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of-some-writings · 1 year

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Rage

People were dying. Battle burned it’s way across the planet: hundreds, perhaps thousands would fall today. This was it: the last battle of this long and bloody war. Artillery fired, Mechs walked over and in heavy trenches driven into the ground by hand and mortar shell.

In this conflict there were two sides. Pirates, defending their home system from dangerous invaders. And the dangerous invaders: their latest victims, seeking retribution. The air seethed and boiled with fear and hatred. Commlink communications were occurring across the battlefield, vague, desperate hopes for coordination. But there would only be blind slaughter: no tactics. And by the dozens, pilots began disappearing from the comms.

Rip And Tear

Bloody canyons were being drawn across the warzone, leaving slag and metal husks in their wake. One was the leader of the defending pirates: a blood red mech, plasma sword in one hand and a pistol in the other. In fluid movements, he cut apart mechs with ease: finishing them off with single shots from his pistol. It was beautiful: as beautiful as anything could be on the battlefield, as mechs overheated and burst into scrap as he made his leave to wreck more mayhem.

I Have More Than A Sword. Death… Death Is-

Across the battlefield, screaming could be heard. Of course, screaming could be heard everywhere, soldiers’ death knells coming in seconds apart. But this was different: this was a cry filled with brutal, terrible hatred. Like a beast about to charge. Mere seconds after, the terrible sound of rending metal could be heard. Some looked to see: all were terrified. A grey gunmetal mech: now glowing dull red as steam and smoke pours from it’s chassis, with both it’s hands buried in the chest of the Zheng besides it. With another shout of rage the mechanical beast gripped the Zheng tight: pushed against it as it’s artificial muscles strained. With another screech of metal, the torso of the Zheng was quickly torn apart, the two halves of it being dropped to the ground. It’s work done, the mech took a slouched stance, moving as if… panting. The breath of it’s pilot blared from it’s sound system, so loud that it peeked over the sound of combat.

No words were said

Just another wretched shriek, as the mech fell to all fours and began to run towards it’s next victim.

All I Need Are My Hands

Bloody details need not be mentioned. Corpses of thousands rotted on the ground that day: billions of tons of steel left for scrappers. All that needs to be known is that two pilots held the highest body count that day: The Captain, and Zane, Burnout -Pilot of the brutal Titanomachy mech. The two were nigh untouchable, the captain’s skill and expertise allowing them to maneuver around blows and deal with the strongest foes first. Zane moved as a Blitzkrieg across the battlefield: rarely ceasing movement, leaving countless husks of metal behind him. Anyone who dared come into his reach were struck by his claws: wires of light that bleed from his fingertips, stopping his enemies in their tracks. It was only natural that, as the fight wound down, the two would meet.

Round Two…

A ring of metal corpses surrounded them. They had both strained themselves through the battle- Zane’s reactor had been on the brink of meltdown for some time now. The Captain’s red Monarch was dotted by dents and scraps, where glancing blows had compounded. As war waged around them, the two stood still. Scanning each other, sizing each other up. Zane stopped his racing heart and his seething mind, just long enough to send a comms request. The Captain accepted it.

…

A gruff voice was heard: one worn by time, deep, the voice of an old man.

“Now where were they hiding you?” Something hung on his words: not laughter… perhaps bewilderment. Respect.

Zane did not say anything for a long moment. With the sound of a mortar shell behind him going off, he allowed his rasp of a voice to bleed out into the mic. “We met already, but I was just driving a gms then. I doubt you remember, but you actually killed me.”

…

Silence. For a long moment, silence. Zane could hear the crackle of the live mic from the other mech, the Captain had simply fallen quiet. Then, suddenly, the pirate laughed. A brutal, snide laugh, tinged with malice and an old man’s cough.

“Aaahh, that does explain some things. But you’re right: I doubt I remember which of the Everest’s you were. But, interesting to see you come here with something like that, I don’t think I’ve seen one like that before. Did another Horus pop up while I wasn’t looking?”

Silence, again. Zane felt it again: that rage building. It was so odd, feeling hatred that wasn’t entirely his own. But, he supposed it did not matter, considering how much of it Was. The only response he had to the old man’s jest was to clench his fist, releasing another shot of steam from his joints. The Captain laughed again, pulling back the hammer on his pistol. No more words would be had. The two simply Charged.

For Him

Zane ran towards the crimson mech from a low angle, jumping up with a fist raised to deliver an uppercut to his foe. The Captain pulled his head back, quickly taking advantage of Zane’s opening, slashing at Titanomachy’s chest. The blade hit, beginning to carve it’s way through the mech’s chassis. A screech of pain echoed out from Zane, and to the Captain’s surprise a burst of heat radiated from him: the ignition of jet boosters. Zane jumped away from the deadly blade, going up in the air, letting loose his terrible claws. The wires began to snag themselves on the crimson mech, burning away the metal. The Captain slashed away at the wires, stepping back only to look up and see Zane coming down with a fist of burning slag. Reacting fast the Captain lifted up his other arm, just in time to collide with Zane’s fist. Molten metal dripped and fell to the ground. Time seemed to freeze for a moment: as both pilots became aware of how strong the other was.

But I’m Stronger Than Him

The Captain let out a growl of rage, placing his pistol right up to Titano’s chest and pulling the trigger. Zane’s cry rang out with the shot, the force of the blast knocking him back just far enough for the red mech to make a brief escape. Zane’s claws struck out in wild rage, but this time the Captain held them back with his own plasma weaponry. As he stepped back he became truly aware of how much strain Titanomachy was under: fires began erupting from the mech, jets of flame shooting forth from the bullet wound. And yet, the beast raged on. The Captain realized how severe this could be: readying his missile launcher integrated into his Monarch’s shoulder.

Zane charged again: the sweltering heat within his chassis only feeding his bloodlust. The claws draw back, leaving just his smoldering fists. In the seconds leading to Zane’s assault, the Captain began the firing process for his missiles- but that was all Burnout needed to close in. Titano slammed itself against the Monarch, who returned with a grapple of his own. The two mechs struggled against each other, Zane gripping the red mech’s shoulders with his burning grasp, pressing all his weight against him. Against all the odds, with a shout from the Captain, the Monarch held up against the pressure- until the unexpected occurred. With swiftness unbefitting of such a large mech, Titanomachy swiped one of it’s legs against the Monarch’s, the sudden lack of balancing finally causing the Captain to falter. A plume of smoke and dust went up as they hit the ground. Titanomachy gripped the mech tight as they both lay in the ash and rubble, more slag and waste poured forth from it’s reactor: the smell of burning metal hung high in the air. Zane prepared to bring a fist down, but at last the Captain’s shot was ready to fire. A heavy ordnance missile launched from the mech, hitting Titano in the chest. Smoke was launched up and into the air, as the two pilots cried out in hate. At this point, dozens of soldiers had taken notice of the terrible fight going on in the ring of burnt metal. Some looked when they could, but didn’t have the time or resources to get involved or aid either combatant. The pirates believed in their captain, they had seen what he could do a hundred times. And for the colony forces… well, if anyone could, it’d be Burnout.

Rage. Don’t You Dare Die Again. Rage.

After the eternity of scant seconds, the smoke began to clear. The crowd saw this: Titanomachy, scorched, broken, and burning. They saw it’s fist, buried in the Monarch’s chest. The crimson mech let off a soft burst of more smoke: as it’s reactor began to feel the stress of the fight. The pistol fell apart in it’s hand: it’s targeting system, devastated. The Enkidu seemed to be on the verge of collapse, it’s jet thrusters sputtering out flames without any lifting force to them. Titano’s shoulders slumped, exhaustion somehow evident in the mech’s posture.

Inside, Zane wasn’t much better. Sweat dripped from his brow, mixing with blood that trickled down his nose. He heard hard coughs over the comms, that same gruff voice of the Captain.

“You pack a real wallop, kid. Been a while, since anyone’s had the balls to take me on and the skills to match.”

Zane panted, trying to use this moment of peace to steady his breathing, ignore the pounding headache he had. At last, he spoke again, his voice a vile whisper. “You’re going to die. You know that, right?”

The Captain’s response was silence. Somehow, this triggered more rage in Zane than any quip he could have had. His voice shook and cracked, his malice and hatred dripping off every word.

“I’m going to kill you. I’m going to destroy everything you built: I’m going to tear your world to the Ground for what you did to us. What you did to Him.”

Again, silence.

Those who watched the fight saw Titanomachy’s free fist ball up even tighter: the metal melting and denting from his exertion. The gunmetal beast pulled it’s other hand out of the Monarch’s chassis, ruined pipes and metalworks clinging to it. With both hands, the Enkidu grabbed the crimson mech’s shoulders-sliding up to it’s throat. Zane began panting again, feeling the force of his rage compound, it quickly spiralling out of his control. From his sound speakers, all could hear his voice as he yelled, all rasp, all snarl, all hate. The colonists didn’t hear a shred of the calm man-the calm kid- they knew from back home.

“Say something, say something before I put you in the grave! I’ll rip you’re fucking head off, I’ll smash it into your goddamn house! Say anything!”

…

At last, some sounds came from the Monarch’s mic- a long, heavy sigh, that only Zane could hear- the pirate had no sound system.

“Kid, if I’m gonna be honest I really don’t give a shit.” His voice was calm: prepared, perhaps, or maybe exhausted. “In a second, we can go back to killing each other. No worries about that but, I gotta say: you know this doesn’t matter, right? I’m just one pirate. My crew, they’ll find another me, or maybe they’ll grow a copy of me, like the kid you’re from.” Zane flinched at that, with a low snarl he began gripping tighter… but stopped himself. The Captain waited for his breath to steady.

“...” Silence filled the air for a moment. Zane was left confused for a moment.

Kill Him. Now, Kill Him Now, Kill Him-

“Eat shit, brat!” Suddenly hate rose in the Captain’s voice, as the missile launcher fired forth another shot. The Enkidu had no time to react, only able to try and meagerly throw it’s hands up to defend itself. But it was not enough against such a weapon. When the smoke cleared again the Monarch had slipped from under Zane’s grasp. His wrath returned tenfold, Zane attempted to ready for combat, balling his hands into fists… his hand. The other was reduced to molten scrap. This fact fell to the back of his mind, as he scanned the crater for the Captain. He found him standing near the edge, already preparing for another shot. The Captain laughed.

“You’re really the best they have? Kid, before you die here’s one lesson: don’t give the enemy a second to breathe!” and with that final word, another missile fired. This time however, Titano rolled out of the way, rubble going up all around it. From a kneeling position the mech rose, letting out another furious yell as it charged. Zane shouted back to the Captain in these few moments.

“I killed dozens of your men on my way here, don’t you dare talk down to me!” His lone fist raised, he let the wires spill from his hands and snap out into the air. They met the Captain before he did, who held them off with one slash after another.

The Captain roared, “Same here, brat, but you didn’t see me screaming like an idiot all the way here-” Titano charged, attempting to deliver a fatal blow, but the agile captain slipped under his grasp. He countered with a stab to the chest, but a surprise elbow coming down from behind his head knocked the attack off course.The two mechs both backed off, again trying to study their opponent’s condition. Both were on the brink of death

Not Again. Rage. Rage

“What’s the point of this shtick?” Zane asked. He raised his remaining fist, wrapping it in plasma. “Are you just trying to mock me before I punch a hole through you?” he abruptly charged again, bringing the fist down only to be held back by the Captain’s blade. He heard a grunt from the comms, and the Captain’s voice in a tone of rising annoyance.

“Yeah, sure, let’s go with that. Instead of the fact some idiot diaspora trash came to my system, killed my men, and the strongest one among them some Stupid Fucking Brat fights me, and has the goddamn gall to try and lecture me, like he has half a goddamn braincell. You piss me off.” Zane prepared to yell back a response, but was cut off when the Captain kicked his feet out from under him. In a burst of speed he slid out of the way of the falling mech, and brought up his sword to deliver a slash right at the Enkidu’s heart. Seconds before impact, Zane tried to launch his jet thrusters, giving him just enough time to turn away from the lethal blow-

Titanomachy’s damaged arm fell to the ground with a heavy thud. The pain racked it’s way through Zane’s nervous system, the searing heat and pain that was all too familiar too him. It was perhaps his familiarity with amputation that he was able to stay conscious: though he could not rise from the kneeling position he was now at. Zane could hear the Captain panting, some small amount of relief evident in his tone. The pilot of Titanomachy could barely understand what was around him: warning messages blared, though he could not make out the words either spoken or written. Blood continued to trickle, hitting the hard steel of the cockpit below him. He counted the seconds, waiting for death to take him a final time…

1…

2…

The Monarch stepped in front of him. The mech laid it’s burning sword on the metal of his ruined shoulder. All Zane could do was look up.

3…

4…

The Captain’s voice came over again, some amount of calm demeanor returning to him, piercing through Zane's addled state.

“What pisses me off most about you kid, is the sheer fucking audacity. The sheer fucking stupidity. You charged with no weapons, some just fancy plasma claws and bare steel. How the fuck did you think this would work. How did you think you’d kill me, let alone ‘destroy everything I built’?” He pressed the plasma in deeper, spite building in his tone.

5…

6…

“Did you really think this would be the end? You kill me, it all ends. No. I have an entire goddamn crew, numbered in the thousands. Sure it was a gambit, but kid I wasn’t lying to you. You’d have to kill all of us, for any of what you dream to matter. And not one lone idiot, or two hundred idiots or however many of you are left, could do that.” The captain took a deep breath, calming himself.

7…

8…

“Before I cut your head off, and go wipe out the fucking idiots you brought with you, go wipe out your entire goddamn colony, tell me kid? How’d you think any of this would work?”

9…

10...

Silence.

The Captain waited for Zane’s response. He was ready to take the brat out, but just wanted to hear the words out of his mouth first. Then…

“Who said I didn’t have a weapon?”

The Captain raised an eyebrow, unable to fully understand the whisper of Zane’s voice.

“The fuck are you saying kid? Speak up.”

Again, he heard Zane speak, but still too quiet.

“Who said I didn’t have a weapon?”

The Captain was fed up. “Alright you little shit, have it your way.” He raised his blade up, ready to bring it down for a final blow…

“Who Said I Didn’t Have A Weapon?”

From Titanomachy’s chest, a small opening appeared. Something fell out: a small tube, a handle, that Zane grabbed from the air. With the speed of his neural interface, with one last flood of rage and anguish, the command was sent. In that same second, he lifted his functioning arm.

Activate- Torch Blade

Heat filled the air. From the handle spew forth red plasma, condensing and shaping itself into a long beam of energy. With no time to react, the Captain's fatal strike was held back by the new beam of plasma. After a moment’s hesitation, the Monarch stepped back, preparing to launch a missile. But in those wasted moment’s Titanomachy rose from it’s knee and charged with all it had. With it’s last burst of strength the mech rained down slash after slash, holding the Captain on the defensive as he was forced to deal with a remarkably skilled swordsman. With each blow held away the pirate became aware of just how hot his opponent’s weapon burned. The heat alone would be nearly enough to fry his reactor- he knew he had to act fast. But it would seem that Zane acted faster, going for a heavy slash to catch the pirate off guard as he once again went for a swipe of the legs. But the Captain saw it coming, barely, stepping just out of the way and-

Getting distracted for just long enough that Titanomachy could deliver a metal crushing headbutt. In the brief moments of confusion, Zane followed up with a swipe of a different kind, swinging his blade down at the very same leg he tried to kick. Before he realized what was going on, the Captain felt the terrible pull of gravity drag him and his Monarch back into the dirt. Just as before, he tried to fire off a devastating missile to ensure the destruction of both of them- but then the Captain saw the wires. Slipping out from Titano’s grip on the handle, the wires spread out and raced towards his launcher. With a bizarre prehensile nature, and terrible, ravenous destruction, the Enkidu’s claws ripped the launcher from its mount in his shoulder…

Dust settled. The Captain was not a stupid man: he knew when he had been beat. And so, Aron Thorn, Captain, surrendered himself to death…

1…

2…

“You still want my answer?” Zane’s voice broke as he spoke, exhaustion weighing on every part of him. “It’s over. No more tricks. Do you want my goddamn answer?”

3…

4…

Aron sighed. “Sure kid. Give me something good to think on before I kick it.”

5…

6…

“I really didn’t. I talked myself up, kept telling myself it’d work, but in the end I wasn’t sure. I was so afraid I’d die, just like He did” His grip on the sword grew tighter. He turned it’s blade downward, at the Monarch’s reactor, ready to pierce it.

7…

8…

“But I hated you more than I feared dying, I guess. And when I’m in this thing well, it all gets a little cloudy. This isn’t Horus, this is an old school Harrison mech. Fucked up thing if you ask me, even before I modded it to hell. I wasn’t sure how well any of this thing’s systems would work.”

9…

10…

Aron laughed, bleeding into a heavy cough. “Well, it did kid. Congratulations. You killed one captain: now, a dozen more will pop up to replace me. Sorry to give you more work.”

…

Zane laughed back… something seething in it. That Hatred, manifesting as quiet loathing. “Don’t worry about it. More than happy to keep my promise... Starting with you.”

The crowd, what remained, heard the sound of blaring warnings. Reactor meltdown. There had been more than a dozen throughout the battle, but this one was special: it came from the ring. From that mangled pile of corpses, rose a gunmetal beast, down on all it’s functioning limbs. A sword handle hung at its side. Steam and smoke and fire rose from it. The air stood still.

And an explosion erupted behind it. As the ash began to fall, Titanomachy charged yet again.

#Zane's a character for a lancer game I'll be playing in soon #Realize that this may be a little hard to parse if you aren't familiar with the game's lore so I'll try to explain a little #sci fi future setting with a bunch of different military companies one of which is Harrison Armory #The Enkidu is a harrison mech that should not exist #it actively scrambles the pilot's brain as their piloting and drives them into a blood rage #This scene serves as the climax of Zane's backstory after he went to fight against raider's who destroyed his home #it did not go well #to say the least.

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