Chapter 1: Bullet Meets Flesh
Atop a dusty ruined apartment at the break of high-noon with the sunlight scattering across the broken city’s wasteland at the behest of an ashen sky sits a lone figure with an eye sharpened for prey and a finger on the trigger. She watches over the highway below her like a hawk, not letting a single moving object go unnoticed, though the visor’s motion tracker does help.
The wind is strong, and the dust of the ruined city is thick. While good for obscuring herself, it’ll be a pain in the ass to expend some money to clean her armor.
‘C’mon, show up already. Its territory is marked here right? I’ve been holding this position for 20 minutes!’ the girl complains, rhythmically tapping her heavy sniper rifle with a finger whilst enduring the besetting soreness that is overcoming her eyes.
The girl hears her suit make a lame beep. “Alert: Your camo cloaking will dissipate upon detecting heavy motion, would you like to disable it now?”
“No… Thought I disabled that notif.” the girl mutters under her breath.
“Might as well disable it now. Disable that notification!” she says aloud.
“To confirm that it is indeed Mrs. Aritha making this decision, please answer this verification test.” the robotic voice in the suit drones.
“Ugh… Maybe later.”
Irritated and disgruntled, Aritha goes back to doing what she’s been doing the past 20 minutes: Watching over Silva Highway–
The sound of crushing concrete and crumbling pavement is suddenly heard. ‘It’s here!’ Aritha acknowledges in a cocktail of excitement and urgency.
There, emerging from a nearby ruined building and dashing onto the highway proper is a large black and green beast, whose six legs were strong enough to crush cars and whose body is large enough to rival a small house; its head akin to that of a salamander has eyes all over the top with its maw filled with needle-like teeth and a sharp tongue, and not to mention its lengthy and flexible tail studded with thagomizers. Indeed, this is the girl’s target.
Her visor comes up in alert, tracking the monster: Alert: Category 3 Remnant detected! Numbered 003-0037, Codenamed “Mire Wyrm”.
She did not care for what her suit said, since her crosshair is on the monster since it decided to reveal itself. Her finger is itching, but she is patient for that one moment, the right moment.
There! The beast turns its back to her and its tail is flipped high into the air for a second long enough for her to finally take the damn shot!
The massive sound of an explosion lets loose across the city district, and the heavy thump of a large, squirming tail and the raspy cries of a squealing beast echoes across the highway.
Alert: Camo cloaking disabled!
Aritha, dropping the heavy sniper rifle, flashes her sleek armor suit’s colors of scarlet and silver as she jumps off the apartment building and down onto the crumbling pavement, impacting a crater onto the ground upon landing.
Aritha lets loose a whoop of joy as she unsheaths her dual blades and charges the vile beast dead-on. The monster quickly takes notice and tries to use its legs to crush the girl, but it only succeeds in making the pavement beneath it shatter under its great weight. Confused, the Remnant suddenly felt a shocking jolt of pain shoot through its underbelly; “Can’t hit what ya can’t see!” Shouts the girl, winking under her helmet as she dodges another swipe from the beast.
“Watcha gonna do without that tail huh?!” she yells, and she dashes back into the fray in a flash; in a blur of scarlet she strikes one of the front legs with a thunderous whirl of steel, but not letting the beast reel and bleed from the attack she comes back again to hit another leg, and another, and another! Soon, the monster limply tries to stomp with a wounded leg only to fall over. “Bingo!”
As the monster lays prone Aritha swiftly boosts for the sniper rifle laying still on the building she was on prior. She finds it, grabs it, and cocks her next shot… the maw of the beast!
Another clap of thunder comes alive as the monster’s mouth is shot wide open in a bloodied firework of teeth and flesh. From the building the armored girll dashes into the entrance she had blown into the monster’s maw and began hacking away within the beast’s mouth, finally ending it with a quick and efficient impalement of the monster’s brain stem, making the enemy fall quiet once and for all.
Alert: Mire Wyrm life signals silent. Contract complete. Do you want me to calculate the net gains?
Sighing, Aritha answers, “Yes, please do…”
Affirmative. Calculating…
The girl, grinning under her helmet, says aloud with glee, “Hah! I only used two heavy explosive rounds! My expenditures can’t be that bad– Oh…”
In short, you’ll only be getting 50% of the initial payment after calculating the estimated expenditures, Miss Aritha.
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“Congratulations on the completion of your contract, Miss Aritha,” says the smug looking man on the screen, his raging arrogance veneered by the light facade of a smile on his face, “though, do you mind taking off that helmet of yours? Just so I can see the woman who deserves this generous reward is all.”
From the other end of the monitor, Aritha stares silently before the reluctant sounds of several locks snapping away emits from the neck of the scarlet helmet, and the diffusing of pressured air jettisons loudly as the girl slowly lifts the amber-eyed helmet from the bulky yet sleek frame of her armor. Beneath the helmet reveals an equally amber-eyed girl, whose skin is a beautiful tan and whose dark brown hair is tied into proper twintails.
“Hmm, as expected of the Mercenary Guild’s rising star. Stunning as ever.” The man compliments monotonously.
Aritha tuts, “Not sounding very genuine there, corporate mister~” she says with a grin.
“Now, insert your Mercenary Matrix I.D into the receiver and get your reward. Not much of an issue for a D-Rank merc right?” The man replies, snappily ignoring Aritha’s comment.
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“Sheesh, no fun…” Aritha responds amusedly as she inserts a card into the Communication Terminal’s receiver to her right. The card receiver beeps and it begins glowing from white, to the rhythmic flashes of orange, to green.
“There, 450k credits have been transferred to your account. The additional 50k is a bonus for your swift efficiency. Consider it a small thanks from Lux Industries.”
Amber eyes alight into a starry blaze and a wide smile plastered on her face, Artiha can’t help but be elated to find such a blessing hidden amongst the fund deducting rubble. “Thank you sir! This makes the contract very much worth it!”
The man can’t seem to help but let out a sincere chuckle, “Well with enthusiasm like that you’d certainly become a welcomed talent if you choose to join Lux Industries’ Hunter Program.”
Aritha laughs and waves a slightly withdrawn hand as she replies in earnest, “Perhaps I’ll consider it, but don’t expect much out of me.”
The man chuckles again, “I’ll keep that in mind next we meet, Miss Aritha. But I’m afraid time’s up to chat, farewell until our next contract.”
“Farewell mister representative~” She waves just before shutting off the C.T with a deep sigh.
“Congrats on the contract, freelancer!” A voice calls to her from behind. Turning around, she sees a trio of men donning identical silver-gold armor, with the leading man approaching her with a smile that tells of smugness, mischief, and a hint of earnestness.
“You boys…” Aritha murmurs, feeling the boys to be familiar, until she puts a fist to her palm and recalls, “Oh! I drank and played cards with you guys the other night! How’s it been? And when did ya’ll get such flashy armor?”
“Impressed?” The armored man in the middle says, flexing and showing off his splendiferous new suits with vigor in response. “We got sponsored by the Charmer Foundation and got loaded with these new models, nifty stuff right?”
Aritha chortles, “Really like your new toys huh, Aiden?”
The man, Aiden, replies with a huff, “Of course! My old Suit of Absolution was getting pretty rusty anyways. Plus this suit’s absorption capacity is off the charts! Taking hits and wandering through high Absomist density areas is going to be a breeze!”
Suddenly, Aiden puts a hand to his chin, “That reminds me, why do you stick to being exclusively a freelancer? You’d be earning way more cash if you take sponsors.”
Aritha shakes her head, “I don’t know… Committing to a sponsor seems too debilitating to me I guess,” she then puts her hands to her hips as a cocky grin begins to form on her face, “I guess I like to be free game!”
Aiden snickers for a moment at the answer, “Sure, chief. Anyways, can you move aside for me and my boys? Gotta report my contract to my sponsor.”
Aritha goes wide eyed before scratching the back of her head, a faint redness flushing through her face, “Oh! Right, you’re here for a reason… Then, see ya at the Main Hub?”
Aiden, unexpectedly, shakes his head, “Nah, my kit’s all banged up from another mission. Got the money to repair em now, so I’ll see ya another time.”
Aritha nods understandingly, “Sure, see ya around then.” She waves Aiden and his boys goodbye before exiting the Communications Hub and right into Main. From here, all she can do is watch drunk mercenary banter, she doesn’t feel like partying today. She could sit down and keep an eye out for open-contracts on her phone? But she just did one… So scrolling through more probably wouldn’t ease her mind much.
‘Hmm, what to do…’ She ponders, before snapping her fingers in realization, “Oh! I could check my progress as a D-Rank by the Matrix Hub!”
She begins walking to the Matrix Hub of the Mercenary Guild, but blinded by her pondering, she accidentally bumps into someone, causing her to fall down with a yelp. How surprising, not often is she knocked down, even by accident, who could’ve…
“Woah…”
Standing right in front of her is a figure that, in her opinion, fits the stereotype of how one would think of a “mercenary” to a T. Heavy, bulky, violet armor fitted with red accents, the same dreadful red carrying over to the helmet’s flashing eyes, and from those eyes the red trails down like tears till they meet the shark-like maw of the head, befitting of the sharp and brutal looking design the rest of the armor is going for, and topping it all off is the massive greatsword hitched upon the back of the wearer.
Aritha stares in awe. Involuntarily, she gulps.
An armored hand reaches out to her. “Are you alright?” Calls a voice from the armor, deep, soft, yet distinctly feminine.
Aritha nods and grabs at the offered hand, hitching herself back up from the cold white floor of the Guild.
Aritha gives into her impulses and scratches the back of her head awkwardly. “Sorry, your armor looks so… uh, neat! So neat that I can’t help but stare at it!”
The armored woman shakes her head robotically, “No need to lie, it does look quite medieval, doesn’t it?” She says somewhat monotonously, yet strangely Aritha feels that there is a hint of pride in her voice as she said so.
Knowing that, Aritha feels her shoulders lax a bit, “Is that so? Where did you get the idea for such a rigid and bulky design? Does it not hinder your movements?”
Once again, the armored stranger shakes her head, “I noticed you pointed out my ideas instead of asking for the model, am I to assume you’re well versed in SoAs then?”
Aritha nods her head vigorously, “Yeah yeah! I think every mercenary should be versed in the art of SoAs! Not just looking at “what fits their budget” or “the best ones”, but rather looking at every option and seeing them for what they are and what they could bring to the table!”
The woman in front of her puts a hand to her chin, humming, but saying nothing in response. Aritha feels heat start to crawl up her neck after a few seconds of nothing but a continuous hum between them, “Um, did I weird you out..?”
Seemingly falling out of a trance, the bulky stranger looks back up at Aritha and states in response, “Nothing of the sort, I just find you interesting is all.”
“In a good or a bad way..?” Aritha murmurs under her breath, but quickly moves along the conversation.
“To answer your question though, this is a custom model blueprinted by me and manufactured at Nocturne’s.” The woman states plainly.
Aritha hums and nods to this information. “Nocturne? The private weapon’s company, right?”
“Yes,” the woman replies, “I initially had a low-grade BMS Lux model when I was starting and worked my way up to this custom that I dubbed Blooming Folly.”
“Ooo, you got quite the interesting backstory, don’t ya? Aritha coos, “Mind telling me more over a drink later tonight?”
The armored woman shrugs, “Sure, if you tell me your name first.”
“Aritha!” The twintailed girl proclaims happily. “Now, take off that helmet of yours and tell me your name, miss!”
With a stiff nod, the locks come off, and so does the helmet, revealing neath the intimidating shell a girl around Aritha’s age. The young lady’s complexion is fair as morning snow, as white as her hair, which contrasts the deep yet blazing crimson of her eyes. Plainly, dispassionately, she states her name.
“Navia.”
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“Tch, damn corporations and their politics… Leave me alone!
Deep in the Outlands and secluded in a gusty region of the lost Beilus Military Compound, an armored man donning the colors of white and green blitzes through enemy fire raining down from the skies above.
Overhead, a shadow looms over the ruins of the compound slowly turning to ash from the hellfire being rained down upon it. An airship, steel-gray and bearing a sigil depicting an emerald rabbit with red eyes being impaled by three blades. The banner of Lux Industries.
Putting a gloved hand to the side of his head, a small beeping resonates from the sleek edged helmet as the suit responds to his commands. Alert: Video and audio recording in progress.
“This is Adam Tinacah, B-Rank mercenary commissioned by the Plasidax Corporation to besiege and shut down the formerly functioning automatic defenses of this military compound– Ah!”
A nearby blast sends Adam flying into a military depot full of deactivated mechas, baring their colossal sizes over the scorched form of the armored man.
Outside, several more explosions could be heard; the bombardment echoing throughout the silent warehouse.
Alert: Absorption Levels going critical!
Breathing heavily, the sharp dust settles around Adam as he positions himself on all fours before standing to his knees. Shivering, he continues his log. “...The moment the compound’s resident defenses went silent, a Lux Industries heavy siege warship appeared and started blasting the place… with me in it.”
The thunderous cries of bombs and shells continue to resound outside the depot, but Adam’s beating heart and shallow breaths sound far louder in his ears than the bombs ever could be. “I don’t know what Plasidax is after… I don’t know why Lux is doing this…”
The bombardment seems to be growing louder and louder, slowly overcoming the sound of the blood pulsing through Adam’s ears.
“I don’t care… If I die here, may this recording reach the ears of all those who sympathizes with me, and wishes to hear my last words–”
Fire erupts from a nearby mech as an artillery shell blasts it to bits, sending debris and shrapnel flying across the blazing warehouse.
“Down with corporation scum–!”
Nothing but the sounds of collapsed, melting steel follows, along with the continued bombardment of the Beilus Military Compound.