase their length. "Let's kick these guys out into space! Hm?" Another message from Rain Storm's AI flashed onto the screen.

Secondary scan complete. The third of five generators has been tampered with. The enemy inside the base has also been scanned, but it does not come up on the database. It's armaments include dual 1700mm cannons, two 1500mm missile launchers, two large sustained plasma lasers, two large mine-bays, and a quintuple plasma laser launcher. Suffice to say, it will require all three of you to attack at once.

Crow's jaw dropped. "Guys, did you get that...?"

 

[BlueDevil]

Zazz raised a brow, "What could possibly store ALL of that?!" Both rifle barrels flared as bullets began whizzing out at the clone of Maiden, and the true Maiden dashed forwards, engaging the imposter in high-speed, close combat with ranged weapons. It almost seemed as both of the ACs were dancing with eachother.

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

"Nothing, if I recall correctly! Not even the largest AC's can handle carrying that much firepower! This thing is a monster... Holy crap!" Several minigun blasts fired from the Rain Storm mimic, nearly hitting the real Rain Storm. "Hey! Watch the paint!" Rain Storm retaliated with it's own, much more accurate minigun burst, shredding most of it's joints and disabling it. "Zazz, whatever that "him" is that you were talking about, I think the thing that's sabotaging Delta Station is a whole hell-ton bigger."

 

[Angelo Credo]

"What the hell kind of AC has that much fire power under it's belt? Anubis can blow a chunk out of a planet, but it still can't carry that much! This should be intere-"

Angelus was cut short as one of the AIs made a move to attack him, coming up close for a melee attack.

"Big mistake..."

Anubis' vibro-spear met with the AI's sword, splitting it in half, it's tail whipped out, grabbing the AI by the head. Anubis swung it's spear round, cleaving it clean through the enemy AC's torso, ripping it in two. Anubis released the AC from the tail's vice like grip, letting the broken shards and remains float through space.

Warning: Substantial energy spike detected within the station, internal source, however foreign from the station itself, scans indicate high energy plasma weapons system, recommended course of action: Take evasive manoeuvres.

"Hope you guys got that, if we don't move we're sitting ducks!"

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

A dark, distorted voice came over all three of their comms at once.

It seems as if you still do not understand about the end of Earth. I, Duoss Core, the pinnacle of AC creation, will trample you all underfoot.

Two huge, green lasers blasted out from inside the station. Crow was nearly hit, but maneuvered out of the way in time. "That was probably the dual sustained plasma lasers, but I've never seen plasma get heated to the color green before. This thing is a beast!"

More than that. I will be your executioner, Crow, Angelus... Zazz.

It said the last name as if it remembered it.

Do you recognize my voice, Zazz? Does it make you tremble in awe? Quake with fear? Melt with anxiety? It should.

Crow raised one eyebrow. "Zazz, do you know this thing?"

 

[BlueDevil]

Zazz didn't respond, Miaden stopping in the middle of space above the station, it's AI counterpart drifting away slowly, missing an arm. Everything was silent. No noise at all through the radio, and then Zazz finally spoke, "I remember..." Zazz' voice cracked under fear as he spoke, and he slowly began to repeat himself over the radio, "I remember...I remember...I remember..." All of the sudden, Maiden blasted forward, entering the station through one of the holes created by the green plasma.

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Crow, watching with half a brain, saw Zazz enter the facility, but it took him a moment to catch up and try to follow him through. "Zazz, are you crazy?! That thing will rip you to shreds!"

Let him come, human. If he wishes to die, who are you do stand in his way?

"Shut up."

The AI (Duoss Core?) completely ignored him and again started talking to Zazz.

It's been a while. I was a fool to let you live last time, but the past is past. But, there's something that troubles me... Duoss Core paused, as if waiting for an answer, but none came. You steadily march towards me, as if you expect to win. Don't humans usually cower in fear of something such as I? Something capable of more destruction than even Anubis?

 

[Angelo Credo]

"Damn it Zazz, foolish kid! Anubis, can you stop him at all? Trap him? Cut off his engines? Interface with his AI and reroute some systems? Anything like that?"

Negative, no vector trapping units installed, that particular AC's AI cannot be interfaced with and our currently upgrade scheme is not able to rewire key systems such as engines...Suggestion: If you don't want him going anywhere, I would recommend a burst shot to his booster drives.

"No, too drastic, the force will probably rip the AC in half, I guess we'll be following the kid, this is why I don't relish working with Nest operatives, idiots get too far ahead of themselves..."

Intercepting transmission from AC identified as "Duoss Core", patching through.

Anubis played back the speech message the AC had sent to Zazz, it addressed all three of them, Angelus picked up on the final part...More destruction than Anubis.

"Open a channel."

Affirmative, channel open.

"More destruction than Anubis? You are not aware of what you're dealing with, getting too far ahead of yourself...I pull the trigger and hundreds of thousands die by Anubis' will...So we shall see."

Anubis' thrusters burned into life, Angelus followed Zazz into the hole in the side of the station...God knows what they'd find in there.

"Coming with us Crow?"

 

[BlueDevil]

Zazz halted in the middle of the corridor formed by the plasma blast, "It let me go the first time...why? Why? WHY DID IT LET ME GO?!" Maiden began what seemed like a series of small twitches, and then it stopped. "I must know...I must...find out why I lived." Then Maiden's overboost drives came online, and Zazz' AC sped off.

 

[DreadnoughtDT]

Crow's face was pale, but he followed silently. "Do you think it was bluffing, or is it telling the truth? These AI are pretty crafty." He looked at Zazz, still blindly marching forward. "Zazz, what are you doing?! Wait for us if you don't want this thing to kill you!"

Duoss Core laughed, a low, demonic rumbling. I know full well my capabilities, Angelus. I was created by... Well, I'm not at liberty to say, but someone familiar to you. VERY familiar. It laughed again, this time lower than before. You truly believe just the three of you are enough? My simulations give all three of you a 99.9% death rate. I will give you all one chance to back off. Even you, Zazz.