//------------------------------// // Chapter II - ...Have a way... (edited) // Story: Homebound // by TheWolfSpartanBrony //------------------------------// (POV:Daring Do) The shot from a mercenary sniper's round ricocheted off the right side of a pillar away from us as we ran for cover. Thankfully we had made it into the remains of a skyscraper and moved to the third floor. The sound of gun fire started to intensify as more and more of the mercenaries moved in to take us out. Thankfully who ever was here before left some guns scattered around. What we found was...interesting to say the least. They were for the most part were auto-rifles of sorts, there were a few that fired at a much faster rate than the auto-rifles, then there was the larger auto-rifles that chambered a higher caliber rounds than the others and was belt feed. "Hey grams what's up with these guns? They look different that the others." asked Dash "Well from what I can tell they could be light machine guns." I answered. "How? Aren't they still in the prototype stage?" stated Twilight. "Yes they are, but these are not pony ruins." was my reply. "What?! How?!" asked Twilight excitedly. "That...is why." I pointed to a skeleton that had a bullet wound in the middle of its forehead. The skeleton wore similar armor to Andrew's except the creature that wore the armor wasn't a pony its skull was different in the fact that it was smaller and condensed than that of a ponies. "W...wh...what is it? If you don't mind." asked Fluttershy timidly. Before I could reply a bullet wised by our heads. Which got those who haven't been on a battlefield or had been shot at ducked for cover. "That I do not know though maybe Andrew could shed some light on what it is." I stated "Indeed though the light machine guns are different fr-" Twilight stated but was cut off by music starting up. It intrigued everyone for it was something that was different from what some of us were used to. "It sounds like a rock song just...different from what I have at home." stated Dash. Though before anyone could say other wise there was three consecutive shots from what sounded like a shotgun. Most of the group grabbed a rifle off of the floor and went to a window. Once there what we saw amazed every one who watched. The mech that Andrew was talking through earlier had decimated a Griffon sword mech with ease and was hammering the other three with a cannon of sorts. (POV: Andrew) (moments earlier) Once that sniper got his shot off the... anthro ponies ran for the building next to us. Nornfang was still in my hands so I shot the guy who had his head sticking out like a neon light in the dark. Once his head exploded I switched to my Khvostov and switched it into burst fire mode at 900 RPM with the switches on the left side of the gun. With that done I started to pick off any merc that decided to get too close and personal. "Pilot the Sword Titan is inbound I would recommend you embark." stated CT "Roger that coming over." Once I had embarked CT and had taken out some of the grunts by collapsing some of the ruins on top of them. "Ya know I could really use some music right now." I thought out loud. "Would this do?" asked CT. "Hell yes! Put it on the externals and blast it while your at it." "Done." Soon that Titan came at us slashing like a mad man. Luckily for us I had dashed back words out of his reach which surprised the pilot. Using that time to my advantage I switch loadouts from Expedition to Ronin. A plan to take it down formed in my head with in seconds. What came to mind was this I would fire off three consecutive shots that got the pilot to stager back and drop his guard enough so that I could get in and end him with the sword. That was my plan all I needed was for the boost to recharge...and it's game time. I implemented that plan and ended him within seconds. Now to deal with the three amigos that were still standing. Seeing that the Titan with a blade arm and a quad barreled gun arm was the farthest out I was going to get him with the Plasma Railgun, but both of the Ogre like Titans with dual quad barreled gun arms were in my way and trying to kill me and CT. So I switched out Ronin for Tone and got a full lock on both Titans. With the full lock on I fired the tracker rockets at the two walking tanks. All the rockets did was piss off the pilots of those Titans, but at the same time the rockets did enough damage that counted towards the core ability. Those points along with taking out quite a bit of grunts got the core on line. I was planing on using it right there and then but was hailed on the radio by one of the pilots of the Ogre Titans I was fighting. What came though was a man with a thick Russian accent. "You pilot well maybe you could join us. There would be enough money and women to fill any mans fantasy. What do you say?" "Go shove a lit stick of dynamite up your ass SPUTNIK!" "Then die!" "You first asshole." I stated activating the Salvo Core and unleashing a torrent of rockets that slammed into the two with enough force that they both exploded probably from an overloaded core or that the rocket salvo was enough to decimate the two either way they were both gone. Now for the last Titan who was hiding behinds some ruble quite a distance down the road from where we were standing. So I switched loadouts to Northstar and aimed the Plasma Railgun where the last Titan was hiding and waited for him to move out into the open. That was about two and a half minutes later. The pilot moved his Titan out onto the street to move up it to gain some ground on me, but I was having non of that. Thankfully they move slow so I was able to take him out in two shots. "Pilot there's a large airship coming in from the East and they are hailing us." "All right then." "This is the RES Dawnblade. Identify your self or you will be fired upon." stated a female voice. "This is Pilot Andrew Thatch of the Frontier Militia." "What of the mech still standing?" "That would be my Titan CT-9471" "You mean mech right?" "No, but it would be your equivalent to a mech." "...Understood. Do you have a location on the Expedition team lead by Daring Do?" "I do. They are currently taking cover in a building behind me at the moment." 'That name were have I heard it before?' I thought after they said the teams leader. "Good we will be there in 25 mikes." "Roger-" "Pilot there is another airship that was cloaked and is sending down additional...mechs!" "Shit. Dawnblade you'll have to double time it over here. I don't know how long I can hold them off!" "Roger that, try to hold them off as long as you can." "Roger that." Andrew out." "CT does Daring and her group have a radio?" "Yes they do. Want me to let them Know of the current situation." "That would be great. I have hell in a hand basket to deal with." "Affirmative." (POV: Daring Do) (Twenty-five minutes earlier) "Holy shit did that mech just take out not one but four Griffon mechs by its self!" exclaimed one of the crew members. "That it did, but I believe that Andrew is at the controls of it." stated Captain Sky Stryker. "You sure about that captain?" asked another crew member. "Yes, I saw him enter it when we were on the second floor." "Well he is sure living up to his reputation." I thought out loud. "What was that Grams?" asked Dash. "I was just thinking out loud." I replied. "So ya know that fella?" asked Applejack an Element of Harmony. "In a way yes." "What do you mean by that?" asked Dash "You remember the day your aunt retuned along with her friends?" I asked her. "Yeah I do." "And of the man she talked about so fondly?" "A bit, yeah. Why?" "That is him." "You sure about that?" "Not one hundred percent, but enough to believe that Andrew is the same man that had been the leader of their SPARTAN fireteam and a member of her squad during her time as a member of the 6-4." "Wow..." was all Dash could get out before a voice came through all of the radios we had. "Daring Do and company. This is Titan CT-9471, There is an other mercenary airship that was cloaked on the outskirts of the city to the west. It is currently dropping more...mechs that will be upon us in thirty minutes. I would advise to try and get the guns on your airship operational as soon as posible. Andrew and I can only hold off so many of them." "...Got it. How many mechs are there?" "About thirty-five mechs. There are fifteen mechs designated as Sword mechs, fifteen mechs designated as Ranger mechs, and five mechs designated as Ogre mechs. Also there is a friendly airship on the inbound." "Do you know that name of that ship? "The RES Dawnblade." "Alright then thank you CT." 'Firefly is on her way here.' I thought to my self as I heard that airship name. "You are welcome." "Alright people you heard her lets get those guns back online ASAP!" Once that was said we ascended the ruined skyscraper to where the airship we had arrived on was tethered. The climb took us about twenty minutes. Once we reached the ship the Captain issued orders to fix the communications and guns first. As the Elements of Harmony, myself. the Captain, and the bridge crew got to the bridge the fighting on the ground started up with a different song blasting. It didn't take long to get both comms and the few guns on the ship operational. "RES Dawnblade this is the RES Night Rider do you copy?" asked the crew member stationed at the communications terminal within the bridge. "RES Dawnblade here we read you loud and clear. Are all hands accounted for?" asked a female voice. Probably some mare who is stationed there. "All hands are accounted though a little banged up, but we'll live." "It is good to hear that. Miss. Daring did you find what caused that large magical disturbance from last week?" asked Princess Celestia. "I did and It turned out to be the ruined city its self. Though what caused the city to appear here is still a mystery. Your majesty." "Hm...Interesting." (POV: Andrew) (Present) "Alright CT, which direction are they coming from." "From what I can gather they are going to come from the west which there is a large park with quite a few large oak trees and some other trees that are grouped in sections that are spaced out quite a distance. That is between us and them." "Hm... how large are those oaks?"" "Just barely large enough to take cover behind, but that is only two out of the larger oak trees." "...and of the others?" "They do not provide adequate cover." "Great, is there anything else in that park?" "A lake that is half a mile long and a quarter of a mile wide with a depth of 4 feet. Also one of the two trees that provide cove is at the shore of the lake that is closest to us." "Well then that could be useful. Out of curiosity do any of those mechs have a jump pack of some sort?" "Connecting to viable sources... Analyzing data... Negative there are no known Griffon Mechs that have a jump pack." "Good." With that I moved us to were CT had indicated and saw that there were quite a few trees with in this park. So I had CT find a birds eye view of the park to find decent spots to take cover from. Since there were quite the few spots of open ground between clusters of trees. After taking some time to identify and mark spots to fight from I moved us over to the oak tree that CT had marked. Once there I saw why it was good cover the thing was a fat ass tree. After my time of awe looking at the tree I made sure that I had the Northstar loadout and Plasma Railgun primed to fire. It didn't take long for them to come into view with most of the Sword mechs making up frontline of their forces. "Alright then lets show them what a Titan can do." I state as I pulled the trigger and obliterated one of the Sword mechs. With that kill I noticed that the Tita...mech kill counted more points to the core than usual from what a normal Titan kill in game. "Uh...CT do you notice the above average points to the core." "Yes I did." "Do you know what caused that to happen?" "At the moment I lack sufficient data to determine a cause to the faster than normal charge time of the core ability." "Weird." "Indeed." So with the rest of the mechs hearing the shot they tried to find my position. They eventually found it after five more Sword mechs were shot to pieces by the Plasma rail gun. They started their march towards us the Ogre mechs decided to take a direct route to my position trough the lake which slowed them down quite a bit. Which let me use the Ion core ability of Ion on them and few other mechs that were close to them. After that I switched to Tone and used the tracker rockets to eliminate a good portion of the mechs. Eventually the remaining mechs, which was about fifteen, made it to where I was, but I had moved to one of the points CT had marked earlier. They were a bit confused for a moment but were not given time to act for they were cut down by artillery fire from both Daring's airship and the Dawnblade. "Well they won't be getting back up from that one. Good shooting." I say over the comms to both Daring's airship and the Dawnblade. "We thank you Pilot Andrew Thatch of the Frontier Militia for you have given us a target to practice the weapon systems aboard the Dawnblade." stated a female voice that carried some class to it and sounded like it came from 'Ye olden times'. "No problem ma'am." Was my reply to who ever she was. "So now what?" I ask "Well it would be that we use our heavy lift gear to secure your...Titan so that we can make a swift return to Canterlot." stated another female voice. Though this voice was far different than the first. The main difference was the motherly tone to the new voice. "To where now?" "Canterlot, the capital of Equestria." "Well that sound interesting, but I'ma go out on a limb and say the Equestria is the country that I am in. Correct?" "You would be correct on your assumption." "Alrighty then. The cargo bay doors open?" "...Yes, though may I ask why?" "For I will be meet'n y'all soon." With that I cut the call and moved around the cockpit to switch on the corresponding switches to activate the thruster pack that was apart of the custom Monarch Titan I got from the Merchant. With that activated I moved us up and over to the open cargo bay of the Dawnblade. Once onboard I disembarked CT and was greeted by two royals, whom I assumed to be their personal guard, the Captain of the Dawnblade, and two vary familiar faces that I haven't seen in years. "Well Pilot you seem to be packing quite the surprises." Stated the Queen/Princess on the left who was about 8ft tall, not including her horn, and had fur that was a cream white, wearing a long sky blue dress that had highlights of gold, and had an emblem of the sun on both hips. "Well to be honest ma'am, I do have a tendency to do that. An't that right Spits?" I asked Spitfire. "Yeah, yeah you do, but..." stated Spitfire "...Leonidas is that really you?" asked Jericho who who pick up where Spits left off. And somehow had been turned into a vary sexy looking bat pony in the Lunar Guard armor. "I haven't been called that name in along time, Jericho." I state out loud as I remove my helmet to see and feel two vary emotional mares hug the shit out of me. I return their hug. "I missed you two." I tell them. "So did we." They say in unison. "Well Prince Leonidas of Thundera where have you been?" asked the same Queen/Princess from before. "That...that is a long and complicated story your majesty." I answer her.