RP: Bounty Hunts [Bounty 4] Firestarters

Shutdown was shocked by what just happed a random person had rescued her, she growled slightly and stretched her legs as she was free now and could what what she wanted. She looked over to the power armour "There goes my armour with a jackass piloting it" she looked at the guy again and looked over him "Do you have a weapon I can use sir" she looked over at the other girl who had shot up the power armour that took her months to repair and sighs "I know you need to destroy that armour and there is a way it is really dangerous but it will cause the least damage to the surroundings, The suit and weapon can be demobilised by breaking the hard points at the knees and lower back the weapon can be stopped by cutting the fuel line."

She could walk easily now and smiled "I am not leaving, those people are going to pay for what they did to me." She looked over at the Neko now that she could see them better she knew that they were part of an organisation "I am here to help if you need it but I am much better mechanic than fighter."

North - Outside

"Just stay out of the line of fire, old man! Amanozako replied to Bill as she kicked off, moving to try and flank the power armor. She frowned as she studied it. With it out in the open now, it was a lot more dangerous. Staying in front of it or anywhere within it's cone of fire was going to be bad for her health, neko regeneration powers or not. She had to get behind it. An up close and personal attack would do. If she could rip it's helmet off, the pilot was screwed.

She did not see or hear the other woman Bill had rescued, her attention focused on the battle at hand, all her senses tuned to the power armored thug.

The black haired neko slung her rifle over her back, then kicked in her gravity control systems, rocketing the neko around at lightning fast speeds as she swept around, coming up behind the power armored thug and slammed into his back, wrapping her legs about it's middle and her arms about his head, holding on tight as she employed her superior physical strength to wrench the helmet off and get to the pilot's head inside!

Office Building

"Fuck," Desmond said, squeezing the trigger faster and faster as the power armor slowly turned to meet where the shots were coming from. "Get back!" He yelled, hitting the deck under the window frame as the ceiling of the room he was caught fire as a long jet of flame went through the window as he crawled away. The bounty hunter rolled to his left once he reached the intesection between the hallway, main entrance and stairwell, which was only when he started to pat out the fire on the sleeve of his left arm.

Above him, the wood cracked and groaned as the flames started to eat through it, and small flecks of it started to fall down. Soon, the main entrance would be inaccessible, leaving them only one obvious exit. "Building's burning, main entrance is gone," he said, surprisingly level given the situation, on the comms so that the bounty hunters and mercs inside would know what was going on in that floor.

Giving another glance back towards where he had been, Desmond had also seen that the merc that was with him hadn't escaped the flames either. That power armor needed to go.

Upstairs, Kendra and the Rathe continued to pick themselves up while Danny looked for a higher point. Using common knowledge that every Nepleslian building had a roof access so that their occupants could enjoy the recreational use of firing their weapons into the sky, the bounty hunter had a good lead at an exit, but after a quick search he couldn't find any obvious ones, hinting that any ladder was probably knocked out of commission when half of the building collapsed. It looked like he'd either have to climb or use one of the windows for a quick twelve feet exit.

Warehouse

It wasn't clear whether it was because they didn't see him, or that the gangers couldn't believe what was happening right in front of their eyes, but none of them had fired at the senior citizen as he rushed inside the burning warehouse to help the Freespacer chained there and saved her from dying in the fire. At least for the first few moments they didn't fire.

When he broke the chains with his sidearm the bullets started firing from inside again, but at a lower rate since most of the people in there were either dead or had retreated through another exit inside. Dust shot up again as the neko that was behind him charged at the power armor, but the gangers seemed to have their sights completely on the competition shooter as the wall he was standing behind was peppered with bullets, covering him in the light-grey dust and small pieces of concrete.

South Courtyard

Upon hearing their boss on the radio, one of the mercs retried the launcher for the AT weapon, while his other buddy took out the warhead from his backpack and inserted it on the front of the SRF-01.

"Clear back blast!" The loader shouted back more out of habit than expecting that someone would actually be standing behind them, and got ready for the 'fwoomp' that came when a rocket like that was launched. When there was none of it, he also joined Salem in inquiring why Frank wasn't firing at the armor.

"I can't, god damn it!" The merc in question replied, crouched by the corner of the building and aiming the launcher at the bulked up power armor. "One of them hunters is on top of the fucking armor!"

And, true to his word, indeed that was what was happening.

Courtyard

Making it true to her words, Amanozako had darted towards the power armor after it had distracted itself with the fire coming from the office building, which meant that the bulky power unit on its back was facing her and its pilot couldn't have seen that the neko was coming. She crashed into it with enough force to make the armor stagger, but that's when the first problems started to occur.

The metal that covered the armor was searing-hot to the touch, which was a given considering that the armor ran off a combustion engine, and for how long it had been firing the massive flamer on its shoulder, as soon as the Neko touched it she might as well have walked inside an oven. The air around the armor was so hot that if a regular Nepleslian had been breathing there they would've choked at it and their air-pipes would've burned up as soon as they took a few breaths, but the former-NMX Neko's biology allowed her to cling on to the armor as its user tried to reach around to grab her but couldn't. The loose strands of cloth of her clothes that had been ripped off started to turn darker as they burned up once the Neko wrapped her legs around the suit's midriff for purchase, and she could feel the skin underneath flare up with pain as it burned.

As the grapple went on, Amanozako could feel the tips of her hair that touched the metal start to get singed and the palm of her hands burn up in excruciating pain, only to feel like they had been dipped in ice-cold water once the sensory nerves there overloaded and burned out, but at that cost she managed to hook the tip of her fingers under the lower frontal part of the helmet, and using her strength she could feel the leather straps that had been weakened by fire start to tear and give away. Anyone would've expected the headgear for a power armor to weight a lot, and that one weighed almost three times as that as the leather tore away and the neko slowly lifed the sixty pound Durandium helmet, her nerves overloading with the pain. The metal sizzled as it burned artificial skin, and it cleared the pilot's head it slipped from her grip and crashed againt the concrete surface of the warehouse with a loud thud.

Being that close to her foe, she could also hear his muffled voice through it. It was very unlikely that St. Burnard wasn't experiencing the same amount of pain that the Neko was going through even though he was likely wearing a thermal-insulating layer underneath the armor, and she could hear his yelling from inside the crude helmet get louder as the bulky metal bucket was removed. However, instead of being someone yelling in pain, or distress, the gang leader was yelling in something close to rapture. The sound of cooked meat, both hers and the gang's Saint was enough to make anyone's gut turn into a knot, and taking the first look at the gang leader, the red-eyed could see that the heat-sealing suit that he was wearing under the armor had practically melted against his skin, and the tubes that carried oxygen and some foul liquid to it wasn't a rebreather, but instead went right into his throat. It was without a doubt by then that the person there was indeed an ID-SOL, even an augmented and stimmed up Nepleslian couldn't take that punishment for that long before going into shock and dying.

By then, the situation proved to be too much even for someone used to pain and with a enhanced biology, and the last thing the neko saw before the strength from her limbs slowly sapped away were the two cybernetic eyes sitting inside darkened pits as the gang's Saint stared back at her after the thermal hood was pulled off. It looked as if he was grinning back at the neko, but she quickly realized that the skin on his face had simply melted away and there was nothing covering his teeth as she passed out and fell against the concrete.

Courtyard


The pain from the power armor's burning hot engines was excruciating, for a few moments. She bit back her bodies immediate desire to scream in agony and wrestled to get a good grip on the helmet, gritting her teeth as she managed to wiggle her fingers under lip and grabbed a hold tight as she yanked up. As the leather straps snapped and the helmet began to slide up, Amanozako's body finally cut off it's pain receptors, allowed her to keep up her attack on the power armor pilot for a while longer, though not too long, she knew. She could smell her flack vest, clothes, hair and even skin starting to burn as she held on tight and managed to wrench the helmet free, letting it drop and going for the pilot's head.

Amanozako knew she had just a little more time before the damage to her was too much for her internal systems to compensate for to take the pilot out. She could already feel her limbs weakening, feel the loss of grip and strength, even though she could no longer feel the bulk of the pain anymore. She clawed at the pilot's thermal hood, ripping it away, then saw the skeleton like ID-SOL face, grinning at her, or glaring at her, or whatever it was doing, it's face melting away like a gruesome special effect from a low budget horror movie.

As she started to slip away, physically and from consciousness, her limbs giving out, darkness incroching around the borders of her vision, Amanozako lashed out with what little failing strength she had remaining, she lashed out at the ID-SOL's eyes. Artificial or not, digging them out of their sockets would do enough to ruin his vision, so she jabbed at them, moving to drive her fingers into the deep dark sockets and dig out those glowing red eyes.

Even as she did this, darkness was taking her, every sense fading out as even her highly engineered super soldier body succumb to physical shock. As she passed out, she hoped her final attack had worked, she hoped she would wake up holding a pair of cybernetic eyes in her hand. Hell, she hoped the rest of her team would finish the ID-SOL off right quick, otherwise it was not very likely she would be waking up!

South Courtyard

Duncan was overhearing the chatter from his fellow mercenaries. He heard the cry and prepared for the blow back from the rocket which never came. He staggered to his feet to look at the fiery scene taking place at the power armor.

Duncan saw the prone figure of the brave and foolish hunter. By engaging the armor point blank she had left the enemy with a major vulnerability but prohibited a possible game over from the rocket. He looked all around and saw that any step beyond a precise shot may cost that woman her life, something had to be done.

So, although he was still a little dazed Duncan made a truly poor choice. He opened his mic to Jaina and the rest of his team, activated the built in compact force field projector on his armor and dashed around the corner if the warehouse. He ran as fast as he could behind his projected shield and said to any that could hear his frequency, "Everyone, hold your fire! I'm gonna grab that woman then you all give him hell. Frank you bust his ass with that rocket the moment I grab her, you understand? Jaina, you and everyone else light him when we are clear!"

Most would think that such an insane run was foolhardy or suicide. The only thing Duncan thought at that moment was helping a comrade to safety. He was still having some problems focusing due to his concussion and even stumbled very briefly in his run but all his focus was on closing the distance and scooping up the prone ally.

Office Building - Upstairs

Kendra frowned yet again. There was a lot of frowning this evening. The building was getting pretty warm, which she generally liked, what she did not like was getting burned. She could probably get out of here through the window, but that would mean leaving Rather and Danny behind and she would not like that. Kendra linked up with Dan and looked at the roof exit. There was no ladder though.

"Give me a lift, then I will pull you two up." Kendra said to Dan and Rathe.

Office Building - Downstairs.

Jaina was not too far from Desdmond when the wave of flames hit them. Unlike Des and Jack the merc, Jaina was not fast enough. The merc leader dived for the ground, but the edge of the flames caught her. The women dropped down and yelled in pain, grabbing the left side of her head. She screamed.

Jack the merc, who was next to Desmond by that time turned back, seeing his boss down.

"Shit," she called and moved back. He tried to be low, so the flames grabbing at the ceiling would not burn him. There was no time to be gentle, Jack grabbed his boss by the collar of her vest and dragged her out to where Desmond was.

"Crap she got burnt," Jack stated the obvious to Desmond.

South Courtyard

"That's fucking insane-" Salem cut himself off as Duncan stumbled slightly and then sprinted away towards the fallen hunter. In all honesty, Salem expected Duncan to either be caught by the PA and killed or seriously wounded. The odds that he would slip past the PA without a scratch was extremely slim. Still, Salem was also one to hope.

"Frank, you better get that rocket ready. If all else fails, fire the rocket anyways. That thing might wipe us all out." Salem said as he reached the wall to cover himself and prepare to open fire again. He sincerely hoped the barely cooked plan would come out a five star meal and that they wouldn't have to fire off the rocket with two friendlies near the power armor.

Office Building, Upstairs
Danny had to weigh options now that the Separa'shan was now very, very close to him. She could see him shiver for a moment with the prospect of having to handle a very large snake. Even handling snakeskin boots were distasteful to him. "I-ah," he tried to get his words in order before nodding quickly and tried to make a handhold for her - somehow. He was not fluent in operating a snake. "Just make it quick, please."

Office Building, Upstairs

"Oh don't you worry it is gonna be quick," Kendra said as she moved closer. She put her hands on Danny's shoulders and raised herself up on her tail. She then sort of slithered up on his hands and moved up. She grabbed the edge of the roof-doors and then started pulling herself up, using Danny for balance as she pushed herself up with her tail. it was good thing, her tail was long as it was. The separa'shan still grunted as she pulled herself up. Second half was actually a bit harder and that was pulling her tail behind her. It took her a bit, but she got up.

A few seconds later, she looked down at Danny. Then the tip of her tail dropped down again, wrapped itself around Danny's arm. "All right let's go." She said and started pulling the man up.

Office Building, Upstairssssss
The Altex-clad bounty hunter felt the Separa'shan slither all the way up him. His teeth were chattering beneath his mask as he felt the sensation of snakeskin moving against his body. He mumbled a few indistinct, but distressed words in Yamatai-go. The poor guy clearly wasn't having a good time, but against her, Danny's exterior suit was quite smooth. When Kendra got all the way up, he breathed, thankful that it'd been as quick as she promised.

Then he felt something wrap around his arm and gasped as he found himself dragged up to the roof, flailing as he was pulled off the ground, then putting his boots against the wall and climbing up, throwing himself onto the roof and shaking his head. The Separa'shan could see him shivering. "Th-th-that sorta contact's at a-a premium, y'know?" He mumbled meekly before grabbing looking down at the enemy power armour. The enemy operator's head was exposed.

"I've got a good shot from up here..." Danny stated over radio as he lined up the sights of his Ripshot and lead the target. He squeezed the trigger and let out a burst of fire.

Office Building, Roof

Luckilly for Danny, he was pulled up fairly fast. He could clearly feel the strength of Separa'shan Python. As soon as he got up Kendra grinned at him and let him go, pulling him rest of the way using her normal nepleslian-like hands.

"Didn't hurt now, did it?" She said and than looked down, where Rather got ready to be pulled as well.

The Snake-woman pulled the golden bot up, but he just sat down on the roof holding his injuries. Kendra than waved at Danny after he suggested that there would be good shots from the roof. The duo got closer to the edge which opened the view of the courtyard and shitstorm happening there. Towards the side the mercs were gathered, one of them getting a tube-launched rocket ready. In the middle was a giant ID-SOL with power armour who was pretty much on fire and on him clung the well known nekovalkyrja. Well known to hunters.

"Shit thats Amano," Kendra said as she was looking down. She then tapped Danny on the shoulder and pointed at one of the warehouse windows.

In there he could see one of the gangers getting ready with a rifle. The man would have a good view on anyone trying to get to his boss. Not to mention he could shoot Amano pretty well.

The Courtyard

Amano was locked in a fight with the burning man. St. Burnard punched as she was going for his eyes. The neko felt the strength of PA assisted ID-SOL muscles as few of ribs cracked, but because of this the insane St. Burnard could defend his face. Before flying off, her fingers dug into the eye-sockeets and she felt the eyes giving out. Then she flew away, bits of skin being torn on, as they were cooked to the armour. Her hair was mostly gone now.

Duncan felt his body was still not up to par. The previous injury shook his body hard, but he also felt the adrenaline built up. Getting up properly the man ran forward. The power-armoured ID-sol in front of him Roared in pain and put one of his hand in front of his face, hiding the head. In stead he put the other hand in front of himself and let out an unaimed stream of fire, missing Amano. Duncan had just a small chance, a fraction of a time to dive under the fire and grab the injured neko.

Frank Jenkins, the rocket guy finally dug out his tube and set it up on his shoulder. She looked through the targeting device on the PA.

"Salem, fucking tell me when they are clear." He said. "All see through the sight is the big fucker."

Warehouse

Bill and Shutdown were seemingly alone in the warehouse. The girl was unchained now and free to move. Suddenly an grazed man came into sight from the shadows and ran shoulder first into the old gunslinger. The weapon in his hand fell to ground and slid towards Shutdown as both men fell down on the ground.

"I'll fokkin' kill you geezer! Then boss will roast ya and I''ll fokking eat ya!" The man shouted as the was on top of Bill. The ganger's hand trying to grab the gunslinger by the throat.

Office Building, Roof
The tap on the shoulder made Danny's skin horripilate (it means get goosebumps) as his direction was turned towards the gangbanger in the window that Kendra had pointed out. Amanozako hadn't fallen down - and it didn't seem her last ditch had worked. At least he could keep the heat off anyone else who was closer and better suited to killing the bastard - he swivelled the barrel of his Ripshot at the indicated window and begun firing from a prone position.

"Sniper watching the big guy! I'm engaging them!" Danny yelled out as he started firing. At this point, when Danny was firing his gun, the suppressor was not doing an effective job at hiding the sound. The internal wipes were beginning to get warm from so much shooting, and the radiant heat from the entire Burnouts camp didn't make the suppressor cool down. He put a few bursts the rifleman's way. "Someone go in for the kill, quick!"

The mud faced Nepleslian groaned as he was pulled to his feet, sure he had a busted artery or something from the surprising amount of blood that stained his bandages and shirt. Shaking dust out of his hair, he followed Danny and Kendra to the vantage point the two had set up. On the other side of the roof, another interesting point could be seen, namely a short distance between the roof of the building and the wall surrounding the compound that one could use as a hasty retreat if things really went south.

Keeping the exit route in his mind, Rathe moved over to Kendra and Danny, who seemed to have their hands full of a sniper in one of the warehouse's windows. The medic dropped to one knee and unclipped a frag from his belt, making sure the pin was still in place as he gauged his throw to the window. confident in his aim, Rathe pulled the pin and released the lever, but left the grenade to cook in his hand as he wanted to make sure only his target would be hit.

"One two three, two two three, three two three." he said to himself before sending the hot explosive flying at the window.

Bill didn't respond to the ganger, despite crashing to the ground. Bill wasn't as strong as the smelly, muscled miscreant - the ganger's advantage was apparent in that, his meat-cleaver hands hard for the old man to get off of his throat. Muscles shook with tension as the shooter fought to keep alive, keep alive, think! Think! A voice in the back of his head screamed for a solution, but he had no space, no opportunity to act - any action that he took would just take his hands away from the ganger's, and he'd be choked to death.

But maybe he didn't have to. He looked to the side, at the odd, half-mechanical girl he'd saved from bondage.

"The gun!" Bill shouted, as loud as he could, his face red with exertion. He gestured with his head towards his discarded Zen Arms .357 pistol scant inches from the girl. His shotgun was sadly wedged underneath his body, and inaccessible, but if she could get that pistol. "Please! Shoot this guy!"

Courtyard

Duncan had chosen a very poor time to realize he may have made a terrible mistake. Of course, when there is a jet of flesh melting fire leaping one's way, most timing seems poor regardless. His jackets built in riot shield sized force field was a tried and true defense against most small arms but fire was a different creature altogether.

Duncan saw his opportunity to evade the streaming heat and snatch the fallen bounty hunter and in his head it was an easy enough save. His first instinct was to drop below the fire which ended up more like a stumble to a trip. Luckily his shield caught the brunt of the impact and actually served as a tidy scoop for the downed ally. Unluckily, Duncan's face was forced into the graveled courtyard as his momentum dragged him along below the fiery arc.

He was sure that his rescue attempt was about to be derailed at any moment. He knew his success thus far was pure coincidence but Duncan was ever the optimist. He saw that gift horse and prompty looked the other way. As his slide began to slow he rolled over and on to Amanozako's body and rolled to his knees, scooping her up with his left arm. In a quick motion he stood, easily hefting Amano over his left shoulder.

A mixture of concussion, mad dash and painful slide had disoriented Duncan but he at least knew one factual and safe constant, move away from the fire. So he made a line for the fastest and clearest route and just ran.

Courtyard

"Got it Frank." Salem kept a keen eye on Duncan and hoped for the best. His doubt was lifted from his mind once he saw Duncan lift up the hunter and hauled her away. He was amazed and certainly baffled that this plan had not gone worse.

"Back blast! Back blast! Frank light it!" Salem shouted a few warnings before he gave Frank the go ahead to send the rocket away. After shielding himself from the back blast of the launcher, Salem would bark another set of orders. "Everyone, open up! Rain some hell!" He began flinging rounds down at the PA shortly after.

Warehouse

Shutdown looked at the gun and smirked as she dived for the gun and looked at the two men fighting then ran over her mechanical mantis arm bringing out a saw, she didn't really know how to use guns that much and didn't want to hurt her saviour. She growled and grabbed the guy with her non transformed arm and sighs "You should respect your elders" she used her mantis arm to pin the man where he was "Now you will pay" she grinned evilly as she aimed the gun to the guy's head and fired.

The Warehouse

The man and Bill fought. Muscle against quite older muscle. Still it was a fight for survival. Suddenly the bad man was grabbed and pulled back and Bill could see Shutdown stand above them. A strange mechanical armed wrapped around the ganger's throat and then a pistol barrel was pressed against his temple. The bang seemed quite loud and the man's bran was evicted from his head by a .357 round, bits of it and blood splattetring all around. The man went limp and slid off Bill to the side. Finally able to breathe the old man could look at the damage. There was luckily very little, except for drops of blood that landed on him. It was similiar with the Shutdown, but at least the threat was gone.

The Roof

"You think think that is such a good id-" Kendra started saying as she watched Rather, but she did not finish as the golden-skinned man cooked the grenade and tossed it. The grenade soared through the air at an angle, crossing the vast divide that was the courtyard and was nearing its path to the window, where the gang's sniper was hiding. Few more meters of graceful flight the grenade was about to enter the window. But it didn't.

The courtyard

Dodging under the fire, Duncan's face kisesd the ground hard, sliding a bit before rolling to where the woman was laying. Ignoring the pain and riding on the adrenaline rush given to him by the danger all around, his strong hand grabbed the lady and he tossed her over his shoulder. Not time to be subtle or gentle, or they would both ended like roasted meat. St. Burnard kept screaming in pain from his eyes being destroyed, spraying the flames around him, but luckily non of it touched the escaping duo.

Frank Jenkins meanwhile aimed his rocket at the man. "CLEAR!" He shouted and released the explosive device. He was just hoping that the he was far enough so the chemical safety would go off and the rocket would actually work. He was. The rocket streaked over the small distance in a short time with magical SWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH. As it was about to hit the ugly PA something exploded above the St. Burnard, showering shrapnel all around. Then the rocket hit and exploded. The tanks from the flamethrower went off a second later. The whole man went up in giant hot fireball, the streams of flaming fluid being tossed all around.

Duncan was swept of his feet and tossed away sliding on the ground and loosing his hold on Amanozako. Amano hit the ground and rolled for a bit, before stopping. One of her eyes opening and looking at Duncan. The neko was a bunt mess to be sure, but at least she was alive.

The grenade that exploded in front of the sniper exploded high and in opened space, its shrapnel sent flying all over the courtyard. Salem could find two new dents in his armour and Frank fell on his butt, holding his leg, which bled from a new wound.

"Shit" the rocketeer said.

The Roof

Kendra looked at Rather and just shrugged. "Well it was worth a try. All right let's get out of here, before this house burns under our feet." She waved at Danny and Rathe to follow.

Suddenly the building shook from an explosion and giant hole was blown from the office buildings front. Black smoke exited and through it rushed three figures. It was Desmond, Mercenary Jack who held Jaina tight. The mercenary leader seemed hurt badly.

"Let's go," Kendra smiled and said, heading across the roof to where the compounds wall was. They should have been able to scale down over there.

Jack meanwhile walked to where Duncan was on the ground, setting Jaina next to the big man.

Duncan could see that left side of Jaina's face had a nasty burn and her left eye gone, leaked out of its hole. Seemed in excruciating pain, but she still managed to look at the man wit her one good eye.

"Man, you look like shit," Jaina said with a forced laugh as she saw the big man, with his scratched face and damaged armour.

Duncan chuckled at Jaina's comment. She was one tough lady and he was genuinely glad to see she was still alive. He smiled at Jaina and said, "Yeah well, you would still jump on for a ride. I can't..." Duncan coughed from the burnt air, "can't turn this off." He swept his hand up and down his body.

He was exhausted, lightly burnt, concussed and scraped but he thanked everything there waa that he had made it through another mission. It felt good knowing that, at least for right now, there was one less gang on the streets.

Amanozako looked about with one bloodshot eye, her other eye remained closed tight and swollen. Her face twisted into an expression of pain and anger for a few moments until her internal systems kicked in the pain supression once more.

All she saw about her was fire and wreckage. "What the hell have you people been doing?!" she muttered, rolled onto her back and lay where she was. She figured if there was any hostiles left in that fiery mess, they would be burned to a crisp soon enough.

"Think I'm just gonna rest for a bit.." she muttered and stared up into the sky with her one open eye.