posted January 29, 2003 01:52 AM            

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Armored Core Unending Cycle - by Deakon "Aquase" Fates

In the beginning before the great destruction was a civilization at its peak. This society had developed many great technologies and had amassed unbelievable power due to its military strength. It was here that a simple experimental pilot would become something more and something feared, and it was here that the seeds for this civilization's downfall had been sewn.

The military of this era had come to be quite ferce due to the weapons they used, they used militant forms of a civilian spawned technology known simply as the MT. MTs were large construction or transport machines that could be controlled by one person, this single creation was a driving force for what was an unrelenting drive to do more faster with fewer people involved. The military had a different thought for the MT when they happened upon it, they decided to use it as a weapon and proceded to arm and improve upon the designs. The world was not one in which each nation got along so before long there were MT battles occuring on a more and more frequent basis, so frequent that it was decided by those in control of what would later become Earth Central that something had to be done to neutralise this growing threat and stop all those using MTs dead in their tracks, and so it had been decided that enforcer would be born.

The project that created enforcer was simply known as Rebel since they were not "officaly" backed by anyone, this group's soul purpose was to construct a machine capable of Nuclear launch and the capabilities to devestate any number of MT thrown at it. The first Enforcer model was simple by later AC standards but even so it never became outdated, as it had the very things that it was supposed to have. There was a catch though all of the pilots who tried to handle Enforcer had either been injured or killed from the speeds and sudden movements that it could attain and perform, this predicament meant that another experimental and extremely illegal technology was going to have to be used it was The Human Plus technology. Human Plus was what some called it others called it eternal life, either way the process was so painful most of those who undergone it while it was allowed to be tested had died from the stress on their bodies. One pilot needed to volunteer for this process which was jokingly called Rebel after the entire project and one pilot did he was a simple pilot but posessed a talent for pulling through no matter what he was also the only person to even move Enforcer and not be injured or killed. The Plus procedure had been used on him and he had almost all of his body replaced with enhanced parts a side effect of this process seemed to be that he lost his ability to feel guilt and had become as cold and calculating as the machinery that made up over 80% of his body. The next several weeks consisted of him adjusting to the basicaly new body and all of its unbelievable power, after about a month of this adjustment it was time for him to pilot the Armored Core or AC as most call it and see if it could carry through with its job.

The testing area was a rather wide open area that had many caves running underneath it, this was what Rebel (The pilot after undergoing the plus procedure thought it best to just go by rebel) had found out and had studied in secret. Enforcer was prepped and ready and Rebel got in and powered it up, as the systems started a direct link was established between Rebel and Enforcer via a neural plug that had been added into the cockpit configuration, this direct link made enforcer all that much more lethal especially with a plus at the controls. The object of this exercise was to determine just how the Enforcer should be equiped, as of that moment there was a prototype Laser Blade mounted on the arm of the AC so it was decided to test this first and based on performance add the extra loadout and install the the missile pack. The selected area was known for the skirmishes between rival MT armies and so it was a perfect area to try out this AC. the intent was to basicaly drive off the two hostile parties but as they noticed soon after Enforcer had dashed onto the battlefield was that they were going to see a massacre, Rebel with cold accuracy and incredible speed dashed out putting the overbooster feature to use and in the first pass cleaved almost half of the MTs from one of the hostile parties in half it was an amasing sight for those watching this fight to behold. Enforcer turned and went in on normal boosters this time and one by one destroyed both groups completely, the test had been a success beyond anyone's dreams. Later after Rebel had powered down Enforcer and had gotten out to see the results and battle record he was asked a suprising question one that would suit his desires just fine and it was "Rebel, since you performed so well today what weapons in your opinion would make Enforcer all the more effective?". In the weapons warehouse were a full load of AC weapons that had been built and tested on the early prototypes that had come before Enforcer, as Rebel walked through he noticed 2 weapons that seemed to stick out, one was referred to simply as the Karasawa and the other was a prototype Chaingun that had a loadout of six hundred armor peircing shells that would explode after they peirced the target, Rebel decided these would be his weapons and so they were installed onto Enforcer along with the missile rack and its nuclear payload.

Several years had gone by and Rebel was currently functioning as a special operative whom with Enforcer would silence any and all MT battles that were noticed. During this time Rebel had shown that he didn't get tired or need sleep like he used to, and as for food a simple injection was all that he would take to supply the needed substance for the reamaining organic parts of his body, he had performed with frightening efficiency for the past 2 years and had single handedly almost wiped out all MT forces, it was at this time he decided he will get some payment for his troubles. One day there was an MT battle that everyone was worried about because it was a new model no body had ever seen anything like this MT, it wasn't until a closer look by a recon drone that they noticed it wasn't an MT but an AC, Rebel was asked if he could handel this he only gave a slight grin and said that he could handle anything unlike those in power. As the transport carrying Enforcer got closer to the area the enemy AC was in the only thing anyone who knew about Enforcer could think was how did anyone else develope the AC technology and if Rebel could be trusted to not turn on them. Rebel as he waited for the doors to open had started to think that it was time for him to demand something in return for the unquestioning loyalty he had given his Commanders, it was here that he decided to set the terms himself after he did away with this AC, this fight interested him very much as he had never had a challenge before and he hoped this would be a grand fight. It was now that the enemy AC had taken up a position and targeted Enforcer's transport, it fired getting a direct hit to the engine which sent it into a crashing dive. Rebel noticing the unexpected hit to the transport decided to use the blade to cut out of the now dead transport before it crashed, as he did he came under fire from this unknown AC, but he managed to land with no damaged sustained while dodging the shots, Rebel recognised the AC it was a prototype of the enforcer that had been supposedly destroyed, what a joke is the only thought he had at the time because it was halarious to him that someone had automated this potentially unbeatable AC, he dashed at it and suprisingly it dodged and struck him with its rifle. Rebel was amazed that something had actually hit him, but the fight wasn't to last long because the AI system that had been installed into the Enforcer Prototype was unable to handle the stress that the AC experienced during boosting and overboost, it began to malfunction, Rebel decided to use this moment to his advantage and sliced through the predesessor to his own AC with one clean and efficient swing of the moonlight laser blade he had become used to using. When he received his standard communication saying good job we will pick you up in just a few moments he told his commander to shut up and that he was no longer going to work for them, this one message was the last verbal direct communication with Rebel. The military that had created him and the AC Enforcer attempted to retake the now Feral AC but with no luck, they decided to keep an eye on Rebel's activities and attack when it was necessary but it never was he simply positioned his AC on the testing grounds he knew of and just sat never moving.

Another several years had passed, Rebel was still keeping watch at the testing area and had killed all who had tried to approach, he threatened that if it kept up he would release one of the nuclear missiles upon the country in control of the force that approached him next. Strangely enough the one time that the countries had become united was when Enforcer posed a real threat, the leaders of each nation decided to construct a force of AC and non plus pilots to take on Enforcer, thousands of AC were built in many variations. Many new inovations were made in the AC field at this time, but they were still driven by premitive generators compared to the perpetual energy generator in Enforcer, each of these new AC were driven by nuclear reactors and some even by the prototype Cold Fusion reactors that had finnaly become viable, it was almost 3 more years before a force of almost Ten thousand AC was amassed and prepped to send in after Enforcer. What the United goverment (this came to be after Enforcer managed to put fear into each nation) had neglected to tell their forces was that they weren't the main arsenal in destroying Enforcer and its payload of nukes, the main arsenal was a massive orbital cannon (Justice is what it was called). As the cannon lined up a shot on Enforcer the AC forces was approaching him, what ensued was a viscous battle, Rebel piloted Enforcer with frightening brutality and managed to destroy amost 400 of the AC force in the first five minutes of the battle, but he knew even he couldn't avoid the full group which was just arriving, the few he had gotten were just a lightly armed probe to get his attention. Rebel waited for the main force to come and he locked onto the center of the group, he had armed one of the nuclear missiles and was prepping the eliminate them all with one clean shot, when it was noticed what he was preparing to do the order to fire Justice was given as justice charged Enforcer's sensors detected the build up but could not identify it, rebel proceded to disarm the missile and managed to destroy several hundred more before finaly having to fall back to the caves he used to shelter his AC as he started back with the forces in pursuit he noticed the build up had discharged and that a massive amount of energy was about to obliterate everything in the area, he laughed to himself because he knew that this would also cause a sudden and deadly winter to come across the planet. Rebel hit overboost and dashed into the cave as far down as he could get his AC to go an then he collapsed the passage behind him it was now that the energy mass hit the battle field killing all of the pilots and leaving a massive pit in the earth filled with damaged AC and small bits and peices of the ones that didn't stay intact Rebel set the Enforcer to put him into a deep hibernation so that he might come out to the surface again one day and he laughed and felt great that all those who wanted him dead were going to be dead themselves.

As the effect of Justice was noticed everyone suddenly felt dread at what was going to happen and at how many would die, at this time in the small window of time that did exist many make shift cities were constructed in huge hollowed out areas under the ground. The human race had been forced to go into the earth so that it might survive, but little did they know that Rebel had survived as well, it wouldn't be for another three hundred years that they would know and even then would they remember his origions, would they remember his cold and calculated destruction most of all would someone be able to defeat him.

TO BE CONTINUED.......

The Rebirth and The Temporary Slumber

The human race though almost destroyed by the blast from Justice (the day is now called the Great Destruction) managed to survive and carry one with a somewhat normal existance in the underground cities. These cities didn't become truly safe to live in until about one hundred and fifty years after the destruction, there was a side effect of the new cities being built though it meant from time to time a relic of that forgotten incident would be found and it was not long after the Isaac City area was developed that they discovered MTs again. The MT they found was almost demolished but was enough for them to take apart and learn how to make a working model. A year or so after this discovery a corporation while exploring an area of natural caves to see if they could be used for anything happened across a human plus facility, it would take a few years but they would reproduce this technology with the assistance of hundreds of illegal experiments.

A few years have passed since the MT and Plus technologies were rediscovered and in a true show of what seems to be an unending cycle AC technology was reproduced once again. This time though there was no threat since the worst anyone had to worry about was a gang hijacking a construction MT, but the AC tech was not in the hands of the goverment and threrefore was developed for normal pilots. This was when the Raven's Nest was first known to of existed and it provided basic cores to its members when they passed the initiation. A few corporations managed to get the technology themselves and proceded to design new parts and weapons, after awhile the Raven's had become a alternate form of enforcement, they were the ones relied on when a gang got to organised or when a group of terrorists got the better of the MT guards. Many Raven's became well known and liked one such example is a young pilot whom called himself True Order, this pilot was known to be a fanatic about keeping things the way they were supposed to be and he was known even more for his brutal and quick kills on the battlefield. A few months after a rather long calm period (bad for ravens since they need trouble to make money) a call was placed to True Order, it was a mission and since he was hurting for work he wasn't going to be his normally picky self, the mission consisted of him entering an extremely deep cave that had apparently been pushed far down into the earth when the section of land it was on lost stability and sank down, he was to find out what happened to the research team that was sent in to investigate it for any lost techs since an old map showed it to be part of a military battlefield they figured they could salvage something from it possibly. True Order with his eagerness for some work accepted, he told his family he would be back in a few days that he had a mission he told his son that just incase anything should happen he needs to learn how to pilot so that he could carry on in the raven's nest he meant it as a joke but his son had a sense of humor just as bad as he did so he thought it was serious, little did he know this one moment would start a chain of great pilots who all are known for brutal fast and yet merciful tactics. After a rather extended farewell (he stayed longer because something in the back of his mind just said it was to easy something is wrong) he left, as he entered the hanger to get into one of his two ACs he didn't know which to use for this mission since he had little experience with something as simple as navigating a cave, he decided to take Fates Eye since it had the manuverability he thought he would need.

The trip to the cave took longer than expected, for some reason there were many old automated security systems that seemed to try and prevent entry this to True Order was a sign that he was not going to come back from this one, but he kept on since he knew even if he died his family would be taken care of by the nest. Finaly he thought as he slashed through the last of the airborne MT and turrets that so adamantly tried to prevent him from doing his job, as he entered the cave he noticed that some information had been withheld from him this was no ordanary cave there were massive scorched scars on the walls and defunk AC laying about in the tunnel, as he entered he discovered it wasn't a tunnel but seemed to be a purposly costruced dome enclosing what appeared to him as an acient battlefield. A cold chill shot down the normaly ice cold True Order as he walked through a field that had well over five thousand AC of all shapes and sizes laying in it, he saw that many of them had their pilot hatch open and that the skeletal remains of the pilots were still inside, he really did not want to encounter whatever caused this and so he moved on with an increasing anxiety. As True piloted the Fates Eye through the graveyard as he referred to it in his mind he noticed these AC were different from his, upon a closer look with his scanners the cores were in some ways inferior to what he had seen before he didn't know why or how they could be like this he was even more suprised when he noticed they ran off of a cold fusion generator though this was more advanced that his first generation fusion generator which was a standard nuclear powerplant that few ravens could use most used a rather inefficent perpetual energy generator that had a tendancy of suddenly ceasing function in mid boost. True Order decided it might be best to lock his weapons so that he don't accidently fire and hit one of the generators because there were enough here to cause a whole new disaster, if any went off it would cause a chain reaction and the blast would be channeled through the tunnel and out into the city which would in effect kill all of them. True decided to move on and examine the cores later when he noticed a small opening that seemed to of been purposly sealed off, he used Fates Eye to pry off the seal that seemed to have started the process of falling apart long ago, this is when he noticed alot of damage on the other side of the seal he relised at this moment he had more than likely opened up the path to his death, but still with the determination that made him a raven he carried on. Just inside the small entrance it looked like a few of the AC from outside had managed to get in though these weren't as damaged as the ones outside they were infact just as old though, but they were different somehow. True decided to run a scan before approaching them this is when he notices there were life signs and a message the message was repeating and neverending, as he listened to the message he saw a visual signal come through showing what the message described it said the following:

If your hearing this we the people who sealed off Rebel and Enforcer request you quickly leave and reseal the entrance, Rebel is our monster we created him we gave to much power to a decent man and it corrupted him his name was Leos Vega, he helped us much in a time of fear and helped bring order........unfortunately with the power he gained from the plus procedure we gave him it destroyed his ability to feel guilt and this inability corrupted his mind and after a time he desired something else............we........him for many years he uses.........to destroy........must seal him away to prevent further death.........we.....guardians have the........plus enhancements as he does we may one day be corrupted but for now we are...........that holds him......leave now.......killed......further..........

True Order though unable to make out the last part makes his conclusion and expects a fight if he goes any further, the scans of the Guardian ACs show that they are made from materials he has never seen the strength is unbelivable. True trying to figure a way around the Guardians because he knows a face to face fight would mark him for death tries to find something to use, he notices a rather odd AC near him it looks like the AC he saw in the images that came across his screen it looked like Enforcer but it wasn't the color was different and it had different weapons. True examining the AC finds a laser blade on its arm the scans show its far stronger than what he is using and with his skills he could still launch a blade beam with it, but he would have to concentrate he decides to go for it and removes his blade and puts on the older laser blade, as he attaches the power lines he gets a message on the console it's an embeded message from the pilot of the AC at his feet it gives him an overrun of what the blade is and that he was unable to use it. Strangely the pilot looks like one of True Order's ancestors atleast like one in the few image discs his family has of his past reletives, he shrugs off the feeling and focuses on the instructions. After thirty minutes of preperation True decides he can do this now or leave but his stubborn pride doesn't allow him to not carry through with the mission so he dashes forward using his overboost in an unusually reckless manner and literally rips the insides out of the first guardian AC he heads toward. The second Guardian activates and True Order does a quick scan and finds that these AC are so strong because the pilots were modified and installed into them as the Central Core they were a permanent combonation. The Guardian dashes toward Fates Eye and True Order reacts he boosts at the last second letting the Guardian rush headlong into the corridor's wall and he counters with the blade but fails to do a beam attack so he only opens up the outer skin of the Guardian, within seconds the Guardian AC turns and nails True Order's AC with a viscous hit from what looks to be a Kaiser Class knuckle, he relises that a few of these weapons were found and used by ravens and that nobody has ever survived a hit, he makes an attempt to boost and finds that his generator is damaged he can't boost he has to fight. True decides to run forward and try somethin a little insane, as he runs forward the guardian boosts toward him as fast as it can go an at the last second True jumps planting Fates' feet firmly into the back of the Guardian knocking it flat on the ground, he gets back up and runs to the guardian as it begins to move again and buries the laser blade which he found was called the Moonlight deep into the Guardian's back making sure to hit the generator. True Order jumps back from the Guardian that is getting up and notices the generator was hit and it is losing power the AC tries to dash and succedes for a few hundred meters then loses power and collapses infront of him, True reveices a message from the pilot as he begins to die from the lack of energy and he says:

Whoever....you are I ask.....destroy Enforcer and kill Rebel....our Guardian AC could have at one time, but we were to concerned with keeping him locked up forever.......if....your able to defeat us with such ability you......should be able to defeat him......but I warn you....don't think you can deal with him like you did with us........and I thank you.....for giving me the death that my own machine would not allow.......

True Order not clear on what he meant by not trying the same thig with this Enforcer that was mentioned decides to do some repairs on his generator before going further. True examines the wreck of an AC that he pulled the moonlight off of and finds that its generator is still fully functional and has more output that his, and its liteweight compared to his, he gets into the cockpit of the Enforcer Prototype and checks out he systems this is when he notices a disturbing feature absorb, he isn't clear on what this is but decides to try finding out. As True flips through the many directories in the ACs computer he finds that the absorb was a function given only to the first generation Enforcer prototype and not to Rebel's enforcer, the function was found to be to dangerous if the pilot decided to disobey his commanding officers. True decides to put this feature to use on Fates Eye and activates it, the EN-001/Protos activated the absorb units and targeted Fates Eye, the instructions that the computer belted out over the intercom were all to easy to understand and the unit began its work combining the two AC into one unit. During this process the damaged generator was dropped and the ACs merged after a few hours the EN-001/Protos was infact part of Fates Eye this new combonation seemed to be a great improvement and power output had returned, the computer systems though vastly different had combined seamlessly as did the weapons systems, True Order tried out the new set up and was more than happy to discover a new virtual system for his cockpit, it allowed him to pilot the AC as if it was his own body. Things are looking up, there is now way I can lose now thought True to himself as he progressed taking out security drones and a few more guardian units with ease, but then he entered the main room where Rebel had ran with Enforcer to escape Justice's all destructive blast, he had been sealed away by the blast but what was left of the Earth Central goverment had decided to instal all of the security and seals that True had just ripped through, what they didn't understand was that Rebel had set the hibernation system to keep him out until the surface was once again suitable for living, for he had his own plans to set up a world order of sorts. True decided to enter and as he approached the Enforcer he was amazed at the absolute perfection he saw, power, strength, agility, stamina, all adjusted for almost the perfect AC pilot combonation, this was when his confindence that the Protos/Fates Eye combo would be enough, but he decided that he had to try if not for anything else than to keep this monster from coming back he had to prevent that so his son and his family when he grew up some more would not have to fear anything like this.

The Enforcer suddenly powered up and disturbed its pilot's slumber, Rebel while looking at this strangely familiar AC before him decided to see who it was. A transmission to True Order was sent and as True accepted he saw the face of a man who he had infact seen before in an old newspaper in the museum, he was called the man that brought order to Khaos but no name had been mentioned in the little he saw. He listened as Rebel spoke, What is it you want, who are you and if you value your life you will leave now, all True could say to this is that it was his mission to come in and clear out any and all threats while searching for the research team, he then remembered they were dead he had seen the research vehicle back near the guardian's it was at this time he cursed himself for letting his curiosity and need to destroy the threats in this area for getting him into this mess. True finished his response by simply telling Rebel he was True Order raven's nest pilot and he was going to kill him so that the threat was gone. Rebel just laughed at this pilot he had met, the guy reminded him of himself before his plus enhancements, he told True he would spare him if he would leave and prevent any further disturbances to his slumber. True considered this for a few min and actually almost said yes, but again he did something he knew he would regret and told Rebel that he had to kill him that he wanted to make sure that nothing like the great destruction ever happened again, and that as long as Enforcer existed there would always be that possibility, and so the battle began. True and Rebel dashed toward eachother and proceded to fight with blades dodging countering and blocking eachother perfectly, Rebel was impressed that a non plus human was able to fight him on even ground, he knew that part of it was the result of the Protos combination with a very capable AC but the simple fact that a pilot could keep up with him was amazing in his mind. The two fought for what seemed to be hours, utterly devestationg the cavern that led to the main chamber, after awhile it collapsed sealing both pilots in but neither noticed they kept fighting with feirce intesity that seemed to have no end. True thought to himself he might have a chance he had to do this he had no other choice even if it meant he would die to, both ACs were performing beyond anything that had ever been done the two fought in mid air seeming to have no limit on how long they flew, they fought on the ground unloading their lethal chainguns to no avail, the two were to even in manuverablility to be hit by progectile weapons so back to blade fighting they went back to blades in an attempt to take advantage of a slip up. After what seemed like an eternity the two boosted back to opposite sides of the now severely damaged room, they both hit overboost and with one final attempt dashed torwards eachother at full speed, when the two slammed into eachother it was then that the final hit wad dealt, the two jumped back and it was then that True Order relised the laser blade from Enforcer had come in through the side of the cockpit and the edge had caught him in the side he knew it was over he couldn't even move anymore much less control the AC, Rebel sending a message to True said good fight you almost had me but perhapse if your reborn you'll get another chance, True decides to ignore Rebel and try to move Fates Eye to a place he knows his son will discover it at, he uses some of his last minutes of strength to blast through to the outside and seal the passage behind him he manages to reach a ruined surface city that he and his son had visited many times before to wonder to themselves how life use to be and if it was nice, as he goes he records a message for his son to train and improve the Fates Eye through whatever means is necessary, and to make sure that atleast one of his children did the same until the day Rebel breaks free from his place of slumber. True drags himself out of the cockpit after he is done close to death he can only hope that his son finds the AC hidden among these dead structures and that someday Rebel is beaten. True dies to the last lingering thought sparked by something Rebel said "Once the surface is cleansed in another hundred or so years I will come out and I will enforce my law upon the human's who wish to live upon the surface, and I will destroy those who dwell beneath the ground, if I come to the conclusion that nobody deserves the surface I will instead choose to recreate the horrid winter that engulfed the world for I have the means and the will to do so nobody can stop me and nobody ever will, you can die knowing that someday I might kill off your decendants......" True only grins and thinks someday it will be my decendant that destroys you............ True dies with this thought and dies with the hope that somehow Rebel will be destroyed, it would be a few generations more before this possibilty has a chance to come to life.

True's son about a year or two after his eighteenth birthday finaly discovers the Fates Eye in the one spot that they had shared so many nights of discussion about how the world once was, he listens to the message and decides to hold to his father's dying desire, it is then he learns how to pilot the Fates Eye and becomes known as a truely lethal Raven one who is said to absorb all of those whom lose to him. Many years later True's son who had become known as Reaper brought his own son into the nest he to was known for his lethal ability and later became known as Anarchy, and so another repeating cycle begins and True Order's desire for Rebel's destruction is reborn in each generation.

TO BE CONTINUED.....

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The Unending Cycle, Family of Order and The Fated Generations

The rumors that haunt the decendants of True Order consist of the origions of the Fates Eye which has been perceived as the most advanced AC ever created, nobody quite knows where the origional Fates Eye came from it was rumored by some of those in the family of True that it was found after something had crashed into the ground from space. People tend to laugh when someone suggests that Fates Eye is not a creation made by True from parts he bought and customised, only his decendants know for sure, the legendary Reaper wreaked havoc in the arena battles and in the missions he undertook he achieved a great and glorious career in the raven's nest. After Reaper was Anarchy, it was said that the family of Order, as they sometimes were referred to out of respect for the fallen raven, had a shortened life due to the stress of operating the Fates Eye which anyone who had ever seen the pilots after they finished their work will attest to the men looked as if some of their own life had been drained into the machine which seemed to have changed slightly over the years. Anarchy was another great in the arena but he had a daughter and many thought that the Order legacy would be put on hold for awhile until another boy was born into the family, how little they knew she grew up just as strong and brutal as her father and came to fight against him in an arena tournement using her customised AC named partly after the Fates Eye it was called Fates Hope and was said to be equal in power and speed to the Fates Eye. The battle between father and daughter was an intense one that ended suddenly when Sophia otherwise known as Nemesis pulled off a suprise bombardment using her own creation the Flux Pulse, even Anarchy her own father had no clue that she had the ability to make such a weapon, Reaper and recreated the Karasawa from his father's description, Anarchy had improved the armor and perfected a regeneration unit to repair Fates Eye, and now it seemed Nemesis would add her own part to the ever growing AC. The crowd was stunned to see a woman defeat the most powerful Raven in existance within ten minutes, after the fight Anarchy decided to retire and leave the legacy to Nemesis just as Reaper had done with him, it was now that Nemesis was given Fates Eye and was allowed to view the recording from True Order on the day of his own death.

Nemesis was stunned to see that her grandfather and father looked exactly like True Order, it was now she relised why everyone looked as if they had seen a ghost everytime one of them entered the room. As she read and listened she noticed the Absorb unit, it had a listing underneath it and as she looked she saw the line that created the Fates Eye, the origional Fates Eye was a self designed AC never meant for modification since its systems were pushed beyond normal limits, but then the EN-001/Protos had been used to combine the two AC with the Absorb unit, as she read she noticed that the Protos and Fates combo was an accident that proved to be the one hope of defeating this Rebel as he called himself. Nemesis continued to read and found that Reaper had infact combined his own AC into the mix when he found out what needed to be done, the abilities were amazing but compared to the combonation they were nothing the Black Wing had boosted the Fates Eye to unbelievable levels, and then Anarchy had inherited it after he defeated his father in the arena, he had combined his AC Oblivion into Fates Eye and it pushed it even further it was now that Nemesis relised each generation was not only going to carry on the legacy but prepare the Fates Eye for its final purpous, the battle with Rebel.

Following with Tradition it seemed Nemesis combined her AC the Cresent Moon into the mix, she noticed that each AC upped the specific areas it specialised in, her flux pulse was also added to the weapons list, she was pleased to see that the Fates Eye had also changed in appearance again, it now had a slimmer build and had the wings of the Cresent Moon. Nemesis decided to give the AC a test run to put it through its paces, she registered in the arena and took on some of the most impossible missions, it was during this time that she learned another frightening secret that only True Order had known, she found a hidden and encrypted file that stated Enforcer grows in power over time, someday the organics that Rebel added to the mix will have replaced all of its systems and at that point Enforcer would be a living breathing being with Rebel's corrupt mind as the controls. She didn't think anything could beat this evolving AC that she had heard about and seen a few images of in these files, but she continued to hone her skills and noticed that the Fates Eye after it had first combined with the Protos had come to demand a high price from the pilot, you pilot it and have the amasing power and abilities, but at the same time it claims some of your life. Nemesis decided to not pilot the Fates Eye until after she had ensured the Order family would carry on.

Several decades past by as if they were nothing, Nemesis had met someone and had several children, one boy out of the group again looked identical to True Order so she trained him a little harder when he naturally took an intrest in the Ravens, the Order family had spawned into a all out Raven family with this generation for all of the children grew to be amazing pilots. Nemesis thought to herself that this had to be their fate since they all naturaly gain an intrest even her daughter did. Each child grew to become a well known an feared Raven, Damien was known as Dakkon in the arena and on the field was a ruthless fighter he was the most promising to carry on the Fates Eye legacy, John became known as Scorched Earth and was just as lethal as his brother but didn't show the intrest in Fates Eye so he was not considered to much, and Elissa became known as Harpy and was unique in that she could disable the pilot of the AC without even touching the AC itself. The three each developed unique skills and modified their own weapons when the arena tournement was held again Nemesis entered as did her children, all four pilots were amazing and progressed through the ranks quickly, it was when only they remained that Nemesis made the shocking request to have a match against them all, it was eagerly accepted and many were afraid Nemesis had lost her touch in the twenty years of inactivity.

As the match began Nemesis used the overboost and quickly disabled Scorched Earth's AC Napalm, he was shocked at how fast his mother was in the arena and accepted his loss since he had underestimated her. After the first move Nemesis targeted Harpy and Dakkon and used the Flux pulse, the two dodged and with what seemed to be perfect teamwork nailed the Fates Eye with a dual blast of plasma from the rifles they used. Nemesis was somewhat shocked but got back up and quickly overtook Dakkon and destroyed his generator completly with her blade, she was disappointed because she had hoped he would have been the one to take Fates Eye. As Nemesis turned she saw Harpy's AC Shattered Sound take aim and let lose with a sonic weapon, when it hit it made Nemesis lost her concentration and hold her ears in an attempt to stop the pain at this time Harpy took Fates Eye down with one accurate shot from the Pulse cannon she had stored away in place of a laser blade, she won and therefore was both blessed and cursed to pilot Fates Eye.

After everything was over, and Fates Eye was handed over for the first time more than one person viewed the files stored within Fates Eye's computer, Harpy, Scorched Earth, and Dakkon looked and listened as their great great grandfather explained everything, they were shocked to see he was in so much pain when he made the recording, and were shocked to see that Fates Eye was able to be reapaired after the damage it suffered in the fight with Rebel. After the recording played it was decided all three AC would be combined into Fates Eye, Napalm helped improve the destructive force of Fates Eye and contributed a feature added to the flux pulse that let it emit flames and energy, Shattered Sound also improved the Fates Eye and flux pulse because now it had a sonic base to the attack as well and accuracy and speed were vastly increased, Dakkon reluctantly let his AC the BlackBlade be absorbed into the frightening Fates Eye, this added to its blade power and increase all systems and attributes further.

As time passed this Cycle would repeat with each generation for a time, and with each child came a hope and this one time occurance helped power the Fates Eye to a level in which it might have a chance of defeating Rebel and his Enforcer. The estimate of three hundred years that Rebel had made was inaccurate, he had a good collection of information but had neglected to consider the effect of a massive nuclear explosion that had occured when some of the old powerplants went critical and had nobody to shut them down. Fates Eye would have another 500 years to be improved, but Enforcer would aslo have this time to grow and evolve, Rebel continued his slumber awaiting the signal from the sensors that the upper world was survivable again and the cycle continued on.

About two hundred and fiftly years after Harpy's beneficial role another young man took the Fates Eye, he again looked like True Order in his prime and he helped to lead the push for some of the launch pads to be built in order to start colonies on Mars, there was alot of resistance but it was well known the earth wouldn't be a good place to continue living for another century or two, those trying to build the pads were attacked relentlessly by factions who thought the human race should not leave the earth. The man who defended the main and largest launch base was known only as Fate, he successfully protected the base until regular launches were able to be made and a colony was established. The colony became a sign that someday the human race could come back and help resettle the earth after the darkness that covered it had ceased to be. All but a few small colonies of people left the earth to take advantage of the massive colony that had been constructed on Mars, it had been established and self sustaining in a truly remarkable time and slowly all of mars was made into a sort of earthlike home, people simply awaited the day the earth would be livable again.

Unfortunately the Order family had left they took Fates Eye with them but, it became a stored away relic, little did they know this relic that they consider no longer usefull would prove to be the only hope of preventing the destruction of the colonies, and the last remaining cities on earth.

The years would pass quickly, the Raven's would become a slight echo, and the Fates Eye would be forgotten, it wouldn't be for another two hundred and seventy five years that the Fates Eye would be seen again, and given the time in which it was unable to be strengthened it would be unclear as to if Rebel when awoke could be defeated before he showed the human race his "laws" for Rebel was no longer human he had steadily improved himself and by the time True Order had fought him he had become a completely mechanised existance and the Enforcer had started to become something more with the improvements Rebel made after the encounter with Fates Eye, as to whether or not Fates Eye and whomever pilots it will be able to carry through with Rebels destruction will remain unkown even to the family that carries on the blood of Order, Fates Eye simply sits locked away in a forgotten tomb awaiting the day a decendant of True Order finaly reclaims the legacy.

To Be Continued....

The Unending Cycle The Return

Several centuries have passed, and the Mars settlement has become an easy place to live much like earth before the destruction. The Order family has also carried on and has only the small bits and pieces of their family history to clue them in on what Fates Eye is. The people as a majority don't even remember the Ravens or Fates Eye.

It is at this time two hundred and seventy five years after the move to mars that the Earth had finaly begun to become liveable again. Plans had been made to send a colony ship to the Earth with supplies to re-establish the human presence upon it, it was known some colonies already existed on the Earth consisting of those who did not make the journey to Mars, what wasn't known was if they were still alive. Several days after it had been confirmed that the Earth had acheived a survival enviroment the plans to send the ship were put into action, it would be another month before the ship was on its way to the Earth.

The time that it took to recruit willing members of the military was very little, a group of one hundred and fifty volunteers was gathered, among these was a young man by the name of Vincent whom was the latest decendant of True Order. Vincent was an AC pilot and therefore was given the option to bring his AC from Mars to Earth since the ship being used had an AC hangar. Vincent decided to accept this option but was not going to bring his AC, he had done some research and found the resting place of the Fates Eye. It was at this time he decided to see if the family records of two centuries past were correct, he searched for a few days using his AC Pillar, as he was about to give up on the idea and just go prep his AC for the trip he accidently uncovered the remains of the old Order home that had slowly over the decades sunk down into the ground and was covered by the now abundant plant life.

Vincent as he got out of his AC noticed the top of a passage next to the ruins of this home, he was suprised that nobody had found this place. As he entered the ruins he found that they were not the old home of his family, they were equiped with an amazing amount of technology and quite a number of high powered sensors were scanning one area of the Earth. Vincent decided to have a look at the records to see if he could find anything, this is when he found the information on Rebel and Enforcer, he was quite shocked as he read through the reports. After a little time reading up on things he relised his family had forgotten about this place, or they had to give up on it he thought as he noticed it was on a very unstable piece of ground.

Vincent continued to search the building finding information on all of the Order family that had tried to carry on with the Fates Eye. This is when he relised that the ancestor who helped defent the first colony launch sites had used the Fates Eye to do so. When the relisation that the Fates Eye did exist sank in he found that he had already seen the Fates Eye in the acient records of the military. So that's why there were no ACs that strong, because the Fates Eye could not be reproduced, was what he said to himself as the structure shifted a little more. He progressed to the lower levels of the building to find video feeds comeing in, he noticed they were all of this one area on Earth and couldn't understand what was so facinating about it. Since he was going to Earth himself in a week or two he decided to take down the frequency that the video feeds were comeing in on so that he could use whichever AC he takes to keep track of it.

Just as Vincent was starting to give up he noticed that the structure's lowest level seemed to have a number of sealed doors, he had assumed they were exits to the outside before the structure had began to sink, but it didn't add up in his mind, he had already passed what would have been the first floor and he had seen the doors leading out. Vincent decided to try getting some power to these doors, because there was no way he could move them they were as strong as a ship's docking hatch. Vincent decided to try the control center he found when he first entered and as he looked at the panel he noticed it was a little damaged he tried to repair it for long enough to redirect some of the light's power to the doors. Vincent finaly getting the power redirected heard the doors open beneath him, he could smell the air as the stagnant stench drifted out from what seemed to of been a room sealed for the past several centuries, after he put on a respirator to avoid breathing the stagnant air he entered.

Upon his entry into the ruined level of the structure he noticed that at one time it had housed a massive amount of technology that seemed to be quite advanced for the time it was to of been used. He progressed further down the corridor and found a lift that seemed to be functioning due to the power redirect he had done, he didn't know how long it would last so he decided to hurry. As the lift lowered he found that there was a massive opening under the structure, and as he looked around it became apparent it was an AC hangar. As he looked around he noticed a switch to open the ceiling, he decided not to do this since over the past few centuries alot of land had come to settle upon the top of the massive doors and the structure had even shifted to set upon their edge. Looking further down he relised this was an enormous hangar big enough to house quite a few AC, it even made the military's AC housings look pathetic. As this thought crossed his mind he noticed a glint of light from far down at the end of the room, as he got closer he noticed it was the Fates Eye sitting in the same position it had been left when the last pilot had exited. As he approached he noticed that it still had power and was simply idling waiting for its pilot to return, he decided to get in and see what was going on.

Vincent was amazed as he sat down in the pilot's seat, he found that the Fates Eye had a virtually limitless power supply and that it had actually made adjustments to itself to improve the all around strength that it possessed. Vincent decided to press on the records display and found that the Fates Eye was not intentionally forgotten or abandoned but that an accident had killed Fate before he could pass on his secret to his son, it was at this moment Vincent looked over at the massive beam that had fallen out of place and did see that Fate had indeed been caught in the hangar when a small earthquake had struck the beam apparently had become loose and fell crushing him, and preventing him from showing anyone the entrance to the hangar let alone telling his son about the Fates Eye. It all made sense to Vincent now, why there was so little about the Fates Eye cept for a few books, and why nobody knows what happened or became of the man who defended the colony launches. Vincent shook off the feeling of pity he started to experience and decided to check all of the files in the Fates Eye's computer so that he could pilot this AC and let it serve a purpous yet again.

While reading through the files at an amazing pace Vincent noticed that the power to the lift and the lights had gone out, he kind of laughed and thought how amazing it was that they even worked that long in this condition. He listened to the files and read the ones he had to, it was then that he came across the centuries old recording of True Order, he was suprised because it was rather like looking in a mirror and listening to a recording of himself, as he listened he learned that the area being monitored was the resting place of Rebel, and that during the encounter between the First generation Fates Eye, Rebel had activated some organics that were installed into his AC and that this was why he posed a threat still, because his AC had continued to grow in strength as the years had passed by. Vincent was about to tell those planning the mission to earth about the threat, but then saw the last recorded message that was from Fate, he noticed that Fate simply gave the short message Return to Earth someday and complete this cycle so that our family might know a normal existance. He was disturbed by this because all throughout his families past they had been tied to ACs and had never gone one generation without someone getting involved with the machines, he laughed and thought so I'm supposed to be the Fated member of the Order family that gets the task of taking on this insane Pilot and his incredible AC. Vincent continued to listen to the messages and learned that by now the Fates Eye was no match for Enforcer since no improvements had been made, the computer showed the comparison in its estimates and the Fates Eye was only at half the strength it would need to even have a chance at going head to head with this monster.

Finaly just before preparing to leave Vincent saw the absorb unit's listing and had a look, he decided he would combine Fates Eye with his AC Pillar so that he might gain a little more power, this was when he relised he couldn't exit because there was no power to open anything with, he decided to put the Fates Eye to use and slashed with his blade at the ceiling of the room. This caused a massive amount of the ground surounding the hatch to cave in covering most of the hangar's floor. Vincent then used the boosters to exit the hangar, he noticed that the structure had survived by had suffered some damage from his exit, he decided to not worry about it and headed to Pillar. After a little more time getting familiar with the system Vincent activated the absorb unit and it went to work pulling Pillar piece by piece into its own structure, it discarded the unnecessary parts and added the ones that could be put to use, Vincent relised ACs must have gotten stronger over the years because the power level for the Fates Eye had increased so far that it was now three fourths of what he needed it to be. He then proceded back to his own hangar at the base and managed to pass the Fates Eye off for Pillar. He laughed to himself as his friends and the other pilots talked about the vast improvements made to Pillar, he thought to himself if you guys only knew you'd piss yourselves.

Several weeks later the ACs were loaded and the ship bound for earth got underway, it would be a fairly long trip so Vincent activated the sleep system in the Fates Eye and simply slept through the trip, everyone else simply slept in their own hibernation chambers or stayed up to monitor the status of teh ship.

After the roughly one year trip started to near its end the crew noticed that there were some rather strange things going on near the Earth. Vincent had just awoken and joined in on the group already surrounding the monitors and he saw that a massive orbital cannon had taken aim at them and as the sensors showed was preparing to fire. Unfortunatly the power of the ships weapons was only strong enough to ward off any items that might collide with it, and nobody had a space flight capable AC. Vincent suggested to his commander that they aim the Core launch ramp towards the cannon and that he could take care of the problem, his commander thinking the AC was just Pillar told him it would be a one way trip because they didn't have the fuel to use for the extra distance, Vincent simply said don't worry, just make sure you have the ramp open so I can land again. The commander thinking this was just an attempt to settle his own nerves agreed reluctantly.

The Fates Eye was powered up and ready to go as the launch ramp's electromagnetics were warmed up, as the field built up Vincent double checked to make sure he could return, the Fates Eye gave the readout that it would be able to be piloted in space, and so Vincent launched out of the ship, and was propelled toward the now ancient Justice. The Fates Eye seemed to accelerate in mid flight and this confused the crew on the ship they had no idea how this could happen, so they continued to watch and noticed that the orbital cannon Justice had many automated defenses that still functioned. Vincent watched as hundreds of Space capable AC and MT launched from the surface of Justice, he smiled and felt an urge within him he had never felt before, it was now the VR system kicked in and he began to show his true capabilities. The ship's crew watched and were absolutly shocked at what they were seeing, they watched as Vincent using what they thought was Pillar cut through the massive group of AC and MT like it was nothing, they knew that Pillar couldn't have been Space Capable since the closet to space flight an AC could come to was a straight boost between ships or a atomosphere re-entry pod, the few AC that had been made space capable ran out of power to fast or they overloaded their generator and blew up. As everyone watched in a confused state, Vincent eliminated the defence force and was amazed that such old machines could still function, he hit the overboost and went straight into the cannon's barrel only to fight off even more automated defences, as he progressed through it knocking out power modules and destroying force fields he noticed that in a way Fates Eye seemed like an old friend to him. He finaly managed to reach the main power core of the cannon and with a single slash of his blade severed it, this caused a mass malfunction of the orbit boosters and sent the Justice cannon hurtling straight down toward the atmosphere, Vincent knew he would be killed if he got caught in the cannon as it entered the atmosphere so he tried to pilot out of it. As he progressed halfway the cannon's fall speed increased bouncing him off the wall, it was now he decided to give up being safe and he hit the overboost and slashed with his blade which let him rip through the side of the cannon and out into space, he used the smaller boosters on Fates Eye to position himself for a straight shot at the ramp, he hit overboost again and covered an amazing amount of distance in a short time, as he neared the ship he turned off the boosters and drifted into the launch room.

After this demonstration Vincent's commander took him into a private room and questioned him, after about an hour of dodging questions Vincent finaly told the commander about the Fates Eye and about the possible threat that was resting on the surface below. The commander was somewhat thrown off by this and decided to simply tell the crew that it wasn't the Pillar but an older personal AC owned by Vincent's family, Vincent was ok with this since it was technicaly correct, and that the commander was also not going to mention Rebel to anyone. The two made an agreement that if and when Rebel awoke Vincent would abandon all other tasks to remove the threat.

As the ship entered the atmosphere, the crew took their places for the landing, and they all watched the monitor with an eagerness similar to children. As the distortion cleared up they saw that a few cities had actually been built by the people who had remained on the Earth, they sent a communication and recieved the response to land on the plains to the south of the city. Everything seemed perfect, infact it was to perfect for Vincent's taste, he had Fates Eye's sensors do a sweep of the area they were to land and he found nothing, he then scanned the city and found nothing cept for the population living there, he couldn't shake the feeling that something was off.

After the landing the crew immediatly set up camp and began to construct the surrounding set up for the ship, this small space was now the first small home for the return of the Mars colonists if they chose to. The military of the Earth had sent a small force to greet these now returning people, as they approached they saw that the AC technology had not been lost to them and that they were using them to help in the construction of their base and homes. The commander sent Vincent to greet and bring the force in so that they could talk. As the force noticed the Fates Eye approaching several of the more inexperienced pilots actually stopped and kept away while the more experienced and higher ranking officers simply came straight up to him even with their feelings of fear towards this monster of an AC that they saw standing before them. As everyone returned, talks began between the Mars colonists and the Earth residents and it simply progressed from there. They learned that there were many cities and that things had started to become the way they were said to be before the great destruction.

A year or two later was when normal and regular travel between the two planets started, it was at this time a warning was sent to the Fates Eye from the monitor base of the Order family on Mars, but the signal was to weak to be received. The warning consisted of "Be Ready, Enforcer seems to be waking up" . I wouldn't be until five years later that the fated encounter that might end the cycle would begin, the only question would be if Vincent could make the Fates Eye ready in time, and if they would notice the almost nonexistant warning signal in time not to be taken by suprise. Though at that time nobody even thought about the threat that was starting to stir beneath the earth in that ancient room where True Order once fought against Rebel.

To Be Continued....

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Unending Cycle, The Final Fight

The few years of Vincent being on earth had passed so quickly, he had met a young woman in a nearby settlement they had started a life together rather quickly, but they had become happy in the three years they had been together they had become friends during the first two years of Vincent's initial arrival.

The two had began their life and had two children a boy and a girl, Vincent had become so content with life he forgot about the threat that was supposed to wake up. His life had consisted of short missions to silence some criminals that had taken over some MTs or to stop someone trying to use an AC to cause problems, he hadn't had a truly intense battle since he destroyed Justice. While he lived this happy life his AC Fates Eye silently stood over his home as if it was watching for something. The Fates Eye had developed a strange almost human like essance while Vincent controlled it, the AC would perform without its pilot to a degree but only seemed to do so while defending him.

It had been nearly five and a half years since he arrived, Vincent couldn't believe how time had passed so quickly nor could he believe how happy he had become on this world. Secretly though he hoped nothing would ever happen to destroy his happiness.

It was about October when Vincent finaly got another assignment from the now united Earth/Mars goverments, he was ordered to inspect some ruins that a research team had happened across, they needed him to do it since the MTs they sent in had been destroyed by some security system apparently. Vincent told his wife that he would be back, he had the worst feeling he had ever felt shoot through him at that moment and he asked her to take their children and pay a visit to the family that was still on Mars, she reluctantly agreed since she knew he had become worried for some reason and when he worried something had to be wrong. Vincent's family would depart for Mars roughly 2 hours after he left to check the ruins.

As Vincent approached in the Fates Eye he noticed that the area he was in had an unfortunate familiar appearance to it, he asked Fates Eye if it knew this location and it responded with an answer he had been dreading, it simply said in its cold voice "Yes". Now he knew this wasn't a coinsidense this was Rebel's tomb. The research team contacted him and asked him to have a look because they were getting a strong energy reading from inside and that something appeared to be alive inside, he simply told them to clear out if they had any value for their lives, they left quickly after that.

Fates Eye entered the location of its destruction and rebirth, a strange air was about this location, everything was quiet and undisturbed. He progressed further into the ruins noticing the same things that True Order had noticed almost five or six hundred years before him, he could even see that foot prints from Fates Eye the first time it had entered all those years ago. Almost as if on que a guardian AC appeared and armed itself as it prepared to attack the Fates Eye, then it just stopped and sent a transmission to Vincent it simply asked:

Are you back....are you here to finish.....are you strong enough....

Vincent was a little disturbed at this so he simply said that the Fates Eye had returned to finish the fight that had been started so long ago and that he wasn't sure he was strong enough but he would try. The guardian simply responded saying show me as it started dashing towards him, Vincent quickly ducked and then speared the guardian with the laser blade that Fates Eye had. As the guardian AC started to collapse the pilot simply said Finish this don't stop till he is dead, it was then that the AC's power failed and the support systems for the pilot had gone offline killing him and ending his over extended life.

Further into the ruins Vincent observed that something other than the guardian had been here, it appeared to be watching the two fight, this made Vincent nervous because the tracks made it appear to be similar to the Fates Eye. He followed deeper into the ruins until he came upon a room, but not just an abandoned room it was the room where True had recieved his fatal injuries. Ahead of the Fates Eye stood an all to familiar yet changed form, it was the Enforcer it had grown from the simple AC it had been, it had changed into a organic machine. The power generated within it was immense, Vincent didn't know if he could destroy this, even worse he relised if he accidently caused this things generator to explode it could infact give a blast strong enough to destroy the earth. The two ancient ACs stood before one another, it was now that the pilot of the Enforcer spoke, he simply asked why Vincent had come here, the only answer Vincent could give was so that he could finish the fight that had been started. Rebel simply laughed at this over confident pilot as he saw him, it was now that Enforcer boosted up and through the ceiling of the room, it was now that something would start.

Enforcer quickly headed toward the nearest City it detected, once Enforcer was over the city it let out a strange object, this object fell to the ground in the middle of the city and detonated releasing enough force that it obliterated the city killing all of its inhabitants. Vincent quickly followed Enforcer trying to stop it, he was shocked at the destruction he saw this thing begin to create. Vincent decided to activate the VR system to increase his abilities it was now that he also activated the absorb unit, the AC asked Vincent if he was sure, he only said yes and with this answer Vincent and Fates Eye had become one, the process was painful and it changed the AC a little, it now appeared to be partially organic. Vincent slowly blended into Fates Eye and relised that this must have been similar to what Rebel had done, the pain was immense, and a recording started to play it was True Order it simply stated You did what I could never do, you gave up your life as a human in order to destroy Rebel, you have my hope that you can succede.

Fates Eye in its new state now overboosted towards Enforcer which was preparing to kill another city, as Fates Eye approached it didn't slow down infact it pushed the speed up and tackled Enforcer in mid air, the two went slamming into an abandoned portion of the city. As the two got up neither was damaged and Enforcer started to attack Fates Eye, the two battled in mid air they shot with their Karasawa rifles missing constantly since the two moved so fast that that shots couldn't get their fast enough, the surrounding land was scorched by all of the energy, it was now that the people in the city started to evacuate and a message was sent out signaling for people to try and leave as quickly as possible. While the battle raged on, Vincent's wife could see the large blacked spot on the earth as the ship she was on started the trip towards Mars, she had a feeling about this and simply cried and was happy that Vincent loved them so much.

After awhile the two rifles ran out of energy and were no longer of any use, the two AC discarded them and began to launch wave after wave of grenade rounds at eachother, all this did was simply cause each of them to move faster to dodge the explosions which now caused the land and the city below to begin to collapse from the force. Both pilot AC combos were amazing neither one could believe the ability of the other, but they continued fighting as fiercly as they could. The battle carried over almost the entire surface of the earth, people were running to the space ports to escape this strange occurance, and from the stations in orbit the view of the earth showed that the two ACs fighting were in actuality causing the surface of the earth to become unstable. The power being released was immense, many of the remaining people on earth went back into the underground city areas to wait for the end of the battle. Enforcer and Fates Eye had either ehausted or destroyed all of their weapons except for one that both could plainly see, they went and began to fight with blades the two boosted at such speeds that human bodies would be crushed.

After almost two days of battle non stop actually shaking the earth itself, the two landed in the spot where all of this had began, the Rebel Project's testing grounds, it was kind of fitting but neither one of the two even made mention of it. The two ACs closed in on one another and began to battle again they slashed and launched energy waves, finaly the two of them overboosted and collided slamming their blades against one another this force was to much and even the blades shorted out and stopped working. Both pilots couldn't help but laugh at how equal they were, it was now Enforcer played its trump card since the missiles that posed a threat were junk long ago it had replaced this weapon, Enforcer pulled a massive spear from its back, the spear looked to be part of the AC itself. Enforcer dashed toward Fates Eye and managed a hit running the spear straight through and into the ground, Fates Eye simply grabbed Enforcer and opened up its chest plate revealing the weapon that had been added by accident, the Flux Pulse, Fates Eye's generator had been peirced and Vincent knew it would overload if he fired, but he decided that to prevent Enforcer he would do anything and that there was still Mars so the human race could live on. As the Flux Pulse charged and a ring of energy and fire formed the generator of Fates Eye went critical, the Pulse fired ripping the insides out of Enforcer causing its generator to explode at the same time Fates Eye's generator exploded. The two pilots had one last comment as the end was near Rebel cursed Vincent and Vincent simply relaxed himself knowing his children wouldn't have to do this or suffer, it was now that the generators of the two AC exploded, they released a wave of energy that enveloped the Earth. This amount of energy could not be handled and the planet itself began to split apart and then the final burst from the energy came destroying all of the orbiting stations and the earth, the shockwave was so strong it shattered the moon and nearly disabled the transport carrying Vincent's family, it was now that his wife knew why Vincent had insisted on them leaving, he had always had a strange ability to predict things when they truly mattered.

Centuries would pass, the Order family would continue and strangly enough each generation became a legendary pilot this cycle would continue on as long as the family of Order existed. The one thing nobody would know for certain is what caused the Earth's destruction, it was rumored that an AC battle had caused it, and that the two ACs had the power to destroy everything. Nobody could confirm this, but the Order family knew the true story they simply kept silent, as Vincent's son and daughter had salvaged parts of Enforcer and Fates Eye from the cloud of rock that had once been the earth. The cycle had ended but the Fates Eye and Enforcer had survived, would the cycle begin again when they were reconstructed or would the order family have the sense to lock these devestating tools of destruction in a place where no human may ever find them.

~End~

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Armored Core: Ghostly Echoes of The Past, The Cycle's Revival

~Vocal Logging Initialization Command Confirmed~

~Vocal Log Begin~

It has been almost four thousand years since the earth's destruction, humanity had progressed, technology had become quite advanced, and the AC technology had also advanced. The year of the great destruction was thought to have been 2012, and the year of the Earth's destruction was roughly 2517 give or take a year or two. The records from that time are almost lost, but a few still keep the old information networks running. The year is now 6581 and the planet Mars has changed greatly since that time so long ago when the Earth was still in one piece.

The human race has also evolved, new colonies had been set up on the moons of Jupiter and even some floating cities were created within the clouds of Jupiter itself using a specialized form of anti-gravity technology, the AG tech was all that allowed the cities to exist in such a lethal location. Gravity of these cities was immense but humans adapted and became able to easily to withstand such conditions, the AC of this area were unimaginably powerful but were strictly limited to work applications.

The colonies located upon the moons were simply known as points, since long ago many records were lost and among these were the original designations for each moon and colony. The AC of this area were still extreme in their strength but again they were limited to work applications. As anyone would progress through the long trip to the outer planets of the solar system they would see stationary colonies out in space, these colonies were quite dangerous to live in but still provided a home to well over twenty thousand people per colony.

Now you may be wondering why I am speaking of such trivial things, I am Alvaya, otherwise known as Order. I am the latest generation of the Order family, I am also more than likely going to be the last. You see right now I am trying to make a log of everything so that when my air supply runs out someone may find me one day and hear of the events that lead to this rather pathetic situation. Anyway it all started about the time my father found a sealed chamber below our family's land on mars, he was curious as to why it had been sealed with such apparent intent to never have it open again. That curious fool damn him for his idiotic need to learn such things....no I can't get sidetracked so here goes I'll tell you (in the way my father told me) all that I can while I can now here is the story that lead to this unfortunate result.

This all began about thirty years ago give or take a year, a man named Nikon (my father) was exploring the Order family lands for an idea of their history. The land had been uninhabited for quite sometime due to a collision caused by a fragment of the Earth which had now started to drift an orbit around Mars. Nikon had discovered the location by checking a few of the last remaining data networks from the early 26th century, he discovered the Order family (our family) had owned this location and had installed a massive amount of technology into it so that they could maintain the ACs that they piloted in missions.

Nikon had just about given up his search when he noticed the ruins of an extremely old structure, it appeared to be a mansion but was so damaged he could not tell. As he entered he could smell the stale air and the mold that had formed over the books and charts stored within this top floor, he noticed the structure had sunk down into the ground so he was unclear as to if he could look at the lower floors. Nikon proceeded down the now ancient flights of stairs until he reached what appeared to be an almost new metallic door, he noticed it had an old palm scanner next to it and a retinal scan, this was amusing to him since these security devices had long ago been proven to not be completely secure, he proceeded to jokingly try his own hand and eye for the scans and surprisingly it identified him and unlocked. As he entered he stopped with a look of fear in his eyes as a computer spoke "welcome Order member" he was amazed that the computer was set to identify the family characteristics instead of specific patterns.

Nikon proceeded to have a look around and found an old record from the last members of the family to inhabit the place, the young man on it spoke but the message was to garbled to understand, after some tweaking and a lot of replays Nikon discovered it was speaking about the battle that had caused the Earth's destruction, it simply stated that they had recovered the fragmented ACs and were going to rebuild them (he would later comment on how much the child looked like me). He was amazed that the Earth had been destroyed by two simple AC of that time, at least he thought they were simple. As he progressed and found a few intact computer logs he learned that the AC were not normal and were in fact extremely ahead of their time, he discovered that they had been built to incorporate organic technology into their systems, which even now in this time was something that had yet to be done without merging the pilot and machine (this was done for deep space exploration since the pilot would more than likely never return).

Nikon discovered a recording of the battle from an orbiting station that had been transmitted to mars up until the end, he saw the surface of the earth slowly turn black and glow with fire as the two AC fought at such incredible speeds. Nikon watched and was saddened when he realized the pilot of one of the ACs was an ancestor of his, and had given up any hope of knowing his family to destroy the other AC before it could harm the rest of humanity. After viewing a few more files Nikon headed into the next room and was shocked to discover it was a hangar, and within the hangar was one AC. Nikon looked around and saw only the one AC which looked like a nightmare given form, it was small even for an AC but it still stood almost as tall as a twenty floor tall building, it had a dark dreadful blue hue to its armor and instead of boosters it had what appeared to be an extremely advanced anti-grav unit on its back that had been made to look like a set of angelic wings, though in this color and light they appeared as dark and horrible as the rest of the machine.

This AC seemed to have a presence inside it that caused Nikon to hear the screams of horror and pain that people would make as they were killed slowly, the stench of blood off of the machine was so strong it caused Nikon to get sick. Nikon not wanting to be near this monster of an AC, he checked the records to see which one this was and discovered something disturbing, since both Enforcer and Fates Eye were unique in construction they had no replacement parts and not enough to cause the auto repair to kick in, so it had been decided to combine the two and let the auto repair kick in to finish the job. Both AC went together seamlessly as if they were two halves of the same thing, later when it was finished the now combined Fates Eye and Enforcer was renamed, it was named Omega.

Nikon couldn't believe that such a horrible creation like this had been kept intact, he also felt excited because he wondered what the thing could do. After a long while deliberating the subject Nikon decided to take the Omega and use it for himself, he figured why not with an AC like this he could rise in the NeoRaven's ranks in no time, he would later regret his thirst for respect and power.

Several months would pass with no real event, Nikon's wife would have his one and only son, Alvaya Order (me). Nikon would start to relax while he piloted Omega, he had discovered that all of the information the two ACs had stored was still within the computer of the Omega, and he had become fascinated with the virtual piloting system. Nikon had risen in rank these past few months at an amazing rate, he had obliterated some of the most lethal targets that had ever came to be, but he was also feared due to his AC since for some reason the haunting screams and stench of blood that Nikon had once experienced seemed to cling to the AC and this is why nobody ever approached the Omega. Eventually Nikon announced his retirement at the age of thirty two (he had made more than enough money to sustain his family for the rest of their lives), though he was a great pilot the Ravens were not all that sad to see him go, since Omega seemed to be a life in itself.

Later on my Father Nikon would show me this Omega, he would let me have a look, and I would start to design my own personal AC after that. You see I didn't want to use that thing since it did in fact seem to call out and ward everyone but my Father away from it, little did I know at that time how that bastard Omega would affect us, little did I know I would end up having to fight my own father....I...need to rest I will finish this log in a few minutes I just need to rest and think of how I will do this.

~Vocal Logging Paused~

~Awaiting Resume Command~

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"The only way to grow stronger is to destroy those who are stronger than you." --- Aquase/Deakon
Armored Core: 3rd Lieutenant, Orion Hunters

posted February 04, 2003 04:38 PM         

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D.J., Commander of the Orion Hunters
Orion Star of the N.O.V.A. Alliance
The Time Streamer, Guardian of Time
AIM, OHC piercemania

posted February 04, 2003 10:10 PM         

1. This is far better than any other AC story i've ever read in my life.

2. I put it on the Orion Hunters site.

3. You need to finish it, you left me hangin.

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D.J., Commander of the Orion Hunters
Orion Star of the N.O.V.A. Alliance
The Time Streamer, Guardian of Time
AIM, OHC piercemania

posted February 13, 2003 10:14 PM            

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Strike first, strike hard, then vanish. . .

posted November 07, 2003 04:28 PM           

PS: why didnt u type it like my onr chpter at a time?

posted November 07, 2003 05:52 PM            

He didn't post it at one chapter a time cuz he didn't want any interuptions while reading - namely someone's post.

I know I wouldn't want interupted while reading that massive story.

Also, please stop swearing. Yeah, you're censoring. You are getting your point across just as well, even without the k. You can be banned for that, you know. I would hate to loss ya.