//------------------------------// // 8 // Story: Armored Core: Mutare Ad Custodiam // by Zeroraid //------------------------------// The fighting had ended a while ago. Thank god for that. They’d been hit pretty hard and they'd lost some good people, but thankfully the fighting was over… for now anyway. Still, Commander Hoenheim couldn’t help frown as he walked the streets of his city. Watching as his men and women and children were taken off. They were good people, they didn’t deserve this… Walking on, Hoenheim took a breath as he locked his hands behind his back, tightening his fists and continued to look around. He didn’t like this; his city being hit like this. Make no mistake, the Sphere had been under fire before, often that took the form of Scavengers intercepting their supply lines, other times it was preyed upon by reckless and would-be ‘Warlords’ thinking they could encroach on Sphere territory. So yes the Sphere had been under fire before, but on every occasion they’d at least been able to foresee the attack coming. In this case though… ‘We were blind to the attack till it was too late…’ Hoenheim told himself. “How did they get so many inside our walls?” Despite how much he wanted one, he didn’t receive an answer. Someone had to let these soldiers in. Someone had to let these MT’s in. “Who though?” Again, no answer came to him. Looking at a sleeping MT, the Commander of Sphere’s forces couldn’t help make a noise as he stared at the machine. No identifiable markers, no insignia branded upon the chassis… More than likely they’d been scrubbed clean, so there’s a strong possibility  that he won’t get any answer from it. Still he’ll have someone look inside, check the software and pull at data logs… Hopefully they’d find something. “Commander Hoenheim!” Hearing his name and rank Hoenheim turned his head as he addressed one of his men jogging up to him. “Sentry.” Flash Sentry, he saluted his superior officer on reflex before  the gesture was returned. ‘What is it?” “We’ve finished making a report on the damages done to the Sphere.” The officer muttered as he handed his superior a tablet of sorts. Without a word, Hoenheim started to read what was plastered on the tablet, scrolling down occasionally as he did so. “I see…” The Commander grumbled as his brow tightened. It’s bad… not as bad as he’d thought, but worse than he’d like it to be… ‘We really were hit hard…’ He told himself. ‘That still doesn’t answer the question of why and how though…’ He added as he continued scrolling. “Not only that…” He stopped scrolling for a moment as his attention turned elsewhere. “How will we respond?” “Applejack!” The girl in question perked up, her attention shooting to the side as she  heard a familiar voice call out to her “Bloom?’ Looking around she felt her eyes lock onto a familiar mess of red hair as her eyes widened. “Applebloom!” Without another word the girl ran up to her, and her little sister did in return. Dropping to her knees, Applejack wrapped her hands around the younger girl as she bit her lips. “Your ok!” She shouted before pulling back and looked her younger sister over. “You are ok, right Bloom?” “Eyup.” Applebloom smiled as she hugged her older sister again. “I’m ok, sis.” She stated. “Noble made sure I was safe.” “Noble?” Applejack pulled away from her sister for a moment. “Who’s Noble?” “Right here.” The boy in question drew Applejack's attention as her eyes widened for a moment. “Hey.” “You.” Applejack wasn’t sure if she said it first or Sunset, but in the end it didn’t matter. “You know each other?” Applebloom asked looking between the three. “Somewhat.” Noble muttered. “But I gotta say, we gotta stop running into each other like this. People are gonna talk.” The boy stated. “Anyway, I should get going.” The young man stated as he looked at Applebloom. “Take care of yourself ok?” “You too.” Apple Bloom replied. “Thanks again.” With that Noble started walking off, as he scratched his head. “That’s my good deed for the day.” Noble muttered as he started to stretch. “Better go check in on Aria and Sonata.” “What have you done?” Resting on top of one of the more stable buildings, the Dawnbreaker  turned away from the sight before him as he looked to see that he wasn’t alone. “Ah~ Lady Belle.” He sat up as he looked at the girl - rather the woman walking up to him. She looked… she was more angry than scared. Which made a bit of sense considering the situation. “Glad to see you're still alive.” He stated. “What can I do for you.” “What… did you do?” “Pardon?” “What did you do?” She repeated, keeping her voice level despite the anger that was rising inside her. “Those soldiers, those MT’s…” She clenched her fists, trying to hold herself back. “How did you get them into the city?” She asked as she approached. “How did you stage an attack of this scale without us noticing?” The Dawnbreaker didn’t say anything, instead just stared at the officer approaching him before releasing a chuckle.  “Oh~” He began as he looked outward for a moment. “You think I had a hand in this?” He asked before shaking his head. “Aw~ that’s adorable.” He smiled. “Sorry honey, but this isn’t my doing.” “You’re lying!” Her anger boiling over the woman grabbed him by his collar as she forced him to be eye level with her. “There’s no way you didn’t do this - there’s no way you didn’t play a part in this!” “You can’t prove that.” The man stated, just staring down at the woman with those bright red eyes of his. “Besides… you know me Lady Belle.” He began. “I don’t lie.” He stated as he stepped forward and snaked an arm around the woman’s waist to hold her close. “I manipulate and misdirect , but I don’t lie.” He confessed. “I had no part in what happened today.” “But you knew.” Rarity countered as she tore herself away from the man. “You knew that they were here, and you didn’t say a thing.” Rarity glared as she tried taking a calming breath. It failed. “Why?” “It didn’t come up.” The figure shrugged. “So I didn’t see a reason to say anything.” “You…” Rarity took another breath as she tried calming herself again. “Who hit us?” The man just smiled at her. “You’ll find out soon enough.” “Still kicking huh.” Noble made a noise as he approached Aria, seeing that the girl was helping her kin onto a stretcher. “Glad to know.” “Good to know you aren’t dead either.” Aria muttered as she took a breath before looking over. “Where’s Trixie?” “Hell if I know.” The young man muttered as he watched Aria settle down and take a seat on the sidewalk. He decided to join her a moment later. “Worried?“ “Worried about my AC.” Aria remarked as she stared off into space. Watching the medics carry her sister off to a more secure medical location. “So~” She snorted. “This happened.” “Yeah.” Noble sighed in annoyance. “Dawn?” “If it was, we can’t prove it.” “Right…” Aria grumbled as she pinched her nose and fell silent. That was before her attention was drawn to something rumbling. She looked down, noticing a few stray pebbles were bouncing off the ground. Looking ahead she noticed that a familiar heavy machine was walking up to her from across the street. “There’s my baby.” Aria’s AC: Torrent was a bit on the ‘heavy’ side. Course just because it was heavy, didn’t mean that it was slow. The AC was fast when it needed to be, and it was built to takes hits and keep on trudging forward. The AC powered down and Trixie climbed out of the mech, seeming to wipe her brow for a moment as she climbed down the mech and approached its rightful owner. “How was it?” “Difficult.” Trixie stated. “Your AC is like riding an untamed horse.” The girl declared. “Trixie does not know how you do it.” “Torrent is tuned to my preferences.” Aria stated. “Not yours.” “True.” Trixie didn’t bother denying her words. “But Trixie thanks  you for the experience.” The girl stayed silent for a moment as she frowned. “Also… Trixie has regrettable news?” “What is it?” Trixie didn’t say anything,  just turning her head to look at the truck that had been following the AC. As it was pulled to a stop she saw a few Sphere soldiers stepping out of it. “Of course.” Aria grumbled as she rubbed the bridge of her nose again and took a breath. “Noble…” “Yeah.” The young man grumbled. “I know…” He breathed as the soldiers approached. “”I really should have gone to Graft for vacation.”