Armored Core VI: Fires of Rubicon

Chapter 12: Slight Change Of Tactics

"How's it going, Walter?" asked Carla.

It seemed almost too smooth, really. 621 had claimed that it hadn't heard voices since the Watchpoint incident, but with its behavior recently, he wasn't sure if that was true anymore.

"Hard to say." he admitted, "621's still performing well, but I doubt the voices have gone away. At any rate, whatever the voices are doesn't seem to be doing any harm, even if it's behaving a bit oddly."

Carla scoffed at his answer.

"I was asking about you, Walter, but whatever." she said, "Bigger things. The Coral. You'd better find it. Turns out, our friends' fears were warranted. Don't spend too long dealing with the PCA, Walter. Clock's ticking."

...

"Raven, we have a few messages in the buffer for you." said Ayre, "They're from Balam's G6 Red, and Walter. Playing the message from G6 now."

"Attention, G13 Raven! I have a message for you from Commander Michigan, following your success at the Engebret Tunnel." he said, then read "'Good work on keeping the PCA off our asses and making the best of a shitty assignment. Your resourcefulness was admirable, keep it alive for the next field trip.' Over and out!"

Ayre couldn't help but laugh at the man's over-the-top enthusiasm, reveling in the shared feeling echoing from her partner across their connection.

"He's quite the character, Raven." She said, "The message from Walter has a briefing attached. We'll be deploying from a different helicopter. Seems he wants to pilot it to the drop point this time. I'll get us there while you make any adjustments you need to OBSIDIAN WING. I also picked up the new missile launchers you ordered."

Raven swapped the pulse cannon on the right back out for the dual missile launcher before he pulled up the briefing, Ayre keeping an eye on it through his as he did, catching a flash of his partner's perspective, a sensation of someone embracing him from behind, a cheek pressed against his own.

"This is a personal request, from a friend." said Walter, "We still don't have enough data to pin down where the Coral is gathering in the ice field. According to my friend's sources... We could find some clues here. Xylem. A city floating on the ocean, built by the Rubicon Research institute."

The footage accompanying the briefing showed a series of towers, buildings and roads interspersed among them. Near what was presumably the middle of the city was a single massive structure.

"Ever since the Fires, that place has been abandoned. It's likely hiding secrets about the Coral, kept shrouded by the city's ECM fog." he explained, "My friends have already tried sending in a survey drone, only to lose it in all the interference. That's where you come in. I want you to disable the ECM fog generators so that we can resume the survey. Right now, the corporations are preoccupied with the PCA. We can be the first ones to identify where the Coral is converging."

"Raven, we'll be at the target in about half an hour." Ayre informed.

...

Walter watched the transport chopper telemetry as he lifted off. The hound was safely in the back, and with the nav systems running a predetermined course, he was free to take the time for other things.

It took a minute for the connection to establish with 621, but eventually the handshake succeeded. He now had access to its implants. It had been a while since he'd tinkered like this, but it should be pretty trivial to filter out the excessive waveform disturbances that were symptomatic of hearing voices. It wasn't always permanent, but this should deal with the odd behavior of late.