"Raven, I was curious, so I've been reading some records." said Ayre.

621 had been able to feel Ayre's hesitancy mixed with curiosity for a moment now. The last of the damaged armor on LOADER 4's leg was being replaced, so they would soon be ready to go again.

"There are AC pilots, like you, and there are operators, who provide pilots information and keep them updated on objectives and the battle state." she explained.

<>

It could feel like a change at that. Ayre seemed almost... angry?

"Yes, except they're partners." she said, "The pilot relies on the operator, whose job is to provide support. Walter isn't... he's a handler, not an operator."

...

Carla watched as Walter's hound cleaved its way through the invading Doser forces. It had destroyed surprisingly few of her machines on the way in, but the loss of Rummy and the door squad, even if she had dropped the fuel tanks on them, meant it was time to be conservative with what she had left.

The tourist, on the other hand, was a resource she didn't give a damn about spending if necessary.

Of course, the Junker Coyotes hadn't done anything other than dirty its AC with soot and make it waste ammo on them, which was to be expected of dogs that were intimidated by a goon like Rummy.

After it finished the invaders off, she could send it topside to either get blasted by the PCA's satellites or launched off to a different continent. Either way, it would be someone else's problem.

...

LOADER 4 waited patiently as the elevator ascended, the pilot listening as Carla explained that the PCA's satellites were in range of the upper levels of the grid. It would be a dangerous game. One misstep and they'd be flash-fried.

The doors opened a moment after the elevator reached the top and 621 was boosting through, immediately watching the wide area radar for enemy contacts. A dozen lasers were searching for targets around the bridge area, the PCA understanding that getting across to the cargo launcher would be difficult without it.

"Raven, to your right." said Ayre, "There's an entryway to a maintenance shaft."

621 jumped, boosting into the opening as a satellite acquired lock. It watched the rising energy signature, noting the level at which it would fire, and thus when it would need to time its boost to escape the beam.

A number of small drones filled the exit and were quickly dispatched with a volley of missiles. Ahead, the partial bridge to the other side and the exposed sky, with the PCA's cannons above.

It could feel the fear from Ayre as the next satellite acquired a lock. The bridge would provide excellent cover, and with a quick jump it was over the edge and below the structure before the beam fired, striking nothing.

Below the bridge, 621 found a series of support structures that looked to be big enough to fit an AC. It glided forward, clearing the minelayer drones before alighting on the final support. A few moments were sufficient for the generator to recharge fully before it engaged assault boost, rocketing toward the overhang on the opposite side of the chasm from where it had stood.

Two satellites acquired a lock as it flew toward cover, both failing to find their mark. A tense few seconds later it was under the cargo launcher's main structure, hidden from watchful eyes as it dispatched another group of drones, some of which behaved like a missile and tried to skewer LOADER 4.

"Intruder has escaped satellite range. Raising threat level. Intruder detected near closed facility." said a voice over a loud speaker.

As soon as the PCA alert system had finished, a radar alert sounded for an incoming craft directly above.

It was a C-Weapon. The tourist had managed to escape being crushed by the colossal machine and was now on the defensive, evading laser fire that slagged the cargo pods and weaving around the machine before it could skewer the AC with its limbs.

If this monstrosity was here, the PCA was likely keeping them around as last resort defensive measures for high value installations. Which meant that more of them had survived than she thought.

Carla refocused her attention on the camera feeds as the tourist demolished the cannon on top of the Sea Spider, robbing it of its main weapon. It took to the air in response, something she hadn't even known they could do, and began trying to evaporate the AC that was buzzing around it with a beam cannon built into the main reactor pod.

It wasn't really a fair fight though. In the end, the AC was far too quick to be hit by the lumbering C-Weapon, which found itself falling out of the air after the tourist finally damaged the armor enough to breach the reactor with the pile bunker it carried.

At her direction, the tourist loaded itself into the cargo pod and she initiated the launch sequence.

"By the way, tourist... You're Walter's hound, right?" she asked.

The pod slid forward into the waiting position, locking onto the one in front of it.

"Well, I guess a dog can't choose its master... But still... tough luck. I feel sorry for you, I really do." she admitted.

The giant machine creaked as it spun around to orient itself with the part of the ice field the tourist wanted to get to, but Carla knew it would hold up. The Grid was stronger than it looked.

"... Oh, and one more thing. You know the cargo launcher's strictly for cargo, right?" she asked, "No one's ever used it to launch themselves before. At least not in one piece."

The catapult vehicle slid backwards along the rails until it was in position, clamping on to the pods as the rocket boosters activated and the rails charged.

"Hope your luck changes." she said.

The rails discharged, hurtling it off into the sky. Hopefully Walter's latest hound would survive long enough for them to get the job done.

...

Ayre watched the sensor feeds as the pod hurtled through the atmosphere, still synchronized with Raven. The Coral that was migrating toward the Central Ice Field was particularly strong up here, tangible in a way it never had been near the surface.

"...Raven?" said Ayre, "You... You see it too, don't you?"

Raven, encased in her AC and in Contact with her, was just as attuned to it as she was.

"The voices of the Coral... Currents coursing across Rubicon." said Ayre like it was sacred.

She remained silent as they flew through the airborne current, moving as it did toward the ice field.

The steady downtick of the altimeter indicated when they'd reached the halfway point, and then they began to approach a landmass, their radar showing it in the distance.

"Raven, you need to brace yourself." she said.

LOADER 4 positioned itself so the legs could act as shock absorbers, shotguns momentarily stowed on the back as well so the arms would be free to brace itself. The impact was horrific, and for a moment Ayre wondered if she'd misjudged, if she'd killed Raven by suggesting this. The pod screeched across the ice before hitting a bank of snow, starting to rapidly decelerate as it did.

Once it had stopped moving, Ayre took control of the pod's systems and opened the hatch, the outside world covered in snow.

She could feel the energy, lurking somewhere here in this icy hell, and knew Raven could too.

"...Walter was correct in his judgment." said Ayre, "The Coral... It's here, in this desolate place."

The ice field survey Balam had requested had been easy enough. They'd wanted to know where it would be safe to set up a few bases of operation, so 621 combed over the grid coordinates they'd supplied, which should be away from where Arquebus had set up camp.

It was boosting across the snowy terrain of the final third of the survey area, which it had saved for last because of a developing blizzard. The rest of the survey had been quiet, so if there were going to be hostiles, they'd probably be here.

A number of heat signatures suddenly appeared on the infrared sensors, huddled in place. They must have detected it in return because a hail of rifle fire followed, dinging 621 as it strafed to the side. Once it had closed the gap, the outline of MTs became clear, along with the Arquebus logo on the side of the transport chopper.

"Raven, we could use another transport chopper. Watch your fire."

621 used the poor visibility to ambush the defenders one by one. They grew progressively more panicked as they were picked off. The final MT managed to identify the AC as it closed, but there was no way it could get a signal through the blizzard.

"It's Raven! Stay back, witch!"

The unfortunate pilot's machine exploded a second later as a blast from a shotgun collapsed the torso and turned it into a smoking pile of scrap. 621 came to a stop near the rear door of the transport chopper so Ayre could do what she needed.

A moment later it was open, and inside 621 found a gantry system that was reconfiguring itself to support an AC.

Ayre busied herself with working on the systems of the transport chopper, first swapping its hangar into AC mode, then starting a thorough scrub of the registry and transmitter systems to remove any indication it might have belonged to Arquebus at some point. She even went so far as to swap the serial number and reconfigure the batch code while a small maintenance drone was dispatched outside to remove the painted Arquebus logos. Soon, the chopper would be unidentifiable as former Arquebus property.

In the hangar, Raven had yet to leave her AC. Ayre peeked through 621's eyes, seeing that he was flicking through a menu of parts, likely part of the mercenary services.

<>

The infrequency of Raven communicating with her meant it always startled Ayre.

"When you were caught in the Coral surge at the Watchpoint, when we made Contact... I was able to see all of your memories, laid bare in the flow." she explained, "I saw how Walter used you, how he ordered you on a suicidal attack on the Watchpoint, to destroy a device that led to a surge that nearly killed you."

She could feel Raven's confusion.

"And I saw the other mercenary you fought, Sulla." she said, "How he claimed to have killed several of Walter's other hounds. I... I don't want to see the same thing happen to you."

<>

...

621 sat in the cockpit, trying to understand. Sulla had killed many of Walter's former hounds. Now Sulla was dead, and it was still alive. End of story.

"I didn't mean Sulla." said Ayre worriedly, "I meant Walter."

Of all the emotions it had expected to feel from Ayre in a moment like this, desperation was not one of them.

"I don't want to lose you." said Ayre, "Walter... he's willing to sacrifice anything to accomplish his goals. I don't want to see you being next on the chopping block. You're Raven, not his dog, and you will always have me to support you. Walter may be the Handler for C4-621, but I will be Raven's Operator."

621 mulled this over in the quiet of the cockpit. Was that what Ayre meant when she called it Raven? A name entirely divorced from its existence as a hound. Ayre, who even now was so thoroughly entangled with itself, whose comforting presence and steadfast support had never strayed since they made Contant, who trusted Raven just as 621 trusted her.

In the darkness, 621 stretched its fingers, pulled up the hangar control menu, and got to work.

Ayre watched the bustle of movement in the hangar as maintenance drones began to move. Raven still had not given her a response, but the sense of resolve and anticipation she could feel were more than enough.

LOADER 4's frame was getting an entire makeover.

621 started with the weaponry units:

It replaced one of the Zimmerman shotguns with a MG-014 LUDLOW Machine Gun for the right arm. In the left arm's shotgun place was the Vvc-770LB laser blade. Both mount weapons were replaced by BML-G1/P31DUO-02 dual missile launchers.

Choosing a head to replace SHADE EYE was a bit difficult but 621 ended up choosing the KASUAR/44Z for the head because he already had plenty of EN to spare. And also so the AC could meet weight requirements. 621 could support the very stat-dense VP-44D head if it wanted to, but it didn't really see the point. Because like its AP and defenses are already paper thin, so it'd rather have a head with better utility than defenses. And KASUAR had all of those.

It then got to work the frame itself: The core was switched out with the NACHTREIHER/40E. Such a core part is the best option for speedy builds. Sporting the highest Booster Efficiency Adjustment stat, matching this Core Part with Quick Booster-focused Boosters will see ACs zoom across missions and skirmishes.

The AC-2000 TOOL ARMs were replaced with the EL-TA-10 FIRMEZA and those were picked for a very specific reason. They have the highest melee specialization stat one can find which just flat out increases the outgoing damage of one's melee attacks. The FIRMEZA parts are apparently known to have an extremely lightweight which could help one be able to close distance on opponents in the blink of an eye. Which is why they can come in handy so much when one relies almost exclusively on melee weapons.

And as for the legs, well, it got the NACHTREIHER/42E. According to a log, they were lightweight bipedal leg parts developed by Schneider. Schneider is a specialist in aerodynamic research, and this model reflects their experience with a light and highly agile build.

The frame was then slowly being recolored, the dull metal cleaned and primed before the armor was covered in a layer of black, while shades of a dark gray silver adorned joints and subframe parts along with secondary systems. A similar coat of paint was being applied to the weapons on the rack next to the AC.

When it was finished, the machine began to turn on. The circulating current generator came to life and the AC straightened up, red optics flickering on for a second before extinguishing. The tag it was broadcasting had changed as well.

[OBSIDIAN WING]

The optics blinked to life, crystal blue in the darkened hangar.

<>

"Raven." replied Ayre.

https://youtu.be/WEsibVKPNA0

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Thanks for Reading!

Just to be clear, the mixing head thing is not at all part of the game. Dunno why I did that...really don't...