Fruna Ruica, Bridge Area
Reeves was scrambling on his feet to avoid the guard, and under his hands and beneath boot he could feel the grit on the floor that the pirates had bought with them to tarnish this otherwise shiny and happy crew. He didn't know that the Captain of this ship had a vested interest in making sure she enjoyed herself as much as her guests. Perhaps it was better for them to be knocked out than to continue to see more gritty reality collide against their ship.
Reeves was caught up in it all, but some of the 'grit' of the other beings on the Phoenix. This included the alien beyond time and space, the blue blademaster, the bounty hunter, the muscular Nekovalkyrja, the other white haired waif, that strange snaggle toothed Lmanel woman, the greasy conman, the big game hunter, the engineer dancing on the edges of perversion, the robot who was everywhere...
And himself, a silvery haired mechanic who was firing in self defence and acting on the orders of a captain who was over the edge with a parachute. Reeves could feel the energy firing out of the barrel of the Fatboy so close that he could feel a sensation like bright Friday noon sunlight against his legs and his face. Perhaps sunglasses were in order.
When the spots faded from his eyes and the sound of gunshots ceased, he found a man slumped against the ground and cooked inside their armour - the chestplate burnt apart, their soft centre exposed haphazardly. Their gun, meanwhile had traced a line of bullets on the floor. The first few bullets landed between Reeves legs, and then pulled sharply to the dead pirate's right, continuing bullets hitting the floor, then the consoles, and the gun's magazine running dry and the gun clicking.
A sharp pain begun to register as the fleeting adrenaline left his system and shot up his left leg, just below the knee. He could see a pair of bullet holes - one in the front of his knee, and one behind it. He was bleeding, but it didn't seem severe - an artery was avoided as the bullet hit the left of his shin close to the knee. It was still hurting him, but he had some comfort knowing that there were no more enemies near him.
He could try and attend to his wounds himself, call for help, or check up on the Captain.
Fruna Ruica, Outside Bridge
Soruk was gathering his senses as he could feel Zeta's footsteps crashing through the deck, sending a tremor capable of kicking up the dust around her as she charged forward with the Fatboy. Her shots to the lower regions, away from the centre of mass tended to hit the groin in addition to striking the thighs if she didn't hit the wall near Soruk or pulses of energy whizzed just over his head.
The last pirate fell over, and Zeta felt something clatter against one of her feet - it was Soruk's throwing dagger, which'd been redirected from the force of the explosion in close quarters.
For now, things were clear but they had to hurry to get the bridge under control. The Freespacer called 'Wire Head' roused from their EMP was trying to shift one of the dead bodies off of them, and his gaze met Soruk's, and then he tried to scramble to get the corpse of one of those useless men put under his command off of him - his struggle renewed when he locked gazes with the blademaster who'd disoriented him and his men, and got them killed by the one in the armour.
Fruna Ruica, Ropey Room
In their running, blazing, tactical retreat, Enzo and Redrick had gotten some attention, but Red was happy to oblige with returning fire. His imprecise spray of fire had gunned one of them down, but the rest either struck body armour or flew overhead.
Every time the two men greasy enough in different professions to skin and make candles with brushed past one the strange red ropes, a moan emanating from the two points in the ceiling and the floor the ropes were anchored would wave through the room. They were mostly vertically aligned, stretching from the floor to the ceiling on slightly off angles each.
Sometimes, they could spot tangles of rope between one and another which'd been cut apart and left to hang there, making some parts of the room let out a low, constant 'mmm' as the weight of the leftover rope pulled the main one stretching from floor to ceiling down.
When Red passed by this place, he'd see some of them tie each other up between them, making cocoons or hammocks in intricate woven patterns together. Say what you would about their deviancy, their superb skill in tying knots was seldom seen anywhere else in the galaxy. Most of the time, you could just clip stuff together, and it'd adhere. The only other people who knew how to tie a rope properly were the old sailors who enjoy an ocean more than space.
...or Yamataian Neko Scouts.
The walls that were keeping this room and its delights together and intact were giving the two men a measure of concealment as a hailstorm of shot started ripping through them as Mr. Lizard Man's Deviance started clearing the brush, making a sweep starting from the Ropey Room, all the way across in a one hundred and twenty degree arc across the room. Sections of the wall went missing as it was pelted apart by multiple shot tearing through the plasterboard.
Fruna Ruica, Main Convention Floor
♫
Space Channel 5 Part 2 - Invasion! ♫
"MOVE ASSSIDE!" Mr. Lizard Man roared as his arc was halfway across the room, now smashing into the pillar that was keeping the Tongue Slide supported. Shayla's massive hands grasped the jukebox, and she lifted it and tossed it right into the furball that was rearing to go hot on Mr. Lizard Man's heels when his assault died down. Three of the twelve men dove out of the way and found themselves on the ground, but two men were just schooled by the power of music as the Jukebox bowled them over, the machine smashing into pieces as it went.
Makari could feel the sheer pressure of the SiZi Plasma Revolver's discharge blowing against his face and the gun threatening to slip out of his hands. His crack shot struck Mr. Lizard Man in the visor - and a fist sized hole the half inch of durandium plate melted away - the remaining charge heating the metal plate and searing Mr. Lizard Man's face for a brief moment. His arc now paused and focussed solely on the Tongue Slide so he could get him.
"THISSS... WON'T END WELL FOR YOU, COWBOY!" Makari could've swore he saw the whites of the Delsaurian's eye through the hole he'd made in that plate. He started stomping forward now, getting closer. Makari could hear hundreds of shot either tearing the Tongue Slide's pillar apart, shredding through the playground grade plastic that the slide itself was built from, or bouncing off of the walls and floor. "NOW YOU GOT MY ATTENTION, SSSUCKER! BIIIG MISSSTAKE!"
Upstairs on the Balconies...
The barrages of the two LEAF mechs, Cass' mech aiming down at the convention floor down below while Seiren's was aiming at the advancing furball lead by the armoured Lorath woman with the hammer. They both begun opening fire. Seiren's lethal shots were putting holes into the men near the Fyunnen first, one of them copping a shot to the face and their head going completely missing. One hell of a haircut that still had enough juice to burn the guy behind him, getting a two for one.
Cass's spray of incapacitating gel shot rained down from her superior position up on the balcony, hitting four of the men in the back with a torrent of riot gel
The Lorath woman's thrusters could be heard spinning to life suddenly and she avoided Seiren's gunfire, and ended up pushing two of the men under her command into the pint-sized Inventor's line of fire and vaporising them.
"
GET. OUT. OF. THE. WAY." The Breaker roared as she grabbed the hammer with both hands and made a lateral swing at the pillar. Seiren could see Luca pointing his right arm at the ceiling and the sound of the Grapple Stunner firing, piton hitting the ceiling.
Seiren saw the pillar get completely demolished, and in its wake was a shower of sparks and dust as the jet powered hammer smashed the marble veneer off of the pillar followed by the Durandium beams beneath it. She then paused, looking confused when she saw her target disappear. Where was he? He was there a moment ago. "
STOP HIDING. FIGHT LIKE A FYUNNEN!"
"'kay," Luca grinned as he leapt down from the ceiling and landed on her back with his arms wrapped around her neck. She tried to grab him from behind and seemed to be unable to shake his grip off until she activated her thrusters and put the afterburner on - gout of red hot flame buffeting Luca's chestplate and forcing him to let go and get some distance before he was cooked. The Stone thread composition of his jacket was remarkably resilient to the heat - as were the composite plates that made up his breastplate - but he'd have to get it replaced when this was over.
He could smell some of his skin cooking under it all too, but he didn't have time to savour how delicious a challenge he could be for this Fyunnen. "You're one hot piece of metal," he panted as the Fyunnen turned around and crouched with their foot, knee and hand touching the ground at once while their massive hammer was held in one hand like a toy. "Maybe I should be the one wielding that hammer."
"
OH I'LL GIVE IT TO YOU, I'M GOING TO NAIL YOU TO THE FUCKING FLOOR." The Fyunnen woman roared back at him, becoming increasingly agitated at this man's survivability, agility and the music that was still playing even though the jukebox had been smashed.
"Ooh, coming on a bit strong there. I usually buy the woman dinner first if they're Lorath." He then flexed his right arm, and tried to see what Seiren had wanted him to do with it - there were other goodies in this thing that he didn't quite have the time to learn in gear. The piton fired out - but stopped five feet in front of him. The cord was now incredibly dense, overlaying and weaving through itself and tapering into a razor shrp spearhead at the end.
"Looks like I'm gonna joust you, and get medieval on your arse." He retracted the spear back into his gauntlet and cricked his fists. "
Sra'ka ya vul, baby!" A Lorath exclamation roughly analogous to 'have at you'.
Of course, that sounded cool, but he had no idea how to use the thing just yet, but he'd figure it out sooner rather than later. She roared back at him and charged.
Downstairs on the Floor...
With Mr. Lizard Man focussing fire on the Tongue Slide pillar, its structural integrity was only getting worse. Melissa's radio chatter seemed to consist of her cursing because it was getting to unstable to line up a proper shot. The three soldiers to Mr. Lizard Man's left started dashing into the ropeful room, but their gear was getting snared and tangled on the ropes that filled the room as they rushed in rather than the head start that Red and Enzo had on the way in, allowing them to take their time.
The other two on his left charged ahead while the one who dodged the jukebox and Cass' fire were scrambling to their feet to follow them. Bullets rung out and zipped through the air at Tamamo and Shayla's position while they advanced slowly, ignoring Makari since Lizard Man had him pinned down with gouts of shotgun splatter.
Back upstairs on the Balcony...
To summarise, there were two men chasing Tamamo, Shayla and Makari plus Mr. Lizard Man, three soldiers going chasing after Red and Enzo in their ropey abode down below. Up above, the remaining eight soldiers broke into two groups - one group of two to assist The Breaker, and the other six charging for Seiren and Rebeka, guns blazing and peppering Seiren's shields with 5.56, using what little cover was available and fighting smart.
One of them had a rocket launcher and fired between Seiren and Cass and hoping to knock out their shields by brushing the warhead past them, both of them deemed an equal threat in their eyes.
It was difficult to keep a track of numbers in a hectic, multi-layered fight - and it was probably worth counting totals when the fight was over.
