RP: 5th Fleet [Chapter Two] Escorts

The Reaper which had been accosted by Sif was his by a second attack almost simultaneously, as Anzu's shot exploded through its shields, charring and ablating the armor while also removing several of the Reaper's spikes, its normally fearsome appearance now more grotesque. Sif, as well, was caught in the blast, and her shields dropped considerably due to the force. The Reaper, however mangled, was not out, and somehow its rifle had survived the attack, spitting fire determinedly back at the flying Sylph as Sif retreated.

The Ripper scraped backward along the street as it took the hit from the tank, its shields flickering a moment before coalescing back into a cohesive barrier. Angrily it began to fire everything it had at the wrecked truck, the cover deteriorating quickly under a torrent of Gauss and plasma blasts. Anzu and Aya would have to find new cover quick, or do something about the Ripper.

The third Power armor, an unaccosted Reaper, found itself suddenly face to face with Damien's Daisy. It opened fire immediately, distracted from the battle on the street by the much more present foe. Not only that, but the be-spiked armor gave a boosted charge toward the man, aiming to smash him into the wall.

Fieke suddenly found a hand grabbing her by the shoulder, and felt the forceful pull of a power armor's thrusters as April grabbed her and pulled her closer to the tank. "Ya'll should be more careful 'round hereabouts, hun. No sense gettin' yer fancy armor all wrecked!" the blonde chided the Abwerhan.

The other squad's remnants closed defensively around the type 34 MBT as it retreated around the corner. The unfortunate reaper beneath it found itself caught in the tracks, spraying LASR fire uselessly at the bottom of the vehicle before behind unceremoniously spat from underneath the front of the reversing tank. It was immediately set upon by half a squad of Daisies, which made short work of the damaged armor, leaving it a smoking pile in the street.

The fourth and final Reaper found itself suddenly losing targets, and retreated further into the building in order to move and get a new position to fire from. If anyone in the squad bothered to look, however, Nakamura Juni's dot on the HUD had already made its way into the building. After a few moments, there was a scream over the Reaper's loudspeakers that were cut short, and the indicator for that particular enemy disappeared swiftly. Soon afterward, the Juni emerged from a second story window, lightly dropping to the street.

"Ah, Sif, you should be more careful next time, seems you've taken some damage" the Juni observed idly.

Fieke, an unhappy frown hidden behind her helmet, momentarily pulled one armoured hand away from her weapon to give April a quick thumbs up as she said “Thanks.”

Snapping back into a ready stance as the heavy treaded Oni rumbled back around the corner Corporal Amsel moved up and took position at the corner of a building. Cursing the fact that the battle had moved so far ahead of her Fieke shook her head as she took stock of the situation.

Nakamura had taken care of his target on his own already, so he was in the green and most likely would be moving to assist on another target soon.

Damien was heavily engaged with his target, but the melee his situation had devolved into would require help from someone else who actually had a weapon that wouldn't cause more problems for the SAoY Trooper.

The Abwehran grumbled to herself on that one too – it was her own fault picking up a “fancy” armour like April had said and not trying to find a sabre to use along with it.

Sif was probably fine on her own and even if she wasn't the damage she had already taken from friendly fire put helping her much in the same set of trouble as trying to help Damien at the moment would.

That left Anzu, Aya, and the angered Ripper.

“Simo, Miyamoto. Assault or reposition as you please, I will be unterstützung – assisting.“ As she spoke Fieke fell to one knee and braced her ASGR before returning fire upon the enemy Powered Armour.

The fighting thus far was a mixed bag; although they had managed to put a significant dent in the enemy - the cutesy HUD marker was a nice touch in Aya's humble opinion - they weren't out of the woods yet, not by a long shot. The close proximity of the tank's cannon shot had caused the Neko's heart to leap into her mouth, but she didn't complain. Any hit was a good thing, right?

"Gotcha," said Aya to Fieke, her eyes flicking from the stubborn Ripper to the wreckage, which was rapidly disintegrating like a cheap tin can placed in a firing range. She prepared to scoot from her position. "Anzu, I think it's time we got to another bit of cover. But first..."

Aya loaded a HEI round into her LASR-SLAG and took an opportunity to aim at the Ripper. A second later, she launched the projectile and scampered toward the nearest piece of cover, an empty casing cartwheeling free from the LASR-SLAG as she did so. Quietly the Nekovalkyrja prayed that the HEI round would do some damage - or at least slow the Ripper long enough for another member of the squad to take it out of commission permanently. Once she reached safety, Aya experimentally peeked out of cover for a moment, curious to see what effect (if any) her attack had.

Damien's dive for cover with a mix blessing. He could hear the sounds of heavy weapons outside and knew that things were getting rather intense. His plan was to find a way to support his comrades and call out targets. Damien forgot that the one most important rule of warfare, no plan survives contact with the enemy.

As he walked down around the corner of the store, Damien found himself alone and face to face with an enemy power armor. This was not what he expected to find when he jumped in the store, but it was what he was given. Things seemed to go in slow motion as the spiky armored foe started firing and charging at him in the close quarters of the store.

Damien marked the enemy on his HUD, hoping the others would know where it was, before returning fire with his own rifle and raised his shield to block the rifle fire that his barriers wouldn't absorb. He then thruster strafed to the side to avoid being pummeled by the spiky armor. Hopefully he could get out of the way and seize the initiative. Damien prepared to draw his impactor and melee the enemy, or at least hold him off until he got some help.

The dainty power armor leaped up away from its victim, only in time to be buffeted by the blast.

As it retreated into the upper stories, the barrier around it collapsed under a burst of rifle fire, rounds sparking off of its armor as arms were protectively held up to shield its face. Vanishing into the upper story of the building, a sour voice remarked to Kai, "Not my fault they're trigger happy." Moving to a different vantage point above them all, the Mini-Valkirja surveyed the scene, noting in particular that Anzu and Aya hid behind deteriorating cover against a reaper while Damien squared off alone against a Reaper.

And the tank's driver was eagerly revving the engine. "Tank - hold cannon! Too close for explosives!" Sif yelled at them over the comms.

"Shit, fine! We're going forward and drawing fire then! Don't let the other ones get on our asses," the commander replied. The tank rumbled forward more slowly this time, methodically coming around the corner before opening its autocannons, the coaxial suppressing the street while the commander's dual guns shooting into the shop to try and disrupt the duel between man and Reaper!

Tapping her comms again, Sif sought out Kai. "They should finish soon provided they are not incompetent," she explained to her CO.

Anzu jerked backwards as the tank fired right between her and Aya. "I swear, I'm gonna be waiting right outside for you guys. Have to come out of your big metal hidey-hole sometime." The dirty look she gave the tank was hidden by her helmet, the Neko delayed from firing on the Reaper she'd been aiming at just long enough to let it get into melee with Damien.

With her target unavailable and her cover deteriorating, Anzu knew it was time to move. Ignoring Fieke, she nodded as Aya scampered one direction, heading the other way. Placing one foot on the side of the shredded truck, she pushed herself up, standing horizontal to the road. Aya's explosive round gave her enough time to aim one shot, firing before making her move. Simo launched herself away from the truck, her leap still horizontal to the street, adjusting her gravity manipulation on the fly to allow her to flip and land on the side of a building across the street.

Anzu began moving backwards up the side of the building as quickly as she could, getting extra height to let her more easily aim downwards/upwards at the Ripper, firing another armor piercing round from her perch.

Anzu, Aya, and Fieke unleashed a devastating volley of fire upon the enraged Ripper, rocking the NMX armor with explosions while simultaneously peppering it with armor-piercing rounds. The armor jerked and shuddered, flickering for a second when its shields cut out due to the overwhelming fire presented it. Having no will to do anything, the armor could not return fire, but instead simply stood there, as if dumbfounded, fluids leaking from holes in the armor as bits and pieces of it clattered to the floor. Despite this, the enemy remained active, suddenly regaining its wits and retreating behind some cover in an attempt to regain its shields.

the Reaper which was still in the street was afforded a reprieve, and found itself with its shields up, and just enough volition to sit up behind its bit of cover and aim a burst pf fire at the newly exposed Anzu, firing at the wall-mounted Neko from below, peppering her shields with LASR rounds.

Damien's world suddenly turned into swiss cheese and plaster dust as the building began deteriorating from the autocannon 'support' being doled out by the tank. The enemy Reaper was unfortunately able to keeps its concentration, swerving to smash into Damien and push him roughly into the wall. Damien's Impactor deployed, but he found himself unable to grasp it, and it sailed across the room, out of reach. The only good news for Damien was that his enemy's rifle had somehow been destroyed by the autocannon fire, though the armor itself was left unscathed. And so they grappled, the Reaper's spikes versus his Daisy II's shield.

"I believe our Yamataian friend needs some assistance" Nakamura Juni's voice called over the radio, drolly. "Perhaps you can regain some of your dignity, Nishizaki Heisho?" he suggested, a smirk almost palpable in his words.

"An be right quick, we got ourselves a situation the next street over I'd much rather avoid" April's voice chimed in, the woman sounding a bit concerned. A feed from another squad sent to everyone's HUD for discretionary viewing showed a larger number of enemies attacking a similarly sized allied force, only a block away. Indeed, the sounds from that battle were blending in to their own as they spoke.

"That thing's still kickin'? Ugh, I hate fighting armor." Anzu's attention was pulled away from the Ripper, as shots bounced off her shields. Her aim shifted to the Reaper, rewarding it with a round from her bazooka. At the very least it would get rid of its cover and get it moving.

Finding a nearby window, the Neko hopped into the air, her altered gravity pulling her back down to crash right through it and into the building. Once inside, Anzu would orient herself back onto the floor for now. She just needed a few moments to let her shields recharge after bouncing from cover to cover. It wouldn't hurt to reload, either, since she was already nearly done with this magazine.

Aya was about ready to celebrate the destruction of the Ripper (well, in her head anyway) when she noticed it was still alive and kicking. Frowning and biting her lower lip in an attempt to prevent a curse from slipping out, she watched as the accursed thing scuttled into cover. Worse still, a Reaper that Aya had missed in her haste to destroy the Ripper took the opportunity to hit Anzu (though luckily without doing serious damage).

An extra element of urgency was added by the live feed of the skirmish that was currently embroiling a nearby street. If they didn't want to get bogged down, now was a good time to get things done.

"Oh no you don't," murmured Aya as she took aim at the cover where the Ripper was lurking. Loading another HEI round into the LASR-SLAG, the Nekovalkyrja attempted to make the grenade arc up and over the cover (hopefully right onto the Ripper's head), following it up with another round just to make sure.

The Reaper could wait for now - the heavier Ripper was the priority in her opinion.

Damien was shocked when the autocannon from the tank started exploding walls around him. The cover fire seemed more dangerous than it was helpful. Still, it managed to graze the reaper, but it didn't really help otherwise.

Damien felt a thud as the reaper managed to follow his strafe and check him against the wall. Luckily he had remembered to put his shield up to block the incoming reaper fire. This turned out to save his life as it also absorbed the shock and protected him from being impaled by the reaper as it slammed him against the wall.

Unfortunately the shoulder check had caused him to not grab his impactor as it flew across the room. Damien was now defenseless at close range as he struggled to keep the Reaper from tearing into him. He was pressed against the wall so he knew firing his thrusters again would probably be dangerous. The best he could do is try to maintain leverage against his foe until help could arrive.

He could hear over the squad channel that Kai was instructing someone to come assist him. He just hoped that his muscle actuators held out against the Reaper until help arrive.

"Redirect your fire," Sif's firm, calm voice came over the comms.

The world around Damien and the Reaper ceased to explode in a shower of concrete and drywall fragments at her command. All three of the tank's autocannons, and the main gun by extension, swiveled over to the Reaper relatively exposed in the middle of the street. He never got to see the 25mm gauss rounds rapidly tear into and through its cover, as a petite scarlet armor burst through the wall to his side, looking right at him. Charging, palm held out and shining, a brief whine tore at the air before a series of heavy energy blasts were shot out.

As they impacted against shields, she smoothly transitioned into a fast and furious flying kick, thrusters briefly flaring - the Reaper was sent crashing away from him in an instant, giving him a reprieve. But how it was brief! A small, armored hand grasped his armored bicep tightly and turned him around to face the Reaper as it recovered. "Use your shield to bash," a voice sourly remarked in his ear.

Before Damien knew it, he was shoved right back into a fray!

Blinking at the visual feed of the battle going on just next to them Fieke was beyond contemplating exactly why that wasn't the kind of place they wouldn't want to be – the tanks had been fielded to support the advance of the PA units after all and a fight that balanced could use a good dash of support from the look of things. Shrugging that line of thought off the Abwehran turned her attention away from the distraction the squad leader at provided and back towards the load of crap the squad itself was dealing with.

“Scheißdreck. Just... scheißdreck.” Fieke muttered to herself as the Ripper refused to fall down even with half of their fire power drilling into it. A fact which only made it worse when the target managed to shrug off any notion that it was even being suppressed by smoothly falling back into cover.

Snarling into the confines of her helmet and dropping her aim Fieke watched as the other remaining Reaper attacked Anzu. Shouldering her weapon again and nodding to herself Fieke advanced out into the street as the neko marksman fired off a rocket then made herself scarce.

Remembering her encounter earlier with those rockets and friendly fire instead of charging the enemy Reaper the Abwehran Corporal trotted as quick as she could to an angle at which the target PA had the least amount of cover before opening fire.

Taking slow steps as she kept up a stream of continuous fire Fieke did her best to lock her aim and make each dart shot count.

“Griesgrämig Katze!” Fieke called out to Anzu over the radio. “When you're done with your nickerchen would you please nachgeben to finally destroying the Ripper? I can finish off this junk.“

Damien wasn't a fan of people continuing to have to save him, but he was appreciative for the help. As she proved just how badass she was, Damien was able to catch his breath and get his bearings. He could see the Repear starting to recovery and he could hear Sif prodding him out. He felt like he was in basic all over again. Being walked through how to take down an enemy.

Still it was good advice. So far Damien had really shown how green he was by continually requiring assistance. One way or another he would have to prove his worth, but right now, he had to finish off this enemy. Damien lunged, shield first at the Reaper. He was going to do a bash combo, striking him with an upward strike and then drop his shield down on the Reapers vitals, hopefully killing the brain slave inside. He would pump a few rifle rounds in him, just to be sure.

The reaper in the street finally breathed its last as it was set upon by both Fieke's rifle and the much heavier weapons from the tank. It made an attempt to get up, but the continued fire promptly put an end to that, the armor dropping limply to the ground.

Aya's work on the Ripper turned out to be a good choice, as other squad mates had taken out her alternate target, and the SLAG rounds finally dropped the larger power armor, as well as partially collapsing the building it was retreating into, burying it in a pile of rubble.

The last armor, in the building with Sif and Damien, reeled from the hits it had taken, its shields looking pitiful but still not quite out. As it smashed against the wall it took a moment to extricate itself, before settling into a defensive stance just in time to get smashed back into the wall by Damien's lunge. however, Damien's tactics didn't work quite as well as he thought. The point blank rounds to the Reaper's center section didn't kill it, as in fact the armor was piloted not by a Brain slave, but by a Neko.

"That all you got, limp-dick?" the Neko's voice spat as it powered up its thrusters, yanking Damien's sheld away and leaning her shoulder in toward his chest, thrusting him out and into the street while the spike scraped and gouged at his armor plate.

"...what'd she say? It sounded insulting. Did she just insult me?" Anzu grumbled to herself as she finished reloading. She was about to head into the building to exit from a different side than she had entered when she realized there was only a single target remaining. Mentally saving Fieke's comments for later translation, but otherwise ignoring her, she poked her head outside to confirm those readings.

A few moments later, Simo hopped back outside, stuck to the side of the building again. She walked down the side to transfer back to the street, moving to rejoin the others. Anzu was treated to a show as Damien and the Reaper tumbled into the street, grinning inside her helmet. "50 KS says the newbie makes it through with his life, but not his dignity." She giggled, sending this to the entire squad, watching the melee while her sensors monitored the rest of the area for her.

The dainty but powerful armor stood on its two feet after connecting with its hammering blow, bent at the knees and ready to -

It simply stood there for a moment. Watched. And then let its shoulders slump in disappointment before simply walking out of the wrecked store front, the Reaper and Daisy still fighting behind it. The tank's cannons had quickly swiveled onto the last target, but held its fire - not only was Sif now raising a hand to stop the tank from firing, but he was too close to safely shoot the enemy. "He must learn," she bitterly remarked, a hint of anger in her voice.

"Though he took my advice to heart, which I both appreciate and note was used with initial success, he does not realize there are other integrated weapons in his suit to use," Sif sighed with exasperation. Pointing a finger at the NMX Neko, she then opened a comm open with her. "Decisively unbalance him and immediately surrender, or be killed by him or be subdued by him and surrender. Those are your options. We all watch with...anticipation," she nearly hissed, ending her own transmission to the enemy.

"And no betting," Sif added to the rest of the group, a message from her reaching Kai.

The Abwehran tag-along had swiveled around after finishing off her target and been silently watching Damien's struggle with the enemy Neko as the pair had burst out onto the street. As a few others in the squad made their views on the melee apparant Fieke scowled and wished she could show her displeasure by spitting in their direction, but instead occupied herself by checking and rechecking her aim as the struggle continued.

“Irrsinnigkeit.” Fieke barked her retort at Anzu and Sif's comments, bitter disapproval clear in the OriSec mercenary's voice. “This is a battlefield Riesenfeuer and if you need to indulge in whatever depravities that made you think this up -” The Nightwalker's voice stressed on her pronunciation of 'this' equal parts disgust and anger tinging their way through the sounds. “- then do it on your own time, with your own life.”

Calming her mind and cementing her aim Fieke bit her lip as she stopped herself from reflexively shaking her head. When she spoke again her voice was deadpan, a definitive quality of finality to it. “No, if he's going to learn anything it will be that at least one of us has his back as you try and build a madhouse around yourself.”

With that being said the Abwehran fired her rifle in a set of short bursts, each cluster sending the weapon's armour piercing darts screeching through the air and on aim for lethal results to the NMX Neko.

Damien was thoroughly pissed. Not only had he failed to finish off the fucking Neko bitch, but now he was thrust into the middle of the street with the whole squad watching him. It was one thing to be embarrassed in private, now he was on display and would undoubtedly be ridiculed endlessly for his performance or lack thereof.

Still Damien needed to win this fight. Sif's little transmission gave him a slight bit of hope, that even if he was knocked over, the rest of the squad would certainly gun down the Neko before he could be killed. Still having to be saved by the entire rest of the squad AGAIN wasn't something he was thrilled about.

So Damien grappled with the enemy NMX, hoping to get a better handle on the situation. He needed leverage and or separation from the enemy NMX trooper. So Damien tried to gain it by using his own thrusters to throw the NMX trooper to the side, hopefully only scrapping up his plate armor and not impaling him. In the few seconds it took Damien to come up and execute his plan, he didn't notice that Fieke was aiming to fire on him.

Things were getting hectic very fast, though that didn't stop Aya from whooping in joy when the Ripper finally let itself died. Noticing that Damien was currently in a life or death struggle with yet another bit of NMX powered armour - though thankfully she seemed to be the last one - she moved as close as she dared, trying to get a good angle on the Neko.

Seeing Damien attempt to throw the NMX powered armour, Aya felt she had her chance and took careful aim. She was no Anzu - she almost seemed to be capable of sniping a fly out of the air - but she was sure that she could make the shot. Taking a deep breath, she fired a single shot for fear of what would happen if she missed.

Simo tsked as Sif cancelled her attempt at gambling. "Fine, just ruin my fun." At least she was still getting a show. She watched the two armored figures grappling, leaning against the giant bazooka she had wedged against the ground. Her attention was diverted as Fieke began another rant.

"Damn aliens. Are all the nightcrawlers like this?" Anzu stepped back as the firing began. It took her a moment to realize Aya had her weapon aimed as well. "Great, now she's corrupting our youth! Kids are so impressionable at her age." She gave the fight more room, making sure her collection of weaponry was properly situatied as she glanced at Sif. "Next thing you know, the poor Neko will be wearing goggles and talkin' some foreign language." She sighed, shaking her head.