It seemed that both Ravens preferred fighting from a distance as the boosted away from each other and started firing. Sharpshooter was living up to his name and placing sniper bullets in the weak points of Archangels AC. But Angel Impact was far from defeated, the huge missile launcher opened up and fired a massive missile and at the same time, four smaller missiles shot from the extensions on the white ACs shoulders. The four smaller, faster missiles were shot down by the anti-missile cannon on the front of Gun Smokes core but the huge TITAN missile was too large to be shot down by some little laser. The Sniper AC tried to dodge the behemoth but the missile matched him move for move. Then Sharp shooter lived up to his name once again and shot the missile out of the sky with his sniper rifle. The missile exploded in a tremendous ball of fire and the concussive force knocked Gun Smoke on it’s butt. As soon as the missile blew, Archangel fire another, along with four more small ones. This time though, the small missile were able to hit their mark before the downed AC could get back up. The TITAN missile however proved too slow and was once again shot from the sky by Sharpshooters expert marksmanship. Archangel could obviously tell he would never hit his opponent with the TITANS so he dropped the launcher to the ground and activated his grenade launcher. It was almost as if his trigger was stuck, round after round of grenade fire exploded on the ground as Sharpshooter carefully dodged the flying shells. Archangel managed to hit his attacker a couple of times but the high armor of Gun Smoke prevented any life threatening damage from occurring. Archangel dropped his spent grenade launcher and his extensions too. Four panels on the back of Angel Impact opened to let out a powerful flash of purple as the white and gold AC was thrusted towards his enemy at an incredible speed. Sharpshooter simply lowered his huge grenade launcher and fired at the charging juggernaut. But Archangel was ready and boosted to the side to avoid the huge projectile and then boosted back to avoid another, all while maintaining his over boost towards his enemy. As Archangel got closer to Sharpshooter he had a harder and harder time of dodging the grenades being fired at him. Just as he was about to get into blading range, a grenade exploded on the chest of his AC and the blast sent both ACs sprawling to the ground. It was obvious however that Angel Impact suffered a great deal more damage than Gun Smoke. Before Archangel could regain his footing, Sharpshooter took to the air and fired several sniper shells into the joints of his helpless victim. “Kur are you still there? I am having trouble moving my arms, the bullets must be jamming the joints up. Get this guy off my back and I’ll make it worth your while.” I was about to step in anyway but the thought of getting paid for it made me act sooner. I set down my truck and grabbed the KARASAWA hanging from my right thigh. I fired a shot at the flying sniper and the powerful blue bolt knocked the right arm right off of the brown and white AC. The distraction gave Archangel enough time to lift his right arm and fire a bazooka shell right into the already cratered and smoking core of Gun Smoke. The shot had enough force to break through the armor and into the radiator of the heavy AC. The boosters immediately cut off and the entire AC overheated and shut down before it hit the ground. Angel Impact got to it’s feet and the cockpit hatch opened. The man inside climbed down and ran over to his defeated enemy. I decided to join in the fun and got out of my AC as well. We both met at the head of the smoldering AC and looked each other over. I don’t know about him but I was checking for weapons. He was a few inches shorter than me, probably six foot or so and very thin. The kind of guy that could turn sideways with his tongue out and look like a zipper. He had on a basic Ravens uniform with a silver cross dangling from his right front belt loop and for some reason, a rubber band on his left wrist. The one thing that caught my attention though was his gray eyes. They were gray but not like mine, his iris was gray while the whites were, well, white. Mine are green with a blue ring around the pupil but the whites were gray. “Hey, uh, do strange things ever happen to you? Like, you will do something without knowing why?” “What? I haven’t got a clue what you are talking about.” “Never mind... sorry.” We both climbed up the side of the fallen AC and the hatch opened up. Inside was a man in his late forties, not very tall but in good shape. He just laid there, still strapped into the control arms of his AC. “Well, I’ll be damned. Beaten by a couple of kids. What are you guys. like 18?” He didn’t seem to disappointed in his loss. It’s like he just shrugged it off as a fluke or something. I would have just left him there overnight in the cold to think about his actions but Archangel had a different idea. “Why did you attack me? Who are you working for?” “I was sent by Crest. They know you are loyal to Mirage and want you out of the way. That’s all I can tell you. Hey no hard feelings right? I wasn’t trying to kill you or anything, just damage your AC for a while.” “Yeah I know, I could tell. Just part of the job right.” I was shocked at first that Archangel was taking this so lightly, I would have been pissed. But I knew they were right. In this business you can’t hold grudges, it’s part of the job. “You think one of you could give me a lift to Corella City since my AC isn’t going anywhere for a while?” “Yeah sure I’ll take you. After all I am the one that put that big hole in your radiator. Oh and hey Kur, thanks for the help.” Archangel shook my hand and then handed me 1,000 credits. “I know it’s not much but it’s all I got on me.” “Ah, forget it, I didn’t do much anyway, keep your money. Hey, maybe we’ll meet again sometime.” I handed the money back to him and started to walk back to my AC. I climbed inside and turned the heater up because I forgot to close my hatch. once the cockpit warmed up I picked up my truck and started on my way to my new home. to be continued I made it to Corella City without much incident. I wondered if I would ever see Archangel again, he was supposed to be in Corella City also. His gray eyes made me think of something though. So far I am the only person I have ever seen with eyes like mine, I never thought much of it because it didn’t affect my eyesight or anything and the doctors told my mother that it was just a slight genetic mutation. But when I started to pilot my AC I have noticed some strange things happening. I would react to things before I even saw them happen, I would dodge shots before they are even fired. I even dodged the attacks of the Titan MT from behind where I couldn’t see where they were coming from. I just brushed it off as luck, or just a strange coincidence that I would be moving in a certain direction at just the right time. But lately I have been thinking that maybe there is more to it. I don’t know, I am probably just paranoid. I’d have to just wait and see if it happens again. I found out that Kong was programmed with maps of all known cities on the continent. I found the Global Cortex branch and parked my AC in the garage along with my truck and moving crate. “Hello there Raven.” It was the Cortex representative that is in charge of Raven relations. “My name is Jack Thompson. I brought up your file when our sensors picked up your AC.” Well, this is it, the moment of truth. “Says here you were transferred here on your own request. Not many Ravens want to come here unless they plan on fighting in the arena. Is that your plan?” Yes, it looks like my plan worked. “Oh, no, well maybe. I don’t know, I guess I’ll just do some missions and see what happens.” “Well that’s just fine. Here, follow me, I’ll get you signed up here and you can be on your way.” I followed Jack out the door and down a long hall with several dozen doors on either side. “We aren’t the largest branch of the Cortex, but we have the second most Ravens working for us. Most of our building is dedicated to the garage but we have plenty of dorms for new Ravens until they get their footing. I recommend you find a house in the northwest part of the city. It’s a low crime rate area that is kept pretty clean. And it’s not far from here either.” “Yeah thanks, I’ll look into that. Say, do you know Patrisha Schoviak?” “You know little Trish? I’ve known here since she was 4 years old when her father would bring her in to look at the ACs. How do you know her?” “I met her when she came into the Global Cortex main building for repairs. We kinda, went on a date. I was just wondering if you knew where I could find her.” “Well it’s against policy for me to hand out Ravens addresses. I recommend you wait around here for a few days, she comes in at least 3 times a week to check for missions.” “Oh ok, thanks.” We walked into a small office and he typed some of my information into a computer and handed me an ID card. I thanked him again and walked back to my AC. I got in my truck and drove around the city for a few hours trying to learn as much as I could about the layout. I found the arena witch looked much larger than the one me and Trish went to. I made my way to the northwest and found several houses for sale and a few empty lots waiting for construction. Jack was right about it being a nice neighborhood. There were several kids playing in the street and no sign of graffiti or litter. “Well I just found my future neighbors.” I drove back to the Cortex and found the dorm room that was assigned to me. It was a pretty nice room with a bathroom and a full kitchen. I looked in the refrigerator and pulled out a bunch of food. After I ate I took a shower and climbed into bed. I just laid there looking at the ceiling thinking about how much my life has improved in the last couple of months. I was a Raven now. I had money, free time, possibly a girlfriend if I can get my nerves to calm down when I’m around her. No more taking orders from old, fat, greasy, guys. No more working up to 20 hours a day 7 days a week. Now I can work as much or as little as I want and I’m my own boss. Life is good. I must have fallen asleep while thinking because I woke up at 10:40 in the morning and almost ran out the door to go to work before I realized I didn’t have to. I laughed at myself and walked into the kitchen for some breakfast. I was just sitting down to a plate of ham and eggs when my phone rang. I answered it and Jacks face appeared on the screen. “Hello Raven, I just wanted to let you know that you have a pretty powerful person asking that you do a mission for her. Maybe you’ve heard of her, Stephanie Mactaggart.” How the hell did she find me? I thought I’d never here from her again. “Yeah I know her. What does she want?” “I don’t know, she said the mission was top secret, but she said you were the only Raven for the job.” “Tell her that I’m still thinking about it and I’ll get back to her. She’ll know what I mean.” “Ok but if I were you I’d take her up on the mission, she says it pays 40,000 credits. Not a bad chunk of change for a rookie Raven.” “Thanks but no. I’ll wait for something else to come along.” “Ok then. I’ll pass on the message. Have a good day Raven.” “Later.” After the call I ate my now cold breakfast and headed back to the garage. I decided to sit in the rec. room and see who pops in. I had a computer terminal in front of me so I started looking up all of the Ravens who worked out of this branch of the Cortex. There were a lot of Ravens who only fought in the arena. There were actually four of the 10 A ranked ravens working here. I got to Trish’s file and read up on her. There was a lot of information there for me to see. Her rank in the arena, her record on missions, her picture, her AC and the weapons it has on it. The record of all repairs on her AC. And even her medical records. I found myself staring at her picture more than I was reading. She was so beautiful, I couldn’t wait until I saw her again. I was sitting there staring at the screen when somebody came into the rec. room. It was a pretty tall man, probably around 6’9 or 6’10. He was around 28 and dressed in a black leather Raven uniform. His blonde hair was cut short and parted on the left side. I was going to just ignore him but I noticed his eyes. They were gray. Not gray like Archangel, but gray like mine. the only difference was that the iris of my eyes are green with a blue ring around the pupil while his were brown with blue around the pupil. He sat down at a computer terminal and went about his business, but I had to learn more about him. I looked for his picture in the Raven files and found out that he wasn’t in the computer. I was looking at his eyes trying to see if there were any other similarities between us. I couldn’t see any other resemblance’s, and I didn’t think he could be a distant relative. “Hey pal you got a problem?” “What? Oh sorry, I just was uh, well your eyes...” “You got a problem with my eyes now?” He looked like he was getting mad. He stood up and started to walk towards me. “No man, I don’t have a problem, I just noticed that they are pretty similar to mine that’s all.” He was right up in my face now and looked very pissed. “I’m just kidding. Yeah I noticed your eyes too. My name is Vincent by the way.” Well the guy had a sense of humor, I liked that. “Well it’s a good thing you were kidding because I was just about to hurt you.” I hoped he could tell I was joking, I wasn’t worried about getting into a fight but I didn’t want to be making enemies in my new home. “My name is Kur, by the way.” “Nice to meet you Kur. So are you a Raven or what?” “Yeah, I just transferred here.” “It’s a good life, but a little dangerous don’t you think? I am here visiting an old friend who’s a Raven.” Oh, so you aren’t a Raven then?” “I used to be. But I quit.” Something in his voice told me that he didn’t want to talk about that anymore so I dropped it. “Well anyway, have you ever met anybody else with eyes like ours?” “Nope you are the first. Just don’t let it go to your head huh? Try and be responsible will ya?” Now what was that supposed to mean? Before I could ask him, he turned and walked out the door. to be continued I just sat there confused at what Vincent just said. Eventually I shook my head “Whatever” and looked into selling my old house back in the big city. It was pretty easy, I talked to a real-estate agent over the phone and set the price. The Agent and I agreed at a selling price of 200,000 credits, 20% more than what I bought it for. I figured that I should make some money off of the house if I couldn’t live in it. Once that was taken care of I checked the mission list on the computer console. Out of habit I checked for the newest missions that the other Ravens wouldn’t have seen yet. It took me a full two minutes to realize I didn’t have to do that anymore and I checked all of the missions. I found one from the oldest corporation in the world, Motorola. They have been around since way before the great destruction. The mission notes said that new Ravens were welcome and the mission would be an assault on a small Kisaragi building that was still under construction. All I had to do was destroy the building and try not to hurt any people in the process. That wouldn’t be too hard because the mission would take place at 2:30 in the morning when there shouldn’t be any people at the site. It paid 11,000 credits, not much but it was plenty to keep me going until my house sold or I got a better mission, so I accepted and got the location. I waited around for 10 hours and then got into my AC. “Systems activated. All systems functioning within normal parameters. Are we going on a mission Kur?” Well that was unexpected, the computer has never said that before. “Well yes Kong we are. We are going to destroy a small building for Motorola.” “Acknowledged.” Kong didn’t say anything else so I started out the door and boosted out of the city and into the frozen grasslands. I had 2 hours to make it to my target witch was in the mountains to the east. I decided that now was a good time to test my new over-boosters. They were supposed to have a higher output now just like my normal boosters. I pressed the button to activate them and I heard the tell-tale whine just before I felt my head snap back. It was lucky for me that the helmet I was wearing had a neck brace on it, I guess Stephanie’s technicians thought this might happen. I got my head back where it belongs just as I heard the sonic boom. I checked my speed and found that I was just over 760 mph. My AC should have been shaken to pieces but the ride was very smooth, I guess those technicians really did think of everything. My energy gauge was almost depleted so I cut the boosters and started running. I was making good time and should be at my target within the hour. I got to the foot of the mountains where the construction site was. The mountains were very rocky and steep. I wasn’t sure how well an ACs foot would hold to a smooth steep rock so I decided to fly up the mountain and land where ever I could find a flat spot. Eventually I found the construction site and was relieved to see that there was nobody around it. I walked up to it and found that it indeed was a very small building, no bigger than a couple of houses. I wanted to save my ammo so I just stomped and kicked the building down. I was told to make sure I completely destroy it so I used my plasma blade to cut the concrete foundation in half. When I did this the foundation collapsed and fell into a cavern below. I looked into the cavern and found a large cave lined with lights. I contacted the Motorola liaison and showed him what I found. “Hmm, this was unexpected. We’ll pay you your 11,000 credits if you come back now but we will double it if you go into the cave and destroy any Kisaragi equipment that may be inside.” Well money is money I guess. “Ok I’ll go in, standby.” I jumped down into the cave and began walking deeper in. Eventually the cave ended at a large open cavern containing hundreds of crates and boxes of all shapes and sizes. I got to work destroying everything I saw. I was still trying not to waste ammo so I used my blade on the bigger stuff and just crushed the smaller stuff. I was half way through when the blip on my radar showed up. “Great, and I thought this was going to be an easy mission.” I turned my AC towards the blip and saw a single AC standing in front of me. It was a lightweight biped. The legs on this thing looked like they might blow over in a small breeze, they were so light. That just means this AC could move. It was just a basic metallic gray color and equipped with a small machine gun and a light blade. It did however have an extension on it that I had never seen before. The extensions were almost as big as the core of the light AC and looked like huge fins or something. “Kong, is this AC in your file?” “Negative.” The AC lifted it’s weapon and started to fire. I jumped back and to the left behind a large steel shipping crate and ducked down. The extensions on the mysterious AC started to glow very brightly and then pointed towards me. I don’t know why but I jumped to the right just as the crate I was hiding behind exploded. I never saw a bullet or a blast of energy, nothing. It was like one minute the crate was there, and the next, it was gone. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that those weird extensions did the damage. I fired two shots from my SAWA as I ran to the right dodging machine gun fire. The lighter AC easily dodged the shots and boosted in closer to me. The extensions started glowing again and I tried shooting the AC again but to no avail. The agile AC was just too fast. I found myself stopping my AC in it’s tracks just as the space in front of me erupted in a ball of white hot fire. The concussion sent my AC sprawling to the ground and before I knew it, the lighter AC was pelting me with rapid fire bullets from his machine gun. I was starting to get worried but remembered that my armor was much thicker now. “Kong, how much damage are those bullets doing to your armor?” “Damage is negligible.” Good. That means I can just concentrate on hitting him rather than dodging his shots. I stood up and cursed when I saw the extensions glowing again. I lowered my chain gun over my left shoulder and started to fire. A stream of high speed bullets poured from my weapon and peppered the light AC with small smoking holes. I was just about to switch back to my KARASAWA and finish this guy but I suddenly found myself in the air while the ground under me exploded. At first I though the AC hit me with his weird weapon until I realized that my finger was on the booster control button. I flew higher until I was near the roof of the cavern. I switched to my missiles and activated my support missile extensions. I got four locks on the enemy and fired. Eight missiles shot towards their target, but once again, the AC proved to be just too fast. He over boosted forward and under me leaving a trail of exploding missiles behind him. “Looks like my chain gun is my best bet.” I once again lowered the chain gun over my shoulder and started to fire at the speedy AC. He was having a hell of a time dodging my bullets but he still managed to pull it off. I dropped down closer to him and found that some of my shots were connecting. I was getting closer still to do more damage when the AC jumped up and took a slash at me with his blade. I saw it coming, or at least I think I did, and grabbed his hand in mine to block the swing. I pulled down and ripped the left arm right off the enemy and threw it to the ground. The AC backed away from me and it’s strange extensions began glowing again. I over boosted forward and heard the explosion behind me. That proves that the weapon wasn’t shooting projectiles, because if it was, it would have gone right through me. The AC saw me coming and began firing it’s machine gun at my ACs head but it was useless and he knew it. He lowered his weapon and boosted up and over me. I watched as he boosted into the cave and saw on my radar that he was leaving the area. I finished destroying all of the crates and informed the Motorola liaison that I was finished. “Good work Raven, we are transferring funds to your account. We look forward to working with you again. Good-bye.” Well, the mission wasn’t quite as easy as I thought it would be, but I don’t have much damage at all and I have an extra 22,000 credits to my name. I just wish I could figure out how that funky extension works. Oh well, at least I know for sure now that there is something strange going on with me. It happened several times during my fight with the light AC, I did things without thinking, I dodged those explosions and I had no idea where they would happen. I need to figure this out as soon as I can. I wonder if this ever happened to that Vincent guy? to be continued I jumped up out of the cave and stood on the side of the mountain for a few minutes. I have always loved camping but didn’t get to do it very often so now was a good time to enjoy a little wilderness scenery. I opened the cockpit and stood on the open hatch smelling the fresh air. Everything was so quiet and peaceful that I thought I might move out of the city and live in the country side. I dismissed the thought quickly though. it would be nice, but it would also be a long way to travel to get to the Global Cortex. The cold of winter combined with a strong breeze reminded me that I haven’t taken a piss in a while, so I stood on the edge of the hatch and tried to write my name in the snow some 30 feet below. All I got was a large goofy looking K. With that accomplished I got back in my control arms and started for home. The trip down the mountain was much easier than the trip up. I was sliding down parts of the mountain as if I had skis on, and I jumped or boosted over the ruff parts. Once I got to the bottom of the mountain my Radar activated and showed a blip behind and above me matching my speed. I was being followed, and my pursuer was still up on the mountain. I acted like I didn’t know I was being followed and just ran across the fields towards the city. After a few miles, Kong broke the silence. “Pursuing AC is activating weapons systems. Shall I activate our weapons as well?” “Go ahead Kong, lets get ready in case he attacks. Can you tell who it is yet?” “Affirmative, It is the same AC we fought in the cave under the construction site.” Great, the little brat wasn’t giving up. I had to get rid of him quickly, I couldn’t take the chance of getting hit with that extension weapon of his. I watched my radar waiting for him to make the first move. He started to over boost at me while firing his small machine gun. I jumped up and boosted backwards and he rocketed by right under me. I fired my KARASAWA at hit him square in the back. The ACs over boost was damaged from the shot and was also sent face first top the ground. I boosted forward and down and came in at nearly 300 mph. strait for my fallen foe. The small AC hit his boosters and skidded across the ground just before I hit the ground right where he had been. I didn’t waste a moment though and jumped up out of the imprints I left in the frozen ground. The small AC rolled over onto it’s back and boosted up into the air. The extension began to glow and I knew what was coming. This time I over boosted forward on a kamikaze flight. I just hoped I got to him before that weapon fired. It was like everything was in slow motion. The enemy’s fin like extensions were glowing brighter and brighter and my speedometer was rising higher and higher. I heard the sonic boom as I passed 745 mph. But those extensions were getting brighter still and I felt like I was crawling towards him. I wasn’t going to make it, I had to do something. I hit the button inside my control glove and released the safety limiter on my generator. I felt the immediate rush forward of my AC as the generator forced obscene amounts of power into my over boosters. my speedometer was climbing higher still at a phenomenal rate. There was no way to tell how fast I was going as the speedometer just switched back and forth from 999 to 000. I plowed into the light AC at full speed. I meant to cut it with my blade but I never had time to lift it. I just prayed my armor would withstand the impact. The smaller AC exploded around me as I flew right through it. I pressed the button that engaged the safety limiter and then deactivated my over boosters. My AC shut down from the huge power output and I was traveling over 1000 mph 200 feet in the air. My AC hit the ground hard and that was the last thing I remembered until I woke up.