//------------------------------// // Chapter 6: Rayleonards Curse // Story: Armored Core for Answer : Project X // by TheKon2000 //------------------------------// X was walking through the cafeteria, on his way out. The morning started much the same as any other. Shower, check for missions, check on his NEXT, eat. However, today, he had been called in by HQ. They needed to talk to him about something, and he intended to get there early. The doors to the meeting room were larger than the standard doors on the cradle, and more reinforced. He presented his real eye to the retina scanner, waiting as it covered his eye and then traced back to it's original position, before granting him access and opening the heavy door. "Ah, X, early as usual." a man dressed in a deep navy blue suit said. X recognized him as the acting president of Rosenthal. 6 more people were in the room, only two others had he ever seen in person before. One was Gerald Gendlin, pilot of Noblesse Oblige, he wore casual clothing, black jeans and a red T-shirt. Do Su, the pilot of the NEXT starka, he wore baggy black pants, a black vest, and a white under shirt . The other four were dressed in similar business suits. One was an old man with graying hair, the rank of Lieutenant General general signified by the 3 silver stars on his suit. Another, a young woman with black hair, was head of research; he had met her on his last day of augmentation to look him over. The other two were head of NEXT production and head of normal production, and were an middle aged man with red hair and an old man with gray hair respectively, he met the red haired man to talk about his NEXT's capabilities, the other was simply due to the pictures about him on the media. His normals were the best on the market, after all. "We're still waiting on a few more, so take a seat, will you." "Yes, sir." I said, as I seated myself beside Do Su. He leaned over to me, whispering. "So your that X guy I've been hearing about." "Yeah, why?" I asked confused. "Thought you'd look tougher." he said as he leaned away. "Dick." I muttered under my breath. The doors open to reveal a tall, bulky man with brown eyes and hair. He was missing his left ear and had a scar over a crooked nose. He took a seat, nodding to the collective. My robotic eye identified him as Izack Pedrion, pilot of the NEXT Shade. Caleb walked in next. Pleasantries were exchanged and he too, took a seat. The remaining seat was filled by a pale white, muscular woman. My eye identified her as Linda Coan, pilot of the NEXT Lag-Shift "Good, everyone is present. Now, to explain why you're all here." the president said. "As of two days ago, the remnants of a previously unknown Rayleonard production facility have gone active. Due to the rest of the companies being caught-up in conflicts of their own, we get to handle the job this time." he turned to the Linx. "You're here because we think you're right for the job. The details will be sent to your tablets." his attention turned to the others in the room. All at once, the Linx pulled out tablets of varying condition, and turn their attention towards them. They all jump to life as the screens become illuminated. The Linx start poking around and pull up the files. They read: Money: 500,000 C Enemies: Normals; Count unknown. Others may be present. Mission: To disable the facility, in anyway that seems fit. Details: The facility is mainly underground. It is unknown what was made there, other than experimental normals. Proceed woth caution. It also had a map of the facility, though very vague. At the bottom it had two buttons, one for accept, and one for decline. I pressed accept. Do Su and the woman turned down the offer, as evident by them walking out of the room. I turned my attention back to the president as he finished talking to the business people and turned to face the remaining Linx. "You 3, go suit up, we'll be dropping you in an hour." We get up and leave heading to the locker room to don the pilot gear. We nod to each other, a silent "I've got your back" as we move towards the locker room. We don our suits, and then make our way to the hanger, where our NEXT's await us. I get a look at the new NEXT. It was made entirely out of Gano-SS type parts. It was equipped with a heavy duty rifle and bazzooka in the right and left hand respectively, missiles on it's left back shoulder, and twin pistols hanging from it's hips. It was all black, with black and red fire as an emblem. 45 minutes to drop, and the hanger was organized chaos. Ammunition was being stored on the NEXT's, weapons were being equipped, and explosives were being put away in the extra storage compartments for the demolition. 30 minutes left and everyone was clear except a few high ranking engineers. They were doing final system checks. 15 minutes and the NEXT's were fully calibrated. 5 minutes and the only noise in the hanger was the hum of the 3 NEXT's generators, and the occasion groan and scrape of metal as the NEXTs fidgeted or checked and re-checked their weapons to pass the time. As I checked my clip for the 5th time, my eyes glanced up at the countdown. 1 minute to go. I placed the clip back and chambered a cartridge, before glancing at the GA NEXT. It was reloading the clip it had emptied, checking each of the bazooka shots manually. After he loaded the last one in, he shut the built in magazine, before preparing for drop. 15 seconds to go. I felt the clamps secure my NEXT. I looked down to see the floor slowly open, the sound of howling wind reaching my ears. The doors opened halfway, to reveal a bright afternoon, the desert below reflecting much of the light. A small facility came into view, with what looked to be a cargo elevator near the center. The doors finally finished opening, and I looked at the counter. 3 seconds left, 2, 1. The clamps disengaged, and my stomach jumped into my throat. The ground started to accelerate towards me as I picked up speed. The GA NEXT fell into view as it gained more speed then me. 2 km left and I stopped accelerating. 1 km and I felt the pull of my boosters activating. 500 meters left and my boosters were at 25% power, slowing me to half speed. Shade had already landed, and was securing the drop zone. 100 meters left and the roar of my boosters at full power was all I could hear. My NEXT hovered just above the ground as I turned and surveyed the area. Seeing no threat I disengaged them and dropped to the ground with a thud. I scanned the facility to the north, checking it's distance. the readout said 30 km. I heard a thud, and turned my head to watch Noblesse Oblige stand back up from his crouch. He was the first of us to start moving to the target. We fell in behind him, with Shade in the rear. I would have chosen silence, because it would mean the job would be easier. But the slight churning of machinery signaled that this was tp be anything but easy.