I'll be drawing title art for this soon enough.
Okay so yeah, this about an ace pilot going into the last mission of his career. My first attempt at writing a story in length, so be hyper critical okay?
EDIT: Whoops, part of it got hacked off at the end. It's fixed now.
EDIT2: Part two added. A nice juicy fight scene! I'm still putting more descriptive parts in there, sorry if it's bland and colorless in spots.
EDIT3: And it's over. I figured it'd be best to keep my first one short after I thought about it a bit more. I like the way this one ended, it let's the reader fill in the blanks.
EDIT4: Polished it up a bit. Should be finished for real now.
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The End of Acheron
A monitor flashes on before an old man’s eyes, jerking him from pseudo slumber. The screen displays an urgent message from Operat Industries; a mission request. The man reaches out with a scarred hand and taps a small light on the lower right of the screen, and a garbled recording begins to play.
“Raven, we require your assistance in a most urgent manner. Ilberun has breached security at our most important research laboratory. The laboratory houses critical data relating to our latest MT product, the LS Erghnun. If Ilberun manages to retrieve the data, then Operat will be all but finished. We’ve been on unstable ground for quite some time now, as you know, and an additional loss at this point will only serve to push us over the proverbial edge. As you have probably guessed, we cannot supply reinforcements of any kind. Unfortunately, we are also unable to deactivate the security system, as the base is surrounded by a number of enemy squadrons and removing that last wall of defense would seal our fate most violently. To make matters worse, Ilberun has employed three Ravens: Umbra, Escarth, and Donalbain. Umbra and Escarth are only dangerous if they attack en tandem, but Donalbain is a pilot of unmatched caliber. We pray that you are not forced to confront him. We will pay all reward money in advance; a healthy sum of 120,000 credits. We hope this will be enough to satisfy you. Above all, be careful, and do not fail. Operat is counting on you, Acheron.”
The recording stopped, and Acheron leaned back in his easy chair, stroking his bristly beard, contemplating this latest development.
After a few moments had passed, he stood up silently, and walked out the mechanical door of his quarters. A.C. Alptraum was attached to the transport hanger within the hour.
Alptraum was a truly fearsome sight to behold. It moved like bolt of lightning, and tore into its targets like a rabid wolf. Its pitch black paint was impossible to spot against the cold night sky, and its blood red detailing accented its fierce weaponry. Alptraum was always equipped with the same general arsenal; an OWG-RX50 bazooka in the right hand, and a MOONLIGHT2 inside the left, with twin IBG-60TS missile launchers equipped to either shoulder. It lacked any extension parts or inside weaponry, (this was an attempt to conserve weight and speed) but suffered no blows to its striking power as a result. Its skeletal frame was a harbinger of doom to all Ravens.
“We’ve entered the combat area. Commencing A.C. drop.”
The hanger released, and Acheron’s A.C. began its stomach-churning plummet towards the cold, hard ground.
“A.C. released. Exiting combat area. …Good luck Raven.”
As Acheron continued to fall, the transport slowly faded from view.
*WHAM*
Alptraum hit the Earth full force…then stood up straight, unharmed. To anyone who was not a pilot this would have seemed like a miracle, but for Acheron it was a perfectly normal event. Alptraum hunched forward, and fired its boosters, speeding into the battle zone.
The laboratory was in utter chaos when he arrived. An endless stream of red-hot metal flew from an innumerable amount of weapons in a variety of directions. MT units entered the battlefield and, almost within seconds, combusted as they reached full damage capacity. Smoke filled the starlit sky, almost completely obscuring the silvery moon, and carnage was strewn across the area for as far as the eye could see.
In short, it was the end of the world in a small compact container.
Acheron skidded to a halt in front of a large cannon, its sights trained on his A.C. His radio crackled, picking up on the defense force’s frequency.
“Damn, they sent in another one! We’re cooked!”
The cannon suddenly fired, and Acheron leapt upward, narrowly dodging a heavy artillery round.
“Idiot! He’s our support, don’t shoot!”
A.C. Alptraum’s left hand began to glow brightly, and small daggers of searing heat appeared at its fingertips. Acheron drove them into the base of the cannon, and twisted them until the cannon began to explode. He leapt upwards once more, and this time landed lightly on the top of the laboratory. A squadron of five small helicopters was flying towards him from his left.
“Raven, look for a painted red panel on the roof! We weakened it from the inside; breaking through it will take you directly to Umbra’s last known location. Good luck!”
The squadron broke off towards a series of explosions in the distance.
It didn’t take long for Acheron to find the panel, which he promptly jumped on and broke through with one of his A.C.’s powerful legs. He landed in the center of a large, open test facility, the sound of his core’s harsh landing rebounding continuously off of the dome shaped-walls. Power was not strong inside the laboratory, as nearly all available energy was being diverted to the security forces. A large figure covered in lime green lights appeared at the room’s entryway, signifying that Umbra had arrived.
“…I thought you retired, Achey, good to see you! Unfortunately I uh…Kind of have to get rid of you now. Kinda messing things up, y’know? Oh well, I can at least let you sit there until my big brother arrive- oh, wait, never mind.”
A heavy reverse joint A.C. entered the room through the hole in the roof, landing behind Acheron.
“Long time no see, Acheron. I see you’ve already found my younger sister. How kind of her to give herself away so easily...”
“Hey, shut-up Esc! Besides, how was I supposed to hide this thing anyway? As much as I love my four-legger, the clunky bastard isn’t really made for sneaking around.”
“…No matter. Acheron, I have nothing but respect for you, but Operat must die. If you stand in our way, then so too must you, as much as it will pain me.”
“Yes. I consider you to be one of my better friends Achey, but we can’t let you stop us now.”
“Prepare yourself, Raven.”
Before those words had even fully escaped his lips, Escarth flew forward towards Acheron, his sister following suite. Escarth raised his assault rifle and fired, pegging Acheron in the shoulder. He spun around and returned fire, using the recoil from the blast to power a slam of his weapon to Umbra’s core. Umbra was knocked to one side, nearly losing her balance, but quickly steadied herself.
“Ow, fucker! Fine, eat this then!”
Umbra hunched forward, and released eight small weapon pods. The pods took a moment to orient themselves with their surroundings, and then flew top speed towards Acheron, circling around him like starving vultures, firing round after round directly at Alptraum’s core. In mere moments the pods had run out of ammo, and initiated their second directive; a ramming attack. Acheron had no room to dodge, and could only raise his arm to shield his core from the blasts. The core shook violently as it took on more and more heat and pressure. Steam rose from the Alptraum’s arm, which had now been partially melted.
“Acheron, what are you doing?” Escarth questioned. “I know that you have so much more to offer, please don’t hold back.”
With this, he charged Acheron again, rifle blazing. This time, however, he was ready. He spun around and slammed Alptraum’s heel into Escarth’s head part, which was then sent flying across the make-shift arena.
“Warning, head part has been disconnected. Radar communications link has been severed. Radar functions and heat sensors are now offline.”
“There we are, that’s the raven I remember! Only you would make such use of you’re A.C.’s form.”
“Hey. That head part was expensive! You’ll pay for that, I promise you!
Umbra rocketed upward, sprawling out her A.C.’s legs in an attempt to stabilize herself mid-flight.
“Here, because I know you love them so very much.”
Umbra released two fleets of weapon pods, which tore fiercely into Acheron’s A.C.
“And now to finish you!”
Umbra positioned her core above Alptraum as best she could, then cut all power to her boosters, her A.C.’s full weight screaming towards Acheron. Escarth dashed backwards, and aimed a large grenade launcher at Acheron.
“All I have to do is hit you once. You will fall, and then you will be crushed.” Escarth said to himself. “Steel yourself!”
Escarth got down on one knee, and unleashed molten death.
This is exactly what Acheron had been hoping for. In all their years as Ravens, Umbra and Escarth had never changed their strategy. Umbra was foolish to fire that last volley of weapon pods. Acheron flew upwards towards Umbra, arms outstretched.
“W-What?? What the fuck do you think you’re doing you old Geezer?!”
In seconds, Alptraum was on her. He grabbed the base of her core’s leg parts, climbed onto her core, and kicked the A.C. downward full force.
Umbra hit the ground with a sickening crash, breaking a leg, and rendering her completely immobile.
“NO!!!”
The weapons pods were now out of ammo, and shot towards Acheron’s last recorded position. Umbra’s core took massive damage from them, now rent into near scrap metal. She was still alive, but only long enough to see Escarth’s grenade round coming toward her.
“UMBRA!” Escarth yelled. He was powerless to save his little sister. “NOT LIKE THIS!”
The grenade all but eviscerated Umbra and only a few bits of steel remained where his loving sister once stood.
“UMBRA! UMBRA!” He screamed. “Oh God no…I killed her…”
Without Umbra, Escarth was nothing. Umbra and Escarth shared a special bond…It was as if their very souls were linked to one another. It was their greatest strength, the sole reason for their seemingly endless success, and now it is what would end them.
For a time there was silence. Only a few minutes passed by, but each moment felt as if it were an eternity…Death reverberated within the chamber, only amplified by the horrors taking place just outside.
“…Wait for me, Umbra. I’m coming. I won’t let you go alone. I will protect you even in death. Good bye, Acheron.”
Acheron flew to Escarth, but he could not hope to be fast enough. Escarth angled his grenade launcher at the ground beneath him, and fired, disintegrating his core in a glorious explosion.
Acheron stood there, dazed, knocked completely off balance by what had just occurred.
Escarth…
…Suicide.
He had thought Escarth was stronger than that. It was a shame he had to end his life that way.
But he had no time to ponder that now. He had one more opponent…Donalbain.
Acheron pulled himself back together, and focused on his next target. He began to check his core’s status, and noticed that his missile launchers had been damaged during the battle. And he had never even gotten to use them. He dropped the missiles and marched forward, Alptraum making a sickening clunk with each step.
Apparently he’d taken more damage than the system check detected.
It certainly didn’t matter now though; Operat needed him. He continued to move forward, eventually entering a long hall. Something was moving at the end, but from this distance he had no way of telling what it was. He continued on, the shadow slowly coming into focus. His body ached with fatigue.
Of course, it was Donalbain. Who or what else could it be? This did not stop him on his path.
Things had gotten quiet outside. Either Ilberun had fallen to the security force without its Raven back-up, or Operat had been defeated, the data had been taken, and Ilberun was gone.
Either way, why was Donalbain still here?
“Acheron.” Donalbain bellowed. “I suppose you’ve already taken care of my associates?”
Acheron stopped at this, and stood erect. He did not raise his weapon.
“I expected no less from a pilot of your reputation, and you did not disappoint me.”
Donalbain began to walk towards him.
“It means nothing now. Ilberun has the MT data now, and Operat is finished. Were you anyone else I may have let you go quietly from this place, but no. Not you. Not you. I want more from you Acheron.”
Donalbain stopped directly in front of Acheron, mere feet away, taunting him with how ridiculously exposed he was.
“Why did you take this mission? Surely you knew that you could not hope to succeed at your age. You are merely a silhouette of your former glory. They called you Crimson Thunder, but now you are just an echo.”
He stepped back.
“And now you will be forever silenced. If you wish to fight me, then follow me to the next room. If you try to run, I will chase you and I will shoot you down like a dog. I patiently await your decision, Raven.”
Without averting his gaze, Donalbain glided backwards into an elevator, and moved to the basement parking facility.
Acheron knew that this mission would be his last. He had been a Raven for forty years. His generation was long gone now, his existence serving only as an artifact. It had long since been time for him to go. He stepped heavily onto the elevator. This would be his final battle.
He almost felt relieved.
Discord
Light Style