Viewing Party (D4, LE Mei's room)

[John Slaktare]

John opened his water and sipped a bit, shaking his head no to any issue that might delay the video. He leans back against the wall and watches. When the faces and mechs are revealed he nods in recognition.

"Great pilots."

He occasionally glances to the other two to see how engrossed they are.

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

“Those are the Xing Twins, they were rising stars in the duo division back home.

The rules are pretty simple, maximum combined tonnage of 120. No attacking a downed foe. No attacking from the ground. And every mech has cord in their cockpit they can pull that will trigger a red smoke flare which means they surrender.”

The camera turned to focus on the other entrance. The generic background music and announcers cut out and a live mic somewhere in the arena picked up. *THUD THUD THUD THUD* Slowly an 80 ton Awesome, painted in Sky Blue and Gold came stomping out of the smoke. Once it was clear it stopped and then raised it’s arm up in a V and stomped twice. Suddenly out of the smoke a Vulkan sporting a matching color scheme roamed over the Awesome and landed right in front of it, striking a pose to the thunderous cheers and the shouts of the announcers. Pictures of a Capellan man and woman in their 30s crossed the screen.

“That’s my folks, at the height of their fame.” Mei said, pride beaming from her face. “This was their greatest match, a battle between the second ranked team, my folks, and the 4th ranked team for the right to battle the champions. This is the final match of a 64 team playoff that lasted 3 months and was broadcast on the State Sports Channel across the Confederation.”

[Hrafnhildur Ylfasdottir]

The match hadn't even started yet and Hrafna couldn't take her eyes off the screen. In fact she skootched a little close to the screen, not to see any better but to be closer to the action in a way. This was a woman go hadn't even known mechs existed until she left home and saw one for herself.

"Wow..." She sat on her pillow with wide eyes. "Those are your parents? Hoo boy imagine that. You weren't kidding about growin' up around all that. Can you believe that Big J?"

[John Slaktare]

"It's definitely something else. Different from growing up around animals for sure. It's awesome you had such talented folks to be proud of. I'm lookin forward to their match."

Butcher stayed leaned back against the wall, though he was watching intently.

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

The announcers continued babbling as stats and highlights of both teams played on the screen.

“They never officially recorded win-loss records for some weird reason but everyone knew unofficially, at the time of this match the Xing Twins were 12-2, real fast riser hot shots, and my parents were 28-10 at the time which made them veterans of the scene.”

An overhead camera flew around the arena and countdown began from 5 till a deep horn blew and the match began. Bursts of energy flew back and forth across the area, a double PPC shot blasting one of the pillars and showering one of the twins in rubble. Mei's father took an ugly hit to his left leg and was forced behind an obstacle. The two twins converged and whirled on the Awesome.

[Hrafnhildur Ylfasdottir]

Hrafna barely registered that anything else was said as her attention was solely on the screen. When the horn blew she leaned even farther forward and laid in her stomach, hardly blinking.

"Here we go! Here we go!" The excitement was obvious without her having to say anything. "Oh no! Mister Mei Mei's dad! It's okay, it's okay. Things have just got to startin' but hoo boy did it start fast."

[John Slaktare]

"Where's her dad though? She's drawing them in. Gotta be on purpose," John says, watching intently.

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

Mei giggled quietly to herself and leaned against John as they watched. "The announcers are wondering the same thing. I don't know about how things work on Solaris but all these mechs have been striped of any sensor systems, if you can't see it you don't know where it is."

As if answering the John's question Mei's father blasted out from behind cover on jump jets, peppering the area around the twins but doing little damage. The twins were smart and had faked their focus on the Awesome. As soon as he popped out the twins slammed both their mechs into reverse and turned in unison to focus on the smaller mech. By the time he landed Mei's father had suffered considerable damage to his right torso and arm and the hard landing further weakened his already damaged leg forcing him to find cover once again. Mei's parents were now split, the twins between them and her father was starting to smoke. As one twin stalked towards him the other turned back to face Mei's mother. The Awesome was charging full speed at the smaller Ostsol.

Knowing what was coming Mei didn't watch the screen as much as Hrafn's reactions.

[Hrafnhildur Ylfasdottir]

"No way! No way! No way!" Her hands were balled up into her pillow, the tension and anticipation causing a very visible reaction in the small engineer. She turned to head to see if anyone else's jaw had dropped and noticed Mei leaning against John. Very little brain power was left to process that with the action that soon took her attention once again.

"It can't be so easy to those twins. Nope. Mei Mei's parents wouldn't let it be like that. There's gotta be..." The thought was left hanging as There was an inevitable clash going to happen, a big one by Hrafna's thinking.

[John Slaktare]

"A nice move. The Xings read each other's movements well," John said, watching the continuing action. He leaned his head against Mei-Lings for a moment, then straightened back up to watch.

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

80 tons slammed into the smaller mech at full speed, flattening the Ostsol. The mechs right torso was a ruined mess, the large laser crumpled and useless and the medium laser best downward. Mei's mom shifted into reverse, it's front armor bent and scored from the charge when a volley from the other Ostsol hammered into her and sheered her left arm off at the elbow. At the same time the still standing Ostsol fired both its rear lasers in a bid to keep Mei's father at bay. The downed mech was already trying to stand, it's pilot little phased by the charge and Mei's mom couldn't fire on it until it had completed the act.

"I have watched this a thousand times and I still don't know how that guy managed to stay conscious after that." She said straightening her posture. "The announcers are asking how he's even still alive. In a post match interview he credited "The Divine Will of Heaven" which led to the CC cutting the feed temporarily."

[Hrafnhildur Ylfasdottir]

Hrafna was speechless for what seems like the first time in a while. She sat there silent with wide eyes, the movement of her chest was the only sign she was still alive. She wasn't even blinking at this point. If she kept moving closer to the screen her nose would be touching it soon.

"Wow..." Hrafna finally spoke but it came out as a whisper. "This was going on out there that while time and there I was just sortin' hay, straw, and clover bales."

[John Slaktare]

Butcher nods at that. "Yeah. Was milking cows while Mei-Ling's folks were battling in the arena. Definitely a different world, eh Ducky?"

He continues observing the fight. "Even still, he's in a rough spot."

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

Mei's mother reversed at full speed trying to get some cover between her and the standing Ostsol as it peppered her with shots but she kept her focus on the other as it stood up. She couldn't shoot until it was back on both feet and they all knew it so it paused on one knee, delaying the Awesome's chance to fire. A double blast from the Ostsol's large lasers hit something vital in the Awesome's left knee and it's movement slowed to a crawl. This was the opening the twins had been looking for and the kneeling mech stood as the other charged the larger mech.

All three mechs fired at once, the charging Ostsol neared it's target, and from the sky a shadow loomed.

Mei was silent, half watching the video half watching Hrafn and she smiled from ear to ear.

[Hrafnhildur Ylfasdottir]

"How...how...when...how..." Hrafna wasn't good with words to begin with but now the part of her brain that sent words to her mouth was busy watching the mech combat too.

"You gotta be...see you'd have to...I would..." Each new thought was left hanging an unfinished as she watched.

[John Slaktare]

"Exciting match," John says. "About to hear a nice crunch."

He watches intently, expecting the Vulkan to come crashing down on one of the twins.

[Mei-Ling Zhou]

Duel PPC blasts tore though the buckled armor of the risen Ostsol. It's left torso exploded, ripping the arm free and melted steel poured out of the mechs stomach dripping into joints around the waist and legs to cool and harden. White hot light poured out of the wounds and hardened metal burned. An alarm within the arena began to blare and the announcers were yelling frantically as it teetered backwards and fell.

"Reactor breach." Mei whispered ominously.

A barrage of lasers from two mechs battered the larger mech. a pair of large lasers turned the Awesome's left knee into ruined and useless lump, another and several medium lasers carved a deep gash in the central torso, smoke pouring from it as heat sinks failed and a small electrical fire flared up. The last large laser found a richer target, slamming into the mech's head and nearly scalping it. Despite the onslaught it remained standing, but that's all it was doing as no movement came from it; it stood there like a statue.

The second Ostsol continued it's charge, only 100 meters from the helpless Awesome and prepared to fire another salvo just before it slammed into the assault mech. That's when the shadow descended. Mei's father fired every weapon he had into the the charging Ostsol mere seconds before it's feet crashed into the back of the mech driving them both into the ground. The Ostsol's back broke, nearly severing the legs at the torso. The Vulcan's damage leg snapped off with such force that it shot out and skidded in the dirt away from the tangle and both it's gun arms drove into it's enemy just below the shoulders where they got stuck.

Everything was still for a moment and it seemed that all four mechs had been destroyed. The first thing to break the stillness was a plume of red smoke coming from a flare on the melting Ostsol. The emergency reactor shutdown had succeeded, preventing a meltdown and slowly the canopy was forced open from the inside with kicks and shoves. The two tangled mechs were inseparable and nether could stand, only one functioning leg between them. All cameras turned to the Awesome. Smoke still poured from it's chest as it stood sentinel over the fallen mechs and sirens could be heard as emergency crews raced to the arena gates. Something shuddered deep within the assault mech and a low groan could be heard as metal ground on metal. Then life returned to the Awesome, it's engines fired and it began to slowly and noisily twist it's torso to level it's weapons on the pair of tangled mechs.

Cheers exploded from the crowd and fireworks erupted around the arena, a large screen displayed an image of Mei's parents with a word that could only translate to victory.

[John Slaktare]

Butcher continues observing, enjoying the fight and the action.

"That was great. Everyone was definitely struggling at the end there. Made for a dramatic finish. Your parents are great."

He bumps Hrafnhildur's side. "How bout it? Her parents are very cool, right?"

[Hrafnhildur Ylfasdottir]

Inside Hrafnhildur's head the gears of just how she would go about fixing all of that turned. It would be a ton of work and the parts alone would cost a fortune, but she plotted out her plan. Many would say it wasn't worth it but Hrafna had fixed ancient farm equipment and kept stuff like that going for years. Wasting anything didn't sit well with her.

"They're the coolest, Big J. How they came around, fired the weapons, then the other one, and bang! They got it. Then the other one was there but no no, boom! They got it too. Mei Mei got to hang around this action, she's one of the coolest too."

Hrafna suddenly stood up and began pointing at the screen. "Joints are easy, just need the part to swap. Armor is done for, tear it out and replace. No use in weldin', it will just be too weak. Rip it out and replace as big of a piece as you got. Reactor, well now that's a big job. Can't scrap the whole thing, won't scrap the whole thing. I could fix it. Aha! This would be a perfect time for me to make some enhans...enhan...upgrades that I got swirlin' around in my head. A blank canvas as those artists say. Yup, I'd lose track of time just messin' around with those mechs, gettin' them goin' again. I could do it, I could do it."

[John Slaktare]

He watches her excited monologue and nods occasionally to confirm he was hearing it.

"What kind of enhancements? I bet they're pretty awesome." John asked.