My eyes were open, but I wasn't looking through them.
Even in her head, that sounded pretentious and childish. Her name was Junna Six, and she had been working on understanding who that is. Self reflection wasn't a particularly invested skill in her life, or her line of work, and she was only doing it because it was suggested to her. What she really meant, is that while she was in the Cradle of her Divine Arm, she didn't feel herself anymore. She knew what and where she was, but she couldn't really relate to it. Her body was a vital component, something on the datasheets that she was processing. It felt so easy now, to manage reactor capacity, and perform the routine scans for internal for system errors. She could compare it to worrying about my heart pumping blood, it will happen because her brain will make certain of it. There was no difference with the robot that she was resting inside.
Her time for reflection quickly ended. Coordinates were given, and she could understand the data. Her ship had passed the Isle of Bliss, and they were preparing to launch her Divine Arm. The target were terrorists, humans who had turned against themselves. Apparently they'd been known in the area for some time, with all the information she was receiving on their numbers and equipment. 73 battle capable, with another 15 support capable, utilizing primarily rifles and easy to construct explosives. However, this group had only become a proper concern, after they had managed to steal something a bit more advanced from a transport ship destined for the Isle of Bliss. It was considered a non-factor, as a follow-up team would retrieve what they could. Her job was to eliminate the targets. Simple enough, given the low level of resistance.
The hanger bay opened, and her body could definitely feel the sudden pressure of this huge machine being flung through the air. The catapult was rather effective, and with the proper adjustment of the small thrusters placed within the shell of the Divine Arm, she could compensate for the fall. They existed for several mobility exercises, but they wouldn't provide enough thrust to make much of a difference in the arc itself. Her focus shifted, as she prepared to engage. She was falling rapidly, able to see a small industrial zone on the island she was already over. It wasn't overly populated, though she had to note that there was at least three vehicles on the roads, moving towards the central island facility. It wasn't like a 12 meter tall robot wasn't going to be seen, they were likely panicking.
She beat them to their destination.
The crash of metal on earth and cement was going to alert anyone in the target zone to my arrival, but that was going to be part of the effectiveness. she had to eliminate this group, and if they were able to remain calm and burrow into whatever hiding places they liked it would be a problem. Fear is a great motivator. Being able to hear the monster coming makes waiting for it more painful than confronting it. There were a half dozen people in her immediate vicinity, each with some long barrel rifle in their arms. They'd been firing, probably hoping to get a lucky shot at one of the lesser armored areas of her Divine Arm. It wasn't impossible for a weapon like that to inflict critical damage on her, just highly unlikely. She wouldn't feel any qualms with dealing with them, it was always easier when they were shooting at her.
Her Divine Arm is the Empty Angel. A humanoid styled weapon, with primarily curved surfaces. The left arm holds four small energy emitters designed for small target tracking and harassments. She quickly raised this arm to face the furthest target to the left, and swept along the area. The white rays punched clean through two of her targets, but the emitters shut down before she could finish the third. They couldn't simply fire continuously. If she had wanted to quickly eliminate them, she could have fired sequentially. If her aim was better, she would have. Instead, she'd advance on the central target I failed to finish, as the targets quickly broke apart. Turning her Divine Arm's head, the pair of small caliber automatic rifles began firing. She wasn't able to get both there either. She needed to clean my act up. Struggling to quickly eliminate enemies allowed for countermeasures.
It wasn't fair anyways.... these guys couldn't do much to her. Human infantry had no hope of reliably dealing with a Divine Arm, not without some equipment specific to larger targets. Keeping on watch for rockets was fine, but they likely couldn't find a way to smuggle many of those. At least, she had thought that until she picked up the chopping sound of a helicopter. Focusing on that direction, she'd find one taking off from a little factor converted to hanger. The roof of the building being removable, to hide their prize.
"That's absurd." Junna spoke, primarily to myself. Though her comm would pick it up, as she heard a frustratingly calm reply.
"You need to down that quickly."
It was the voice of her handler, probably the closest thing to family Junna knew. A man named Toreshi Shin, and an expert in everything that was Junna, it felt like. He wasn't wrong here either, but he wasn't acknowledging the problem. Air travel was extremely rare among these islands. Too risky in some areas, too difficult in others. Landing zones far and few between. Unless Junna wanted to believe they made their own armed helicopter, she had to accept they stole it somehow. The barrier of difficulty should have made this impossible.
Toreshi was right, though. Junna ignored some of the infantry around her, and rushed towards the increasingly airborne target. It began firing, as she felt the front armor of my Divine Arm starting to chip away. The right arm, rising as she let loose with the energy emitter on it. This was a much larger one, letting loose a powerful, short duration beam of energy. It wasn't as accurate as she'd liked, the azure light melting through nearby structures, but clipping the rotor of the helicopter. That's all Junna really needed, as the pressure of the wild fire coming from it and now behind was starting to wear on the armor. It'd be fine for a while still, but why hadn't they fallen back when their ace had fallen.
Junna would ease up a bit, now that the threat of escape or unpredictable weaponry was out of mind. She didn't consider much of the terrorists, there was no reason to. Anyone who when against Humanity understood that the would likely be facing the guardians of it. That's what she was supposed to be, at least while she was part of her Divine Arm. She would have lost count, if her status report didn't keep her up to date on matters. Estimation of 34 targets down, the girl simply took both hands of her robot and tore through the roofing of an untouched building. A few non-combatants were in there. One was probably 10, maybe 12. Her head mounted rifles took aim, as her body was suddenly moved.... The Divine Arm being pushed back by a high caliber weapon to her robot's shoulder. Whirling back around, Junna would see her new threat.
A large figure with a primarily grey color scheme, and some attempt at a paint job in browns and red which were clearly unfinished, stood before her. It was a bit larger than Junna's Empty Angel fitted with a blocky shape and large projectile weaponry on either arm, as well as mountings for more on the shoulders. It couldn't be a Divine Arm, though she wasn't finding any information easily accessible for it. She had plenty of time to scan as it the pilot was clearly working out the controls for this machine somewhat. Junna would move the Empty Angel forward, continuing her scans, before she'd breach some protocol, utilizing the speaker system on her Divine Arm to communicate.
"You don't know what you are doing with that."
It would take a moment before she would receive any response, as a man, probably in his 40s or 50s replied to her. "You are just a kid. You don't know what you are doing at all, who you are hurting."
"You can save everyone here."
The second voice, a bit younger, maybe his late 20s had been the clarity required. Multiple pilots meant this was a Mortal Frame. A lesser imitation of her own class of machine. Junna calmed herself down somewhat as she braced the Empty Angel's arms forward, before starting to move in the Frame. Some pleas of understanding came from the enemy machine, the younger one. The older one seemed to be the main pilot, as the Frame took an offensive position, unloading with the rapid fire rifle on the left arm, and trying to take more accurate shots with the heavier, single shell weapon on the right. This was their human limit, and this is why the Mortal Frame wasn't going to win, even if it was made as well as the Empty Angel, even if it as well armed as the Empty Angel.... it could only handle what the pilots were able. A larger crew meant more vital space to be attacked, so it might only be a pair. They couldn't focus on the calibration, recoil, maneuvering, heat generation, sensor reading, and machine failure at once. They were limited to one or two concerns at a time. Junna was not.
The gunfire primarily struck her forearms, heavily armored and designed for the task, as the Empty Angel would take the forward momentum, as the machine rifles on the head created a screen of harassment for her target. Once she'd gotten a bit close, her left hand reached out, firing the array of white beams, as the melted into the torso armor of the Frame. They attempted to move back, but they weren't as quick or experienced in controlling these machines, their movements were inefficient, as Junna continued to reach forward, even after the energy emitters died out. Her massive arm grasped the right arm of the Mortal Frame, clenching on tightly. The rifle on it fired again, inaccurate as it as being pushed back by the charge. The free arm tried to intercept, only to face a vicious melting from the heavy beam on Junna's right arm, as that hand also moved to clench onto the Mortal Frame, immobilizing both of the weapon platforms it had.
They continued to uselessly fire as the two robots formed a test of strength. In terms of fairness, this was actually the closet ta Mortal Frame could do to keeping up with a Divine Arm. It didn't require anyone special to lift and throw, or push and pull. Junna had her leverage, and the Empty Angel was the strongest Angel class Divine Arm in pure physical lifting power. The limited supply of weapon systems allowed it to be filled with increased armor and hydraulics specifically for this sort of task.
Junna would quietly listen to the internal ramblings of the Mortal Frame. Making contact with her enemy allowed her to hack into the internal comms, as the pair frantically tried to find a way out of this situation. It was pathetic. Only reaffirming what her training told her. What her entire life told her. These weak willed humans, who couldn't be of use to Humanity and rebelled against it. They were the stain on Humanity, an existence that Junna was uniquely qualified to purge. The Empty Angel began to lift it's own arms up, dragging the taller robot with it, as it failed to exert enough force against her. Once the machine's legs were off the ground, the Empty Angel quickly turned to spin and through her victim into a nearby warehouse.
Crashing into the side of the building, and trying to right itself, the Empty Angel was already upon it again, a leg crashing down on a sprawled out arm, as her heavy beam once again fired into the arm, this time melting into the weaker armor of the shoulder, as it managed to penetrate, exposing the mechanicals. The Empty Angel would shift, stepping off, just to slam the other foot onto the torso, and likely cockpit of the Mortal Frame, as it reached down to grasp the enemy robot's weakened arm, and simply pull. Within moments, it game free, as the terrorists lost their high caliber rifle with it.
The two men would then feel the hammering sensation of the Empty Vessel's fists, pounding into their torso, each blow cracking the armor and caving in portions of the internals as it struck. They had less than a minute to react, as she finally cracked it open, white light of her smaller beams, filling the cockpit, as a large, melted hole was now within the Mortal Frame. Junna pushed her robot off of the wreckage and turned it about, scanning the area. This was the effect she'd expected. This was their true ace, the true prize they had. And their hope had been savaged. The will to continue the fight was quickly fading, as Junna would calmly resume her initial activities. A white light flying through the disheartened terrorists, before they could realize the battle had hardly ended.
Junna Six still had her mission.
