RP: NSS Sledge Mama [NSS Sledge Mama] Ep. 3 - Into Steel

Richard at first did not recognize the voice calling out, after all he did not engage her often in the simulator. However based on what she said and Ylfa's reaction he felt he could lower his gun and that they weren't hostile. When the Sylph showed itself however he knew right away who it was. However the operator was not exactly what he was expecting, it was a tiny neko about half a foot tall. It took a moment for him to remember what he was taught, that there were 'bite sized nekos' as his drill instructor called them, but he thought that was just a joke since the man was a hulking roid monster, but now he understood it wasn't. "So...Nekolius Caesar is actually Nekoleon Bonaparte...explains the ego." Those words had slipped out of his mouth before he even realized it.

However he listened to her explanation about the militant going off around the corner. He was hoping she destroyed it, but it would seem his luck would still continue to be poor. He knew they were going to approach it most likely as well, but he really didn't want to take the thing on. However he was a soldier, and he knew the order was coming soon so he began to make his way towards that direction slowly, readying his weapon and trying to make as little noise as possible.

"Rog Top. God damn I didn't know they made cats that small," Mark said to Ylfa and then to himself more quietly. He shifted uncomfortably and checked his weapon. Even after all these years he never quite got used to being hunted by things that wanted him dead and he was straining to listen to every little sound. If anything was going to kill him, Mark hoped, it was going to be in a balls to the wall firefight where he had a better chance than a lightly armored marine against a kill bot or some kind of crazy 'spacer.

West Hall

Rachael watched as Ylfa and Richard conversed with the Mini-Neko, her eyes shifting to the right, then the left watching their surroundings as she slowly stood up and took a breath. She found the fact that Freyja being so small was just absolutely adorable. She however kept that little detail to herself, and once she said the direction the militant went, she headed in that direction along side Richard. She kept that scowl and focused attitude, while raising the NSP to eye level and keeping her senses clear.

Center Hallway

Wulfe didn't reply to the neko, instead taking a last glance at the room as his body pivoted to face the end of the hallway from where the sounds had been coming from. The smell that drifted from out of there was strong enough to make him wrinkle his nose at him as well as to make the marine's stomach feel like it was turning inside his abdomen; his expression didn't change as he quickly suppressed the feelings and carried on.

"Copy that, do you want us to pursue?" Wulfe said on comms, still holding his position by the open door and watching the end of his hallway.

Center Hallway

Max grimaced as he was overpowered by the smoke and smell of burnt flesh. It wasn't a pleasant feeling but he could at least be glad no one tried to shoot at them. He couldn't say the same thing about the rest of his squad. The weapons fire from the adjacent hallway caught his attention and he figured that they would need assistance, especially if they were engaging with pistols. When Wulfe asked for permission to persue Max passed a questioning glance at him. "Would he always wait for orders?" Max thought to himself as he began to move cautiously down the hallway towards the gunfire, weapon at the ready.

West Hallway

The moment Richard and Mark opened their mouths, both men found themselves on the receiving end of a death-stare cold enough to freeze the blood in their veins. However, it was offset by being a small death-stare considering Freia's size. Likely realizing this herself, the Mini-Neko's expression suddenly turned into a diabetes inducing cuteness heralded by Actual hearts and sparkles in the air. One that was completely and utterly 'Moe' and 'Kawaii' as the Yamataians called it. "I will kill you both and rape the bodies," she sweetly smiled from her Sylph's cupola. Rachael got a front row seat to this spectacle without being under hostile sights - in a sense, the woman was rewarded with more cuteness for her discipline.

'As mutual as the feeling is between you two, I don't think it'll work out,' a skeptical sounding voice whispered in Mark's ear.

"Just get a fix on its position," Ylfa suddenly spoke out, the words hushed. "Avoid detection." Before she could say more, a handgun barked before an explosion boomed in the hallway to their right. "Shit - go, go, go! Hit it with everything we got!" the Sergeant yelled, grabbing the ammo backpack for Mark's gun as she sprinted down the hall.

Whatever it was, they were going to come face to face with it the moment they rounded the corner up ahead!

East Hallway

With the two staring daggers at each other, Terrance could see that one woman had somehow turned cuter with her angry stare, while the other had turned humorous with the image of a popped vein on her face-screen. They were both technically still dead silent, but the radio based exchange of profanity, insults and ethical slurs had completely devolved from audio to just plain text messages rapidly fired at each other. The moment the young man tapped his weapon to get their attention however, they both turned their withering gazes on him instead, as though they were saying, "WHAT?" at him in unison. Despite having heard the enemy further somewhere down the hallway, despite his attempt to get them to focus, the Freespacer and the Neko weren't even trying to be professional.

Gunshots quickly rang out in the hallway to their left. "Oh 5n@p! Go back!" Kelly was already running back the way they came when the grenade went off.

"You think?!" Mayumi hissed, grabbing Terrance. "You're the firepower - make it count!" she ran.

Center Hallway

As Wulfe called for orders, Max was already making his way further down the body littered hallway. "Come on - be a man and show some initiative," Emi whispered back to him, following the other Nepleslian's lead. Despite the twisted fact that they had to watch their footsteps to void stepping on bodies, the Neko had teased the young man, for whatever reason. It didn't make sense, and in fact, it was inappropriate. Yet, she did it anyways. Twice even. Both Max and her had made it to the center of the passage when it came however. Half a ton of tungsten metal armor thudded around the corner with each step as the Militant decided to show itself. Its right hand destroyed and the ammunition belt severed, the machine was unable to reload its weapon.

But it quickly raised a forty-five and fired as a pin was pulled, spool flying off as the grenade sailed.

And exploded at its feet.

"Emi." That was the first thing that went across Terrence's mind when he heard the grenade. He turned to his left, about to run off to play White Knight. However, he controlled himself. "I'll do more good if I give that bastard a two-front battle." He'd have a choice of where he wanted to shoot the thing, at the very least. There was the risk of running into more enemies, but he couldn't deny the advantage (and satisfaction) of shooting the Militant in the back. He threw caution to the wind and charged down the hallway as quick as he could, blind and deaf to the plight of those in central hallway, Emi specifically. "What makes you act like this for that Neko?" A stray thought sped through his head. Terrence, needless to say, didn't respond. There were more important things to do.

West Hallway

Richard felt a strange sensation as he was leered at by the mini neko, it was like waking up from a nap to find out a baby had a knife and crawled over to you and was giving your one of those cute innocent little looks that let you know he was about to swing. That was the kind of feeling he was getting and it was not something he ever expected to experience in life. He did not have the time to mull over this feeling however, the sound of an explosion boomed through the halls and brought them back to their senses.

A few days ago Richard would've rounded the corner without hesitation and started firing on the expected hostile, but he knew better now, exposing his body like that was dangerous in power armor, let alone without it. He chose to quickly approach the corner and press himself against the wall, peaking out just slightly to see what was there keeping as small a target profile of himself as he could, not wanting to end up like all those that lay on the ground already.

West Hallway

Rachael stared at Freia for a moment as she walked by, her facial structure not changing one bit from that serious scowl but the inside of her head going wild with diabetic cuteness spasms. She gave Freia a nod of thanks, for the show and putting Richard and Mark in their place. She smirked a moment, before continuing on her way NSP raised and ready to fire should the Militant come into view. Soon however, she heard the bang, and boom, her body reacting on its own, taking off after Ylfa and Richard without hesitance, bounding up next to him and placing her back to the wall and takes a deep breath. She mutters into her communication device so that Richard can hear her but she's in a hushed tone. "What do you see, oh floofy hair?"

West Hallway

The cuteness attack glanced off Mark's hardened heart. "That's nice psycho," he said shrugging as he headed toward the explosion. He made sure to stay along the wall that way when they made it to the fight he wouldn't be in the way of the bullets from the other squad members across the hall as much. "I suggest you guys don't stand in the middle of the hallway when we reach the T it will get you shot by the group in the opposite hallway by mistake."

Center Hallway

Wulfe ignored to the neko's teasing -it was just white noise to him- and decided to wait for Ylfa's orders instead, remaining in front of the open door and facing the end of the halway since squad leader had just ordered them, or apparently only him since the other marine and the neko had decided to play hero, to hold position and avoid detection. How ironic would it be, he mused, if he had decided to keep moving by himself and drew out another one of the enemies, considering how outgunned their entire force currently was.

It was very ironic indeed when another of the militants appeared on the end of the hallway.

He had his gun raised, but didn't fire because there was another marine directly in front of him, not wanting to risk the shot unless his line of fire was clearer, but not moving either. It was only at the moment that the marine saw the grenade's spoon fly that he moved, and was already inside the room he just cleared in moments. His throat seemed to tighten upon breathing in the foul air with the stench of charred meat, but didn't poke his head out until he heard the crumpled bang of the detonation. Once he heard it, however, Wulfe leaned out from the open door, taking a deep breath of fresh air and aiming down the hallway again.

Center Hallway

Max moved forward, keen on not sitting around waiting for orders, he knew what he had to do and did it. Still as he moved forward the loud metal clunking got closer and closer. As the Militant rounded the Hall, Max froze as he realized just how screwed he was. Then he saw a small object fly past his face and into the direction of the militant before a bright explosion blinded him. Not waiting for another saving grace, Max began to back peddle back down the hallway while firing on the militant with the NSP in anti-armor mode. As Max returned fire, he was focused on the militant and not watching where he was going. It was hard enough to avoid the bodies before going forward, but going backwards not watching where he was going, Max tripped and lost his balance, tumbling backwards into a pool of blood as rounds streaked by him. Max tried to recover and get to cover in the doorway they had just passed and hoped one of those rounds didn't find their way into him.

"Lend us a hand, would you?!" Ylfa yelled back over her shoulder, the Mini-Neko in the doorway growing even smaller as they ran to the fight. At the same time, Terrance took off in a sprint down the length of the eastern corridor, rather than backtracking like the other two.

"What?! Wait!" Kelly yelled, suddenly changing course herself. Seeing the other two, Mayumi's eyes bulged as she chased after them to avoid being alone. Though Richard got on point and cautiously rounded the first corner to their right, Terrance's haste had him blowing around it in no-time at all. Both groups of Nepleslians and Neko in tow caught sight of the enemy at the same time, the machine in between them as it stood there in the T-Junction. With each other downrange, they couldn't fire, not that it mattered. As the grenade exploded at the Militant's feet, the blast and fragments pelted its armored chassis harmlessly, the forty-five's magazine being nowhere near as tough. They all watched as the magazine base fell as the spring and glimmering cartridges spilled out after it.

And in response, it instantly broke into a sprint, vanishing out of the north-hall groups' sight as it went down the center hallway.

Wulfe and Max saw the killing machine charge them like a half-ton bull of death and metal, the thunder of its footfalls easily drowning out the sound of Emi collapsing to the floor face first. Something that Terrance clearly saw as he cleared the last, final corner first. The two Nepleslians in its sight opened fire with the Star Army pistols - squeezing the trigger all the way down, purple-white light triple-flashed as particle bolts splashed across hardened armor. Sparks flew under the impact like a giant grinder had struck; as the Militant's armor glowed, liquid metal splattered to the ground. To Max's horror, the machine had covered half the distance between them, while the Marine had only made it halfway back to the nearest doorway himself. Taking fire, its machine-cold mind made a move - stooping low in its sprint, a body was grabbed and hurled at Wulfe with inhuman strength, the dead woman flying at him with the speed of a baseball!

"Move up and watch the crossfire!" Ylfa bellowed, her voice crystal clear to them all. "It's after the others, so stay low!" the woman added, dashing forward. Just as they rounded the second corner looked down the hall at the Militant's back, she dropped the ammo box and grabbed Mark's MG by the bipod to put it over her shoulder as a firing rest! Brass spilled onto the floor as the marine opened up over her shoulder, as Kelly and Mayumi added their own gunfire to the metal storm. Sparks uselessly flew across the machine's back as the rounds shattered against its hard plates. A split-second later, bright bolts of light burst across its armor, slagging layers of its protection at its right shoulder and lower back. With that, the spray of bullets fired by the others suddenly started biting into the heated alloy, breaking off fiery flakes of metal.

And Ylfa waited as the muzzle flash of the machine-gun nearly blinded her - waited until Terrance took aim, and fired with him.

The twin RED rounds slammed into the Militant's back and exploded like a pair of concussion grenades, knocking it over just as it finished the follow through to its monstrous throw. Metal screeched as the killing machine skidded across the floor, but just as quickly as it fell, it was already scrambling to get back up!

"FINISH IT!" the Sergeant yelled.

Mark could hardly believe what was happening. All of a sudden he was using Ylfa to support his weapon and he instinctively started firing. "With pleasure," he muttered as he aimed for the thing's new weak point and and continued to let loose a hail of bullets.

Through all the excitement there was an underlying feeling that Mark found only slightly strange. He was thoroughly enjoying this and before he knew it crazed laughter was emitting from his lips and a large grin split his face. "Dear God, I'm losing it," he thought to himself just to burst into another laughing fit. Mark felt truly alive at this moment and possible insanity aside was having a wonderful time.

Terrence saw alright. His face was lit up by a mixture of horror, grief, and rage. He made no effort to prolong this engagement, he moved closer to the Militant to negate the distance and increase his chances of hitting the bastard, and fired. The RED round, along with one from Ylfa, knocked the thing over. Well, the rounds weren't the only thing red, that's all Terrence could see as all other emotion was replaced with rage. He advanced on the Militant while it was down, shooting it with steady fire from the HHG, not caring if he was getting in the others' firing zones. "Fuckin' pop you piece of scrap. I want your head off your shoulders. Didn't you hear me!? I SAID, FUCKING, POP!!!" Regardless of whether the machine had been killed earlier, he walked up to the downed Militant, steadily spinning and emptying the chamber into it's face.

Richard quickly rounded the second corner with everyone as the Militant made it's way down the hall for the rest of the group. Once they got sight of him he put the massdriver to work and fired on the militant like the rest. His line of sight was soon cut off after the RED rounds however as Terrance moved up in front of everyone. With his path blocked he had to lower his weapon and shouted out to Terrance "The hell are you doing!? Get out of the firing path!"

Max saw the Militant the rest of the squad come around the corner as he made his way to cover. Turning his head he saw Emi go down. "Fuck" he thought as the rounds from Mark's Machine Gun streaked down the hallway. He pulled himself into cover to avoid being hit. Once the Red rounds hit however, he could tell the battle and turned in their favor. Turning his head, he could see Terrence advancing forward like a made man, was he trying to get himself killed? Max turned back to the militant, and aimed his NSP, hoping to get a good line of fire on the thing before Terrance fucked it up.

As soon as Wulfe saw the militant start to throw the body at him he ducked back into the room that he was leaning out of, waiting for the wet crunch that would be the sound of the body hitting against anything before he leaned out again. The marine took a careful aim at first, checking if there weren't any friendlies between him and the militant's center of mass before he squeezed the trigger while he heard the rest of the squad blundering like a pack of idiots on the other end of the hallway.

Rachael stared in silent horror as Emi was brought down by the machine, she felt rage build up inside of her though her outside was still strikingly calm despite the scowl. She turned the corner with Richard and began letting loose on the machine that had killed Emi. Her eyes focused and ready to turn on a dime should any other issues pop up. She was so focused in fact she almost missed that Terrence was approaching the Militant and almost wound up shooting him, missing him by mere centimeters. Her eyes go wide for a moment as her finger leaves the trigger of the NSP and she just stares. "What the fuck? Move you bloody idiot!"

Rachael was almost flabbergasted by Terrence's stupidity once more, just when she thought that he couldn't get more stupid than he already was the idiot decides to go up in between them and the Militant like superman. If she had her way, she'd of fired right then and there and rid them of the stupidity. It would honestly be a favor to the squad at this point, but she heard Ylfa's orders to avoid friendly fire and sighs a bit holding her fire once Terrence entered the line of sight. "If he wants to play hero, let him. If he winds up dying, you won't see me shed any tears." She quickly stated in a low mumble. She found herself wondering just how idiotic a person could get, whatever the case, she was thoroughly convinced that Terrence should be in a museum as 'Nepleslia's Dumbest Marine'. A world wonder really.

The corpse slammed into the doorway with bone breaking force as Wulfe dodged, falling to the ground in a heap. Quickly leainign back out of the doorway to fire, he covered Max as the other marine tried to retreat to him. The blasters in their hands flashed and barked, striking against metal, but the cells ran dry, their anti-armor mode eating the charge fast. With the repeated hits from the front and back by all the marines, the air distorted and warped around the militant from the sheer amount of heat that wafted off of its chassis. But it was relentless. Despite the punishment it was taking, both Wulfe and Max watched as the machine had scrambled back onto its feet as it continued to charged the two.

RED rounds fired rapidly from Terrance's gun were knocking it back and forward as his cylinder emptied, but despite this, the effort was wasted. His fervor kept Ylfa from timing their shots together! "Damnit! You're in the crossfire!" Ylfa yelled. Shoving the muzzle of the Machine Gun on her shoulder up into the ceiling, rounds went high and chewed into the ceiling before Mark stopped firing, pieces of it all falling on top of the hot-headed marine as the spray nearly hit him. Before he knew it, Terrance was falling as something slammed into him from behind. Hitting the ground face first, Mayumi was laying on top of his back.

"Baka Gaijiin!" she screamed.

Just as fresh batteries were slammed into the mag-well of hot service pistols and guns took proper aim with the obstruction gone. The last few rounds of submachine gun fire, blaster bolts and more bullets no longer sparked but thunked into the Militant's body as the rounds passed through super-heated alloy with ease. Crashing into the ground, the killing machine skidded across the floor a few scant feet from Max. Somehow, it was over.

"Bjáni," the sergeant swore. "Secure the area marines, and grab extra weapons and ammo once you do." Calling out, Ylfa asked, "You two back there alright?" As she cautiously advanced down the hall, the raven haired Neko got off of Terrance just as the faint sound of her combat boots could be heard by his head. Looking down on him, eyes narrowed, she prodded him with a foot. "Get up soldier. Since you're so eager, why don't you go check on Emi?" The offer would have been a kindness in most cases, but here and now, looked like a cruelty.

The young woman hadn't moved.