Arquebus seized control of the Coral... and its occupying forces swiftly commandeered the entirety of Institute City. There they discovered a wealth of forgotten relics. Among them, experimental weapons that the Institute kept secret, fearing they were beyond human control...
A group of C-weapons bearing the name of the Central Coral Control System... Arquebus also claimed a towering Coral siphon abandoned since the Fires, the Vascular Plant. Now, the ytoil to repair the Plant and extend its reach beyond Rebuicon's atmosphere.
The Liberation Front no longer had the power to stop them.. and the fires of war continued to smolder as the end drew near.
...
At first, there was nothing. Just black. Darkness. Something Raven was so used to seeing so many times. However, he started to open his eyes, black still on the outlines of his blurry vision, not able to properly see.
"Raven..." said Ayre, "I've found a message addressed to you. ...Decoding and playing back."
She was so relieved that her partner was alive and well. Raven let out a weak cocky grin. There came the familiar logo of Handler Walter.
"621, a friend of mine sent a request..." he paused, then continued, "...No. This one comes from me."
The mercenary found himself half shocked. A request, a job, coming from the boss himself? The young man thought back to when he first heard his voice. "I'll give you a reason to exist." Was this... was this it? He then continued to listen to the message.
"You know what hidden dangers lurk within the Coral," he said.
He already felt uneasy. He knew that it was dangerous, but what did that have to do with... Raven was then given a graph called, "Coral Simulation." It seemed to be going down at first.
"The Fires of Ibis should have wiped the Coral out, but it survived. Grathered," Walter continued, "And it's been steadily multiplying ever since. Now the Coral convergence is growing at an exponential rate. Eventually, it'll spill out from Rubicon... and contaminate space itself."
The line symbolizing and saying, "Coral" then started to skyrocket upwards. Raven then started to see the Fires of Ibis, burning everything those flames touched.
He knew it was dangerous. But now seeing this... and then he started to see the possibility of Coral spreading throughout the entire universe. Simulations showing just how every planets' story will end.
Raven couldn't believe it. It was... it was too impossible to even believe. How... how can any of this be? Then again, what did he know?
He was just a walking weapon.
"The Coral must be burned, 621." said Walter in almost a pleading voice, "Even if that means reigniting the fire that scorched the stars."
The mercenary AC pilot's head shot straight up. Burn it? Burn the Coral? No. No, no, no, no. This... this can't be what... So this was what his "reason to exist" was: To burn the Coral. To create a new fire; The Fires of Rubicon.
But... if he's to burn the Coral... that'll mean...
Ayre.
"This isn't an order, it's a legacy."
Ayre. Ayre's Coral. But... she's just a single wave. He has to burn Ayre away. No. No he couldn't do that to her. He... he mustn't.
"My fallen friends entrusted this duty to me... And now it's my turn to hand it on."
No. Why did Walter have to do this? This was all too much.
Raven's eyes began to feel heavy. A mixture from the remnants of the stunning needle's shock was still hurting him and the new pressure added in.. He could barely see anything anymore, but he could still hear his handler's voice.
"621. Feed the fire. Let the last cinders burn. I have one last job for you: Find your freedom." Walter finished.
The young man then opened his eyes, awakening in some kind of... junkyard area? Underground?
"...Raven." said Ayre, "Now I finally understand what Walter was thinking."
The camera then turned to some kind of heavily worn AC. It was all rusted and beaten down, as if its prime had been long past for ages.
"This AC... He must have fourseen this outcome and prepared for it." Ayre continued, "...It's time for us to escape."
Suddenly, the moment Raven got up, he spotted two men walking by the entrance. He then immediately hid within the shadows. He spotted them flashing their flashlights over the AC.
"What the...?" said one, "Who made this piece of junk?"
Before the second could answer, Raven dropped by and then gripped him by the arm and threw him against the first man.
"Wh-Who the hell is this?!" the second screamed.
One aimed at his forehead, however, Raven threw a piece of rubble at him, messing up his aim. The mercenary then skid against the floor, sliding as he threw his fist at his kneecap, snapping it all the way backwards.
The man couldn't scream before his mouth was covered the very moment he felt a sharp piece of junk stab through his neck. The second security guard stared at the site in a mixture of shock and horror.
"You..." he growled, "Y-you mother fu-!"
Before he could answer, Raven got behind him and wrapped his arms around his neck and shoved him down. He then placed his foot on the back of his head and snapped it. The mercenary stared coldly before rudely stepping over it and climbing into the AC's cockpit.
[Main System: Activating Combat Mode]
Raven quickly analyzed the AC. It was an old-gen. It was made from junk parts, and its performance leaves much to be desired.
It was AC-J-120/RC, codename "JAILBREAK." Not a bad name if Raven were to say so himself. The old man surely was such a planner. AP's poor, low stability, even made the RaD crappy scout AC look so much better, but better than nothing and Raven was going to respect his former handler for that. It was wielding an MG-014 LUDLOW Machine gun, an MA-T-223 KYORIKU Jamming Bomb Launcher, and... an SB-033M MORLEY Stun Needle launcher? That's a shocker.
"I've found some coordinates in the AC's systems." said Ayre, sounding surprised, "He's... showing us the way out."
The Arquebus MT Squad Members were at first complaining about the fact that they were put on sewer duty and shouting where the AC or "pile of junk" came from . Once Raven took them down, Ayre wanted him to avoid combat as much as possible.
"I'm afraid this AC is... no match for your abilities." was the best way she could put it.
<<Thanks.>>
They headed further into a tunnel. There, they saw a huge mech with four legs. Ayre suggested finding another way through, but Raven wasn't a patient kind, so he fired the stun needle, critically damaging the mech and destroying the MT next to it.
The mercenary took advantage of the staggered enemy and quickly kicked it, taking it down and assault boosting out.
Ayre let out a sigh of relief as she was glad that he was fine after that. They reached the outside and saw a familiar ruin.
"Is this... the outskirts of Institute City?" asked Ayre.
<<Seems to be. No place else to have ruins I shall think.>>
Suddenly, Pater's voice boomed over.
"This is V.VI Pater. Calling all security team members." he said, "Raven, the independent mercenary undergoing re-education has escaped. Be alert for anyone hiding in the environs of Institute City, tighten the net."
"...Raven. Arquebus is on high alert," said Ayre with worry, then suggested, "Use your scanner to evade combat situations."
<<I will. Can't wait to get OBSIDIAN WING back.>>
Raven then began guiding JAILBREAK throughout the city. He saw a few enemy MTs keeping an eye out, looking for him. He slowly moved over to a ledge where the coordinates were aiming at. They then spotted massive circles of light across the place.
"Searchlights." Ayre identified, "We'll be in trouble if they spot us."
Raven took off to the buildings on the right side of the area. There, he spotted more enemy MTs including a few helicopters.
Already too much.
He got JAILBREAK up to the top of one building and engaged assault boost once it was fully charged up. However, it quickly ran out of charge, causing him to land back on the ground, thankfully not in the eyes of the enemy.
Luckily, there was a vertical catapult. But once he was lifted upwards, he saw that one of the enemy had noticed him.
"Enemy contact!" shouted a squad member, "AC, old model!"
"It's Raven!" another member realized, "Neutralize the fugitive!"
"Raven!" Ayre shouted in warning, "The searchlights!"
Raven forced himself to start assault boosting. A familiar voice came along on the coms.
"Emergency beacon intercepted." said Chatty Stick, "...Been a while, tourist. Good to see you're still kicking. Chief's coming to pick you up. Head to the rendezvous point."
"He's from RaD..." Ayre realized, "Carla... She must be involved with Walter's mission..."
<<Strange to me.>>
Raven had no choice but to risk every ounce of assault boost power to get to the edge of a cliff, where the coordinates ended.
"This is the rendezvous point." said Ayre, then gasping in fear, "Enemies detected!"
Raven looked back, seeing the enemies as they approached.
"We've found Raven! Close the noose!" shouted a squad member.
V.VI Pater's voice returned, saying that he had received orders from V.II Snail. Apparently, if the target resists the description of Raven's current situation and usual attitude, they are authorized to use lethal force.
Of course they are. Snail hated Raven like a lot, though not as much as Iguazu.
"Stop Raven by all means necessary." he ordered, "You have your orders!"
They began to swarm JAILBREAK as its armor was beginning to be burned off, some machinery being exposed from the attacks. AP dropped down to 30%, and Raven's repair kits were all burned out.
"Raven...!" said Ayre in fear, "There's too many of them!"
<<Just a little more!>>
"...Wait! I'm picking up something else!"
<<Better be friendly, sick of this already!>>
Suddenly, an AC came by, flying at high speed. It had a pair of WS-5000 APERITIF Seige Missile Launchers on its hands and two WS-5001 SOUP Scatter Missile Launchers on its shoudlers. Ayre was the one to quickly analyze it as FULL COURSE.
"Hey tourist," she greeted, "having a little trouble?!"
"Carla...?!" asked Ayre, shocked.
"Walter... he asked me to look after you. Don't mind if I do."
She then sped up her AC even faster in order to get to the mercenary.
"Company! It's another AC!" shouted a squad member before being shot down by Raven's machine gun.
"I'm reading... RaD?!" said another, "The Doser junkyard...!"
"That's Carla's AC..." said Ayre, looking at it again, "She's backing us up, Raven!"
Carla then joked that she doesn't just design weapons, saying that they'll know what she meant. It didn't take long to shock the two as she used the weapons to take down multiple enemies at once.
"There's a lot of them, chief," Chatty warned, "but they're just MTs."
"You should let me handle this." Carla argued.
"RaD needs you in one piece."
"You're missing the point, Chatty. This is our tourist's grand escape, I wouldn't miss it for the world!"
Raven didn't expect to feel like some celebrity. Well, ever since Operation: Wallclimber, he was becoming quite the popular mercenary. But he also didn't expect to get insulted the moment someone on the coms then mentioned about JAILBREAK being "ancient," asking if that was really Raven.
"Raven, fight back!" he heard Ayre encourage.
The mercenary himself frowned, his pride hurt, pressing down the stun needle trigger with pleasure, ending that MT pest.
<<Just did.>>
FULL COURSE then landed right next to the little AC.
"...Looks like we're clear." She said, "We'd better book it before more company shows up."
"Sending a chopper." Chatty notified, "We retrieved the tourist's AC, too."
"...Once we've caught our breath, let's talk."
Raven knew what Carla meant by that.
Her apparent "connection" to Walter's mission: Burning the Coral. All the while, he was beginning to wonder... is it... probably for the best? Then again... no... he wouldn't know just what to do with... her...
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