Chapter 1
It was the 23rd century after humans had returned to the surface after an unnamed armored core ran by a group called Union and destroyed the controller. Armored cores are customizable robots about 30 feet high and were piloted by people called ravens. They were a larger version of the MT, which were muscle tracer suits, which made people stronger. People lived in an underground area called Layered and the controller was an AI (artificial intelligence) that controlled their lives. Corporations fought each other for power and Crest was a strong supporter of the controller. The corporations made armored core parts and hired the Ravens to do missions for them.
I woke up at 5:30 in the morning and got ready for work at Mirage Co. in my city apartment. I ate a bowl of corn flakes and took a shower. I live in a small apartment near Mirage Co. and I have a Skyline GTS 57. It's an old model for a car but it gets me around when I need it. I got in and drove to the building while half falling asleep and occasionally veering off course. Once I got there I heard the voices of my other employees.
"Hey Riak little sleepy there huh?" I heard Domdom say. We always wanted to be AC pilots so we could actually use the weapons we make. I never liked the job i had right now, it had gotten kinda dull. I've always wanted to be part of the action, but i could never get the money for an ac plus i had to go through mt experiance.
"Hey ya Domdom what have u been up to?"
"Hehe nothing much just big pimping as usual." He never actually does that. He just acts like it. He had dark skin and had black greasy-straight hair with a kind of wave on it. He usually played around not really paying very much attention to anything, we were buddies in college and we joined the same company engineering weapons.
"Err yea... well anyway how are you doing on the project?" we had been working on a right arm weapon called MWG-XCW/PK. It was supposed to help with long missions with high attack power and a lot of ammo. It had become a common problem for ravens when they run out of ammo.
"We still have to work on the power supply so it doesn't have too much usage drain"
"Oh ok." I then got to work on discussing what changes should be made and we figured out that we should lower the ammo capacity to 100 so we could put the same power more easily in the energy shells with a more efficient generator.
It was time for our hour lunch break and since we finished the project we'd thought we'd just hang out for the rest of the day.
"Hey ya how would like a ride on the Domdom train?" it didn't take long for everyone in the room to hear a loud smack that sounded like a 400 pound man hitting water. I always thought that he had issues� A little while later nature called so I left my cubicle office for the restroom. To my displeasure I found out that it was out of order which made me begin my quest for the lost restroom. I finally found one in Mirage Co.'s underground-restricted zone.
"Whew that felt good," I said in much relief. It then hit me as I walked into the hallway that I was lost in the restricted area of one of the world's biggest companies main building where all sorts of top-secret military things could be under wraps. I was actually kinda excited to be here, but meh, i had to keep my job. I had to keep clear of anyone if I didn't want to be fired. I crept along the hallways until I saw an elevator.
"YES!" I ran towards it at full speed not caring if anyone heard and I hopped in and pressed up without looking. I was so happy until the doors opened before it went up. I felt that i had gotten caught and BLAM get fired.
"Riak? What are you doing here? Its restricted ya know." Sigh...
"Err I got lost but what about you?"
"Needed to find a bathroom."
"We can get fired if were found down here."
"So?"
"JUST COME ON ALREADY!" I dragged him in and pushed up again and the
elevator jerked. I never actually had a family, I was raised on the streets... I exelled in mechanics and made a living fixing things for people when i was about 13. I saved money so i could get something out of life, but so far it has been pretty dull. I have been working in this buisness for only a year or two and was turning 19 soon. I had nothing for me, but thats the way the cookie crumbles. I also realized i was still hungry.
Once we reached the top I expected to see the familiar white tile hallway but instead we reached a garage with an Armored Core in it. It was dark blue and black with mid-weight legs, Karasawa weapon part, Sphere radar, and the Moonlight blade; but the most interesting part was the core�it was very sleek, obviously never used or tested for it wasn't dirty or scratched. It looked like a modified version of the Orca core. I just stood there in awe.
"Yo hello? Is anybody there?" Domdom said with a empty echo to respond him.
"Huh? Oh yea, c'mon we got to check this thing out!" This... what is this doing here?
"I thought you said we could get fired?" Domdom said sarcastically.
"Who cares about getting fired lets steal this thing!" This ac... was my ticket out...
"Ok your move." I hopped in by climbing the movable stairs while Domdom sat on the core. I then started checking the core's stats. Yes... This was meant to be mine!
"This thing has the fastest OB power of all the cores I've seen!"
"Whoop-de-doo what does it all mean?"
"That I am now the fastest thing ever to rule this planet!"
"What? Who says you get it?"
"Cause I'm in it," I said in a cocky tone while I closed the cockpit and
powered it up. I cant belive it, this is what I'm going to do... I'm going to become a mercenary.
"New user detected," said the cool female voice of the computer, "would
you like to register as the user of this Armored Core unit?" That question welcomed me to the ac.
"Yes."
"Please enter your name."
"Riak Karasawa," I used the world wide known weapon name, as i never knew my real one.
"User confirmed, welcome to global cortex Riak Karasawa."
"HEYYY WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO?" Domdom said with a red face.
"Go in that one," I said pointing to a colorless quad-legs ac with triple
missiles, bazooka arms, and a small linear gun.
"HELL YEAH!" he said as he hopped in and activated the ac. I was so
happy we were going to be Ravens!!! But then it happened, the garage
roof opened up to ground level up showing 2 menacing large white MTs.
I felt that i could take them.
"Bring it on!"
Our first battle was about to begin...
To be continued...