621 returned to awareness in its bunk and immediately reached out, hoping that the presence it had made Contact with yesterday was still there.

<>

Before 621 had even finished the thought, it could feel her, like a warm touch on its shoulder, a finger brushing over its brow.

"Raven. I'm here." she answered calmly, "Shall we see if Walter left you anything?"

...

Ayre had been exploring this new place while Raven slept. Learning as much as she could about these "Armored Cores," about the machine that Raven piloted. LOADER 4 seemed like such an impersonal name and upon closer inspection she found that it was the default name the system registry had initialized with.

Raven either wasn't allowed or had no desire to make the machine truly his own. Going by the mechanical way Raven had obeyed the orders of this "'Handler' Walter," she wasn't sure which one it might be. Maybe both.

Upon Raven's return to consciousness, she'd immediately focused her attention back on him. Ayre was loath to be apart from him, even after such a short time. When they returned from the sortie the previous day Raven had remained in the machine, reluctant to exit, seemingly fearful of losing the connection. And Ayre, who knew it was not so fragile, had no qualms about that.

She stayed close as Raven checked through his notifications, pulling up one from the Handler.

"621. I've got some business to attend to." he informed.

She hated hearing him call Raven that: 621. Nothing else? Not even G13 at the least?

"I need to hawk some intel to the corps and secure a backer for our trip to the ice field." Walter continued, "One job for you while I'm out... Rest up. And that's an order"

Maybe he could quit ordering him around like a dog. He's human. He not a slave.

Next was the list of incoming mission requests. One from Balam, and nothing else. An advance survey request, meaning Arquebus was likely already on site.

"It's a request from Balam Industries." Ayre explain,"They want you to carry out an advance survey of the Central Ice Field... to confirm the information that Walter brought to them about the Coral convergence."

Ayre pulled up the C-band scans of the area around the watchpoint. The drifting patterns pointed toward the ice field, like Walter had claimed. Now, how to get Raven over there...

She rifled through maps of the local area and construction records from decades ago. No large airfields or transport systems that weren't in the hands of corps. The records for Grid 086 caught her eye. There was a cargo launcher system built into the upper levels. Granted, it wasn't made for transporting people, but in his AC, Raven would find it an easy journey. Walter could catch up later.

Or never would be fine too. For his sake.

"I think I found a solution." Ayre offered, "With the Alean Ocean between us and the ice field, the transport helicopter won't have enough range to get us there. It's unconventional, but we could use the intercontinental cargo launcher to launch your AC to the Central Ice Field. It's installed on the upper level of Grid 086. We'll need to be cautious; Grid 086 is occupied by the Dosers, outlaws who treat Coral like a drug. It's also the territory of a belligerent group of arms dealers who call themselves RaD."

<>

"I'll always be here to support you, Raven. And, let me handle getting us into the Grid." she offered, "I'm fairly adept at analyzing systems, and manipulating them too."

...

LOADER 4 skimmed across the dunes on approach to Grid 086, its pilot still scanning the surroundings despite the lack of any resistance so far. There hadn't been a hint of movement on the radar that could be resolved at these ranges, but there were almost certainly watchers who could see the AC as it approached.

Inside the cockpit, 621 was laid back, encased in the flight suit and face hidden behind the opaque visor and oxygen system. Its handler had not authorized this sortie, so one would think, even if they were to inspect the AC, that it was completely alone. But 621 knew better.

The comforting presence of Ayre, always within reach, was now much closer. 621 could almost feel her there, holding it in the dark cockpit of the AC, as though Ayre was resting her arms on its own.

It thought back to what Ayre had asked it after they finished off the PCA craft:

"That is your callsign, is it not?"

It had never been given any thought to the fact before. Walter called it "621," and that was it.

Now, everything has changed. When Ayre had first synchronized, it could feel her emotions. Her fear, her determination, her compassion. And when they synchronized again before this sortie, the honest depth of how much she cared for the broken person at the other end of the link, who she insisted on calling "Raven," was startling. The feeling almost took its breath away, and even now was impossible to ignore.

621 had found a friend.

...

Ayre kept watch on the long range radar while she tried to access the local Gridnet as they moved, looking for a way in. A number of documents mentioned catapult systems for launching construction MTs and ACs up to the lower level, which would be ideal for their needs, if she could find one.

She made sure to not let her presence stray from the cockpit as she used the AC's systems to explore the area, wanting to remain close to the machine's pilot. Raven was her link to this world, but he was so much more. Ayre had been startled at how possessive she felt of the mercenary, defensive over what she perceived as the smallest of slights, wanting to hold him close.

During their fight against the BALTEUS autonomous craft, Raven had been driven but emotionless. Now, though, she could feel Raven's attachment, his desire to protect.

And also, she happened to discover that there was something a bit off about his movements on his right side, mainly focused on the right arm. It seemed a bit... stiff? She remembered quickly checking the damages on the AC, but... it wasn't coming from LOADER 4. It seemed to be coming from... Raven himself.

Suddenly, the program she had been running to pierce the Gridnet security found a vulnerability and started returning information. It was a map of the lower levels, including entry points.

Ayre was really quick to inform. "Raven, I've found our entry. Bearing 254, one kilometer, there's a vertical catapult at the base of that support."

Raven guided the AC onto the new heading, aiming for the massive support structure visible in the distance. LOADER 4 made it there in short order, pushing off the ground then boosting to get onto the platform from the dunes below.

"Commencing infiltration to Grid 086." said Ayre.

The AC glided on to the launch catapult, turning around to face away from the wall.

"Creating back door into system."

LOADER 4's knees bent, hunching over to resist the sudden forces that would affect it.

"Deactivating lock on vertical catapult. Connecting steam cylinders. Launching."

Ayre felt the rush through Raven as the catapult accelerated them upwards, a sense of freedom as the machine boosted to gain further altitude and distance before landing on the lower level of Grid 086. They were in.

...

621 watched in fascination as the enemy AC chased it blindly around the small area, too slow to catch up and seemingly too stupid to do anything other than boost directly toward it.

"Arena registration found." Ayre explained, "AC identified as MAD STOMP.... Ranked dead last."

There was something akin to pity that it could feel from Ayre as it demolished the addled doser defending RaD's territory. Maybe it should have left the poor fellow alive, but he'd made that difficult.

"Looks like you're having fun... tourist." said a woman's voice.

621 instantly checked the close range radar, looking for another AC in the vicinity.

"Y'know, RaD loves a good welcome party." the woman's voice came back, "Come on in and let's get acquainted"

The lack of directionality from the sound made it clear that it was over the speaker system, so 621 promptly ignored it and activated assault boost, rocketing toward the entrance that would take them to the elevator.

It could tell Ayre felt the same misgivings about the voice.

"How courteous." said Ayre, "Let's take her up on the offer, Raven."

621 cleared another small unit of MTs before Ayre spoke again.

"I've gathered data on the woman from that broadcast." she said, "That was Carla... Leader of RaD, a formidable doser faction. She joined them three years ago, bringing with her a crew of junk wizards and hackers. Within half a year, she seized total control and greatly expanded their operations."

...

Carla watched the security feeds as the unknown AC demolished Rummy like the joke he was. And unlike the several past times the crazed pilot had been defeated, this one would be permanent, courtesy of a pile bunker.

She frowned as she watched the feed over again. Rummy had likely identified the Tourist, but he never reported anything when he was high as a kite.

None of her defending MT squads had managed it either. Even the TOYBOX mechs she deployed while it was trying to break the security system on the door were summarily destroyed.

She lost track of it in the interior section after it destroyed both squads of defending MTs near the furnace room, only to find it again on the security feed when it approached the squad near the elevator. A quick release of the hanging fuel tanks should have wiped the Tourist off the map, even if it did cost most of a unit, but the stubborn rat survived even that, demolishing the Tetrapod MT that had survived.

Perhaps, if they didn't suspect something was wrong, she could lead it inside after the SMART CLEANER had time to activate and destroy it with an ambush.

"Alright, tourist, that's enough. You've made your point. I surrender." she claimed, "It's just not worth the losses. C'mon, I'll let you through. Hop along, now."

She did have to admire how fearless this merc was as it charged forward though.

...

Ayre watched the smoking wreck of the massive autonomous demolition machine, the heating elements slowly going dark as it died. The leader of RaD had just offered them a ceasefire, and more assurances that she would guide them up to the top.

"We're going to need to be on our guard, Raven." she advised, "Odds are she'll try to betray us again."

She could feel the agreement from Raven.

"Maybe we can persuade her to let us repair and rearm though." she suggested.

...

Carla stared at the registration data the Cleaner had compiled on the target and sent to her. Callsign: "Raven."

It looked like, for some unknown reason, Branch had decided to invade her territory. Only, most of the AC names for their members were known. ASTER CROWN, UMBER OX, and NIGHTFALL belonged to their three currently active pilots.

This machine was LOADER 4, the default registry name for the scout model AC she'd sold not long ago... to Walter.

It felt like ice water had been poured down her spine. Had Walter's hound jacked the mercenary license from a member of Branch? Surely Walter would have known better than to do something like that.

Perhaps he wasn't aware of the third pilot's identity. She herself only learned of it a few months ago, and there had been no need to tell Walter on the few occasions they'd spoken. She'd pass along a warning now that they might come looking for their license cryptokey again soon, and wash her hands of this mess by getting this damn interloper out of her hair as soon as possible.

...

621 rested its body in the cockpit while Ayre watched over the sensor feeds. The RaD leader had offered to rearm them and provide some repair parts for the minor damage LOADER 4 had sustained. Neither of the two trusted the dosers completely, so Ayre had requested it rest for a moment, as there would surely be more dangers ahead.

The sensations of hands entwined with its own as they lay near the controls was addictive. It didn't know why Ayre had wanted to find a way across the Alean Ocean without Walter, but she had been the first to ask 621 if it wanted something. And 621 could feel her desire when she spoke of the plan.

For her, it would brave any obstacle.

https://youtu.be/WEsibVKPNA0

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