Reclaiming the Hangar

Pine needles and dried foliage slipped inside as Cayce pushed the hatch open. They were just outside the city now, a short distance beyond the hangar. After surveying the surroundings, he climbed out and extended his hand to the other man.

"By the way, my name's Cayce."

The man grunted as he was hoisted out of the hole. Those tunnels saved him and many others, but it took a physcological toll on him to be underground. It was really nice to be out.

"I'm Jason. It's a pleasure to meet you, sir."

"Likewise."

Jason had handsome brown eyes and short dark hair. He was more muscular than Cayce and almost the same height. The way he carried himself suggested he had ample combat experience and was probably in the military before the shattered star event.

Now they were at the edge of the woods outside the city, maybe 500 yards from the hangar area. Jason retrieved a set of binoculars from his combat vest and peered through them while taking a knee.

"... I got bad news, Cayce. It looks like someone's guarding the city's entrance to the hangar. It's the Jelena Alliance. I count four of them."

He then handed Cayce the binoculars and waited to hear his thoughts. Cayce wore a grim expression as he observed.

The hangar was a large structure with many launch bays facing the outside the city, but there was only one opening which connected the city itself to the hangar building. As Cayce peered through the lenses, he could see one of the enemies crouched in that entrance while two of the others guarded him and a fourth roamed the inside of the hangar.

"... I don't see my armor. Hangar 1 is missing quite a few of the usuals."

Jason looked surprised. The hangar areas were numbered in order of prescedence. Damaged armors would be placed in higher numbered areas until they were repaired. But if your armor was moved to hangar 1 once it was ready to be deployed, that meant it was one of the best in the city.

"Alright then. I have a spare armor in hangar 5. It won't compare to an armor from hangar 1, but you can use that one until we figure this mess out."

After making a quick plan, they approached the hangar area. Luckily, the enemy didn't focus on guarding the launch bays, so they could scale the wall without any worries. After a few minutes and some arduous climbing, they reached the opening and snuck inside.

Jason and Cayce gave each other a nod and started creeping forward. One advantage of not wearing armor was the increased stealth. Jason got to his armor first and quietly slipped inside. The enemies were close, but right now the wandering guard was on the far side of hangar 1 inspecting the walls.

The armor closed around Jason and he stood quietly before slowly leading Cayce to the spare. Cayce observed the machine as it crept in silence. The eyes glowed in a dark brown hue not too different from Jason's actual eyes and the machine had an average build with desert camo painted on the plating. The right shoulder had a battle rifle mounted to it while the left held what looked like an SMG.

They soon arrived in hangar 5 and it was time for Cayce to suit up.

The spare armor in front of Cayce was sleek and had one large circular eye in the center of the helmet. The plating was also painted with a desert brown camouflage. A large kukri knife was sheathed on the right thigh while a dark mesh mask hung from the left hip. Looks like the massive eye could be hidden if it needed to be...

Cayce climbed in and connected his personal assistant machine.

"Status."

[ Status ]

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[ Agent: Cayce Tale ]

[ Rank: 82nd ]

[ Mission success rate: 83% ]

[ CP balance: 8,320 ]

[ Functionality: 95% ]

[ Mana: 6462 / 6462 ]

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[ Armor status: connected ]

[ Armor: Cyclo P2 ]

[ Functionality: 100% ]

[ Mana reserves: 0 / 0 ]

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[ Mana channeling system: Phasea 3 ]

[ Plating: VT 12 ]

[ Attachment: K-runt magi-blade ]

... Not much to work with, but it was better than nothing.

The Cyclo P series didn't make it very far for a few reasons. The singular eye was the focus, allowing the user to see with a wider field of view at the cost of a hindered depth perception. The eye was also large and easy to damage. If it were destroyed in combat, you would have to finish the fight blind.

Besides that... Cayce looked down at the armor's hand. Small pieces of metal embedded in his palm rattled slightly as he moved. This armor's mana channelling system had weak attachment ports. It might be difficult to get mana to the magi-blade.

Cayce slid the mesh mask over the helmet. His mana was grey, so it would stand out easily even if the armor's eye wasn't so huge. Hopefully this would help obscure the light and help keep him hidden until they were ready to strike.

Crouching behind a structural support pillar, Cayce waited for the wandering guard to approach. They had been circling hangar 1 this whole time, occasionally stopping to look at the support pillars and walls. If they kept the pattern up, they should check this pillar next.

Jason set up behind another pillar near hangar 1's launch bay and lined up his sights with the three enemies at the hangar's entrance. Everything was ready. Now they waited for the heavy footsteps to get close to Cayce.

Thud thud thud...

Now!

Cayce raised the kukri magi-blade high over his head. It was a heavy knife that curved forward at an angle kind of like a boomerang. It was designed to chop and cleave- it was made for severing. Using all his force, he hacked down on the enemy from behind.

Shunk!

The blade sunk into the crook between the enemy's neck and shoulder. It didn't go all the way through, but it was enough to he a fatal blow. At the same moment, Jason began firing on the three by the entrance.

The first four shots were enough to take out one of the men guarding the entrance before the last two whipped around and returned fire. Jason took cover behind the pillar while Cayce grasped his dying prey with one arm and lifted him up to use as a shield.

Cayce's borrowed armor started to smoke as he fed more mana to power his arm. Brown mana moved slower than the other types. It was the most efficient, so it could use lower quality systems without much risk. However, Cayce would break down the mana channelling system if he fed it too much grey mana.

Raising his dying shield, Cayce ran towards the last two enemies. Both quickly opened fire on Cayce only to hit their ally many times.

As Cayce distracted them, Jason opened fire again, but the first shot ran low and slipped past the side of the crouched enemy. In that split second, Jason's eyes widened and he realized why the enemy was crouched there in the first place. The glowing brown projectile struck a small brick of putty stuck to the wall of the entrance.

He didn't hear the sound. He simply watched as an explosion plumed behind the enemies, throwing them forwards before engulfing them in flames. Another slow-motion second later, a second explosion plumed further to the side, then another and another.

The enemy was lining the building's supports with C4.

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The grey-eyed armor stood quietly by the wreckage on the road. After the last of the transports was immobilized, the surviving drivers all got out and ran for their lives. The last two armors also took off when they realized they were outmatched.

Yet for some reason, the empty machine didn't chase after them. It simply stood over the wreckage and looked around as if it were lost in thought.

[ Host danger detected ]

The machine's head snapped up and turned to look in the direction of the hangar.