Chapter 2

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Visions of the past flooded my mind. Karl and I had grown up close. But it made sense, being twins and all. We did nearly everything together. Karl and I played together in the sandlot across the street from our house in San Bernadino; practiced together in Aikido lessons <he was always better than I was>; and plotted together against Kamu, our older brother, and Shannon, our younger sister. We had flown together in every plane we could access <legally or illegally>, and he had tried every trick he knew to talk me into joining the military with him, to defend the earth against these 'aliens' that everybody was going on about. But I've always liked writing so much better than flying, and snooping so much better than fighting. That was probably the largest difference between us. We nearly looked like identical twins, even down to our wiry, athletic build... which was going to make the rest of my life so much more difficult. <Every time I look into a mirror...>I was shaken out of my memories by a sudden impact against the mecha's chest. The egg was firing on me, so I jerked the stick aside, pushed the right pedal and boosting the thrusters. I realised I wasn't quite in a plane as the mecha didn't react the way I expected it to. I quickly compensated for my bad maneouvering, and corrected my balance while breaking into a run. I had, however, luckily managed to dodge the worst of the egg's burst. 

<This... THING... is responsible for my brother!> I didn't know how I knew, but I decided it to be true as I adjusted my direction and charged it. I had moved a good distance to it's right, and it was just now turning to bear again. It leveled it's guns again, and I activated the leg boosters, leaping into the air as the space I occupied filled with burning steel. I killed the thrusters and let myself fall towards the egg, hoping to crush it. Planting a foot between it's primary guns, it's plating caved in, and the mecha's leg slipped inside as we both toppled over. 

I couldn't get the leg out before we hit the ground, and we hit hard. I would have would have knocked myself out on the controls in front of me if it weren't for the harness I was wearing. I pushed the mecha up on it's arms and tried to pull it's leg out of the other machine. 

It came out after a bit of work, but was covered in something that I assumed was motor lubricant. As I stood up and pulled the gun pod from it's housing. <Probably easier to kill the damn things with this. And kill them I will.> Looking around, I saw movement further into the city. <If that's more of them, they're dead,> I thought as I started to trot down a main street. 

As I suspected, it was another one of those egg things walking along 23rd Avenue. I screamed at the inside of my cockpit as I unloaded a burst into it. The resulting explosion was intensely satisfying. I was about to move on when my sensors picked up two more of them, further down the street. Some smoke was blocking them from visuals, but a few tentative button-pushes brought up a thermal display. 

They spotted me as I turned my cannon to bear and charged, weapons blazing. I hopped to the left, smashing an apartment complex with my shoulder, and returned fire. They adjusted their aim and I hopped to the other side of the street, dodging more easily. This time I didn't smash the building. Continuing my cannon's burst, I caught one of them across the main body, piercing the 'eye' in the center. It toppled over and exploded as it's partner power-leaped into the air, firing wildly and showering the entire block with shells. I tried to side-step the worst of it, but I still heard a few 'pings' as my armour was struck. I turned up my cannon, aiming carefully, and released a short burst. Rewarded with yet another explosion, I allowed myself a small grin. Wiping the sweat from my brow, I tapped a few more buttons, looking for the air conditioner, but found the external sound system instead. 

"...em bastards!" I heard a voice pipe over the comm. I scanned the rubble around me, but could not find the source. <Somebody's alive out here...> Thermals were picking up too many heat sources to find something as small as a human. Suddenly, my mecha started beeping at me... <Oh great... what did I do now? Oh shit!> I immediately threw my mecha through the building to my right, just in time to evade a whole swarm of missiles. <Okay.... now I know there's more than one type!>I moved into a crouch, using what was left of the apartment block for cover. Then I took a deep breath, counting: "one... two... THREE!" I jumped into the street with my gun blazing down the street where the missile-toting egg had been, but it had moved from sight. My radar, however, said it was hiding just behind a building at one o'clock. 

<I hope there's nobody in there right now...> Then I opened up, tearing through the building where I guessed the missile rack would be. Another explosion. "Ooh God, this is fun!" I said, lowering my weapon. 

Then I noticed something at the foot of my mecha. <Oops! I almost stepped on somebody.> I took a step back and kneeled down to have a closer look. It was a male, and he was in surprisingly good shape, considering he'd been caught in the middle of a missile salvo. 

He moved slightly. <He's still alive! I've got to get him somewhere safe...> Moving the mecha's hand down, I carefully picked up the small figure. Then I closed the hand over him, holding him steady as I moved off towards the SDF-1. 

I started talking to no one in particular. "There might be more out here. I'll do my best to find them on my way back to the fortress. I'm probably running out of ammo, so I won't be able to stay out here much longer." 

Right as I stepped onto the broad, flat surface of the main compound, I saw another mecha moving across the tarmac towards the fortress. This one wasn't a Valkyrie, I could tell that, but it wasn't one of those eggs either... this one had arms. I almost didn't think it was hostile. 

Until it turned and fired on me. 


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Red lights flashed all over the board on my right as I launched my mecha back into the buildings, most of which returned to green as redundant systems kicked in. I opened the mecha's hand to make sure my little man was still alive - he was. 

Checking to make sure the comm was still open, I asked, "You okay? Get down and hide for a minute... this ride's gonna get a bit too bumpy." I also checked the red lights that were still flashing: mostly transformation systems, but my right leg wasn't going to work too well anymore. 

The man quickly complied, making the short hop to the ground with a slight stumble, and I repositioned myself to pop out of cover and fire on my new target. It was a little difficult with a bad leg, but not impossible. 

This time, I didn't couldn't count on flashy leaps into action. I couldn't use radar on this one, because the building I was hiding behind was too dense. So, instead, I poked my gun pod around the side of the building for a half second and fired blindly. The building immediately started falling apart. He was trying to blow his way through the building! 

<Hey! I'm the only one who's supposed to think of that stuff!> I backed further down the street and considered my options. <Okay, I've got this gun pod, running low on ammo, and a whole pack of missiles... Right. Decision made.>The building I had been using for cover was completely gone now, and I was sure the guy was moving around to get a clear shot. He was also probably waiting for me to pop out again, so this was going to be risky. It had to be done, though. I announced, "It's time to get flashy." 

Swallowing my breath, I armed the missile racks and launched my mecha straight up, over the buildings, and found he was moving around to get a clear shot. <But he didn't expect a maneouver as stupid as mine!> I screamed to myself as I released an entire rack of missiles. 

Then I noticed the SDF was missing... kinda. 


Forward to Chapter 3.
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