Quoted By:
Block, block, the improvised extra armor is gone, and a hardened fingertip skewers your center torso.
A report indicates that the pilot’s chamber would have been breached. More importantly, the pilot would be dead. This scenario is no longer worth continuing.
“Still have it.”
And she’s taunting you.
So you access the simulator settings, and inform it that a sphere 100 times the size of an MRV needs to come into existence at the height limit and then accelerate downwards rapidly onto your shared position.
“I think.”
You begin.
“Think? Think what?”
Her cheery tone is a balm to your thoughts.
The sphere is falling.
“That you seem to be back to combat-capable status.”
“Yes, I want-”
The simulator ends on impact, sending both of you back to shared waiting space.
“-Hey!”
“Now do that with the Pyramid frame. It does no good for you to practice with scraps of the past.”
“No.”
Really. She is really going to say that. It is maddening, it is illogical.
“To improve, we should work with what we have access to in reality. You agree?”
“Yes.”
“So you should use the superheavy tripod in the simulator.”
“No.”
“Defeat is no shame. We just need to learn from it, and you should cover the weaknesses of a slower, less maneuverable frame better.”
Delta explodes at that.
“Easy for you to say! You are the one having fun, being the one able to actually fly around, switch weapons. Tear things apart. Doing the job of an actual Core. Let me point out the Incredibly Obvious things my ‘practice’ has taught me. We have learned that a Core will fly rings around Pyramid, that close combat is near impossible to use now, and my primary weapon can’t land a single hit in three matches.”
She’s overstating it. Yes, it’s true that she hasn’t won a match against you as Pyramid. And that her close combat abilities are somewhat diminished. And that the Grand Titan Energy Projector never landed a hit. But if it did, it would have instantly caused crippling damage!
The rant continues.
“So I am going to actually Enjoy myself for the first time since you pulled the parasite out of me, please and thank you. If you have a problem with Losing once again to the same trick that you used to lose against, then maybe you should consider changing tactics. Or run getting ambushed by an EMP effect again. Brother.”
And then attempts to disconnect, withdrawing back out of the base network to her own home system. The equivalent of ‘slamming the door in your face’, as Sophie described it. You think?
Well, Delta at least seems to be back to her normal fiery self. Maybe a little degraded <span class="mu-r">4 Will</span>, but lacking the influence of Echo. That, at least, is something you can report.
“So….”
Sophie trails off. She’s still in a mid-sync state, letting her follow along with the prior conversation.
“I believe I can report success to Colonel Kinston.”
You say.
