Futuristic Armored Core

[Enolx]

Current Post Order (With character/avatar, rank and team)

Enolx: Jermaine/Martial Strike - Grand Master 8 - no affiliation
LiviathRose: Sonya/BloodStalker_X1- Unknown - Phantom Strike
Forgotten_by_light: Christine/Crimson 'Oh Three' Valkyrie - unknown - The Coalition
QizPizza: Lazarus Huang/DeadManStanding - unknown - Horizon Tactical
Graystone713: Bella/InveRogue - Silver 1 - FieldMasters
Quiet Snowfall: Spencer/Nevula_MXX- Silver 2- no affiliation

 

[Enolx]

"And with an impressive showing in the third round," The judge announced "Our winner with a decisive knockout, Jermaine “Sway” Ali." In the ring Jermaine gave his opponent a bow and hug before he went wild with his coach and the rest of the guys in his corner. After a good round of celebrating, a reporter came around to talk to him about the match.

"That was a great showing out there Jermaine," She stated "That was an impressive counter to finish off Diago, but tell me about the hit you took near the end of the second. It seemed to us that the hit might have been the end."

Jermaine took a few breaths and wiped the sweat from his face before answering. "Yea ugh, that hit was a result of Diago and his team putting in the time and research. You know coach is always telling me about how I tend to keep my upper body tense when I'm about to go in for a right hook. Diago and his team knew that coming in, and they prepared for that opportunity. When Diago saw his chance, he took it, and you saw the results."

"So what was going through your mind before and after that hit?"

"Well as I saw it coming, all I could really think was to turn the head and lessen the blow. After, all I could think was, damn that hurt. I knew he would get aggressive after that, so I knew I had to keep my hands up and just hunker down. When he got me in the corner, I was honestly praying for that bell to hurry up."

"And last, tell us about that finisher."

"Oh yea, that was all feeling and training. I watched a lot of film, and got his rhythm after the second. I decided to bait him in with the hook he was waiting for, watched his straight, and brought in the uppercut from the left. I was a little surprised myself that I could reorient my body fast enough to pull that off."

"I'm sure Diago was just as surprised as you. Before I let you go, what are your plans after this?"

"I'm going to see the doc, clean up, stop by some place that sells sweets, then destroy my body with sweets and ice cream before I hop online. I got a lot of shows to catch up on too."

The reporter let out a laugh. "I meant in you boxing career," She explained "But I'm sure the fans are happy to know how you relax after a big match."

Jermaine laughed a little embarrassed. "Yea, that does make a lot more sense," He answered "I am going to do what I always do. I'm going to give it my all, and keep climbing until I can't go any higher."

"That is good to hear. I'm sure your team and fans are looking forward to your rise to the top. While I have you, would you mind giving an answer to the rumor going around? There has been some talk on social media about you playing the game Armored, is that true?"

"Yea, that's true. It's a fun way to relax, and still get some training in."

"Could you tell us your avatar name?"

"Nope."

The reporter let out a laugh before continuing. "Sorry fans I tried, you will just have to be happy with knowing he is out there. I'm going to let you go now, and I look forward to seeing you battle the champ for the title."

After getting released Jermaine did exactly what he said he would. He went to the doctor, took a bath, and after the ride back to the gym, he went out to grab some sweets. After a short sixteen kilometer run he made it to the shops on the Blue Plain Strip. Since is most bakeries were closed at this hour, Jermaine found himself going to a cozy corner store. He couldn't help but smile at the looks he received as he walked through the store. The hit he got from the fight, was not as swollen as it was before, but the cuts and bandages did draw the eye straight to the damage. After getting a basket full of stuff ranging from skittles to nutter butters, he checked out and made his way home. Since he lived on the strip, it was only about a kilometer or two before he arrived at his house.

His house sat on the beach and looked out over the water. He enjoyed the house a lot, and was happy he got it for the price he did considering the location and size. The best part was the closeness to all the things he cared about like the gym, dojo, beach, and the build center." After entering his house and grabbing some ice cream out the fridge, he turned on the TV and started watching his backlog of shows he had missed due to training for the match.

The next day Jermaine woke to a call feeling and looking much better. He rolled over in his bed to look at who was calling him to see that it was Slater. Slater, or in real life Daniel Baker, was a famous Armored builder that he had met with after winning a tournament. The two of them had spent a good amount of time together designing his mech, and the two of them became friends quickly. "Hey Daniel," Jermaine said after putting the phone to his ear "What's up?"

"Nothing much bro," He replied "I saw the fight. I can not even tell you how loud I yelled when I saw you land that counter. My neighbors were hella pissed, they banged on the ceiling and everything. Anyway, what is on the schedual for today?"

"Light workout at the gym, then a cool down session at the dojo, and after that probably hop online. Why do you ask, are you trying to make plans?"

"Hell yea, I'm trying to make plans. Two things, Standalphon is challenging Prestige for the Haven Minor quarter finals, and the other guys from Genesis were wondering if you wanted to watch the match with us?"

"Sure, sounds good. The other thing?"

"Yea, I was working on a few designs for the next builders tournament in town, and I wanted to see if you wanted to go to the Build Center with me. I like having your input on my designs, and you are a great tester."

"That sounds good. By the way, it hasn't been too big of a problem, but Musashi doesn't have a radar system. I had to use dust in my last PvP to take out an invis machine. I don't like getting snuck up on."

"Don’t worry man, I didn't forget about you. I have been working on a special system for you, the only problem is it is taking a bit to finish since I have to custom build the parts in and out of game. That is also part of what this trip is for. I'll meet you at the dojo for a workout, and then we can head to the center after that."

"Sounds good, see you there." After hanging up Jermaine got dressed and headed outside. While the weather was pretty good where he was, farther in town, they were getting some rain. Wearing his hooded track suit just in case, Jermaine took off on his sixteen kilometer run to the gym. His time at the gym was basically a check ups, some shadowboxing, and film. After finishing he ran back to the strip where his father's dojo was located. Upon entering, he removed his wet track suit, and shoes. With shorts and his compression shirt that read Martial Law, he bowed before walking onto the the floor of the dojo. He looked and saw Daniel already training with some of the others. After walking to the front, he pulled his black belt off of the wall and tied it before getting to work for the day. After finishing up with his outfit, he walked to the wall that held the weapons. He grabbed a wooden sword and went through all of his exercises and kata.

"Man I get my ass beat a lot," Daniel said as the two walked to the build center.

"Yea, that happens," Jermaine answered "Don't worry about it, you are improving a lot."

"Soon I will be ready to beat you," Daniel declared as the two entered the Build Center.

"You are welcome to try any time."

The Build Center was a large dome shaped building that was a mecca for model builders. The different facilities for both in and out of game building made this a home for any serious builder. On the back wall were 3D models of the different builds that had won their prodigious building competition. Jermaine was always blown away when he came to this place, and was happy to call one of those winning model builders his friend. He looked around at the different people working on various builds. He couldn't help but smile at the passion that these people put into their building. He himself was a terrible builder, and was happy that his skills had landed him with the different mechs that he used today. Unlike him, Daniel was a great builder, and had one goal, to make a mech that the game was forced to classify as an Legacy class mech.

"I will be in my room at the back," Daniel called out from the check in counter "Grab yourself something to build. It's on me, just bring it to this lady at the counter."

Jermaine gave him a nod of understanding and the two parted to different locations. It turns out that winners of the Build Centers competition, gain access to special rooms at the back of the building. As Daniel went to the back room, Jermaine looked around the floor for a model to try to build for himself.

 

[LiviathRose]

Sonya Dober​

Location: Home / BC
Mood: Relaxed
With: None
In-Game: No

The house was quiet, as if no one was present. You could hear the droplets from the faucet in the kitchen, and the low volume television from the other room echoing into the nearby rooms. A female reporter talking to the well-known Ali right after his fight and asking him some questions on his next steps. Sonya was in the backroom, working on some sketches of her recent Mech, PR0WL3R, when she heard Ali mentioning he played Armored . She held her pen for a second; "So, the great Ali plays Armored, huh? Figured a man like that would be too busy for games." Sonya thought to herself before continuing her sketches. "Wonder if he will be friend or foe when I meet him inside."
After some time passed with her sketches, she brushed the paper from her access lead from the pencil. She hoped to give PR0WL3R a new look along with some upgrades, but since her brother fled, she had to be careful of her spending habits as Sonya didn't want anyone to get curious. While Niko was banned from Armored and lost most of his funds, some were transferred to real currency and left in Sonya's care.

It was getting close to dinner time for Sonya and Niko, if he was still there, but despite the facts, she still made dinner for the both of them in hopes he would come back home. Even if it was just to visit. Pushing the lead stained paper aside, she got up from the chair she sat at and walked into the kitchen wearing nothing but a black tanktop and some shorts. Sonya begun prepping some her leftover chili and mac n' cheese as she listened to the television playing some pointless advertisements. Staring rather melancholy-like as she stirred both the cheesy goodness in with the savory, spiced chili, her pale hands carried over the finished product and placed it on the kitchen table. Bowls and spoons were already laid out, but instead, Sonya walked away into her room sitting down on her comfort gaming chair skipping out on dinner.

Armored was already loaded on her screen with some additional screens listing FPS and other statuses about her computer. The VR system sat on the desk waiting for her and looked as lifeless as she felt sometimes since her brother disappeared. However, Sonya decided to skip out tonight and reached out to a friend of hers that was also part of the Phantom Strike. With a flick of her phone, she leaned back and waited for the phone to pick up.

" - Oh, hello Sonya. I didn't think I would be hearing from you until the morning. Everything okay?"

"Yeah, listen Viktor. I need a slight favor. Today on the television, I heard that boxer Ali plays Armored. I'm interested on closing in on him. In addition, I need you to get me some silent parts. Don't want people picking up on me."

"Woah, are you nuts Sonya? You mean THE Ali?" Viktor sighed. "You're good Sonya but to go up against Ali might be too big of a risk and he's practically famous."

"Okay, so pretty boy has a name. Point? He's not the only one, at least in-game. Besides I just want to look, I don't plan on going head on with him. Though just because he's a professional boxer doesn't mean he's a professional mech pilot. So, Viktor, what do you know?"

"Damn... Alright. I don't know much but he's running the Musashi. Some mech that was a reward for a tournament that was built by Slater. Other than that, I couldn't tell you much about the system other than it's close combat and Slater boasted about it using the "moon" to boost it's power. Anyways, meet me at the BC tomorrow, and I'll get you the parts you need."

"Thanks Viktor."

Sonya hung up the phone as stared for a moment before finishing her night out with some Armored, then going straight to bed.

The next morning came quick, at least it felt like it. Sonya's alarm blared as she knocked it off the nightstand to silence it, and with a slight miserable groan, she swung her legs around, getting up out of bed. She took awhile to get ready, as she had the horrible habit of using up all the hot water in the shower. But since no one else used it now, she couldn't really care. Walking out of the bathroom, she grabbed a blue flannel button-up and slipped on some skinny jeans before heading into the kitchen. The chili mac was still there. With a sigh, she grabbed a spoon and took a few bites of it despite it being cold. It all went down the same tube. After finishing the food, Sonya grabbed a water bottle from the fridge and headed out the door to get into her newer Honda Civic. As usual, she skipped through some music that was synced via Bluetooth before she begun driving out to meet Viktor at the Build Center.

It wasn't far from Sonya's home and as she pulled up, she could already see Viktor standing near the door waiting for her in his all black get-up. She would always tease Viktor asking him if he was some High School emo child and if he needed Band-Aids for his broken heart. He always just laughed it off as she hoped he would. Viktor walked over to Sonya as she got out of the car and give her a slight smile.

"Good Morning Sonya."
"Morning Viktor." She handed him a piece of paper and an un-named credit card. "Make sure to not mess up. " She chuckled.

The both of them walked in the Build Center and went separate ways. Viktor went straight up to the counter to begin his shopping, Sonya walked around looking at some of the available parts and mechs then would look over to see what others were building. Some time passed when she noticed a familiar face walk in with another. "Is that... Ali? What is he doing here?" She thought to herself. Sonya glanced over to Viktor, who was still listing the things he needed. Or that Sonya needed. Sonya looked away trying not to bring any attention to herself, but would observe from a distance.

 

[Graystone713]

Alarms blared, the cockpit rattled, and the world kept flying by. Bella could've conceded. It's not like she could win.

"C'mon, a little further, just a little-"

The lock-on alert stretched on, and Backrunner burst from the canyon, twisting as it flew and spraying an arc of flame in desperation at the oncoming missiles. They didn't stop. All three hit center torso, and what little remained of her armor was gone. One more solid shot, and she'd be cored. Again.

"Nononono, NO! You can do this, you can-"

She couldn't. How could she? The mech swooped from on high, having never even dipped into the canyon. Whether they know about the burn wires or not wasn't really important. What was important was that it dropped a payload of bombs, and landed behind Backrunner. Bella could see it doing an obvious taunt from the view of her Laser spider, which at least fired a parting shot before the bombs hit and Backrunner was cored.

"GOD-... Damn it."

She earned enough credits each fight to keep it repaired, but only just. Upgrades wouldn't happen in game. She'd have to get model kits for that, and anything worth having would be a little too expensive right now. Damn it. If she could just boost Backrunner's carry limit, that'd at least give her another spider. Or maybe more ammo for her trap weapons. The call for a tow was already out, and the 1v1 was over. So, defeated, she crawled from the cockpit and watched that smug bastard fly away. Dude had to be a streamer. Bella thought about taking a walkabout on Chimaera, but Inverogue wasn't equipped to handle anything bigger than... Well, a suit of power armor. Maybe a superlight cargo hauler, or a laser spider on its last legs. If mech-scale mines were even remotely manportable, there'd be a chance. As it was, she'd have to buy an antimech weapon. Another impossibility. Anything Bella could both afford and wield wouldn't have the power to take down anything worth hunting. It would take a good while for BackRunner to get fixed unless Bella paid for it to get expedited, so... It was time to check the feed.

"Nothing? Really, just... Nothing."

Her requests for a revival of Fieldmasters had gone unanswered. Not even fans believed in her. They were all about 'LadyZhukov' back in the day. Now the only one of them who got any attention was goddamn Bloodshot. Being a sniper, he barely had to do ANY adjustment to be a solo player. Oddly, ArkiMeches had sent her a message. She knew that guy didn't want to be a team with her again, so why?... Oh. His new leader, Machine-a-V311-I, was hosting a tournament. And ArkiMeches wanted her to participate. Welp. Might as well call. She was home, her work was done for the day (a morning-afternoon shift left her good time for Armored) and BackRunner wouldn't be running for a while. So she hit the voice chat button, and her modulator kicked on, giving her the synthetic voice of the only person more nobody than Bella: InveRogue.

"Rogue! Been a while, uh... You been okay?"
"Not really. I uh... I've been having it rough."
"I figured. Saw you slip down to silver 1 a while ago... That's why I thought you might want a bit of fun! The entry fee's cheap, and repairs are on us, as per usual... Plus, things're gonna be... Weird."
"BackRunner isn't built for an arena, Ark. I'm not even sure why you're asking."
"It's an Arms-Wild tourney, featuring nothing but Thinker-Tankers specials. Additive arms rules."
"Uh. I... I don't know what any of that means. I'm not a Thinker-Tanker."

A sigh came over the chat, then a response.

"You're only armed with random weapons that we built. Each round you survive, you get another one. We're hoping for a good turnout... C'mon, we even let you keep the stuff you win with!."
"You could just do this yourselves. There's six of you, right?"
"It's not fair if we do it: We know our shit too well. Besides, it's a good test to see how user-friendly they are."
"Ugh... You're lucky I need a new edge."
"Cool! We're sending invites to all the big teams out there, so if you impress 'em, you could get an invite! I know running solo's..."
"Rough? Come on, Ark. You're practically throwing me a pity party... You're almost as bad as Zhukov."
"You really need to let it go, Rogue. She's got a life. I'm happy for her! Besides, the tournament was Machine's idea."
"Bye Ark."
"Wait, the tournament's-"

She hung up. Wow, that ALMOST hurt as much as being cored for the seventh time today. She knew Ark meant well, but he never knew when to shut his mouth. In the time the call took, at least her ride got her to the old FieldMasters dropship. BackRunner was almost operational again, too. So, she queued up for another 1v1 and raised her goggles, reaching for her drink. She needed to hydrate after that last match, it was WAY too intense. She saw another message from ArkiMeches, clarifying that the tournament was tomorrow afternoon. She could do that, she guessed. After all, random chance to win maybe one weird-ass gun miiiight be worth it... If she won any matches at all.

 

[Enolx]

"That's pretty cool," Jermaine exclaimed as he rummaged through the shelves. "Naw, I probably shouldn't try to make stuff for Musashi. " Jermaine walked down a few more isles and stopped in front of hover board kit for avatars. "It's dope, but I already have my swords...maybe I could....I should ask Daniel."

After swiping the kit from the shelf he walked excitedly to the front desk. The young woman at the desk looked up at him, and noticing the damage on his face, wore a worried expression. "What happened to the other guy," She asked as she looked the damage over. While the swelling had gone down a bit, he still had multiple bandages and some discoloration.

Jermaine let out a chuckle at the fact he could legitimately answer her rhetorical question. "He got hit with an upper cut about a minute or so later and couldn't get himself off the ground," Jermaine answered with a sly smile.

The woman wore a questioning expression for a moment before coming to the conclusion that the man in front of her was playing along. "You don't say," She responded as she took the kit from Jermaine "Who started the fight?"

"That would be me. We both wanted the same thing, and only one of us could have it."

"Ah fighting over a girl, the classic tragedy. Is this all for you? It will be twenty-five ninety-five. You shouldn't fight by the way. There are better ways to solve disputes."

Jermaine flashed a smile as he chuckled. "I agree, those better ways just didn't work this time. By the way, my friend Daniel was here a second ago and he said to bring this kit to you."

"Daniel? I don't remember a Daniel. Do you have his avatar name? Maybe he used that?"

"I could see that. We are honestly probably the weird ones for using our real names here. His name is Slater."

"Slater's name is Daniel? That is not what I expected. I always saw him as a Sam or a Brad. Actually the more I think about it, I can see him as a Daniel. It's the wavy hair and green eyes for sure." The woman entered some information into the computer and then rescanned the kit. "There you go, all taken care of. Slater is at his booth in the back. Have fun with the kit."

Jermaine took the kit and gave a slight bow to the woman before walking towards the back. "Thank you, will do."

The back area was like another world. In the back there were different booths that had a table at the center, a built in scanner, and a personal 3D printer. Each pair of booths was separated by a domed barrier, and had Armored link ups on each station. The center area was filled with beanbags and there was even shelves where a builder could get different materials for printing and sculpting. The room was circular, had a domed roof, and was basically a smaller version of the building. The thing that caught Jermaine's eyes the most was the ceiling. The entire ceiling was a display screen that showed Armored. Jermaine smiled as they were playing the pre match analysis for the upcoming Standalphon Prestige match. Jermaine smiled as each teams roster scrolled across the screen. When he saw some old friends he decided to plop down on the beanbags and watch before meeting up with Daniel.

"This is going to be an amazing match," One of the hosts declared to his colleagues who sat around with him at the table "We have number two Standalphon against the number six Prestige. Both have proved themselves and I could see either a champion by the end of the Minor. While both of these teams have already earned their spot at the Major, that higher seed spot could do a lot to help keep them in the upper bracket."

"That is very true," Another host chimed in "I wouldn't want to be the number six seed who has to go against Asylum in the first round. That is just not a good way to start off a tournament run. Speaking of tournament runs, Clare how about you go over the format for fans who might be new to tournaments and how they work.

"I would love to Josh. So the format is the standard best of three format. What this means is that if your team wins two of the three fights, they win the match. Matches are split as following , two 1v1's, and then one 3v3. Players from the 1v1 can compete in the 3v3, but they can not fight in a second 1v1. They will also not be able to repair their Armors either. Captains will have to make tough decisions when it comes to who from their five will fight when. Speaking of captains and their hardships, I believe that segues nicely into our match discussion."

"You are right," The first host continued "This match will be close, and we believe the game will be decided in the second 1v1, which happens to involve both the teams captain."

"Why do you say that," Josh questioned.

"Both teams have their advantages. Standalphon, is known for their high class of players. They have always recruited the best the world has to offer. The Standalphon team has the number two player Haywire and the number nine player Invictus, their captain. Prestige on the other hand is one of the best.. teams we have seen in a while. Their team play is something we haven't seen since the old FieldMasters group. Each one of them knows the others in and out, this lets them get the best 1v1 matches possible. They know they have the 3v3 match, so all they need is that one 1v1 win, and they will put forward the best men for the match up."

"Are they really that dominate in the 3v3 match up," Clare added?

"They really are," The host continued as stats popped up behind him. Jermaine let out a whistle as he looked at the sea of green W's as it scrolled behind the hosts."Prestige has not lost a 3v3 since they got their newest starting five. I am going to say it now, and you guys can quote me on this. Prestige is the second coming of FieldMasters, and are the best team to take down Asylum."

"Whooooaaaa, woah," Clare and Josh exclaimed waving arms wildly in disbelief.

"You are saying some outlandish things right now. You are also forgetting about my boys Genesis is the other half of the bracket." Clare retorted

"Also you are acting like Standalphon isn't right here right now. You really think they can make it past the 1v1's to make it to their 3v3?"

The first host rolled his eyes at his co-hosts. "First, Clare, lets be honest. They no longer have Martial and Mystical can not replace him. No mater how much you want that to happen. I have followed that Martial since he first splashed into Grand Master. His hunger is unmatched. He is rank eight. Rank eight, and not on a pro team! Why has no one picked him up? I can easily see that kid going head to head with Dominus in a bit. Mystical is not that. Mystical isn't half of that. Genesis is also missing Slater because of the building competition, so they will be using a standin for the next match. When they loose this, they go the sixth seed. They are an incomplete team right now. You are arguing for an incomplete team.

As for Standalphon, that is why this captain battle is so important. Haywire, is going first and is going to win. That is just life for Prestige. If Invictus can beat Yeet, it's done right there. If they can't, then Prestige will get their 3v3 and you have seen the results when that happens. Yeet is no slouch, and while twenty-four isn't nine, the kid has heart and a favorable match up. Just saying, when has Invictus had an air game?"

The host tapped his papers on his desk with a measure of finality, and the others settled in to their chairs shaking their heads. "You know what, we will just have to see what happens," Josh said "Standalphon and Prestige later today at eight. Tune in with us at seven thirty for player and Armor discussions, and after the match for post match discussion. You don't want to miss this one. See you guys then."

The program switched to commercials and Jermaine sat up to see Daniel beside him. "I always liked Clare," Daniel said still looking at the chicken commercial "But Jack did make some valid points. Mystical is not you at all. He is good when he is good, but some match ups. Hopefully he will get better in time. Anyway, lets get to work, I have some important stuff to show you before we head to the team house.

"Sounds good," Jermaine answered holding up his kit "Also, I will need your help working on this thing."

Daniel smiled and wrapped an arm around Jermaine. "Sounds good."

 

[LiviathRose]

Sonya Dober​

Location: Home / BC
Mood: Stern
With: Viktor* (NPC)
In-Game: No / Yes

Viktor waited for the parts he listed off as he looked over to see that Jermaine came up next to him questioning about 'Daniel'. The clerk didn't recognize the name but was able to confirm after using the man's username. Viktor raised an eyebrow almost impress with the information, but kept his gaze on the paper as if he was reconfirming what he ordered. With a adjusting clearing of his throat, he looked over at Sonya to make eye contact.
Sonya knew he had something to say from the way he looked at her and tried to grab her attention discreetly. But never approached him, instead she headed over to look at the television as some commentary came on. One of the hosts, Josh mentioned; "Genesis is also missing Slater because of the building competition, so they will be using a standin for the next match... They are an incomplete team right now. " Which caused Sonya to tilt her head. 'An incomplete team, huh?' She thought to herself. Finally, Viktor came up next to Sonya as the both stared at the television almost like strangers.

"You know what I don't understand? They never mention anything about us. We're better than Prestige. We even proven it." He said quietly.
"You know they won't mention our team on air anymore except during matches. After the whole incident. They don't want to ruin their image. It's okay though as it makes it easier to move around. It's not all about the fame, Viktor." Sonya said almost bored like.

Sonya glanced over at Jermaine giving one last good observation, and watched another man approach him, before heading out the door with Viktor trailing out behind her. As the both of them reached Sonya's black Honda, Viktor placed his hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, so, I think we just hit some valuable information." Viktor whispered. Sonya nodded in agreement. "Jermaine addressed a man as Daniel, who turns out to be Slater."
"...and Slater is part of Genesis. I think we can make an educated guess what team our all-star is hiding in." Sonya scoffed.
"Wouldn't put it past him. Though, I am not too surprised. You're not thinking about doing anything, are you?" Viktor said rather worriedly.
But with a declining shake, "No. But Genesis is missing part of their team. If Jermaine is really part of Genesis, you think his fan base would get excited? Without a member, he might be more vulnerable."
"Woah, Sonya.... Bitch move. Are you really going to do it?"
"I'll think about it. Or maybe he can help us out..." Sonya gave a soft smile before getting in her car. Rolling down her drivers window, "I'll see you in game. Scan those parts in."

With her short drive home, Sonya would run her hand through her black hair against the wind. At a stop light, she would be found dazing off wondering what she should do. Jermaine could be a beneficial ally, a worthy rival, or a true enemy. Sonya had to play her cards right. But first, she wanted to find Jermaine in game and at least she knew where to start. Upon arrival to her home, Sonya walked up to her front door to find one of the stray cats that been living underneath her house waiting for her. It was a beautiful, white cat. Their iris seemed to match Sonya's. Giving it some attention, Sonya opened the door letting it in and the stray cat went straight for the leftovers. "I don't think cheese is good for you, but take what you want I suppose."
Sonya headed into her room undressing a little, then geared up to head into Armored...

BloodStalker_X1​

Location: Private Garage Location #3997
Mood: Conflicted
With: Viktor*/BoneyBlue (NPC)
In-Game: Yes

Later in the evening, Bloodz (BloodStalker) met up with BoneyBlue (Viktor) at one of the private garage locations that can only be accessed via invite of another player. Sitting there was PR0WL3R with a fresh paint job as Blood finished putting a clear coat on it. There was no real damage from their last fight but Bloodz hated to see PR0WL3R with scratches on the paint, though to be honest, it was just another reason to get her heated in battle. Bloodz flung her blonde, long hair to the side as she stepped down from the ladder, a ping then a holoscreen popped up notifying her that it was confirmed that her Mech had a new look. Anytime her Mech was touched, a notification popped up as a security measure, though sometimes it annoyed her. She disregarded the message.
"Alright, all the parts are here." Said BoneyBlue.
Bloodz nodded as she approached the table that was lined with various of parts and trinkets. Brushing her hand over a few of them, she picked up a StabilizerH, and held it up. "We should start with this."
"Oh, yeah. For sure Bloodz. Uh, now that is pretty easy to install and it will-" Bloodz interrupted BoneyBlue.
"Will help PR0WL3R take more hits and not stun it's systems after going invisible." Bloodz smiled.
BoneyBlue laughed and nodded forgetting that Bloodz was on top of it, not necessarily needing him. Together, they worked on installing the StabilizerH which was a rather quick installment but important nonetheless.

Some timed passed as they continued with a few of the other adjustments but were not ready to install some of the bigger parts. Pretty soon, PR0WL3R will be able to handle itself a little better in 1 VS 1 matches.
"Yo, you want to head out to see if there are any practice matches available?" Asked BoneyBlue.
With a slight shrug, "I suppose. Why, you worried I would ruin your Mech?"
With an embarrassed laugh, "No, why would you ever think that? Besides you know practice matches are covered anyways."
"Right, it's a pride thing. Forgot." Bloodz said as she chuckled and walked off.

The both of them headed out the garage and entered into the gathering plaza.

Mentions: Enolx

 

[H3LLJUMPER_177]

Coalition Metal Corps
Operation: Heavy Dawn (Mock battle/Skirmish)
Fighting: Dominion's first Mechanized team
Location: Multum, Vastun
Calling them out
4 Heavy Freighter jets flew towards Vastun, the jets were blacked out with a small jet escort. The battle was to begin shortly and was to hopefully be filmed. O Three was in her mech, feeling agitated. "...So who are these dominion nerds again?" she asked through Tac comms. O four sighed, the mans avatar wasn't like everyones, his was pretty much a man in head to toe black out gear. Nothing to mention about him. "The Dominion is a gaggle of edgy kids who, like us, enjoy dark colors and yada yada. But seriously. They're just a bunch of cocky rich kids-no offense- who did the pay to win bull crap launch themselves to the top 50 powerful mech charts. These little nerds themselves called US out and now we are on our way to shove a metal boot where the sun don't shine." he said, Crimson giggled a bit, "We also kinda did the pay to win but that was because Jarhead wants our little clan to be a mil sim kinda group, which i admit, seems dope. These jets ain't cheap and are super rare... " She stated, she provided most of the funds because she was really interested in what the clan could do. And well, they're doing pretty good..

"Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta, ETA to drop zone, five mikes." came a voice over their radios. "Hey O two, what was that song you wanted us to play while we dropped?" Crimson asks, there was a pause before some heavy music began to play. The 4 smiled and got ready for a fight. The jets quickly approached their drop zone and the bay doors opened over the sea for Crimson. "Cat fish is ready for drop." her pilot joked, "Oh shove it 087." she said before she slid out from the jet and came to life, grabbing her gun and holding it close, her mechs legs pointed down to take the brunt of the landing, her thrusters kicked in to slow her down just enough to not go through the sea floor. There was a massive splash as she crashed through the water and landed hard on the sea floor. Generic Hero pose here, anyways, she then began to quickly run towards the mainland, her thusters at full blast as she runs along, she was dropped a fair few miles out, the rest of the team hot dropped onto the main land and was already fighting.

"I see one taking up a spot on the hill, looks like he's setting up for a sniper pos. Take him out O three.." O two said, she dropped some coordinates for Crimson to input and well... she stood still and her tomahawk launcher angled towards where the sniper would be and she fired two missiles. Once they were launched she continued her jog to the mainland, the missiles traveled quickly and with a purpose. The poor nerd had stopped and was aiming at her friends, who were posed with waving hands at the mech from afar as the missiles struck with a loud BOOM. The sniper was a good ways out but the team had a spotter of their own, he used tons of drones to spot things in a radius of two miles... "Direct hit, Overseer, this broadcasting on a public network right?" O two asked. Overseer was O five. Strange man, great spotter though. "Aye. My drones are observing the battle. We got.. fifteen viewers, which might climb once word gets out." he stated. Crimson soon arrived and stood on the shore of the island, there wasn't much she could do besides find a good vantage point and snipe lower leveled snipers.
Random music
Crimson readied her railgun and dashed off to find a good spot. Passing by areas that would be best for people who are staging an ambush.. But she found a nice cliff that had spot in it above the ground, a large cave. "Perfect" she said to herself and quickly climbed up, then kneeling down to get a view of the battlefield. Using her map to find her teammates, and some sneaky nerds hiding in large trees. She took aim at one who was fully exposed from the rear and lined her sights up to where the mechs neck was and, there was a charge, then a fast moving metal sabot flew out at the speed of sound, maybe faster?...well lets just say the mech lost its head and fell out of that tree. Then began to aimlessly try and stand before she lined another shot up to where the mechs neck hole is, charged, and fired again, it went in through the neck and out the left leg. It ceased to move, 2 down, 6 to go. "God these guys are amateurs" Crimson said, reloading her railgun, "Hey, O five, find me another wannabe" she said, "Yep...and... Got one.. Ooh you're in luck, it's a Heavy Zaku II, fan made, custom. God these guys ARE rich." he stated, his drone watching it wade through the forest alone, course this one was all matte black with red accents. "Ooh.. And I know how to ruin his day.." she said and her eyes flashed red, she's in the zone now, she climbed down and went to one of the nice ambush areas she spotted on her way.. massive tree with lots of thick shrubbery. She angled her missile launcher, her 40mm cannons came out from the respected shoulder, and she readied her railgun, aiming in the super heavy mechs path as it walked. She soon saw it come into view and...
Battle music
With a unison of hell, a scream of two missiles, booms to rival the biggest destroyer, and a force god himself would stumble against-sarcastic-, all weapons fired and struck the super heavy mech... "Ah Fuck.." she mumbles, the super heavy mech sacrificed it's left arm shield, which also barely protected said arm, as it lost most of its armor. "...You just cost me thousands in repairs little witch." came a voice that was tuned to 'try' and be menacing. "Yeah well, that's what happen-CRAP!" before she could finish the Zaku II had thrown the remainder of the heavy shield at her and knocked her on her back, She dropped the tomahawk box and grabbed her sidearm, dual wielding the railgun and the mech version of a SMG. Her team laughs, "Oh he's asked for it now" O two said. Crimson, if she was awake, her face would look like an angry kitten. "I'm gonna rip that avatar out of that cockpit and throw you at a tree!" she shouted as she used her mechs speed to her advantage. She ran to the Zaku's left and fired the railgun into its shoulder, making it flinch a little, but did medium damage, it stood up and grabbed a cannon, which fired 120mm rounds.

Like a semi auto rifle. 'couple hits from that and im done for, time to be a number three' she thought as her shoulder cannons fired at its face, blinding it a bit as she dashed behind it and jumped onto its back, jamming her SMG into a lightly armored area to the right of the cockpit and fired off point blank. It did a heavy damage but she was quickly grabbed and thrown, tumbling head over heels as she rolled into a wall-solid mountain-, she also lost her railgun in the tumble, she shook her head and planted her feet on the wall and used her thrusters to help launch herself back at the Zaku before it could ready its rifle at her, she slid and angled her feet in a way to slide around it, shooting it in the arm that blocked the cockpit, and that held the large caliber rifle, few more shots and that arm is dead weight. He man in the Zaku growls as he is shot at by Crimson, he was intent on doing what she told him she'd do. Her shoulder cannons fired and she repeated the process of jumping on the Zakus back, but this time the Zaku fell backwards and pinned her beneath it. It rolled over and held the slimmer mech down, getting ready to aim the rifle at the cockpit, but three drones ran right into the Zakus face, exploding in a poof of black smoke and shrapnel, "What was that supposed to hurt?" the man in the Zaku asks, before that, Crimson's mech was loading the 40mm shoulder cannons with napalm rounds, "No but it distracted you long enough for THIS!" she shouts as the tri cannons fire into the face of her enemy. Blinding it, she go free and shoved the barrel of the SMG between the Zakus face guard and unloads a whole mag. Breaking the Zakus visuals. The zaku swings its arms aimlessly as she walks around it in a circle, planting a foot on its side and pushing it onto its back, she loads her SMG and plants the gun firmly where she last fired pointblank and unloaded there as well. Disabling it, "Remember what I said before?" she said aloud through her mechs speakers, she grabs the door to the cockpit and rips it open after some effort. "It wasn't a threat, it was a promise." she said and grabs the pilot, then threw him into the ocean, being a bit merciful.

The Raid was over, her team had finished the rest off, and the Coalition stood victorious. While they fought they garnered 800 viewers and received a few messages asking to join or for them to leave the clan and join theirs. Quite funny really. "well that was fun, even though I only got three kills.." she said and grabs her railgun and shakes it, still works. She slid both weapons onto her back and awaits a retrieval VTOL with the rest of her team
(If there needs to be any changes let me know and i will fix them)

 

[Graystone713]

Bella had been waiting to queue for some time. She almost considered taking a break, but... She needed to play, to reassure herself she wasn't actually... Bad at the game. So, she backed out of competitive and slated herself up for a practice match. At least there, she could have a little bit more of a casual match, maybe cool off and go into something real later without being all tilted. Yep, casual practice. She took a sip of tea, expecting a loooong wait...

[\\\MATCH LOCATED///]
[Will you engage against Bloodstalker_X1?]

Well, that was fast. Apparently she was in the Gathering plaza? Something about the name and the look felt... REALLY familiar. For her part, Bella hit 'Accept' and looked her up. Oh. OH. Phantom Strike. She was a part of Phantom strike, the team that basically let you pay to beat them. FieldMasters never went up against them until after Kelly left the team. Without LadyZhukov's guidance, they argued a lot about whether they should pay for a win or not. They decided not to, and paid a different price in the form of losing, HARD. FieldMasters didn't immediately fall apart after the battle, but it was definitely the beginning of the big fall. Bella almost cancelled, but... No. This was a practice match against a girl who might not even remember her. She didn't have to chat, she just had to play her hand. The mech she was known for wasn't even the scariest thing on Phantom Strike!... Was it? It had been a WHILE, and BackRunner fell to BrxkenLies's mech. InveRogue hadn't even seen the prowler thing. It was supposedly a stealth mech, so not surprising... Did they even do the 'pay to win' thing anymore? Bella didn't follow controversies like that anymore.

"It's okay... It's just a practice match. Damage is covered in practice, you don't have to chat, she won't remember you, and if she does, she won't remember the important parts. Yeeeaaaahhh, juust practice. Mech combat. FieldMaster style."

Bella said, reassuring herself for a brief moment. It wasn't really working. She was sure she'd get torn to shreds. Damage was covered, but that kind of fight was always scary. It was a good thing fear and paranoia played right into the FieldMasters style. She just had to remember that if the enemy was Predator, she was Dutch.

Interacting with: LiviathRose

 

[Quiet Snowfall]

Damn, that look like it hurt.

Spencer sat in his general-purpose mecha hangar, watching a livestream of the Coalition Metal Corps take on another clan calling themselves The Dominion while making adjustments to his own machine. A Dominion Armor had just fallen backwards on top of one of the Coalition's, pinning it beneath him. Just as it was getting ready to deal the finishing blow, however, a set of Coalition drones dive-bombed the Dominion's machine and distracted it just long enough for the pinned Armor to regain the upper hand, unceremoniously dumping the other player's avatar into the ocean.

"Humph. That's what you get for acting cocky and wasting time," he mumbled under his breath. It was an all-too common mistake he saw, especially among less-skilled players; they'd gain the upper hand, waste time taunting, then get the rug pulled out from under their feet.

The last opponent he had faced had done the same thing, as did most of his foes. Once they saw Hummingbird, which had a rather unassuming appearance and only a single close-range weapon, they'd stop to mock him, typically by trying to stay just out of his swinging range. As soon as they did, of course, Spencer would just hit the switch for his O-Core, close the gap, and end the fight in a few decisive swings. His most recent frame upgrade had made the whole process even faster, allowing him to push the Armor to its limit without having to worry too much about the thing falling apart on him.

The limbs still felt stiff, though, which was why he was making adjustments to it now. Upgraded or not, it was far from top class, and he was going to need every last scrap of advantage he could get. His matches almost always ended quickly, and even a second-long delay could be fatal. He may have only been playing for two years, but those two years were spent entirely on optimizing the O-Core's effectiveness, and he'd had to learn quickly in order to avoid being buried beneath the endless waves of 'meta' trend-chasers.

In order to do that, though, he would need to find an upgrade to his weapon. It was by far the oldest part of Hummingbird, and the hardest one to replace. Even the FrontRunner Hover Legs the Armor originally came with had been upgraded and modified more times than the sword. There were only a handful of weapons out there that met the criteria of being a melee weapon that he could use as a heat sink for the O-Core, and none of them were more effective than a standard heat blade. Even then, the sword wasn't built for such a purpose and would melt under its own heat after a few minutes.

Once he was satisfied with the adjustments to Hummingbird's arms, Spencer popped open his Armored-related newsfeed and began scrolling through. Most of what he followed where the exploits of various builders and clans in order to find potential parts or ideas he could implement into Hummingbird. Today's feed, like most other days, was incredibly uninteresting. Long-ranged weaponry had been the big thing among most of them for some time now and for good reason, as groups like the Coalition had so effectively demonstrated. Increasing range, accuracy, shot power, fire rate, yadda yadda yadda. Spencer had always found it an incredibly dull way of playing, even before getting into Armored and getting his hands on the O-Core, which didn't benefit ranged weapons in any significant way. What was the point of building a giant, flashy mecha to fight other giant flashy mechas if you were just going to hide in some cave and fire rockets at someone you couldn't even see? It was a serious waste of perfectly badass-looking machines.

"Hm? Oh, now this looks interesting..." An intriguing post had finally found its way into his feed; it seemed one of the more wacky builder clans was hosting an Arms-Wild tournament tomorrow afternoon, and whoever won got to keep the weapons they got. This would be a good opportunity to find a new weapon--or at least get an idea for one--and maybe even find an 'in' to a builder clan and their resources. Solo players could buy things from these groups, of course, but working with them directly would be way better.

Popping open the post, Spencer began navigating his way to the tournament's sign-ups. No doubt there'll be an entrance fee, but hopefully they'll be willing to accept even Silver 2 nobodies like me.



Mentioned: Graystone713

 

[LiviathRose]

BloodStalker_X1​

Location: Gathering Hub/ PM 1v1
Mood: Careful
With: Viktor and InveRouge
In-Game: Yes

As Bloodz and BoneyBlues sat idled talking about the new upgrades on the PR0WL3R, a hologram notification popped up in front of Bloodz view. "Match Located, will you engage against InveRouge?" The message asked. BoneyBlues nodded with a grin as Bloodz pushed accept on the notification resulting the world around her fade. In the blink of an eye, Bloodz was transported to a little pre-match den with her PR0LW3R while the enemy player would be on the opposite side of the field. Though practice matches were smaller fields compared to the big time matches, neither player would know what setting they would be placed in until the gates opened.
Bloodz did some stretching before climbing up into the cockpit of her PR0WL3R with her hair flowing nicely behind. She was always gently getting inside as she didn't want to kick anything or leave any scuff marks. The glass dome of the cockpit closed with a hissing noise reducing air pressure, and the mech gradually powered up. The PR0WL3R had life-like reflexes and almost felt like a realistic feline as it would bend in various positions, checking all systems. A hologram popped in frontal view verifying all systems are at 100% and listing each available weapon. In a lower corner, a chat box opened up for the match, along with a private message from BoneyBlues;

Don't have too much information on the player themselves. Mech is a cakewalk for you, beginner model. Watch for the their flame damage and don't play with your food for too long before it spoils.

The gates opened up revealing a jungle-like scenario and on the mini-map provided shows a large open area towards the middle. As Bloodz guided themselves out of their pre-match den, she sent a message to the public chat of the match "Good Luck. No hard feelings." Bloodz didn't really recognize the name, but sounded familiar. Then again, there are so many "Rouges" out there, It's probably a nobody, she thought.
Above the field, there are holo-flags of both players and their mechs along with the Team Emblem they belong too. However, she noticed InveRouge didn't have one listed on their flag. Possible they are a new player, or perhaps too cocky for a team. She sends a message to BoneyBlues;

Hey, are we still looking for members for Phantom Strike?

Are you joking, you're thinking about recruiting all of a sudden? -BB

I was JUST wandering. Don't get your panties in a bunch.

The PR0WL3R weaved in and out of trees making straight to the open area but did not enter it, instead as they approached the outer ring, Bloodz activated the Cloaking Shield letting out a light electric, zapping noise. Originally, it would stun the Mech for a split second similar to a lag, but after installing the StabilizerH, there were no present issue. The mech was invisible and stalking the outer circle waiting for the enemy player to show up.
Let's see what we have on the dinner table tonight... Bloodz mumbled to herself.
As the mech would circle the area, the heartbeat of the pilot could be heard through the systems. The closer they were, the louder it became.


Interation: Graystone713

 

[Enolx]

Jermaine sat down in the both and chuckled at the fact that there where screens inside. As he opened his kit to pull out the different pieces he saw Daniel pull out a kit of his own and a micro SD. "Alright, so what is this important stuff you were wanting to show me?"

A wide grin crept on to Daniel's face as he pressed a button on the table, and the booth sealed itself off. "There is actually two big things," He explained as he handed over a headset "The first requires you taking a test to see if you are as much of a freak as I believe you are." Jermaine took the headset and threw it on. After he did Daniel entered the SD card into the head set and the head set roared to life. When the program loaded, Jermaine was inside a small white box and found himself as his alternate persona, Martial Strike. "Ok now," Daniel continued "Are you in a small white room?"

"Yea," Jermaine answered "So what is this all about? A new training room or something?"

"Ha, yes actually. So in a second, I'm going to make things show up, and you just have to avoid getting hit. This will get harder and harder, and if you get far enough, you will see something crazy. This is actually testing for your radar system, so go all out."

"Should I not be in Musashi then?"

"Nope, the mech part isn't really that important. I just need to make sure somebody, you hopefully, can actually uses the stupid thing I made. Ok that's enough talking, activating white eyes system now."

For Jermaine the box he was in completely changed. While he knew the box was there, he could see the outline, he could see directly through it. Now that he could see through it, he could see the different men outside of it. The different men that were charging and shooting at him. It was when an arrow came in contact with the wall that Jermaine learned two things. First, the box he was in does not stop things from entering it. The second thing he learned was that when something entered the box, it slowed down. Jermaine quickly stepped to the side and learned another thing about this box, he was stuck inside it. "I have to dodge gunfire and swords in this small ass space," Jermaine questioned "I can barely swing my swords."

"Yes," Daniel answered with a chuckle "Funny thing is, you actually have exactly enough space to swing your sword."

Jermaine laughed and then ran a hand through his hair before pulling out one of his swords. "Fuck it, let's do this. I like a challenge."

Jermaine began to hop in place and only dropped into stance when the first enemy stabbed into the box. It was at this point Jermaine became aware of the sound and flash that occurred when an object passed through the wall. He didn't let himself think about it though. At the moment, he filed the information in his head, and let his instincts take over. Jermaine barely moved to dodge the strike, and in one smooth motion he cut through the man's stomach. The ding and flash alerted him to a bullet that entered his box, and the slow motion effect gave him the small amount of time needed to dodge. Jermaine grinned as he watched the bullet pass his cheek. He didn't have much time as there was another ding. Jermaine instantly searched his vision for the flash, but couldn't find it. His body reacted on his own, and he found himself spinning around. His sword was already coming around in an arc when he saw the outline of a missile headed for his chest. His brain did the math on dodging and decided that wasn't the proper choice. Jermaine's dropped down to a knee, positioned the flat of his blade under the missile so it would slide on top of it without heavy impact, and redirected to missile to the charging men behind him. After the light touch of metal on metal, the missile took off on it's new flight path, left the box as easily as it came in, and exploded when it came in contact with the ground in the center of the charging men.

"How the fuck did you redirect a missile," Daniel exclaimed "You only had a sound to go off of. I didn't even tell you that stuff would come from behind. This was suppose to be the impossible version of the test. This is bull shit, stupid rank eight bull shit. How are you only rank eight? Oh my god..... what will happen when I give you a better mech? You are so stupid, I hate you. This is so unfair"

"Uhm, I'm sorry."

"Don't talk to me. We are going to the next stupid test."

As Jermaine laughed, something crazy happened to his vision. The box vanished and a large forest appeared around him. The crazy part was not that he could see through the trees, and could now walk around. The crazy part was that he could see behind himself. As he looked forward, the world around bent at the edge of his vision. Jermaine found himself having trouble adjusting to this new way of seeing."

"Ok, so here is the actual White Eyes system," Daniel explained slightly less peeved "While my influences were not originally science based, this does have a bit of that. You basically are seeing like a fly would. It is weird for a bit, but walk around and get use to it. I will explain the rest of the stuff while you do. Jermaine followed his instruction and tried to navigate around. "So yea, you can't see it but that box from before is still there. Its not a box though, it is actually a three sixty sphere around you. You will get the same alerts as before and objects inside the sphere will be colored red. Other than that, you can already see the x-ray. The two things you don't know about are the crazy optical zoom that the system gives and its ability to see energy. One second let me just..." Alright now you just need to focus." A ding and red flash occurred above and to Jermaine's right. "In that direction."

Jermaine did as asked and found himself seeing farther and farther out. He stopped focusing when he saw an Armor perched on a hill with a sniper rifle. As he looked, he could see the generator for the Armor. It glowed with a soft blue light and that same light ran though the machine like vein though a person. As Jermaine looked at the Armor, he grinned. The sight seemed familiar, but he couldn't place the feeling. Instead he relaxed his eyes and let his vision return to normal. Now what he was back to his normal vision, he became aware of a small blue flame that floated in his vision. He focused on the spot, and just as he thought, it was the Armor. "That's awesome," Jermaine said as he began to test how fast he could change his sight range.

"I am going to assume that you just found out that energy you see stays in your field of vision. Don't ever say that old Daniel never listens."

"Thanks Daniel, I should be able to cause some serious damage when this goes into Musashi."

"Ehhhh, about that. This is not a mech upgrade. You are underestimating my awesomeness. This is an avatar upgrade. I still need to put in the last of the code, but it will work no matter what mech you hop into. This is made from that code you won in that first tournament I had you enter. This is not a radar, this is your radar. Yea, that first display really proved that statement. It's still insane that you did that. Anyway, how are you doing now? Oh yea, I almost forgot. You can close your eyes for a second to turn on and off the system."

Jermaine was at this point running around and even managed to do some jumping. After jumping, he realized the real test would come when he was airborne. Seeing like this was crazy then he could see entirely around him and didn't have a real reference. He was not a hundred percent, but he was starting to get better. "Not bad, I look forward to working on this a bit more. The challenge excites me." Jermaine closed his eyes and turned off the system and was actually shocked by regular sight for a moment. He took off the headset, and found out the disorientation extended to the real world too. After a deep breath he was back and he was face to face with a grinning Daniel. "Alright, so what is the second big thing." Jermaine asked.

Daniel reached into a bag and pulled out Armor. "I did it," Daniel said "It is only the frame, but I have gotten that much closer. I now have a formula to work at to get the rest."

"Is this a..."

"Yup, I got the message when I finished it up this morning. Say hello to the scourge of the red planet the armor Barbatos."

"This is sick, you are awesome as fuck bro. Are you entering this into the competition?"

"Ha, no. People would learn about what I did at that point. This is all for us, the greatest builder and the greatest pilot." Daniel extended a fist towards Jermaine "Let's conquer the world."

Jermaine bumped fists with Daniel with a grin "I wouldn't want anything less." A realization came over Jermaine after that moment. "By the way, is that white eye system the.."

"Yes it is. I told you that it wasn't originally science based."

"God you are suck a nerd."

"I know, maybe you should get a head band now."

Daniel looked at the clock, and put away Barbatos. "Alright, lets head out. You can keep that chip so you can practice at home. Also, I didn't forget, we can build that at the house."

Jermaine grinned before packing his kit away getting up from his seat. Daniel unsealed the booth, soon the two were off towards the Genesis team house. They caught a ride since the house was across town and after a half hour, they arrived at the house.

The Genesis team house was in a fairly nice, green, and hilly area north of town. The house had a wide set of stairs that led to a front porch with three large vertical windows behind it. The house was green and black, the teams colors, and sported other luxuries like a second floor overlook deck with connected mezzanine bridge. When the two pulled up they were greeted by a loud cheer and a flood of people running out of the front door. "Jermaine," One of them yelled from the doorway arms stretched out wide "My man, welcome back to the house."

Jermaine then was jumped on by the other guys. "Guys don't we have a match to watch," Jermaine asked as he was lifted off the ground and carried through the house.

"Yea, but we have time," Another said "And six people with you and Slater. It is time for a Genesis game of twenty-one before the match. Losing team makes dinner. We will shoot for captains."

"Shouldn't I be automatic first captain," One of the guys chimed in.

"Mystical, if you don't shut yo dumb ass," Another answered before they all broke into laughter.

"Man I missed you guys," Jermaine said as he was put down on the court "Now lets ball. I'm going to show you how a standin puts in work."

"Ahhhh," The others cried out as they broke their group to begin the game.

 

[H3LLJUMPER_177]

Spoiler: As you can see...

(I enjoy showing and not telling lol)

"Hit Squad this is LYFT, heavy VTOL's nearing your pos, LZ clear?" came a mans voice through Oh Three's radio. "Copy, and that's affirmative, awaiting pick up." she replied as she grabbed the heavy Zaku's gun, "120 millimeter mech rifle? These things go on battle ships, and here he was with one that was an auto loader.. Guess I'll keep it, and modify it for my mech.." she said as she held it, it was actually quite heavy for her mech. O Two came along and grabbed the rifle, "Shorty." she teased and swiftly had a SMG pointed at her. "Call me short again and I'm ripping your hellfire boxes off your back and shoving them-", "Ladies, ladies, calm the hell down." O five said, walking up to them. O four stood quietly awaiting the VTOLs... They arrived and so did the clan members who enjoyed the smaller mechs. One's with guns built into them, not humanoid, etc. Basically they were the Armored Corps. These guys arrived via ships, this wasn't just putting someone in their place, it was clan expansion, a take over. The dominion would silently disappear, anyways, the VTOLs hooked onto the mechs and flew them to a Coalition ship that would fairy them to the popular shopping area, they have recently come into funds to buy avatar items... The ship sets out towards Zafir. O two, O Three, O four, and O Five, exited their mechs, O three yawned and stretched before leaving hers, she then stood by her friends and admired the scenery.

O Three sighed a bit, she walked away from her friends and leaned against her mech, having a sort of anxiety feeling, this was normal.. She sat down and disconnected quietly, her avatar remained but as if she was sleeping... Her real self awoke with tears, again, normal, this happens every now and then.. She set the headset aside and sat up, rubbing her eyes and taking a deep breath, then exhaling. She stood up and left her room. Nobody was home today so there was no having to try and hide her feelings. She went to the fridge and grabbed an iced tea, the poor girl needed to calm herself. The trip the Zafir would take a bit, and her team mates would understand if she was found disconnected.. She walked out into her massive back...well it's not really a backyard, more like a few acres of land.. The isolated area was nice and quiet, her family paid extra to have proper internet installed at the...ahem...mansion..cough. Since the building and area was located in the middle off no where, it didn't have the best, until they had an internet company bring the lines to their house.

She sat on the porch and watched as wild deer and horses grazed in the yard. Bringing a smile to her face, she soon felt better, she drank the rest of her tea and headed back into her home, then to her room. She lies on the bed then puts the headset back on, she passes out, and her avatar gasps awake. Nobody around, hopefully they all left her alone.. She stood up and walked to the front of the ship. They were near the mainland. "Lieutenant General Crimson.. They want you in the moterpool of the ship." said a generic looking soldier (yes, the commander of the coalition modeled their armor after another game), "I'll be right there." she said, walking towards an entrance, walking down some stairs, through a hall and into the bowls of the ship, soon reaching the motor pool, where they group were gearing up for a flashy entrance. There were 2 AFV's, and one large armored truck, all of which were blacked out with Coalition emblems on either side-and where they could be fitted-, there were other soldiers gearing up as well, lots of them, must be the AFV personnel, they even had light/medium anti-mech weapons. Well a few, one per squad. "Crimson honey, over here!" shouted O two, waving as her and O Five sat in the armored truck, they were dressed in casual gear. Shirts, jeans, sneakers, etc..

"You're gonna wear that?" she asks, "Didn't have time to change, sorry." she replied. Setting in the truck and look out at the soldiers, they stood shoulder to shoulder and at attention, they were trained well, she still prefers the misfits. Though she wonders where they are... "...alright you have your orders, execute them!" shouted the Captain that was giving them their orders. The soldiers put their helmets on and jogged towards their respected vehicles, four got into the truck and seemed to be bodyguards.

Music
The convoy started its engines as the ship beached itself a bit, the front of said ship opens, and the convoy drives out and towards Zafir. Radio chatter continued on as they went. Being one of the top-30- clans they were a target, they were number 26, but they aren't competing for leaderboreds...yet. Yes this festival is prime time to do so, word from on high states doing anything during such a time is bad for recruitment. Brings people who are undisciplined, immature and just plain annoying. They don't want to be a glamour clan, focused on numbers and colors. Rather, they want to be focused on skill, power and influence. They want to be a role model for newer clans, smaller ones. Anyways, the clan does have mechs, but they fall under categories. Top 25 clan members use humanoid mechs, the ones everyone else uses. the rest fall under divisions. There's the mechanized corps which use tanks and fixed weapon mechs(ones like walking tanks), then the scouting division, they use exo suits and power armor, designed to be mech killers, but most gamemodes don't allow soft targets vs hard. They reside to fighting AI, and rarely see battle. But they do rack up kills in modes they're allowed in.. That's really it, the clan focuses on hard v hard target battles, while accepting all expertise..

They soon arrived at Zafir's most popular safe zone/shopping area, no problems at all. The guards and vehicles were mostly for show.. the convoy stopped in a spot to park, they exited their vehicles and split up, the guards staying with the vehicles, speaking with curious passerbys. Crimson walks alone, sighing a bit, she was happy to be alone...sorta. She then headed towards a clothing store to browse.
(I honestly don't know who to interact with or how,id read everyones post, but my eyes hurt, that's why it took me all day to make this. I apologize if i missed an opportunity, and i hope me adding to the games lore a little isn't too bad, just really into it)

 

[QizPizza]

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[div class=wrapperDiv][div class=bigHeader]ARMORED CORE[/div]

[div class=header]DEADMANSTANDING[/div]

[div class="avatarImage"][/div]
INTERACTIONS:
H3LLJUMPER_177 (Crimson)
MENTIONS:

[div style="font-size:9px; font-style: italic; text-align:center"]Code by QizPizza[/div]​

[div class=tabWrapper][div class=tab style="border-top-left-radius: 5px;"]POST[/div][/div][div class="tabsContent tabsPost"]
DeadManStanding slowed his breathing as his eyes followed his target from the tree he sat in. The leaves and branches hid his position from the machine he was hunting for. Finally, after hours of tracking it through the forest, the Shiden Custom was in DMS's sights. His finger slipped into the trigger guard, and hovered over the piece of metal that would send the hammer flying into the primer, firing it off and igniting all 300 grains of gunpowder to send an armor piercing bullet flying several times the speed of sound. Or it would've, if this was real life. Things tend to be simplified when they get translated into a game. It wasn't anything that took away from the actual gameplay, and asking a gamedev to replicate the laws of the natural world was a bit of a tall order, so who was he to say anything?

From 500 feet out, the Shiden was approaching, none the wiser to DeadManStand's position. Just a little bit longer, and he would have line of sight on the machine's primary movement servos. DMS had done his research on this model. It's weak spot was the servo that joined the leg to the hip; one shot was all that was needed to knock out an entire leg. DMS counted the seconds in his head until the Shiden was in position just 300 feet out. He lined up the cross-hairs with the ball joint and squeezed the trigger. All that he could hear was a pop barely louder than a whisper and the impact of the bullet with its target.

It took less than three seconds for the mech to lose its balance and topple over, filling the forest with the screech of tearing metal plates. That bot wasn't getting back up, so it's time for DMS to get to work before anyone came to steal his hard earned kill. DMS slung his rifle over his back as he leapt off the branch down towards the ground below. He grunted out of habit as he took his fall damage. Nothing basic medpack can't fix in a few seconds, not that it did any significant damage. As eager he was to salvage the beast, DeadManStanding took his time to walk. The machine wasn't completely offline, only crippled.

The closer DMS got, the more the Shiden attempted to use its arms to crawl away. Taking his rifle out again, DMS waited until he was right next to the machine to empty his magazine into the rest of the servos. Once again, the sound of the impact of the bullets overwhelmed the gunshots. That was annoying. A suppressor doesn't do anything to keep a bullet from breaking the sound barrier. But that was all it was, annoying; nothing that took away from the actual game.

All of the damage spread out across the machine's limbs caused a critical systems failure, forcing the Shiden to shut down completely. With that, DMS was free to scrap it down for the components he was looking for. First was the head unit, where all the sensors were. It wasn't exactly what he was looking for, but these sensors fetched a pretty good price from early game vendors and players. A set of optical matrixes and visual processors later, DMS was digging through the torso of the mech. That was where the good stuff was located.

It took a good couple of minutes and a plasma cutter to get into the cockpit where a player would've sat if the Shiden wasn't an NPC. Inside was everything you would expect from a cockpit: switches, buttons, joysticks, and displays. None of that was really what DMS was looking for though. What he was looking was attached to the pilot's seat: the Alaya-Vijnana System. An interface system that supposedly connected an avatar to their Armor directly for unparalleled reaction times. Only trouble is that most Avatars are incompatible with this system unless they have a specific set of cybernetics. DMS is not one of those who has those cybernetics, but the guy he was working for did. A simple trade. One extremely rare part for another.

After dismantling the AV System along with the reactor and several other odds and ends, DeadManStanding began to make his way back to the landing pad. About time he did. His client was probably getting worried that DMS flaked. DMS would never dream of it, but this was a pretty hard job. Any run-of-the-mill Part-Hunter would've tried to take the Shiden head on with heavy weapons and risk destroying all the valuable parts. With his luck, he'd more than likely get caught in a sloppy ambush set by newbies.

A couple minutes later, DeadManStanding was on Multus, without a single encounter with a proximity mine, trip wire, gravity well, or otherwise. This was shaping up to be a good day. If he could get this trade done by the end of the hour, everything would be peachy and he would even be in the mood to join a low rank tournament later in the week. The armored man walked among the crowds of Zafir, bumping past NPCs and players alike without a sound. Underneath his helmet, DMS's eyes flickered around, looking at all the different shops on the street. It's been a while since he's been to Zafir to do business. He did have some time before he was supposed to meet up with his client, so why not look around. The SERAPHIX could use some new parts and DMS wanted some new cosmetics for his Armor.

DMS turned into the first store available and began to browse the interior. It soon became apparent to him that this was solely a clothing store that sold Player cosmetics. His DeadMan's Suit was perfectly fine the way that it is. There wasn't any reason to get any new clothes. It's not like DMS could get any even if he wanted to. He was basically broke after not participating in ranked tournaments for such a long time. Shame. A scarf might have looked nice.

As DMS was turning to leave, he takes a glance down at his watch to check the time. Somehow, in the split second he took to look down, DMS manages to completely miss the presence of the player in front of him and walks straight into them. The collision was by no means rough, just a light bump that brought them face to face.

**DeadManStanding has unmuted himself**​

"Pardon me. I wasn't paying attention to where I was walking," Through his helmet's default voice filter, DMS's voice sounded very metallic and robotic, but it suited his appearance. (Voice Sample) The person he bumped into on the other hand was the complete opposite of DMS, an avatar of a young girl dressed in street clothes. She look like a normal player with her own business to attend to. Probably for the best to get out of her hair as soon as possible.
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[Graystone713]

A ring of forest around a massive clearing? A classic arena. An open middle for direct combat, and plenty of jungle for hiding or running. InveRogue could play here.

“Okay, let’s play ‘Classic Squirrel’. See if she takes it.”

They said, dropping the laser spider and floating after it as it walked to the center, deploying a few of their Mines and Burn Wires as they went, being sure to keep most of them around torso height so the spider could walk under. Then, before it got to the clearing, she turned left into the undergrowth, going for the arena’s edge and finding a big rock formation. Nice. More mines and burn wires were deployed around it, and Backrunner sat behind the big stone. The field was set for the beginning now. It was time to play.

Piloting the spider by remote, InveRogue had it walk out into the big center clearing. Just enough to be clearly visible. Then, she started firing the laser, walking the line of fire across the tree line. Rogue wasn’t looking to hit their opponent. They’d be lucky if they did. But her real desire was to catch the enemy mech’s attention.

“Yep. Classic squirrel.”

Belle said to herself, her heart pounding as she started watching and waiting. Walking the line of fire across one more time before the spider began a slow retreat into the trees... Hoping for a flicker of movement.

Combating: LiviathRose

 

[Enolx]

"Jermaine, you're quiet," one of the guys yelled as he made a shot in front of Daniel "I am the Kagami to your Aomine, and the door has been forced open. I am all the way in the zone. Slater can't guard me."

Jermaine let out a laugh at the reference before picking up the ball and passing it to the man. "Alright Brandon, I guess its time for me to get into the zone too," Jermaine said as he stepped up to take over guarding Brandon "Lets see if you can keep it up."



"Damn, that was actually a pretty good game," Mystical exclaimed from under a towel in between drinks from his water bottle "Guys, we might actually be pretty good at basketball. We got to do a legit tournament later."

"Yea for real," Brandon answered "I think it would be pretty fun to ball on some try-hards. I'll look around and see if there is anything soon. By the way, we’re just going to throw some pizzas in the oven right? I'm sure no one wants to cook after that."

"Yea, sounds good," Jermaine replied "They still in the back freezer?"

"Yup," Daniel said "I'll grab some drinks and popcorn. You guys get the match on."

Like a well oiled machine everybody moved to their respective tasks. As they worked they listened to the pre-match discussions and talked possible strategies for when they faced either of the opponents.

"Alrighty folks," Jack proclaimed as he spun around in his chair to face the cameras "The count down for the Standalphon Prestige match has started. I'm Jack Daniels, along with my co-hosts Josh The Brute Banner, and the lovely Clare Cavalier. Time for another segment of Armored in Depth. On this segment we will show you the players and their armor to give you a better insight into the match. First up is the match between Haywire and Beat Down (B33T D0WN)." As Jack brought up the players, their real life picture and their avatar appeared on the back screen side by side. Stats for each player appeared below the players and began to scroll as Josh took over.

"As you can see, this match looks very one sided," Josh began "Haywire is not the number two for nothing. He boasts an impressive twenty match win streak and has four tournament MVP's under his belt. He also is sporting an impressive new machine that supports his terrifying skills. Clare you mind telling us about his armor?"

"I would love to," Clare answered with a bright smile before the back screen turned to a shot of Haywire's machine "Let me start off by saying that this machine is gross. I got a direct invite to watch him in a challenge match for the grand master two spot. This machine is nothing like his old Force impulse. This machine has made Haywire a completely different man. The system says that his machine is called the Strike Freedom, and you guessed it, this bad boy is a legacy. Now there are two known legacy armors in rotation. From the little I saw the Freedom supports a wide arsenal of weapons, which plays into Haywire's symphonic control over his machine. If you turn to the little footage we have of him, you will see his signature weapons the Dragoon's. The dragoon's are remote assault cannons that are stored on the Freedom's wings. Versatile, powerful, and difficult to control, the dragoons are a force." The video then changed to show the dragoons ripping apart an opposing armor from different directions as the Freedom remained motionless. "Sad part folks, this is the only weapon Haywire has had to use in his last twenty matches. No one other than Haywire knows what else the Strike Freedom is capable of. We can only hope that B33T D0WN is capable of drawing out more info."

"Speaking of B33T D0WN," Jack added "Tell us about him."

"Well fuck," Brandon declared at the revelation "He was already bad enough, and now he has a legacy too. I hate this so much. Did anyone know about this?"

"Kinda," Daniel answered "There was a rumor that someone big got a new armor, but since legacies can only be confirmed by the owner or by tournament scan, it was only a guess. Most of the forums just said that was probably a new Hype Beast piece or one of mine. I saw the footage, but since he hasn't done anything special there was no way to know it was a legacy until now.

"So what are we going to do against that," Mystical chimed in.

"Hope we can learn something," Brandon answered "If not we might have to just look towards the other matches. Fuck, we might have to do that even if we do learn all about it."

"The pro world just got another Dominus to worry about," Daniel said with a groan as he plopped down on the sofa "As if this game wasn't hard enough. They should really switch up the main tournament format. The two 1v1's makes it really hard on teams without a superstar. Maybe if they take away the repeat match entry for solo fighters."

"You're in luck," Jermaine said as he sat down in a bean bag "Some of the smaller tournaments are doing that. Maybe it will spread to the majors soon."

"We can only hope," Brandon replied "Because apparently now Haywire can beat the number three with just funnels. They couldn't even make him move. This is the state of Armored, we are fighting for third. Jermaine, damn it, rejoin Genesis."

Jermaine let out a laugh. "Sorry bro, I made a promise. I got to be a solo player until that’s done. Don't worry though, it will be fine. No one is invincible and this is also a team game. I know you guys, if anyone can deal with this, it you. Also what does it matter if there is another Dominus, we would have to beat them anyway for the top spot. Just another stepping stone on the path to victory."

"You only say that because you are a top ten piece of.."

"Guys shut up," Mystical interjected "We literally talked through the whole pre-game. The match is starting."

"Hello folks," Jack announced "We are in the beautiful New Jack arena to bring you live coverage of the match between Standalphon and Prestige. The venue is packed and the crowd is roaring with excitement for the first match of the day, Haywire versus B33T D0WN. I know we are all waiting to see what this new legacy can do, but first lets get the teams out here. From the west entrance we have the team of purple and black, the number two team in the world, STANDALPHON!!!" At the call of their name the players of Standalphon made their way to the main stage. "For the starting five of Standalphon we have Invictus, the team captain, Wild Fire, Aaabyssssal, Cannonade, and the one and only HaaaaayWire." As a deafening roar blanketed all other thought, Standalphon waved to their fans and made their way to the sound proof both assigned to their team. "Aaaaaand from the east entrance, we have PRESTIGE!!!." Just as before the players of Prestige enter at the call of their name. "In the blue and white we have the number six Prestige's starting five. First out is the captain Yeet, followed by Foxtrot, Dire Consequence, B33T D0WN, and Miss Murder."

"Prestige is life!!!," A random fan yelled as they entered.

"3v3...3v3...3v3...3v3," The crowd began to chant as Prestige entered their booth. Before entering, Yeet paused at the entrance and smiled before pointing out to the crowd. He then pulled off his team jacket to reveal a bright blue shirt with the phrase 3v3 on it. The crowd then proceeded to lose its collective mind.

"My god if this isn't hype I don't know what is," Jack began "But crowd we came here for a battle, so lets get this match under way. B33T D0WN, Haywire, to the center stage." The two players booths flashed with their respective names and the players made their way out to the a center platform. The platform consisted of six color coded armored rigs set up inside another clear sound proof room. The two made their way up a set of stairs to the raised platform, took the center rigs across from each other, and entered the world of Armored. Moments later all the different screens in the arena changed to view of the game. "Aaaaaannnnd now the moment you have been waiting for, begin the countdown." Moments later, every screen showed a ten second countdown timer and the crown counted down with the screen.

When the timer hit zero the two pilots shot out from their starting gates onto the field of battle. The stage was a large jungle with lush grasses and enormous trees. Even the largest of machines could get lost in the landscape and seeing anything from the sky was virtually impossible. B33T D0WN charged through the jungle easily, and his Iron Kong looked as if it was at home. He moved, jumped, and swung through the trees at a rapid speed.

"What a location for B33T D0WN," Jack exclaimed "The king of the Kong is making a swift run for his oppo.." A blue, red, and white beam carved through the dense trees and tore through half of the Iron Kong stopping its forward momentum and dropping it from the air it was swinging through. "What the, what happened." The camera then showed a view of the Strike Freedom who sat in a crouched position behind the sight of a massive rifle that cause the surroundings to wave due to the heat. The words Match End popped up on all the screens and a horn went off in conjunction with the alert. "This...this is.... something....this is something." For a moment the only sound was the sound of the lights and the background music of the game. No one in the arena new how to react to what they saw, until Haywire exited the center platform and raise a fist to the crowd.

"Freedom," Haywire declared. The crowd then went crazy and began to chant freedom as Haywire walked back to his booth with a huge grin on his face.

"We are so fucked," Mystical said breaking the silence in the Genesis team house.

 

[QizPizza]

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[div class=wrapperDiv][div class=bigHeader]ARMORED CORE[/div]

[div class=header]DEADMANSTANDING[/div]

[div class="avatarImage"][/div]
INTERACTIONS:
MENTIONS:

[div style="font-size:9px; font-style: italic; text-align:center"]Code by QizPizza[/div]​

[div class=tabWrapper][div class=tab style="border-top-left-radius: 5px;"]POST[/div][/div][div class="tabsContent tabsPost"]
After a few minutes of browsing the shops for anything of remote interest, DeadManStanding's alarm began to beep inside of his helmet. His client would be at the trading hub in ten minutes. That would be ten minutes for DMS to wade through the crowds of players and NPCs to get to the hub. It shouldn't be too difficult of a task, but this is a labyrinth of a market and DMS didn't have a map downloaded on his watch. All he could do is follow the signs as best as he could.

DeadManStanding stepped out of the cosmetics store he was hanging around in and into the bustling marketplace. He strode his way down the streets, bumping past characters dressed in every costume imaginable. A medieval style knight, an empress in a regal red robe, and hooded assassins, just to name a few. Back when DMS first played this game, all these wild cosmetics weren't even implemented. They were mainly rather tactical looking gear like what DMS usually wore or more casual 21st century clothes. It's a little silly to see all these fantasy costumes in a sci-fi mecha game, but he supposed there were people that liked that sort of aesthetic.

After about eight dead ends and many more wrong turns, DMS somehow made it to the trading hub on time by some miracle. On his HUD, a small arrow popped up above an avatar of a young man in a black suit and white tie named VadeHazard, waiting eagerly with several large crates stacked behind him on a flatbed truck. This was the guy and it looks like he has what DMS was in the market for. DMS opened up his inventory and spawned in a crate containing the Alaya-Vijnana System on a hand cart. Walking up to the man, DMS presented a card validating that he was here to trade.

"Thank you for accepting this trade, DeadManStanding. Do you have any idea how hard it is to find someone who can obtain one of these systems?"

DMS nodded and spoke (Voice Sample), "Yes. It's what you hired me for and I accepted knowing the difficulty of the task."

"Of course, of course. I apologize for asking such a silly question." The VadeHazard chuckled awkwardly in embarrassment before he gestured towards all of the crates behind him. "Anyways, I have the custom vernier thrusters you asked for as well as a cash bonus for taking this job up on such a short notice."

"You don't have to include the bonus, but it's very much appreciated. You can inspect your Alaya Vijnana system before you commit to the trade."

VadeHazard nodded and eagerly moved to inspect the crate DMS brought along, while DMS inspected the crates that VadeHazard brought along with him. Twenty vernier thrusters as requested, as a well as a 10,000 credit bonus. That was a hefty fee. VadeHazard must have been looking for this part for a really long time to have offered such a big package. One Alaya-Vijnana would've only been worth ten of these thrusters, and that was all DMS asked for, but VadeHazard doubled the offer. "I greatly appreciate all that you're offering, but I can't accept all of this for one part. I'll throw in the rest of the salvage I got trying to obtain this part."

"Oh, you really don't have to. This is all I need."

VadeHazard, I insist that you take my offer. You've been too generous already. I feel like I'm cheating you with this deal." DMS opened up his inventory and took out another two crates, each filled to the brim with parts salvaged from the Shiden he took down. It wasn't worth nearly as much as the thrusters he was getting out of the deal, but he felt obligated to give them to VadeHazard anyways.

"Well...If you insist...Everything's fine with the system, so let's edit and finalize this trade." VadeHazard opened up a screen and began to edit the terms of the trade, including the extra parts that DMS included. He signed off on the trade and then sent the screen over to DMS's HUD. DMS skimmed over it to make sure it was correct and then signed off as well, completing the trade. VadeHazard called over an automated cargo loader and header off, "A pleasure doing business with you, DeadManStanding. I hope your thrusters serve you well."

DMS nodded and prepared to leave as well, programming the flatbed truck to transport his parts to the hanger where he docked the SERAPHIX. It was about time he replaced his old, worn out thrusters. His machine was feeling a bit sluggish as of late, but a new set of vernier thrusters would solve that performance issue. Of course, worn out thrusters weren't the only issue that the SERAPHIX was encountering. A lack of consistent maintenance has taken its toll on many parts, but DMS could only wait until he had the credits to afford more parts.

DMS sighed as he muted himself again and headed back to his hanger, where he began to retrofit the SERAPHIX with the new thrusters. As DMS installed and tuned the thrusters, he decided to watch a few competitive matches just to see what the pros were running these days and what simple counters he could implement. The match was between Prestige and Standalphon in the New Jack arena. Man, was DMS lucky to have stumbled across such a high ranking match on a whim. It should be good. DMS had heard that Haywire has been running the Strike Freedom lately and beating everyone with just its DRAGOON system. That's insane. Not that he had a chance of encountering the Strike, much less fighting it, but if he did, a set of Fangs or Bits might be the only way to counter such an insane set of weapons.

Looking away from the TV for a few seconds to install one of the thrusters, DMS was suddenly met by the match over buzzer. No way. How the heck was the match already over? His eyes immediately looked back at the monitor to find that Beat Down's machine was torn in half. With eyes wide open, DMS couldn't believe what just happened. A one shot kill from the Strike? What the heck? These Legacy mechs were stupid overpowered. There's no way to beat someone who's not only Number 2, but is in possession of a machine that can completely wipe out a machine meant for the jungle in one hit. DMS just shook his head in disbelief as he installed the rest of the thrusters on his SERAPHIX. It wasn't like he was aiming for the number one spot anyways. He doesn't have a team for that.

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[Graystone713]

The wait wasn't as long as Belle would've thought, but the wait wasn't ended by gunfire, traps going off, or anything else in the game. The wait ended with a connection error. The little disconnect icon stayed on the screen for a bit, the game trying its damnedest to reconnect. Eventually, she was booted out. All the way out to the login screen, where a message was waiting for her.

"What? I can't connect to the servers? Why-... Oh."

She muttered as she pulled off her headset and looked at the router. It wasn't online. A quick search on her phone revealed that her provider's local servers were down. For at least an hour.

"... Well... I guess I do have some cleaning up to do."

she dejectedly said, dragging herself to her feet and grabbing her laundry basket, prepping to walk down to the apartment's laundromat.

"I swear, if this affects my rank..."

 

[Enolx]

"Guys," Mystical proclaimed "That stage was the metal jungle. Haywire just shot through the entire..METAL..JUNGLE!!!. What the literal hell is that machine."

"That is probably the strongest rifle I have ever seen," Daniel added "This is like an actual problem. Legacies are actually a big fucking deal. I swear that Dominus' machine was not that over powered."

"For real," Brandon said "Like his machine actually seemed fair. You honestly wouldn't think it was a legacy if you compared it to that."

Jermaine just smiled as he looked at the replay of the match. "The peak continues to grow," Jermaine said to himself "Oh this is the best game."

"This bitch is smiling," Brandon said as he pointed at Jermaine "God you are such a battle nerd."

"That match was amazing," Jack announced "But the battle continues. Next up we have Yeet and Invictus." as before their names appeared on their booth and the players made their way to the center. After a quick hand shake the game began.

The stage remained the same, and the two flew out of their entrance gates when the starting horn rang. Yeet took to the skies in his Raynos, which was an armor that was made to resemble a pteranodon, and Invictus exited in his Heavy Arms, a humanoid mech loaded with various guns and ammunition. Unlike the previous battle, this one actually took time. The two navigated the jungle with skill, but Yeet was clearly in the drivers seat. He sped through the narrow tree tops with skill and reckless abandon. Yeet dodged trees, branches, bullets, and missiles as though he was dancing through the sky. He never slowed and in fact, as he slowly closed the gap between himself and Invictus he actually sped up. Chants of 3v3 filled the stadium as Yeet put on a masterful display of arial maneuverability. When he finally broke through the tree line to the open area that Invictus had led him to, he was face to face with a full assault of every gun and weapon the heavy arms had. The crowd held its breath at the change of events, Yeet and his avatar smiled. Rather than attempt to evade, Yeet slammed his throttle all the way down, activated his boosters, and shot straight into the onslaught.

The resulting explosions shot dust, debris, smoke, and machine parts in all directions. The match end horn rang and the words signaling the end of the match appeared on the screen. The cameras were still covered by smoke when the screen showed the words 'WINNER YEET" in large bold letters.

Yeet jumped out of the center area, with boundless energy and excitement. The crowd shared in his hype and began to yell and jump around like Yeet was doing on stage.

"What in the game of Armor happened," Jack questioned as he looked at replay footage "Is there another angle, or a way we can see what happened?" The screen cycled through different cameras, but most of them couldn't see through the carnage. They then pulled up an X-ray type video that let you see the outline of the Armors through the smoke. The video showed the Raynos flying directly at the Heavy Arms taking little damage, and then the Heavy Arms being blowing apart as the Raynos approached it. The video ended with the Raynos flying straight through where the Heavy Arms had been and the Heavy Arms various parts and weapons exploding in different directions.

"Well that is not how I expected that to go," Jack said with a little confusion coming through his voice "Fortunately we have Clare down on the floor to get the scoop from Yeet himself."

Yeet and Invictus shook hands before Invictus returned to his teams booth and Clare came up with a mic for the interview. "Yeet," Clare exclaimed as Yeet flicked some hair out of his face "We got to know, what happened?"

Yeet smiled before answering "I had a feeling you would ask when I saw that you guys couldn't see anything. Ok, so anyone who knows Invictus knows that he is a master of baiting you into unevadable positions and mowing you down. I went into this knowing that even if I could evade, it wouldn't last forever. So if I got hit, that would be it. About a week ago I had been watching a match with Alpha in it, and he used his shield to bash his opponent. That's where I cam up with my idea for this match. I loaded the Raynos with a prism energy shield, waited to the point of no return and rammed it as hard and as fast as I could into him. I used the explosions from the missiles as cover for the shield. Worked like a charm as you see. I think I'm going to keep a prism on my mech from now on though, high speed shield bashes are no joke."

"Well there you go," Clare answered through the cheers of the crowd "A cleaver solution to the difficult problem that is Invictus and his Heavy Arms. Thank you for the interview Yeet, and good luck to you guys in this last match." Yeet said a quick thanks and he waved to the crowd and returned back to his booth. "Now I am hearing, that we have a confirmed the teams for the 3v3. Guess what ladies and gentlemen, Haywire is making a return in the team match. This is one more chance to see the Freedom in action. Will the team work of Prestige be enough to over come a legacy, we will see in ten minutes. Back to you jack."

“So what do you think the best way of dealing with that,” Brandon asked.

“You got to get in close,” Slater answered “At long range that rifle, no that cannon, will blow you to bits. At mid range the dragoon’s will rip you apart piece by peace. You have to get close as fast as you can.”

“You might also be able to overwhelm it with a constant bombardment,” Jermaine added “If you could keep him on the defensive, he might not be able to use those weapons as effectively. There is probably a reason he never moved while using the dragoon’s and the rifle.”

“True, it might not stop him,” Mystical continued “but it might be able to force mistakes. We just got to pull out the human errors that limit the machine.”

“Easier said than done, but at least we have a place to start,” Brandon declared “Back Drop, looks like we are going to need to update your Jack Heavy.”

Back Drop grinned from his seat before answering “I will never turn down a chance to add more weapons. Let’s bring down Freedom.”

“Aaaannnd we are back people,” Jack announced “ The two teams have made their way to the stage. To our suprise, both Haywire and Yeet are going to be in this last 3v3. It looks like Prestige is wanting to use Yeet’s speed and shield to gain the edge over Haywire’s Freedom. We will see if this plan will work out, Haywire does home some fine back up. Let’s start the countdown. 5..4..3....

The teams shot off into an expansive desert. Prestige went balls to the wall from the start. They forwent defense for speed. They split instantly and shot in different directions, heading straight for the Freedom. The various gunfire from Standalphon’s members never seemed to come close to their marks. It was as Prestige reached mid range that Haywire finally began to move.

“It’s not just the machine,” Haywire said over open coms “You really are underestimating me.”

In an instant the Freedom shot into the air. Haywire split the rifle into two shorter rifles and deployed his dragoon’s in all directions. Shots were fired simultaneously at each member of Prestige. One shot perfectly pierced Foxtrot’s cockpit while the dragoon’s tore apart Miss Murder. The other rifle shot was deflected by Yeet’s shield, but that didn’t save him for long. Haywire had already recombined his rifles into the cannon and shot a high power blast behind the first shot. The two shots connect with Yeet’s shield only a second apart. While his shield could deflect the normal rifle shot, the follow up cannon blast shot straight through taking out and entire wing and some of the Raynos’s body. The match end buzzer rang moments after Yeet ejected and the Raynos crashed into the desert floor. The two teams shook hands after the match and Standalpon celebrated their victory with their fan. Even some of the Prestige fans had to admit that Haywire had put on a great performance. After a bit of celebration, Clare joined Standalphon on stage for a post match interview.

“That was amazing guys,” Clare said “You all fought well, but I think we can all say that the man of the match was Haywire. Haywire, you and the Freedom were just spectacular. Is there anything you would like to say to the fans?”

Haywire smiled for a moment, but then his expression got serious. “For the fans, it’s the normal stuff. Thanks for sticking around. I promise to make sure you are supporting the number one team by the end of all this. I also have something to say to Dominus. Dominus, I know, and I promise you that I will actually make you use that machine. I don’t like being played with. It’s just you and me now, and I’m coming for you.”

“The gauntlet has been thrown,” Jack declared as the camera switched to him “Don’t forget to be here tomorrow at the same time for Genesis Vs. Knights and Rooks. It will be another nail biter. Can Genesis defeat their rivals without Slater? You will have to tune in to find out. Tune in early for match predictions and break downs. This is Jack, logging out, good night everyone.”

Brandon sighed as the match ended. “Guys, we got to get to work.” With that everyone sprang into action to prepare for tomorrow’s match.

 

[Graystone713]

Bella missed the stream of Standaphlon’s match when it was live, but watching the archived footage on her phone’s network while doing her laundry was... Well. Eye-opening. At first, she was just as terrified of the Legacy as everyone else. Then... She thought.

Energy weapons were great, but tended to be outdamaged by other weapon types on the low end, and generated ludicrous amounts of heat on the high end. And earlier footage showed that Haywire barely moved when utilizing the dragoons. A lot of people were assuming it was just a flex, but... Well, what if it was the heat cost? If that massive rifle cost too much heat, then remaining stationary might’ve been in an effort to not heat up. The second match gave her hope that Yeet could do it, but the third showed Freedom’s high air movement, and a volley of shots. Most people would assume Freedom had an insane heat threshold or generate nothing heat wise, but Bella wasn’t convinced. He might’ve had consumables, coolant flushes. The footage probably wouldn’t show any of that, but if heat was his Achilles heel... She could exploit that. Fuck, with just one or two accessories she could maybe, MAYBE make him sweat. Shoot his heat index to max, burn off some armor, maybe even damage the internals. Bella held no illusion about beating him one-on-one. Even without Freedom, Haywire was ranked for a reason. If her theory about Freedom’s heat index was right, and it only carried energy weapons, she could make him bleed, but Haywire would still be able to wreck her, even if he had to go hand-to-hand. Then again, making him bleed would be the point.

Bella, in a fit of something like desperation or energetic mania, looked at her old recruitment thread. It had been months since she bothered to bump it.

=======FIELDMASTERS=======
You might not know me. I am InveRogue of Fieldmasters. I was never the best of us, never the leader, never the one people had their eyes on. But LadyZhukov was my sister, and I was her sibling. I’m the only one who still believes our style, our way of fighting can hit the gold. But I know it like the back of my hand. If you have the skills, I am looking for you. I need help to keep this dream alive.

In short, the Fieldmasters flag can fly again.
Join me, and help me keep going!
======
​

She bumped it plenty back when she believed she could attain that dream. Now, she barely touched it. Now was the time. She updated the first post.

======
Okay, I was a lot more naive when I wrote that. But now I have something worth joining for. I think I can see a chink in Freedom’s armor. Haywire is still a professional, and I know I’d never be able to beat him by my lonesome. But if I had a team, if I weren’t alone, we could make him bleed. And in the end, I think that’s the best I can hope for. No dreams of gold, or hitting the top. I just wanna challenge him.

TLDR, I wanna make Haywire sweat and I know how to do it. Join up or invite me or whatever.​

 

[QizPizza]

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[div class=wrapperDiv][div class=bigHeader]ARMORED CORE[/div]

[div class=header]LAZARUS HUANG[/div]

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INTERACTIONS: Graystone713
MENTIONS:
(I am finally back after way too long : P)
[div style="font-size:9px; font-style: italic; text-align:center"]Code by QizPizza[/div]​

[div class=tabWrapper][div class=tab style="border-top-left-radius: 5px;"]POST[/div][/div][div class="tabsContent tabsPost"]
DMS was definitely pulled into the rest of the match after the first showdown. Even though he didn't have a chance of even getting into the top 1000-whether it be solo or with his nonexistent team-he was going to collect information. It wasn't about the SERAPHIX being able to beat a legacy; that wasn't going to happen. It was about learning from the best to get better. The sheer amount of firepower that the Strike Freedom packed put the SERAPHIX to shame, and the SERAPHIX was supposed to be one of the more heavily armed Armors in the game. How things have changed. To even get close to the Strike Freedom's firepower, the SERAPHIX would need a DRAGOON system of its' own. Getting one was a nonissue, but having the power to run it was. As it stands, DMS' armor's energy capacity is barely enough for its current loadout. Adding anything else on without somehow improving on the power output and batteries would ensure a stall every minute.

The player in black sprawled himself on the floor with a healthy dose of humility and spun a wrench in his hands. He wasn't going to beat a Legacy and there was a lot more to Legacies than their armament, but its not like he could get under the hood of the Strike Freedom to figure out how it produces enough energy for a beam rifle that can tear through an entire map's terrain. After a few moments the hype on the TV was starting up again. DMS turned his body so he could get a solid view of the action. It was Invictus and his Heavy Arms versus Yeet and his Raynos. While the Strike Freedom was a lost cause for DMS, he could learn from the Raynos, a top tier machine that was actually reasonably balanced. But wouldn't it be something to be able to beat a Legacy and give Horizon Tactical a new life?

This time, the battle resembled something more like a regular competitive match, with Invictus doing his best to shoot down Yeet and Yeet evading every shot from the Heavy Arms. That was the kind of play DMS was shooting for. He knew the SERAPHIX was capable of the maneuvers, but his skill limited the machine's performance. The climax of the battle was just as surprising as the result of the first battle. Yeet somehow managed to pull out a victory despite charging straight through Invictus' killzone. DMS sat back up as Yeet explained how he performed a prism shield bash to get the drop on Invictus. DMS took mental notes; this was a tactic that he would theoretically be able to implement. While attaching a prism shield might be a bit much for the SERAPHIX, manipulating the CORONA system wouldn't... He had no idea if it would actually work, but if it did...he would have a last ditch trump card.

The final battle of the match was what everyone wanted to see: the 3v3. To be perfectly honest...it was underwhelming. Not that the match wasn't impressive, but it was all just the Strike Freedom finishing off the entirety of Prestige in one move. It's kinda disappointing when one Armor just wipes the floor with an entire team when people were expecting a brawl were punch were being traded. It was hardly the epic showdown DMS expected when you pitted three Armors against three Armors. It might as well have been a one on three.

DMS checked his watch after the conclusion of the match. Arielle, Lazarus' fiance, would be coming back from work soon. She wouldn't like it if he was focused on playing his game while she was around. That was just rude and being a bad significant other. DMS switched off the TV in the hanger and finalized the modifications on the SERAPHIX before logging off of Armored.

**DeadManStanding has left the game**

Lazarus took off his headset and leaned back in his chair, ruffling his own hair. That was enough gaming for a day. He was getting worked up from the match between Prestige and Standalphon; thoughts raced through his head as he stared at the ceiling of his office. The man sat there for a good minute just thinking about what he would need to do to start ranking again. Getting into Diamond shouldn't be too difficult with C3's help, but it sure as heck would be tedious. Being stuck in Bronze 4 kinda sucked. After each successive competitive season, DeadManStanding was getting knocked down another rank. Another couple of seasons, and he would become unranked, but he didn't have the time to really throw himself into the competitive scene. Between his job and Arielle, Lazarus had maybe an hour each weekday and three on the weekends.

After a minute or so, Lazarus finally got out of his chair to stretch a little bit before heading to the kitchen to start on dinner. As he finished cutting vegetables for a stew, a notification rang from his phone. Wiping his hands off on a towel, he pulled the device out for a quick peak. It was the recruitment subforum on the Armored forums. Lazarus thought that he turned off notifications for that subforum since he gave up on recruiting for Horizon Tactical. It was recruitment thread from some old team called Fieldmasters with the first update since...a long time ago. It sounded like a pipe dream to be able to challenge the Strike Freedom and actually have a chance of making Haywire hurt. It was too early on to comment on the Strike Freedom's weaknesses when its only been on the competitive scene for a short while.

It was pretty crazy, but why not? C3 would be down to try and face off against the Strike Freedom. They could do this as coalition of guilds that have seen better days. Lazarus had nothing to lose except a little bit of time entertaining the concept of fighting Haywire. He first shot C3 a DM to see how interested he would be in something like this.

Spoiler: C3 DMs

DeadManStanding: Yo

C3: yo
C3: whats up

DeadManStanding: Someone's saying they have a plan to take down Haywire. You down to give it a try?

C3: dude thats fantasy
C3: you arent even ranked and you want to face off the num 2?

DeadManStanding: Worth a shot
DeadManStanding: Just wanna know if you're interested if it actually turns out to be legit

C3: hnnnnggggghhhhh
C3: fine
C3: lmk if theyre actually serious

DeadManStanding: Awesome

Lazarus then hit InveRogue up in their DMs to see if they were actually serious about taking Haywire on. They better have a great plan to give the number 2 ranked player a run for his money.

Spoiler: InveRogue DMs

DeadManStanding: A friend and I are interested in taking on Haywire, but we're not looking for a guild. I hope that's not a deal breaker.
DeadManStanding: Also just a heads up, it says I'm Bronze 4, but my friend is Master 2 right now.

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[Enolx]

The guys spent most of the night working on their machines and coming up with ideas to combat the newest legacy mech to enter the fray. They ending the night with ice cream and mock battles. It was only after a reminder from Brandon that the group went to sleep in preparation of their match.

The next day the guys got ready to head to the venue. As the others packed up snacks and drinks, Jermaine changed into his outfit. Since he was technically famous, Jermaine was warned that he might want to disguise himself. After thinking that it might be fun, he decided to do it. At his first pro tournament he went fully cloaked and hidden, over time that had become how people expected him. His outfit has had some minor changes, but had become fairly consistent after the first year or so. He wore prominently black converse with green highlights, ultra baggy black sweatpants with the Genesis logo down the side, a custom hoodie with every sponsor Genesis had somewhere on it along with Martial Strike in bold diagonally across the back. The last piece to his ensemble was a breathable green scarf that he used to cover from his nose down. With his hood up, as it always was, his face was entirely covered. Slater later had a white and green skull like mask, made after a character from a show he watched, created for him as well. Jermaine would often switch between scarf and mask for fun. The funniest part to Jermaine was that Genesis decided to make his outfit official, so his whole getup could be bought on their store page, and was often sold out.

After hopping into their ride, the group took off to the venue and dropped of Slater on the way. After making it, they were guided through a sea of fans to the backstage area where they would wait to be announced. After going through ready checks and last overviews, they sat back and waited for the match to start.

"Wellllllllllllcome ladies and gentlemen," Jack announced as he spun around in his chair to face the camera "Do we have a match for you today. Today is the last match of the semi-finals. We have Genesis verses their long time rivals Knights and Rooks. Will the injured Genesis be able to overcome their on the rise adversaries. Let’s turn to Cavalier for some Armored in Depth."

"Thank you Jack," Clare answered "I am real happy to do today's in depth analysis. You guys are probably expecting for Genesis' standin to be apart of the 3v3, that would make sense right, but you would could not be more wrong. Genesis has decided to put their standin as their first 1v1. That will mean that he is up against Kinghts and Rooks' own Spyderman ranked number 10 in the world." The profiles of both players popped up on the monitor behind Clare, but one of the profiles didn't have a picture or stats. "While the player can't be revealed, I can show you his machine. Let me tell you this, true Genesis fans know what this machine means. I am hyped and I'm sure you will be too. Spyderman is bringing his Death Scythe. This stealthy mech takes out most opponents before they even know with its hyper jammers and cloaking system. It will take more than a fancy radar to get past this machine, but his opponents machine has some tricks of his own. The standin is using a machine called the Musashi." A loud cheer from outside the casting booth drowned out Clare's next words and made her giggle. "Ok I get it, it seems you guys are fans too." The crowd roared again. "Musashi is a specialized close combat armor that skirts the line of life and death with every fight. I have seen this machine in a few battles and I can tell you that it spends most of its time near over heating. It's pilot walks that line perfectly to crush his opponents under unrelenting combat abilities. This machine also has a hidden ability that only happens when the moon is out. While not often, Musashi really shines when the moon is out. Reguardless, just like the Armors name sake, neither it or its pilot have lost a duel yet. "

"Please follow me," a stagehand declared as she guided the team to the front stage. The guys hyped themselves up as they followed their guide to the entrance. They were told to stop at the entrance and to wait for their team to be called. While they were waiting, they formed a huddle and went through their pre-match ritual.

“And from the west entrance we have the team of green and black, ranked third in the world, Genesis,” Jack announced. The team then made their way out onto the stage and the crowds yells escalated. “Genesis’ starting five consist of team captain Apollo 911, Mystical, BackDrop, 8008, and standing in for Slater is rank eight grandmaster Martial Strike. The long time Genesis favorite is making a momentary return to his old team. How will Knights and Rooks deal with their greatest rival returning to face off against them again.”

Jermaine walked with his team to their booth, waving to fans that flanked the entry way. He smiled and gave a salute to a fan who was wearing his outfit, and held a sign that said “BRING BACK MARTIAL”.

When they entered the booth and closed the door all of the outside sound went away. Everyone but Jermaine took a seat and waited for the first round to start.

Jermaine walked up to Mystical and held out a fist. “We are ending this in two,” he said his smile showing through his face wrap.

“No doubt,” Mystical answered as he bumped fists with Jermaine “Make sure you don’t embarrass yourself out there old man.”

The booth flashed green and the name Martial Strike appeared on the wall of the booth. A voice also came through on a speaker and said “Martial, please make your way to the center stage.”

“I’ll be fine. Worry about yourself, I’m going to be a hard act to follow.” Jermaine said as he walked out.

“Ha, bitch,” Mystical chuckled.

Jermaine walked to the center stage and met up with Spyderman. “Yo Jermaine, you should have told me you were going to be the standin,” Spyderman said as he shook Jermaines hand “I thought you were solo now.”

“I am, Daniel asked me to take his spot while he did the building competition,” Jermaine answered “I’m at a free point so it worked out.”

“Makes sense, that last fight was nice by the way. We had a watch party at the Genesis house. Me and Brandon were fighting to see who would cheer the loudest.”

“Who won?”

“Brandon, that guy is so loud.”

“Ha, true.”

As the two put on their headsets they gave each other surfs up hand motions and dove into the game.

“What sportsmanship,” Jack proclaimed “These two have been going head to head since they came into the pro scene. That doesn’t mean that they will go easy. These two have been at each other’s throats since they made it to Master 5. This is the rivalry match we were hoping to see. Now we will turn to Mr. Banner for the in game commentary. Begin the countdown.

Jermaine checked his controls as he waited for the countdown. With everything in order he found himself playing around with the white eyes system. As much as he wanted to use it, it was more a detriment than a boost to him right now.

When the horn blared Jermaine jumped out into the battlefield. As soon as he landed in the desert, he could feel Spyderman’s groan. Jermaine then decided to mess with him. “So Spyder, how mad are you that we’re in a desert,” Jermaine asked over the coms.

“It’s fine, I’ve kinda given up on expecting my cloaking to do anything against you anyway,” Spyder answered “I still think it’s gross that you can find me without a radar.”

“You can cancel out radars anyway.”

“Yea, and that usually gets people. It doesn’t even slow you down. You also have a gross reaction time that doesn’t help either.”

A curved green beam appeared from the open space to the side of the Musashi and the Deathscythe manifested as the attack did. Jermaine blocked the scythe with his shield, blocked the follow up knee with a knee of his own, and made a stab with his sword forcing the Deathscythe to jump back.

“See that’s what I’m talking about,” Spyder exclaimed as he spun his scythe around his hand. “Few get the scythe. Most don’t catch the knee. Then there is you, who does both and then counterattacks. Just gross.” Spyder then spun his scythe faster and charged forward blinking in and out of sight with the use of his camouflage.

Jermaine and Spyder traded strikes as though the fight was an exhibition. The two knew each other so well they could just feel what the other would do. Even when the other would do something out of the norm, the other just parried it as though it was expected.

“This is the kind of fighting I would expect from these too,” Josh explained “ It has been three minutes of fighting and neither has landed a clean hit. They clearly know their opponent and are ready for the tricky plays the other might make. We are about to reach a turning point. In a desert fighting this hard, their machines should be feeling the heat. While this can be an issue for most, this is a real problem for Martial’s Musashi which always runs hot. We should be seeing something change up soon. Either Martial will change things up or Spyder will find his opening in one of Musashi’s moments of weakness.

Jermaine watched as his heat index rose. “Ok, I guess we should crank things up,” Jermaine said to himself. Jermaine activated his thrusters kicking tons of sand into the air. He then sped up his movements by thruster jumping. His rapid movements kicked up more and more sand to the point that seeing was almost impossible. Jermaine then moved in with rapid footwork and launched unyielding attacks. Punches and kicks rained down on the Deathscythe, but even with limited vision Spyder was able to limit most of the damage. The Musashi then charged forward and Spyder hopped back to evade.

“And, you lose,” Jermaine smirked as he slammed is thrusters to max and instantly closed the distance. Spyder’s movement slowed when he found that he had ran into something as he jumped backwards. In the moment he looked back to see what it was, Jermaine grabbed the Deathscythe’s head and slammed the machine onto the object. When the sand fell from the air it revealed the Deathscythe impaled on Musashi’s sword which protruded unyieldingly from the sand below.

The horn rang and the screen flashed the words, winner Martial Strike. The two exchanged a elaborate handshake and locked shoulder as they walked out of the center stage rigs. “I though you ditched the sword to try to speed yourself up,” Spyder said “Did not expect you to add it to the landscape. Nice move. Won’t work next time. Good match.”

“Till next time Miguel, GG man.”

“GG.”

Jermaine walked back to his booth and was jumped on by his teammates. After a short celebration, Mystical was called to center stage. After watching Jermaine’s match he felt he had something to prove and dominated in his match. He ended the match in in less than thirty seconds nearly matching the record Haywire had set previously in his debut with Freedom.

“So Martial, that was impressive match you and Spyder had. What led you to come up with that idea?”

“That’s actually a funny story,” Jermaine answered “Me and Spyder had our daily match yesterday and it just happened to be at the desert too. In that fight I threw my sword to distract him and then beat him to death with Musashi’s fists. I took a guess that today he would be more wary of when I’m unarmed and look towards me for some kind of trick. So I planted the sword after I kicked up dirt, to hide the move, the then led him around the field until he was directly in front of the sword. After that I just had to do something that would make him jump. My thrusters are stronger, so he couldn’t stop me at that point.

“It seems you know your rival quite well. Well played Martial, is there anything you would like to say to your fans out there?”

“Yea sure, thank you guys for supporting me for all this time. Even though I am not with them anymore, I hope you will continue to love and follow the guys from Genesis. They are great and will always be family even as enemies. Other than that, I hope you will keep supporting me. I haven’t given up on my dream to be the best and one more legacy won’t stop me from getting there. Last, for you guys who are worried that I won’t come back to the pro scene. Soon. It’s almost time. Soon.”

The crowd went wild at the deceleration, and random cries of “ We love you Martial “ could be heard over the cheering. Jermaine gave the crowd the same surfs up gesture he used with Miguel and made his way off stage with the guys from Genesis.

The camera returned to the panel booth where Jack was waiting. “Well guys, this ends another good day of the Haven Minor,” Jack declared “Tune in tomorrow for the finals and the third place match, and stick around for post match analysis with myself, Clare, and Josh. We will see you then. For now, good night people, we will see you next time.

Jermaine and the guys met up with Slater at the competition just in time for the award ceremony. They cheered obnoxiously as he received his first place trophy alerting Slater of their presence. After they went home and celebrated their collective victories before preparing for the next match. Jermaine stayed and helped them practice for their match and got dropped off at his house as they were heading to the arena.

The next days match went as well for Genesis as they could have hoped. They put 8008 against Haywire, and let Mystical take the match against Invictus. Haywire crushed 8008 with only dragoons, and Mystical managed to overcome Invictus with some clever mode changes. In the 3v3 match up they attempted heavy bombardment and found that Freedom’s long rifle will melt, deflect, or make explode any other projectile it comes close to. Slater, Apollo, and Backdrop were able to take out the other machines, but Freedom eventually took out the three of them one after another. The main positive was that they were able to force the Freedom into melee combat revealing that the Freedom had a hidden pair of beam sabers inside of its waist skirt. Apollo found himself quickly cut in half moments after the reveal, and the match ended with his defeat.

After the match, there was an award ceremony for the top three. To many’s surprise Knights and Rooks were able to overcome Prestige after a great physical and mental display from Miguel in the 3v3.

“Well ladies and gentlemen this is the end of the Haven Minors,” Jack proclaimed “It was a great tournament with great surprises and upsets. Standalphon walked away with a decisive victory thanks to their star, Haywire, and his Strike Freedom. Now these teams will look toward the Paris Major where they will not only have to overcome each other again, but also the number one team Asylum. Speaking of Asylum, we have a special guest with us today.” The camera panned away from Jack to show who was in the booth with him. The person next to Jack was wearing Martial Strike’s outfit and was completely hidden from head to toe. The person removed his hood and mask, revealing himself to everyone. The man had cream skin, a attractive angular face, and styled blond and brown hair. The crowd instantly recognized the man and yelled so loudly that Jack had to wait till the were done before he could continue.

“Our special guest is the one and only Maxwell Kaiser,” Jack explained “For those of you who don’t know who this is, this is the man behind the avatar Dominus. Dominus sports a spot as the star of the number one team in the world Asylum, and is also the number one ranked player in all of Armored. Welcome to the show Dominus.”

“Hey Jack, thanks for making some time for me,” Maxwell answered “It's always good to be here.”

“It’s always great you have you. So Max, what brings you here today?”

“I was watching a bit ago and found out that someone else had gotten their hands on a legacy. I have had a plan in my head for a bit for when someone else grabbed one, so I am kinda here for that. I also have another reason that I will share later if that’s fine with you Jack?”

“Sounds good to me my friend, so what is this plan?”

“My plan is to tell you everything I know about legacy armors. As soon as I got one, I realized that something would have to change with the system. This plan of mine is to get those in charge of tournaments to change things up for the good of the game and to change the world of Armored. This will make more sense after I explain everything. Here we go, listen up guys. Also Mrs Clare could you please go find Haywire for me? I will need him later.

For those who don’t know, legacy armors are the top tier machines of the game. That is all most people know about them, but I have spent most of my time playing Armored researching them. Here is what I have learned. Legacies are machines that are tied to the legend of a planet. Each planet has a hidden story to it, and it is through decoding that story that you can begin the journey to finding a legacy. For instance, on Chimaera there is a legend about a creature of darkness. When you get all the clues, the full legend goes as follows.

Where he goes darkness follows. All are lost in the night of the hound. Eyes of crimson and claws of gold are your only warning. We thank the hound for giving us that much. What is fear? Fear is darkness. What is darkness? Darkness is the hound. Beware the darkness of Chimaera.

After learning about this, I took my year off from the pro scene and explored the deepest parts of the wild. After about half a year I finally came face to face with an impenetrable darkness and the eyes within it.

Now’s the first important part of the story. Many of you probably think that Haywire and myself just got lucky and now we have really broken machines. That is half true. We were lucky to trigger an event, but triggering the event is not enough. After you have started a legacy event, you then must complete a quest. My quest was to be able to follow the legacy through the darkness. That quest took me the rest of that year to complete. After I completed the quest though, it awarded me the legacy. Was it the same for you Haywire?”

The view changed to split screen and showed Jack and Maxwell on one side, and Clare and Haywire on the stage on the other. “Kinda, there was two differences,” he answered into a mic Clare was holding “My mission was different from yours, and mine didn’t happen on a planet. I was flying between planets in my Impulse and a ship would occasionally show up in the distance. The only problem is that it was always blown up by a massive army of armors after like five minutes. One day when it happened, I decided to speed over there. I made it in around three minutes and when I did the ship opened up and let me dock. When I got there, I was met by a girl npc who told me that this was not how it should be. Then I got lectured on how killing is wrong until the machines outside blew up the ship. Her last words were always “It is all we have left. It must be protected, but that doesn't mean that we should kill our enemies. There has the be another way. Show me that other way.”

“After about the third time I decided I would try to find a way to pacifism run that fight. I then spent everyday of four months cursing that stupid mission. There were so many enemies that you had to disable each of them with one shot or they would shoot you, or the ship down. I tried to get the guys to try the mission, but the ship wouldn’t show up for them. It also wouldn’t pop up if they were with me. It had to be done solo. Anyway, I got about ten minutes into the defense and just as my Impulse was put out of commission, the npc told me to return to the ship. She then gave me the Freedom and I finished that mission in style. God it it felt so good. Fuck that mission.”

"Heh," Maxwell responded "That is good to know. What popped up when you got your Armor?"

"Legacy of the Archangel."

"Nice, it seems there is more to learn. I should get back on track though. When you called me out, you said that you know. If i understood that, that means that your Armor can do it too. Does your Freedom have a special system too?"

"Yup."

"Cool I was right on that one too. Alright now to explain what I'm talking about. Legacy armors seem to come equipped with special systems. For example, my machine is equipped with the Savage Drive. When activated the Konig creates a thick dark smoke that shuts off detection systems, it also cripples machines and will cause them to cease function after two minutes inside the smoke. You guys didn't know, but I have been piloting the greatest stealth machine in the game, I just have never used its drive to keep things kinda fair. What about you Haywire?"

"Freedom has a system call the Voiture Lumiere. It lets me accelerate so quickly that I can create after images. It also has a special engine that lets me use my insane weapons basically endlessly. I have been standing still so I don't accidentally trigger Voiture Lumiere. It is really easy to just crank that on. Freedom has so many buttons, its like full piano inside there."

"Ha cool," Maxwell said with a laugh "I think that's everything I know. Now for the last thing. Haywire, you want to fight so we can show the world what our machines can really do?"

"Sure, let me know when."

"Now."

"Now," Jack said shocked?

"Now," Maxwell answered.

"Now," Haywire chuckled as he walked to the center rigs. Maxwell then hopped up and began to walk to the stage.

"Why fight now," Jack asked.

"It's part of the plan," Maxwell answered "I have to show you how little of a chance you all stand. With these machines entering the fray, the way we do tournaments has to change. Normal armors don't stand a chance. Its no fun when one man makes a team." He then left the booth and made his way to center stage.

 

[Graystone713]

Bella expected nothing from the thread after a few minutes. It was a stupid idea. Everyone had to be posting their own wild ideas... But, shockingly, some direct messages came in. Someone was interested. Well then. Time to talk shop.

Spoiler: DeadManStanding DMS

InveRogue: At this point, I'd actually consider joining someone else's guild. The solo scene hasn't been kind to me, and I might end up in bronze if I don't change.
InveRogue: And I can't give the whole plan away, but if I'm seeing what I think I'm seeing, it's generating a lot of heat with those weapons. And that's exploitable as hell if you build for it.
InveRogue: Still, oughta wait till the end of the tournament. Might find something else to build around.

she sent with the sort of smug confidence one can only hold briefly before descending back into the anxiety of 'How will they respond?'

In any case, after she sent it, she caught up with the tournament stream, and saw the beautiful match Genesis had lined up. Man, Bella hoped that Martial Strike was back to stay! He was a real player, a strategist, a real... Well, Martial Artist! Oof, that pun hurt to think about. But the way he moved in CQC really WAS art. With a better build and more hours, Bella maybe could've done something like that. As it was, she wasn't giving up on the fieldmaster way! So, for now she folded clothing, ran upstairs, and returned to her apartment. She had some WORK to do this week. She needed a Prism shield, a second RadioMetal Jammer, and maybe even a flamer for BackRunner's other hand... Of course, she'd need to upgrade the core to support all that. THAT was the expensive part.

The next day's matches showed a lot. Kinetic projectiles and missiles were too easily countered by Freedom's weaponry. And Bella hadn't anticipated Beam Sabres. She'd counted on CQC being one of freedom's weaknesses given its long-range capabilities, but the devs apparently didn't like counterplay. She knew Prisms could make ordinary beam sabres bounce off for at least a few strikes, but it was hard to tell if Freedom's sabres were normal. She'd bought the core, and accepted that she'd be eating cheap ramen for a month, but now she had to counter the blades... Shit, that'd take practice. And... Wait. No, she already knew what to do. A Beam ribbon. She'd used the Burn wires as an improvised whip in a tight spot a few years back, and one of the few 'flashy' moves she did for the camera in her heyday was using a Burn wire as a Garrote. Yeah, with a Ribbon she could maintain spacing instead of engaging that close. Maybe even trip him if he got close. It wouldn't be easy, though. In any case, the interview with Dominus started out promising: More information! More weaknesses were bound to crop up, right?

No.

What the actual-...

Dear lord, it was impossible. If these guys were honest, their machines were so, SO far beyond OP... Bella wanted to cry, wanted to quit. She'd been hoping the designers gave those mechs weaknesses, ways to counter them. Instead, she learned that any 'weaknesses' she saw were just flexes by the users. An attempt at 'fairness'. It was an insult to everything she and her sister used to stand for. Dominus talked a big game about changing the tournament format, and he was right to force the designers' hands, but the fact that these mechs were this far beyond powerful... She wanted to scream. And for a brief moment, her pillow was subjected to a POWERFUL one. But, afterwards, she sent another message to DeadManStanding.

Spoiler: Deadmanstanding DMS 2

InveRogue: So. Obviously, the plan needs to be altered. Heavily. If Freedom can move that fast AND continue shooting its weaponry, it's got heat sinks to spare. Not to say overheating him'll be impossible... But this is definitely take more heads than one.
InveRogue: After their big exhibition Legacy-on-Legacy match is over and we get more info, we need to talk. And practice. Maybe both at the same time.
InveRogue: Just invite me to a private practice match or something.

 

[QizPizza]

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[div class=wrapperDiv][div class=bigHeader]ARMORED CORE[/div]

[div class=header]LAZARUS HUANG[/div]

[div class="irlImage"][/div]
INTERACTIONS: Graystone713
MENTIONS:

[div style="font-size:9px; font-style: italic; text-align:center"]Code by QizPizza[/div]​

[div class=tabWrapper][div class=tab style="border-top-left-radius: 5px;"]POST[/div][/div][div class="tabsContent tabsPost"]
Lazarus heard the ping pretty quickly, but he didn't want to check it just yet. He'd check it later once he got dinner ready. The man spent the next hour or so preparing a beef stew, scratch-made garlic bread, and a chicken salad for two. It was a lot of food for two people, but Lazarus was a big eater, and he was going to save the leftovers for lunch anyways. He turned the pot of stew down to a simmer as he pulled the garlic bread out of the oven to check on them. They were perfectly golden brown and the crust was nice and crunchy. With the poke of a chopstick, Lazarus determined that the white part of the bread had a nice, crispy layer, gleaming with butter and decorated with parley, yet below the initial layer was where the bread soaked up all the butter and herbs. This was lowkey unhealthy, but this was a once off thing and he was making salad anyways.

As he tossed the kale salad with bits of grilled chicken and a balsamic vinaigrette, he seriously wondered if it was even possible to beat a Legacy. He'd heard a lot of the hype and frustration from C3. Everything from insane baseline stats to rumors of some kind of overpowered gimmick that each Legacy packed. In his head, he wondered if the Legacies were seriously all they were drummed up to be. His immediate comparison was between the average foot soldier to Delta Force. Though not necessarily the most accurate comparison, both the Delta operators and Legacies got a serious aura of invincibility, as if they were gods among men. However, he'd met plenty of Delta operator, SEALs, and Rangers alike, and all of them are still people, despite all the air around them. They were definitely on a completely different level from the average person, but they weren't gods, they were human. Were the Legacies like that? Did they have just as many weakness as the average top tier player? If they did, beating one would definitely be possible.

By the time Lazarus was done preparing dinner, Arielle had come home. His fiance embraced him and they proceeded to wolf down their dinner as they talked about their days at worked. It was nothing out of the ordinary, a bit of workplace drama on Ari's side and a couple of stories of frustration from Lazarus' side. The two of them stayed at the table a good half hour after they were done with dinner, just talking about nonsense and drinking tea. It was moments like this that Lazarus just loved. It wasn't just the great food he made and the chance he got to unwind, it was being able to talk with Arielle and see her adorable laugh as he joked around. Sometimes he wished that he could spend an eternity like this with her, but it's because of how limited time is that makes these moments precious.

The minutes ticked away in what felt like seconds, and pretty soon it was getting pretty late. Both of them had to get to work pretty early in the morning. It was a normal day for Laz and a special one for Ari- she was about to get a promotion, just in time for their marriage. Lazarus took a quick shower and let Ari take her time as he reclined at the couch. While his hair was drying, he pulled out his phone to check his messages again. It looks like some complications came up with the whole "Operation Abolish Freedom". Maybe Lazarus was wrong about the level Legacies are on or maybe InveRogue was just overacting. He really hoped that it was the latter, but it looked like they had watched the tournament and gotten plenty of details. That sucks... Lazarus typed out a quick response just as Ari was coming out of the shower.

Spoiler: InveRogue DMs

DeadManStanding: A friend and I are interested in taking on Haywire, but we're not looking for a guild. I hope that's not a deal breaker.
DeadManStanding: Also just a heads up, it says I'm Bronze 4, but I've peaked Platinum 3 and my friend is Master 2 right now.
--
InveRogue: At this point, I'd actually consider joining someone else's guild. The solo scene hasn't been kind to me, and I might end up in bronze if I don't change.
InveRogue: And I can't give the whole plan away, but if I'm seeing what I think I'm seeing, it's generating a lot of heat with those weapons. And that's exploitable as hell if you build for it.
InveRogue: Still, oughta wait till the end of the tournament. Might find something else to build around.
--
InveRogue: So. Obviously, the plan needs to be altered. Heavily. If Freedom can move that fast AND continue shooting its weaponry, it's got heat sinks to spare. Not to say overheating him'll be impossible... But this is definitely take more heads than one.
InveRogue: After their big exhibition Legacy-on-Legacy match is over and we get more info, we need to talk. And practice. Maybe both at the same time.
InveRogue: Just invite me to a private practice match or something.

DeadManStanding: Don't sweat about the guild, me and my friend are a guild of two, we'll figure something out.
DeadManStanding: I'm free every day from from 4 till 8 in the afternoon, so just get on anytime around then for our private match.

Lazarus could feel his fiance's arms wrapping around his shoulders as he turned off his phone. "Who are you messaging?"

He grabbed Ari's arms and stood up, carrying her like nothing. Her feet dangled in the air as he walked to the bedroom, "Someone I'm playing Armored with."

"That game again? Should I be jealous of that game?" Ari asked with a playful tone. Lazarus knew she trusted him to keep his nose clean online, and that he did.

"As jealous as you should be when I'm around the other guys."

"That's pretty jealous. Are you sure about that? Maybe I should start playing to see what's so special about this game."

"Armored is something special between me and the guys. You on the other hand, have something else that's just between the two of us." Lazarus craned his neck to give a charming smile to Ari as entered the bedroom and dropped her onto the bed, prompting an half-laugh half shriek from the woman. She giggled as she pulled on Lazarus's shirt, dragging him on top of her. The Marine gave his fiance a kiss on her lips as he fumbled around to turn off the lights.

[/div]

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[Enolx]

Jermaine stood on the stage with the others as Maxwell spoke. He joined Daniel in grinning as they revealed secrets behind Legacy mechs, and both of them had those smiles turn to disbelief. "Excuse me," Daniel said to his team with shock painting his face "They can do more. That was them just fucking with us."

Even Jermaine let out a sigh and scratched his head. "This might be a little harder than I had originally thought," Jermaine added "It seems like the bar is way higher than we though."

"You can see a bar," Miguel said leaning over from where he stood with his team "Martial, you are delusional. So, we Legacy hunting after this right?" Everyone on the stage nodded their head in agreement, including some guys from Standalphon who also didn't know what their friend could do.

When they said they were going to fight, the guys on stage got excited. While they were worried about the power level of their opponents, they were still gamers at heart. Their hearts began to pound in anticipation of the epic fight to come. When Maxwell said they would fight now and Haywire agreed, they all cheered and jumped on the stage. "This is going to be hype as hell," Mystical exclaimed as he hopped on Martial's back "Lets find a spot to chill and watch." It was then, that the teams decided to leave the stage and join the fans in the crowd. Much to the joy of the fans who had stayed.

"Well I feel sorry for the fans who left the stadium early," Jack declared from the booth "Because we now have the hypest match of the Minor, Dominus verses Haywire. The number one and two facing off for the first time in legacies. What kind of message will they be sending to the rest of the Armored world. Lets find out ladies and gentlemen. Raise your voices for these two titans." The crowd went crazy and even the people who watched outside could be heard indoors."

Haywire waited on stage and offered a fist to Maxwell. "I have a legacy of my own now," he said as Maxwell bumped his fist "I'll take your number one spot whenever you're ready."

Maxwell smiled and walked into the center booth past Haywire. "I was number one before the legacy. You are free to try though."

"Oh confident, you want to make this a challenge match?"

"Sure, I get you and your Freedom for a month if I win. You get the number on spot if you win, deal."

"Deal."

"WOOOO BOYSSSSSS," Brandon yelled "THIS HAS GOTTEN REAL. LET'S GOOOO!!!!" The fans next to him laughed and shortly after yells of "WOOO BOYSSSS" and "LET'S GO" started to make their way around the stadium.

After settling into their rigs, both combatants logged in and adjusted their settings. After about a minute, the countdown began and the two shot out onto the battlefield. The stage was Archipelago, so it consisted of many islands separated by different water levels. It was a major disadvantage to Maxwell, who's mech did not have the ability to fly. This would mean that there were some islands he could not make it to, or islands that he could not escape from. Fortunately for Maxwell he landed on an island that had a shallow water connection to two other islands. As soon as he landed, he made his way over another island.

As soon as Haywire landed, he leapt from the beach he landed on and took to the skies. As soon as he made it to a comfortable height in which he could see all the islands, he deployed all his dragoons and snapped his rifles together. Haywire scanned his screens for any sign of Maxwell. The inside of his cockpit was like NASA's mission control. There were different pop up displays for each dragoon and different system displays. There was a normal arm and pedal piloting system, but there was also two keyboards that were programmed to control the dragoons and adjust the Freedom mid battle. With one hand he controlled the dragoons, and with his other he opened different searching functions and adjusted his monitors to widen his viewing scope so he could see more, with his legs he kept the freedom in place and aimed his long gun. While he hadn't found him yet, Haywire was not going to let him sit idle. He would force him out into the open and to do that, he began blowing up islands. It took five seconds to fire, so every five seconds he would rain hell on the terrain below.

After a loud howl, a streak shot out of the jungle of one of the islands. "Found y-," Haywire began to say before a shot caught him in the shoulder and one of his dragoons went down. "Where did that-" Another shot caught him, this time in the leg and another display shut down. "Oh eat the hugest-" Another shot connected. "AHHHHH" Haywire pressed a series of buttons and slammed his throttles all the way to towards himself. Instead of cutting the thrusters off, this sent them into over drive. Sparkling energy shot from the thrusters and revealed a secondary pair of thrusters. Behind the freedom now was a pair of beautiful wings of energy. The words Voiture Lumiere scanned across his screen and a energy tracker appeared off to the side of his screen. The entire display inside his machine changed and now there was only one large display. "Changing to Coordinator mode" flashed on the screen, and the Freedom exploded with even more energy. Haywire then, as if possessed, began to different commands and programs into the Freedom at an inhuman speed. The next shot that came seemed to go straight through the Freedom, but when that Freedom vanished moments later, the people watching realized what was going on. "Finished," Haywire said as he pulled up from what he was doing " Let's go." He then slammed the throttle down and flew down towards on of the islands leaving after images behind him.

Maxwell smiled when Haywire activated his system. He was actually impressed with the insane output that the Freedom had. "Lets see what he can-" Maxwell had his thought cut off by seven shots from different directions, two rifle shots, and a cannon blast being detected on his radar. "What the-"

"Hi, Dominus," Haywire said as he appeared in a radar blind spot cause by his many weapons. Haywire then slashed with his two swords towards the flank of the Savage Konig.

Maxwell dodged the swords just enough to only have deep cuts, and not a machine cut into four pieces. That dodge had put him directly in the path of all of the gun fire. The smaller shots tore apart armor the two rifle shots cut deep groves into the Konig's body and leg, and the cannon completely melted the sniper rifle that was fixed on the Konig's back along with one of his ears.

Haywire didn't stop. He knew his advantage, and he wasn't going to give Dominus a chance to recover. "Die," Haywire yelled as the Freedom revealed hip cannons, shoulder cannons, and a chest cannon. With two rifles in hand and dragoons floating behind him, he fired every weapon simultaneously towards the broken Konig.

"Darkness is the hound. Beware the darkness of Chimaera," Maxwell finished as Haywire fired. It was only seconds after Haywire fired, that the world instantly became dark ask if a switch had been flicked. The once sunny archipelago was now pitch black, and not even the moon lit the sky. Freedoms beams were the only light, and when they were gone, only darkness remained. Then there was a pair of blowing red eyes right in front of Freedom.

Haywire jumped back, forgetting where he was, and slammed the freedom into a tree. His speed broke the tree, but he had lost a rifle to another tree. He tried to adjust the freedom, but found that he could not get the chance. He could see the eyes rushing towards him. Haywire cranked on the wings of light and saw a new terror as he was gifted light, His light did not extend past the wings. His wings of light illumination was contained. It was then, that the red eyes appeared on his screen again. Haywire attempted to fly up and felt a hit from behind. The freedom stumbled forward onto its knees its wings destroyed. As Haywire looked to the side as he attempted to rise, he saw claws of gold walking beside him. The dragoons started shutting off one by one. The was another crunch, and while Haywire couldn't see it, he was alerted that his right arm had been destroyed.

"All are lost in the night of the hound," An ethereal voice said in the darkness before Freedom's left leg was crushed. " Eyes of crimson and claws of gold are your only warning." Left arm this time "What is fear?" Head was next to be destroyed "Fear is darkness. What is darkness? Darkness is the hound. Beware the darkness of Chimaera." The bell rang as Freedom became in active due to lack of power, and as if waiting for that moment, A golden claw cut through the remains of the Freedom body leaving the entire machine in pieces.