RP: Cirrus Station [Episode 7] It's All Fun and Trains

Himiko was a little taken aback by Stovaa's sudden hulk moment. The Yamataian quietly padded up to him, a little unsure if this ogre was going to answer her question.. or just break her in half. "Um.." she managed, "Do you need any help?" Her offer was innocent enough, but she wasn't sure if her help was even needed.

Sean and Noboru's close proximity to the junker drones proved to their own advantage; most of the shots they had placed made their marks, the bullets piercing the thin, weak outer shell of the machines. Four of the seven, damaged beyond the ability to operate properly, fell off of the exposed engine and scattered across the tracks. A few of the bullets pierced straight through the junkers, however, and into the engine. Aside from a rather distressing jet of hot steam where the shots hit the whirring engine, luckily nothing seemed to be wrong with the it as it chugged on.

Noboru's attacks on the larger, torch-wielding junker drone seemed to be less than stellar, however; the shots he fired broke their way into the machine's innards, but instead of immediately disabling the robot, it and the last two companion junkers turned to the three Squad 35 members, raising their front legs in a menacing fashion as they scuttled towards them, red lens eyes blaring and mechanical bits scratching.

Despite the small obstruction, the crane tram's speed was still going on full throttle, the track below them a near blur as they came closer and closer to the Runaway Tram 2. Even more pressing, however, was not the tram itself, but a rather large amount of swarming junkers on the rear car. Hundreds of the small maintenance robots had gathered all around the rear car, glaring their shining red eyes at Method, Norobu and Sean's maintenance tram as it neared. Their positions, however, were still and unmoving; perhaps they already knew how the previous seven that tried jumping were faring less than spectacularly.

---

With Serra making quick work of the automated engineer, the Elysian obtained full control of Squad 35's commandeered Tram 1 as she kept the speed to a slow coast. Before long, as Stovaa continued to make short work of one of the tram car's sliding automatic doors, a familiar screeching sound began echoing through the tunnel behind them.

"Captain Keziah!" Mimi warned, standing amidst the front car directly beneath the car's volumetric globe. "The run-away tram will be passing us in roughly 3 minutes. What are your orders?"

Method let out a brain-frazzling scream as the junkers yelled their objective. She spent the next few moments wildly flailing away at the tram's console, putting it on autopilot so she could deal with the problem more directly. "Don't worry, I'll put you back together!" she wailed as she drew an almost comically oversized wrench from inside her greatcoat, leaping towards the torch-mounted robot and beginning to lay about it and the others with her tool.

"Serra, match the speed of the other tram." Keziah had wanted to help tear apart the doors, but she had to remember that she was the commander now. See everything, right? Don't participate unless you absolutely have to.

That didn't really sit well with her, but it was all the training she had to go on.

"Let's all get these doors ready, right here." She pointed to the middle of the tram, closer to two of the now-gaping doorways. "We're gonna wait until we can safely extract the passengers before using our bridges." Keziah hauled one of the doors over to where she had indicated, letting her synthetic arm do most of the work.

Claire hadn't fired her weapon yet, as she was standing next to Serra to make sure she wasn't interrupted by any of the strangely behaving junkers. A thought passed her mind and she spoke up, "Hey guys, how about we not destroy these things unless it's absolutely necessary. I'm sure it's a malfunction in their overall programming and can be fixed for them to be put back to work. Let's not anger Cassie by trashing more than we have to, alright?"

Meanwhile...

At a karmatically-inverted moment, Noboru let go of the railing and crouched on the floor of the repair tram, holding down the firing bud on his VW and screaming "DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE" at the top of his lungs. He was rapidly emptying his clip, using every opening between Method's assaults with the wrench to fire a varying amount of death into the blowtorch Junker.

"Mimi, what speed is the other tram going at?" Serra asked as she slowly increased the speed. "I'll need the info soon, so I can match speeds."

Method's peculiar way of 'fixing' the riled-up junker drones seemed to work in the opposite intended way. The large wrenched acting as a makeshift bludgeon, Method's whacks against the two smaller junker drones put large, unsightly dents on the vulnerable chassis before they could retaliate. A grind of bent gears and whir of broken mechanisms later, the small robots went limp and fell from the rattling tram.

Noboru, on the other hand, continued to fire violently at the more menacing torch-junker as it took a few swings with it's stubbly front legs. A few more shots from the Yamataian's weapon, however, easily put the drone out of commission as it scattered into a mass of twisted metal and flew from the cart.

With all of the immediate junker dealt with, the three of them had a precious minute or two before their crane cart would be in clear distance of Tram 2, and its rather daunting mass of mechanical junker drones milling around the chassis of the rear car.

---

"The tram is traveling exactly 78.23 miles per hour, from what I could gather," Mimi answered Serra. "We are moving at a steady 10 miles per hour...I suggest you begin increasing speed now; our target is nearly here."

Behind Squad 35's tram, the scream of their intended target grew from mere sound into shape as the speeding transport's front car came into view. It was gaining quickly on the slow-moving Tram 1, and in mere moments would be right alongside it. Curiously, the large mass of junker drones they had seen earlier seemed to have disappeared from the front car; only a few scattered drones scurried about on the outside of the car, clinging on as tightly as their small legs could.

Serra increased Tram 1's speed to 80 miles per hour, since the other one is already gaining, a quick burst would be needed to allow for a catchup after Tram 1 got up to speed. "Hang on! this will get alittle rough."

"Sean!" Noboru shouted, moving back towards the crane console. "See if you can scatter the Junkers on that back car enough for me to get the crane hook attached!" Firing a few shots from his VW at Tram 2 to startle the Junkers, he moved to the crane console, started steadily punching buttons and getting the crane ready to move.

Keziah braced herself against one of the vertical handrails, wrapping an arm around it as the tram accelerated way above its safety limits. Hopefully whatever went wrong with the other tram wasn't because of tampering with the engineer--like they had just done.

"Keep us steady with it once we're close!" Keziah said into the comms, slamming her helmet shut. The rush of wind from the open, gaping doors made everything difficult, but at least the helmet kept communication possible.

Though the gunfire, growing louder and more violent with every second, more than concerned her. "Junkers are expendable, and easily repaired. But if they're as dangerous as the firing suggests, then keep your weapons ready." She had to be careful following her own advice, as she freed her rifle from its magnets.

"Team two, report!" Keziah hoped someone on the crane tram would be able to respond to her.

As Squad 35's tram continued on at a slowly increasing speed, the Runaway-Tram gradually pulled itself up and the two began to run alongside each other along the ever-turning tracks. Tram 1's continued speed pulled it farther ahead of Squad 35's position, Keziah and her small group only able to really access the center-most cars of the run-away train. The small handful of junker drones at the head of the tram skittered away beneath the undercarriage of Tram 2, apparently not so eager to fight as the previous ones that had attempted to cut the Crane Tram's ride short.

From their position inside of the tram, Keziah's half of Squad 35 could see faces begin to appear in the passenger car before them. Most of them looked somewhat alarmed at first, along with the frantic worry and fear that had no doubt been gripping them since the beginning of the tram's supposed malfunction. However, once the passengers realized who was in the tram running alongside them, they began to wave and give wordless shouts for help from behind the glass windows.

---

On the opposite end of the runaway Tram 2, the rear end of Squad 35's Tram 1 poked out beside Method, Noboru and Seans' crane cart as it chugged steadily towards the junker-swarming rear car. A large handeful of the junkers at the top of the train had apparently grown bold enough to attempt another boarding of the crane tram. Five rather gnarly-looking drones reared back and leaped into the air, their legs baring downward as they dove...only to stop suddenly in midair, struck by an unseen force as they clattered harmlessly onto the track and exploded into a shower of sparks as the wheels of the crane car plowed into their frail bodies.

"HEY!"

A loud, bellowing voice shouted out from behind Norobu, Method and Sean. As the group of three turned around, they would be greeted by a few familiar faces, grinning devilishly at them. One, an enormous ID-SOL, appearance made even more menacing by the equally large CSS suit he was equipped with, and the other a smaller Nepleslian man with a sharp, harsh eyes squatting atop the ID-SOL's shoulders...Lenny Binks and George Resetti, two members of Squad 35 whom had been assigned elsewhere for the day. The smaller Nepleslian man, George, was holding his CSS Variable Weapon up, looking quite proud of himself...obviously the junkers failed attack were his to credit. "Looks like you could use a hand, huh fellas?!" George shouted above the din of the trams screeching along the tracks.

George and Lenny had apparently commandeered another Crane Cart from another section of the station, running on the same track as Method's cart. Two other Cirrus Station Security members accompanied the dynamic duo, a man and a woman, being carried along for the ride (rather cramped, due to Lenny's girth). On the opposite track, behind the rear-end of Squad 35's commandeered Tram 1 was another Crane Cart containing another three CSS members, their visors down and weapons up, signaling the group with a simple thumbs as the cluster of clattering wheels continued to race through the corridor.

The arrival of additional security forces nor their brethren's previous failure seemed to phase the enormous swarm of junker drones. Another handful of them skittered to the top of the car and leaped into the air once more, intent on landing upon Method's crane cart and having their way with its steaming, exposed engine cluster.

As the second crane car sped along, Blake (The male half of the new arrivals.) was holding on to Lenny's arm as if it were a natural handle built into the train. He quietly thanked multiple exotic dieties that he had no hair as his beret was snatched up and flew into the tunnel behind him. He squinted over the front of the tram to see the other group and the runaway tram. After taking in the situation, he asked George for the third time since he'd been whisked onto the tram, "We're not going to the personnel department anymore, are we? I'm still not sure how I even got here, to be honest."

Without waiting for an answer, he leaned over the front of the tram to look at all the junkers tearing away at the cart in front of him. Seeing that George had already opened fire on them earlier, he drew his HHG and took a few potshots every here and there: shooting at the few junkers which stood out against the shilouette of the distant vehicle.

Private third class Avel Sitkeas was not in the best of moods. After convincing (Shoving her cleavage in his face.) that scientist into giving her a room and getting on Cassefins good side (Lying through her teeth.), she was ready to approach her squads Sargent with a deal. She knew he absolutely despised his current living arrangements and was willing to give anything to get out. That's where she would have come in with a proposition. Money was tempting but a promotion was what she really wanted.

Then she was transfered to squad 35.

At first she thought Cassefin was on to her. Rumor had it, being transfered to that squad was basically Cassefins way of saying "I hate you". But no, it was simply because she and the others happened to be near their position at the time. If Cassefin did suspect something then she would have to tread carefully.

She silently looked over (And down.) at the man who had shot the junkers out of the air. "Not bad for a lazy hoodlum." she thought to herself. Then suddenly more of the junkers leaped off the tram and the massive ID-SOL started shooting at them. Snapping back into reality she raised her CSS Variable Weapon into firing position, took careful aim and started firing controlled bursts at each of the junkers.

Without receiving an answer, Himiko quickly put her own helmet on and braced herself as the train sped up. She could see the other train now and waved back at some of the people on board before realizing that she probably should get back to saving them. The Yamataian wasn't sure where the shooting was coming from or who was shooting what, so she readied her own rifle just in case.

The hulking Id-Sol opened the side door of the second carriage of the tram and looked across at the runaway tram on the parallel tracks. Miraculously, it seemed a pair of doors on the opposite carriage lined up neatly with his pair. He waved back across at the trapped people and tried to communicate that Team 35 was going to save them.

"I think one of these doors ought to be long enough to bridge this gap, but we'll need them to open their doors so I can get the bridge down securely," Stovaa said. He turned to the other occupant(s) of his carriage as he picked up one of the doors and laid it down in doorway and practiced sliding it back and forth. "Could you try to get them to open their door? If the controls aren't working, we might need someone to force it open..."

He knelt down and glanced over the door-bridge again. His weight ought to be enough to stop the bridge toppling, if the others come across one by one. It'd probably be safe unless 4 fatasses try it at once, he mused.

"Oh no you fucking don't!" Noboru shouted at the little cloud of micro-Junkers descending on the steaming engine. He raised his VW and let loose a hail of saturation fire on the cloud of tiny Junkers descending on the engine. His magazine, dumped, finally clicked empty, and he quickly ejected it and fumbled for a free one. Under pressure, he didn't notice an incognito Junker notice its opportunity and jump him.

"BIOLOGICAL ANOMALY DETECTED," external speakers on the Junker's chassis droned, as its underside opened and revealed a menagerie of wicked cutting and slicing tools, "REMOVING ANOMALY." Noboru squinted in fear, before he shouted the only words that fought their way through the fog of his brain's labyrinthine neurons to his mouth: "SCARLET!"

Reaching out with his free hand and drawing the Zen Arms .45 that had been hanging from his right thigh since Day One, the Yamataian reached up and emptied that magazine into the Junker, then dumped the stunned, partially-functional chassis off the side of the tram and down onto the tracks. Retrieving his Variable Weapon, the Yamataian expatriot finished his reload, took aim, and started firing at the remaining Junkers again.

When he finally ran out of ammo, Blake found himself no closer to having solved the situation at all. In fact, several junkers were still assaulting the train car ahead of him. Without taking the time to think about his actions, Blake climbed onto the end of the crane on his cart and swallowed his fears. They stuck in his throat.

"C-c-could one of you p-p-please extend the boom?!" he called to the dynamic duo below him, "I th-th-think I can help them b-b-b-better over there!"

Blake let out a small yelp as a torn up Junker whizzed past his face, nearly knocking him off of the crane.

Across the short chasm between the two cars, Squad 35 could continue to see voiceless faces yell frantically from the windows, their escape obscured by the large sliding double-door. It wasn't long, however, before there were a few sharp clanks distinguishable through the din of the train cars whizzing through the tunnel. In between the double doors, a long slender sprig of grey metal jutted outwards into the open air, wriggling side-to-side as it attempted to work the doors open. As the doors moved but inches away from each other, a multitude of fingers and hands gripped the two doors and began to pull them back. With a little time and effort, Stovaa found himself directly across from a group of rather noisy Cirrus personnel, led by a familiar-faced Freespacer.

"Stove!" The child-like Freespacer Peke Twenty-Two greeted Stovaa, waving the large, rather menacing crowbar that she had just used to pry the stuck doors open. Her disproportionately cheerful greeting was immediately drowned out, however, as the other patrons of the runaway tram began to mill at the edge, shouted for help at the nearby tram.

---

Unbeknown to the others, however, a small handful of Junkers had skillfully leaped between the short gap between the two trams a little further down the length of the trams. As Peke and Stovaa had been working at abridging their two positions, the drones had secretly trekked their way atop Squad 35's tram to the front of the car, stopping at the front of the train as they massed up for unknown purposes. Roughly 10 of them were silently skittering atop the tram car, just above Keziah and her group.

A slight bump in the tram track, however, denying the junkers their supposed surprise attack; a single drone whom had been precariously perched on the edge slid off, managing to grip the lip of the metallic roof with its hind legs as it dangled...directly in front of Serra, at the head of the tram in the conductor's area. After realizing where it was, the little haywire machine wasted no time in furiously tapping harshly against the glass with it's dangling front legs, the mess of gears and machinery on its underbelly scraping against the glass and making some rather nasty scratches on the thin glass pane.

---

Bits and pieces of metal flew in every direction as junker after junker was mangled by the flurry of fire from the combined efforts of the CSS crew behind the two trams. For every one drone they destroyed, however, several seemed to replace them at the rear of the tram, the seemingly endless swarm continuing to mill across the surface of the rear cart. Some of the junkers had begun to leap the gap between the tram speeding trams, taking position on the rear car of Tram 1 to assault the three crane carts from different angles.

Two or three rather lucky drones had attached themselves to the underside of Method's cart. Although it was impossible to really tell what they were doing in the very danger area underneath the speeding crane cart, the odd grinding sounds and occasional shower of sparks seemed to point to a rather unpleasant ending.

Meanwhile, a handful of the more daring junker drones switched their targets from Method, Norboru and Sean's cart, instead leaping to attack the CSS-commandeered maintenance tram just behind Tram 1.

Serra looked up from where she was maintaining the tram's speed and stability.

"Kaz! We have drones on our tram!"

She shouted back.