Armored Core for Answer : Project X

by TheKon2000

Chapter 2: Moon-Dust

X sat in the booth of a bar, Caleb sitting across from him. "So they're finally cutting the chain loose and letting me go on a mission?" X said as he sipped from his drink.

"Mmhmm." Caleb said as he finished off his bottle. "They're sending you with some guy called Chaos, obviously some alias. Didn't give his real name. All we know is his track record, and so far he's only failed 2 missions. He's a mercenary, and his craft is called Moon-Dust." Caleb handed X a tablet, with a three dimensional image of a NEXT. The next was medium/light weight AC with a gatling gun in his right hand, an SMG in the other, a dual laser cannon on his right back shoulder, spread missiles on his left back shoulder, and spread missiles on his shoulders. It's Ekahzar core combined with it's Soluh head gave it a hunchback appearance.

"This guy looks like he could do some damage, so what's the mission?" asked X taking another sip from his drink.

"You guys are supposed to take down two arms forts. One is a smaller version of Mother Will and the other is a GA land crab. There may or may not be NEXTs there, so expect the worst." Caleb said. "Well it's getting pretty late, we better retire for the night, get some rest. Big day tomorrow."

"Yeah, see you man." X said as he waved at Caleb, the two walking their separate ways to their rooms. As soon as X's head hit the pillow he was out cold.

-The following morning-

"Okay X, all systems seem to be functional, please check the arms to make sure they work." said the tech who was feeding instructions to X. X raised and tensed his right arms, making a fist. The next followed his movements to a T. He did the same with his left. "Okay, good. Jim, are those back weapons ready?" the tech yelled to the man working a crane.

"Yeah!" said Jim.

"Can you activate them for me X?" asked the tech guy.

"Sure thing Denis." X said as he activated his missiles and dual laser cannon. "They work." he said as he powered them down and they returned to their original position.

"Okay, your clear, your handhelds are over there." Denis said as he pointed a thumb at two weapons, the assault rifle propped up against a crate and the blade on top of said crate.

"Thanks man." X said as his craft was disengages from the wall it was attached to and stepped off the pedestal. He walked over to his weapons and retrieved them. The hanger doors opened and a cargo bob flew in, carrying another next. X walked over to the NEXT and recognized it as Moon-Dust. X formed a comm link to the craft. "So you're Chaos huh?"

"Yeah, I guess you're X. Great to finally see you in person, or NEXT as it were." a deep voice said as it laughed through the speakers and echoed in the hollow compartment of the cockpit.

"NEXTs Moon-Dust and Gravestone please move your way to the drop areas, you will drop in 5 minutes. Good luck." Caleb's voice said through the hangers speakers.

"That's us." X said as Chaos disengaged from his helicopter and dropped 10 feet to the ground. The two made their way to the drop areas, little cubic spaces in the wall of the hanger that NEXTs were deployed from. Their NEXTs were picked up off the ground by the clamps in the ceiling and were suspended in place above the door. X's heads up display read '30 seconds to drop'.

"Are you ready?" asked Caleb's voice, he would be their operator for this mission.

"Yep/Uh-huh." X and Chaos said in unison. The countdown read 20 seconds.

"X this is your first mission, right?" Chaos asked.

"Yes, it is. Why?" X asked.

"Just try not to throw up on the way down, it really gets irritating when your in the middle of a mission and you have chunks in your helmet."

"Okay. Thanks for that image." X said. The timer read 3 seconds. 2, the doors underneath them opened. 1, the clamps let loose and the NEXTs fall out. "Oh shit!" X screamed as his craft was rocketed out of the Cradle. His shields activated once he was a safe distance from the cradle and wouldn't affect anyone with the Kojima poisoning. He looked down and saw his target. And around 8 other NEXTs. They were all specs of black against the yellow of the dessert. The desert that covered the entire planet, save for the poles and oceans. They zoomed in on the NEXTs using their visors.

"Oh shit." said Chaos

"What?" X asked.

"You see those NEXTs? They're part of an extremely sexist, all female mercenary group called the XX battalion." Chaos said with a groan.

"That's a thing?" X asked skeptically.

"Unfortunately. They aren't a laughing matter either, lost my last partner to them and barely got away myself. Some of them are top ranking collard members. Looks like GA hired them to guard these arms forts, but why?" Chaos asked.

"No idea, but you two should be able to take them." Caleb said.

"Is there a male version of them?"

"Yeah, slightly smaller at around 43, called the Vortex group. This ones 48-50 strong though. Both of them are strange." Chaos said.

X whistled. "Pretty big groups."

"5th and 4th largest, respectively." Chaos said.

"30 seconds to impact, get ready." the 2 braced and started to burn their thrusters at a slow burn. The seconds trickled by and the two increased power to their thrusters. "3 seconds." he said again right before impact. The two increased their burns to max and hit the ground with a thud.

"Here we go!" X said as the enemy NEXTs quickly split into 4 separate groups and approached the duo from different sides. "This is gonna be fun!"

Author's Note:

http://armoredcore.wikia.com/wiki/Arms_Fort descriptions of the arms forts.

No idea why their are two really sexist mercenary groups, I just decided there could be and said, "Sure, why the fuck not.". So here it is, the oh so not anticipated second chapter to this story, and already after 2 chapters 2/5 the size of my biggest story. This one is gonna be a big one, hopefully.

Comments

[TheKon2000]

Sorry to those who like this story but until I can create 8 more craft, chapter 3 is on hold. Will try to work on it as soon as possible. Thank you for you patience in this story.