Titanfall: Stranded

Chapter 1

Edit 14/01/2017 - Minor fixes

"Good morning, sunshine." A gruff voice sneered at him from behind bullet-proof glass. Charcoal eyes cracked open to reveal a cell. There wasn't even a cot to sleep on, just a dusty floor. At least they let him keep his clothes, a vacuum-sealed suit with some personal touches like the ceramic plating and the pouches that the bastard sneering at him was wearing. Branden blinked once and looked down. The man chuckled.

"Oh, you are SO going to pay for that." The asshole actually had the gall to steal his pouches. His mother made those for him!

"What was that, love?" The pouch-stealing ass-wipe leaned in close to the glass, pretending not to hear him. The current lighting really made him look much worse than he remembered. An ugly scar slashed across his face, a nose that looked broken in three different places and a glass eye. "Oh, these little things?" he fondled the precious pouches. "Just a prize I've earned for catching the 'Titan Caller'." He wiggled his fingers, feigning awe.

"Y'know, if you give them back, Zaeed. I might let you go with just another scar." Branden warned, tugging back his left sleeve a little. At least they didn't take his watch.

"You're in no place to make threats here, kid." Zaeed turned around and made a circular motion with his hand. Light began to filter in as several doors opened to reveal at least twenty other people, cut-rate mercenaries if he was correct. A few mercs broke off to go around his cell out of his sight. A moment later and he was briefly blinded. Now he was in a glass box in the middle of a hangar with the launch pad exposed to the elements. Perfect.

Brandon let out an impressed whistle at the amount of personnel and gear that Zaeed had acquired. "Nice set up, Zaeed. Kudos." He stepped over to a glass wall and leaned into it, squinting his eyes to count. "You've got what, at least a hundred guys and two ships?"

"Something like that, yeah." The grizzled merc sneered. "You rethinking your threat now?"

"No. But tell me Zaeed, do you know what a Titanfall is?"

"A what?"

"Well, you're about to find out in…" Branden looked at his watch. "… four… three… two…" A sonic boom thundered from above them. Every mercenary, including Zaeed, turned and looked towards the glowing meteor streaking towards them. A bare second before it impacted, its shell crumbled to reveal a massive, metallic and humanoid figure. Branden could barely keep the smile off his face.

With a mighty impact, the Titan landed in a crouch, throwing up a cloud of dust. Not even a second later, bullets flew out from the dust cloud and rumbling foot-steps could be felt as the mercenaries began screaming.

Out from the cloud flew the steel giant, making a bee-line towards Branden, bullets pinging off its armour. It crossed the distance in seconds before sliding to a halt with its hand braced against the cell's frame. Without even needing to be prompted, it began a slowly accelerating series of punches against the glass, intending to break it without injuring Branden, who stood as far back as he could.

With only five punches, the glass shattered, allowing Branden to leap out and look around. The initial shock of a Titanfall in the middle of the base was beginning to wear off. They'd have to work fast.

"AK, keep them distracted!" Branden called over the chaos. "I need to find my gear!"

"Affirmative. I will provide assistance when possible." The Titan's voice boomed in a flat baritone. "Warning, enemy infantry detected." AK's eye swivelled around as it retrieved its 20mm auto-cannon.

"I'll be back before you know it!" Branden took off for the nearest door, sliding under a forklift and scooping up a discarded hand-gun as he went.

Branden rounded a corner, gun raised and ready to fire at a moment's notice. Outside, muffled by the thick concrete walls, he could hear AK's cannon firing and the occasional missile impact. Branden figured that the best place to find his gear was to check Zaeed's quarters or, if they weren't there, th-

"Wards, I detect your helmet's signal approximately three-hundred metres to the north. Please proceed with haste." Or AK could just tell him where they were from his backup radio fitted into his watch.

"Got it, AK, keep your pants on." Branded replied with a slightly exasperated sigh.

"I do not understand… Such garments would not fit on my chassis."

Branden almost laughed, he missed AK's literal sense of humour. "Don't worry about it, AK. I'm just asking you to be patient."

"Understood. Adding the phrase, 'keep your pants on' to my vocabulary." Brendan quickly found an emergency map and began making his way north. "I recommend you hurry, Wards. The enemy have realised that my chassis is resilient to small arms fire."

"I'm moving as fast as I can, AK." He turned a corner and almost ran face-first into a pair of mercs, a man and a woman, who were rushing towards the armoury. Throwing caution to the wind, Brendan sent a flying kick that crushed the man's windpipe and broke his neck. At the same time, he twisted, aimed at the woman's torso and pulled the trigger until it overheated. The first few rounds were slapped aside by her shield but the remaining eight shots made it through, cutting through her belly and into her spine.

Before he landed, Branden let go of the pistol and snagged the woman's rifle from her grasp with his free hand. He hit the ground running and rushed through an open gate labelled 'Armoury'. Aside from the racks of guns there was no sign of his gear. Running back through the gate, he palmed the holographic lock of another door and stepped in. There, sitting on a slab of metal, was his gear.

A smooth, green helmet with a cross-shaped visor and a faded stripe over the crown. The jump-pack sat next to it, a contoured cylinder with curved exhaust vents and a leather harness in a crumpled mess. Resting in the tangled harness, sat his pistol. Weighted perfectly, sleek design and felt right at home in his hands.

Wait something was missing. He last counted three magazines, there was only one with the gun.

He hit the release and counted twelve bullets. A clenched fist slammed onto the table. "God Damn it!"

He breathed deeply and strapped on his gear then slid on his helmet.

Welcome back Pilot Wards B.

Re-calibrating Jump-pack… Complete.

Feeling the familiar weight on his lower-back, Branden gave a few stretches and did a quick test-jump. Apparently, the power was set a little too high and he had to react fast as to not crack his head against the ceiling. He manually dialled back the output back slightly and slid the pistol into his empty thigh holster before running back out the gate.

A little dust sprinkled down onto his shoulder from the ceiling above and Branden's first reaction was to leap back and roll onto his feet. His instincts proved to be correct as the corridor collapsed on itself, blocking his path back to his Titan.

"AK! My way back just collapsed, I'll have to find another way!" Ringing muffled his hearing. "How are things on your end?"

"My situation is deteriorating rapidly." AK responded, annoyingly calm. "There is little cover and the enemy has managed to engage a gunship."

"Feel free to engage your Core if you're in a tough spot, buddy. I'll find a way to take down that gunship."

"Burst Core active." AK's message was accompanied by the sound of a thundering staccato. "Infantry squad terminated."

"Keep it up." Branden ran through the complex looking for any kind of way up. His perseverance was rewarded when he came across a spiralling stairwell. Instead of running up the stairs, Branden jumped onto the adjoining wall and began sprinting across it, being kept aloft by his jump-pack. As he reached the top of the first flight of stairs, he jumped off and kept wall running until he reached the top. The thick door slid open for him, allowing him to keep his momentum as he did a base-ball slide through the open doorway, his jump-pack propelling him across the ground with ease.

As he slid out, on either side of the doorway there were several mercs, all aiming their guns into the open doorway. No doubt hoping to ambush him as he came out. Only a few of them reacted fast enough to track him with their weapons. Not even pausing, Branden fired his jump-pack and back flipped so that he was facing the ambushers. Almost in slow-motion to him, he pulled out his pistol and tracking reticules began to surround them all. The last one turned red and he pulled the trigger.

Ten shots rang out in rapid succession, two bullets for each merc. First their shields fell, and the second round pierced their skulls. All were dead before Branden landed in a crouch at the edge of the building.

Below him, he could see AK dodging and weaving between rockets and armour-piercing rounds. Every so often, the Titan would unleash a barrage of tracking missiles or a volley of bullets from his cannon. His admiration of his partner came to a halt as the high-pitched whirring of a Mantis gunship pierced the air.

"No time to admire the view." Branden muttered to himself, beginning to run alongside the edge. "Time to get to work."

As an Artificial Intelligence linked to a giant humanoid body that was plated with metal, AK-0347 was experiencing something it had only felt since it was first linked to Pilot Wards, worry.

It has now been at least five minutes since AK lost visual contact with its pilot. While it was always had a visual link through the pilots helmet, the previous day and a half had been the longest time that it had been without contact since their initial link. Now that they had reunited, it was disconcerting that Wards had to leave immediately to retrieve his gear. The feeling was only heightened by the fact that they were in an active combat zone.

That worry was quickly lost when the helmet feed actually showed Wards retrieving his gear. Now that Wards was outside, elation overcame AK.

"I am glad to see that you are alright, Wards." AK communicated.

"Nice to see you too, big guy." Wards replied, his feed showing him on the roof, heading to neutralise one of the Anti-Armour Squads situated on the roof.

The Titan dashed to the side to avoid a homing rocket, sending the projectile into a concrete wall. AK retaliated by sending a burst towards the origin, obliterating the merc's cover. While the Titan's dash-thrusters recharged, another rocket careened into its side.

"Warning, armour integrity at 78%."

"Hang on, AK." Branden called out, pulling a rocket launcher and grenades off a dead merc. The roaring engines of the Mantis were growing louder and he had a plan. In the frame of thirty seconds, two more squads went down to both AK and Branden's efforts. It was around then, that the gunship finally showed up. Despite its name, the Mantis looked nothing like a bug. More like a bat in mid-flap.

At the helm of the gunship, Zaeed opened up with a volley of micro-missiles towards AK, sending debris flying everywhere.

"Warning, armour integrity at 54%."

A handful of missiles hit their target and AK moved deeper into cover, hiding behind a half-crumbled pillar. Branden swore and launched as many missiles as he could, all the while moving towards a crane that suspended a container.

"AK, try and force him towards me!" He ordered, firing off another missile, the impact bouncing off the gunship's shields. AK leaned around its cover and began firing in an arc, driving the gunship towards Wards.

Once it was close enough, Branden ditched the launcher and sprinted out towards the hanging container. About halfway through his jump, a message appeared on his heads-up-display.

Double-jump Online.

The miniature thrusters in the jump-pack reignited, giving Wards the speed and distance needed. If he hadn't already done this a million times, he might've broken a bone or five. Instead, he hit the wall running and leapt towards the gunship.

A double-jump wasn't going to make it, time to whip out the grappling hook. Branden thrust his left hand forward and a small cable tipped by a claw, shot out of a small device located on his forearm. For a moment, Branden panicked as he remembered the shield. Thankfully, the hook sank into the metal plating and his arm jostled as it began reeling him in at a rapid pace. Due to his low angle, Branden swung low under the wing then up and onto the back of the Mantis. Pulling and priming a grenade from a looted bandolier, he stuck one onto the air intake then vaulted over the dorsal fin and stuck another grenade onto a separate intake. His task done, the sound of rocket engines blasted into his ears.

"AK, move!"

"Negative." He heard the Titan call out. "Get clear, Branden!"

From AK's left hand a spiralling vortex of energy sprung forth, sucking in the missiles from the Mantis. While they were caught in the energy, the missile's momentum overcome by the vortex. Branden understood what AK was planning and ran across the top of the Mantis and leapt off in front of the cockpit. At the last second, he added a twirl and flashed Zaeed the middle finger before firing off another grappling hook to swing to safety.

The instant he was out of range, AK dropped the Vortex Shield and the trapped missiles shot back towards the gunship. Inside the cockpit, Zaeed's one good eye widened significantly.

"Oh for fuck's sake."

The explosions from the gathered missiles in combination with the grenades, turned the gunship into little more than a flaming pile of scrap that quickly fell to the ground in a smouldering heap.

Safely landing on the ground, Branden leisurely made his was over to his Titan who was staring intently at the smoking wreckage. After a second or two, it turned to its pilot.

"No life-signs detected." AK reported. "Zaeed Massani, terminated."

"Nice work, AK. Signal the ship for pickup… I need a shower."

"I regret to inform you that the ship suffered a severe fuel leak, the ship cannot enter atmosphere without a 99.9% risk of destruction."

"… Damn it."

Junko Zayne Shepard woke with a start, flying into a sitting position in her comfy-looking bed and panting heavily. Magenta eyes darted around, looking for any sign of killer robots disguised as her family members.

Once she determined the lack of aforementioned killer robots, she wearily went about her morning routine consisting of a shower and brushing her teeth. Once the cleansing was done she applied some light makeup, made sure her hair was just right, picked out the appropriate shade of navy blue to wear and then finally realised how ridiculously overdressed she looked for what was likely to be another boring day and changing into a hoodie and slacks.

Half-way through changing her clothes, EDI, the ship's AI, addressed her.

"Shepard, the Illusive Man has forwarded another dossier to your private terminal." EDI reported in her usual, somehow chipper, monotone. With her hoodie half-pulled on, the commander of the ship gave a weary sigh. For how much he seemed to have invested into, The Illusive Man apparently believed that it was now his duty or obligation or God-given right to micromanage HER mission.

She didn't like to hang up on these things, but the last time she checked, HER name was Shepard, not his.

"Got it EDI, I'll be down soon." She said, pulling the hoodie over the rest of her body. One last look at the mirror and she headed down to the CIC. Upon exiting the elevator on the correct floor, she could be heard muttering, "Got to have Mordin look at that thing, it's moving far too slow."

"Commander." Her Yeoman greeted, a perky red-headed girl by the name of Kelly Chambers. She also pulled double duty as the ship's psychiatric counsellor, a fact that she liked to remind everyone of every so often. "Have a nice rest?"

"Not really, Kelly. I was chased by killer robots in my dreams."

"Geth?" Kelly hazarded a guess.

"No, they're more T-800 than flashlight heads."

"T-what?." Apparently, she hadn't seen that classic movie. Junko could only shake her head.

"Yep, we are so going to have movie-night. Anyway, what's on the agenda today?"

"Well, I'm sure that EDI has informed you of the message you received…" Shepard nodded. "…Also Joker would like to talk to you about setting some boundaries for EDI, she seems to be getting on his nerves."

"Anything else?"

"I believe that Garrus wanted a word with you about getting some more Dextro food."

"Got it." Shepard hit a button on her console, bringing up her inbox. "Dossier, Branden Wards." She quietly read out. "Bounty Hunter, often operates out of the Terminus, in possession of a fast corvette. Takes jobs meant for entire outfits single-handedly and accomplishes them in record time. No record of him before 2179… huh. Arranged a meeting..." She breathed out a little harshly. "Zorya, heard that it was a base for the Blue Suns."

"Alright, EDI plot a course for Zorya and tell Joker to get us there. I'll go brief everyone."

"Intercepted burst transmission." AK announced to his pilot, who was lounging on top of the Titan eating a meal he managed to scrounge up. The Titan itself was leaning against an intact wall facing the horizon so Branden could watch the sun setting over the jungle canopy. It was the third one since they arrived here.

"Well?" Branden asked, his plastic fork already stabbing another piece of meat. "Don't leave me hanging, AK."

"You are currently not in a precarious position."

"Ok, now you're mocking me." He paused, twisting his head to look at AK's ocular sensor with a frown. "Aren't you?"

The big blue eye swivelled to look at him, blinked once then turned back to the sunset "I prefer not to comment."

"Ah, whatever." Branden returned to his original position a good natured smile peeking through his now unkempt beard. "So what does the message say?"

"The Normandy, an Alliance vessel, is in orbit and is requesting our coordinates."

"Normandy?" Branden's voice was a little muffled from the meatloaf he was currently chewing. "Isn't that the ship with that person from a few years ago, Commander… umm? Crap, what's her name, AK?"

"Commander Junko-Zayne Shepard of the System's Alliance and of the Council Spectres. Yes."

"Ah, right. Thought she was dead." AK's hull pressure sensors indicated that Branden had shifted his seating, though now his feet were in AK's vision. His pilot was interested.

"Correct. Commander Shepard was declared KIA by the Alliance more than seven-hundred standard days ago."

"Ok, now that's cleared up. What does the Normandy want?"

"They are requesting our coordinates for a rendezvous. They claim we were expecting them."

"Were we now?"

"No, I do not be-"

"That was rhetorical."

"…Affirmative."

"Now come on, pop the hatch and send our coordinates." With a small hiss, AK's face-plate opened allowing Branden to clamber in and settle into a well-worn synthetic-leather seat. Several panels in the cockpit were open, revealing the complex wiring beneath. It was quite snug inside the cockpit of a Titan, with barely any wiggle room, it was designed that way to keep the pilot inside without the need for a safety harness.

As the hatch closed, the screen flickered on to reveal the exact same image of the setting sun he just witnessed with his own eyes. Branden popped his neck before sliding his helmet back on.

"-dvised, this is Normandy shuttle, we'll be arriving within the minute." The communications identified the speaker as 'Goldstein, Jennifer'. While he listened to the woman report, Branden felt a tingle in his extremities that quickly spread and faded as he let his body relax into the seat. In that instant, he felt like he had just grown several times larger.

He tried to bring up his left hand and AK followed suit and begun to flex its fingers experimentally. He couldn't feel through AK, but he definitely controlled the Titan's actions. The sense of power was overwhelming, like he could crush a man in his hands, which he technically could but to feel it was a whole different feeling. Things he couldn't possible move on foot, now seemed feasible.

A moment later, the feeling was gone and his movement seemed more natural, like a second skin.

Over the horizon, he could make out a tiny dot that grew ever larger by the second.

Huddled in the Kodiak shuttle, Shepard quietly tested her biotics on her gun (emptied of ammunition, of course.) Garrus, a Turian and trusted friend of hers, sat opposite of her, examining her closely.

"What are you doing?" he finally asked, drawing the attention of the rest of the shore party in the shuttle.

"I'm just playing with my Biotics." Junko replied, as if it were quite obvious.

"Ok, but why?" At his persistence, she let the field of dark energy disperse and placed her gun back on her hip.

"It's like a warm-up exercise. Helps keep my mind clear."

"Huh." Jacob Taylor spoke up. A dark skinned man with a buzz-cut that showed off his surgical scar that stretched from his brow to the back of his head. He was in charge of the Armoury on the Normandy. "I'll have to try that sometime."

"You know Jacob, if you worked on your Biotics as much as you did your abs you might be able to create a half-decent Warp." Miranda chided. An intelligent and powerful woman with the looks to back it up. Her role on-board the Normandy was Shepard's second-in-command.

"That's cold Miranda." Jacob smiled. "You know I'm more skilled with weapons than my powers."

"There's no reason why you can't be both."

"Very true. Only practice is required to improve Biotic power. Same for any other skill." Came the fast-speaking voice of Salarian Doctor, Mordin Solus, one of the recent and valuable, additions to the crew.

"So I'm all good practicing here?" Shepard asked the doctor, an ethereal blue glow washing over her arm.

"In theory, yes…" But before Junko could even make the motions to levitate something again, Mordin continued. "..But would advise against it whilst entering a potential combat area. Best to leave it until exercise or free time." Shepard visible deflated at that, the blue glow vanishing along with her smirk.

"Approaching the facility." The pilot chimed. Jenny was a nice girl, though she had a bit of hero-worship for Shepard. The small squeal she let out when they met solidified it for Junko. "Touch down in five, four, three, two…"

Chapter 1 End

AN: As before, I'm planning to finish this fic. My other fic, A Step too Far is currently on pause for the time being, so please enjoy.