Armored Core: Warped Souls, Wired Minds (Uncensored)

Veil Of Uncertainty: Act 1 - The Heist

"I'd like three full cups of champagne. One for me, and the other two for both of my partners sitting near the entrance over there"
An asian woman with messy long white hair and aviator sunglasses speaks to a bartender.
"I've never seen your faces around here, must be new in the city, right?"
"I'm Suzuki Kaori, 40 years old, I'm an independent mercenary with no affiliation to the raven's nest or with ties to big corporations. Those two sitting back there are my partners, Chloe Moretti, 37 years old and Grace Madinson, 36 years old. We've been active for over 15 years, our mission sucess rate is over 80%"
"A mercenary? So you've must've heard about the things that happened last week on the news?"
The bartender slowly fills the cup with champagne.
"The disaster at the Synthesis Dynamic building? Yeah, I've heard about it"
"Wouldn't a target like that prove to be very profitable for mercenaries like you?"
"There's no way in hell am I ever gonna go head to head with a Next and risk losing my partners. I've seen the photos of what that thing did, not a pretty sight at all"
"I'm surprised that your group even managed to survive for over 15 years. Every independent group of mercenaries I've seen only lasted months or at least three years, how did your group managed to survived that long?"
"We only accept jobs that we know were capable of pulling off. Cooperating as a team is essential"
The bartender puts the cups filled with champagne on the table.
"That'll be 20"
"I'll transfer the Coams later to your account"
"Thanks"
Kaori grabs the cups and walks towards her partners at the four seat table.
"Took you long enough Kaori, what's the mission for today?"
The woman with red messy hair speaks to Kaori while taking a sip of her champagne, she's not even holding the cup right.
"Really Chloe?! You should really calm down with the beer for a sec! I'll repeat it, our mission for today is to infiltrate the Mercury Heavy Industries Weapon's factory and steal a prototype version of a new Karasawa model"
The woman with short blue hair with twin tails wearing a tuxedo stares at Kaori, her eyes are completely sleep deprived, she's usually like this.
"Uhh... Something wrong Grace?"
"Nope, just my usual sleep deprived state... but I have an important question"
"What is it?"
"Who's our client?"
Kaori pulls out her phone and checks her E-mail, she had forgotten the client's name, something that became very common after accepting so many contracts, her entire mailbox is filled with spam and popular restaurant ads, she opens the file containing the mission details.
"Our client is named V"
"Really skeeeetchy name for a client, is the quantity of Coams were gonna receive even good?"
Kaori presses play on an Audio file that was contained within the message.
"Greetings Kaori Suzuki, I have a proposition for you. Mercury's Heavy Industries most recent creation, the new prototype version of the Karasawa holds more power than you can imagine. I want you and your group to retrieve it for me, the weapons factory is located in a deep underground facility. The only way of entering it is through the sewers, I've sent a map of the city's entire sewer system below. But be warned, the sewer entrance is heavily guarded by a group of 4th generation Muscle Tracers. This mission must he completed discreetly and within a week's time. Once the mission is successful, I'll sent my location. I've provided a secure channel for us to be contact with when you're in the sewers, I'll give you the instructions as you make your way through the sewers, nobody from any corporation will be able to hear, only your group. You will be rewarded with 1 million Coams upon successful retrieval of the weapon prototype, and an additional 500,000 Coams will be deposited on your bank account if the theft remains undetected for one month"
Both girls had gotten up from their seats the moment that the client mentioned the reward being 1 million coams.
"WE'LL BE RICH!"
Chloe drags Grace.
"Hey!"
She kicks down the entrance of the bar, still holding grace. Their 3rd gens AC are parked, facing the bar. Suzuki pilots a bipedal heavyweight blue and purple AC equipped with a machine gun, blade and back missiles. Chloe pilots a blue, pink and white Tank-type AC which also contains the same weapons as Suzuki's AC. Grace pilots a hover-type AC, very low defense and so she relies heavily on support, her AC may be very weak but it's also very hard to hit. The trio climbs into the cockpits of their AC's, Kaori's AC is the first to be activated.
"Kaori Suzuki, callsign: Stormbringer! switching to traversal mode"
The bipedal AC slowly gets up from the ground while waiting for the other the two.
"Chloe Moretti, callsign: Rose Thorn! switching to traversal mode"
The tank-type AC's eyes light up.
"Grace Madinson, callsign: Zephyr! switching to traversal mode"
The hovering devices of Grace's AC activates and the machine floats above the ground.
The three ACs stand in the middle of the road, Stormbringer kneels down, both of it's hand touching the ground.
"Suzuki??"
Chloe and Grace don't understand what's going on, she's never done something like this before with her AC.
"On your marks.."
"Get set..."
The back of Stormbringer's opens, revealing it's boosters.
"Go!!!!"
Stormbringer is thrusted into the road at high speeds with it's boosters, the other two following behind. It swiftly dodges the oncoming traffic.
"Oh what the hell?!"
A truck driver tries to move out of the way, Stormbringer jumps above the truck and runs through the trailer, damaging the roof.
"Suzuki, you should be way more careful with the type of stunts you're pulling off"
"There's no need to worry Chloe"
"Where exactly are we headed? Wouldn't it be way easier if we just a made hole in the road and entered the sewers?"
" I know a place where we can enter the sewers without making a loud mess"
"Where?"
"It's near an abandoned warehouse in the Nova Tech district, once we get there, we can make our way to the Mercury Heavy Industries underground facility"
"We need a plan B if everything goes wrong, what the fuck are we gonna do if the cops get involved?"
Chloe asks.
"Cops aren't that big of a problem, 5th gen units are easy to deal with. Only thing we need to worry about is the Specter unit"
Grace interjects Chloe.
"Specter unit, what do you mean by that Grace?"
"It only became public information last week during the terrorist attack and the Nineball Incident. It's a Next equipped with stealth technology, it can become invisible for three minutes, very sleek design, completely white with purple highlights. It has not been seen in the streets since the Nineball Archangel Incident and it's pilot identity is unknown"
"Stealth? For big loud metal shells like this? Hahaha!"
Kaori finds the idea of a stealth-based Next very dumb considering how loud the boosters and weapons of armored cores and Nexts are.
"How much road do we have until we reach the warehouse, Suzuki?"
"Just a few kilometers left, Grace"
Chloe speaks up.
"We should consider a rendezvous point in case everything goes wrong inside the facility. A place that's near the facility but is also inconspicuous where we can regroup"
Suzuki nods in agreement.
"Good thinking Chloe, we should have some countermeasures prepared if the police units get involved, especially the Specter unit"
Chloe twirls her hair, thinking.
"I've seen some videos online and professional engineers in the comment have stated that the Next seems to suffer from weight and stability problems. We just have to shoot it's knee joints and try to make it unstable"
"Chloe, Suzuki! Something's coming, it's identifying itself as a hostile!"
Grace turns her AC around, a hostile enemy reading had appeared in her radar. A cargo truck is right behind them.
"Huh? It's coming from that cargo truck?"
Grace maneuvers Zephyr around the truck and aims it's machine gun at the tires. Stormbringer boosts towards Zephyr and lowers it's guns
"Grace! Don't fire at the truck! The driver might be a hostage! Why the hell are we even being attacked?! Chloe, Rose Thorn stays in the front!"
Chloe checks the front of the truck, there's no one in the seat, it's on auto-pilot,
a message pops up in the interface of Kaori's cockpit, a communication link.
"Who the hell are you? What do you want?!"
"We just want to make some cash, that's all"
Three ACs stacked on top of each other burst through the ceiling of the truck's trailer, 3rd gen ACs with a black and red coloring scheme, reverse jointed types with machine gun weapon arms, all with the same build.
"Wasn't it supposed to be only one?! Why are there three of them?! Activating combat mode!"
Suzuki maneuvers Stormbringer towards one of the hostiles, readying her laser blade.
"They were stacked on top of each other inside the trailer, that's how they tricked us into thinking it was only one! Who even are they?!"
"We are scavengers, I am the son of Brex's greatest mafioso, Thomas Perkins , I am Tony Perkins! My job is to eliminate ACs with parts that are deemed valuable and sell them to the black market! And it looks like we've hit the jackpot! LaSalle attack the tank! Andres attack the hover type! I'll take care of the bip-"
Tony's dodges Stormbringer's laser blade, the laser blade had sliced and melted half of his AC's head.
"You'll pay for that!"
"Those AC's are lacking in mobility and defense, they will be easy to deal with"
Stormbringer fires three missiles at Tony's AC, two of them hitting it as it tries to dodge by hopping over them, the AC rolls around on top of the moving truck's trailer. The third missile hits the back wheels of the trailer, it grinds against the road creating sparks.
"Damn you!"
Rose thorn fires it missiles at LaSalle's AC, the AC hops to the left side of the highway, LaSalle turns his AC 360° hoping to dodge the missiles, but one of them manages to hit his AC's left weapon arm, the AC stumbles on the ground and falls off the highway.
"LaSalle, what's your status?!"
"AC is overheating fast, I'm not gonna make i- Connection Lost"
"Damn you!"
Andre jumps towards Rose Thorn, firing his AC's machine guns at the tank treads.
"You'll pay for killing him!"
Rose Thorn boost towards Andre even while taking fire, floating devices surround Andre and open fire at him.
"Exceed Orbits?!"
Zephyr has come to aid Rose Thorn.
"Grace, fire at his AC's boosters, I'll take care of the weapon arms!"
"What about Suzuki?!"
"She's engaging with the leader, we'll catch up with her later"
Stormbringer clashes with Tonny on top of the truck's trailer, the weigh of both AC's damaging the ceiling.
"I won't go down here! I won't let you kill me!"
Tonny's AC kicks Stormbringer's core, but it only scratches the paint. Tonny fires his machine guns at Stormbringer, it boost towards him and stabs the left weapon arm, jamming itself into it.
"What the?!"
The laser blade slices the AC in half.
"Andre! Help! Connection lost?!"
"This your end!"
"I am the son of the greatest mafioso Thomas Perkins! I will honor his name, I won't let myself be killed by a worthless bitc- Huh?!"
Tonny sees the laser blade entering horizontally inside the cockpit. Stormbringer slices the AC in half along with his pilot, the destroyed machine falls off the truck as it continues moving forward.
"Grace, Chloe, how are things on your end?"
"We took care of his henchmen, we'll catch up with you"
"The truck is already entering the Nova Tech District, I'll send my location once I arrive at the abandoned warehouse"
"Ok!"
In a building far away from the Nova Tech district, a 60-year old man is surrounded by people in black robes wearing a mask that resembles the ancient  egyptian crocodile deity Sobek.
"Sir. Thomas, we just received new that your son and the followers that were accompanying him died in the Nova Tech district highway"
Thomas Perkins takes a long drag from his cigarette, exhaling a plume of smoke that obscures his face for a moment. He remains seated in his luxurious leather chair, unfazed by the news.
"Is that so?"
His voice is calm and detached.
"Should we take any actions, Sir. Perkins? Avenge his death?"
"No."
Thomas leans forward, resting his elbows on the ornate wooden desk in front of him. He stubs out the cigarette in an ashtray and leans back in his chair, steepling his fingers as he contemplates the situation.
"Tony made his choices, and he paid the price for them. Only the strong can survive in this current age. If he couldn't handle himself out there, then he wouldn't be of any use to me or this organization"
The masked figures exchange glances as the room falls into an uneasy silence.
"Continue with the operations normally. And find me a new contact within the black market"
The masked figures nod and silently disperse, leaving thomas alone in the dark room. He reaches for another cigarette, lighting it with a sense of detachment, as if the loss of his own son means nothing more to him than a mere inconvenience in the grand scheme of things.
"The doomsday clock will soon stop ticking, and this world will be once again set in flames"
He starts up a laptop on top of his desk, and opens a video file, the video shows the construction of a Next's head, It's similar to the Sobek Masks.
"Sobek... your time in the battlefield will soon come"