RP: Bounty Hunts [Bounty 2.5] Battering Ram

Industrial Complex - Outside Main Factory Building

Linking up with the mercs proved to be no big challenge. All they had to do was follow the noise of gunfire as they moved closer to the main factory building, passing by gradually increasing piles of scrapped robots and the occasional dead ganger. It was somehow surprising that they hadn't come across any dead mercs, but it was safe to wager that Jaina's band were collecting their dead as they moved.

Desmond, with his helmet back on and rifle raised, moved from one side, rifle panning left, right and sometimes up as they approached the last location of the distinct noise of an MMG. By then, they were a couple dozen feet from the perimeter of the big building.

The bounty hunter pressed his back against a bullet riddled container once they reached another corner, and carefully poked his head around it. "We're good," he said to Danny, then moved out of cover and lowered his gun, although he still kept one hand on the grip as the rifle hung from its straps in front of him.

Upon turning around the corner, Danny would see the same IFV that had been inside the warehouse, and one of the Outriders right beside it, although it unfortunately had been the one without the electrical turret. The armored vehicles looked like they had seen better days, for they were even worse than when they left the warehouse earlier in the day. The tracked vehicle was pitted and scarred with bullet holes, and there were two small craters on the upper frontal plate caused by somethin that had taken off a large chunk of its armor when it impacted it. The vehicle's engine sounded like something dying horribly, and there was a periodical click to its tune that pointed at one of its components not working as it should.

The Outrider next to it was just as damaged. The windows and windshield were pockmarked and cracked from the bullets they had taken, and with its doors open, both bounty hunters could see the the insides of it. The floor of the vehicle was replaced with a layer of empty brass casing, while the dashboard on the passenger's side was smeared with blood. The group of mercenaries that was grouping behind the vehicle looked just as battered.

The less experienced of the two bounty hunters could be heard swallowing a lump in their throat in worry. They were glad they weren't in the head on force. The imagery he was seeing showed that face first into combat was also face first into flying lead, and sometimes you didn't even get to leave the vehicle - those bloodstains, bullet holes and the cooled brass he was kicking aside spoke for themselves.

The strangest thing to him was the lack of bodies - perhaps there were one or two unfortunate souls lying in the Outriders, bleeding out or dry and dead already if the bullet didn't dispatch them immediately. His gut churned in worry, but he was glad he was light on the meals prior to this excursion. He didn't want to have to see what he'd eaten - much less have the mask block his mouth.

Upon spotting the duo, some of the mercs turned around, starting to raise their weapons in alarm, but then lowered them and turned back around to watch the building. From his position, Desmond could see that the group had encountered some kind of stalemate, since there wasn't really a fight going on, but a slow attrition. Every now and then, fire would come from inside the building, and the gunner perched on the IFV's turret would return it. This would keep going on, however, until the mercenaries consolidated again for one final push.

One ofthe mercenaries broke off from the group in a half run towards the duo. The Nepleslian was wearing a black Everyday vest, and the Durandium armored plate in the front was scratched and dented in some places. "You guys took your time, eh?" He said in a very accented voice, stopping to wipe the scratches and cuts from his face with the thorn sleeves of his jacket. "The boss wants you there, eh? Best not to keep her waiting, yes?" the mercenary said, pointing towards a point further down, where the duo could see the second Outrider parked sideways in at the complex, with a smaller group taking cover besides it.

Desmond nodded at the merc, then motioned Danny to follow him as he, too, broke into a run towards the separated vehicle.

Danny held his tongue for the moment, and nodded with Desmond, following his lead towards the vehicle, putting his gun over his back to focus on running with Desmond. A rendezvous to push in and break the stalemate needed as much manpower as possible and a big enough shock to enemy forces.

There was a moment of silence as the only noise around them were their footsteps, then the concrete around them erupted in small fountains as someone inside the building started to take shots at the two bounty hunters. Desmond heard the bullets impact on the concrete like a whipcrack, as well as heard something hot and angry whistle inches from his head, prompting to start running faster.

Whoever was shooting at them, though, had only a small window to do so, since as soon as they started shooting, the armored vehicle started to suppress the window from where the shots came from, adding more bullet holes to the walls of the big building.

Danny's pace quickened as he heard the bullets whiz past, maybe he saw the tracers go by too. His stride jumped for a moment as his pace quickened to surpass Desmond's, being less heavily armoured and equipped than the bounty hunter. Desmond could hear Danny cursing in Lorath.

"What the hell do you wankers think you're doing?!" Came a sharp female voice from the fireteam-sized group taking cover besides the Outrider once the duo was safe in cover. Looking from the building towards the voice, Desmond instantly recognized the leader of the mercenary band, Jaina.

The group, which seemed to be what passed for the mercenaries' command element, was huddled besides the outrider. Several ammo cans were piled on top of eachother, serving as a table for a PHC, which projected a holographic map of their surroundings.

"Having a good time," Desmond responded casually, patting his chest and arms as he looked down and ignoring the stare that the woman gave him for his reply. "You alright?" he asked Danny, looking at the bounty hunter, and seemingly oblivious to the new gash on his neck, which was only then starting to bleed.

Danny was breathing heavily beneath his mask, each breath distorting the face of it a little, blowing out and receding. Looking at Desmond's gash, he patted his own neck in empathetic pain and said, "You, er, appear to be bleeding," he tapped his index and middle fingers against where Desmond was hit. Danny, meanwhile had a bullet graze his right shin, the suit material spalled apart to show bare skin and a red gash.

He looked down at his new found wound, and his reaction to it seemed distant. The suit didn't seem to agree with it either, material slowly weaving itself back together in front of him and hiding the wound. He could feel something applying pressure to it under the second skin. "Huh, didn't know it did that," he said, as though he'd never bothered to check.

"Hm," the other bounty hunter said, looking at the small red spotches on his gloved hand after he patted the spot around his neck. He always found it interesting that he never really felt it until he noticed it. The pain was manageable, and the wound didn't feel that bad. "What's the plan?" He asked Jaina, occasionally glancing towards the factory building whenever the IFV's machinegun barked.

"Everyone that matters is hiding inside that building now" the mercenaries' leader said, pointing at one side of the building on the map. "That gun run your gunship did opened up a big bloody hole in the place, all the way to the first floor, so that's our best bet of assaulting the place."

Danny meanwhile seemed to be fidgeting with his equipment and taking inventory of it, checking that he had a couple of Ripshot magazines with him, and swapping mags on his pistol - having forgotten to do a tactical reload earlier when the situation changed. He only had one flash grenade left with him.

Desmond briefly looked over the parked Outrider towards the building, not seeing the hole in the building that Jaina talked about, although he could see that the middle smokestack was destroyed, cut almost in half with its top part having collapsed onto the building. The breach on the wall was probably on the other side. To Danny, it seemed as though having two options was better than jumping into the meat grinder that the others had. Maybe he could climb up there.

"Hmm..." he considered as he looked at the collapsed smokestacks with Desmond and wondered, stroking his chin and brows visibly raising beneath the mask.

"Anyway," the woman continued when he was looking back at the map. "That's where we're gonna do our assault. I'll split my group in two and we'll move in a bounding overwatch; that means one group moves while the other covers."

"Desmond," he pointed at the smokestacks and let his finger follow where the collapsed one had travelled.

"What?" The bounty hunter asked, looking at the smokestacks, much to Jaina's frustration at getting interrupted again.

"I wonder if our enemies taken the time to secure any damage that collapsing smokestack has caused?" he said, somewhere between guessing and remembering the sound its collapse made. "Could be another way in to flank."

"The place is locked up tighter than a nun's arse. As soon as they find out you're there they'll just send some people to deal with you," Jaina said. "We need to do a single big push that will break the backs of those sods, then we clear the place out, and that breach is our best bet since we can use the vehicles to give extra firepower."

Desmond kept quiet, shielding his face with one gloved hand as he lit up another cigarette. The bounty hunter let out a big puff of smoke as he returned to look at the display.

Danny considered Jaina's counterpoint, and nodded upwards once he realised that this was one of those situations where being direct was the best option. He held his tongue and waited for further instruction, Ripshot in hand.

Seeing no further replies or questions, Jaina closed the holographic display and collected the small device that had been projecting it. "Get ready to go in ten, there is extra ammo inside the AFV if anyone needs it," she said, putting her helmet on and turning back around.

Nodding at the mercenary, Desmond turned back, trying to figure out how he would make it back to the AFV without getting shot at again.

-----------------------------------

Industrial Complex - Outside Main Factory Building - Some time later

"Commence breach in two minutes," came the partially distorted voice on the comms as the mercenaries and bounty hunters huddled behind the vehicles and whatever cover they could find. Behind them were several wrecked combat robots, while further down small columns of smoke rose from where the fight had been the fiercest. To their front was the main industrial building, the last place that still put up some organized resistance in the complex.

While most of the buildings inside the abandoned industrial complex were in an advanced state of disrepair until the gang took it over to themselves, such as that one, it then looked much worse after the damage it took from the fight. Although ti wasn't even the epicenter of it, there were several bullet marks along its walls, and the side which the group was facing had its walls collapsed on the middle all the way from the third floor to its bottom, where pieces of the smokestack that had caused the damaged formed some kind of primitive cover. Despite the huge size of the breach, it still looked small in comparison to the building; each of the two floors after the ground level was easily ten feet tall, while the first one, where all the machines were supposed to be if it were producing whatever it did in the past, was almost the double of that.

It was still possible to see movement inside the massive building every now and then, as its occupants changed position and got ready for the attack that would undoubtedly come, or fired at the armored vehicles in defiance, only to be responded with a burst of fire from either of the vehicles' heavy weapons. If the mercenaries and bounty hunters left then they would leave empty handed. The tension increased as the time passed, becoming thick as a fog while both sides waited for the moment where the stalemate would be broken, for better or worse.

Desmond huddled on the side of the AFV, crouching down on one knee among several empty brass casings as he waited for the signal to move out. Once the two minute mark was reached, he picked his helmet from the ground and put it on before proceeding to do stand up, checking his weapon as he did so. The bounty hunter pulled the operating rod from the weapon, looking inside to check if there was indeed a round ready to go; much to his surprise, the M3 was still working soundly, despite all the using, dirt and soot that both weapon and user had accumulated during the first stage of the fight.

"One minute," came the same voice on the comms. The sound of weapons being readied echoed along the group as they took their positions behind the vehicles, the first group being further on back to give the covering fire and the other more in front to advance towards the cover of the fallen smokestack.

Rathe readied his own shotgun and mentally prepped himself as he did in the heat of the first battle. He wanted to be able to mourn the loss of his fellow mercs that gave their lives in the first stage, but he knew that his emotions would have to wait until after they got paid. Being in relatively good health from the aftermath of the fight, he was part of the group that would rush what was left of the smokestack. Rathe gave the mercenary next to him a pat on the shoulder and waited for the sign to advance.

Soon Rathe head some scraping as his boss Jaina slid into cover by him. "All right Golden Chap," she said to the young man. "I want you get in there fast. Move in the first group, we need that shotgun of yours there fast. Also don't be stingy with grenades. I bet that place is still full of bloody bots and most likely the better part of their forces. Just do what you always do and we will be back in pub for pint of sludge before you know it."

With that she gave him a douple pat on the shoulde, got up and moved up along the line, crouching by anothre merc and giving him similiar pep-talk.

The golden nepleslian gave his superior a nod and a smile as she moved down the line. Even though he had seen his surroundings already, Rathe peered from the side of his cover to scope out where he would be fighting and where the fastest route would be. The decimated battlefield in front of him and the building behind it looked quiet from the outside in, but Rathe knew exactly what kind of chaos awaited him beyond those walls.

Danny had replenished his magazines of ammunition for the Ripshot and checked his other equipment too. He was fortunate enough to resupply his flash grenades too, now with three of them again. The design of the retrieved ones looked different to his Lazarus supplied ones, bulkier, less elegant - but they still made a blinding light and a deafening noise.

As Danny was retrieving equipment and waiting for the charge, one of the bounty hunters caught up in this fight seemed to be a man who had a little too much gold in his morning tea. Upon closer inspection, it didn't look like paint or a covering, it was the flesh. As Danny was waiting, he received a pat on the shoulder from the golden man, making him gasp in surprise before realising that it was just the bounty hunter trying to offer solidarity and camaraderie. Danny, however was more of a loner in these affairs and - why is he covered in gold?

It was an overwhelming question that elicited a simple "Hm," from Danny as he tilted his head, curious and somewhat weirded out by the perfect golden pigmentation of the man beside him. Then again, Danny was clad head to toe in a skintight sneaking suit that left him faceless like a mannequin as the colours of the suit occasionally shifted to subconsciously match the environment around them.

This was before the fact that the entire suit gave Danny a distinctly feminine appearance, so who was he to talk about weird? Gold was the least of it.

Rathe heard Danny's questioning noise and turned back to face him, "pardon?" he asked in a low voice as he eyed the partially invisible person beside him. Though it was clear that he aimed to keep to himself in the thick of battle, judging by his stealth-centered apparel, Rathe saw time to converse with Danny, and did so.

Industrial Complex - Outside Main Factory Building

"Ten seconds," the radio operator said on the comms, making everyone go quiet, not even the sound of weapons being checked for the last time could be heard. There was an eerie quietness to the scene as both sides waited for the inevitable, hands clutched tighter against the barrel of their guns and the remote turret of the Outrider scanned to and fro in the direction; the second group that would be staying behind to add their support fire got into position, weapons pointing towards the large opening on the side of the industrial building.

"Five seconds." The silence was broken as each team leader started issuing their orders or calling out targets, the voices were cut short by an audible thump as the IFV fired its smoke canisters towards the building. The smoke soon concealed the first floor, although the large bits of the smokestack could still be seen. "Now, now. Second team and vehicles, suppressive fire, first team holds position," came the voice again, followed by the multiple report of weapons fire as the vehicles and infantry started to fire at the entrenched attackers in the building. chunks of concrete fell as the gunfire eroded the building, increasing the already considerable hole caused by the shuttle's gun-run from earlier.

Bullets ricocheted off the large armored vehicle and concrete ground from the small measure of fire that the defenders managed to conjure, but it quickly died out once the volume of suppressive fire drove them back into cover. "First team go. Go go go." The operator said in a calm and level voice. despite the situation, and the group in question got out of cover, one mercenary taking point and gesturing for the others to follow as he ran.

Desmond moved with the first group, one hand pressing against his helmet, keeping his read low as the bullets whizzed. He took notice of the concrete puffing around him, as the defenders inside the building still managed to return fire every now and then, but the smoke soon concealed the bounty hunter. He quickly saw a broken segment of the smokestack in front, and pivoted in his feet on the last step, coming to a sudden stop with his back against the cover. Just as quickly, he got out of cover, aiming further down into the building. He could see the muzzle flashes from the defenders' guns, even through the white smoke, and started to return fire, his M3 kicking back at every two round burst.

After getting stopped by the group of 'bots in the Prior battle, Tannozako had simply resigned herself to covering and suppressive fire, rather than trying to regain the element of stealth and surprise she would have needed to continue that mission. Now, however, after she had regrouped with the Mercenaries and other bounty hunters, she found herself faced with a much more straightforward kind of battle. it was clear what they were going to do, and it would be much harder for the mission profile to be changed so dramatically so quickly. Tannozako reloaded her ripshot, the bulky cargo pockets having been thinned of extra ammo, and made ready to go when the countdown started. As the smoke grenades deployed, and then the assault team was called into action, the woman sprinted forth, keeping track of everything that she could see, and looking for an opportunity to attack their adversaries.

The last ten seconds before the heat were always the longest. Compared to those short seconds, the battle was a blur. Rathe sprinted from the cover of the assault vehicle to make his way to the remains of the smokestack, keeping a mental count of the complete strangers whom he considered his brothers in arms.

Danny took a moment to gird his loins before leaping over the barricade with the other mercenaries. Before, he held his tongue and uttered a simple "nothing," as politely as he could when Rathe turned his attention on Danny. He was glad to see Tannozako had come out unharmed, but there was no sign of Thanos and Anna. Maybe they were elsewhere in the charge. Maybe.

He kept his pace a little slower until he was behind a bulk of the more forward-oriented mercenaries. He eventually found himself near Tannozako and Desmond, or at least as close to them as he could in the hurly burly of flying lead in both directions. All Danny had to do was remember to breathe and make sure the safety's off.

Click.

Industrial Complex - Inside Main Factory Building

One of the mercenaries near Rathe fell as he ran, looking like he had tripped over something. He did not get up, and risking going back while the bullets flew all around would be just inviting getting hit again. Eventually, the gold-skinned Nepleslian made it to the cover, giving him some time to assess the situation. The smell of the smoke soon mixed with the burn propellant from the ammo, enough to irritate noses and make eyes water with the smell of it. Two other mercs quickly took cover on each of his sides, soon popping out and adding their fire towards their unseen aggressors and the not-unseen muzzle flashes of their guns. The others that arrived also did the same.

Soon, the added firepower was enough to suppress the defenders a notch, allowing the second group of mercs to move. Not once did the vehicles stop firing either, the loud boom of the HMG on top of the Outrider barking over the MMG on the AFV, keeping the upper floors suppressed so that the defenders couldn't simply lean out from the edge and rain metal on the attacking mercenaries and bounty hunters. Two more took cover besides Tannozako, giving the synthetic's unarmored form a curious look before they also started firing.

Desmond ducked down back into cover, removing the empty magazine from his rifle and replacing with a new one, but instead of bringing the weapon to bear again he let it hang from its straps. The bounty hunter reached back, unsheathing the power blade but not turning it on, and pulling a grenade from his chest rig, gloved hands scratched along the pitted and dented Muur chestplate as he fumbled to get the explosive loose. "Get ready for melee!" Desmond shouted to Danny, pulling the other bounty hunter closer by his shoulder so that he could hear it over all the gunfire once the second group arrived at the cover provided by the fallen smokestack. Soon, some of the mercs were also pulling grenades and getting ready to throw.

Pins were pulled and the safety levers came flying off the grenades. Desmond let his grenade fly, throwing it through the smoke and into the inside of the factory building, then ducked down. There were several loud bangs from inside that could be heard and felt by the attackers, then the much deeper and painful whining sound of metal bending and collapsing. "Now! Now! Get those tossers!" Everyone could hear Jaina yelling over the comms as the mercenaries vaulted over their cover and moved into the building.

Tannozako had not even given the other mercenaries a second glance as they looked at her confused, instead focusing on the mission at hand. The waiting gave her time to reload one of her spent magazines, ammunition from a box being shuffled into the mag in a matter of moments, before the box was simply tossed without a care. Then the explosions came, as a large number of Grenades were thrown by the attackers. At the call, Tannozako vaulted over her bit of cover, leading into the charge with her Ripshot, and looking out for any targets of opportunity presented to her.

♫ The Last Ninja 2 - Central Park (Guitar Remix) ♫

Staccato shots of bullets from Danny's Ripshot filled the air, merely pissing into an aural maelstrom of gunfire. He wasn't even sure if his shots were hitting their targets but he had to shoot back at something during the charge. As he saw some safe haven ahead in cover, he crouched down and slid against it, breathing hard as his ears were ringing from all the noise and the visual overload of IFF systems trying to tell his overburdened mind who was who and why.

Danny tucked the half-emptied magazine of ammunition into a spare pouch and placed a fresh magazine inside. As he was about to stand up, someone grabbed him and pulled him low and close. Danny nearly jumped out of his second skin in fright. but the face of who it was bought him some solace though.

Desmond Stroud said:

"Get ready for melee!"

Click to expand...

Danny's face lit up as he let his Ripshot hang by its strap and grabbed the sheath of his blade with his left hand and grabbed the handle with his right, in a draw position. He watched the hail of grenades from the friendly mercenaries, the sounds of levers clattering against the ground as the many configurations of grenade flew through the air. He could identify Yamataian grenades, Nepleslian ones, Lorath ones, and a few home made explosives too.

Behind the mask, there was a blush in Danny's face somewhere as Desmond made the call to leap over the barricades with cutlery drawn. Danny was eager to run beside him, drawing his sword with an electric whine and a nerimium rasping noise, carrying it with two hands and brandishing it with a grin. Perhaps Danny was feeling obligated to bend over backwards (figuratively!) for Desmond.

The seconds group of mercs moved up while they received cover from the first group, some of them even firing on the move, unaimed bursts that simply had to just fly towards the gangsters. Mass of covering fire was pretty insane. As the second group ran two men, slowed down a bit, leaning down and grabbing the soldier that got hit as he ran with the first group. The lifted him and ran along as far as they could. No one knew if he was dead or alive, but no one would be left behind.

"Now! Now! Get those tossers!" Jaina shouted, Desmond could see her waving the men on to get into the brawl. She attached a bayonet on front of her GP-1 Battle rifle and soon ran with others.

Now you're really in it, Irene thought to herself as her legs moved toward the building, trying her damndest to ignore the snap and groan of metal threatening to fall on them and reduce them all to paste, and into the shroud of smoke, ash, frag, and aerosolized body parts. The Room Cleaner was out and in front of her, sawing through the smoke, just as they'd practiced when SWAT was kind enough to give the cadets back at the academy a taste of urban warfare. Whoever was not facing in their direction was getting 10-gauge shot as a gift, sticking close to the mercenaries who'd picked up their possibly-hopefully-not-dead comrade.

A tiny, tiny part of her missed the simple gang wars of Funky City as her eyes darted everywhere, doing her damnedest to pick out any shapes facing them.

Well, at least you wouldn't be filling out paperwork when you kill someone...

Rathe was well acquainted with the chaos that warfare brought. To anyone other than him, his eyes were a solid silver as he fired off the contents of a shotgun shell at the first enemy soldier he saw, never missing a beat as the team advanced into the building.

Inside Main Factory Building - Machine Room

Once the group was out of the smoke they had their first look at the inside of the big factory; the small windows on the walls did little to conceal the inside of it with no artificial illumination, considering the hole that they had used to get in. The mercenaries and bounty hunters had to go up on a small slope of rubble before they were actually inside the building and out of the smoke. Already on their way, they could see the immobile bodies of two well equipped gangers, semi buried in the rubble dislodged by the grenades, and several bits of the combat robots they so much employed, although these seemed more 'well-made' and had more volume to them. The ceiling was tall, almost at twelve feet so that the gantries overhead could transport the processed items from the production lines by large gantries, which had, at one point, fallen onto the middle of the room, most likely by the concussive force of the grenades, and the light cast by the outside revealed several machines stacked in neat rows, their original purpose either long forgotten or completely changed for giving a relative cover to anyone inside the room, an advantage that the current owners of the building were using to their advantage as they moved to and fro

Gunfire was exchanged briefly by the both parties in the brief time before they were right on top of each other and the proper fight commenced, one mercenary dropped his shotgun and fell to his knees, clutching at his throat, while mercenary behind it blew one of the robots' head clean off in a shower of sparks; the fight would be very short, and very brutal. Some of Jaina's mercenaries fired over the cover given by the assembly machines, simply putting their weapons overhead and not even bothering to aim as they let the bullets fly, while others moved around to get into a flanking position, and it was during these maneuvers that the melees happened, when both parties inadvertently or otherwise 'bumped' into one another.

Tannozako was in one such situation. As the Mimicon turned around one of the machines to the left after letting out a burst of fire with her Ripshot, she found herself face to face with one of the gang's robots. The machine moved with surprising speed, swinging a small blade that it carried towards the bounty hunter, but thanks to her artificial reflexes, it only ended up cutting the magazine of her weapon free before quickly coming for another swing. Not far from her, Rathe and Irene moved with their shotguns, the former riddling a gang-member's vest with buckshot and sending him stumbling back into cover, while the latter kept another bandit's head down with her Room Cleaner. The machines near them pinged as bullets ricocheted off of them, no doubt directed at the duo.

On the other side of the room, to the right of the breach, Danny moved with the rest of the mercenaries around the fallen gantry. The bounty hunter suddenly felt a weight on his back as one of the mercenaries stumbled onto him, back to back. It took him a moment to realize that, for some reason, the merc wasn't simply moving on with his life, and to also realize that the business end of a blade was jutting out of the man's face from behind his helmet. The blade quickly retracted as the combat bot pushed the dead man away from beneath Danny and swung at him with the small, curved blade. Besides him, Desmond leaned out from behind the cover given by the fallen gantry, firing his pistol at another of the robots, before being himself jumped by another one of them and going out of sight behind one of the assembly machines.

As the two groups got more and more committed to the fight, no one seemed to pay attention at the rear, where Jaina had been after directing everyone into the fight. Before the mercenary leader had a chance to join the fight herself, she felt something strong grab her by one of the ankles and forcefully shove at the gabbed limb, bringing her down on her back against the rubble. She had a few moments to get her bearings before one of the bandits got on top of her, his clothes completely blackened with scorch marks and his bullet proof vest completely ruined, although that didn't stop him from moving with a surprising strength for his state. One of the man's hand tried to grab for Jaina's neck, while he fumbled with the other to take his sidearm out of his bulletproof vest's holster.

The first thing Danny felt against his back was the splatter of blood, followed by the sound of a blade going through a skull. A familiar sound andfeeling for his line of work, but he wasn't used to the person falling onto him, and he swivelled around to square off with the robot on the field. Robots, however were much harder to read the motion of than humans, because they did not obey human limitations and carried all sorts of surprises.

Though there were exceptions to this rule, Danny was hoping that his training would back him up rather than his gut. He had to remember that while it was a sword fight, Danny wasn't fighting against the sword, he was fighting against the being using the sword, and by extension, he couldn't forget to leverage the rest of himself against the Dennis Robot.

He figured that he had to act first against the Robot was to move quickly before it could process how to cut Danny a few new breathing holes or register the presence of a deactivated power edge on his sword. Danny lunged in with quick steps and made an underhand, upward swing for the shoulder of the robot, anticipating that he'd have to make a backswing to go for their wakazashi. The most articulate parts were the most sensitive because they had to be mobile.

Danny just didn't know how the Dennis would react though, all he had was a guess that it'd go directly for his heart, hence the backswing.

"Bollocks," Jaine said as she felt herself beeing thrown off her feet and fell on the rubble. The plating in her vest, saved her from broken ribs from the fall, but it still hurt bit. She saw the hurt bastard with burns all over him. The man must have been going only on adrenaline and anger, which made him even more dangerous. Jaina was smaller than the man and knew that in brute force she was in great disadvantage, should he grab her throat that would be just bad. So she put her left hand in front of her neck to protect it from the grab, while her right quickly reached for a piece of rubble. She then tried to use that to smack it at the side of gangster's head.

Irene wasn't going to just cower idly behind cover, even as the bullets sprang against the hunk of machinery, dangerously close to where her body was pressed against. Her arms leaned out and pointed in the vague direction where she knows those bandits disappeared behind cover-

BANG. Chick-clack. BANG. Chick-clack. Two more roars of the Room Cleaner, and Irene's limbs plunged back into cover, spinning around so her back was glued to the giant pillar of... whatever it was. It was definitely steel, and the important thing was it wasn't allowing the bad guys to feed her and everyone else lead.

She was feeding more shells into her shotgun, trying to distract herself from the groans of the building structure by ever-so-calmly mulling over how cliche and action movie-y her pose was, when she noticed Jaine trip - not another one! - and see something black and very, very upset crawl on top of the mercenary. Shit. Immediately, her hand went for her thigh holster as she saw Jain fight back, grabbing at debris and trying to drub the villain over the head. As quick as lighting, her SZ M79 was firmly in her hand, spitting out a bullet right at the charred mass, attempting to hit him dead center.