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Inside the scouting ship Debt Chaser, five Lancers prepared. They had been on the chase for a gang of thieves. The Wither Gang they called themselves. Not the most original name, but their excessive use of stolen greywash for equal parts thievery and murder quickly put them on the public radar. But these guys had known of them for much longer.
It started simple. A job for SSC was derailed by mech-toting thieves stealing the casket of an NHP that was in charge of accounting. Then things started escalating.Hideout sieges,A chase spanning an entire jungle,Union getting involved,The accounting NHP in question cascading and almost blowing up a space station,A brawl with a cell of HORUS,Countless shootouts,Nearly losing a Lancer in a bad fight,Secrets being uncovered,A power plant explosion,And a music battle with a different cascading NHP. Who knew one of them having a Minotaur would make them extremely difficult to stay caught, if they ever were caught. And that was before they quote “went big.” They robbed an ISP-N ship. It was not loaded with cargo, but it was a one way ticket to Omninet infamy.But in that high of giving one of the Big Three the finger, they overlooked that their quarry left them vulnerable. Vulnerable to being tracked. The group assigned to catch the thieves started a trio. One, a disgraced noblewoman whose wishes to actually do something with her imperfect body got her casted out of the family simply because the very thought of a prosthetic arm was blasphemous. Hetito Omni soon found she preferred the honor gained in combat better than the given honor of royal status, and accepted the call for Lancerhood with the proud callsign Kintsugi. With a mech embolden with gilded cracks, old armor plating, purposely left dents and scratches only filled by paint earned by many a battle, the Rose frame Survival was her weapon. A hidden weapon, now lying in wait inside the expanded compartment of Shatter, a Mourning Cloak that was meant to be a temporary fix to a temporary problem. But it proved itself worthy in the short time it was needed, and Kintsugi let it keep its spot in the group’s mech hangar. A spaceborn starship pilot that was caught up in the sense of needing to do more with his skills, only to get more than he wished for when he was brought into this right mess. Well, Alex Patrick wasn’t too old for this work yet. Besides, someone needed to run the defensive support for this group of Lancers. It might as well be Irons. And damn if the Galleon wasn’t the right Kidd for the job. He didn’t name his old Sagarmatha, didn’t see the point in it. He understood when he got the Kidd. Turns out he was a lot better at coordinating defensive positions than coordinating his own position. Though the Drake minigun attached to the underside was a good deterrent for people that wanted to get close without cover. Not that the Jolly Roger really cared about feeble things such as cover. Although most of the time he was trying to make sure Progress didn’t go out in a blaze that would take them all out. Mitchell Wells wasn’t a mercenary that overly cared about collateral. They had a strong preference for explosions and more specifically, causing them. Their ol’ Blast Process was half missile launchers, half mech. At least they had the black thumb to make sure they didn’t suffer the ill effects of burning their reactor. Getting an Oleander and TLALOC-class only exacerbated the issue. Mounting a Pinaka Launcher to Moonrider’s arm in the name of “Science and also high ordinance” just made them mobile. Which was just fine for that reactor that always petered in and out of the danger zone. Keeping two sets of frags on them at all times really solidified their role as the demolition expert. As if everything else didn’t tell you that. Then things got more complicated. “Smokes” started a suspect. A thieving conman hacker with a probably bootlegged Raleigh? Sounded pretty obvious at the time. So it was a surprise when it showed he was going after the thieves that hid behind the white collar, and only used Dusty when things had to get physical. He did a lot of his work with a Goblin that was allegedly gained in a poker tournament. He didn’t say whether or not he won or lost it, and it’s name of Poor Poker didn’t make it any clearer which it was. Then again HORUS is weird. When the Withers hit his turf, they got another Lancer on their tail. They would learn to regret ticking off Dice if it was the last thing he would do. He joined the three for a bit of old fashioned revenge, and slotted himself in as their resident hacker. Turns out if you pump up your internal systems enough any mech becomes a hacking machine. And Vinyl was there because he had to. Remember that part about Union getting involved? Yeah, that was him. Aleko Rega was a DJ that used a scrapyard Everest during his shows to make ends meet. Then Union noticed he wasn’t using a license, and long story short now he was here. It was clear he wasn’t really here because he wanted to, at least at first. Then things escalated when it turned out Disc Jockey wasn’t an Everest but a Hydra. Which turned his turntable into a drone command hub. And boy was he NOT happy about that little change. Now he was ready to get this done so he can get back to whoever did it and make them change it back. Luckily his co-pilot NHP Remix and an ASURA-class made it very easy to quickly control a situation when somebody else needed offensive assistance. Which most of the time meant making sure Progress or Dice didn’t become splatters on the ground.
And now these five were in a small and quiet scout ship that Dice “acquired” for this operation. It had a loading bay just big enough for every mech the group had. But it was a tight fit. It was a good thing there were two ½ size mechs and one of them was a bunch of drones and a command center.Not a lot of room until the time of deployment, and yet there was Vinyl, in the only part of Disc Jockey that wasn’t just another drone, sitting in the pilot seat, listening to music through the sound system of his hardsuit. They estimated this ride to be around 3 hours.He had time to set up some ass kicking soundtracks to fight to. He would need two of them at minimum. One for these thieves, and the next for the people that touched his damn turntable.That was his one condition for HORUS adding mods to Disk Jockey. Turning his mech into hundreds of drones? Sure. Adding a growing AI that might start breaking away at the concept of reality? That was Remix, and she had been a huge help even before.She only cascaded a few times. And only after he was conscripted. Another thing to hold against Union he guessed. As if he didn’t have enough grudges to hold against authority.Knowing that it would be hours until they would have to do something, he let himself get lost in the notes and the synths for who knows how long. Asura would complain about staying in one place for so long, being the speed focused being it was, but too bad. It can spin the drone swarm around the hangar. Not like there was anyone else here.“Music Kid? You in there?” There was a knock on the cockpit hatch. It sounded like Dice. And that meant the knocking wouldn’t stop until he opened that hatch.“I’ve searched the entire damn ship for ya, and I know you wouldn’t let your little speed demon use ya drones unless you were in there.”“Hey hey hey hey Is he talking about me?” A fast lively voice yapped through Vinyl’s headset, and was met with a sigh. He knew how Asura worked; like a music sheet without any rests. Best a Lancer could do is keep ahead of them and make sure they didn’t run off a cliff with them included.“Yes he is. Remix doesn’t stress the controller’s systems to the point of stressing the damn reactor. And no, it is not a challenge.”Before ol O’Brian had to knock again, the hatch opened and lo and behold Music Kid was in his little music cockpit. “And what do you know, you’re not a vampire!”The comment was met with a blank face. “What do you want Dice.”“Mr. Pilot wanted to talk strategy with you. I guess you’re the offense Controller and he’s the defense Controller? I don’t know, I’m siccing the ones and zeros on those punks with Poor Poker. Now you get to the bridge, I swear to god if I hear your name being called one more time I’m destroying the PA systems. With a gun.”Oh, so he must’ve tuned everything else out while he was listening to music. Typically he used that skill to listen for the requests drowned out by loud music and the life of the party. Guess that worked the other way around too. Deciding he should see what Irons wanted to talk about, Vinyl shut off Disc Jockey’s various systems before pulling himself out the command center as the drones hovered down into a pile beside it. With hair in his face, he took a bandana and wrapped it around his head while he walked through the motion activated doors. Mitch was bored. They were just laying all the way back in the copilot seat, bored out of their mind. So, they did the impossible. They started doodling in that sketchbook computer they had. They bought the thing what, two standard years ago? Hell, they had to charge the thing because it didn’t have battery when it was finally opened. It was plugged into an outlet and charging while they were using it. They made small talk with Irons. He was the only one that knew how to pilot, so he kind of had to stay on the bridge to fly this thing.If they had to stay here for three hours, they would’ve fallen asleep by now. They needed stimulation. Dealing with explosives kept them focused. Firing everything while maximizing the hurt at the enemy while making sure the group didn’t get caught up in the blast radii. Keeping an eye on the reactor output to time the heat dump to redirect the heat into their weapons. Positioning, scanning. It was fast. Each totaling out into a bunch of chunks of information they could process into action.Afterward was a different story. Waiting on orders, reading out which manufacturer did what and what had which license and hey they had a job for Smith Somano or whatever the fancy bastards that hired them for this long job were called so they’ll probably have some leniency. Hey, they were barely able to get a hold on the Oleander field test for Moonrider thanks to that so hey it worked. There was a reason they let the other two deal with the most of the downtime stuff.Then the doors behind them swooshed open. “Hey Progress, hey Irons. Dice said you wanted me Irons?” Ah, Vinyl. That was probably their cue to leave. Probably should go stretch they guess. They’ve been lounging for a while. Closing the laptop on their lap, Mitch walked out of the bridge to let the two talk. They could try doodling nothing in the barracks. Focus. Step. Swing, Deflect. Breathe. In. Out. Again.Focus. Step. Swing, Deflect. Breathe. In. Out. Again.Focus. Step. Swing, Deflect. Breathe. In. Knocking. Out.Bringing herself out of disciplinary focus, Kintsugi turned to the door to the barracks. She had locked them so nobody would enter while she was training. Less for her sake and more for everyone else.Deciding this was the world’s way of telling her to stop, Hetito stepped off the training mat she had laid down with blade still in hand. With a few taps at holographic buttons the unlock code was entered and the door automatically opened to reveal the ironically named Progress on the other side. “Hey Kintsugi. I’ve been sitting for the last however long and need to stretch for a while.”“A wise choice, considering we still have little more than two hours until those thieves are visible on any of the Debt Chaser’s systems.”That made them do a double take. “Wait you kept track? Weren’t you…”“Training? Yes I was. You discipline yourself for long enough, you learn to keep the passage of time in mind while you train.”Setting the blade down on a made bed, she moved away to make space for Progress on the mat. They followed, setting their own items on the bed as well.“Are you ready?”“Yes? Is it that serious? I wanted to do some stretches so I don’t get back pain, not do yoga.”This caused a quizzical look from Kintsugi. “Then why did you interrupt my session? We all need to be at our best if we want to bring those bandits’ overdue punishment.” This was met with aspiration in the form of a sigh.“Cuz if anyone knew any stretches that would ensure my back will be fine in two hours so I can start launching missiles at those sons of guns, it’d be you.”“Very well. We shall begin. I expect you to follow my movements the best you can.” “No guarantees there. I ain’t as flexible.”And so it started. Arms up. Hold. Breathe. In. Out. Stop.Bend knees. Hold. Breathe. In. Out. Stop.Bend back. Hold. Breathe… It took a while for the sensors to recognize that the dual revolvers in Poor Poker’s hands were meant for it. That was an annoyance given by sharing weapons between frames, some metadata BS that made a simple yet complicated safety measure so that you didn’t get crosshairs from your fellow’s weapons, unless you wanted them for whatever reason. Dice could just get duplicates of them and keep a pair on each mech, but that wasn’t the point. Rust and Bust had a history going all the way back to when he started hunting those cowardly bastards and hitting ‘em where it hurt. In the moneybags, Just because money was clean didn’t mean it wasn’t dirty once.These guns were a testament to white collar crime being fought with black collar justice. So what if he was branded an outlaw? As far as the public knew those asshats were model fucking citizens until he aired their dirty laundry and the smoking gun they used to shoot themselves in the foot with.If you were on their business end, then you either fucked up and know it, or you pissed ol’ O’Brian enough that you got a target on your back. The Wither Gang managed to do both. And today was the day they would have their tickets punched. They had a plan. Mr. Pilot and Music Kid were planning their little wargame, Explosion Lover would make sure nobody wanted to be anywhere close to each other, while Miss Big Warrior got to anyone that was a bit too far away from their buddies. His job? Help the idiots against hacking attempts, set up mooks to be thrown into Miss Big Warrior’s tele-blender special, and finally, give that teleporting motherfucker hell. They had a score to settle. It was going to be fun messing with a whole ISP-N ship. He wondered how exactly they were going to fill the boots of just the skeleton crew for that thing. Using the thing for whatever the hell their plan was?Well let’s just say that there was a reason “Smokes” O’Brian was able to get his hands on the thing’s navigator unit and track it without network detection. “So we just pray that we don’t get wrecked by artillery?” Vinyl countered while he scratched digital records on his arm mounted dataplating. “I’m the only one that has a EVA unit made for space use installed on their mech. And we know these guys are cheapskates when it doesn’t come with immediate benefits. They probably don’t all have EVA units installed either. So we fight them on the inside.““Ok, how are we getting inside in the first place?”Irons had been talking back and forth with Vinyl for the past hour and a half. So far their main idea was a phalanx of cover and drones while Dice cut the escape routes and force the gang to fight them head on with defenses primed and ready. Though Vinyl had some objections. What if they couldn’t get the fight in a hallway? The Wither Gang has that Minotaur, and they’ve used it to get away how many times?“All I’m saying is if the song turns to discord and we end up not on the ship, we’re screwed.”Yes, Irons knew that. Being a pilot wasn’t risk free. He knew what space was. Knew what it did. But the group didn’t really have as much info as they could have right now. Not without blowing the admittedly limited cover they had.“If things go bad, then we fight where we do and Dice goes full Minotoaur duty. You push the line and once we get something favorable, I put my stuff down. Won’t be able to fire the Jolly Roger indoors, so the most I’ll be good for before then is bullet spray.” Alex just wanted to talk formations, not an entire battleplan. He had his deployments, and Vinyl had his. They would do a battleplan once they knew where they were going to fight.Vinyl let out a sigh after a while. “All this time and we got, like, two plans?”“Well I have my attention split between conversation, planning, and piloting this ship.” As if to prove a point, the console began making noise as sensors began giving readouts. “Speaking of which…”Irons turned the microphone on before clearing his throat. “Hello, this is Irons speaking. We have the stolen ship in scanner range and are getting readouts. If everyone could move to the bridge so we can see for ourselves what the Wither Gang wanted with an ISP-N ship, that would be great.” “..Alright. So. I think I speak for everyone when I say what the hell is that?” Progress gestured to.. Something.. Surrounding? Beside? In front? Behind? There was no way to tell. It changed every time you blinked. The stolen ISP-N ship was next to the unknown thing.“In my professional opinion..? Irons began before averting his eyes.“Ugh. Nope, nope. My head hurts from looking at it.”Dice in Poor Poker was plugged into the Debt Chaser’s systems, making sure their asses weren’t detected by their quarry. Though the Goblin was translating the readings, and boy. They were weird, but a recognizable flavor of weird. The kind that was giving him an idea.“Well fuck. What the hell are they doing with one of those?”“Have you discovered what this strange phenomenon is Dice?”“Well, Miss Big Warrior-” “Kintsugi.” “-whatever, I don’t really know half of what Poor Poker’s trying to tell me, because half of it is the thing that isn’t the ship. But, if I was a betting man-”“Says the one who’s callsign is Dice.” Progress jested, causing the Lancer in question to groan. “Fuckin excuse me jokester I’m talking. ANYWAYS AS I WAS SAYIN’.. I’d put my money on that being a Metavault. Who’s up to deal with some paracausality bullshit because we don’t have a choice.”There was silence on the bridge for a while. Did the Wither gang know this was here? This had to be why they stole something as big as an ISP-N ship. What the hell were they doing with this?“They’re trying to take something from it.” Irons broke the silence with a guess. What, he didn’t know. But he assumed it wouldn’t be good.“Then let’s stop them from taking whatever they want,” Vinyl proposed to the group. Vault was in the name, so there was a good chance the gang was going to take something from it.“If they acquire something from it. They will have leverage with any company willing to buy whatever price imaginable for something paracausal. Like a pardon or protection from justice.” Kintsugi began connecting dots, theorizing on what the thieves were planning.“Like we’re going to let them do that! Dice, figure out where the hell those guys are going to enter the vault. Irons, get us to the closest deck to them. Then, we go and kick butt!” Progress laid out a game plan before dashing off to start Moonrider and grab their grenades. Vinyl and Kintsugi ran off to do the same.
It was time to put an end to this long chase. And Minotaur be damned, they were NOT going to let them get away this time.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The cargo hold was alive with the sounds of preparation. Reactors spooling up to power their chassis, comms buzzing in encrypted channels, hundreds of drone thrusters flaring up to make a vague approximation of the mech they masqueraded as for so long, systems beeping their activation sequence, metal creaking as pilots checked their mechanical joints, the sharpening of old blades, and the arming of countless missiles. “..And you are free to call upon my great services any time once boots hit the ground dear Progress.”“Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy-HURRY IT UP PILOT I WANNA GO!”“Asura, move it down a key. You waited three hours, you can wait a few more minutes. Does Vinyl have to lock you out of the controller again?”And lastly, the awakening of NHPs. Progress was busy tuning out the TLALOC-class as they prepared everything else in Moonrider. The fancy pants executives made it sound so appealing. Retargeting missed shots at the cost of your reactor running hot? Sounded like free aim assist plus danger zone control. They conveniently left out how stuck up the AI was. At least he did what he preached, otherwise they would have ditched the casket by now.Vinyl was glad that Remix would help babysit Asura. It wasn’t that bad during actual combat. Doing things fast was good when nothing else stressed the reactor. A little too into it’s purpose though, made it an annoyance at times. Sometimes you need to let tension rise to have the beat drop you know? Remix was a copilot and friend from before he was pulled into this mess. A barter from a HORUS cell, it turned out to be the better thing HORUS gave him in exchange for his DJ services. He was still salty about the turntable thing. First a pair of DJs, now two people trying to get out of this alive so they could get back to their actual jobs. Back on the bridge, Dice was able to hack into the ISP-N camera network and find the gang in a mech sized airlock.“Heh-HEH! Found the fuckers!” The conman crowed as he began plugging himself out of the ship's systems. “Where am I going Dice?” Alex asked as he flew the scout ship behind their target.“Closest is hangar two. I silently locked the place down before disconnecting. If we’re lucky we got ten minutes before they realize the ship is giving them looping data.” Dice reported while he cracked his knuckles and his frame spun the revolvers in its hands. “Get us in there Mr. Pilot. I’m going to go join the others. Want me to prep the Galleon?”“Sure. Once I land this puppy we need to exit A.S.A.P. I don’t want to fight in the vault.”He was already fighting weird readings already. He didn’t want to know what the inside of the vault felt like. He still had that headache.With that confirmation, Dice dashed off towards the cargo bay where the others were. Kintsugi simply nodded her head in recognition when Dice came through the doors and hooked his frame into Iron’s Galeon. She was busy ensuring Survival’s weaponry was in proper shape. The charged claymore may be oversized for the frame that would be residing in the expanded compartment of another mech, but she would use it with honor, for like the weaponized thruster mounted on its right arm, it was one of the few recoverable pieces of equipment from the Survival’s previous body, and they were to be given the honor they deserved. She had a system to follow. Which fueled her inaction when Moonrider armed it’s launcher arm.“And that’s Weapon check complete! Ready to explode these jerks. How’s everyone else?”“Eh, Mr. Pilot’s mech is almost up. It just needs the man themselves to land this damn ship, and get over here.”“Actually, you didn’t tell us how you got this thing.” Vinyl noted offhandedly questioned as each attack drone underwent diagnostics.“Don’t worry about it. And as long as it stays in mint condition, we won’t have to.” “..will you explain why that is the case?” “No. No I will not.” “Why so?” “You think I don’t know what jinxing is Big Warrior Lady?” “My name is Ki-” Kinsugi’s rising voice was cut off by the cargo bay shaking.“What was that about mint condition?” “Eh, it’ll be fine, I didn’t hear any scrapes so we’re good.”Grumbling was the only thing that could escape Smokes’ mouth before Alex ran into the cargo bay. “Get off of the Galleon Dice! Get the doors open!” Five mechs rushed down the corridor as they were guided by Dice’s readouts. True to his estimate, boarding alarms started blaring as automated defenses opened up and began spinning up to fire. Each was dealt with differently.Turrets were slashed by Shatter’s Fold Knife with it’s partner on the other side of the corridor swiftly met by the rigid blade of a Swordbreaker, sometimes within milliseconds of each other. The few shots that were fired were deflected, dealing minor damage to the duelist before the mech flew at the poor gun platform to enact the lesser threat’s destruction.Blast doors failed to stop the progress of Moonrider’s advance by the combined torrent of Sharanga missiles, ammo fresh from a standard missile rack, and lightning only a Stormbringer could call forward. Occasionally it’s pilot pulled themself out of the cockpit to open the big auxiliary vents before dropping back in to take control back from the pompous NHP that took over the movement controls that kept the mech moving forward.Basic fodder security bots failed to face Disc Jockey’s music as it’s Ghast Nexus blasted through lines while the Shredder Drone diced the nearby survivors. Inside the command hub Asura kept all the pieces from being left behind while Remix took pot shots with a drone armed with an integrated Thermal Pistol. It wasn’t much, but since these robots were meant to waste pirate time until the Blackbeards and Calibans showed up, they didn’t need amazing marksmanship to take out with any mech grade weapon.Any spare shots fired the group’s way were blocked by the Galleon’s arsenal. A Status projector made anyone a standing shield and bought time for when someone was just too far away to break a turret. A trusty Lotus projector drone scouted the advancing forces and betrayed the position of hiding robots and turrets. It kept Dice hidden behind its Argonaut Shield while a little periscope either marked targets to enact PEBCAC protocols for the hell of it, or let Moonrider ignore some brass and cause some kickback. Not like Progress was going to complain about more damage.“Take this right! We’re almost to the fuckers! They’re still muckin’ around with the airlock systems!” “Why are they going through an airlock!?” “How else are they to access the Meta-Vault without risking the ship Vinyl?” “It’s a gross ignorance of airlock safety procedure is what they’re doing.” “Question Irons, how do we follow them if they jump in before we get there?” “There’s mech strength tethers in my mech. Brought ‘em over from my old mech. Withers can’t sabotage that without breaking their own contact points.” A group of grunt mechs were tethered mechs stood in the airlock waiting, standing tall among them was a Minotaur pattern frame. “Update on those idiots?” Its pilot growled into his comms. The roaches had somehow tracked them and were invadIng the ship. Obviously automated security wasn’t doing it’s job, guess there was a reason why ISP-N had to make their entire mech industry anti-pirate. Fat good those did when they hijacked this ship in close orbit.The plan was simple when it came to plans fringing on paracausality. Use that little accountant to get the numbers for them to land safely, grab whatever the fuck loot was inside, and he and his men were going to rake in the credits straight from the highest bidder. If any of them worked enough to keep their cut that was. He had to bail the morons out whenever these roaches showed up. However they wouldn’t even get that luxury inside the vault. This was the only safe launch point on the ship. If the damn security measures weren’t hard coded in the airlock systems he’d just open the doors to space and hope the bastards died in the depressurization. But that Goblin's cyber fuckery had made the process take longer.“They just turned the last corner before the airlock. It’s now or never boss.” “ Then get these damn airlocks working already!”
“Alright Explosion Lover, keep the kabooms down could ya?’ Dice asked with a sarcastic tone while the pilot in question rolled their eyes. “I know explosive safety, asshole.” Progress growled. There were definitely times where they wanted to punch the conman for his comments, but they were close to ending this so they let it slide for now. They could punch him tomorrow.
The group raced down the hallway as defenses stopped showing up. “They should show up on the left in five! Four! Three! TWO!”
As the entourage of mechs crossed the turning point, they were met with closed doors.
“Sayonara you damn roaches! We’re off to payday!” The gang leader sneered as he and the other gang mechs began their spacewalk into the Meta-Vault.
“Damnit!” Kintsugi punched the air lock door in frustration. They were so close to ending this and now they had to chase these scum again.
Taunting laughter filled the group’s comms until each sneer faded into static.
“Dice, get these things open and get us out there!” Kintsugi growled as she looked back to the Goblin Pilot with a clenched fist.
“I’m working on it,
I’m working on it!”
The conman barked back as he continued hacking his way back into the ship’s systems. He started when the doors to space opened, and was well on his way to do that very thing without people telling him to hurry it up.
It was an excruciating two minutes, and that didn’t include the repressurizing process. Everyone had grabbed a tether from Irons, while Dice was able to hack open some lockers and get himself a space suit to wear under Poor Poker. Irons instructed everyone on space walk safety, Vinyl's drones began joining together in order to minimize losses while Remix and Vinyl convinced Asura to keep calm and be very very
very
careful inside the vault. Progress began snapping her fingers while the TLALOC class actually listened to the instructions Irons was giving, and Kintsugi scornfully stared into the collection of paracausality outside the ship.
Everyone attached their cables to the Galleon, as it not only had installed contact points, but also had a spaceborn EVA unit installed. Could they all do it? Yes. Did it take a lot of convincing of Irons? Also Yes. When everyone gave the thumbs up to Dice, the airlock began depressurizing, the sound of alarms getting sucked out with the oxygen.
“Alright everyone, as instructed. Everyone let me into your systems so I can manage everyone’s boost thrusters to get us there faster.”
With each mech prepared to jump, comms went silent as the lines between reality began to blur.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Reality was off. Noone knew why, or in what way, They were entering the Meta Vault. They had crossed the boundaries of the Meta-Vault. The Metavault was at their feet. The patterns of HORUS were proving their worth. Stabilizing the unstable flow into something palatable for the other closeby consciousnesses. Instructions were given, instructions to avoid the weaker beginnings of causality within. It was quiet, and it was a constant drone in the back of minds both physical and otherwise.“Oh good lord TALOC, is this what you feel like?” Progress would say later. “This is not normal for any of us my ally, and I would rather not learn what Cascading feels like.” Epimetheus the Redirector had responded while the Galleon would land on an euclidean fracture of ground. Each mech dismounted with great care, on guard to ensure the gravity would be of one direction. Though Progress took the longest.Everything inside the vault hurts their head. Everything yet nothing was a blur at the same time. Why couldn’t the thieves just be here so they could blow them up? That was the one thing they could focus on doing when on the job. Blowing stuff up, and making sure those that needed to survive the mission did. So what if things got destroyed? If they wanted a clean job they shouldn’t have hired the merc known for their use of high explosives.Aleko attempted to circumvent the odd gravity by keeping the Hydra’s puppets in a swarm like wasps following their queen. For the current hour it worked. These witnesses of spacetime would stick together, constantly checking each other so they would not lose each other in the sub-liminal not-halls of the Meta-Vault. Their goal was simple, to find the other intruders of stability. The others had entered a few minutes before they had, but what would that truly matter in a place like this? A place where everything yet nothing were happening completely discordantly and in a race with each other?
Irons decided to try and use his radar to try and figure out where the raiders could be. However the vault would not appreciate someone trying to game its rules, as the radar instead sent out a pulse.
“Woah-kay! What happened there? Everyone alright?”
“What the hell did you do Irons?! All my weapons aren’t responding!” “It is not just Progress’ launchers, Shatter has sheathed its blades against my will and will not move its arms towards their handle!” “Did you dolts forget about the ‘dealing with paracausality bullshit’ part? It’s probably that. Don’t think about it, more shit might happen.” “Great. Let’s just hope this wears off before we find the Withers. Because we are screwed if that happens.”The group wandered together carefully around the vault for what felt like hours in tense silence. After the pilot of the Galleon caused a tinge in the paracausal web, none dared to attempt the same. The pilot of Poor Poker simply sat on top of the Galleon, looking through the code of his own mech to try and see if The raiders from Linearly will inadvertently do the same. On the plus side, they were probably just as lost as the Lancers. Probably. The Wither Gang had to have some use for the NHP they stole to start this whole shebacle. The thing had to cascade for a reason right? O’Brian thought as he simply sat beside the Kidd’s robots. He didn’t work with NHPs, or with anyone. He worked alone, or he did, until the Wither Gang came and tried to drag him into this mess. Well now he was here, and damn it he was going to end it here, with that gang either in cuffs or a closed casket. Like the mooks could take all of this group working to stop them without that Minotaur bailing them out of this.
Though he didn’t dare say this. He did not want to see if paracausality extended to jinxing. Though as that idea would come into O’Brian’s head, something would spike in his sensors before everyone was surrounded by a colorful monochrome force of reality.“OI! THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!” Boomed Lucas to his contract killer as they were currently sharing the same experience.“Not my fault! The damn NHP started to go crazy and I had to cycle it.” The woman talked back with her personal comms while the mech rebooted.
“I told you to leave the casket on the ship.” The boss pointed out with a scowl the other goons could hear. He wasn’t a very patient man.
“My contract does not provide you with the ability to tell me what equipment I bring.” She stated as if it was obvious.
“I don’t give a damn, you either keep that thing quiet or we’re all fucked. The roaches are probably gaining a fuckton of ground while we’re still trying to find our loot!” He yelled, unaware the two gangs were affecting each other inside the vault."Alright, what happened this time?" Aleko groaned as Hydra's dancers flew along the edges of their personal reality, half to see if comms still worked.
“Not me! TALOC’s been hyper focused on being normal. Considering you’re actually talking I assume your guys aren’t cascading.”
“This is most irregular.” The pilot of Shatter and Survival noted as she pushed a hand against her containment in vain.
“No shit Captain Obvious.” Vinyl bounced back with an annoyed tone at the observation.
“Not now Vinyl. At least we can talk to each other. The weapon jamming went away, this will too. We just need to find them.” Irons cut in before any additional backtalk could occur. Vinyl didn’t respond, grumbling to himself. God, how did he get himself in this situation? He didn’t belong here. None of them belonged here. He just wanted to go home. Mix some tracks, play some music for people, get paid for it. But Union forced him to be here. And now he had to get through this and survive. Fine. What else did he have to worry about besides his life?As Vinyl brooded in the isolation of reality, The pilot of Poor Poker meanwhile was typing away; this little event could be an opportunity. One he could exploit. Eventually the man began cackling. ”Hahahah ehE! Guess what fuckers?! I got a beat on ‘em!” Dice cried out with a large smile on his face as he stood up and spun a gun in his mech’s hand. “I was able to get a tracker on one of them.” O’Brian explained his little trick to the rest of the group. “So once we get out of here, we will be able to track them?” The pilot of Survival asked as she unsheathed the Kusarigama from Shatter’s mount on the mech’s back.
“Maybe. I’m hoping so, but it’s a HORUS mech, so I hope it’ll stick once we get back to normal. But who knows. Now we uh..wait.” Dice said as he sat back down and waited until the vault turned to it’s previous state.
After an intermediate amount of time the bubbles expanded into infinity and the residents were no longer contained to their little bubbles. And Dice’s tracker stayed, so the group began following it the best the Meta Vault would let them. Which they all knew was going to be a tall order considering what had happened so far.“Alright everyone, prepare for a hike. ‘Cuz I bet you the vault’s not gonna let us find them easily.”Then they started falling. “OH SHIT-”
“Did you have to say something?!”“Oh god, TAL?” “ What?” “Thrusters!”“I think I have a read on the ground- t-minus 1 minute!”“Weeee!” “AUSRA!” “What? I’m enjoying the ride you two!”Turns out one should watch what one says when in a void of paracausality.Everyone landed with relative success. The mechs behind them did not fair as well. Everyone turned around to see the Wither Gang, Minotaur and all. “You. ” Kintsugi uttered with a deep hatred in her voice. These honorless vermin had been allowed to walk free for too long. They had to be stopped. Here and now. She immediately picked the Kusarigama up from its place on the ground and aimed it at the scum, glancing over the thing sat between the two groups.The reveal of the Lancers’ presence made the gang members scramble to their feet. The Minotaur shifted into a combat stance, cocking a shotgun. “Of course you damn roaches would find your way here. I’ve been waiting a long time to scrap your asses. Do you know how many times your damn group fucked up my operation?” After the Minotaur pilot asked that question one of the grunts looked at the thing in the middle. “Boss, I think that’s it.” Running through various readings and technical jargon the gang leader didn’t bother to make sense of, the thing was keeping a stable shape even though the environment around them all definitely wasn't.
“Well I guess it won’t matter soon. Everyone, grab that thing and let’s get the hell out of here! And smoke the roaches while we’re at it!” That order was met with a smirk from O’Brian as he attempted to invade the leader mech’s systems. “Not if I can say anything about it.” As he hit the send button and suddenly power cores flew out of the portals on the Minotaur. “Hope you like the Smokes special asshole!”While the gang recovered from the resulting chaos, the group of Lancers prepared to fight. Which for The Ruinous Bomber means firing off a volley of Pinaka missiles while overcharging for an additional volley of Javelins into the air. Targeting systems broadcasting the blast radii to all units, gang members began to scatter. A small group of grunts began moving out of the way, firing on O’Brian while they ran.“You sumbitches still hungry? Well have some seconds!” Shots pinged off Poor Poker as the conman reacted by firing off a pre-compiled script that caused the mechs to fling themselves backwards. “We have to advance people!” “Irons, mind pushing up with me?” Aleko would ask before getting confirmation. “You set up a firing line, I’ll set up defenses around it.”‘Alright. Asura, help me get to that thing and deploy the Nexus.” Vinyl asked the NHP, hoping it knew when to stop. “Aww yeah it’s fast time!” That was about all It said before the horde of drones boosted forward, dragging the hub along with it. Aleko took over the movement controls as The Embodiment of Speed deployed one of a pair of Tempest drones. The Pilot of Disc Jockey soon deployed its other alongside a Shredder. Already annoyed and unable to bark orders at his grunts, The Leader of Wither deployed a smoke bomb to cover him as he charged in, locked and loaded. From the smoke a small swarm of greywash swarmed the Shredder drone, eating away at the armor plating.Fireline established, The Pilot of The Galleon boosted forward and when he reached the object a pair of robots began setting up deployable cover in front of the drones. “I need a minute to get set up-cover me!” Shouted Alex as a lanky armed mech followed their leader through the smoke and fired its arms out to grab a foe, though without a clear shot through the smoke the arm barely grazed the top of the cover. “You moron! Get to the other side before these Roaches make a wall!”“Dice, are you able to advance?” “Yeah I’m fine, but I ain't gettin’ close without cover. I hack, you hack and slash. Thought you knew the program by now.” At the backtalk the Highest Honor simply groaned, there was more important things to do, like regaining her honor by finishing this fight. Dashing forward, she stood ready, facing the Contracted Killer in silent challenge. One she accepted, charging at the warrior with her carbine ready, opening fire on her in a way Kintsugi couldn’t block.“You-” “Need some help Big Warrior Lady?” Smokes jokingly asked as he linked his systems via metahook while overloading to dash forward and assist. “Eat Lead!” He shouts as he unloaded his akimbo Hand Cannons into the killer. One was a headshot while the other hit right in the shoulder, stopping the advance while sparks flew out the bullet hole in the shoulder. “Go on, take another step. I dare ya.” Dice goaded on open comms. Back in the blast range, a large and bulky mech lumbered forward, firing off a mortar round at the developing defense emplacement. The shot hit almost everything in the radius, scattering the drones and displacing a piece of cover, though the heavily armored Galleon was simply knocked back by the blast. A speedier mech bolted ahead of the bulky mech, turning invisible and barely dodging a Javelin’s explosion.As Mitchell’s volley of missiles landed, only the large armored one was unfortunate enough to be hit by not only one but both Pinaka missiles, blasting away its armor plating and leaving it barely standing as the smoke cleared. The rumbling of explosions caused the object in the middle to shimmer with a weak pulse, disorienting every pilot on the battlefield. “Ow god my head. What happened?” The Olden Strider called out to his group over encrypted comms.“ THAT was fukin’ weird. Everyone okay?” Was the pilot of Poor Poker's response.“I shall survive.” The pilot of Shatter and Survival responded, more focused on her fight than how she was feeling.“How about you TAL?” The Ruinous Bomber asked their comrade. “I.. would very much like it if things went a little faster if you would dear Progress.”“That made me dizzy, Vinyl.” Remix groaned. That wasn’t a good sign. “Uhh Asura?” “Yeah.. maybe we should go fast but-not-because-I-like-to-go-fast.” Oh THAT’S Not a good sign. “Uh yeah it’s bad over here, Asura is worried and it’s not about moving slow for once. Something’s happening and it’s not good.” At that omen, Irons continued to set up defenses against the two in the smoke, deploying an Omnibus nexus swarm to fortify a piece of cover while deploying a Lotus Projector into the smoke. Not wanting his cover to be blown, the Gang leader attempted to blast it with his ‘borrowed’ Decksweeper, only to whiff and resort to blasting it with a light nexus swarm. Frustrated with the ineffectiveness of his weapons he dashed and punched the drone, sending it flying into the reinforced cover and causing it to shatter. “Guess if I need to do things around here I gotta do it myself. As usual.”Keeping his eyes on the killer with a carbine, Dice began to reload his weapons while venting the little heat his reactor had. As he did so the two grunts stuck as a group and attempted to open fire on Kintsugi, though one was only able to graze Shatter’s frame.Seeking to complete the flock of drones, Aleko deployed his Ghast Nexus above the fortifications to blind fire into the smoke. While failing to do any damage, the combustion of the swarm expelled the smoke. Now able to take a clear shot, Vinyl moved his machine and between the deployed covers, fired at the long armed mech with a set of highly engineered modded speakers, which sounded a loud sonic THOOOM which blasted the enemy away and turned it into wreckage. The bulky mech, still in the back of the pack, simply continued to lumber forward despite its damaged servos as it’s pilot pulled herself out of the cockpit to reload the mortar.Further back, Mitchell decided it was time to have some fun. Glancing at their reactor readout with a smile, will ask with a smirk; “Alright TALOC, ready to aim?” “And incur entering the danger zone?” “Uh, yeah! How else can I superheat my rounds?”With the proverbial question already answered, the smirk only grew into a smile as red supposed warning lights flickered in the cockpit. They proceeded to activate their jump jets while aiming their other missile launcher forward and firing two Sharanga missiles; One at the bulk that survived their bombardment, and the gang leader. The bulk was vaporized by a pinpoint irradiated explosion, though Epimetheus the Redirector was forced to change the course of the missile intended for the leader, with it instead obliterating the group of grunt mechs. The additional missile rack did not need such action, with its payload hitting the leader in the chest and knocking him away from his prize. Using the cover of the explosions, the Cloaker swung a tonfa at Kintsugi, though she was able to catch the strike with her Swordbreaker. Dice attempted to give the hiding fucker a taste of malicious code for his troubles but it disappeared from his scanners before he could.Distractions out of the way, Kintsugi slashed at the Contracted Killer with her Kusarigama, severing the broken arms from the body before stabbing her Swordbreaker into the enemy’s cockpit and watched as the mech lifelessly fell backward. Attempting another sneak attack, the Cloaker was met with a Fold Knife to the shoulder and forcing the semi-invisible foe between O’Brian and a newly teleported one of the Highest Honor.The gang leader scowled with fury. This plan was falling the FUCK apart. The roaches now had the numbers advantage and at this rate they’d all die here. All of this work would’ve been for nothing. Spite overwriting his thought process, he will begin booting up his Minotaur’s teleportation tech. The survivor could be fodder. One less useless moron out of a cut. He didn’t care anymore. If he couldn’t get out of this place without his haul, then nobody would. The Leader of Wither charged at the Ar̹̄ͮt̝i̥fa̬̳̓cͤt as it expelled another bnɼƨԍ, and bef ore anyone can-reḁ̢͊̅̈́ͪͨc̡̛͍̩̰ͣ tͫ- Reality Ḅ̵̷̢̡̛̯̱͚̤̻͍̜͕̙̼ͤ͆̓͌́͌̏̋͛̒̕͢ͅͅ 𝓡⃥ Ɐ͞ K̬͙͎̮͒̆̎ 𝔈 ₴The Lancers ceased existence. They existed anyway. This group will always be a group. This group was no longer a group. They were separated by the greatest cosmos. K̍i̸̞ͧn͓tͦ̄s̝̋uͩ͋g͈͊i̛ w̢͕̅a̛͓ͭsh̼̕ed_ I̼̋r̨o̸̜ͤn̐̀s̓ f̰͖̀l͍͘o̸̐a̲ͤt̑e̷̽ͥd iń͞ V̛̪̜͈̎͊ͤͮ̍͝i̶͔͓͕̝͍ͩ̽͑̈̐̎̃ͫͬ̿͞͞ͅṇ͂y̬͓͖ͨ̃͒ͭ̀ͥͮ̇͢l̰̀_ l̵͔̠̱͔͎͇̣̈ͬͥ̑͋̀̇́̐ͥ͢ą̢̲͙̥͍͉́̐̉̿̾n̡͎̘͂͢͝ḑ͎͈͕̂̓̈́͛̇̈́̕͞e̽ͣ́dͥ̀̅͡ Ḑ̢̡͚͇̖̼̝̈́̍͝͝i̜̱̐̒c̷͖͍̣͌̐͊͛̿͘͢ë̦̱͑͊̿ ṗ̷͈̤̱̻̞́̇ͅu͎͛̽ͪ̕̚̚ĺ̡̧̛̲̬̙̈̽͌ͨ͘ͅl̀e̟̪̳͒͛͊̉d̴̡̫͓̩̻͕̫͒ͦ͘ P̖̀̆̓ͭ̓r̢̖̪̀͝o͉ͯğ̷̞͞r̲͇̎͝e̶̽s̴̺̠̎ͩ͗s̳ sͧt́ͅo̓o̍d̜ͩ i͔̇ṇ͟͝ a aͧ̂s̩͔̋̌̾͜ho̔r̷͚̙͉̈́e o͔ͭͧ́̓͟n͇̿̚ͅ a͉̟̼ͨ͛͒̂͘̚ b̟̬͌͆͠ę̰̺͔̹̤̃͠ā̵̴̭̝̝͖̯͋ͦ̕c̶͔͔̯̩ͤ̽͐͌͘h̹̦̫̗͒ͦ̄͗ a͘ ẖ̝͊ỏstͨi̦l͖͌ͮe p̒l͗a͙ͩ͡ņ̔̄e͕͢t̳̿́’̥̄s̚ iͮ͟n̙͒͝s̷i̽̉d̈͟ẽͨ ä́ f̊o͚͋͐res̮̄͑t h͍̝ͬ̈́ͯ͟i̗ṁ̧s̮̯̀̎ę̰̦͔̜́̀l̕f̹͍͔̎͗̋͢ ơ̲͍ͥư͍t͖̎̇͑ͅ ȏ͎̜̣̃͘͘f͞ sͫ̏͠il̵̬͋eͥn̺tͨ cav̰͒̌eͣ wa̰͝i͠t͖í̙ng͡ d̨̨̛̰̯͖̟͔̦̅̾͌̇͋ͫ͌͌̈̄̽̍͞͝͡e̷͇͕̝͋̉͌ͣ̇̇̎́͟͢ͅv̠͊̐̇̚o̶̜̣̹͈̞̳͚̦̰ͪ͌̐ͪ͆͛̚̕͢i͠d͍̀̚ o̶̧͈͍͇̗̱̩̗̫̤̥͚͚ͯͩ̏̀̎ͯ̂̊̐́͗̀ͦ̌̐̚͜͞͝͡f̼̪̼̱͕͌̒ͫ͟͜ t̴͈͙̘ͣ͌̽̄̀͜͞î͈͕̈́̿͜m͍̹͒̽͛̀ͤ͑̆͘͢e̸̱̳̍̆̃ pͦop̩͚͑͂͗͑ͬų̪̈ͤ͐ͦl̛̩͞a͊ͤt̫̞̰͒͡e͎d̍̀ͣ͜ͅ or̯͗ͭ͜b͓̎̕ǐ̙̩̂͂̓t͉̏͑͝ o͢f c̗̍o̔nf̝͇̑l̵͑ͫḯ̈ctͩ̑̋ t̷̡̆ͤ̒͌̂̎̓̈̈́h͙̥ͥ̽ͩͮ͡e̷̘̹͑̾ͧ́̓̃͢ d̙̟͔̍͆ar̨̬̒ͫ̎̎k̼͊̕͟n̿͒e̔ŝ̴̎s̥͎̖͌͢͝ t̙̙̎́͜͞oͣ̊͞ b̸̡̦̭̻̆̆͐̋̑̌e͑͑̐̍̒ f̯͒̈́̇̅o͍̤̹̱̖̖̒̐ͥ̀̌͐̆̑̅ͮ̓͜͜und̛͕̅͛́