2011-01-15 - Baaramu No Furemu

Saturday, January 15, NCA 121 Vascillia Local Time - 21:30:32 N.U.T. Main Facility: Main Hangar

Last time Hera had seen Ascian, he'd been in the medical bay... after which he'd suddenly disappeared from the N.U.T. facility. Rumors of him rushing out rather hasted, and making the medic rather angry with him for not rest, circulated around the base. And now... now that he's back. There's turmoil. Amenthes is locked in one of the Orbital Frame braces, and right next to her is... something. A giant machine, about the same size of an orbital frame, covered in a gigantic black cloth that is hiding what is underneath it from everyone else to see. Ascian had been rather insistant that people keep their hands off of what was hidden beneath.

The neat looking, blue haired young man himself is currently busy doing checkups on Amenthes, within the cockpit. There is a small laptop on his lap, which is directly connected to the machine - and the blonde technician is sitting right next to him. They are going through the logs and upgrades made to Duat's coding. "It still won't be enough, you know? And if a new A.I. was to be written, it'd take a year... easily. Even if we use Duat as a basis." The tech mutters, "It is a shame that facility was destroyed."

"Nothing to do about it. And my sister, who has all the other research data, is also nowhere to be found." Ascian adds to that conversation, sounding somewhere between annoyed and sad. But more sad than anything. He wasn't in that angry mood Hera had found him the first time. In fact, he seems to be working rather amiably with that tech. "What's this?" The tech then points at the log. "What in the heck... did you stuff in her Vector Trap?" Ascian just grins and nudges the blonde with his right elbow, then nudges his head towards the cloth-hidden mecha. "Oooooooh. You mad genius."

The young lady of seventeen, was heading into the hanger when she spotted the odd black cloth over something that was pretty massive, and right beside it--

There was the blue hair wonder. She gives a grin, before running over in that direction. For someone as short as she was, she had a pretty quick gait in her running form. "Ascian!" Hera yelled as she got in closer before sliding to a stop, almost tripping over her own feet.

She then placed her hands on her knees before she looked up at him then with a grin. She then stands up straight before pointing her index finger at him. "I challenge you to a duel!" She says keeping her index finger pointed and hand on her hip, all dramatic like.

"They have given me clearance to go out and I told them that I wanted to take you on. They laughed but they told me I could, so here we are." She then smiles, it was a cute smile, but something of evil was hinted in those hazel almond eyes. "Do you accept?"

Somewhere on the other side of the hanger is an a orbital frame who wishes he could sweat drop.

When the loud footsteps sound over the metal platform that gives access to Amenthes' cockpit, Ascian is already looking up - seeing Hera coming. For a moment he thinks that she might not stop and kind of automatically is standing up and opening his arms a bit to stop her in case something goes wrong. And it almost does... but she manages to stop. Only to stand up and point at him in that challenging manner. "Well, aren't you energetic today." He kind of mocks her and drops his arms... then suddenly changes his posture and...

With one foot on his Orbital Frame's side, one of the bottom of the cockpit. Standing sideways. He raises his arm and points right back at her with his right hand's index finger, and places his left hand on his chest - at his heart. "I will accept your challenge!" There is powerful authority in his voice, as well as a warm spirit. He was going right along and being dramatic. The young man can be youthful when he wants to be. And people like Hera kind of draw out that side of him.

His pose drops for a moment... and the technician next to him kind of just stares at the two... then janks the cord out of the Amenthes' cockpit and steps out of the cockpit. "You're good to go." The blonde just mutters whilst shaking his head. Kids. And behind the tech, Ascian stands there, grinning like an idiot. Darn that cute smile of Hera's!

Hera grins and then jumps in the air slightly as he accepts before clapping her hands together in a childish glee. She then gives him a thumbs up, "Then I will meet you outside, your choice of spot!" She yells out as she then runs for her orbital frame a full bore.

As she gets closer to her own orbital frame the runner yells out, "Anca!"

The cockpits glass seems to fade away before she nearly leaps, thus near falls in and she quickly gets herself settled down. "Guess what we are doing~?" She say with a gleeful tone as she starts stuff up.

Hera then stared at the console as Anca didn't reply, she then hrmphed softly, "Oh, your no fun. Not even going to try and guess?"

"I heard."

"Then your not excited?"

"One should never be overly thrilled over combat."

"Oh, your no fun." Hera huffs. She then radios over to Ascian, "I'll follow you out, Ascian, so don't worry! You wont lose us easily."

Shortly after her words the Orbital Frame started to fully power up, the lines along its body glow brightly, as the massive frame starts to power up. Its optics then flare to life along with the ones on the draconic like helment above the 'face' of the unit. The AI returned back quickly to Hera as everything powered on. "Systems are all operational. We should keep power levels at low use so we do not damage the other orbital frame and its frame runner."

"You think he is going to hold back?" Hera asks raising a brow.

"Possible, however unknown. Different frames and different pilots operate differently."

"..and are you scared?"

There was a bit of a pause from the AI before it responded, "I am not programmed with the concept of fear."

"..uh-huh. Sure you are not."

Ascian just stands there for a while more, leaning one leg on the edge of the cockpit as he watches the girl go running along the back platforms to get to her own Orbital Frame. "Energetic..." The young man claims and just can't get that smile off of his face. The cockpit's black shield closes when the young man finally settles down and lays his hands on the both controls. A series of vid-windows quickly pop up as the HUD is activated, and an image and target reticule immediately appears on the Ancalagon. "You were listening huh?" He asks.

Duat replies dutifully. "Yes, I was." It seems Anca and Ascian's A.I. are similar in that manner. "What are our chances? Do you think?" Duat replies a bit too quickly; "About sixty percent. Her unit is newer, but I asses that the Amenthes still has the upper hand in terms of energy output and responsiveness." The last part simply gets a glare from the young man. "Right. Responsiveness."

His hands grip more firmly around the half-orb controls, sending his will throughout the unit. It flares up in a red bioluminescence, and the shoulderclamps that hold it in place suddenly release. And immediately the machine shows why it is called an Orbital Frame. The compressed space causing it to just hover in place. Its wings literally 'flex' for a moment, having come out of their holds, then force a series of Metatron crystals out from between their folds. A second series portrudes from the feathers at its legs. It slowly floats to the middle of the hangar as the rockface opens up... and Amenthes lands on the floor for a moment - setting its pointy feet onto the flooring.

"See you out there. You can have the first shot, whenever you can get me in your sights." Ascian replies over the radio. "Don't hold back." He then adds and forces his will further into the machine, wishing to fly. Its wings expand slightly, shifting in position. More Metatron crystals come out, and the feathers at its 'ears' flare up like a piece of firework just starting to burn. The wings are entirely /engulfed/ in red Metatron energy that flares out like burning wings of a Phoenix - a show of containing 'too much' energy. "Go!" Ascian pushes, grips, and connects with Amenthes, and the machine /blasts off/ at extremely high velocity, into the night and drips right down into the ravine below.

Hera hears what Ascian has to say on the radio, "See-- Don't hold back." She says pointing at the AI. "Cause they wont be."

"... affirmative. Though I am still against full use of force."

The draconic frame is freed as floats in the air, not even touching the ground as it slowly turns to look toward the exit. The tail stays still, as the five pylons sit in the holder. However as it moves away, right after the massive phoenix like orbital frame takes its leave, it seem fires up the six pylons which create a stream like pulse and send it out flying across the grounds and straight out, as they hit max velocity the pylons shoot out, creating the 'ribs' of the wings before a bright blue energy stream connects between all the pylons. The Orbital Frame quickly spins before heading down into the ravine after the phoenix.

Hera grins like a kid as she leans foreward a bit with excitement, ignoring the G-pulls for the most part. "Lets catch up with that Phoenix! Show him what a Dragon can do!"

"I hope you are not turning this into a mythological episode."

"Oh, come on. Everyone knows Dragons are cooler." Hera says with a huff.

"They are also not a real creature."

"Gaah-- your so technical." Hera then takes notice on the holo screen in front of her as it picks up on the energy trail of the target orbital frame. "Hey Anca, I know your older then I am, do you know anything about Ascian and his unit?"

"They are faster then we are, have more energy, and the Amenthes is an older model."

"Older then you huh?"

"Affirmative. Unknown how old the AI is, however if it is loaded with a great deal of combat experience, then I suggest you listen to my instructions."

"Don't I always?" Hera says with a sly smirk.

"Do you desire the correct answer to that question?"

The Orbital frame continues to follow in the wake of the other, not picking up more speed and keeping at a safe distance from behind. The curse of Ancalagon is it is a close range orbital frame. Not designed for long distance combat, as such going against a faster unit was going to make it difficult. However not shortly after the following, the draconic frame suddenly pulls up higher into the air.

For a moment it lingers up there, but soon, the wings tuck in close to the frames body, almost englufing it, before it then starts to dive and dive quickly in a direct decline for Amenthes. Soon as it starts to pull in, the wings move just enough out of the way as the claw hands attempts to bite into the armor of the other orbital frame on passing, before the wings spread back out to slow down the speed and not go crashing into the wall, which it nearly does, from how the tail then slaps into the rivine wall carving a deep gash into the rock with the scorpion-hook like tip.

The Amenthes keeps moving down and down, close along the ravine's wall itself, skillfully remaining away from it. Ascian's eye is on a vid-window which is clearly indicating the Ancalagon, with both a speed, a 'time until impact' and 'distance from target' indicator. All of these facts are making life easier on Ascian. "Speed up." He whispers to himself, and the red glow in its wings shine brighter when Hera's unit gets closer. And with another burst of speed, the wings spreading out a bit further and more Metatron crystals pushing out from between the folds, he gets that sudden push that pulls him right away from his opponent.

Of course, this is what sets him up with a collision course with the ground beneath. But that is where he can show how Amenthes shines. A red shield forms around it for a moment for protection and when it just looks like he'll impact with the ground. It stops. The entire unit just completely STOPS like it just hit something invisible and solid. Even the G-cancelers on the unit can't entirely compensate for this, and Ascian feels a push against his body... followed by another one as Amenthes quickly blasts off parallel along the ground and turns about!

Its wings then suddenly seem to /explode/ into pieces, all quickly aligning for, not a single, but a series of points. In fact, it looks like only one is following the Ancalagon's flightpath. "Now!" Ascian grins, looking at the rather odd looking dragon-like machine, and also takes notes of the rocks that are falling now. "Roger that!" Duat confirms the command that was given silently through the blue haired framerunner's mind and flowed so perfectly into the machine.

And those bits, those twelve pieces that had formed its wings earlier, and were now floating around the Amenthes, which was flying /backwards/, away from his sparring partner... fire! They fire red laser beams that don't seem to quite adheed to your average physics. They dart, shift direction, create crooked lines, move along the walls and into the air at near-random... all forming almost an 'orb' around his opponent before they suddenly snap and launch right for the pilon-using Orbital Frame -- its shoulders to be exact.

Hera watches the display of shots along with what the screen information was showing. "Anca, we need to evade those."

"..doubtful."

"Doubtful?"

She was soon to find out why. As the large draconic mech attempted to avoid the blasts, it spun in a circle and attempted to direct away, however as the AI stated, it was doubtful. It was a rather hopeless attempt. The beams followed their moves, a few of them impacting the hardy pylons which seem to almost 'shed' armor like scales in away. Several others impact into the shadows and one right into the arm. However, though the machine is pinged around. It turns its body into a 90 degree angle to the side flying along side the mountain wall. The blue of the wings creating a hue on the red rock surface of near what looks like purple light.

Hera tsks softly, "I guess he is faster huh?"

"We should break off."

"What?"

"Different path incoming."

Hera raises a brow before she nods, "Lets do it!"

They can't overtake him, but maybe they can use another directional path to loop around. The orbital frame suddenly breaks away from the chase seeming to go down another path. If he wasn't paying attention to his radar he may missed the move.

The path was narrow and tight, Hera at some point gave over all control to the AI at which it was moving with far more quicker then Hera could direct. As they broke out, they were directly in the path of Ascian's own orbital frame. The two plasma swords were activated as they blasted out from the lower armor above the claws glowing brightly with energy. The blades then went to drive right into the other frame, attempting to impale it and if possible, maybe slam it into the wall side.

This actually worried Hera, she did what Anca directed, but did realize just what the AI had fully planned. "Anca! You could hurt him!"

"Negative." was the all the AI had to say as its own plan was in motion.

"They're coming around." That's what Duat gives as a warning when he notices Hera's machine changing its path. "Tssk." He stops the machine immediately and begins preperations. "Where from?" They were hanging near an area with three openings to it, and currently no visual confirmation on the sparring target. "Too many Metatron signatures." Duat reports. "Shall I try to extrapolate?" - "Don't bother." Ascian replies and closes his eyes a bit. The Amenthes' arms shift over its torso and fold... hands open.

Then suddenly! "Warning! ETR REACTION LOCATED!" Duat reports, to which Ascian just barks, "I said not to bother." The machine suddenly turns its head up and kicks one leg out... almost as if it was going to kick the opponent. The Metatron crystals then come to life and cause a quick flare of speed which... simply isn't enough. So Ancalagon manages to stab, both of its blades, right through the machine which... has begun to spin! That's right, with both blades now in it, Amenthes had gone into a death roll. And from the hand that was closest to the opposing machine... a thick red orb suddenly appears. "Let's see if they can dodge this!"

The orb gets bigger in mere seconds, setting off just about any energy meter, and just as Ascian lets the Burst Shot be released, he stops the deathspin and reverses his unit's movement and releases itself from the blades. That was, if Anca was still holding them. Otherwise, they'd simply remain there. In the meanwhile though... a slight red haze is starting to fill Ascian's cockpit.

The blades were not something that was easy to break out from. They got in deep, and thus the death spin begun. The cockpit was compensating for the G-forces, which seem to be suddenly where all the computer's attention was directed too. Which was only reinforced by when Anca requested Hera to break free and back off.

This wasn't easy, and sadly the blades would not detach before the blast along with the reverse spin broke then free. The blast sent the Orbital Frame spinning down into the ground, the wings in that last moment wrapping around itself before it slammed into the wall and then into the ground. Hera letting out a yelp in surprise.

Hera's voice however did come over the comm with a soft little laugh, "... nice moves..." she said softly, still a bit shooken up by the more experience pilot.

The Orbital frames Pylons retracted back in before the orbital frame raised using its own power to assist lifting itself along with stand on its spindly legs. It stays there for a moment, before the shoulders make a roll like motion and the AI speaks to Hera once more. "All systems are still functional. Armor Precentage is still conditional for fighting terms. Are you alright, Hera?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Hera said with a soft smile. "But he is going to win. We gotta be quicker."

"That is impossible. I am not designed for speed of such measures nor was I designed to deal with long distance combat. It is what has been seen as my greatest weakness."

"Long range?"

"Yes. Without the speed required," The orbital frame then starts to float back up as then the pylons starts to spand back out, though they haven't fire out, just assisting in hovering the machine up again. "We can not stay on a close range vector."

Hera hrmphs softly as she taps the screen pulling up the map layout of the area. "Maybe we should make him chase us then."

"I do not know if he will follow."

"Then we will just come around from behind." Hera explains.

"If this tactical plan fails it could place on a losing percentage. My first priority is your safety." Anca reminds her with a slight change in the AI's voice, maybe a hint of concern.

"Then what do you suggest?"

The Orbital Frame has moved much but it has backed up slightly It was almost like a stale mate. Just the Orbital frame staring down at the other. Its optics seeking the others. Then with sudden brust of speed, the pylons fired back to full power before they blasted out again to create those wings once more. This time though, it was going at max speed, which is what it used to break orbit but on the ground, this creating a massive plasma wake behind it at which Hera hoped they would catch Ascian and his orbital frame in.

"Catch us if you can!" She yells out before they suddenly break down another path. It seem the plan now was a mix of the two.

"You know... this is kinda unfair." Ascian sends Amenthes up and away from the opposing unit, keeping it away from her. "And I don't want to hurt her..." He adds, taking a good look at the vid-window which was showing the damage caused by the Burst Shot which'd almost caused Ancalagon to crash into the ground. "Reminiscing about your sister again?" A voice sounds through the cockpit. "Yeah." Ascian replies, not realizing that it wasn't Duat's voice who he'd replied to. Or rather, not caring.

"How are you feeling, Amenthes?" No, in fact, he knew exactly who he was talking to. The haze gets a big thicker within as he recognizes 'her' presence. "I'll be fine. But do be a bit more careful with me." The female voice whispers back to him. "Who are you speaking to?" Duat decides to chime in suddenly. "Hush, Duat. Lets' concentrate on the battle ahead of ourselves."

The plasma surge coming from Ancalagon's wings kind of just blasts away, but the Amenthes had already lifted up to a proper enough height that it simply didn't matter to them. "You know they just want you to follow them." Duat reports. "I am aware. But this is a spar. What use would it be to just stay at a distance and constantly abuse our advantage?"

"Are we going easy on them after all?" Duat demands to know. "You think of her as your sister, aren't you?" The other female voice whispers to him. "S..." A blush appears on his face, and he closes his eyes. "Shut uuuup!" He whines. "You really should try to get out more, you know. It's not healthy for you. Maybe get a girl." The mysterious female mutters. "Shut UUUUP!" Ascian whines immediately. "Spar!" Amenthes' wings flare up again, and he blasts off, following his opponent.

The 'phoenix', as Hera had described it, spins about so its back is facing the ground and tries to get /beneath/ the opponent and... instead of firing from a distance, or letting itself be caught by the opponent hitting the breaks... "DUAT! Blade assist!" - "Roger that!" The two arms of the Amenthes shift into the shape of blades and he quickly begins to slice and dice, trying to aim at the non-essential parts of Ancalagon. Shoulders, legs, torso... pylons.

The Swords come in and the other orbital frame quickly attempts to parry with the blade, which gets its arm cut into and tries to pull a few stunts. It was like watching two knights really attempt to go at one another while flying, probably somewhere in there was a twirl, but when the draconic orbital frame twirled it allowed its claws to strike out this time attempting to rip into the armor of the other orbital frame.

There was a glow in the optics under the helment a near anger to them perhaps. Though perhaps this was just an illusion of this.

"Structure integrity will not continue to hold Hera. I suggest you concede; lose."

"No." Hera states as her eyes narrow. "We can do this. I always run, I always flee, but this is a spar, we can do this."

"... you do realize what you are asking, don't you?"

Hera blinked and stared at the AI for a moment. That time she could hear it. He was worried, but it was a spar. Though--

She never pushed Ancalagon this hard because she knew. She knew he was a worry wart AI. A great fighter, but--

He never did recover and perhaps, "..you shouldn't be sorry worried about me, Anca. I know we gone over this before and you always tell me to be strong, so for me, can't you too?"

There was silence from the AI, before suddenly there was a charge of power sent through out the system, "Adjusting output of weaponry."

"Alright!"

The Orbital Frame had yet to give in to the other, instead the large draconic attempt to bend itself around the other again however, as it spun, what came around was not the claws or the blades, but instead its scorpion like tail attempt to jab right into the backside of the orbital frame.

After all, it scrapped, yanked and shreaded at its own armor and the wing pylons, why not attempt to do the same in kind.

"She looks cute you know." The mysterious voice whispers in Ascian's ear. "Yes, I know. So what? I see cute girls all the time around here." - "Don't lie to me. I know you get sick of all the men getting in your face." Still she spoke back to him. "Stop distracting me, Amenthes!" The young man whines. And that's exactly the kind of distraction that leaves the unit open when the opponent spins around, lashing its claw at Amenthes' left arm first - and then... the tail.

The tail is almost about to stab right into its back, when he tries to spin around - the verniers go out of control. Too much distraction causes even worse stuff to happen. The tail doesn't stab in, but instead /wraps/ around the entire torso of the firey Orbital Frame and /crushes/ pieces of its armor as it is squeezed.

Within the cockpit, the red haze continues to get thicker, and a painful whine suddenly comes from the Orbital Frame itself - audible even to Hera. It's metalic. A show of how 'alive' the frame is. And within the cockpit? Ascian is overcome by a painful scream himself. More human. "Working on it! I told you not to distract me!" He sets the machine into a counterspin and immediately tries to retaliate. Almost as if out of instinct. Not hand arm, but both hands suddenly hold those red orbs of energy she'd already faced once.

Not waiting much longer, the young man quickly tosses them right at Ancalagon. "Sorry kid, but Amenthes is in pain!" He calls out. Hey. At least he's not throwing the giant BFG: Vector Cannon at her. No, he is keeping the output low, and is making sure to target away from the cockpit at every move.

Orbs or not the draconic orbital frame, quickly releases the orbital frame and then moves with all of its power to avoid the orbs as they go blasting past, though one nails then and they almost go crashing into the mountain wall. However the Orbital frames claws then strike into the moutain as it clings there. Looking directly at the other frame.

Hera did hear the scream, she heard them both, she almost gritted her teeth. "Anca.. did we hurt him?"

"Negative. It is the frame."

"What do you mean?"

"Unknown, that is all I can explain."

Hera blinks her eyes, before she gets on the comm, "Ascian, once this over. I'll help you and Amentheus get back. I know you care for your frame as much has I do mine." She says, "I'm sorry."

"Why do you apologize." The AI asks after Hera cuts the comm.

"Cause he is my friend, and-- I didn't.. know what that scream was.. but.." She almost cringes a bit. "..Anca.. I think we are done."

"In real combat you can not allow the pain of your opponent to end the conflict. If you do, they will take advantage of it."

"I know-- but--"

"Has he really made you that soft hearted? Even after you left him?"

Hera eyes go wide for a momenent before she grits her teeth. "No."

"Then focus. If this was real combat, we would already be gone."

"I just.."

"Then I will."

"What?!"

"You told me already, so I will."

Hera seems puzzled and then she nods. "..thank you.."

The Orbital Frame releases from its hold on the mountain, almost in away, shoving itself off and right for the other orbital frame. The two plasma blades activate once more, as it dives in for the already damaged orbital frame. It has plans, and the plan was simple. Not to harm the pilot, and to make sure the impact points did not further harm the Orbital Frame behind repair. Hera understood what had to be done, she herself couldn't do it. She could never bring herself to do it, even in a spar.

Her greatest flaw, perhaps.

"I'm fine." Ascian muses through the radio. Though the girl might hear that there was another voice in there. Ghostly almost... "We're fine." She whispered. The painful cry was gone, but there was a sound of pain in there from that other feminine voice. "Continue on with your little play-date."

"Amenthes!" Ascian cuts off the radio after he called out his frame's name. "Seriously. What the hell?" His attention however is more firmly set on what is going on before him. And it is that concentration, along with the deep connection he has with his machine, that allows him to guide the Amenthes cleanly out of the way, and parry the opponent's blades away from herself.

"That's right. We can do this. Just a little more. But be careful." The wing-bits, still casually floating around the machine, suddenly seem to gain new life. "Pin them to the wall, Amenthes!" Red dots appear before them. Energy output rising and rising further. "Fire 'em up, I trust you."

The lasers cut forth, stabbing... into the mountain wall behind her!? All twelve of them... missed? No! The lasers keep firing from the Amenthes... there is a reason to it. And that reason soon becomes apparent as the lasers suddenly come right back out from the wall in a different location, lasso around the Ancalagon and rapidly begin to cut in and out of the rockface, trying to 'force' it to be bound to the rockface. But if she'd let herself be forced back - he would not direct the lasers far enough to truly /cut/ into the machine. He simply wanted to bind it. But perhaps it could break out of it... or get out of the way.

Hera raises a brow as she almost picks up the other voice. She hrms softly, though doesn't place much thought to it. However when her screen flickers red, "... that can't be good..."

"It isn't..." The AI replies calmly.

The trick works at the massive frame is slammed into the rock face. The armor is ripped into, but not broken. It almost makes a mechanical groan as it tries to fight to the bindings. "Anca," Hera asks in great concern, "You ok?"

"All systems are optimal, however I am not sure we can break the hold without tearing ourselves apart."

"In other words?" Hera asks trying to see if there was anything she could do to help, which wasn't much really.

"We have lost."

"No!" Hera says slamming her palms gently on the console, before pointing at it with a glare in her eye. "We can do this. We can! We just gotta break free!"

"... your fighting spirit picks interesting times, Hera."

The young girl blinks her eyes for a moment before she grins, "... so your gonna try?"

"... Affirmative."

The Orbital frame starts to glow as it draws in all of its power reserves, at which the armor once again groans as it starts to fight. The optics glow fiercely under the helmet as the helmet eyes themselves start to go black. The Tail actually thrashes slightly, the claws light up with plasma fire as it starts to break free from the binds that hold it.

Like a great spring held back, once the tension pops at last, the Frame leaps foreward, almost like a beast launching itself for its pray. Those plasma claws are reached out ready to go for the Frames shoulders, to dig in, to bite in, and to slam it against the other wall.

Hera excited to see her frame get free, but was silently concerned for Ascian in his own, even for his own frame. How much punishment could these machines take?

They could take a lot. And as both had not been aiming at dismembering or cockpit shots... they simply would last much longer. Besides! Orbital Frames were sturdy to begin with, and could easily be repaired with the enormous amount of Metatron present within the N.U.T. facility.

Amenthes backs off a slight bit when Ancalagon suddenly breaks out of her improvised laser weaponry and quickly resets its wings to their proper positions. Ascian grits his teeth a bit within, and forces more of his will into the machine. The red bioluminescence becomes almost unbearably bright for a moment, truly making the unit look like an anthropomorphic bird of flame!

And then... it is gone. It completely disappears. From the radar. From sensors. Everywhere. Ancalagon is left striking a pure lack of substance at all... or maybe the rock wall that had been behind the unit. And for a good moment... nothing. It was... gone?

Flare!

The energy suddenly spikes! It is back! Its Metatron energy flaking off violently still, making the machine look like it is on fire. A mere illusion, of course - but that didn't take away that it was cool. A vid-window suddenly pops up inside of Hera's Orbital Frame, showing Ascian there... breathing heavily. The Metatron poisoned grooves underneath his eyes are in full glow, and there seems to be a... entity behind him. Like a spirit... a woman... too made of flame, staring at the camera. It had no legs, and carried small wings on her back. It looks. For no better words to describe it. Evil.

"I declare this battle over with this move!" He calls out at Hera. "Prepare yourself." The Amenthes' arms swing together and form first two seperate rifles, which then 'mold' into one unit as they are brought together. A big 'pulsing' orb appears right before as the machine swings around to face Anca - aimed at its head. A unit that simply contained sensors... and wasn't truly a vital point to Orbital Frames. And then. FWOOOSH! A giant red laserbeam bursts to life and fulls the valley with its horrendous incandescence.

Ancalagon picks up the massive energy spike, which it quickly turns to face as the energy builds up. Hera glances as the vid comes up, she stares at the woman figure. What-- was that? "...." She didn't even respond. However the AI did. "Prepared."

Hera at last got out of her semi shook, "Wha... What are you doing?" She did give Anca control after all and she never did flip it off. Oops.

The Beam came and the Draconic mech brings out the sword, however it somehow dodged the massive blasts, by moving in just to side of the blast, allowing it to impact the wall where it was. The Sword on the other hand slammed near the head of the other frame as now the two Orbital Frames were staring at one another optic to optic.

Hera stared at the red cockpit before she almost planted her face on the console. "...Anca.. I think this is enough."

"Agreed." The AI replied calmly.

Hera at last looked up and realized what the Ancalagon had done. Weather it was attentional or not, it was hard to say. Maybe he just missed? Maybe the AI had challenged the other, because it threatened to remove its own head? She wasn't sure. She just knew that her AI... had a strange way of saying 'hi'. She then flipped over the comm as her own video screen showed up. "So--" She then placed her index finger against her chin with a meek smile on her face, "... do... we want to call this draw? Cause both our frames look pretty bad--and you looked like, um, you could get some rest, also..." Hera pauses for a moment, "... who... was that?"

Amenthes's glow slowly burns down... slowly and slower... the haze disappearing from Ascian's cockpit - and with that the female figure. And since she'd set up a new comm-exchange with him using video, she could see this happening right as it did. In fact, everything gets a bit duller on the Amenthes, until finally the bioluminescent flow has become once more that casual pulsing that showed activity.

"A draw it is." Ascian then finally mutters, smiling. He had fun fighting that machine of hers. It was... interesting. Finally, it is his unit that backs off a bit to create room, and turns about to return to the N.U.T. facility. However, when the girl asks 'who was that', Ascian gives her a confused look. "Who was what?" He thinks she meant the voice perhaps. "I assume you mean Amenthes? Or did you maybe hear Duat?" He isn't sure, and the fact that he is rubbing his chin as he asks this of her, shows this quite clearly.

Hera keeps up the conversation as Anca lets the other frame go and follows after retracting the blade from the stone mountain side. "The girl-- there was.. but.. she vanished.. and.." Hera seem confused before she shook her head, "..Nevermind, maybe it was just my imagination with all those awesome flames were around your frame."

Hera closed her eyes for a moment before she looked at the video again. "Thanks for the spar. I'm sorry that Anca did what he did, though he wanted to end it allot earlier on. I guess these two would make a pretty good team out on the field huh? They seem almost evenly matched in some ways. Though yours does a better deal at long range. Its hard for Anca to do that kinda stuff. He isn't really designed for it."

The AI almost softly rumbles something, but its hard to make out.

Hera then leans toward the screen a bit, "But really! Thanks for the Spar! It was great fun!"

"Girl?" Ascian asks, and gives Hera a strange look. There was a twinge at the back of his mind as he seemed to remember something, but could not quite recall what exactly it was. It was too deeply burried at the moment. Something he'd experienced once, but could barely remember. He discards it. "Maybe you did. After all." He chuckles as he paraphrases her, "Those flames were kinda awesome." He'd seen pictures of Amenthes in that state. His own sister had been quite fond of it too. Probably the reason he'd played it up so much, in fact.

"And you are quite welcome for the spar. I do hope that I didn't damage Ancalagon too much. I'd hate to see him getting angry at me for it and squish me under his foot or something for putting you in danger." He'd remembered how she'd said that her A.I. was overprotective. The young man pauses for a moment and then leans back.

"And you are right, I think together we could do rather well in combat. With Amenthes' long ranged abilities, and your specialization in melee combat... we could become a great combination team." That's right, a team.

Hera grins softly before she nods. "Mmhm. Though I must admit," She says with a sheepish smile, "We could have done better." Meaning herself and Anca. "So I guess in the long run of performance. You won." She admits bowing her head.

"..You have no clue how hard it is for her to admit this fact." The AI suddenly pipes up, before it is quickly silence by Hera as she gives the pannel a playful wack of her hand.

"Don't sell yourself so short." Ascian tries to bolster Hera's confidence, cheering her up like... a friend would. He doesn't have many of those. And most of those he conciders his friend... may not concider him so in return. And that is something that worries him even at this moment.

"After all, you were at quite the disadvantage." He adds. Even though he'd given her the first move. And then he suddenly begins laughing. The A.I.'s words had come through. "My my." He chuckles, covering his mouth a little. "Come on." The soon arrive back at the hangar of N.U.T., and fly into the complex; obviously getting stared at a bit as the machines do show a bit of damage. But... not as much as they'd expected from Ascian. They'd heard bad rumors.

Hera smiled softly, but she gave no real reply.

As the orbital frame docked in, Hera hopped out before sitting on a box and giving a soft yawn. Rubbing her eyes gently before doing a stretch. She seem to watch the techs come over to get ready to do there thing. She knew to stay at a distance, but she liked to watch, she also looked out behind her to see where Ascian was.

Ascian's Amenthes too docks, and already the techs are giving it weary looks. Not really liking the prospect of having to 'feed' that thing Metatron. Even the blonde tech, who receives the blue haired young man, and helps him out, is giving him a stare. "It's your job. Don't complain." Ascian chuckles, wandering along the metalic platform when he suddenly stops. The doctor is there. "Well, aren't you the happy one?" She noticed the smile on his face.

Ascian quickly frowns, but he can't quite work away the little glee on his look. "What are you talking about?" The doctor just shakes her head. "Come to my office later, we'll need to talk." And with those mysterious words she just wanders off, leaving the young man wondering what that was about.

He tries to push the thought back, but as he approaches Hera he cannot help but bring it up - raising one hand and pointing behind him, "The heck?" He seems to have expected the seventeen year old to have heard what had been said, then just sits next to her on the box.

Hera raises a brow before she looks at Ascian as he sits down beside her. She pulls her legs up to her chest, resting her chin on her knees, "What's up?" She asks gently, looking at the older male with puzzled eyes. "They giving you hassle again?"

"Dunno." Ascian shrugs his shoulders, trying to get a bit comfortable and turns his head to look at Hera. "They keep teasing me about me hanging out with you, I think." He adds, looking a bit embarassed by this. "And then the doctor said something about me having to come to her office later. Not entirely sure what she wants. And really, after a few days ago, I am not particularly in a hurry to get back in the medical bay, if you know what I mean?" He places his arms on a smaller box laying on the box they are seated on and kind of... leans back - getting a view of Hera's back now. "You okay? You look tired."

"Just a little yeah." She admits closing her eyes. "I never get use to it. The fighting and all. I never been able to make the final blow, Anca has to do it for me. I can't even give the order. I mean, I can see it like a game up to a point, then it just sorta becomes overwhelming. I-- used too thought, just sorta.. lost the touch to do it." Hera then inhales deeply.

"..and why are they teasing you about being around me? Not like I am hanging all over you, scratching your head and trying to snuggle into your neck or something."

Ascian's cheeks flush a bit, and funnily enough, the lines beneath his eyes slow that odd little red glow again, after which he turns his head away. The things she'd said had created the mental image. And for a moment, he's glad that he is behind her - so that she might have missed that. So he hopes anyhow.

"Ah... yeah. Right. No, you're not. I dunno... why." Probably because he was normally so stuck up and kept to himself. He quickly kind of tries to get away from that subject, seeming embarassed still.

"I guess I am used to placing a finishing blow. I was trained as a soldier, so it was a nescessity. And in a world where just about everyone is out for your life... if you don't... its your own life you may lose." He pauses for a moment... then adds, "I can't really look at it as a game. I've... seen too much things in the short time I've been out there in the world."

Hera didn't see it, thankfully for him. Though Anca may have, not like the AI was going to say anything while the techs were doing there thing and allowing the Orbital Frame to do his. Orbital frames, odd mechs.

Hera then inhales deeply before giving a long sigh. "Anca thinks I can get used to it again, he told me once I had a soldier's spirit and the strength of one. I was just, well, untrained, Mentally. I'm too childish." She hrmphs. "Like a AI knowns what is an adult and what is a child." She then sits up straight at last, leaning back on her hands.

"Did you ever fall asleep in the cockpit?" She asked before looking over to Ascian.

Ascian's gaze follows her as she comes out of her leg-hugging pose and finally seats back - and gets more to his kind of posture. It is clear he is much taller than her though. "Too childish?" He asks her, smiling. "I would not worry too much about that." He raises a hand - the one closest to her - and moves it towards her head... to lay it on there. As if telling her it was okay. "As I said, my sister was a bit energetic too. Childish in a way too. But she was strong. Very strong. I am sure that you are strong in your own way as well. And I am sure that Anca sees that too."

He then lets out a little sigh and drops his hand back to his side again. Her other question has him trying to remember. "I've gotten into the habbit of falling asleep on the Amenthes if I cannot sleep. It soothes, in a way. But other than that... I've sadly also fallen unconcious within her cockpit as well - during some missions that went haywire." He could easily think of two. "Like that time I stopped a gigantic transport train from crashing into a nearby dome's town."

Hera listens, her mind was drifting as he even plants his hand ontop of her head. She then sits forward again as he removes his hand.

Her silence was striking, her eyes dim from the normal light, before she closes her eyes and then crosses her arms over her chest. "... Anca conforts me too--" she says softly, "--he sometimes reminds me of my dad..." She then stares at her boots gently, before she swings her legs. "... my dad never came home one day-- and I always waited for him... then when he came home... no... it wasn't him that came home, but someone else.. so I ran... I ran away."

Ascian's look softens up as Hera's voice does. Her entire physical state gave away a lot about her mood, and the young man sits up properly as she crosses her legs. He turns his body around a bit, so he is properly facing her, hands on his lap now. "I understand." He simply says. "My own father was someone I... never really knew I guess. For the time that he 'came home', was when I was a very young boy. Sometimes I wish I'd been old and brave enough to have run away with my sister." He then looks around for a moment. "But I guess... then I wouldn't be here, talking to you, at this moment. And... that'd be a shame." Is he hinting at something? Who knows.

"You know --" He says. "-- how I offered for you to ask me for help. I will be a listening ear as well, if you need it. Or, if you need a hug or anything." This really was a side of Ascian that very few people saw. Especially with that smile and kind look he was giving, his entire expression now having softened up. "I mean... that is..." And then he gets all flustered and turns his eyes away. "If you even care for such things. Me an my sister often comforted eachother during our childhood." Why did he have to bring his sister into this? Even he felt stupid for doing so, wincing a bit as he realized that he probably sounded like an idiot.

Hera shivered slightly. Her eyes trying to water, but she fought it off "... mmm..." She then suddenly clinged onto him. Her smaller form holding onto him, as if trying to use him for a life line.

She wasn't crying, though she wanted too, but she did hold on, whispering, "..thank you.."

Ascian is surprised at first. Sure, he'd offered, but he hadn't expected this offer to be taken that easily. And so suddenly. His body tenses for a fraction of a second as she clings to him... then relaxes again. Carefully he puts his both arms around the girl and gives a slight 'pull' on her, as she is holding onto him so firmly. As if to say, 'I got you'.

He then leans his head in a bit and looks down at the top of her head, smiling slightly. He then raises one of the hands he has on her back and kind of just... does what comes natural to him; Putting that hand on her head and kind of 'petting it', or rather, 'stroking it'. "No need to thank me, Hera." This was probably one of the few times, if not only, that he'd said her name. "You can loan some strength from me when you need it.

Hera stays close to Ascian, till well-- she feels like someone is watching, or maybe several.

She isn't sure, but she quickly sits up straight and looks around.

Were the techs watching, was it her orbital frame?

She then jerked and then hopped down, before placing her hands on her hips, kind of looking away.

That was sudden.

Ascian lets her go easily when she suddenly sits up and looks around. He's confused, and for a moment thinks he did something wrong. And he lets that be known; "Was it something I did?" Was the head petting too much? He looks about, to see if there was maybe another source of it. But no, all the techs seemed to be too busy with working on their things, and Amenthes? Well, she'd just 'eaten' the Metatron supplied to her and had fully regenerated. But that didn't matter. Ascian's gaze returns to the black haired girl and gives her a worried look.

Hera sighs softly and just leans back against the boxes. "No.. just.. you know, get that feeling like your being watched. That was all." She then looked up at him with a cheerful smile, though her cheeks were a bit red.

"You did nothing wrong, don't worry, but, um, thanks-- anyhow, even if you said the thanks wasn't needed."

"Ah, I see." He hadn't had that feeling. But then, aside from killing intent, his senses in that direction had been... dulled, ever since the experiments that had been commited upon him. In a ways, he was somewhat like an anti-NewType. Though not exactly. His gaze then fixes on her cheeks... and he raises his hands up to his own - which still felt a bit warm. Of course, he knew the implications of such a visage, but he didn't dare comment on it - which again, was somewhat rare for him.

"You are welcome." He then decides to just smile at her and turns his head when she leans back against the box and looks up at him. Damn, that smile just won't go away. Not like he's trying or anything. "This is going to sound stupid... but... wanna head out to the barracks, or the mess hall? Away from here? That might solve our little 'being watched' thing." It wasn't impossible to mistake those words for implying that he was inviting her to his room. But he wasn't. At least, that wasn't what was on his mind. He just named some places away from here. And to show that he wanted to at least 'wander' around, he stands up.

Hera nodded her head gently with a smile, "Sure!" She pipped up, before kicking off the boxes. "Actually, barracks, then mess hall. Since I probably should get changed into something else. Flight suits start to bother me after awhile." She mused with a grin.

Hera then skipped ahead, before she spun back around with her hands back behind her backside and a that childish grin on her face, "Come one, slow poke. Or I am going to beat you there without even running."

The reason he was being a slow poke was because, 1) his leg was still somewhat bothering him, and 2) he was too busy blushing and with his head somewhere between the clouds and the gutter when the girl had mentioned getting dressed. What was up with that? That wasn't the behavior of a man who thougth of someone as their sister. He shakes his head rapidly, and then proceeds to fix his hair when he snaps out of it, his head flushed entirely red, and giving her a confused look at first.

"Ah, right. Yes." He then nods and finally gets up and begins to walk in her direction. He does indeed seem to favor one leg a bit as he increases his pace. "Wait up." He calls out for her. Which is a call that gets some techs to look at them funny. The blonde, who was working on Amenthes, just grinned at him. Especially since Ascian was clearly still blushing. "Oh... shut up." Ascian barks at the man, who just raises his hands, as if to say 'I didn't say anything! I'm innocent!'.