Black and White

Ye Chong’s pupils shrunk on a whim!

Time to accelerate! Ye Chong’s hands hovered over the control panel like a shroud of phantasm.

The F-58 that acted goofy before had advanced in an overpowering speed towards Karl! As if it were on drugs, it charged with spear dazzling ferocity! The pilot in Karl saw his fear becoming real gradually. The cold shine of death magnified in his quivering eyes!

He was saved by the instinct he obtained from intensive training in the past, as he set his shield to the front immediately to protect him and his partner from fatal damages at any cost. There was scarcely time for him to collect his thoughts. His sense of protection just held his teammate up within his mech’s right arm.

A man who could still be thinking of his own mates at such a situation.

Ye Chong was impressed.

Heading towards the iron wall in no time, Ye Chong did not seem to be decelerating at all! A slide tilted and Ye Chong skied over the surface of the shield so smoothly as if the shield was lubricated.

Karl who was behind the shield was confused. The expected crash was not coming anytime soon. There was no pressure exerted onto the shield and the hands felt too light for an incoming collision. Huh? A shadow came to the right of Karl. The slow giant was horrified, he could not manage to shift his heavy shield in time, he lifted his elbow towards himself from the strike.

Hawkeye was too absorbed being the watchdog that the pilot only found the existence of the loophole by then. The raider had already sneaked through the iron shield! Hawkeye sent off an emergency signal right away! But there was no response! Hope had been sunken in the pilot of Hawkeye. Apparently his other mates were done for as well. No one could reach them. The raider must have planned thoroughly for this attack! Such resourcefulness! The thoughts sent chills down his spine, from the bottom right to the top of his head. He shuddered unwillingly. He gestured at Karl to call for cover-up on his escape. He would be running away at maximum speed as he believed he must stay alive to spread the words to the other grunts at the very least!

He switched his engine on. Wham!

He didn’t make it. Before he wanted to make his next move, he felt as if he was crashed by a speeding mech. The agony in his body terrorized his remaining muscles. He shrieked seeing half of his body chopped off like hay in a cutter, blood spilling over the weapon like a gruesome graffiti. His head leaned to the side as he lost his consciousness which seemed to be never retrieved afterwards.

Back when Karl arched his arm, F-58 took it like a lever and launched itself to the air. One somersault and the rarely used shield was finally put into use this time. The impact created from F-58’s leap disabled Karl’s movement temporarily. F-58 stomped on the ground landing and he swiftly sent the shield flying with a fling he made. The shield spun through the gap between Karl and the iron shield, all the way to the running Hawkeye. A critical hit!

The edges of the compound metal shield were extremely honed, plus it flew under the immense strength of F-58’s toss, the damage was greater than ever especially when Hawkeye’s armor was pathetically weak. The shield pierced through completely like a slice to the apple. Crackles and splutters. The Hawkeye exploded. Having to witness the entire scene, the mechs that happened to be passing by in the air were horrified and nearly lost control.

There was no more need to keep it down anymore. Ye Chong activated his magnetic sword, wanting to end the battle quickly and flee.

Karl had not been making any movement since then, seemingly too astonished by the sudden explosion before him that he did not notice the approaching F-58.

Well, aren’t you prepared to die when you are prepared to daze off at such timing? Ye Chong could imagine Karl already dead in his mind, as he waved his magnetic sword like a ferocious serpent as its sting inched towards Karl for a deadly kiss. Ye Chong! A white light blinded Ye Chong as he heard Mu warning, "Look out!"

Karl actually self-destructed? The explosion blew Ye Chong off far away. In a bewilderment, his eyes set upon the tiny dot in the sky. No! It wasn’t a suicide! He enlarged the image obtained in the processor. Dammit! That was the white mech going after him last time. Ye Chong could not stop cursing, but it was not the time for that.

The F-58 reached his hands for the ground to stabilize his balance. Bang! He dodged in a tumble right away. I knew it! The attack had yet to be ended as another beam of light struck right before Ye Chong. The F-58 then set close to the floor and zigzagged to the rooftop as he picked up the shield on the way. The frisbee would come in real handy now! He got to the top and jumped off from the building of 500 floors tall.

The white mech chased behind, showing determination in getting Ye Chong real nailed this time!

Dammit! Dammit! Ye Chong called himself in such bad luck of encountering this white mech at this very moment of all times they could have met.

He set himself off into the urban jungle, weaving in between the buildings. That would have worked in the past. However, the white mech seemed to be going real in the hunt. The worst part of the scenario was it would appear that the white mech was aided by the police forces. The color blue, black and white were the typical colors for police officers’ mechs and none of theirs were of low-quality! Most of the mechs were either average or advanced. Under the assistance of police force, they cornered Ye Chong bit by bit.

What could Ye Chong have done? Agitation seared his head. Puzzlement wet his face. "Mu." The communicator of F-58 rang with a familiar voice, "I'm Johansson, do you hear me?" Ye Chong would love to respond but, "No time for words. There’s a turning 100 meters in front of you. Meet there!" And he hung up. Gosh! Ye Chong’s heart skipped a beat. So the Black Cove are finally getting their hands into this!

He settled his mind and sped up straight. 100 meters were a brief distance to Ye Chong’s speed. Any place in that distance was not far-fetched to reach within a blink of an eye. Ye Chong’s eyes focused on that very black mech as soon as he arrived.

This must be the war model of the Black Cove! That was the first time Ye Chong saw the exact machinery limited to the Black Covers right before his eyes. He had heard amazing stories about it. But I've never seen it, till today!

The only impression flooding his thought then was - This is the coolest mech I've ever seen!

Hideous! That would be the lasting impression given to every person who had seen this mech. The well-proportioned body glossed in a dreamy darkness, a color inhibited the bloodthirsty will in it; the hooks on the slender wrists, elbows, shoulders, knees and the head flashed like the fangs of the demon lord debuting from the underworld; the scepter about a meter half at the right arm, along with the chains wrapped over which the endings were kept inside the mech - wondering what it actually could do.

A magnetic sword kept at the crossing of its back. Came in a pair, about 3 meters long each.

The armguard on its left was rather easily overlooked, which could be pretty good considering what the mech was made for. The sharp edges were hidden within the coat of black paint. The ulterior of the legs had the same pair of scepters too, with the rising spikes installed at the heels. Well for the hidden firepower… I couldn’t tell how many shooting cartridges he hid.

"Five." Enlightened Mu, "5 cartridges were hidden."

An absolute killer machine! Ye Chong could not stop complimenting the machinery in his mind. Imagine with such firepower, combined with Johansson’s rapid attacking skills - the destruction this mech could potentially create would be more than overwhelming! The apparent setup must not be it! There had to be more, considering it a mech from the Black Cove. It should have some other fearsome modifications not known by a glance! Terrifying. Unpredictable!

Ye Chong shifted his view onto his own F-58. It was at the other extreme on a scale with the black mech. It just felt so half-baked in comparison with Johansson’s war machine. If he were to have a duel with Johansson in a F-58, no matter how much more skillful he was than Johansson, he would lose inevitably.

"Those men are from the association." Johansson spoke gravely, "And we are finishing them right here, together!"

As planned, both of them took the sides of the crossing each. Hiding in darkness, Ye Chong tried to piece everything together in his mind. Association? Did he mean the FMPA? Wait, so the FMPA is actually the nemesis of Black Cove? Ever since he got out of the Black Cove, Ye Chong showed disdain towards the certification system in FMPA. The pilots certified by the so-called "association of the galaxy" could hardly be called potent. Nevertheless, he never expected the day that he would be dumbfounded by someone from the FMPA. The super-advanced mechs that have been hunting me were all from the FMPA? The pilot inside that white mech might be inferior to Ye Chong’s skills but was still way above the average "advanced pilots" holding fancy certificates in the field. He was from the FMPA too?

How would the Black Cove become the enemy to the FMPA?

It did not make sense to Ye Chong. "Here it comes!" Johansson boomed. Everything happened so fast, Ye Chong simply did not have the leisure to go through the scenes again.

The white mech gracefully emerged in the crossing at first, which the grace was lost upon seeing two mechs at the crossing awaiting for itsarrival. The white mech appeared to have flinched seeing Johansson’s fearsome machine.

"Do it!" Johansson shouted and pounced at the white mech straightaway. The speed was unlooked for to the white mech as it went easily a stage faster than F-58.

The white mech calmed down fairly quick and backed off with dexterity a strange-looking gun in the hand aiming at Johansson.

"You… You!" Johansson’s angry voice ran deep and profound.