RP: Die Screaming [Die Screaming] Glass Jaw Pt-II: Good Men Must Die.

Carina simply watched the proceedings, feeling she’d seen more than a few like Hargrave before. Especially in the glory days when Nepleslia still flew the “Star Empire” flag moniker. At Tobias’ moving inside with Locust, Franny, a Medic, and the Warden, that left the rest of them out in the open with two Golem-clad Marines, and three nobodies she’d seen before. The Golems she could handle if she could get in close. Likely could fling one of the poor fuckers across the room. But that simple, little, itty, bitty, *Click* of the safety had caught her ear.

Casual as you please, the Medic of the rag-tag band that made up Group A slapped a scuffed, but new looking Medical Kit onto a stack of crates. It didn’t have the look of the old variants, but the newer ones. The amiable, at ease expression in place, while rooting in the contents of the kit. That dew beading Clayton’s brow, and his breathing. She’d found the jar of lollipops, popping the top, even making it sound like her hand was in the cookie jar. One hand even came up with a yellow ‘pop, the other going to close the case.

Saving, she’d had a small brace of knives strapped into the upper reaches. Dipping them in what could only be called one of the most nefarious fucking chemicals known to Nepleslians. Velserine. A little would stun you if it got in the blood. Paralyze the tissue if it got into that. More would paralyze and cause you to play the brown note. One ended up her sleeve, while working at closing the jar.

Carina’d meant for the noise to spook the seemingly nervous rifleman. And if he fired first, they’d be entirely justified in returning in kind. Or those armor-clad Marines would cut him down, likely the scarred one. Didn’t know if it’d be the same for her team. Could help with a shout of their intent on killing the Warden. And her group were working to defend the man from these n’er’do’wells. Hargrave had mentioned shortened sentences, and that was an incentive for any penal punk to strive to kiss ass.

Quilly was on the lam. Hopefully ready to carpet-bomb some people. The Molo-tank had her own weapons, and Lulu was practically out in the open. At least with the case in front of her, and its Stone Thread, it’d take a shot or two. And judging by the lady trying to play with her shoelaces in the corner, the three of them were in on a play. Scarface kept the match lit. Tinker Toy, Soldier, Sailor was sweating, and the other one, in a piss attempt at playing nonchalant with those boots. From where she was, Carina had an apt killing ground in which to reap from. Golems, Sweaty, and Shoelaces. Lupin would be on his own with his Little Friend.

Rolling the sucker from one side of her mouth to the other. The M43 she’d scrounged in arm’s reach. It’d make a damnable racket. The knives were quieter. Even a graze would make whatever they touched to have a bad day.

“ ‘ey! Y’all four wanna lolly? ‘fore we get y’ah know shipped out? ‘an shot ta’fuck?” Hefting the jar with a hand, it shook half-filled with a variety of colors that’d make a rainbow jealous. “ ‘cause chances are I’mma have t’give’em out t’all the good’lil boys’n girls while pluggin’ all them holes, saw’n them bones, ‘n treat’n those burns.”

She didn’t mention five, which would include the soul-stealing Islander. Just Caffran, Clayton, Lupin, and Vaishnavi. Molotra likely wouldn’t be interested anyways.

“Peaches’n Cream in’tha fuckin’ armors ain’t included in dat offah.” she made a rude gesture at the duo.

Warehouse - Out In The Open

Molotra had just been coasting behind Lupin like one of those automatic shopping carts the entire time, trying to keep their distance in order not to spoil whatever this plan was- That was until the distant whip-snap of an M3 rifle forced her into action. With the pop-clunk of skidding tracks, her metal arm ratcheted forwards and pulled the wolf prince off his feet, so that he was bodily blocked behind the squat armoured tank-person-

With an uncomfortable clatter, three rounds hit the left side of her shoulder and track armour at an angle, not penetrating but leaving spalled, painfully warm dints.

"-Damn it, why didn't we wait for a clear victor first!" A spurt of agitation. The Warden seemed like an okay guy, but doing the noble thing hadn't served any of them well so far. She wanted to live.

A hair's breath from this becoming a bloodbath now. Convicts rarely stopped gunfire with convincing arguments.

"Tell iron sights to fuck off!" She spoke to the nearest guy, the one with the scarred-up face and the weird blue dragon marking. The vocoder incorporated into their gas mask was grating and electronic. "How bout you dipshits look at the bigger picture before opening up?"

She was pointing some kind of modified laser rifle at him with their left hand, physically wired into their body, and likely lethal at this distance. But something else was wrong?...

His cybernetic arm was feeling way too heavy, all of a sudden, almost yanking it towards the floor.

It was barely even hacking. All she did was magnetize a power line under the concrete.

Maybe this would at least buy the bird and their petite cyber-medic some time? Was Tobias already in a firefight behind those closed doors? Heck knew. If she started trying to access power armour cameras, then that would be it, no putting the pin back in the grenade.

Well Fuck! Looks like we’re shooting, Viashnavi thought to herself as she popped her head and shoulders out of cover and sighted in with her SPAID. That other group hadn’t returned fire yet. That tank looking chick seemed not to want this shootout. That made two of them. Aiming at the short girl with the knives, she activated her helmet’s speakers. “Barrels in sky, everybody, before I light up the pretty one with the candy,” she said, pumping as much steel into her voice as she could.

Warehouse - The Floor
There was a light tugging sensation against Caffran's belt as Lupin was yanked away, the young prince's eyes widening as he was thrown backwards and onto the dusty concrete floor, shielded from that opening salvo by Molotra's armoured bulk. There was a grunt and a small wheeze as the impact caught up with the sniper, a splutter as Lupin tried to regain his breath, and a metallic clicking sound as he brought a big-bore revolver's barrel up to Caffran's chest.

It was that same handcannon Sergeant Canterbury had procured earlier... only the hammer was now cocked back and the trigger was squeezed just shy of cranking off a round, the copper jacket of a hollowpoint just barely visible down the other end of that heavyset barrel.

Lupin's tangerine eyes met with Molotra's own icy peepers, sharing a brief glance of immense gratitude to the mousey woman, before his gaze narrowed and dragged back to the figure standing over them both.

"I'm an amicable man, but your people shot first and almost hit an artery at that... toss your weapons or I cavitate this FUCKER'S TORSO and the guards make an example of us all!" Lupin called back towards the woman with the SPAID, words turning into more of a snarl as Lupin's canines came into view, one particularly vascular vein ripening up along the length of his neck. As tense as everything was and as heavy as that revolver probably was, Lupin's arm was as steady as a mountain, mirror-like eyeballs reflecting Carrfran's scarred-up visage back at himself.

Though, if he was quick enough and if he needed to, the bastard prince figured he could probably at least wing one of the guards...

Ok so, three who didn’t want a shootout then, Vaishnavi thought as the familiar pre combat calm flooded her blood with ice. That said, she still didn't break cover more than was needed to keep her weapon trained on the girl with the knives and candy.

“I only just met that guy today, but I understand where you’re coming from,” she said in clipped tones. “This is starting to look like a big misunderstanding. Blue, apologize for shooting at these… fine people so we can figure out what the fuck is going on.”

Whichever team has the better chance of coming out of this alive.

It was an old trick Caff had heard his Great-grandfather, the Dragon of Nepleslia, tell. Light a smoke but don't blow out the match. Gives you a couple of seconds to lull your enemy asleep. When the match burns up to your fingers, give a yelp and fling your hand up as if you've been burned. Most people's minds will be thinking about your burnt fingers. It'll give you that half second edge to draw your weapon or throw the first punch while they're still figuring out what happened.

That had been Caffran's plan anyway. As soon as the match lit his fingers he would have jabbed out and hit Lupin in the throat. Not a fatal blow, but enough to leave him choking and out of action for a minute or two. Then as his "team" provided cover fire, Caffran could have moved into the mists of the Elisym and medic and taken on of them hostage, forcing their team to lower their weapons and figure out what was going on without blood shed. At least, that's how he had it all worked out in his mind. But how rarely did things actually go according to plan?

Clayton starting shooting just a little too soon. It through Caffran's timing off. He tried a jab towards Lupin but the robot behind him moved way faster than it looked. With bullets wising by he needed to get into cover himself but the closest cover was where the robot and Lupin was. Caff began to move forward and saw the robot raise what looked like a laser rifle up. Caffran began to reach for his own weapon but just as his hand grasped around the grip his right arm felt heavy and dipped. Had he been hit? No, his right arm was his metal one. It could take a hit or two and keep going. What had happened? It was like it was being pulled towards the ground.

The tattooed Nep was so surprised that he missed some of the shouting that was going on. Since his right arm wasn't working, he reached for his revolver with his left hand. He had just wrapped his fingers around the grip when he froze. All he could focused on was that huge revolver Lupin was holding. From where Caff sat, the thing looked big enough for him to crawl inside it with headroom to spare.

"Maybe we were a might hasty. But you can't blame us for trying." Caffran said a lot more friendly and calmly than he felt right at that moment. "Seems our intel has been a bit off." Very slowly, as if he had all the time in the world, Caffran released his grip on the revolver and raised his empty hand up.

Charmaylarg Dufrain said:

As this went on, Francis no doubt would not be able to tell but through his uplink that the medic in front of him was querying the connection to Tobius, Francis, and Locusts charges inside their heads and their information using the authority of the companies chief medical executive. Through the golems mask and goggles the mans face was unknown but there was the slightest raise of his head as he no doubt looked at the two of them.

Click to expand...

Alone in the Lion's Den

As the medic queried Tobias' bomb, the incoming connection was met instead by something that Tobias had prepared during the long marches that the group had made before their capture, or rescue, depending on perspective. A virtual machine, expertly crafted to mimic the computerized functions of the bomb, hosted within his mindware, guarded him against anyone re-activating the physical one in the real world.

He'd scraped the software from the bomb, and now had it running inside that virtual machine disconnected from any physical components that it could set off. It merely received incoming signals and gave the appropriate output.

Locust would do most of the work in here, Tobias knew. He simply prepared himself for her signal, made sure his own scripts were set up to override any detonation codes sent to her bomb, and did his best to make himself look unassuming. A task that he was quite experienced with by now, after all he hadn't recieved that nickname from Carina for putting on a poor performance.

Clayton Not leaving his Cover called over. "Sorry Wolfy, Misjudged who all was blue on blue here I'm sure you understand. I'm starting to think both groups here are being played." He states what he was starting to think the obvious was. First they get voluntold to participate in this assassination/ coup and now they are finding out the other side is just as clueless as the other. Turning his head to look at the SPAID carrying lass. "What's the plan here thunder thighs." Clayton asked in a hushed whisper.
This whole situation smelled rotten now as he wasn't sure if they were being set up again or what all he knew was they had very little time to figure out what's the real plan before they all get one hell of a splitting headache from the micro explosives in their heads.

And the man in the back said everyone attack and it turned into a ballroom blitz~

The brief exchange had lasted all of a couple of seconds. Lupin could barely feel the slow crawling burn of a close call against his hip where one of claytons spooked shots had grazed him right before Molotras save. Now just about half of everyones weapons from Lupins new slightly under-oiled new sidearm to Molotras arm weapon were just a few pounds of pressure from turning Caffran into modern art.

As the quippy one-liners and catchphrases were thrown about in the already tense situation None of the B-team with their backs to that position saw, unlike the A-team, when the two Golem armored marines raised their weapons only a split second behind the scuffle as one was drawing faster than the first.

Expecting to get shot in the front, immense pain blossomed up Caffrans back in two spots as something reminiscent of a sledgehammer smashed into his upper and lower back followed at the same time by two loud bangs by a rifle behind him causing him to stagger forwards ontop of Lupin and over Molotra with a visible couch of blood and the feeling of a running powered drill twisting inside his back; Dragging the former to the ground while the latter was tangled up and unable to respond as the followup from the two armored marines unleashed a hale of automatic weapons fire at as many people present as they could in a sweeping arc sending everyone scattering towards cover.

Caffran wasn't dead but already the wind was knocked out of him and every movement sent flares of searing pain across his back where at least one round was stuck in the meat of his shoulder. A twisting knife of pain in his gut wasn't nearly as bad where the round had passed clean through but would still slow him down.

Lupin, on the other hand, had caught Caffrans bellyacher in his own stomach and if the feeling was any indicator had lost momentum but not enough to prevent a very concerning feeling from one of his ribs like it was replaced with the texture and contents of a bag of glass as even if he could not see it both he and his new dance partner he was now intertwined with shared matching red blots on their uniforms that slowly grew

Clayton, the first gunman, and cause of the breakdown was subject to the most fire as his cover practically began to disintegrate around him into a smaller and smaller apparatus forcing him practically into the fetal position just to avoid turning into swiss cheese.

With only thirty rounds in a magazine the salvo was short-lived but the two men already had magazines clattering to the floor and were mid-reload before anyone could react. While one of them began shooting right away to keep anyone still visible in the open spawling into to cover the other held his M3 in one hand and with the other pulled out a simple round ball of some kind with plum and lever topped with a simple...

It was a grenade.

With a mighty overhand throw reminiscent of a pro-pitcher the errant explosive was hurled in a far-reaching arc where it bounced and rolled past carina and slightly behind her but well into its blast radius.


Tobius - Command Center.

Tobius gambit paid off and through an interesting turn of events Francis too passed the mark; Likely still having an active bomb in her head as the medic slid her jockey into a slot on her bracer. While the medic and Francis shot the shit a clear moment had passed in the Command center with Locusts posture turning absolutely rigid as she spoke animatedly with the Warden while her face was the same as when her mask sometimes slipped around Carina.

It was manic and full of lunacy but while she spoke animatedly and gestured constantly her words were drowned out by closer conversation and the white noise of too many machines. The warden seemed unperturbed by this and simply stood impassive, occasionally nodding or shaking his head slightly. Things had clearly broken down somehow.

Before Tobius could decide to call in his couriers into the warhouse or anyone could take notice the strangest thing happened; Locust lowered herself to the Wardens level and the man placed a reassuring hand on her head, and pulled her forehead to rest against his shoulder where the psychopathic operator visibly trembled but remained half limp.

Only a moment later the two were rejoining the group in the hall and the Warden dismissed the Medic who seemed reluctant but acquiesced and started back down the hall with an unhurried gait.

Hargraves's face betrayed nothing but the man nodded to Tobius and Francis after the medic had left.

"I... Told him." Locust monotoned, the redness of her eyes the only betrayal of her inner turmoil from her usual stoic self.

"It is quite the story. But I know people and I know when they're lying and this aint one of em. Way I see it you kids need Calloway down from orbit and somehow it'll end up with him dead and my heads the way you get that. Frankly I dont care about the man; Never met him before and he's killing my boys so he don't gotta spend his own so I don't right care much if he bites it one way or another.

I'll see to it you get your chance, and I'll be keeping Lima here in the Penitent Damned for a while to rehabilitate her right and get those demons out of her head."

Locust nodded slightly, a quiet murmur of "I'm sick." Reminding Tobius of the dream or simulation and her declaration of admitting her insanity and demanding to Abigail Kilgee that she needed help as the operator clearly struggled with her mental illness and the group she belonged to exploiting it.

"Frankly speaking, If saving the life of a comrade means my sacrifice it's the only right thing to do. But there are a few thousand of my boys out there who need our help and a lot more to do after that before we get to that point so-"

There was a clattering of gunfire down the hall.

Without missing a beat Francis Euphoria drew her sidearm and leveled it at the Wardens head. From out of nowhere a hand manifested as Rungo slid off from the wall and shoved the firearm down but not before two loud gunshots barked in the hall.

"What?! He said it was ok if we killed him, wasn't that the whole point?!" She shrieked at Rungo, who disarmed her with surprising finesse.

Warden Hargraves tumbled back against the wall, two blossoming pools of blood forming in the chest of his fatigues as he pulled a bloody hand away and studied it with morbid curiosity of one slipping into shock. He opened his mouth and closed it, gasping like a fish as he tried to stay on his feet.

Not even flinching from the close-range shots Locust turned her gaze slowly from Francis to the now-dying man and sighed with such finality that Tobius could see the decision she had finally committed to. Perhaps it was intentional after being around it for years but the womans face took on a familiar mask that belonged to someone else Tobius knew as an involuntary shiver went down his spine.

The grin was spot on and the lifelessness in her eyes was a perfect match for Duece as Locust sparred a lifeless and uncaring gaze for a man who had reached out a helping hand towards her when nobody else would.

"I'll never be free." She sighed with resolution as her cybernetic leg kicked back and with incredible force smashed Hargraves into the wall and yanking back with the claws on her feet both severed the head from the torso and plucked it like a grape from a vine.

As she rested her weight on a good mans head like a ball, the mans eyes still wide with shock began to pop out from the pressure before she kicked it back to roll towards Tobius either intentionally or not.

It was unclear if Locust was even lucid or not anymore but without even acknowledging or noticing the still forms of everyone frozen in the hall she strode off the way she came while wearing Duece' mask of mania as she brought her SPAID into her hands.

"Holy shit that was kind of hot." Francis whispered before chasing after Locust to leave Rungo and Tobius behind with the mans corpse and severed head.

For once the mutant had nothing to say and simply looked at the departing forms likely unwilling to speak or garner the attention of an awakened Locust now striding towards the sound of automatic weapons fire and instead looked between Tobius and the clear maniac with a concerning look like he too might suddenly lose all his marbles.

Clutching his rifle close to him as his cover starts getting large chunks ripped out of it . As the bullets start pinning him down. Gritting his teeth he was trying to come up with an idea on what to do but unfortunately his mind was going blank.

What was it his drill instructor tried drilling into his head? “Clayton hesitation will get you a bullet to the head.” Boy did that ring true, however he was pretty sure these guys had the same feeling as they got the jump on everyone. With two down on him being pinned down, what was he to do?

When he heard the explosion of what he could recognize as a grenade explosion he sucked in air and thought back to something his father stated. “Son sometimes you need to chose to live for nothing or die for something.” Opening his eyes still under heavy gunfire he took another breath as he rolled out of cover prone into the opening between his and vashnavi's cover. Firing a 40mm aimed between the two gunman before opening up on the one one handing his weapon. Following up on his 40mm he began mag dumping from the prone position. Either he dies protecting his team or he gets heavily wounded. It didn't matter much to him the outcome he's going down swinging to protect his fireteam if it comes down to it.

She was close enough to Blue that when his cover began eroding, her armor was peppered and pocked with shrapnel. She couldn’t let herself be suppressed. Gritting her teeth, she decided to trust in her own Golem armor and her own overwhelming firepower.

“Ok, these guys are definitely RED,” Vaishnavi said, voice almost relieved, as she snapped her sights from the pretty marine their new attackers. They’d all forgotten about those guys. She released her frustration at letting herself become tunnel visioned by way of controlled bursts from her SPAID. With a belt of two hundred rounds to chew through before she’d need to reload, she hoped the others would have time to find cover or counter attack and their attackers would be forced to ground or better yet stand still and let her shoot them like good boys.

A-Team

Quilly had bolted up and with surprising deftness had found purchase in one of the pillars holding the roof of this godforsaken building on, overexaggerated noisemaker in hand, as the room was flooded with gunfire. Her tanned body clambered up further with nearly monkey-like skill before she noticed the two Armored Boys had stopped - Just to reload, no dou-SHIT. She knew the fuse had another second an a half as soon as she saw the 'nade only three feet away from Carina, not hesitating to throw the noisemaker with a grunt.

Ear sphincters closed so quickly she felt the pop of the air pressure, the Quail would be one of the few people not subjected to irritable ear ringing as soon as the improvised explosive hit the floor, the shockwave of its activated reaction enough to bounce the grenade further behind the medic, hopefully out of range this time. And hopefully not putting someone else in danger, but she wasn't some physicist.

Even with her natural protection, the sharp BANG of her personal creation's demise still made Quilly wince as she continued to climb upwards, only reaching the rafters after a couple moments to have a hint of stable ground and shelter - a vantage point to let her toss a soft-bodied 'nade of her own after a two-and-three-quarter-second cook, the return package slapping against the ground next to the Golems and deforming over bouncing. It fell for half a second. They had a second and a touch left to deal with her little gift.

Well if I'm not on the team, and you're not on the team. No one is on the goddamn team. The team sucks!

Despite the mind numbing pain from the bullets entering his back, Caffran managed to roll into cover behind the same pillar that Lupin and the little robot... thing. Caffran figured he'd been hit at least twice, maybe more. Through gritted teeth Calf let loose a string of curses that would have made any Nep Marine blush. The more he swore, the more the sing-song dialect of his youth came out. How could he have been so stupid? What a rookie mistake turning his back to those two golem armored thugs. He should loose his stripes for this blunder.

He needed to get those bullet holes plugged. Then he could worry about redeeming himself. With a hand on his stomach Caffran got his back against the pillar. Pushing hard against the entry wounds trying to keep pressure on his back. He pulled out the med kid he had grabbed when Easy, curse her name, had given them weapons. He suddenly realized he was having trouble breathing. One of the bullets might have hit a lung. If so, then he was in a lot worse trouble than he thought. One thing at a time. He took a syringe out of the pack and stuck it into the exit wound in his belly. A numbing/sterilizing foam filled the exit wound and would hold for a couple of hours. He hoped. There was no way he could reach the ones on his back. He glanced at the other two hiding behind the pillar with him. "A little help here?" He asked.

Out In The Firestorm

Molotra's mechanical arm was the only part with the advantage of inhuman speed- Their tracks skittered and lobbed pebbles for an agonising second and a half in the open, before finally achieving the grip to roll them backwards and out of danger. Much like Lupin, she'd been in this situation too many times by now, feelings overtaken more by indignation and rage than fear.

Their laser fired out blindly as she reversed behind the pillar section, but it was a precise and stable weapon, not really going to do much to those armours without focus.

The smell of punctured flesh- A sharp look of realisation that their momentary enemy from before had been hit.

Was he still an enemy? Was he being stitched up, or did he know things that they didn't?... Gunfire was going stronger... More explosions...

<"Tobias. Carina. Turn your mindware to transmit-only for a minute."> Her voice reached across, ultimately deciding that morality could get fucked.

The laser rifle was left to dangle from the cooling tubes, as they pulled out another wire and connected it to their collar, causing their entire backpack to heat up and make a concerning whining noise.

The two golem armours both received pings that their was a third armour standing ten meters to the right of them, behind some more of the machine-rubble. Requesting access codes would be the bridge required to transmit a six thousand line update sequence into the text box, letting their freshly brewed cauldron-born AI into the back door...

Command Center, Tobias

Tobias complied with Molotra's request as he picked up the now-deceased Warden Hargrave's head. After a moment of contemplation, the operator flicked his wrist, retrieving the knife stored within the cybernetically augmented limb. "Turn away if you like, this is an ugly job," He told Rungo as the reptilian mutant stood and watched Locust stalk away with a fawning Francis hot on her heels.

Tobias took the severed head in one hand and the back of it briefly against the sharp corner of a nearby metal table, a sickening crunch emerging from the skull. Tobias was breaking it, in order to remove the brainspider chip directly. While wireless transfer was possible, it would take time, and carrying around a severed head was the last thing he planned to be doing. Much simpler would be to access it directly, without a risk of detection or of the chip losing power for too long.

Fishing around in the brain matter for a moment before he found the tiny chip, Tobias withdrew his hand covered in cerebral fluid, setting the chip down on the same table for a moment as he wiped his hands off on the late warden's uniform before picking the chip back up and willing open one of the dataports on the back of his own neck. This was the only way to make sure the chip stayed powered long enough to complete the data transfer, he knew, as he inserted the chip.

He hurriedly prepared another black-box virtual machine for the Warden's mind, and began the process of copying the warden over. Perhaps, if they were lucky, his tactical acumen could even be consulted. It wasn't as if Tobias was unfamiliar with using mindware to talk to others, after all.

THE Pillar
That first shot went wide as Lupin yet out a howl of pain, the vapour-trail curving around one of the guards and ripping a chunk out a nearby wall as the sniper managed to get himself shot again. Two more shots were let loose from the stolen hand-cannon as Lupin was half-dragged/half-scurried behind something more solid, managing to make his blood-stains smear up the wall with no small bit of effort, spittle flying from between the lad's gritted teeth as he quickly reached beneath his vest.

It came away bloody, of course, shit...

There must have been some serious quality control issues with these plates, it really continued to feel like the team was set up to fail time and time again, why them?

Lupin thumped his head back against the pillar as the smells of burning paint and metal wafted though his sinuses, turning to face Caffran with a glare full of enough hate to bisect a capital ship. Lupin sniffed and offered the other man a sneer, while Lupin wanted nothing more than to rip the man's head off for fucking up his one slim chance at freedom, his mother had raised the lad better than that.

Without another word Lupin ripped another autoinjector out of the other man's medkit and attempted to work around the man's plate carrier, doing his best to ignore both Caffran's complaints and the near-blinding pain where one of his ribs used to be. It took some grunts of pain and more than a few Kuz expletives muttered under his breath, but hopefully Lupin had managed to at least slow the bleeding a little, dropping the almost empty revolver back into it's owner's lap before readying his carbine.

Lupin was in no shape to try and be a hero, not this time, but he could at least keep his weapon ready for if one of the guards attempted a flank. It didn't look like when he was first learning to hunt, he wasn't coughing up blood nor was it particularly bright... he'd be right for a bit, probably.

Fuck did it sting something wicked though.

Warehouse

Superior armor and the first opening shots had only gotten the two marines so far. When the guns returned fire and a SPAID barked back it was only enough to trust the heavy armor to soak up the currently blind fire while they slowly shuffled towards different cover sets.

A 40mm explosion behind one of them staggered one of them more than actually hurt him, but was enough delay that when the cooked grenade landed nearby only one of them was able to dive for cover in time. As one of them performed an impressive slide away and behind a piece of machinery his comrade had not yet even registered the small hand explosive and suddenly his feet fell out from under him as the concussive blast hit him squarely in the legs and hip and toppled the man like a doll with its strings cut.

But as was the case nothing was ever without a price. Quillys' save had done its own harm even if it was less than the originally intended amount as the hastily assembled improvised noisemaker still blew a seam in the wrong spot and flashed what would have been a flashbang effect into a directed spray of magnesium flakes directly into Carina. While not as dangerous or powerful as true thermite it instantly peppered her front, next, right shoulder, and right arm in rapidly-burning intense micro-shards of metal that as soon as they touched her were already burrowing under the skin.

The sight, before the pain registered, was reminiscent of Carnias' presumed late mentor Minnie Valentine and her scattered plasma burns on her body like small star-shaped burn freckles when she had been said to have dashed through a minefield during the New Bernese campaign with her adopted uncle Chiaki Kokuten.

Then the morbid memory passed as the sensation of a hundred cigarettes being put out on her skin hit her. It was not unbearable but simply kept burning consistently without the pain ebbing in the slightest. As an inadvertent hiss that turned into a choked wail escaped her lips; Across the way where the two assailants had been one of them audibly cursed and a set of mask and helmet-comm combo was tossed from aside cover.

"Fucking EWAR?! Here?! Fucking HOW?!" The last marine sounded half about to cry with a cracked voice; And in fact sounded a lot younger than anyone expected their faceless executioner to with the voice of someone just barely into adulthood.

"I'm gonna fucking scalp you assholes!" He followed up but did not blind fire from his cover. Across from him, the other Golem armored marine clenched his fingers in a show of survival but nothing more as he merely twitched occasionally.

Beyond the two of them, however, and through the still-closed double doors a formed crashed through as a thrird Golem armored marine exploded into the scene with M43 at the ready and scanning. Much larger than the other two and with the skull and sawbones of the SAW corps the once-departed medic took a glance around and then at presumably the hidden marine and then at the motionless form of the injured one.

"What's your fucking problem, assholes?! Stand down before I stand you down myself!" A surprisingly butch female voice of one of Nepleslias Amazonian inhabitants cursed but did not break for cover or directly fire; but instead, carefully, rifle still ready to shoot the first person who poked their head out, stepped towards the motionless marine and holding her rifle with one hand reached down to carefully assess the status of the marine.

"Shit, Jo, fuckers just started shooting!" The young marine from cover shrieked as his voice cracked and a growing stream yellow and purple smoke expanded from his position as he no doubts dropped two or more smoke grenades on his position. "Fucking pop their heads already!" The sudden realization that at least half of them had still-active bombs in their heads suddenly came to the fore.


Command Center - Tobius

Downloading 1.25 trillion synapse connections and copying the digitized memory code from a specialized encrypted device was not a quick process. Inside the TOC there was little sound as Rungo kept one eye on Tobius and another trailing the various screens as he decided to wait with the operator but did not dane to speak the inner thoughts he clearly had.

There was fire down the hall now in earnest, a couple of explosions too. But little could be done now except rely on the fact that if someone was still shooting someone was still alive. Tobius knew if he had to be the last man there was a small chance of recovering his comrades' spiders as well, and weighing his options on where to go from there.

Locust was clearly unhinged but there was little doubt she would come out on top of whatever this was, and if this kiss of spring; The name still giving him a tingle in the back of his head just thinking the name, had predicted every single event up to this and still considered him a pawn there was a good chance that he would find a way off-world with Locust if they stayed on its path; If his very actions were already still playing into its schemes which a glancing look from Rungo implied that even unspoken he was thinking the same thing.

There were other ways for someone as resourceful as him if not, however. Even dodging potentially tens of thousands of landing marines and who knows how many hostile neko he still had the tradecraft to secure his own way to infiltrating off-world and could clear his name somehow from there.

The remainder there was a war out there was a sober one. Casualty reports on many had simply stopped as entire units were wiped out to even their command staff, and others were unanswered requests for orders or aid that even with the Colonel's spider was impossible to decrypt a command net passively connected to potentially hundreds of ACE AI in orbit and the master-intelligences of whoever was commanding this theater and not burn out his mindware in the process.

The map, while unclear in a lot of spaces as advancing units died or became shattered painted a confusing puzzle as a jagged half-circle was slowly closing around a large icon like a pyramid over two parallel lines representing whatever ship was half-buried in the heart of the city.

One of the crescent points of the circle was even practically touching the ship's location showing that even devoid of command or more broad communication there was enough momentum from sheer firepower and bodies that the objective would likely be completed so long as there were enough level-headed NCOs still in the field to keep the grunts moving on the objective. Wherever the aforementioned improvised bomb was located was not shown on the tactical screen so there was still a chance that if It was lost and the ship was not taken...

There was a lot of ordinance that would be pointed at this city from orbit pretty soon once the theaters' Field Marshal or his staff or AI updated him on a hostile ship hidden planetside after the Penitent Damned failed to eliminate it that would soon threaten an imminent landing. No matter how fast Tobius could try to run or deep he tried to hide he knew he would only die tired in that scenario when Curbstompers started leveling the area...

Down the hall all of a sudden his attention was drawn right as the data cloning finished as the firing ebbed off.

Warehouse

Caffran grit his teeth as Lupin stuck him with the needle. It hurt, but the pain was quickly numbing to more mandible levels. Caff felt the shockwave as the grenades' went off and was glad he had such a thick support beam at his back to shield him. He needed to think of something fast. This whole screw up was his fault. The one time he didn't let patience win out and he was paying for it dearly.

As Lupin dropped his revolver back into his lap, Caffran automatically started reloading it without thinking. What good was an empty weapon anyway? The entrance of a third Golem armor was worrying. How many more might be on their way to help? But it was what the other marine yelled, the surprisingly young marine. Pop their heads? "Oh Feth." This third Golem had the controls to the bombs on their brain spiders!

Clayton Would reload his granade and mag for his m3, Upon hearing the young golem person and his comment to pop heads. made Clayton swear under his breath. 'Well if im going to be getting my head popped I may as well go down swinging.' Clayton thought to himself as he got up to a kneeling position and yelled out. "Oi kid quit your bitching and pop this." fireing a 40mm at the kids potion he dived to albeit due to the smoke haze he wasn't sure if he was going to get anywhere close. he then began fireing into the smoke to suppress the medic and the down golem.


How did his life get this screwed up anyways? 'Old enough to drink and take lives still hasn't even lost my V card. yeah thats about right...' he thought to himself before the inevitable shitstorm comes back to bite him in the ass.

Command Center -> Warehouse

It might have been possible to evade all of the landing troops, Tobias knew now, but if the team dallied long enough to see what would happen if they were here when the assault of the penal troops failed they'd be glassed with the rest. They needed to find a way offworld before that happpened, either with Locust or by some other means. There might be a shuttle around somewhere, but taking that route might mean giving up their chance to pay back Killgee for using him and... well, whatever other orphans she'd manged to get her hands on however many years ago.

To pay her back for turning him into Theta, just a designation, just a gun pointed at the heads of whoever her calculating brain thought had to die next.

But that could wait, the operator thought as he heard the gunfire begin to wane down the hall and the shouting begin. Through the nearly-closed doors, he could make out some speech, with the phrase "-pop their heads-" sticking out. Well, that wouldn't do. Perhaps it was time to play his hand.

As he stalked down the hallway, flicking his knife in and out of his wrist, he pondered in the moment he had. He sent a query to the black box holding Hargrave's mind, sent in the strange voice/text language of thought. "Time to wake up, Warden. Death isn't the end of duty." He would need the knowledge the man had before the day was out, he was sure of it. If the copying worked he ought to be able to at least access the man's knowledge, even if he couldn't wake up a personality entirely.

As he made his way to the end of the hall back into the warehouse, Tobias opened the door not gently, but not with enough force to send it slamming. "I suggest you rethink that course of action, Marine. Unless, of course, you'd like to find out what happens when you get a taste of your own medicine." Through his mindware, Tobias began to broadcast another signal, set to jam the bomb detonators of what appeared to be his new unlikely allies as they stood in their standoff with the marines.

"And before you try to shoot me, let me be very clear. I can send this command code to your bomb before that gun swings around." It was a bluff, of course, it would take slightly longer than that. They'd still get the bullet off, but any shooter wouldn't live much longer after Tobias got shot.