The walk towards the tower is all but quiet. Larnos was completely focused on surveillance as he knew to never underestimate a rapture, no matter the size of it. An occasional dot would appear on screen but would quickly move out of range as if it was avoiding something.
"So," he hears Anis trail off. "Are we not going to talk about, you know, a talking rapture?"
The others most likely would have had the same thought but it seems they were waiting for someone to start. These things mimic humanity in ways that would beguile the egg heads of his time.
"Yeah," Neon answers as she looks at her weapon. " That was not normal. Raptures shouldn't be able to speak much less be that intelligent right commander?"
The man in the military attire is startled slightly when Neon throws the conversation his way. Luckily for him the radio station comes into view. Larnos could almost hear the sigh coming from the commander from where he was. Larnos simply observed the group as they conversed amongst themselves although one would occasionally glance in his direction.
The radio tower stood out in the urban wasteland, all around it were ruins of a bygone era. A lone and defiant testament to what humanity stands for; unyielding spirit. Atop the tower's single antenna flashed a dull red light. The dark steel walls had singe marks on them and he could spot a few areas where the concrete was exposed. Clearly this lone tower has been subjected to numerous attacks but it mimics the spirit of its creators and stands tall.
"How does the tower still have power?" Larnos asked the group.
" It was found on an earlier expedition by another group and it was decided that it would be restored and maintained in the event of any emergency in this region," Rapi explained.
"I'll stay here and keep watch," Larnos tells the group. "Get in there and find an escape route."
He doesn't let anyone respond before he turns and walks towards a vantage point and waits. The scene in front of him is nothing short of apocalyptic, hollowed remains of civilization lay strewn about. Looking around he spots the skeletal remains of someone. To think two hundred years ago this place was filled with people looking for a means to escape what would be the greatest threat known to man.
" You okay there big guy? " Anis's voice calls out from behind.
" I don't know," he answers after a while.
She stands next to creation of ancient human design and looks out into the desolate landscape.
"What was it like? The war I mean."
Chuckling he looked up into the clear cloudless sky, a group of birds flies high up in a 'v' formation. It seems the raptures targeted only humans and life went on.
"It was hell. For every rapture we put down another would take its place. They quickly adapted to our tactics and made us pay for daring to use the same tactic twice. Most of the people I knew only lasted a single battle. Soon many would avoid me all together unless it was an emergency and I was not one to care about such things when a damn war was going on.
We pilots knew we would never leave the battlefield and so we fought to buy others time but it seems all our work was for nothing. We failed and humanity suffered greatly for it."
Anis let out a hum as she watched on in silence.
"I don't think you failed. Sure you guys got your ass handed to ya but you gave others enough time to escape and that ultimately led to the creation of us nikkes," she told the time displaced veteran. " And you're still here and that means you technically never lost."
The duo stood watch in silence until Rapi told them about an airfield not too far from their current position where they would be picked up.
The air field sat in the middle of a valley surrounded on all sides by trees. Something felt off about the place.
'It's too exposed,' he thought as they got closer. ' Chances are they've set up an ambush or something.'
As if to prove him right multiple dots suddenly revealed themselves where the airfield was on his radar. He alerted the group of the presence of an absurd number of raptures. The commander was ordered by Rapi to find somewhere safe while they dealt with the enemy. Larnos was the first to reach the airfield and engage with the enemy.
Evading multiple shots he returned fire, making sure to aim for the front of the raptures, where their crimson eye was located. For any that got close he would cut down with his blade which could now tear through their armor with relative ease.
Attacks that would have pierced the hull merely bounced off but he still felt the force. Activating the thrusters across the mech he used their numbers to his advantage by skidding between them.
'Shoulder Cannon ready,' A voice notified him as he evaded a projectile from above.
A massive armament revealed itself atop the left shoulder forcing him to take a knee due to the sheer weight of it. The shots from the raptures intensified as if they knew of the destructive capabilities of this new weapon. Larnos gritted his teeth and tried to take aim at a group but they would move slightly out of view while firing. Finally he gave up on aiming and pulled the trigger.
For the next few seconds all he could hear was ringing while he felt like his brain was being prodded by a stake ,and his feed had gone white. Not only that but the oncoming fire had ceased as well. The video feed finally came back on and revealed the power of the 'cannon'. The area in front of him had dropped by about five feet and a crater stood in the place of the raptures. The crater extended further than he could see. A heavy clang emanated from where the massive ejected shell landed as it created a crater of its own.
He tried to move but couldn't. Looking at his arms he came to a horrifying realization. This thing from just firing had paralyzed him.
"Adjusting power output to ensure safety of pilot. Commencing spine reconstruction procedure," the robotic voice from earlier declared.
Although he didn't feel it he knew his spine must have shattered from the force generated and the mech itself was restoring it.
"Since when could you do that?" he muttered under his breath as he felt the sensation of his limbs once more.
Another group of raptures charged at him. They peppered him with shots but his shield performed much better than he had hoped but the raptures would not give up so easily and began encircling him. His radar showed three coming from behind, two coming in from the left, four from the right and five charged at him head on.
He let them get within range of his sword while opening fire on the ones coming in from behind. Once they were within range he swung in a low circle, taking out their legs while pointing his rifle towards the ground and switched the firing mechanism to heavy burst and pulled the trigger.
Using the momentum created by the blast he launched himself over the incoming charge. In built thrusters activated on their own giving the mech flight. The raptures that were priming their weapons to fire at the transport ship trained them on Larnos and opened fire.
The sky erupted as flaks detonated around him. One detonated extremely close to him and he felt the shock-wave through out his entire body. The calm atmosphere instantly turned into a gauntlet of explosions and shrapnel as he dodged the incoming fire.
His cannon would only fire if he had a solid surface to stand on. But who said it always had to be the actual ground? He took a quick glance at his rifle and an idea came to mind. Sheathing the blade he placed the bulky and sturdy armament underneath the mech's legs and crouched mid air.
The activation signal for the cannon came online and he grinned. Turning his body by adjusting the rifle vertically and horizontally in small increments he took aim and fired.
The ground beneath him was engulfed in a sphere of light and a cloud of debris shot up moments later. Servos immediately began adjusting to compensate for the unusual position the mech was in while thrusters worked over time to keep the hulking killing machine midair.
The recoil, although not as strong as the first one was enough to send him further up in altitude with a boom that reverberated throughout his body. Shaking off the ringing he took aim and let that monstrosity that sat atop the armored shoulder of his mech release its fury onto the intended target before adjusting his aim to a different target while the servos and thrusters kept him airborne. Once more he was pushed back. Another idea quickly took root and he began to consider it.
He took the pose once more but instead of immediately firing, he waited. The weight of the mech combined with the cannon's own began to set in causing him to tilt forward and that was when his cannon released its cargo once more, the ground being torn apart from the force of the blast.
But this time he quickly brought up his rifle into a firing position and used the burst mode to change his trajectory mid fall before returning it to where it was before and continued his onslaught from the heavens. Rapture fire bounced of his shields as they refused to let him go unscathed.
From above he noticed Rapi and the other nikke open fire from their location before spreading out and the commander retreated to a safer position. The rapture fire on him began to focus on the region connecting the cannon to the shoulder of the mech. He flipped the rifle's barrel up to an angle of a hundred and eighty degrees, causing him to spin until he was fully upside down.
He looked straight down and adjusted his torso and opened fire on the group directly underneath him, careful to not hit Rapi and the others. A flash of light came from the transport as a rapture from the other side of the field turned to ash. Once the cannon expelled its load he would lean back with all his might while the thrusters aided him causing the mech to perform a pseudo-back-flip mid air then fired once more.
He didn't bother to look and continued unleashing hell upon the remaining raptures while the others aided until the field was cleared of raptures. Staying airborne for a while, he surveyed the scene to pick off any stragglers but there were none and so he descended, placing his rifle in its intended place on the mech but he knew better than to underestimate his enemy.
The transport ship landed a good distance away from the battle and another group of women got out. The commander came out of hiding and quickly reunited with the group but the reunion was short lived as a new figure entered the scene.
" Well it certainly seems you are adapting quite well," a familiar voice called out. "Larnos."
The figure from when he detonated that bomb revealed itself to the group. Its humanoid form had taken on the color scheme similar to that of Chatterbox with a blade resting on its left hip. Every nikke immediately trained their weapon onto it.
" I am here not to fight," it stated as it raised its hands in mock surrender. " I am only here to see how the human is faring."
Once it finished saying that its featureless face turned towards Larnos and it gave an enthusiastic wave as though they were long time friends.
Larnos did not hesitate to fire the cannon at the entity, who made no attempt to defend itself. The smoke cleared and it showed no sign of damage. He fired again and nothing changed save for the surroundings being reduced to rubble.
"You were never one to back down from a challenge were you?" It asks with an eerily gleeful tone. "I was in the area and decided to see what the commotion was about and I find you."
" There's a second talking one?!" Anis asked.
"So that is humanity's newest defense," it glanced at the group of nikkes and let out a chuckle. " Humans always did have a tendency to go in circles in most things."
The figure focused its attention solely on Larnos. It lifted up a finger and waved at him, a full grin manifesting on its featureless face before it turned and walking into the trees.
" You're not ready yet my dearest friend. Train and remember your past and then I will seek you out again," it informed him.
Larnos knew it spoke the truth. There was no doubt that it too had undergone a transformation process similar to him and would have become far more stronger than it already was which when put into perspective means he cannot kill it but it can possibly kill him. To add salt to the wound it did not show up on his radar.
"We need to leave," he told the group. " We can't win a fight against it no matter what we do."
Anis and Rapi were about to protest but the creature's voice rang out from within the trees;
" I would listen to him if I were you. It's not everyday you get to survive the odds, especially in this era."
With the current threat gone Larnos turned to face the third group of nikke. They all had clothes with color schemes similar to that of Rapi.
The one to the left wore a black coat with red accents that seemed to glow and a hood that rested just below her neck. She had on black combat pants that covered her legs entirely with each knee having black knee pads paired with equally colored heels. On her back was a black massive gun that had a scope a third of the the entire body with a barrel long enough to tower over the woman. Her black hair was pushed to the side with a light grey singular eye watching him.
To her right stood a blonde haired woman with the hair resting just above her overly large chest. Her outfit was simple a short dress that ended in a frill skirt that just went past her waist. She wore stockings with a pouch strapped to her right thigh. She had no weapon on her but her bright yellow eyes gave off an air of mischief.
The final member was the shortest of the three. She had the exact same body structure as the pink haired one with their weapons actually being similar in type. The only difference was her outfit which consisted of some kind body suit that ended at her thighs and a cape that covered her upper body. She had silver hair with bright blue eyes that gave her an ethereal look. Her rocket launcher sat on her back and was almost her size.
"Rapi," Larnos called to the nikke who was locked in a star down with the sniper wielding nikke. " You and the others get in the transport and fill in those three about the current situation and tell base command to set up a quarantine zone large enough to hold a fourteen foot mech. I will follow close behind."
She was hesitant at first but went in with the commander in tow and the rest followed. However the recent group let their gazes linger for a moment before boarding the transport. He let it take flight before going airborne as well acting as a rear guard.