Embers After Flames, Chapter 9.4 (Patreon)

9.4

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“Hear me, scavengers!” Dolmayan called over the comms, broadcasting out in the open. “You’ll find nothing you seek here! Forged in ash, we stand as one!”

This... was going to be complicated.

Mmm. I made a mistake, here. I really should have had a bit more forces in the area just in case. The only things I can spare right this instant are the Antigens, and those... are things that I don’t really want to reveal. Sure, 621, Rusty, and Dolmayan should be enough to deal with the situation, but it was stupid of me to not have a backup plan. One should always be prepared for some kind of bullshit.

... Nothing to it now, I suppose.

“Commencing operation with combined AC force as per the Balam-Arquebus agreement. Move out, maggots! Time to die!” And there’s Michigan. Unlike Dolmayan, he’s not broadcasting in the open, though. The six enemy ACs have their own channel.

Absently, I patched my own pilots into it.

“Leave their leader to me.” Freud’s voice echoed out. The man sounded, of all things, bored. Which... checked, actually. “I’m sure that the five of you can handle the other two.”

“No can do, Freud.” Michigan stated. “Everything we know about that guy tells us he’s one of the best pilots on this planet.”

“And you want to steal a potentially interesting battle from me?” Freud asked. “Don’t get in the way.”

Michigan made a noise of annoyance.

“Leave him.” Snail interjected. “Go help handle the mutt, instead. Once these three are dead, we can proceed with our actual mission and stop wasting time.”

“Tch. Fine, but don’t come crying to me if he loses.” Michigan said. “G3, V.iii, I’m joining you as your third. Keep an eye out for this hound, they’re apparently pretty good.”

“How bold of them.” Rusty said. “But fine. I can handle the second placers, and Father Dolmayan will deal with Freud soon enough. Buddy, a three-on-one isn’t good odds, but Michigan is a lot better than the other two. You should be able to handle it.”

621’s only answer was to pulse Loader 4’s Boosters, giving a bit of distance to Rusty and Dolmayan. It wouldn’t be enough that the other parties couldn’t intervene with each other if they had to, but it was enough for the moment.

Confidence. I liked that.

Dolmayan did the same a moment later, ASTGHIK’s thrusters shifting into maximum power as the mech suddenly flew forwards through the air, Assault Boosting straight towards LOCKSMITH.

Wu Huahai, O’Keeffe, and Michigan broke off to meet with 621. Nile and Snail went straight towards Rusty, and Freud shifted slightly to meet with Dolmayan.

All three opposing forces collided with each other shortly afterwards.

It was Freud who took the first shot of the entire battle. He opened things with a shot from his bazooka, firing a cross-pattern spread in Dolmayan’s direction. Dolmayan chose to go diagonal, up and right, allowing all of them to pass him harmlessly, before he fired back with his own rifle.

For a man who had no Augmentations, Freud reacted with an alacrity that surpassed what many of them would have been capable of. A slight movement of his own let the bullets fly past, close but untouched. LOCKSMITH’s Laser Drones activated, streaming out into the air, before rushing forwards.

Dolmayan shifted his rifle and fired another shot. The Drone jerked out of the way, briefly erratic, before getting back on course.

They weren’t preprogrammed, I realized after a moment. These drones were under Freud’s direct control.

How absurd. Keeping track of half a dozen tiny little objects in the middle of a battlefield wasn’t an easy feat even for most Augments, yet here Freud was controlling manually. How much could a man be capable of?

He really is Built Different.

That’s fine.

So was Dolmayan.

ASTGHIK launched a napalm bomb into the air. The angle was all wrong to hit LOCKSMITH, but that wasn’t Dolmayan’s target. Instead, he raised his rifle and shot the bomb, detonating it early and spilling the napalm everywhere- including onto Freud’s drones.

He saved two of them, the pair furthest from the bomb. The rest took the splash directly, doused in burning gel.

With only two drones left, dodging between the beams they fired wasn’t too difficult for Dolmayan. He closed the distance, gun firing as he did. Freud met his every attempt, his own rifle spitting a wall of bullets. The two Quick Boosted freely, dodging the shots by increasingly narrower margins-

And then they were in close range.

ASTGHIK’s Pulse Blade flared, aiming straight for LOCKSMITH’s Core. At the last possible moment, Freud’s Laser Blade ignited, and he swung up.

The blades collided. Lightning and plasma flickered between them, and both mechs went past each other, both of them having deflected the worst of the strikes away.

“Oh?” Freud’s voice no longer held any boredom. “Finally. Something interesting.”

How needlessly dramatic.

Rusty and 621 weren’t being like that, at least.

The former had started his battle rather simply. Snail and Nile were both carrying a considerable supply of missiles. All of Nile’s weaponry, except his Linear Rifle, were missiles of various sorts, while Snail was carrying a Stun Gun, a Laser Lance, and a pair of Plasma Missile Launchers.

Neither of them had hesitated in using them to open things up.

The barrage that shot forth from both ACs would have been daunting for most to face. There were missiles in every direction, shooting up from vertical launchers, shooting forwards from horizontal launchers, and even deployed from seeker pods, trailing behind the rest. Unfortunately, their target of choice was Rusty, and Rusty was piloting an Lightweight AC with unmatched speed and aerial ability as designed by Elcano’s best artisans against a pair of Heavyweights.

Rusty fucking danced through the missiles, unerringly finding a path through that entire mess. He closed the distance between them at a speed that was breathtakingly quick, aiming for Snail first since he was the only one of the two who had a melee weapon.

Given that the Laser Lance wasn’t exactly an agile weapon? Snail very quickly started to have a bad time, and there wasn’t much Nile could do to assist.

As for 621, it was Michigan who started their battle.

LIGER TAIL’s gatling gun spooled up, opening blasting a horde of bullets downrange to 621, even as the SONGBIRD cannon fired towards where 621 was going. Wu Huahai and O’Keeffe joined in a moment afterwards, LI LONG’s Machine Gun and Missile Launchers sending out their own barrage while BARREN FLOWER’s Burst Rifle, Plasma Rifle, Container Missile, and Plasma Missile did the same.

None of it even came close to touching 621. Where Rusty danced and Dolmayan weaved, 621 did nothing that required so much effort. 621 made do with little more than the barest shifts of position and momentum, minor yet so perfectly calculated that it was all that was needed. A withering amount of firepower, simply not allowed to touch what it was aimed at.

621 approached with a steady speed, almost deceptive for how casual it was. LOADER 4’s missiles streamed out, splitting between all three targets. It wasn’t much, and none of the three had much difficulty dodging them- but it did serve a brief distraction.

Wu Huahai was 621’s first target. Again, perhaps it was because he was simply the closest, or perhaps it was because he was the most easily removed of the three opponents. Whatever the case, one moment 621 was simply approaching, and the next, LOADER 4 exploded into movement.

The shift was sudden and violent. LOADER 4 spun around a missile, blade igniting halfway through the motion. Wu Huahai wasn’t even able to react before the blade burned a gouge across the front left leg of LI LONG. Its heavy armour saved the limb from coming off entirely, but the armour itself was compromised from the strike. LI LONG’s Boosters ignited as Wu Huahai flung himself backwards, trying to get some distance, but it didn’t help.

621 finished the spin with the rifle raised. The bullets flew unerringly as 621 chased after LI LONG, each one finding the gap in the armour that 621 had just created. It took a few seconds -the entire time of which Wu Huahai was desperately trying to shake 621-, but inevitably the structure couldn’t take it.

The leg tore off, unbalancing the mech. For a Quad, this wasn’t the end of the world. Sure, the mech would be unstable, and obviously also unbalanced, but it was entirely possible to keep going with only three legs if you were good enough.

The real problem was the immediate consequences. The loss of a leg triggered the emergency measures, the AC freezing momentarily as the ACS reconfigured for the new state. It was brief, yes. But it was enough.

621 lunged, Boosters igniting before LOADER 4’s leg pushed forwards into the most beautiful kick I’d ever had the pleasure of witnessing.

LI LONG’s Head came clear off the Frame, removed with a single motion of magnificent, lethal precision. LI LONG itself tumbled backwards, spinning as it did. Wu Huahai proved to have had some training etched into him, because the ejection pod triggered only a moment later, shooting backwards and away.

621 didn’t even hesitate. LOADER 4’s Boosters fired, and the mech shifted its stance as it started to make its way towards BARREN FLOWER.

It had been barely fifteen seconds since 621 had started.

There’s that characteristic lethalness in action.

“Holy- V.iii, pull back!” Michigan commanded, his voice brooking no dissent. “The reports undersold this one!”

“You don’t need to tell me twice!” O’Keeffe shouted, immediately switching tempo. BARREN FLOWER reversed directions, heading diagonally towards LIGER TAIL even as 621 started to home in.

Rusty laughed over the comms. “Nice job, buddy!” He called. “The honour of the first kill is yours... But I’ll be taking the second.”

Rusty was currently in close quarters combat with Snail, where the majority of the latter’s weaponry was of... debatable use.

Right as he’d said that, he’d Boosted backwards, putting a bit of distance between him and Snail. Seeing an apparent opportunity, the Vesper’s Laser Lance ignited, and he shot forwards at a blindingly fast speed.

Rusty’s Laser Slicer carved straight through the Lance as Snail shot past him, gouging the weapon almost in half. The capacitors took a direct hit, detonating as their containment was breached, energy grounding through OPEN FAITH.

Rusty wasted no time. STEEL HAZE shot after him, the Slicer still active. A series of spinning strikes removed both Plasma Missile Launchers, and then did quite a number on the back of the mech as well, leaving a series of molten gashes across the armour. The final follow up was simple, but brutal: STEEL HAZE’s twin TRUENO Needle Missiles fired at point back range.

The Needle Missiles were one of Elcano’s weirder weapons. They weren’t explosives, like most missiles were. They had little ability to track their targets, also unlike most missiles. What they did have was sheer speed, because that’s what they were, in the end: Needles with rockets attached in order to propel them into the enemy as fast as conceivably possible.

With the armour already weakened by the Laser Slicer, the Needle Missiles punched deep, puncturing straight into OPEN FAITH’s internals. It was clear that a fuel cell was punctured, because a burst of blue-white plasma flames surged back out a moment later.

To my disappointment, Snail was on the ball enough to eject before his mech cooked off, his ejection pod shooting away from the battlefield. A real shame, that meant that we were probably going to see him again.

Alright. Rusty was left with Nile, 621 had both Michigan and O’Keeffe, and Dolmayan still had Freud.

Speaking of the last two...

Both of them were currently in one hell of a melee. Bullets firing at nearly point blank, bazooka and napalm grenades exchanged at the absolute minimum of safe distances, missiles and laser drones dancing in the air between them.

LOCKSMITH’s Laser Blade flashed out, and ASTGHIK’s Pulse Blade caught it. Another equal deflection.

“I see now. That’s no ordinary BASHO.” Freud’s words were calm, but his voice... His voice told an entirely different story.

If I were to be conservative, I’d call it excitement. If I were to be realistic... I’d go much further than that.

“More. Show me more!”