"Chik!" Road Block's face lights up from the glow of the instrument panel as four new entries are added to the target readout.
"Poise, I'll try and soften them up for you on the west flank. Blackjack, don't be afraid to use me as cover if needed. The Broken Wing can take it."
The hulking frame kneels down and with a percussive boom, the shoulder-mounted mortar fires an arcing trail of flame and smoke towards the Hives. Road Block then follows up with a few short bursts of covering fire from his integrated assault rifle.
Reliable 2
Discarded shells fall to the ground and then are immediately crushed under the heavy footfalls of the Broken Wing repositioning.
When the smoke from the shell clears, one of the Hive mechs remains—the other a smoking wreck.
From the eastern peninsula, one of the other Hives crawls forward, into the mist bank. A swarm of hunter-killer drones bursts from the cloud.
The insectoid robots fly past their intended target, Broken Wing, the mist apparently interfering with the delicate sensors of the Hive.
Baywulf keeps charging forward, getting closer to the Hive 3.
A second Hive mech on the western flank scuttles behind a pillar. A cloud of drones bursts from its hive-stack. The cloud glides towards Elegance, but they go awry in the smoke that Poise uses for cover.
"This impairment is going to make this difficult. Let's do something about it." Falcon moves forward, past Road Block, and sets about removing the impairment to his targeting system directly - by shooting it. He loads up a Thumper round in his rifle, and opens fire with it and the beam cannon.
Talon Strike pushes through the withering hail of the Archer's machine gun. Metal screeches as heavy rounds stitch across the mech. Damage alarms hoot inside Falcon's cockpit—nothing severe was lost, but his mech would not stand a few more.
Before the Archer can reload, the Thumper round connects. The explosion rocks the enemy mech backwards, backpedaling several meters to avoid tipping over.
One of the massive mechs striding up the center opens fire, a beam of dark energy lancing from a shoulder-mounted cannon.
The beam smashes into the Broken Wing. A radiation alarm chirps, alerting Road Block to a heavy amount of thermal electromagnetic radiation. Some of the Broken Wing's hull plating buckles, but the damage is minimal. Despite this, the mech struggles to move, its joints and actuators under intense pressure.
Athena charges forward, the drones on Voskos's shoulders begin reforming and compressing into a larger turret droid, that begins rotating its guns and leaps off Voskos's to a forward position.
"Alright Kopi, leaving the flock to you, keep the flanks clear."
The turret flairs to life, as small repulsors move the turret along the ground.
The remaining enemies surge forward, working their way towards Delta Squad.
The second Hive mech crawls towards the edge of the island it deployed on and launches a flurry of drones towards Athena.
The pilot swings her mech low, ducking beneath the swarm of insect-like drones.
Baywulf takes his last few steps as he crashes into the Hive with his warspear as he says to Leita, "Ready for battle!" Unused to controlling in VR, however, his swing goes wide.
The knife-wielding mech on the western flank leaves cover, quickly covering the distance between it and Poise with loping strides. About fifty meters between it and Elegance, it crouches low and pushes off, launched through the air towards Poise's mech with sudden violence.
= 19
Poise twists their mech away from the impact of the Assassin's landing, but their mech shudders as the heated edge of its knife rakes across Elegance's flank. A quick check reveals little in the way of significant system damage.
Inside the cockpit of Elegance, Poise's expression fades instantly from the slowly-broadening grin that it had been wearing to a blank mask that would be familiar to their compatriots.
I knew they were coming. I thought they were too far. I've already botched this. A grimace flickers across the face of both the virtual Alphons, and the one in meatspace, perched delicately on the couch, though both fade in an instant. I should have known it could reach me; from that trajectory, a pop of the left hip would've shifted the weight onto my right leg, which would have -by necessity- turned my view to the left, giving me a visual on the fighter-mech as it came in. A right-spinning pirouette would have sent the blade sailing passed Elegance by a matter of inches, but that's all that it takes to prevent the damage. I focused too much on that Hive in cover; there's nothing I could've done, I should've focused on the malleable factors. FOOLISH!
For a moment, Alphons' face bares into a snarl, and their right hand raps sharply off their knee. The movement and the expression are quick -easily missed- and are done in a flash, replaced by a determinedly ambivalent face.
Against a proper opponent, or my class, I'd already be dead. Perfection is no longer an option; improvement is all I can strive for now.
Elegance had taken a loping, grapevine-ing motion within the mist to dodge the assault from the Hive, and had been raising its rifle and pistol to bare against the artillery. The web of steel that had been briefly visible in the melee against the first Archer hadn't seemed necessary; now it returns in full fury, the Ex-Caliber and Alice's Legacy whipping through the air in a deadly sheet of virtual steel.
First comes the sword, spinning in a circle over both their heads before feinting down against the Assassin's weaponized wrist before switching directions, lancing instead toward the attacker's weight-baring hip.
Meanwhile, accelerating off that momentum, the previously-ready pistol spins back into pivot of Elegance' wrist, bringing Alice' Legacy to bare against the lowered collar of the target.
As Elegance recoils with her off-hand, the momentum spins the actuator clutching the knife, drawing the pistol along with it. The quarters are close; the potential for mistakes high. I can do better. The pistol fires, attempting to pierce the connective structure beneath the Assassin's armpit.
The Assassin whirls away from Poise's riposte, although the heavy Ex-Caliber blade clips the dodging mech, sending a shower of sparks sideways. Rounds from Elegance's pistol also land, but do little more than superficial damage.
Athena's turret, sensing a hostile presence, also unloads a burst of fire towards the Assassin, riddling the skittering mech with slugs. The Assassin jerks with the violence of the attacks, but doesn't lose its balance. It swerves back towards Elegance, ready for another attack.
The remaining Archer regains its footing after the impact from Talon Strike's shot, and it returns to cover, shifting for a better angle against Falcon and Road Block. The Archer drags its machine gun in a withering hail of fire across Broken Wing, but focuses the bulk of the shots on Talon Strike.
Athena charges forward, launching a second turret to her side, as she spins pressing her back against Road Block then glancing around the battle field.
Seeing Poise in danger, she raises her left arm as a splinter of drones forms together forming a large spear that lances out towards the Assassin.
Athena's nano-drones sweep across the Assassin, stripping armor away and exposing vulnerable systems.
The mech shudders and vents heat, blasting enough of the swarm away for it to continue the fight unimpeded.
The Hive next to Thunder-Walker unleashes a swarm of its own, although these are not intended to harm. A burning sigil denoting invasive code is burned into the God-Bearer's HUD, a warning from Seita, Baywulf's nascent NHP godling.
The symbol fades as rapidly as it appeared, Seita has set-up a firewall in the non-space between the mech and the drones. Whatever the Hive attempted, Thunder-Walker is safe for the moment.
The Hive changes tactics—it lurches towards the God-Bearer, using its cylindrical drone-nexus as a battering ram.
The quad-legged mech scuttles clumsily forward, easily dodged by the God-Bearer.
Talon Strike had taken a few whacks from the Archer, but it was still functioning appropriately. He moved behind Thunder Walker to reacquire the Archer, then fired off his assault rifle as his chaingun spun up before unleashing a barrage on the Archer.
Falcon's assault rips the Archer apart, perforated in a hundred places by heated slugs. The mech tips backwards and crashes onto its back, scattering into rapidly vanishing pixels as the simulation deletes it.
The remaining Assassin leaves cover, pausing briefly to lock on to Thunder Walker with its specialized marking sensors. The mech leaps the rest of the way, plowing into the God-Bearer. It backflips off the mech—pitching God-Bearer to the ground—and lands upright, heated blade singing with energy.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Road Block's eyes sweep back and forth from the vis screen to the instruments arrayed around the cockpit. A few seconds pass and his assessment of the situation is complete.
We're rusty.
"Everyone, we're taking a lot of fire. I'm going to dull the edge of their attack." He reaches forward and grabs a thick red handle on the face of a large cylinder and gives it a pull then a twist. A new element to the UI on screen pops up.
With a grunt he thrusts the handle back into the cylinder. Two large armored plates forming the chest of the Broken Wing slide to reveal a bright yellow glow which promptly takes off as a stream into the sky. It flies vertically for about 200 feet, for a moment resembling a heraldric knight's banner from ancient Earth, before bursting in seven distinct directions. As each stream nears it's target, it becomes apparent that the glow is a dense cloud of nanobots which knit themselves into a protective shield surrounding Thunder Walker, Falcon, Elegance, Voskos, and the three VIPs.
I'll never get tired of seeing that. The Broken Wing hoists its assault rifle high and fires off a short burst across the abyss at the hive still trailing behind him.
Smoke from the barrel of the rifle can be seen wafting away as the Broken Wing advances towards the extraction zone.
The Hive shudders and collapses, its four legs splayed out in each direction.
The banner fades as quickly as it appeared, being replaced by the glowing face of Manifest. The NHP pouts, pushing her lower lip out. [What did I say about core powers?] she asks, before her pout slides into a grin. [I'll have to punish you for breaking the rules!]
The remaining mechs march forward, trying to envelop Delta Squad. The massive Barricade moves to the center of the EZ, it's gravity weapon scything towards Athena.
Using the bulk of the Broken Wing, Athena ducks the dark beam of energy and continues shepherding the VIPs.
Behind it, the Demolisher continues to slowly move forward, shifting its two-handed sledge to rest upon its shoulder.
The remaining Hive launches a swarm of its insect-drones at Poise.
The drones latch on to the Elegance, scrambling over the the mech's armor, slicing exposed cabling and hull with tiny cutting lasers. The Hive scuttles out of cover, and alarms blare inside Poise's cockpit as the drones begin an electronic attack.
The alarms cease as Elegance's IC and firewalls kick in. Whatever the Hive had in mind, it wouldn't work this time.
As Roadblock fires off the Banner, a smile breaks across Poise' face as the beam briefly consumes the sky, burning the battlefield a shade of amber. Bright white teeth and sparkling eyes are briefly visible on the pilot's Virtual Body and Physical one. Somehow, the grin only grows wider as Manifest appears, admonishing Delta Squad.
Delta Squad...Delll...ta...Squaaaaad...an unsightly jumble of syllables, clashing against each other before tumbling into the unfortunate collective awareness of listeners...I don't like it.
Future Point of Order, friends, but how attached are we to the moniker...Delta Team? the last two words dripping from their mouth like something unsightly.
Any further notes the Lancer would have on the team's designation are interrupted by the assault of the Hive. Poise sharply exhales through their nose as Elegance comes under drone attack, the mech dodging and ducking away as best she can from the cutting lasers of the swarm. Their smile turns grim as Elegance' Anti-Electronic-Warfare Suites prove their metal. When Poise next responds, their voice is grim and music-less.
I'm going to try to clear our right flank.
Elegance has been dodging backwards from the swarms and the assassin, but all of a sudden the mech lurches forward, the previously-waving blade shoving forward, attempted to shove the broad-side of its edge along the assassin's neck.
As the Ex-Caliber jerks towards the nape of the assassin, Elegance' off-hand brings the dagger to bare once more, hoping to jab into the mech, at least enough to open it up to Athena's drone.
The Assassin dances away from Poise's initial lunge, and ducks below their knife, but not before taking a small scrape. The systems that provided the Assassin with enough predictive intelligence to avoid the worst of Poise's attacks is of little use against the simple force-multiplication COMP/CON controlling Athena's western drone. Sensing a hit against a hostile, the idiot drone pumps several bursts of tungsten rounds into the Assassin, knocking it to the ground in a smoking heap.
As the Assassin falls, Poise whirls, the Predator V pistol alive in their hands, in Elegance's hands. The shot slams into the Hive's pilot housing, immediately collapsing the mech.
On the eastern flank, the other Assassin flips its blade to point downwards and plunges it into the prone God-Bearer.
= 16
The edge of its knife, plasma-hot, causes catastrophic damage to the downed mech, slicing through armor and the more sensitive systems protected beneath. As it raises its knife to strike again, the Assassin fixes Falcon with its single red eye and blasts Falcon with a spurt of hostile code.
The code is mostly nonsensical, but it overwhelms the Talon Strike's more delicate systems, momentarily crashing its HUD and giving Falcon contradicting information.