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This article, VCM-02 Ares, is property of Kagimizu. |
VCM-02 Ares (Variable Custom Mobile model 02: Ares) is a high-end Gundam developed by Eon Research & Development Incorporated. It is piloted by German-Swede Axel Brandt with the A.I.U. Mars.
History[]
Concluding testing with the ETS-01 Variable Gundam, Axel Brandt was among the three to score significantly higher marks than the other applicants. During testing, Axel showed proficiency in and preference for heavy duty firepower and powerful artillery, preferring direct combat and destruction of the enemy before yourself. As such, the Ares' was designed around this method of combat, turning it into a fortified wall and mobile arsenal, with a focus on destructive power and maximum damage over anything.
Design[]
Built around a combatant with a preference for extreme long-range offense and direct conflict, Ares was built with the focus of taking hits while dealing three times the damage. As such, Ares is designed with a large frame covered in heavy armor (though not nearly as extreme as designs such as Virtue) which is in-turn riddled with absurd amounts of weaponry, both visual and concealed. Built with an incredibly sturdy frame to handle weight and weapon recoil combined with thick armor, Ares can take a vast amount of punishment with little damage or aftereffects, even taking high-powered projectile weapons at point-blank range.
With a bulky, heavily armored build and an enormous cache of weapons across its body, Ares is in direct contrast to the fast and light-armored Poseidon. With little mobility and maneuverability, Ares is forced to take every hit that comes its way. Unable to dodge but fully capable of withstanding damage, Ares lacks any ability in stealth or hit-and-run tactics. The only thing Ares is capable of doing is facing enemies in straightforward combat. All of its weapons are designed for maximum damage at a distance, either via high-powered impact with each shot, or a rapid fire barrage of projectiles. Be it one opponent or a vast number of targets, Ares is designed to take them out in a hail of gunfire amidst the enemies' attempts to take it down. Due to its large bulk, Ares has been built with a pair of powerful thrusters on its back and additional thrusters in its feet and heels. This allows Ares to "skate" across terrain such as water for speedy travel, but it requires external systems for high-altitude flight.
Though almost all of its arsenal is designed for long or mid-range combat, Ares is not without devastating close-range weaponry, designed for just as much destruction and power as the rest of Ares' weaponry. This means that while at a disadvantage, Ares is far from vulnerable in melee combat. Particularly when the pilot is such a person that is willing to use long-range weaponry at point-blank range, making full use of Ares' armor to withstand the blasts.
Armament[]
- Shredder Missiles
- Loaded within the front, top, and rear of Ares' shoulder pads. Unlike the Concussion Missiles in Poseidon's arsenal, these are fully meant to cause damage on even powerful Mobile Suits. Besides releasing incredibly powerful incendiary explosives, each missile is loaded with a large amount of "scrap mines"; explosives shaped to dig into and cut through targets like shrapnel before releasing smaller explosions for further devastation. Each round of Shredder Missiles equates to a total of 32 missiles, with two rounds loaded in each shoulder.
- Mini Beam Gun
- Installed on the sides of the shoulder pads, these guns are able to aim in a full 180 hemispherical direction, even behind Ares. Hardly the most powerful weapon among Ares' arsenal, these Mini Beam Guns are still very powerful, able to easily tear holes in lightly-armed Gundam, made especially effective by their extensive range of fire.
- Hyper-Accelerated Railgun
- Installed on Ares' upper left back, on top of its left thruster. When in operation, it raises up and aims forward over Ares' left clavicle. Extremely powerful, the weapon fires an electrified round with incredible speed and explosive power, each round breaking the sound barrier and capable of eradicating a common Gundam in a single hit. The only downside to the weapon is a low firing rate, taking approximately 45 seconds to recharge. However, its traveling speed gives it one of the greatest ranges among Ares' arsenal. Due to its positioning, the weapon is able to aim 90 degrees vertically upwards, and 45 degrees horizontally left.
- Beam Gatling
- Installed on Ares' upper right back, on top of its right thruster. When in operation, it raises up and aims forward over Ares' right clavicle. The weapon has an incredible rate of fire, with power capable of tearing through the armor and body of your common Gundam suit. This power is in fact enough to dent and, with enough pressure, break through very thick defenses. Despite its effectiveness, accuracy against evasive enemies is questionable at best, requiring Ares to slow them down first. Due to its positioning, the weapon is able to aim 90 degrees vertically upwards, and 45 degrees horizontally right.
- Atmospheric Mortar Explosive Round
- Installed on the spine of Ares' upper back, this long-nozzle weapon carries the greatest raw destructive power of all of Ares' weapons. Each round is a highly concentrated fusion reactor bomb. A very sophisticated weapon, the targeting details need to be handled by Mars before the weapon can be launched. What makes this weapon so devastating is that each round has an automated targeting system; once information has been relayed and the round fired, it will alter and adjust its aim to hit its target. The second major drawback is its delay; each round is literally fired into the upper atmosphere before coming back down on the target. This feature was designed for maximum range and maximum time to get out of the damage zone. However, this can be cut by Ares leaning forward to aim the weapon more directly at the enemy, which is pretty much required while used in space.
- Super-Compact Swivel Energy Condenser Cannon
- Installed in Ares' lower back, these weapons are connected to articulated joints that allow them to swivel out forward. Much shorter and larger in circumference compared to Poseidon's Laser Rifles, Ares' Condenser Cannons make up for it by compressing energy into explosive pressurized energy bombs, which can be fired at the enemy with explosive results. In short, this trades even greater firepower for inversely lower firing rate. Despite this, range and accuracy have both been left unaffected.
- Custom Machine Cannon
- Three installed in each clavicle, these customized versions are even stronger than the standard Machine Cannon.
- Pressurized Laser Cannon
- Two pairs installed in the forehead of the unit, these rapid-fire cannons are are stronger than the standard Vulcan Cannon, capable of doing actual damage to a Mobile Suit.
- Graviton Compressor Blaster
- Replacing the right forearm with a larger, bulkier version and the standard five-fingered hand with a larger three-fingered variant. The most heavily armored part on Ares, the weapon installed in this forearm is an extremely powerful weapon. Drawing directly from Ares' Hydraulic Graviton Engine, this weapon generates a concentrated sphere of artificially increased gravity. Upon firing from its palm, the condensed orb of gravity catches the target, encasing them before eventually crushing them into a chunk of metal from the increased gravitational pressure. Extremely lethal and powerful, excessive firing can actually "fatigue" Ares by stressing its engine, reducing its performance capabilities until it could recharge. Due to its power and (relatively) lesser drawbacks compared to the AMER, the Graviton Compressor Blaster is Ares' most powerful weapon overall.
- Laser Barrel Acid Tomahawks
- Connected to the waist of the Ares unit, the handles of these large tomahawks double as barrels for waist-mounted laser rifles, with power and rate of fire compared to the shoulder-mounted Mini Beam Guns. However, their true use is as melee weapons. Each is installed with an independent engine. This energy is released through the blade at an irregular wavelength that disrupts other sources of energy and gives the blades properties of being highly acidic. This allows Ares to actually cut through not only enemy units with great ease, but also cut through incoming energy attacks.
- Gravity Hammer
- Ares' second melee weapon, it draws on Ares' Hydraulic Graviton Engine (to a lesser degree of the Graviton Compressor Blaster, so as to not burn out the engine), to generate artificial gravity fields around Ares' fists. This allows the Ares model to drastically increase the impact strength and/or weight of its hits, to the point where physical impacts can break through even powerful energy barriers.
- Alternating Variable Weapon
- Installed in both forearms. Originally designed only for Poseidon, the revolutionary design was determined compatible with both Ares and Athena. These weapons have multiple options, rotating within Ares' arm for different settings and weapons. These weapons are:
- 1) Dual-Barrel Alternating Beam Gun to serve as light fire and tear through weaker armor.
- 2) High-powered Energy Cannon, used for slower, more powerful shots to blow through thicker armor and defenses.
- 3) High-pressure Plasma Beam, firing the raw energy in a continuous beam meant to punch holes and cut through enemies.
- Energy Pistol
- Holstered on Ares' left thigh, the Energy Pistol carries the same irregular energy release as the Acid Tomahawks. It is used primarily for piercing through armored enemies at a distance without the use of Ares' more powerful weaponry, as well as a method of surprising enemies with quick-draw surprise tactics.
- Explosive Pellet Shotgun
- Holstered on Ares' right lower leg, this weapons' weight and size are specifically designed to be wielded by Ares' stronger and bulkier right arm. True to its name, this shotgun weapon fires pellets filled with the same shrapnel bombs used in Ares' Shredder Missiles. Featuring an auto-reload feature, this weapon is in the same function as Ares' Energy Pistol, taking out enemies without expending energy/ammunition for more powerful weapons.
- Vibration Acid Knuckle Blade
- Concealed in the back of Ares' left forearm, this short two-sided blade extends forward over the back of Ares' hand. Despite its size, the weapon vibrates at high frequency and speed comparable to Poseidon's Concealed Vibration Blades, combining it with saturation of the irregular energy used in its Acid Tomahawks and Energy Pistol. These features give the blade insane cutting power be the target physical or energy. In fact, of all its weapons this Knuckle Blade is the only weapon in Ares' arsenal that can deal damage Ares can't take with ease. This design is in fact intentional, so as to prevent enemies from gaining access to its powerful Gravity Compressor Blaster.
System Features[]
- Radar Scrambler
- Scrambles radar and visual data of any Mobile Suit that comes within its range, making it difficult to properly take aim at Ares despite its bulky frame.
- Disruptor Shield
- Makes use of irregular energy waves as it forms a spherical barrier around itself to block incoming projectile attacks and damaging nearby enemies with lighter armor. However, more heavily-armored enemies will be able to bypass it to attack at close-range.
- Gravity Field
- Releases a powerful omnidirectional gravitational shockwave to blast away anything within range. This feature is designed to remove pressure from too many enemies (and get room to shoot said enemies full of holes), as well as free Ares from rubble or constraints. However, this feature draws from Ares' Hydraulic Graviton Engine like its other gravity equipment; so much so that Ares' major weapons are rendered offline for a few seconds, forcing it to rely on lighter or external weaponry.
- External Cooling Systems
- Due to the high-amount of Ares' weaponry, cooling systems have been installed in the case of weapon overuse and overheating, or in the case of Ares being in ares with exceptionally high climate or atmospheric re-entry. If in the grips of or gripping an enemy however, Ares can turn this into an offensive/defensive weapon, maximizing cooling output to potentially freeze both itself and its enemy.
- Multi-visual Scanner
- Used via the eyes, this function allows Ares to scan for multiple signs of enemy activity or hidden enemies.
- External Atmospheric Flight System
- An external flight system, attached to Ares' back when in use. The Flight System is installed with extremely powerful dual engines built much like Poseidon's Main Thrusters, designed to give Ares enough thrust to exit the Earth's atmosphere. Made out of armor just as strong as Ares', the Flight System can be detached for collection later without worry. The system also comes with an enhanced Disruptor Shield, allowing Ares to block physical hits as well.
- High Output Thruster Board
- A second external transport system, this one coming in a shape resembling a short surf board. Equipped with powerful jet thrusters on the back, anti-grav mechanisms on the bottom, and wings on the sides for maneuverability, this board is designed for high-speed transit and flight Ares is normally incapable of performing. However, it lacks any weaponry and aside from its thick armor and anti-beam coating, lacks any self-defense mechanisms.