It was going to be messy, Leemo thought gravely, as he tried to catch up with the rest of the people rushing to their defense posts as the alarms blared non-stop and red lights flashed in steady intervals. The Scavengers camp is under attack, under attack by the Corporations which is bad enough, worse still is that they sent an AC instead of the usual MTs which are fairly easy to deal with using the defense turrets and their own MTs. Leemo heard enough reports of how a single AC could take on hordes of MTs and defenses and come out barely scratched. So yes, it was going to be messy. But it's the kind of messy that justified finally getting into the AC Mari brought back weeks ago and had been repaired and refitted since then. The building shook in toneless beats from the turrets firing at the intruder, and more than the rapid movement of personnel, the cannon fire stirred the dust so much the place looked hazy. Still, Leemo has a duty to protect his home and people, so AC or not, he was going to kick some corporate butt.
The scene in the Hanger was a different kind of messy, his crew were running through the usual checks in an orderly fashion but the rush to get the AC ready meant that everything else was shoved out of the way and shelved where possible. One of his engineers spotted him and gave a silent thumbs up knowing full well that he wouldn't be heard over the noise. He gestured the catwalk that was extended to the wide core of the BAWS design AC that was found wrecked in one of the Contaminated cities. The weaponry that was originally attached to his make shift AC were transferred to this one and he hated to admit it but the salvaged AC was in a much better working order than his scrap AC, and decided to practice on it instead. Whether or not he could stand toe-to-toe with a proper pilot is still up in the air, but Coral be damned if he wasn't going to give his best shot.
He was just about to leap into the core when a familiar voice called out to him.
"I got my comm headset on, how does it sound?"
He peered down into the core, then slid inside prompting her to repeat the message. "Loud and Clear, Mari."
"Good. Your team here says all systems are good to go. Hope you're ready."
"Born ready. Where's the fighting now?" He said as the AC shut and sealed the hatch to the core and was ramping up its generator with an audible hum even through the noise cancellation headphones. He could see on his screen that his engineers were already getting clear of the Hanger and into the control room where Mari is talking to him over comms.
"AC is still outside the residential areas, heading towards the coral processing plant. Figures."
"If they think we'll just let them have it then they've got another thing coming."
"Got that right. But Leemo, are you sure you want to do this?"
"This is our home. What are you asking that for?"
"Right... Look, just be careful, okay?"
"Got it. Tell the team to get the Hanger doors open. All green on my end."
"Roger."
The Hanger lit up from the light spilling through the cracks in the Hanger doors. Leemo had to squint as the entire place seemed to glow under Rubicon's star climbing the skies to its apex. It only hit him then how foolish this raid was; being done in broad daylight. The arrogance of it all. The AC jogged into the open before igniting its boosters and dashing towards the intruders last known location. The marker on his HUD superimposed over the landscape in front of him, slowly adjusting to the change in direction as the AC navigated out of the camp. It didn't take long before the flashes of cannon fire and lasers being exchanged came to view, steadily materializing into defensive emplacements firing at a faded white AC that's been doing a decent job avoiding the mortar rounds while being peppered by the rapid-fire chain guns. Even with its rapid movement, Leemo could clearly make out the Arquebus emblem that's scattered across the AC parts, and that just made his blood boil. The Corporations are showing up more frequently now, starting off with those survey teams and scouts, MTs forces to try and brute force their way here, and failed. Now they sent in an AC, clearly stating their intentions.
He gritted his teeth and punched the Assault Boosters to full power, catapulting the AC into the air and blazing forward just barely above the ground level. It rapidly closed the distance between them and before the intruder AC could notice his approach, Leemo fired all the missiles on the shoulder mounted launchers, toggling the targeting systems to track the AC at max efficiency. The white AC would've spotted the missiles or at least the pilot would've been alerted to them yet it kept its assault onto the defenses, now actually breaking through the hardened armor and blowing them up. It was when the first couple missile hit that Leemo saw the white AC get shoved to the side out of harm's way by a powerful burst from its side boosters, allowing it to dodge the rest of the salvo making its ways to the empty spot on the ground where he was moments ago. Not only did that move just helped him avoid potential damage, it spun the AC around to face Leemo's AC, and fire a laser cannon beam at him in one fluid motion. Leemo jerked the controls and the AC shifted to the side, side stepping the laser beam in the last instant, still taking minor damage from the explosion, before the Assault Boost resumed its relentless charge towards the enemy AC. Leemo pulled back just before the energy bar ran out and land with a heavy thud on the ground, skidding the last few meters in a combat ready stance with its burst machine gun aimed at the enemy AC.
"He's here! Leemo! Back us up!"
Leemo took a deep breath, quickly running his threat in his head, only to be interrupted by the defense turrets resuming fire onto the AC. The enemy didn't dawdle either and was going its best to avoid as much damage as possible while returning fire with its laser rifle on its right arm and laser cannon on its right shoulder. Leemo, feeling stupid, shook out of it and leapt into the fray, firing his burst machine gun along with his shoulder missiles. The AC stuck with the same weaponry as retaliation to both the defenses and Leemo's AC but never utilizing the rest of its arsenal. Leemo could see other equipment on the left side but so far the enemy AC seemed to be intentionally handicapping itself by firing only two of them. Conserving ammo? Malfunction? Over confidence? Leemo didn't care for the answer either way and stuck to the AC's blindside, keeping it in the crossfire from the Scavengers defenses and his own AC. Eventually the AC faltered and more shells were hitting their mark, Leemo took the opportunity to rev the chainsaw attached on his AC's left arm and kept an eye out for an opening to catch the AC as he closed the distance. And then he had it, the AC was hit squarely by a mortar shell that staggered and stunned the AC midair, its boosters flickering to try and keep the AC upright. Leemo's AC lunged at the white AC, the chainsaw buzzing loudly as Leemo watched the AC swing it across his screen toward the enemy AC. His blood froze for a moment as his target spun around and belated used its side boosters to jump out if the way. Its right arm got caught between the chainsaw blades and got torn off at the bicep, the blades grinding the arm and weapon within.
"Nice one, Leemo!" Mari cheered in his ear.
Leemo heard a loud whoop in his headphones, as the rush of adrenaline flooded him at catching the AC in the grinders, even if momentarily. The enemy AC skidded to a halt close to one of the turret towers, seemingly in shock or confused. It kept its 180 degree wrap around illuminated lense, its eyes, at Leemo's AC as sparks sputtered from its torn limb. Everything went silent for the moment, aside from the cheering in his comms, but this gave Leemo the chance to deliver his threat to the intruder.
"This place has no love for your kind, corporate dog. Leave, or you'll lose far more than your arm."
With a flourish, Leemo's AC revved the chainsaw in front of him menacingly. He could hear his comrades cheering in his internal comms, and he had to admit it felt good. The AC held its position and stance the whole time, seemingly stuck or frozen in place.
"Let's just kill him here!" he heard someone say and the turret next to the AC spun to take aim and fired point blank. Except the explosion blew back towards the turret, engulfing it in fire. Leemo felt time slow to a crawl as he watched in full clarity the enemy AC deploy and retract over its shoulder what looked like an energy shield, and in a quick motion, swing its left arm multiple times across the turret with the left arm attachment fully extended and covered in electric currents. The turret exploded in a shower of sparks and the AC spun to face Leemo again, even with its right arm torn, it still had the laser cannon on its shoulder primed to fire alongside what he now identified as an energy shield and something of an energy melee weapon on the left. Not waiting for him to react, the enemy AC activated its Assault Boost, blue flares matching the laser cannon electric current as it charged. Leemo pulled back on the controls and to the side, maneuvering out of the direct vector of the incoming enemy AC, as well as maintaining enough distance for the missiles to track their target as he launched them alternatingly while keeping up fire from his burst machine gun. The enemy AC didn't relent its mad rush towards him despite the missiles angling towards it, only for Leemo to belatedly remember that its shield flipped over its shoulder and blocked the missile attacks, softening the blows that its speed was barely hindered by the attacks. He knew what was coming, he kept the AC strafing around his opponent as it rapidly closed the distance. And true enough, the AC shifted its posture midair, shifting its right side forward as the left arm melee extended and wrapped itself in electric currents. It lunged towards Leemo's AC only to have it dodge out of the way with burst from its side boosters, and retaliating with his own chainsaw aimed at the AC's sides. Only to catch nothing but air as his target dashed forward out of range of the swing, spun around and lunged again towards him. Leemo tried desperately to move out of the way but the AC was still locked in its chainsaw swing, too slow to recover or retract its arm. He braced for the attack as the enemy AC now filled the left half of his screen with its left arm held near its head, then in flash of motion jab at the side of his AC and leap back away from him, seeming to brace firmly on both feet on the ground.
Leemo saw something flickering in his peripheral, instinctively turning in that direction as well as keeping the AC in his sights for counter fire. But before he could launch his missiles, he felt himself shoved to the side of his seat as something exploded on his AC, and in that half aware hazy state time stretched the seconds that he saw with full clarity, the enemy AC fired its shoulder mounter laser cannon at him. The beam searing the air and dust between them and finally exploding onto the AC in a bright flash that his HUD dimmed to minimize the exposure to its brightness. Leemo's AC staggered from the double explosions and the internal systems were flickering red with warning beeps. The opposing AC activated its boosters and lunged towards him again only to be struck at the side by something Leemo wasn't able to trace, but it was enough to knock it off course and have it crash into the wall less than a 100 meters ahead of him.
"Chief, we're here! Sorry we couldn't get here sooner but the Tetrapod took time prepare."
Leemo recognized the voice but couldn't recall the name at the moment with his head spinning and ringing. He could still see clearly though, the opposing AC recovered even before he did and was taking aim with its laser cannon.
"Stand down! You're outnumbered and outgunned. If you value your life, you will leave." The MT pilot threatened, biting out the last three words to make his point. The AC seemed to have gotten the message as his laser cannon retracted into itself, the electric currents fizzing out into smoke out the back. Now Leemo could hear a few heavy metal crunches as the Scavenger's MT squad caught up with the Tetrapod, their spotlights focused on the AC and weapons locking and loading. Static burst on the comms interrupted the silent stare down and every machine twitched from being startled.
"...done here. Exit Plan A. Move it Vee Ten!"
As if on cue, alarms wailed in Leemo's ears with a faint echo a fraction of a second following it from the processing plant. Not even two seconds later and an explosion flashed from the same direction turning everyone's attention there.
"Leemo, someone infiltrated the facility! Our camera spotted a hijacked truck headed your way. Stop it!"
"Go, chief! We'll keep watch on this AC, you should be able to catch up to it no problem."
"Alright, just be careful, the pilot is sharp."
Leemo activated the Assault Boosters and headed straight for the direction of the explosion. The he could see lots of smoke coming out the processing plant and the extinguishers and water tackling the red and yellow fires between them. His thoughts got interrupted when a truck swerved around his AC and went on full speed, pedal to the metal. Leemo cut the boosters, used the side boosters to spin 180 degrees, and instantly regretted it. He felt his stomach bounce up to his throat and his head spin sharply for a second or two. Forcing down the vomit that threatened to come out, he gripped the controls tight and trailed the truck using the regular boosters which was more than enough to overtake its speed. The driver was really pushing it, ignoring the uneven roads and bumps to make its escape. On one hand, he and the Scavengers want to be left alone, so if that saboteur and AC are willing to leave peacefully then it's all well and good. On the other hand, they don't know what these two were doing raiding the base in the first place. If it ended up bringing the Corps in full force to overtake their home then they cannot be allowed to leave.
"To the truck hijacker, this is your last warning to surrender or I WILL open fire."
Leemo gave him till the count of five-
"HEY! Power down your AC or-"
Leemo heard a crackle and static before the voice finished the sentence. Up ahead he saw the massive Tetrapod MT tilted back on its hind legs, covered in electrical currents crawling all over its chassis from a single rod stuck just off the spot where the cockpit is. It twitched and spasmed while its escort MTs opened fire on the now moving AC, only to have their bullets and cannon rounds deflected by the energy shield. The Corp AC activated its Assault Boost and broke out of the encirclement, heading to intercept the escaping truck. Leemo cursed under his breath and scrambled to fire the missiles at the truck. He knew firing the burst machinegun would've been a better option at this range, but his brain picked the absurd number of missiles homing in at the truck instead. He knew it was a mistake as soon as the missiles launched out of their pods, and he cursed himself that he was right. All the missile salvos were either blocked by the AC's shield, or scattered and exploded a bit off target but still too far to destroy the truck. He quickly brought up his arm weapon to bare to at least deal with the AC, however, he realized too late that its shoulder Laser Cannon was fully charged in the time it took to intercept the missiles. He was staring at a bright blue sphere then a linear beam shot out of the cannon, the enemy AC's maroon eyes in sharp contrast to the beam turn around slowly before the energy beam slammed square into the AC and explode into a brilliant blue burst of energy, overloading the optical sensor and damaging several systems alongside it. "AP at 30%" the computer warned as the alarm beeped non-stop. Before Leemo could fumble for the controls, he felt the AC tilt forward and slowly lower itself a few meters down, then all the systems went black, no alarms no nothing.
He jerked with a start when the Core hatch popped open, but it wasn't the one above him. He felt a draft coming behind him around the pilot seat, and without warning, the seat flew out the back of the AC and deployed airbags that enveloped him entirely as he tumbled and rolled to a stop.
When the world stopped spinning, Leemo released the safety restraints and wormed out of the airbags, feeling sore all over his body with some patches of pain he figured were bruises that needed treatment before they ruined his week. It wasn't till he looked back at the AC did he realize just how badly it was damaged from the energy weapons that Corp AC used. Some parts were warped, fused or partially melted like candle wax. It definitely needed a lot of repair and that's just his first excursion on this AC. He internally dreaded the thought of having to go through this regularly as things get worse from this point onwards, especially since he couldn't even see where the Corp AC and truck went. The MTs didn't chase them far before realizing they couldn't keep up and were heading toward him, the tetrapod MT had recovered as well but it was too late to pursue them at this point.
"Chief, Mari says we need to head back ASAP, it's important."
Leemo stepped into the meeting room, which was pretty much the biggest, uncluttered room they could find in their building complex. Seated around the table were the other chiefs of the different units in the Scavengers camp, including Mari who had called him, and a total stranger that's been subject to wary glances and glares from the others.
"Okay, he's here. Now from the top, please." Mari prompted the stranger with a gentle smack on the back.
"I'm Arshwin, from the Rubicon Liberation Front. I was tasked to seek out and invite all who would join our cause against the Corporations' invasion."
"Tsk, another rebel group trying to round up people for their cause. We have enough problems as it is, we don't need yours piling over ours." The chief of civil planning said with all the contempt filling every word.
"We can handle ourselves, thank you. You were just in time to see us get rid of one of the Corp ACs." Leemo put in. The Scavengers really didn't need any more trouble right now, the more invisible they are, the better their chances to survive whatever is coming to Rubicon. But the fact that they've been targeted by the Corps a few times already is slowly chewing his mind.
"I fully understand your reluctance and hesitation. As I said, my task is only to invite you. But consider this, the Corporations are on Rubicon again, very active and with several mercenary AC pilots deployed for whatever agendas they have. You all and myself, are Rubiconians, we have a duty to protect our home, this planet, just as you protect your camp and your people. Whether or not you believe in our cause is irrelevant, the Rubicon Liberation Front fights for all Rubiconians and having more people like that AC pilot earlier can only make us that much close to fulfilling that obligation."
Mari stirred in her seat, everyone knew each one's character enough to figure out what they're thinking or feeling. One of the chiefs opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by the other next to him by grabbing his arm. The stranger glanced at each of them, feeling confined in the room by their gaze, until Mari finally stood up.
"Okay, look..." She said letting out a deep sigh. "We all heard of your fanatic group worshipping Coral and all that crap, so that's a big turn off for us because we don't really know what your motives are. For all we know, this could be a play to rob us of what limited supply of coral we still have to survive."
The stranger was about to say something, but Mari lifted her hand, palm outward at him and he kept quiet.
"We will consider your invitation, but we won't make a decision right now. Give us time to discuss this between us and once we're in agreement, we'll let you know... assuming there's a convenient way to contact your people."
"There is, but it's better if you send someone to meet Uncle Flatwell at... The Wall."
"What wall?" It's the first time Leemo ever heard of it. But then him and his team weren't the ones that go outside their own parameters.
"Don't sweat it, we know where that is. Thank you for coming." Mari said, giving Leemo a discreet nod before moving to escort Arshwin out the room. She assigned one of the personnel to show him out of the camp along with supplies to help him on his trip.
With the door closed behind her, Mari's face took on a grim look, quieting the already quiet room. Each of the chiefs sat up right, knowing that this matter just turned serious for them all. Leemo felt the anticipation charge the room that he was getting goose bumps. Whatever Mari is about to say, might very well decide the future for the rest of them.