Chapter Text
Beyond The Halo (Blue Archive x Armoured Core 6:Fires of Rubicon)
Chapter 1 (Pilot)
Abydos District
KAISER PMC Security Services District 1
Abydos Academy.
Once counted among the great academies of Kivotos, this academy city had been reduced to a paltry annexe building these days, with its student population in the single digits. Under normal circumstances, such a school would have been declared abandoned, and its students scattered to one of thousands of other academies in Kivotos.
Through the actions of a teacher, and their spirited students, they defied fate. Unfortunately, by defying fate, they forced what was once a done deal, to prolong into uncertainty, and ultimately, boredom. At least for this unit of Kaiser PMC guards, in a section of Kivotos they still legally owned.
“RED TWO! GET YOUR SORRY ASS BACK ON ATTENTION! IF I SEE YOU SLOUCHING ONE MORE TIME I WILL DIVERT YOU TO SHOVELING ALL THE SAND IN THIS HERE DISTRICT!”
“Yes, sir…”
Taking off the standard-issued headset issued to ‘Red Two’, the robot pretended to go through the motions again of appearing ready. It was just for show, but somehow their sarge could see them slouching even in their power loaders. These giant weapons platforms were the cream of their PMC lineup, boasting unparalleled firepower while retaining the mobility offered with a bipedal configuration. Though less armoured than tanks, but honestly, with the number of missiles it carried, they would be taking out anything threatening them first. Of course, it wasn’t counting the threat posed by those students .
In this abandoned place, their unit was unique among the other Kaiser patrols stationed here. For one, they were only made up of vehicles, some were tanks and armoured personnel carriers but those were relegated to patrol duty, the frontline forces were all power loaders, and considering the state of Kaiser PMC forces everywhere, it was a rarity. A dozen of them were assigned to guard this district, where ever since ‘Red Two’ was deployed here, nothing had happened. Not even the odd delinquent who took potshots at them in his last deployment near Red Winter.
As he was among the lucky few grunts to be issued a power loader, Red Two was keen to ensure he would continue to be inside this display of Kaiser prowess. The other unfortunate CPUs down there had to contend with sand getting everywhere, including their joints and filters whenever one of Abydos’s infamous sandstorms rolled around.
“Hey, Red Two, wanna switch?” His communications sounded out, it appeared to come from Red Three.
“No, screw off. My spot is perfect. I can see as much of the skies as I’d like, and damn, they sure beat anything the city can show you.”
Some districts were quieter, and some were more…intense. For example, he heard that his comrades had a hell of a time during the whole Eden Treaty Incident, literally fighting off ghostly apparitions from overrunning their office if they were not giving him crap. This district, Abydos, was once the site of a major battle between Kaiser PMC forces and students, it actually ended up with the old Director being arrested, and causing the General to take command instead. It all happened before he rotated here, and since then, the entire district was the quietest it had ever been.
What were they even guarding against? The school with only five students? No, he guessed high command saw something here, but as usual, they didn’t bother sharing it with anybody. Lest they take it to the GSC, or worse, their rivals.
“Red Six is willing to switch, she says her spot is also flawless.”
"Red Six can’t tell the difference between a light bulb and a star, how the hell does she know what a good spot looks like? Get real. Now, stop yapping and get back to it!” Red One cut in, he was their commanding officer, and also a CPU with a real stun baton up its circuitry. Despite his orders for military discipline, he too was bored out of his mind here and thus allowed them to talk so long as it didn’t make them too distracted, being stationed in quiet little districts were not for hotheaded pilots like him. These little talks aside, they did their duty here. Every so often they heard a sound which prompted an investigation, but other than that, their days here were spent like this.
“Hey Red Two, you hear about the comet that crashed in this district? It was all over Momotalk.”
“No. What am I supposed to do with it? Make a wish?” Speaking of comets, he had stock in Kaiser SpaceC, the subsidiary company meant for exploration into outer space. He had insider knowledge on a new rocket launch soon, which would mean its stock value would rise by a significant margin. With that said, however, what was there to find in space? Kivotos was big enough already, they didn’t need to go towards the great beyond for anything.
Staying here on Kivotos…that was where he would eventually like to settle, maybe open a ramen store like the sole shop here in this district. Such a life wasn’t all too bad, with his position as Red Two, it was definitely possible to save up enough after this tour-
KA-BOOM
Even in his power loader, an audio-sensor-shattering explosion tore through the area around him, and immediately, casualty reports began to file in by their command AI.
“Red Six, Seven and Eight unresponsive. Scanning for target…”
“SIX! Respond! Have you ejected-”
Before he could even finish, a yellow streak of light penetrated Red Three beside him, causing the power loader to collapse in a fiery inferno.
“E-enemy spotted! Bearing, 096! APPROACHING FAST!”
Turning to the exact bearing mentioned, Red Two magnified its optics, and found a blur with what appeared to be boosters approaching them at high speed. His model was installed with night vision, but even that did not help due to the speeds it reached, literally being unable to keep up with it sometimes.
“This is Red One, fire at will! Make this bastard pay for our repair costs!”
To incentivise fewer ‘accidents’, a portion of their power loader repair fees were taken from their monthly salaries. Thus, with a very good motivator, the entire unit began to fire on the blur, hoping to bring it down with all of their firepower, but to no avail.
It zig-zagged away from their carefully aimed missiles and rounds, the only way to track it being the glow of the boosters. As it approached, however, they saw what it really was.
“Hostile power loader! Unknown manufacturer! Spread out and wear it down with our firepower, we have the numbers!” Red One shouted, his Gatling cannon did not stop spinning the entire time.
Power loaders were a costly and expensive platform to run, thus there were only a few companies that could afford to develop them. However, this…loader, if it could even be called that, was unlike anything Red Two had ever seen-
FWOOM
A crack in the air, and another yellow bolt pierced through a fellow comrade. “Red Nine, down. Only two-thirds strength remaining.” Their battle AI sounded out, doing the exact opposite of being a morale booster.
“What the hell are we fighting?! Wait, is that-INCOMING MISSILES!”
Streaks of smoke shot out vertically from the hostile power loader turned out to be missiles, soon landing on multiple friendlies. A literal death from above, as the missiles arced over any cover they had, and landed directly on the exposed top where their armour was the weakest.
“Red Five, Ten, and Eleven unresponsive. Recommending tactical retreat-”
“DAMNIT! Everyone that’s still here, begin a retreat! I’ll cover your backs!”
“Sir! That’s a suicide-”
“I know what I’m about, son.” Red Two, despite conflicting prompts, decided to be a good soldier and follow orders. Once they escaped, someone still had to be the commanding officer. His loader took one step towards the exit, and immediately heard the sound of a large rocket thrusting above him. Looking up, the his CPU’s couldn’t quite process the visual image of the hostile loader, twice their size and in a completely foreign design flying directly above him at high speed.
“Did it just fly over us?! Our escape route’s blocked!” Red Twelve shouted, he was the newest pilot in their squad, and unfortunately, the next target for the hostile loader.
BLAM
One shot from a giant flat-headed shotgun, and Red Twelve’s loader was reduced to scrap metal.
“I didn’t sign up for this crap! I’m getting outta her-ARGH!” Red Four was next, the hostile loader, still just unclear from the darkness, appeared to smash into her after using its rocket boosters, using its own legs to deliver a swift kick center mass. Her loader crumpled instantly, thus leaving…
“Red Twelve and Four, unresponsive. Only a quarter of your forces remain.”
“IGNORE IT! Red Two and Three! It’s just us! Come on you toasters, you want to live forever?!”
Red Two hesitated as his remaining comrades charged the hostile loader, shooting all of their weaponry to no avail. Dodging and weaving between them, they soon got within range, a fatal mistake.
BLAM
Red Three shared the same fate as Red Twelve, but Red One managed to dodge the second shot, only to have something much worse in store for him.
CRACK
“This is for my Reds you piece of-HRRK!” A spike the length of their loader itself pierced through Red One, accompanied by a loud bang. The hostile loader lifted his commanding officer into the air, machine oil leaking down into the spike, and eventually, the arm of the machine.
“You… it’s just like one of my ani-” The spike retracted, and Red One fell to the ground, motionless.
“Red One and Three unresponsive. This system would like to profess, it has been an honour to serve alongside you, Red Two.”
Facing Red Two was…what appeared to be another power loader, as if. Instead of the blocky appearance most loaders had, it was built for combat in mind. Arms that mimicked organic ones, legs that had more joints than their own, but the most striking part about the hostile was the addition of a head. Most loaders did not have a head, finding it redundant, but this one had it. And the red eyes it looked at him with…were like those belonging to the demon lord, exactly like that award-winning game Millennium put out recently.
It turned, far smoother than any loaders on the current market, and probably ones Kaiser had in development. Red Two knew this was it, his long career was finally going to end, tonight. But he found it in himself to ask who his mysterious demon was, nothing personal, just curiosity in the face of certain annihilation.
“Before you put me outta my misery…from one merc to another, you got a name?”
It didn’t respond at first, a few seconds later, static came through on his radio, slowly morphing into something audible. It was the voice of a woman, a soothing one, fitting for the end.
“Raven.”
Raven raised its shotgun, and Red Two closed his visual system. He wasn’t opening that ramen store after all…
BLAM
“Mission complete, Raven. All hostiles destroyed, great work. I’ll go ahead and contact our client, she’ll be happy to hear the good news.”
For the two Rubiconians, this night marked their seventh day since crash landing on this strange and frankly bizarre world. This was not Rubicon for sure, but it also did not match any known planets inhabited by humanity in their database. The only thing constant however, was that a merc with an Armoured Core was still in demand.
A moment later, their client picked up, they promised her this job would be done in less than half an hour, their real time was less than three minutes.
“Hello Miss Ayane, the Foreclosure Task Force can breathe easily. The power loader squad in District Nine has been wiped out, no Kaiser PMC forces remain.”
The ‘student’ on the other side of the call gasped in surprise but quickly recovered. Neither of the two Rubiconians had ever met her before, but from their limited interaction so far, she seemed trustworthy enough. Kivotos was not the cut-throat environment Rubicon was, but being careful was still good practice.
“Eh?! Already?! I thought it would take much more time…wow, you two really do work fast, Miss Ayre. Also, just call me Ayane, I think I’m a bit too young to be called ‘Miss’, you know?”
“Of course, as for the matter of proof and payment…” Even in this world called ‘Kivotos’, they still needed Credits, the local equivalent of COAM to do anything, including ammo replenishment. It was awe-inspiring what the black market dealers in this world could get up to…
“Oh, no need for proof! We all heard those explosions all the way from our annexe, Hoshino wants you to quiet down actually but never mind her. I will transfer the fee to your account, we were initially very sceptical of the website, but it turns out Serika stumbled on something legitimate this time…”
“Hey! I heard that! Still, all that for only fifty thousand credits? Not even the Kata-Kata gang members take jobs for less than that…”
Kivotos didn’t even require mercenary licenses, all Ayre had to do was create an account on a website called Momo-Merc and they could start taking jobs. Of course, it came with its own ranking system and trustworthiness, which was why they had to start out small, and gradually work their way up. Exactly like old times, back when Walter was still…
“Raven and I are…new on the scene. You could say that you’re paying us in exposure, make sure to recommend us to anyone who needs our services.” Ayre spoke for Raven, using a modified Coral speaker system taken from the Ibis series ACs, once Arquebus was gone, the Liberation Front fully took control of everything Rubicon’s past had to offer.
“Haha…will do! Well, that’s it for this job, thanks again for helping the FTF, we may have more work for you in the future. One step at a time to reclaim our district. Have a good night, Miss Ayre. Also, you too, Raven!”
The line ended, and the two Rubiconians were left to themselves, among the wreckages of this former Kaiser PMC squad.
“The more things change…the more things stay the same.”
Raven did not respond, instead, the only Armoured Core on Kivotos turned around, to look at the bright stars above them. In some parts of the wilderness on Rubicon, they too could look at the night sky clearly, without industrial platforms or light pollution blocking their view.
“Raven…do you think that Rubicon is somewhere among those stars? Do you think we will ever get back?”
Their entry to Kivotos was not planned, what was supposed to be a routine patrol in newly liberated territories turned south, as Arquebus unleashed one final act of revenge on them. Since then, they have been adapting, slowly yet surely, to this new world. Raven nodded, and that was enough of an answer for Ayre.
“Of course. When you're here with me, we can do anything, right? Let’s go home, we’ll have more jobs to take soon, I hope.”
Dayrise, the AC that took them through all of their trials and tribulations blasted away, towards a new dawn, and hope to return home.
AN:
I need to stop with these ideas-
Woah, hey, hello! Didn’t see ya there. So I basically finished AC:6 a while ago, and this nugget sorta flew around in my head. One day I decided: ‘screw it!’ and just wrote the damn plot bunny out. This is the result, I hope you enjoyed it, and I do hope to turn this into a limited series of sorts. I’ve never written a non-Sensei-centric BA fic before, so hopefully this is another fun experience while I procrastinate Wick-Sensei’s adventures.
Be civil in the comments below.