It was a stormy night in the outskirts of the unknown Northern Ioroa, Free World Sector 21 - Continent Esdoc - Class S. Blizzards battering the unforgiving forests and winds reaching punishing heights assaulted the seemingly empty, undiscovered region. Against the backdrop, reaching a hundred feet tall, was a lone watch tower. In it, blazing flames scorched the deathly perch as two corpses of foot soldiers fatefully stationed there lay dead while a destroyed signal began transmitting its message to its origin point, alerting their master of a dangerous object homing for their deepest darkest secret.
"Code Omega Alert – Code Omega Alert – NRD [Not a Drill] Viola Facility 2 location compromised. Unidentified craft incoming."
These words continue to batter the air waves with a distressed voice, a signal sent to a remote location none but the highest authority of the country are aware of: The Viola Corporation, one of the four pillars of Industry in the world, had taken refuge with a mysterious facility and with it, unspeakable horrors that violated humanity's rights through genetic manipulation and elemental augments lay within the disturbing silent countryside.
As the signal raged on hopelessly reaching towards the facility's sensors, an aerial dogfight appeared to be taking place miles away from the tower and into the skyline above the mountains as searchlights continued to scan the skies to destroy whoever discovered their secret location. A lone man-sized craft can be seen firing deathly rays of unknown light as it sliced through crafts with ease. Ultimately, against the blizzard, the transmission within the watchtower had stopped, and whatever piloted that craft had achieved its goal.
The story takes place roughly 2 hours ago, wherein this mysterious craft had flown from one of the Free World cities named Encia into this location. Although to be specific, the whole incentive of this attack was the result of a rival corporation, a powered battle response suit manufacturing company called Faiz Industries was the center of attention after an unrelated terrorist incident that shook the capitals of the Free World sectors revealed certain secrets to the world at large. The incident was orchestrated by a scientist named Elise Winters, with her intention resulted in its CEO and creator of the Ragnum Battle Assault System, Ralph Faiz to discover a seemingly remote location hidden by his rivals, the powerful Viola Corporation from the world. His motives for the attack remain unknown as of now, yet it sparks another question of the possibility of another corporate war between the Military contractor giant and the omniscient Corporation of Viola.
Roughly 2 hours at the point of contact, at half past midnight, wherein two out stationed soldiers from Viola are posted together after failing to contain an experiment within the compound which resulted in the death of their colleagues, a talkative young woman.
"Quite frankly, mate, I feel for her. She was a bubbly bitch, yet number 07 didn't have to do that. I hope they put her down like the dogs they've become," one of the wittier, accented troops said as he poured coffee unto his cup.
"Are you kidding me, Arnie? We loved that girl! I'll be sure to put in a good report once we're allowed to just to watch that beast die in a fire. Those freaks of theirs are getting out of hand, I'm glad we're on this side of the pond while they're left to rot out there," his bold partner quipped while busying himself with playing another app game on his HCube.
Solemn words were exchanged between the two, Private Arnold Whittaker and Walter Katefield. By Viola standards, they were the best at getting away with whatever they wished and they knew it; the lowest, vile representation of a prestigous company. Whatever they were talking about speaks volumes with the experiments ongoing within the facility and how dehumanized were its subjects. Arnold poured a cup of coffee for Walter as a he raised his cup while shifting his glasses.
"A toast to our dead bubbly bitch, Sunny Allison," Arnold said as he raised his cup. There was a subtle hint of sarcasm in that tone as he twisted his eyes over the act.
"Here…" Walter responded, as reflexive of their relationship. The both of them took a sip and spat at the ground, a sign of disrespect to both their dead colleague and their desire to see this "Number 07" dead. After a moment of silence, the two burst out in hollow laughter as Walter snorted against his coffee.
"That was the shittiest toast we've ever done. The other was when they fired that chick Sally Marites," Arnold said bitterly as he placed his cup on the table.
"I would've sworn at her more, just to show how stupid she was and how smarter we were by getting this far," Walter said.
The both of them blasted into laughter as they failed to notice that the monitor had picked up a speeding object miles away from their tower. They both continued to joke about their dead colleague as the alert phase becomes much more pronounced with each approach, reaching to near 'Red Alert' levels that the facility has forbidden from escalating towards. The two clowns halted their laughter as they failed to realize that an unidentified craft was about to make pass at one of the most secretive bases in their lifetime. Arnold hastily picked up the communicator to make an attempt at redirecting this unknown craft away from Viola airspace lest they'd be out of the job along with their lives for failing to avert a scandal that may bring half of the world to its knees.
"This is Axel 1, this is a no fly zone - I repeat a no fly zone! Stand down or we will shoot your craft down," Arnold said.
The comm went dead momentarily as the craft drew closer to their location, drawing sweat beads from the two incompetent soldiers. Walter was sweating far more profusely now, given his inability to control any situation, leaving it to Arnold to fix everything up till now and was always the oblivious one, neither were prepared for the response given back.
"Flyzone or not, I'm here on official business with your boss. Allow me to cross over to the facility and I will guarantee that the tower you two are standing doesn't get blasted off the face of Mount Draxos," a sharp voiced familiar to them both rang at the speakers as they stared at each other.
"Ralph Faiz??" Walter asked a bewildered Arnold. What would the head of their rival corporation be doing in the middle of nowhere? Neither of the duo stationed in the tower had a clue that they were in the way of a man bent on vengeance against his grudging disdain for the company. The grudge Ralph bore against Viola has reached a boiling point, due to their clashes and a recent discovery that had sent him on a warpath at this moment.
"I thought the company sank!" Arnold said in disbelief, spurred by the rumours of the company dying out due to the Elise Winters incident.
"The fall of Faiz Industries was deeply exaggerated like the rest of most media bullshit. We're still here, and we're taking back what's ours. Like I said, stand down and allow me passage or I'll blast that tower to oblivion," Ralph said.
"Get over yourself, asshole!" Arnold said as he angrily called out to the speaker before breaking into a pointless rant. "Bullet points, you're just another one of those idiots who thinks he's a big shot! Even if you are, you've got nothing compared to Viola! Second, you think Viola is gonna let you slide with this shitstorm you're stirring? You've got a lot of nerve coming here! Turn back now or I swear I'll call in the jets," Arnold said as he repeatedly pressed the alert button to signal their fighter crafts to fly over to intimidate Faiz from coming over. Both know of the man's repertoire for miniaturized warfare through battle response suits that were the equivalent of N3 bombs in terms of destructive power. A unit of Ragnum suits were known for ripping apart mobile mechas with ease due to their smaller size. Both soldiers underestimate Ralph's more recent model, and what it was far capable of.
"Enough of your bullshit, Soldier. It's been entertaining hearing your empty words, but as of now, I'm here to send you down the shitter," Ralph quipped back.
Arnold stared dumbfounded at the screen as he looked at Walter.
"What'll we do?!"
"I don't fucking know!" Walter said in a panicked state. "God why does this shit always happen to me? Fucking great! I'm so tired of this, why do we always get lumped with the difficult shit?! I'm so, so tired! I thought I was always right about planning our ideas!" Walter said as he began to break down at the unexpected situation. The two looked out into the distance as an incoming object made its presence clear: A dark blue suit, with a sleek build and ominous glowing red sensors zoomed in closer and two missiles can be seen ejecting from its leg. The dual missiles broke into small pairs as they suddenly broke fast into speeding sets of missiles and set its course for the tower. Walter panicked as he picked up an RPG while Arnold enacted Code Omega; a sign that their Facility was compromised. Their last words were filled with a plea for salvation that never came.
"Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shi-"
Their words of panic were cut off as the tower was engulfed in an unforgiving explosion that sent a shockwave against the trees below it. The craft zoomed by its destruction, indifferent to their deaths, as it made its way to the facility.
"Whoohoo!!" Ralph yelled excitedly as he yelled in his petty victory over low lifes.
"Ralph was that really necessary!?" a female voice asked the man underneath this incredible piece of a supreme threat response suit built for destruction, one that had yet to be contracted to the government: Ragnum Series 251 - Unbound. Underneath it was the maverick inventor of this devastating, advanced machinery, 24 year old Ralph Faiz. He was a renowned prodigy for his age, and son of the former CEO Joseph Faiz and Mary Katherine Faiz, their family were pioneers in weaponized battle suit development since the dawn of the mobile mechanized suits issued from rival countries and were a counter response to the expensive budget of such large machinations. For 80 years, they have issued over 250 models to the military for its defense contracts and assurance of their continued legacy that had yet to be tarnished by misuse or abusive intentions. Unfortunately, at age 7, he had lost all of his family to a terrorist cell's assault using mobile mechanized suits, killing both his parents and his young brother, Kramskov Faiz. While confirmed deaths of his parents reached him, for years he never found his younger brother's body and they believed him dead for years of grieving, until tonight.
"Viola should learn its place when they decide to play God with my brother, Elise. Not even their troops are disciplined to welcome one of the 4 Emperors for crying out loud!" after Ralph calmed down from his high, he began to realize that he may be making a mistake and looked at Elise's face distressingly. "...More importantly. Are you sure the file you've given me were legitimate? I just destroyed one of their property and I don't want to go threatening a powerful rival corporation over an assumption!"
"What you're doing is madness! That, along with murder, is not going to go well with the authorities!" she stammered.
"I admit in hindsight, I should've punched both of those pricks in the face instead! We make things up as we go, this is life! Skip the sermon, I need to be briefed! The files, please!" Ralph said as he sped further into the heart of the darkened nights, only to be further distracted by the rising blizzard.
The female voice sighed as she pulled up an encrypted file of Viola's, one that had escaped its secure servers during the incident she inadvertedly caused.
"As agreed, this is the file I have acquired during another survey in the World Linisium Net servers pertaining to the 4 Empire's encrypted projects, It details that the phantom project is known as Destrillians," she said as she split the holographic files into various formats and folders.
"One of them details explicitly that your younger brother, Kramskov Faiz, is detained here for almost all his life after the terrorist cell responsible for your family's death sold him as a means to cut their losses after their faction was destroyed by Haven Artilieries' PMC unit." Ralph bit his lip. For eons, Faiz Industries' mortal rival and enemy Haven Artilieries have been endlessly harassing his development and even then, their intervention has delayed his investigation into searching for Kram.
"According to these logs, he has been rebranded as the 13th Destrillian of Darkness and It also mentions that Viola's ultimate goal for these beings, your brother included is to 'Transcended human limits and bend the laws of the unimaginable. To be a living God', boasting that their power can rival mobile suits and ragnum response battle suits," she explained.
Ralph kept his emotions in check as they both sped towards Facility 2. It had been years since he moved on from his family's death, even if he had done the craziest things for the right reasons that kept the Faiz legacy on its heels, he was uncertain if this act of starting a corporate war with Viola was infact the right thing to do. Did they really contain Kram after he went missing? He had to find his brother, even if this experiment of Viola's had changed him; he had hoped that his brother's survival was true. He had also hoped that Kram's humanity remained intact after the conversion process.
"How's the adjustment of Series 249 and 231?" Ralph asked Elise.
"As you requested, both models are ready for deployment as back up for you in the unlikely event of failure to complete the mission here. I must say, 231 has been your favourite," she explained.
"It's never failed me in various situations during war fronts and 'Negotiation processes' through out the world. And this isn't a mission, it's just another sweep and pick. We're not destroying this place, just getting Kram out of there..." Ralph explained.
"…As you wish. But keep in mind Viola is not going to let you fly in there and take him without any resistance, and don't underestimate its destructive PMC units within this facility. As much as I hate to say this, Kram belongs to them now from what the logs have explained. Here's another catch though Ralph, all the files I've picked up details nearly all of their experimentees are confirmed killed, pressumed dead or missing," she said.
"Baby, that's what I expect them to do anyway! We've been at each other's throats since grandpa founded the company. I do know for a fact that this place is their secret R&D facility, so it won't hurt to take a look around and grab some ideas," he said sheepishly.
"I can't believe I agreed to join you in this petty campaign," Elise sighed.
"Hey, lighten up. At least there may be information here to fix you up," he said.
"We've agreed that once we've found the necessary data along with your brother, I'm off this cybernetic ghost form. Siding with you was the best option than dying by deletion from the World Military Council. I just can't stand the sight of your unethical moves," she said as her face materialized against his HUD.
"You gotta take risks if you wanna stand on top of this world. Wars are still on going, and our only option is to keep on fighting till we are at the top. You want your body, if it's still in one piece, and I want my brother. It's only fair you and I see this through and work alongside Faiz Industries," he said.
She merely glared back at him as she reformed into date against his suit's HUD.
"Besides, with your current form, you have more power than any woman in the world. I'm surprised you haven't used them to bend the WLN servers of Free World sectors or stocks to your will… Even I think you're scary just by pointing out the possibilities," Faiz remarked.
"I'm not sure if its your attempt at black humour, but its incredibly insulting and frustrating. I've nearly caused all of the 4 Corporate Empires to crash through my attacks alone," Elise said.
"We're much more sturdier than a simple hack. We'll get all our funds back eventually. Viola Corporation, Faiz Industries, Wilkinshire Pharmaceuticals and Haven Artilieries can always rise to the challenge no matter how hindered they are in the long run. We've all been named as the 4 Empires due to our influence in the current world. Not even gramps expected us to bolster up to the top till dad came into the picture," Ralph explained.
"Say what you will. I apologize for causing that mess days ago," She said.
"It's not your fault. Everyone wants to taste the first piece of success, even at the cost of what they held dear," Ralph said, recalling the events of his father's unveiling of the 2nd Generation Ragnum suits that costed his family's lives.
"If it wasn't for my arrogance, I would still have a body of my own..." Elise said.
"Mistakes are part of what builds you to be successful. How many lives were lost to Ragnum testing alone, dad and I can't count. Unlike them, your life...and body may still be salvagable," Ralph said.
"I'm fine. I just dislike the notion of living in this vast network of information. You've no idea how lonely it is within cyberspace of the WLN," Elise said.
Ralph could not find words to comfort her. True to the tale, Elise was once a brilliant scientist within Haven Artilieries that developed a conceptual procedure to upload one's mind within Free World servers and even Outer World servers to monitor terrorist activity as well as keep the economic flow of the continent of Esdoc, its implication could also be for corporate espionage and political upheavals on the favour of Haven Artilieries. During a testing phase with her as the subject, an unexpected error caused her mind to be completely uploaded into Free World servers, casting aside her body altogether. She had been manipulated by the same faction to stage a revolution against the sectors, and overtake Esdoc. It was thanks to Ralph's intervention and wits that the continent's existence was saved. She too, had to thank him for his sponsorship in housing her within her private servers and acting as his AI link until her body has been recovered, had she refused, the World Military Council would have had a much darker fate for her.
"Still though, Mr. Faiz, thank you for saving - what's left of me," she said warmly.
He only smiled as they flew closer towards the hidden fortress.
"Cheer up, I always keep my word in the e-" his words was interrupted by the sudden hail of bullets and missiles ricocheting against the suit. His suit's radar had alerted him to a stray presence a few clicks ahead of him, but with the blizzard, the suit's capacity to gather information limited his vision until the attack.
"Shit!!" Ralph yelled as he dodged a large missile headed against him. The suit flung sideways as a group of 4 jets aligned in its attack positions as he stood frozen against the incoming assault.
"4 strays! By the looks of them, older models. It's strange that they haven't used response suits." Elise noted.
"Their Destrillians project must be quite a secret if they're hosting these modified jets." Ralph said.
"Modified?"
"Scan those jets closely and you'll see what I mean - they've been modified with Ragnum cores, the system used to power an average suit to fly without the need to refuel as well as hovercraft capabilities and to house fire power twice larger than an average Ragnum military issued model. There's only a catch though." Ralph said.
"That is?"
"To add more fire power, they've traded the bulk and strength of those crafts to reduce weight ratio. So I pressume their jet's metal is about average in contrast to the 251's steel. They're about to engage with the pioneers of the world's best weapons," Ralph smirked.
"Ever the show-off," Elise sighed.
"Elise, now would be a good time to arm missiles and gauntlet cutters," Ralph said.
"I'm currently diverting power sources to your gauntlets to allow more firepower for your Faiz cutters, in the mean time, I suggest a more 'up close and personal' approach with energy wrist blades," she advised. Ralph redirected his HUDs to change the mode of his suit, recalibrating it for missile barrages and munition count as he launched a set of missiles against two of the jets, the two sets split into four as they created an impact upon the two jets, shredding them with laser shrapnel against each other and caused Ralph to fire two laser shots with his finger tips at the aircrafts, destroying two in the process.
"Got em," Ralph said as he swung by the other two. His theory had proven correct, for firepower, they've indeed traded its strength and durability against an advanced model like the 251. He was certain that even an average mech can break these jets, they may have to rely on speed and dodging if they are to have a chance against him.
The other jets broke off individually, Ralph taking it as another dogfight like he did during his battles with rival corps with him at the helm. He launched himself against the blizzard, gambling on using Nature against Viola's attack dogs.
"Ralph, I'm switching your vision to infrared so we'll be able to scrape one off before we can proceed to the hidden fortress," Elise advised. To the woman's credit, her skill in manipulating her cyberspace form as well as her knack of controlling the entire AI grid of his company was extremely impressive, even after 5 months from saving her consciousness, she had long adjusted to her abilities. Ralph agreed with her in formulating a much more pragmatic approach to save the cost of his weapons as well as keeping the series 251 in top form.
Ralph flew against the mountain edges as one of them trailed him dangerously like a ravenous beast, its pilot fired a volley of artillery against the minuscule flying armor to attempt at breaking it down. Even with the most advanced settings implanted into Ragnum, Ralph understood that one of the few counters to his product by utilizing jets is hammering the suit and its pilot down with a hail of bullets, before finally using a missile to dent the suit. It would place them out of commission for a while and even death if they're lucky, but this pilot failed to see that he was battling against its creator. Having grown frustrated with the suit's maneuverability as well as the blizzard removing his aim, the pilot launched two missiles in a desperate attempt to take out the suit along with Ralph.
Two missiles were launched from the jet's wings as it aimed for Ralph. Ralph launched flares to distract its homing capabilities, yet upon connection, sent him spiraling into the air followed by another volley of missiles. Ralph quickly recovered from his misstep as he shot for the sky and prepared a counter, with the lone jet in hot pursuit.
"Magnetize palms. Hold focus on missile 2," Ralph said as the suit's hands became heavier due to magnetization, he stopped at the height of the storm as the last two sets were hurling towards him. He focused his hand as his targeting system locked on to the last two. Impact was imminent as he refocused his hands in stretching out as he pushed more distance between him, the missiles and the jet. A loud clank resulted in Ralph grabbing the side shaft of the missiles and twisting its trajectory back unto the jet. He sent one spear-like shot against the jet and continued to twist the other missile carefully along the side of the shaft while its exhaust continued to burn on. With another focused shot, Ralph launched another shot at the jet. Anticipating the skill of the pilot, he launched it after a few seconds to allow its homing ability to lock onto the jet. A loud explosion erupted against the blizzarding skies as Ralph floated quietly against the battering storm.
"Elise, where'd the other one go?" Ralph asked. He shouldn't need to ask.
"Watch your front! Hostile inbound!" She yelled as Ralph's suit began sending a loud alert phase, before he could understand why the sudden rush of alerts rang against his ear, a lone missile connect and blasted him from the back, losing power momentarily as his heavy suit came hurtling downwards.
"Shit shit!" Ralph yelled as his suit's back up power was slowly reconfiguring, he knew Elise was currently rebooting herself and the suit, but with a few estimated seconds to impact, he wasn't so sure if he could make it. Due to infrared and his entire faceplate's vision impaired, he was blind as he hurtled downwards.
A large clanking sound and metal shredding echoed against the hollow innards of the suit as Elise and the suit powered back on to catch a deathly sight; he had bisected the jet that had caught him off guard unintentionally due to the armor's sheer weight and surprising durability. He fell through the shredded aircraft as the explosion knocked him further downward.
"All systems online and running! Ralph are you okay?" Elise asked.
"What does it look like!? I'm hurling down at 4000 feet! Put some power on those boosters fast!" He said frantically.
"I'm working on it! Your current power supply is too low for another flight due to the shock of the last attack! The least I could do is divert all power towards durability so prepare for impact," Elise said as he knew that was the only option both had if they were to survive the way down towards the unknown. He shifted his weight down as he looked on to realize that the entire facility had been alerted to his presence. He scanned and zoomed activity below to find out that they were preparing armor piercing artillery rounds to shoot him down before he lands.
"Elise, where's the softest spot where we can land?!"
"North east, over the power plant. But in theory, it could send you crashing down through tons of concrete, wire and steel. What is your plan?" She asked.
"I'm going to destroy the facility's power supply. We'll find a back up generator should we run out of power crushing the facility," he said.
"Are you insane? Even with the 251, you could potentially be crushed inside the suit!" she said.
"It's our only shot. We can use the power cut to buy us some time to find Kram. Don't worry about the 251, it's much tougher than those second hand mechs you've seen at war," Ralph said as he dive bombed towards the facility's electrical plant.
"Impact in 10 seconds," she warned. If a synthesized voice could tremble, that's what hers would be doing as they neared impact.
As artillery fire began to ring out in the sky, he took a deep breath as he counted down to the inevitable. Those 10 seconds felt like 10 hours or even more as he braced his arms and allowed the software to maximize the stability of the suit to shred the facility's cement and metal by causing an impact against the electrical plant powering the hidden facility. A large electrical explosion erupted as it bombarded the blizzardy night with shock and the entire facility soon began to lose power with back up generators struggling to assist it.
Minutes after impact, Viola's best troops began scrambling to recover whatever damage was dealt in the brief assault, yet had failed to recover any sign of the Ragnum suit and its pilot. Viola's worst fears were yet to be met however. Unknown to them, Ralph had inadvertedly sparked a chain of events that would be the downfall of the company. Deep in Basement 5, the generator powering the cryogenics shut down. Distrum was diluting in the fluid, failing to transmit to the products as they slept. Their minds started to rupture with flickers of images not meant to be seen.
An uprising was stirring within the facility, and its captives and experiments had waited for ages for a miracle to happen. Ralph's selfish assault had unwittingly caused that miracle.
"Code Omega Alert – Code Omega Alert – NRD [Not a Drill] Viola Facility 2 location compromised. Unidentified craft incoming."
These words continue to batter the air waves with a distressed voice, a signal sent to a remote location none but the highest authority of the country are aware of: The Viola Corporation, one of the four pillars of Industry in the world, had taken refuge with a mysterious facility and with it, unspeakable horrors that violated humanity's rights through genetic manipulation and elemental augments lay within the disturbing silent countryside.
As the signal raged on hopelessly reaching towards the facility's sensors, an aerial dogfight appeared to be taking place miles away from the tower and into the skyline above the mountains as searchlights continued to scan the skies to destroy whoever discovered their secret location. A lone man-sized craft can be seen firing deathly rays of unknown light as it sliced through crafts with ease. Ultimately, against the blizzard, the transmission within the watchtower had stopped, and whatever piloted that craft had achieved its goal.
The story takes place roughly 2 hours ago, wherein this mysterious craft had flown from one of the Free World cities named Encia into this location. Although to be specific, the whole incentive of this attack was the result of a rival corporation, a powered battle response suit manufacturing company called Faiz Industries was the center of attention after an unrelated terrorist incident that shook the capitals of the Free World sectors revealed certain secrets to the world at large. The incident was orchestrated by a scientist named Elise Winters, with her intention resulted in its CEO and creator of the Ragnum Battle Assault System, Ralph Faiz to discover a seemingly remote location hidden by his rivals, the powerful Viola Corporation from the world. His motives for the attack remain unknown as of now, yet it sparks another question of the possibility of another corporate war between the Military contractor giant and the omniscient Corporation of Viola.
-------
Roughly 2 hours at the point of contact, at half past midnight, wherein two out stationed soldiers from Viola are posted together after failing to contain an experiment within the compound which resulted in the death of their colleagues, a talkative young woman.
"Quite frankly, mate, I feel for her. She was a bubbly bitch, yet number 07 didn't have to do that. I hope they put her down like the dogs they've become," one of the wittier, accented troops said as he poured coffee unto his cup.
"Are you kidding me, Arnie? We loved that girl! I'll be sure to put in a good report once we're allowed to just to watch that beast die in a fire. Those freaks of theirs are getting out of hand, I'm glad we're on this side of the pond while they're left to rot out there," his bold partner quipped while busying himself with playing another app game on his HCube.
Solemn words were exchanged between the two, Private Arnold Whittaker and Walter Katefield. By Viola standards, they were the best at getting away with whatever they wished and they knew it; the lowest, vile representation of a prestigous company. Whatever they were talking about speaks volumes with the experiments ongoing within the facility and how dehumanized were its subjects. Arnold poured a cup of coffee for Walter as a he raised his cup while shifting his glasses.
"A toast to our dead bubbly bitch, Sunny Allison," Arnold said as he raised his cup. There was a subtle hint of sarcasm in that tone as he twisted his eyes over the act.
"Here…" Walter responded, as reflexive of their relationship. The both of them took a sip and spat at the ground, a sign of disrespect to both their dead colleague and their desire to see this "Number 07" dead. After a moment of silence, the two burst out in hollow laughter as Walter snorted against his coffee.
"That was the shittiest toast we've ever done. The other was when they fired that chick Sally Marites," Arnold said bitterly as he placed his cup on the table.
"I would've sworn at her more, just to show how stupid she was and how smarter we were by getting this far," Walter said.
The both of them blasted into laughter as they failed to notice that the monitor had picked up a speeding object miles away from their tower. They both continued to joke about their dead colleague as the alert phase becomes much more pronounced with each approach, reaching to near 'Red Alert' levels that the facility has forbidden from escalating towards. The two clowns halted their laughter as they failed to realize that an unidentified craft was about to make pass at one of the most secretive bases in their lifetime. Arnold hastily picked up the communicator to make an attempt at redirecting this unknown craft away from Viola airspace lest they'd be out of the job along with their lives for failing to avert a scandal that may bring half of the world to its knees.
"This is Axel 1, this is a no fly zone - I repeat a no fly zone! Stand down or we will shoot your craft down," Arnold said.
The comm went dead momentarily as the craft drew closer to their location, drawing sweat beads from the two incompetent soldiers. Walter was sweating far more profusely now, given his inability to control any situation, leaving it to Arnold to fix everything up till now and was always the oblivious one, neither were prepared for the response given back.
"Flyzone or not, I'm here on official business with your boss. Allow me to cross over to the facility and I will guarantee that the tower you two are standing doesn't get blasted off the face of Mount Draxos," a sharp voiced familiar to them both rang at the speakers as they stared at each other.
"Ralph Faiz??" Walter asked a bewildered Arnold. What would the head of their rival corporation be doing in the middle of nowhere? Neither of the duo stationed in the tower had a clue that they were in the way of a man bent on vengeance against his grudging disdain for the company. The grudge Ralph bore against Viola has reached a boiling point, due to their clashes and a recent discovery that had sent him on a warpath at this moment.
"I thought the company sank!" Arnold said in disbelief, spurred by the rumours of the company dying out due to the Elise Winters incident.
"The fall of Faiz Industries was deeply exaggerated like the rest of most media bullshit. We're still here, and we're taking back what's ours. Like I said, stand down and allow me passage or I'll blast that tower to oblivion," Ralph said.
"Get over yourself, asshole!" Arnold said as he angrily called out to the speaker before breaking into a pointless rant. "Bullet points, you're just another one of those idiots who thinks he's a big shot! Even if you are, you've got nothing compared to Viola! Second, you think Viola is gonna let you slide with this shitstorm you're stirring? You've got a lot of nerve coming here! Turn back now or I swear I'll call in the jets," Arnold said as he repeatedly pressed the alert button to signal their fighter crafts to fly over to intimidate Faiz from coming over. Both know of the man's repertoire for miniaturized warfare through battle response suits that were the equivalent of N3 bombs in terms of destructive power. A unit of Ragnum suits were known for ripping apart mobile mechas with ease due to their smaller size. Both soldiers underestimate Ralph's more recent model, and what it was far capable of.
"Enough of your bullshit, Soldier. It's been entertaining hearing your empty words, but as of now, I'm here to send you down the shitter," Ralph quipped back.
Arnold stared dumbfounded at the screen as he looked at Walter.
"What'll we do?!"
"I don't fucking know!" Walter said in a panicked state. "God why does this shit always happen to me? Fucking great! I'm so tired of this, why do we always get lumped with the difficult shit?! I'm so, so tired! I thought I was always right about planning our ideas!" Walter said as he began to break down at the unexpected situation. The two looked out into the distance as an incoming object made its presence clear: A dark blue suit, with a sleek build and ominous glowing red sensors zoomed in closer and two missiles can be seen ejecting from its leg. The dual missiles broke into small pairs as they suddenly broke fast into speeding sets of missiles and set its course for the tower. Walter panicked as he picked up an RPG while Arnold enacted Code Omega; a sign that their Facility was compromised. Their last words were filled with a plea for salvation that never came.
"Oh shit! Oh shit! Oh shi-"
Their words of panic were cut off as the tower was engulfed in an unforgiving explosion that sent a shockwave against the trees below it. The craft zoomed by its destruction, indifferent to their deaths, as it made its way to the facility.
"Whoohoo!!" Ralph yelled excitedly as he yelled in his petty victory over low lifes.
"Ralph was that really necessary!?" a female voice asked the man underneath this incredible piece of a supreme threat response suit built for destruction, one that had yet to be contracted to the government: Ragnum Series 251 - Unbound. Underneath it was the maverick inventor of this devastating, advanced machinery, 24 year old Ralph Faiz. He was a renowned prodigy for his age, and son of the former CEO Joseph Faiz and Mary Katherine Faiz, their family were pioneers in weaponized battle suit development since the dawn of the mobile mechanized suits issued from rival countries and were a counter response to the expensive budget of such large machinations. For 80 years, they have issued over 250 models to the military for its defense contracts and assurance of their continued legacy that had yet to be tarnished by misuse or abusive intentions. Unfortunately, at age 7, he had lost all of his family to a terrorist cell's assault using mobile mechanized suits, killing both his parents and his young brother, Kramskov Faiz. While confirmed deaths of his parents reached him, for years he never found his younger brother's body and they believed him dead for years of grieving, until tonight.
"Viola should learn its place when they decide to play God with my brother, Elise. Not even their troops are disciplined to welcome one of the 4 Emperors for crying out loud!" after Ralph calmed down from his high, he began to realize that he may be making a mistake and looked at Elise's face distressingly. "...More importantly. Are you sure the file you've given me were legitimate? I just destroyed one of their property and I don't want to go threatening a powerful rival corporation over an assumption!"
"What you're doing is madness! That, along with murder, is not going to go well with the authorities!" she stammered.
"I admit in hindsight, I should've punched both of those pricks in the face instead! We make things up as we go, this is life! Skip the sermon, I need to be briefed! The files, please!" Ralph said as he sped further into the heart of the darkened nights, only to be further distracted by the rising blizzard.
The female voice sighed as she pulled up an encrypted file of Viola's, one that had escaped its secure servers during the incident she inadvertedly caused.
"As agreed, this is the file I have acquired during another survey in the World Linisium Net servers pertaining to the 4 Empire's encrypted projects, It details that the phantom project is known as Destrillians," she said as she split the holographic files into various formats and folders.
"One of them details explicitly that your younger brother, Kramskov Faiz, is detained here for almost all his life after the terrorist cell responsible for your family's death sold him as a means to cut their losses after their faction was destroyed by Haven Artilieries' PMC unit." Ralph bit his lip. For eons, Faiz Industries' mortal rival and enemy Haven Artilieries have been endlessly harassing his development and even then, their intervention has delayed his investigation into searching for Kram.
"According to these logs, he has been rebranded as the 13th Destrillian of Darkness and It also mentions that Viola's ultimate goal for these beings, your brother included is to 'Transcended human limits and bend the laws of the unimaginable. To be a living God', boasting that their power can rival mobile suits and ragnum response battle suits," she explained.
Ralph kept his emotions in check as they both sped towards Facility 2. It had been years since he moved on from his family's death, even if he had done the craziest things for the right reasons that kept the Faiz legacy on its heels, he was uncertain if this act of starting a corporate war with Viola was infact the right thing to do. Did they really contain Kram after he went missing? He had to find his brother, even if this experiment of Viola's had changed him; he had hoped that his brother's survival was true. He had also hoped that Kram's humanity remained intact after the conversion process.
"How's the adjustment of Series 249 and 231?" Ralph asked Elise.
"As you requested, both models are ready for deployment as back up for you in the unlikely event of failure to complete the mission here. I must say, 231 has been your favourite," she explained.
"It's never failed me in various situations during war fronts and 'Negotiation processes' through out the world. And this isn't a mission, it's just another sweep and pick. We're not destroying this place, just getting Kram out of there..." Ralph explained.
"…As you wish. But keep in mind Viola is not going to let you fly in there and take him without any resistance, and don't underestimate its destructive PMC units within this facility. As much as I hate to say this, Kram belongs to them now from what the logs have explained. Here's another catch though Ralph, all the files I've picked up details nearly all of their experimentees are confirmed killed, pressumed dead or missing," she said.
"Baby, that's what I expect them to do anyway! We've been at each other's throats since grandpa founded the company. I do know for a fact that this place is their secret R&D facility, so it won't hurt to take a look around and grab some ideas," he said sheepishly.
"I can't believe I agreed to join you in this petty campaign," Elise sighed.
"Hey, lighten up. At least there may be information here to fix you up," he said.
"We've agreed that once we've found the necessary data along with your brother, I'm off this cybernetic ghost form. Siding with you was the best option than dying by deletion from the World Military Council. I just can't stand the sight of your unethical moves," she said as her face materialized against his HUD.
"You gotta take risks if you wanna stand on top of this world. Wars are still on going, and our only option is to keep on fighting till we are at the top. You want your body, if it's still in one piece, and I want my brother. It's only fair you and I see this through and work alongside Faiz Industries," he said.
She merely glared back at him as she reformed into date against his suit's HUD.
"Besides, with your current form, you have more power than any woman in the world. I'm surprised you haven't used them to bend the WLN servers of Free World sectors or stocks to your will… Even I think you're scary just by pointing out the possibilities," Faiz remarked.
"I'm not sure if its your attempt at black humour, but its incredibly insulting and frustrating. I've nearly caused all of the 4 Corporate Empires to crash through my attacks alone," Elise said.
"We're much more sturdier than a simple hack. We'll get all our funds back eventually. Viola Corporation, Faiz Industries, Wilkinshire Pharmaceuticals and Haven Artilieries can always rise to the challenge no matter how hindered they are in the long run. We've all been named as the 4 Empires due to our influence in the current world. Not even gramps expected us to bolster up to the top till dad came into the picture," Ralph explained.
"Say what you will. I apologize for causing that mess days ago," She said.
"It's not your fault. Everyone wants to taste the first piece of success, even at the cost of what they held dear," Ralph said, recalling the events of his father's unveiling of the 2nd Generation Ragnum suits that costed his family's lives.
"If it wasn't for my arrogance, I would still have a body of my own..." Elise said.
"Mistakes are part of what builds you to be successful. How many lives were lost to Ragnum testing alone, dad and I can't count. Unlike them, your life...and body may still be salvagable," Ralph said.
"I'm fine. I just dislike the notion of living in this vast network of information. You've no idea how lonely it is within cyberspace of the WLN," Elise said.
Ralph could not find words to comfort her. True to the tale, Elise was once a brilliant scientist within Haven Artilieries that developed a conceptual procedure to upload one's mind within Free World servers and even Outer World servers to monitor terrorist activity as well as keep the economic flow of the continent of Esdoc, its implication could also be for corporate espionage and political upheavals on the favour of Haven Artilieries. During a testing phase with her as the subject, an unexpected error caused her mind to be completely uploaded into Free World servers, casting aside her body altogether. She had been manipulated by the same faction to stage a revolution against the sectors, and overtake Esdoc. It was thanks to Ralph's intervention and wits that the continent's existence was saved. She too, had to thank him for his sponsorship in housing her within her private servers and acting as his AI link until her body has been recovered, had she refused, the World Military Council would have had a much darker fate for her.
"Still though, Mr. Faiz, thank you for saving - what's left of me," she said warmly.
He only smiled as they flew closer towards the hidden fortress.
"Cheer up, I always keep my word in the e-" his words was interrupted by the sudden hail of bullets and missiles ricocheting against the suit. His suit's radar had alerted him to a stray presence a few clicks ahead of him, but with the blizzard, the suit's capacity to gather information limited his vision until the attack.
"Shit!!" Ralph yelled as he dodged a large missile headed against him. The suit flung sideways as a group of 4 jets aligned in its attack positions as he stood frozen against the incoming assault.
"4 strays! By the looks of them, older models. It's strange that they haven't used response suits." Elise noted.
"Their Destrillians project must be quite a secret if they're hosting these modified jets." Ralph said.
"Modified?"
"Scan those jets closely and you'll see what I mean - they've been modified with Ragnum cores, the system used to power an average suit to fly without the need to refuel as well as hovercraft capabilities and to house fire power twice larger than an average Ragnum military issued model. There's only a catch though." Ralph said.
"That is?"
"To add more fire power, they've traded the bulk and strength of those crafts to reduce weight ratio. So I pressume their jet's metal is about average in contrast to the 251's steel. They're about to engage with the pioneers of the world's best weapons," Ralph smirked.
"Ever the show-off," Elise sighed.
"Elise, now would be a good time to arm missiles and gauntlet cutters," Ralph said.
"I'm currently diverting power sources to your gauntlets to allow more firepower for your Faiz cutters, in the mean time, I suggest a more 'up close and personal' approach with energy wrist blades," she advised. Ralph redirected his HUDs to change the mode of his suit, recalibrating it for missile barrages and munition count as he launched a set of missiles against two of the jets, the two sets split into four as they created an impact upon the two jets, shredding them with laser shrapnel against each other and caused Ralph to fire two laser shots with his finger tips at the aircrafts, destroying two in the process.
"Got em," Ralph said as he swung by the other two. His theory had proven correct, for firepower, they've indeed traded its strength and durability against an advanced model like the 251. He was certain that even an average mech can break these jets, they may have to rely on speed and dodging if they are to have a chance against him.
The other jets broke off individually, Ralph taking it as another dogfight like he did during his battles with rival corps with him at the helm. He launched himself against the blizzard, gambling on using Nature against Viola's attack dogs.
"Ralph, I'm switching your vision to infrared so we'll be able to scrape one off before we can proceed to the hidden fortress," Elise advised. To the woman's credit, her skill in manipulating her cyberspace form as well as her knack of controlling the entire AI grid of his company was extremely impressive, even after 5 months from saving her consciousness, she had long adjusted to her abilities. Ralph agreed with her in formulating a much more pragmatic approach to save the cost of his weapons as well as keeping the series 251 in top form.
Ralph flew against the mountain edges as one of them trailed him dangerously like a ravenous beast, its pilot fired a volley of artillery against the minuscule flying armor to attempt at breaking it down. Even with the most advanced settings implanted into Ragnum, Ralph understood that one of the few counters to his product by utilizing jets is hammering the suit and its pilot down with a hail of bullets, before finally using a missile to dent the suit. It would place them out of commission for a while and even death if they're lucky, but this pilot failed to see that he was battling against its creator. Having grown frustrated with the suit's maneuverability as well as the blizzard removing his aim, the pilot launched two missiles in a desperate attempt to take out the suit along with Ralph.
Two missiles were launched from the jet's wings as it aimed for Ralph. Ralph launched flares to distract its homing capabilities, yet upon connection, sent him spiraling into the air followed by another volley of missiles. Ralph quickly recovered from his misstep as he shot for the sky and prepared a counter, with the lone jet in hot pursuit.
"Magnetize palms. Hold focus on missile 2," Ralph said as the suit's hands became heavier due to magnetization, he stopped at the height of the storm as the last two sets were hurling towards him. He focused his hand as his targeting system locked on to the last two. Impact was imminent as he refocused his hands in stretching out as he pushed more distance between him, the missiles and the jet. A loud clank resulted in Ralph grabbing the side shaft of the missiles and twisting its trajectory back unto the jet. He sent one spear-like shot against the jet and continued to twist the other missile carefully along the side of the shaft while its exhaust continued to burn on. With another focused shot, Ralph launched another shot at the jet. Anticipating the skill of the pilot, he launched it after a few seconds to allow its homing ability to lock onto the jet. A loud explosion erupted against the blizzarding skies as Ralph floated quietly against the battering storm.
"Elise, where'd the other one go?" Ralph asked. He shouldn't need to ask.
"Watch your front! Hostile inbound!" She yelled as Ralph's suit began sending a loud alert phase, before he could understand why the sudden rush of alerts rang against his ear, a lone missile connect and blasted him from the back, losing power momentarily as his heavy suit came hurtling downwards.
"Shit shit!" Ralph yelled as his suit's back up power was slowly reconfiguring, he knew Elise was currently rebooting herself and the suit, but with a few estimated seconds to impact, he wasn't so sure if he could make it. Due to infrared and his entire faceplate's vision impaired, he was blind as he hurtled downwards.
A large clanking sound and metal shredding echoed against the hollow innards of the suit as Elise and the suit powered back on to catch a deathly sight; he had bisected the jet that had caught him off guard unintentionally due to the armor's sheer weight and surprising durability. He fell through the shredded aircraft as the explosion knocked him further downward.
"All systems online and running! Ralph are you okay?" Elise asked.
"What does it look like!? I'm hurling down at 4000 feet! Put some power on those boosters fast!" He said frantically.
"I'm working on it! Your current power supply is too low for another flight due to the shock of the last attack! The least I could do is divert all power towards durability so prepare for impact," Elise said as he knew that was the only option both had if they were to survive the way down towards the unknown. He shifted his weight down as he looked on to realize that the entire facility had been alerted to his presence. He scanned and zoomed activity below to find out that they were preparing armor piercing artillery rounds to shoot him down before he lands.
"Elise, where's the softest spot where we can land?!"
"North east, over the power plant. But in theory, it could send you crashing down through tons of concrete, wire and steel. What is your plan?" She asked.
"I'm going to destroy the facility's power supply. We'll find a back up generator should we run out of power crushing the facility," he said.
"Are you insane? Even with the 251, you could potentially be crushed inside the suit!" she said.
"It's our only shot. We can use the power cut to buy us some time to find Kram. Don't worry about the 251, it's much tougher than those second hand mechs you've seen at war," Ralph said as he dive bombed towards the facility's electrical plant.
"Impact in 10 seconds," she warned. If a synthesized voice could tremble, that's what hers would be doing as they neared impact.
As artillery fire began to ring out in the sky, he took a deep breath as he counted down to the inevitable. Those 10 seconds felt like 10 hours or even more as he braced his arms and allowed the software to maximize the stability of the suit to shred the facility's cement and metal by causing an impact against the electrical plant powering the hidden facility. A large electrical explosion erupted as it bombarded the blizzardy night with shock and the entire facility soon began to lose power with back up generators struggling to assist it.
Minutes after impact, Viola's best troops began scrambling to recover whatever damage was dealt in the brief assault, yet had failed to recover any sign of the Ragnum suit and its pilot. Viola's worst fears were yet to be met however. Unknown to them, Ralph had inadvertedly sparked a chain of events that would be the downfall of the company. Deep in Basement 5, the generator powering the cryogenics shut down. Distrum was diluting in the fluid, failing to transmit to the products as they slept. Their minds started to rupture with flickers of images not meant to be seen.
An uprising was stirring within the facility, and its captives and experiments had waited for ages for a miracle to happen. Ralph's selfish assault had unwittingly caused that miracle.
