Redacted Experiment

[Hunter]

Hunter’s eyes went wide as the enemy named out a very dangerous system to deal with. It was Aker’s own combat system that saved him from getting instantly pegged from the red suit. The pain from before, the bloody nose, the red display over his head that read out “Alaya-Vijnana System Type 8” explained it all. 

The Astray reacted with an uncanny ease and Aker tried to keep his blade between him and this dangerous foe. Still one dodge wasn’t enough and the suit came at him with abandon. It felt like the Alaya-Vijnana was barely keeping him on even footing as he managed to deflect a strike with his blade. He knocked a fist out wide, creating an opening. Something held back his return stroke however; and he instead tried to angle himself away, a task made difficult from the repeated wailing. The whole situation felt inherently wrong, “Wait!” He called out over the PA, “why are we fighting?” 

His blade rang out as it barely managed to deflect more abuse. He knew he couldn’t fight this enemy forever, but part of him deeply wanted to know what was going on with the pilot. Each block with his blade sent a tingle up his arm, a familiar sensation that reminded him of real in-person swordplay. He scrunched his face as he then considered, “are you like me?” Part of him wondered what his teammates were up to but if there was a third option to simply eliminating this threat he’d be open to it. If nothing else he could hopefully could keep this foe distracted.

[Judge 221]

Icarus watched as the duel between Aker and the mystery mobile suit continued on feverishly, both suits moving in ways he certainly did not expect them to. When Aker began to yell at the machine, the pilot of the DaeDAL furrowed his brow.

What are you doing?

Eventually, the panicked jumping of the SD Gundam drew his attention away and Icarus snapped out of his reverie. Bringing the DaeDAL into a low crouch in order to grant access to the cannon, the diver turned his attention back to the fight. The longer he watched and thought about the whole thing, the tighter his stomach knotted itself up. Aker was questioning why they were fighting, making allusions to being the same. But what did that even mean?

“Wade, are you ready?” Icarus asked, half-heartedly. “We’ll probably only get one shot. Any more than that and the blow-back will wreck my suit and maybe even damage yours. Make it count,”

Was this the right choice of action though? The doubt gnawed at Icarus. But what else could he do? If he waited too long, they might lose their chance to clear the mission.

[FrostyFoster 453]

The Psycho Exam slowed down its blade strikes, reacting to the comments made by the Astray. It had no idea what life truly was now for it. A living hell tormented the red mobile suit forever, but could there be others like it? Nevertheless, the EXAM system stayed on. There was no time to think about what could or could not be. Revenge still flooded into the machine's "mind" as the strikes started back up, this time with more strength and fury. It would be impossible for the Seed mobile suit to keep up at this rate.

With the DaeDAL helping the poor SD out, Wade was finally able to grasp the Mega Beam Cannon. The diver knew Icarus was right. This weapon had immense power and would likely only withstand one shot. "I guess I'm as ready as I'll ever be." He stated while he maneuvered the cannon. He didn't want Aker to also take the blast, possibly ruining his chance at a reward, so his only choice was to aim it slightly to the right, hoping it would only singe the Astray.

"I can't let this- this thing win." Wade thought as his reticle turned green. The Mega Beam Cannon charged up, producing a large yellow blast. A groove formed in the blackened ground, speeding toward the crazed unit. Turning it's head, the bright red visor only had minimal time to react as the massive beam got dangerously close. From where he stood, Wade couldn't tell what had happened. A red light flew up, then there was nothing... "Did we get it?" Wade asked Aker, hoping his Gunpla was still intact.

A mess of metal laid on top of darkened wood chunks, rolling over onto its stomach. There were no legs on this machine anymore, now completely burnt off, but that didn't stop it from still moving. It began to crawl toward where it thought the enemies still were, still intending to complete its mission. However, it now had another weakness, the torso had taken minimal damage, but there was a cut near the cockpit. A strange liquid seeped through onto the ground. It wouldn't be long before this was all over.

[Hunter]

As the red suit attacked, Aker found his stamina failing. The new system was taxing in more than one sense and he knew he’d have to do something soon. That something happened without his help it seemed as a golden flare grew behind the red suit. The red suit noticed too and turned to regard the brilliant glow too late. The angle may have been Aker’s biggest saving grace and he tried to jump back to his right. The golden beam was unforgiving however and the beam cut though his enemy and towards him. 

At first it was a fiery flash then it was sheer pain. The Astray jumped back in time to avoid most of the blast but it wasn’t enough. The sword was knocked from his grasp and the burning sensation crept up Aker’s left arm. He yelled out in both terror and pain, a genuine reaction. The minimal armor covering the left arm of the Astray was melted off down to the frame. Sparks fizzled from the damage up and down the limb. Real pain etched Aker’s real arm, the same as the mobile suit. He clenched his teeth hissing and did his best to focus on the enemy. He had to kneel down to stop from falling over in pain. He saw the red suit slowly crawling towards his friends. 

He took a moment to breath deeply and ever so slowly he began willing the left arm up to grab his last beam saber. The act took great effort and it wasn’t by any means fast. Through great pain Hunter growled out, “yield!” 

[Judge 221]

Icarus could feel his heart thumping in his chest as the SD aimed the cannon.

Steady, steady…

The diver caught himself holding his breath, but when the shot from the mega beam cannon erupted from the barrel of the weapon, he involuntarily let it go in a gasp. A beam of yellow light tore across the landscape, consuming everything in its way as it closed the gap between it and its target. Icarus saw the mobile suit turn its head mere seconds before being overwhelmed by the light.

He wasn’t sure what affect the cannon had on the SD, as it had only pulled the trigger, but the firing of the mega beam weapon shook the DaeDAL to its very core. Icarus held on to his controls for dear life as the cockpit rumbled and shook. When at last it stopped and stability and stillness returned, Icarus noticed that his cameras were facing up towards the sky.

“Ah, jeez,” he muttered. “That’s probably not good,” Icarus opened the cockpit doors and, after having to climb out of his chair, stood atop the chest of the DaeDAL. The diver looked out over the destroyed battlefield and squinted. Just past the remains of the DaeDAL’s legs, which somehow still stood in their kneeling position, was the bogey unit. It was crawling towards them, but some distance away the kneeling Jaeger drew a beam saber.

“Man, not even the cannon did it in,” Icarus said, removing his helmet and tossing it into the cockpit behind him. With his hands on his hips, he looked down at the upper half of his mobile suit as it lay prostrate on the ground. Icarus let out sigh. “Maybe it’s time for something sturdier…”

[FrostyFoster 453]

The SD was mostly intact internally, save for its right arm. The tiny appendage had decided to stay attached to the High Mega Cannon, while the exterior was roughed up from the soon to be over battle. "Well geez." Wade stated, turning back toward the broken ReZEL custom. "It better have taken out that guy." However, Aker response told him that the Psycho Exam was still in the fight. With all of its might, the red machine started up its back thrusters, just barely flying off the ground. The two blades skidded across it, pressing forward to Wade.

The little Gunpla had barely any time to react as it pulled the remaining weapon, a knife, out from the waist. If the enemy had given him time, maybe the Diver wouldn't have had to slice open the cockpit. More liquid spilled out of the mobile suit, stopping right in front of the SD. While the arm blades propped to body up, Wade got out of his cockpit to get a better look at what they had fought, or rather, WHO they'd fought.

Wade was thankful this was fictional, because what he'd seen was sickening. A multitude of wires surrounded what looked to be just a head and torso, which had become wrinkly and pasty from his time inside the liquid filled cockpit. A U shaped apparatus wrapped around the torso, where limbs should have been, with a single tube attached to his neck. "Man, that's just gross!" Wade uttered as he looked at the helmet the poor soul wore, a recreation of the mobile suits head. "The Federation tried to create some sort of human mobile suit." He said to the others, almost reminding him of a crazed version of G Gundam's machines. There would be no more time for him to continue the study of this... thing though.

MISSION SUCCESSFUL

Fleurs de Noblesse - 60000 Credits

Wade -

Unlocked for printing: Multi-Missile Launcher

Aker -

Unlocked for Printing: 1/144 Snow Cloak

Badge: Never Back Down (+5000 Credits)

Icarus - 

Badge: Super Mega Beam Win (+10000 Credits)

 

The three had now been returned to their main location, with their leader being ecstatic about their winnings. "Yes! This means we'll have enough for a Force Nest." He knew that it wouldn't be the best, but for a first time home, they could probably find something good... 

[Hunter]

((Collab with everyone!))

Aker let out a profound sigh of relief as the mission ended. He hardly noticed the rewards as he disengaged the Alaya-Vijnana and studied his left hand. As they returned to the lobby he remained fixated on the hand. He had a blank look as Wade chattered about their new possible force nest. He slowly shook his head as he flexed his left hand. Finally he focused on the present and forced a smile. “Y-Yeah sounds good to me…” he looked from Wade to Icarus. 

 

Icarus breathed a sigh of relief as the trio reappeared in the GBN lobby. He had noticed he had earned a badge but that was the furthest thing from his mind at the time. A lot of strange things had just happened over the course of the last couple of minutes and now Aker was acting strange, his eyes fixated on his hand.  Icarus placed a hand firmly, but not aggressively, on the masked diver's shoulder. 

"What happened back there, Aker?" His gaze shifted over to their younger teammate. "And what was that thing?"

 

Aker looked at Icarus, an uncomfortable look crossed his face and he looked around as if for answers. He didn’t react when his shoulder was touched, his left shoulder. He looked distraught and shook his head. “Let’s… let’s figure out our force nest first. Some things are best discussed in private….” He smiled again more genuinely this time and looked at Wade. “So something humble huh?” He brought up a menu and began looking at properties. 

 

Wade had completely missed what was wrong with Aker, being completely engaged in his search for a Force Nest. However, he was starting to become jealous of the higher priced nests. A castle from Victory Gundam struck his eye, but he knew they couldn’t afford it. “Well, I have found a couple...” He tossed the three out to the others. There was a little complex near a harbor in the Sanc Kingdom Biome, a Zeon Remnant hangar in what looked to be a jungle biome, and a small section of the Ptolemaios’ inner area inside one of GBN’s various space colonys.

 

Aker was looking at the same list as Wade and tapped his finger on a location. “How about this one?” The location popped up for his teammates to review as well. It was an abandoned oil rig, it looked rough but was secluded. “This looks like a nice starter location for a nest.” He anxiously waited to see what they both thought. 

 

Icarus nodded. "Works for me. It's a bit of a fixer-upper but I enjoy a good project." The more he thought about it, the more the suggested location grew on him. Just them, their mobile suits, and boundless ocean. It sounded rather relaxing, in fact, but Icarus had a feeling that they wouldn't be relaxing just yet.

 

"Then it's settled!" Wade clicked the PURCHASE button, grateful they had chosen something with enough space for their Gunpla. At that moment, the three were taken away from the main lobby, now appearing on the main section of the rig. Four small octagons were connected to the middle, three filled with their now fully repaired mobile suits. "I wonder who owned this prior?" He thought, going into the building near the slender tower. The best part was the large viewscreen on one of the walls and the electronic table in the center, but the furniture was very rugged. Apparently, this was intentional, since upon further research, no one had owned this before them. "Looks like Icarus is right. It'll need a little work."

 

A small grin is satisfaction creased Aker’s lips as Wade bought the nest. He had to admit he enjoyed their leaders care free attitude when it came to decisions. Most people would worry about consequences, like himself. Wade seemed to just act and Aker was fine with that. 

Aker slowly followed Wade to the meeting room of facility and bored his approval of the utilitarian furniture. “I like it.” He stated flatly, “This will do us nicely.”. 

 

"That's that then," Icarus smiled softly. The lobby transitioned into their newly purchased oil rig and Icarus found himself standing on the edge, looking out over the water. In this distance, on one of the outer platforms, stood the DaeDAL, still undergoing reconstruction. Icarus let out a little noise of dissatisfaction before turning back towards the tower and stepping inside the meeting room. 

"Its certainly...rustic," the diver chuckled, but then stifled it with a grunt. "Uh, not to be a buzz kill but..." he looked over at Aker, with a serious but concerned expression.

 

Aker nodded and went over to the console and began toggling some buttons. A moment later the big screen lit up with a replay of their mission highlights. It always felt odd seeing himself third person like that but the playbacks were always useful to watch. He seemed reluctant to talk, looking at the video for awhile before finally taking a deep breath. “Tell me, are you guys familiar with any EL Divers?” Aker took off guys mask and turned around to regard his teammates. 

 

Wade loved watching battles, but seeing his mistakes made him cringe. Thankfully, Aker took his attention away from the screen. “EL-Divers?” The Diver shrugged. “My lead- well my former leader took part in the second Coalition of Volunteers battle. He told me a bit about that one, but I honestly don’t know much.”

 

Aker brought up their battle on the screen and when the footage reached the end, Icarus watched as the DaeDAL blasted itself off it's own legs. The diver couldn't help but chuckle nervously. As Aker asked his question, Icarus merely shook his head and shrugged. "Never heard of them. I'm brand new, remember?" He looked Aker in his freshly revealed eyes. "But I take it you are one of these EL-divers?"

 

Aker’s mouth twitched at Wade’s knowledge of EL divers and shook his head at Icarus’ assessment. “Yes, and no…” he rubbed his chin as he thought then added. “EL divers are electronic life forms who first appeared in the last rendition of GBN. I can’t be too certain how to define who or what I am exactly, what I do know is that I exist here.... I have… memories of the outside… but… I can bleed, I can feel… everything here.” He paused as he considered his words. He wasn’t sure how much he should tell his new friends for fear of endangering them. “That’s how I’m able to use the Alaya-Vijnana, I have a pseudo system installed on the Jäger… a normal diver wouldn’t be able to use it the way I do.” He flexed his left hand, curious by the sensation it was giving him then looked up at the two to see how they were taking his news. 

 

Wade blinked a couple of times, attempting to register what he’d just heard. Then, it clicked. “EHHHH?!?!?!” He yelled out. “You mean to tell me that YOU could be an EL-Diver?!” He was so amazed as he stared at Aker. “Not very many of you exist. We’re soooooo lucky to have you on this team.” Wade settled down, realizing the seriousness of his teammate being able to feel pain. “But... for you, Alaya-Vijinana isn’t just a game mechanic. It has a real effect.”

 

Aker nodded at Wade, “it’s definitely a double edged sword…” as he talked he clenched his left his tightly making his knuckles whiten, “one that I now know works.” He nodded to the screen.  “That enemy reminded me of Ein from Iron Blooded Orphans didn’t he? You got a good look at him?” He hoped the change of topic would divert some attention from him. 

 

As his teammate spoke, Icarus folded his arms and brought a hand to his chin. Wade took the news...loudly but positively, but as for Icarus...

"It sounds like science fiction," he said, mostly to himself but loud enough for the others to hear. But as Wade mentioned the Alaya-Vijnana system, the driver's eyes flicked up to look at Aker. "You really put yourself on the line back there then. And even if it does sound like science fiction, who am I to question your reality, Aker?"

A thought struck him. "So is AkerHero even your real name then?"

 

Aker cocked his head to look at Icarus, clearly there was no fooling him. There was a lot that he could tell him, a lot he’d been through already. He just wasn’t sure now was the best time. “I’d rather not lie to you… and you’re right I did take a big risk… but I need to be strong… I have to carve out my existence here.” He looked right at Icarus. “That isn’t my real name, but I have grown fond of being called Aker.” He offered a smile. “I don’t want to pull you guys into something you’re not ready for by telling you my real name. It’s sufficient to admit that I did run into some trouble previously though.”he nodded more to himself as he settled on his answer. As much as he liked these two it would defeat the purpose of his disguise if he told them the entire truth. 

 

Part of Wade was concerned about the whole situation, but another part of him was grateful that they had such a quality player, EL-Diver or not. “Well, whatever happens, know that we’ll be there for you!” For the first time in a while, Wade felt like he could fully enjoy playing GBN now. No more corporatizing or benefiting a leader. Fleurs de Noblesse was here to stay.

 

"Yeah," Icarus nodded, agreeing with Wade's words of support. "What kind of team would we be if we abandoned you because of this? We have your back, Aker, you can count on that,"

 

The atmosphere of the meeting room had, thankfully, become much less solemn, but there was still an issue at hand that Aker had brought up. "So that mobile suit...it could feel things too, right? Like one of us?"

 

A smile creased his face at his teammates offering their support. It was more than he could hope for and he was thankful for the loyalty. He nodded his head at Icarus’ question, “I think it could. It certainly acted as such don’t you agree Wade?” He looked at their leader to gauge their appraisal. 

 

“Looked like it.” He responded, remembering the detail. “I didn’t think the mission designers could be that gruesome.” The diver put his arms out. “But, it did allow us to get all this stuff.”

 

"Hmmm," Icarus folded his arms again. "Well, knowing that people like Aker exist, the idea that the things we've been destroying are potentially alive doesn' rest well with me. I guess I'll have to adapt my strategies,"

Icarus gave their surroundings a quick scan. "In the meantime, let's get this place cleaned up and get ourselves settled. After that, we can talk gameplans and what missions we should take going forward. Sound good to you, boss?" Icarus gestured to Wade.

 

“Whatever works with you guys.” Wade stated, still thinking about the NPD. After all, nothing said that was an administrator’s creation. The diver walked to the wall that had played their battle footage, swiping through screensavers, he found the perfect one. It was a green field surrounded by many different flowers. Fleurs de Noblesse was going to make themselves known in GBN.