Work Text:
“Cinder” Carla
“Walter! How’s the starboard block looking?!”
It’s the Handler’s first time piloting an AC in a century – but he’s handling it well, thanks to the IBIS series AC making up for his unfamiliarity with its weaponry.
The IB-C03: HAL 826 he was piloting was of his father’s own design… one of the few possessions Carla managed to smuggle out of Rubicon before the fires.
He looked at the readouts on his monitor.
All-black ACs identified as LOCKSMITH, OPEN FAITH, STEEL HAZE, BARREN FLOWER, DUAL NATURE and RECONFIG were approaching him.
No vital signs detected.
“Six pilotless ACs – all exact copies of the Vespers.”
HAL 826 began charging its WLT 011 CORAL RIFLE.
“Cinder” Carla
“Yeah, same story over here. This is a bad joke!”
It reached its second charged state, the four prongs spreading out further and flipping open cooling vents.
“Cinder” Carla
“I’ve seen better odds… Wish the tourist was still with us.”
Walter released the charged laser beam. It immediately downed BARREN FLOWER, before he moved the beam to cut off RECONFIG’s legs.
Two down.
“621 isn’t dead.”
He activated the NGI 028 CORAL SHIELD in time to block plasma missiles launched from LOCKSMITH and OPEN FAITH, only for it to dissipate from DUAL NATURE’s pulse weapons.
“Cinder” Carla
“…Nothing gets pass you, huh.”
The WLT 101 CORAL OSCILLATOR sliced the reverse-joint AC in half before it could deploy its shield.
“Just prioritize locking out the Xylem.”
The Handler locked onto OPEN FAITH and released its coral missiles, timing it so that a shot from his rifle hit it just as it dodged.
It seems Freud was proven right… AI controlled ACs were easily predictable.
“…621 chose this.”
“My faithful hound is now our biggest threat.”
He dodged STEEL HAZE’s Vvc-774LS LASER SLICER, and began a counterattack against the two remaining Vesper replicas.
Those fools ran away with his son.
Good.
He had everything he needed down here, anyway. No more distractions.
Contrary to popular belief, the Armored Core wasn’t the only AC he focused on.
Hidden in the Armored Car, the research assistant began working on the next stage of his plan.
Sure, Nagai’s genocide would set it back years, even centuries, but at least he can make sure that someone will see his plan to fruition.
He opened the program.
“Hello, Katherine.”
The remains of the black LOCKSMITH and STEEL HAZE burned in the background, as he used up his remaining repair kit.
It took more effort than expected, with the agile AC’s dodging most of his fire, but a full charge sweep of the oscillator took care of them.
Walter waited for Carla to regroup so they could decide their next action. They were likely going to face 621 alongside whatever remaining forces ALLMIND could muster.
OVERSEER can’t fail now, not when they were this close-
“Cinder” Carla
“Walter! There’s something behind you…!”
A large, black humanoid-like machine landed on the other side of the Xylem deck.
“That’s an institute machine…”
Its sensors glowed a blue-green.
“No!”
“Kate, how’s the surface?”
Supplies were running low in the underground city, and he had to resort to incorporating Mealworms into his diet.
His own son’s pet project ended up saving him in the end.
“Rubicon 3 is still inhospitable for human life.”
The professor slammed the table.
“DAMN IT!”
…He should have left along with the idiots.
At least he would have been free to do whatever he wanted, after. Corporations would have killed to have someone as skilled as him on their research teams, and he’s pretty sure that they could smuggle some of the remaining coral to use in experiments.
No. That line of thinking won’t do.
He had an important job to finish, to save the galaxy.
To save his son.
“Professor. Would you like to go over the CORAL RELEASE project one more time?”
The man was starting to regret modeling the voice model after her, but he didn’t have any more voice samples left, and he wouldn’t like hearing his own voice speaking back to him.
He also couldn’t just can’t say no to it.
“…Alright, Kate.”
“Chatty” Stick
“Chief… I couldn’t…”
“Never… learned to laugh…”
“Cinder” Carla
“Chatty!”
The fight dragged onto the PCA’s Logistics Operations Center, station 31.
They managed to escape from the large unidentified machine, but ALLMIND chased after them with a pearl-white AC.
Carla was supporting him in FULL COURSE, raining down barrages of missiles upon MIND GAMMA, the latest in the MIND-series ACs developed by ALLMIND.
So far, they haven’t even managed to scratch the AC.
Walter began charging his rifle again, when a direct communication line suddenly went online.
???
“Walter?”
“Is that you?”
A familiar voice.
It was Kate Markson, the independent mercenary that hired 621 for a job.
If she was working for ALLMIND all this time, it would explain the mysteries behind that particular mission – the lack of an ARENA profile, the transaction records being suspiciously secure…
“Cinder” Carla
“…!”
“It can’t be… you’re dead!”
“Who are you!”
MIND GAMMA deactivated its rifles.
“Kathy”
“Don’t you remember me? It’s me, Carla! Kathy!”
The engineer put her weapons down.
“Cinder” Carla
“No… it’s not possible!”
“Kathy”
“It took him longer than expected to revive me.”
MIND GAMMA turned to Walter.
“Kathy”
“…Your father didn’t make it. His last regret… was not being able to see the stars with you, Walter.”
“You would’ve loved to meet him, Kathy.”
“I probably would have, professor.”
“He’s smart, like me of course, and he got your wits. He’ll grow up to be a fine man.”
“…I see. Where is he now, professor?”
He took a moment to think.
It was getting harder and harder to do so, nowadays.
“…Carla’s probably taking care of him.”
“Who’s Carla?”
“Carla, our friend from university, of course. A research assistant just like me. She specialized in Armored Core and Weapon research. She even set us up for a date, don’t you remember?”
“I see. I can’t believe I forgot an important event.”
“That’s why I was always the smartest one between the two of us.”
His laughter soon became bloodied coughs.
The professor stared at the concrete ceiling of his bunker.
“…I would’ve loved to see the stars with Walter, again.”
“He loved seeing the stars.”
The elderly man exhaled his last breath.
“…”
“…Professor’s death: Confirmed.”
“Beginning preparations for eventual conflict with subject WALTER and CARLA.”
A memory of a kinder man.
They had set up a telescope on the roof of the research building, and now the professor was looking for a specific speck of light in the sky.
Walter marveled at the sight of the stars above Rubicon 3.
“Ah – I managed to find it. Take a look, Walter!”
He excitedly walked over to the apparatus, his father making way for him.
The scope showed a pale blue dot.
“That’s Earth, Walter. Where us humans came from.”
“Woah…”
“People, who looked just like us, lived on it, before we began expanding to the stars.”
“It was beautiful – there were over a million types of plants and animals that were discovered to be living on the same planet.”
“Like dogs!”
“Exactly! But there weren’t just dogs – there were cats, birds, fish, and bugs, too!”
“Dad, why are we here, then?”
A sad smile formed on the professor’s face.
“Humans polluted the planet too much, so they had to leave for it to recover.”
“But then everyone got settled on space colonies and other Earth-like planets were found.”
“No one has gone back ever since.”
He felt a gentle tug on his fingers.
“Can we go to Earth one day, dad?”
The man lifted his son into his arms, as they stared at the stars above.
“Sure.”
“Promise?”
“I promise. But you’re going to have to grow up first, and study hard to become a proper scientist!”
*CREAK*
A sound of a door opening alerted the pair, as they turned to see a woman standing in the doorway leading to the stairs, holding lunchboxes.
“There you two are! I brought dinner!”
“…Mom?”
After reminiscing about that particular memory, the Handler felt quite disturbed that after all these years of meticulous planning–
He somehow forgot his own mother’s voice.
Kathy nodded her AC head, confirming his suspicions.
The HAL cancelled the charge on its Coral rifle.
Walter didn’t know what to say - he had too many questions in his mind.
Not only did his father survive the Fires of Ibis, he revived her from the dead?
How and where was she living all this time, and why didn’t she try to contact him or Carla?
...Why is she working for ALLMIND?
MIND GAMMA released its laser orbits, shredding FULL COURSE to pieces.
“CARLA!”
Walter boosted back and began charging up a rifle shot,
But ALLMIND just jammed its rifle up to his cockpit, and fired.
“Augmented human C4-621 – Raven.”
“Your efforts have averted a collision with the Vascular Plant.”
“Additional:”
“Handler Walter and Cinder Carla have been dealt with.”
