Icarus

The wind blew through the mountains rigorously, it was a chilling wind that would make any man regret climbing up them, but a few men and women did brave the biting cold all because they were ordered to. "How do you expect we find this mech Professor, the radar keeps breaking up." A man said to the woman next to him while still keeping his eyes in front of him as he drove, the snow kept blowing upwards, making it hard to see. "Don't worry so much Major, I can feel it, we are close." The Professor said as she stared out the window, almost as if she could see through the snow that kept coating the them.

As they kept driving the wind started to cease, this made it easier to see because not as much snow was being lathered onto their jeeps. "Major, this is Captain Lance, it seems this damn blizzard is moving away from us for good and won't be back for some time." As the Major was driving he heard the Captian over the radio. The Major sighed a little and then clicked the radio and said, "Roger that Captian, continue to observe."

As the snow cleared off their vehicles, they could large mountains dotted about all around them, it was a surprise they still knew where they were, considering how deep they were in this mountain range. "There, right over there! I see something!" The professor yelled out as she rolled down the window and pointed out at a large mound of snow, this caused her brown hair to come loose from her ponytail and flap about in the wind.

And just as she said the Major saw a large white cloth with dimly glowing red stripes jutting out of the snow. The cloth continued to flow freely in the wind as the white and black jeeps parked. "Alright everybody let's move out and remember, stay frosty." The Major said as he grabbed his gun, and when he did he saw the disappointed eyes of the Professor, "Seriously, was that supposed to be a joke? You know what never mind." She said as she got out of the jeep.

The Professor started walking towards the cloth as the soldiers all surveyed the area cautiously, "Professor, be careful, don't get too close." The Major yelled to the Professor as he ran up and blocked her way. "Let me through Major, that's the mech we are looking for." She said as she pointed out to the still flapping cloth. "And that is exactly why I can't let you get close to it yet, at least let my men check it for any radioactive signatures." The Major tried but failed in the end, to keep the Professor away from the mech, so he decided to stay right next to her in case anything happened, as he cocked his gun and checked to make sure it's working for the second time, the Professor walked up to the snow pile.

Almost on cue, the wind blew some snow from the pile, causing a small dim glowing orange to be seen from underneath. The Professor moved her gloved hand over the snow and wiped it twice, the snow blew off and was lost in the wind that was starting to pick up again, what was left in the snow's place was a single word, glowing a dim orange.

'Ikarus'

The Professor looked over the word again and again until the Major interrupted her thoughts, "What does it say?" He asked curiously, but still had some caution left in his voice. "Ikarus, it is German for Icarus, the son of Daedalus, it means follower." The professor said as she slid her left hand over the name, almost like it was her child. "But who does it follow?" The Major asked.

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Aurora didn't know where she was, she couldn't even see anything, all she could see and feel was darkness, like she was floating in the void. This was a continued experience for as long as she could remember, she stopped counting for what she could guess at least ten or so years ago. Just as her brain was going numb again from the darkness, she felt a jolt, and then another. Aurora could see an orange wave coming towards her, she didn't know what to think, she hasn't seen colors in so long, but while she was enthralled in the color of the wave, it kept going, and then passed right through her, as soon as it did she saw light.

A blinding light snuck in through her eyelids as she slowly opened them, she quickly closed them again. This continued until she was adjusted to the light, when she was she looked around with only her eyes, which were shining a light purple-blue. When she didn't see anyone she tried to sit up but couldn't. As she looked down she saw her hands and feet were locked inside arm and leg bands of sorts. As Aurora pulled on them, they came off easily, which was odd, she shrugged it off and chose to think about more pragmatic matters, like why there were three unconscious bodies on the ground around her. When she got off the gurney she was previously laying on, she expected her legs to turn to dust or at least trip over each over, but neither happened, they just felt extremely tired.

Aurora slowly wobbled her to one of the unconscious bodies, she bent down slightly and put her index and middle finger on his carotid artery to make sure he was actually still alive. She felt a pulse, good, she didn't feel like having needless death as soon as she woke up. Aurora took her fingers off the unconscious doctor's neck and then proceed to stretch all of her fingers, and then the rest of her body. After stretching she felt relieved, most of her body still ached but it would have to do. She took one of the doctor's ID's and slid it in the door pad.

The door buzzed and then slid open, a long hallway stretched through, Aurora could just barely see the end if she squinted. Just as she was going to start her long walk she saw another orange wave coming towards her, before she could react it passed right through and disappeared into thin air.

Aurora could feel the aches on her body disappearing at a steady rate, almost like what happens after you take a dip in the hot springs.

She could not understand it, but whatever it was she was grateful for it. She could now walk in a straight line without wobbling, however, she still stuck to holding onto the wall, just in case. 'How long is this hallway,' Aurora said to herself for she had been walking for what she could guess thirty minutes now through the same hallway. Just as she was about to take a break, the dark hallway in front of her became bright, a chilling wind blew through as she heard two voices.

"Hey Jim, what are we having for chow?"

"I don't know Dom, we are just going to have to wait until then I guess."

As they talked they didn't notice Aurora who was hidden in the light, she was blended in so well it was a little weird even for her, she had on a blueish-white lab gown that matched her pale white skin and silvery-white hair that reached the top of her knees now. As they passed her she quietly made her way to the still-open door. "I'm cold." She whispered to herself as she stepped into the open sunlight outside, the sun still couldn't stop the piercing winds from making her cold. 'I better get out of here quickly, those guards will find the unconscious bodies soon.' she thought as she looked back at the hallway and then started walking towards the stairs that were coated in snow.

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"Major, we've checked the Mech, no radioactive waves are being emitted, however, there are some slight EM Pulses which may hamper our effort to get the Mech out." A soldier said as he saluted the Major. "Alright, if we use the G2 Mech to dig we should be able to counter the Ether Energy, bring out the Gamma 2 Private." The Major said as the Private saluted and ran off towards the vehicles. After a short while a large black mech with a glowing green visor stood tall above the soldiers, it was about 13.5 meters tall and looked menacing with the snow constantly hitting it.

"Alright let's do this!" A man named Cyril said as he grinned and piloted the mech to move towards the snow pile. "Sergeant, be careful you don't damage either mech, you got that." The Major's voice came over the radio as Cyril was just about to start digging, he stopped and moved the hand of the mech to form a not-so-friendly gesture as he laughed. Cyril then began to dig Icarus out of the ground carefully. As Icarus was being dug out, the Professor was taking pictures of it, all the while spouting out nonsense on how it was going to be one of the greatest discoveries since new Mechanite deposits were discovered five years ago.

"Icarus seems to be the first mech we've found that predates back to before the First Great War!" The Professor cheered as she kept taking pictures of every angle of the mech. After about an hour of digging, they got the whole mech out of the snow. It was lean, presumably to increase its speed, along with being lean it had its battle mack on which stretched into small sharp points like fangs stretching out backward-facing at a 45° angle upwards, in the front, its forehead stretched out into a sharp point as well, right underneath it had a rigid visor glowing a dim orange. Unlike the Gamma 2 which had a bright glow on its smooth visor, signifying that it was active, Icarus only had a dim glow. "Alright let's haul this Mech onto the truck and get out of this frosty dump and back to civilization!" The Major yelled which in response the soldiers did a "hooah" sound.

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As Aurora walked down the metal stairs the snow cushioned her step, which helped her because it made less noise but it still made her feet cold and she didn't like that. Three-hundred years ago she may have been one of the most adept at winter and cold combat, but that didn't mean she liked the cold any more than the average person. While walking down the stairs she noticed a lack of guards, or really just a lack of people, it may have been a base on a mountain, but it shouldn't be this secluded, but still, Aurora thought this as lucky because she still didn't think she was strong enough yet to take on an armed guard.

As Aurora kept walking through the snow, avoiding the occasional sentry, she felt a force attracting her, almost as if pulling her, instead of resisting she followed. Where she ended up was a storage-like room, almost looked abandoned was her first thought. She expected the door to be locked, but it seemed luck was on her side all the time because the door opened, she crept in getting low to the ground as she spotted guard, although he was sleeping she still didn't want to risk anything, so she crept closer, not making a sound, almost like a mouse. She grabbed the gun that was next to him and raised it, and with all the force she could muster at the moment she bashed the gun as hard as she could into his face, he opened his eyes and his pupils contracted but they soon rolled back as his body lay limp. "Sorry, but you might have a bruise later... or maybe a broken nose," Aurora whispered as she gave an apologetic smile to the unconscious guard.