The Spider of Rubicon (Reader x Armored Core 6)

Chapter 8: A Broken Toy...

Raven pov...

I-...
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"Thank you...Y/N..."

I spoke from within the echo of my former voice...one that I have not shared since my surgery...

But...I knew he couldn't here me...not in the current state he was in...because within the metal digits of my AC...I held the boy that gave me the chance at victory...

A frail...shattered...boy...not an it...

But...

A shattered right leg...

A massive ruptured crack along the spine...

A portion of the face singed...

And lastly...it's only arm left...disconnect...and snapped in half...

And with eyes closed behind a veil that spoke death...it-

Ayre: Raven...

I heard that woman's voice again...why...of all times...

Ayre: I-...I don't think he will-...w-we should...we need to go...

The new voice in my head held a tone of voice that shared sadness and grief...but...I wasn't ready to accept it...

Slowly hovering downwards, I tried to pick up any and all peices that I may have failed to catch...but with the millions of sprawled parts and singed peices...how could I tell that the small gear was a crucial part of him...or to Balteus...?

(Corky: she didn't call him an "IT"!!!)

I then looked over to his machine...

The G-1...MR.SCUTTLES...

It's top cannon was crushed and FUBAR...practically haging on by a few wires...so I removed it...

I didn't think my AC could manage the weight at its current state, but...I just had to try...

With strained steps, I piloted my AC close to the four legged machine before attempting to carry the machine with my remaining arm...but to no avail...

The wines of bending weak metal was all I heard, echoing through my AC...

This wasn't going to work...

I could've swore my eyes began to water as I started to feel my heat beating in my throat...but-

Ayre: Raven...get me close to that Research Institute G-1 frame...

What choice did I have...?

Getting close enough to kneel down to his machine, I watched as a downloaded hacking bar began to fill...

Ayre: perhaps I can...got it!-

In that instance, I watched with renewed hope as the eyes of his machine began to shine once more. All before slowly and shakily getting back on its four legs. Once it had finally found its balance however, I watched as the shard drone Y/N was riding on, rose up from the water down below. Before flying back up, and securing itself back into the front left legs position. Good...

Ayre: I gave it the basic command of following you...but it's pretty banged up...you need to be fast!

I huffed out a breath I didn't know I was holding before finally getting everything in order...now I can bring him back...

While still holding Y/N close to the core of my AC. I slowly got my machine into assault boost position before firing off all thrusters...

No matter what...

I had to bring him back with me...orders or not...

From the top of the watch point, I saw the bases coordinates appear above my peripheral, before getting it marked on my radar.