Like a team of adventurers fighting off a monster, the squad leaped into action. Only, this was no game, and they all played for keeps.
As the TASHA bore down on Mark and Terrance in the main observatory, thrusters blazed to life as Quentin steeled himself and dashed forward out of cover, demolition charge in hand. Except he wasn't the only person with the same idea; Mark did so as well while the Aether gatling swept back and forward over his cover. Moving forward, right into its maw in an evasive zig-zag, the massive war-machine was caught off guard, but only for a moment. Dodging the majority of its fire, Mark was only clipped on the way in, his energy shields draining before he began to slide in under its weapons towards its more vulnerable belly.
His missiles at the ready, the marine felt cold, unyielding hands grasp him by the left arm, another metal palm coming down to clamp over the face of his helmet, obscuring his vision.
The two smaller arms that hung off its body like a pair of mandibles grabbed hold of him as the Spider-Mech merely dipped its hulking body down to intercept! Slamming Mark into the ground and knocking the wind out of him, it rose to ready the next blow. At the same time, its right autocannon swiveled around after Quentin. Shells leaped at the marine, but he focused, focused, focused on that weak spot on its back! Throwing the plastic explosives, he stopped and watched as it gracefully arced in. Unlike Quentin, the TASHA wasn't intent on watching the explosives be hurled through the air, and pummeled him with shells. Energy barriers crackled and burst before he heard the harsh sound of metal screeching off of metal. Struck while in the zone, he felt like a champion boxer was using him as a speed bag.
He was going to die!
A fiery blast erupted directly across the surface of the TASHA's rear, and not a moment too soon! Buying him the precious moments he'd need to take cover, Quentin could still see the standing form of the Spider-Mech through the smoke and debris. All of its outer armor to its rear was broken away, revealing a much thinner looking layer of shining silver underneath. And judging by the flickering, its side shields were taken out as well. More importantly, with the blast, Mark found himself partially shaken loose out of the TASHA's grasp! If he struggled and fought, he had a chance to escape its deadly grip. Terrance followed up the satchel charge as well, and let loose a flurry of missiles alongside a hail of bullets. However, the explosives splashed harmlessly across its front while the shots literally arced away, the shields shimmering strongly. Still, the added smoke and confusion only added to the chance that Mark had to escape. Despite this effort, the aether gatling spun up again, and was pointed right at Terrance!
"Forget about the drones - at this range, the backup optics are still good enough to wipe the floor with us," Kelly replied to Richard. "My leg hydraulics are out by the way, but I still got servos." The young man was already firing at the mech as she told him this however. The four missiles he let loose exploded over the rear, but only left scorch marks! "Fucking cats, that's Zesuaium!" the Freespacer swore. Despite this, Richard fired on the TASHA's joints with his assault rifle. With the majority of its outer armor gone, the leg foundation was far more exposed, but despite this, the rounds were bouncing off of the rounded plate there. However, it was rattling and shaking with every single impact it took, sparks flying out from inside and in between the plates themselves. Even then, Kelly quickly joined him and added her aether cannons to his barrage, eroding the joint coverings enough that rounds were starting to slip through!
At the same time, Tatiana stood out of cover enough to bring her cannon to bear. Though she called out to Rachael to see if she was alright, her focus was on covering Quentin! The air cracked as her cannon boomed, and with the shields to the sides and rear wiped out, the rest of the armor at the TASHA's side easily peeled and broke away from the punishment it continued to take. Shells pummeled its hull, and soon broke off in chunks, revealing the inner armor layer and exposing the leg joints' lightly plated foundations. Rachael managed to move as Quentin did moments before throwing, and dodging, weaving in and out of cover, barraged its back. The cannon rounds, incredibly effective before, were being stopped cold by the silvery Zesuaium, but a lucky shell struck the joint foundation, smashing the thin covering into the machinery underneath.
This giant stumbled for the briefest of moments.
Max had taken the opportunity and moved up in a flash, firing his weapons as he did so. Unfortunately, the shots bored into relatively untouched and fresh armor. He just couldn't get an angle on its aether cannon from the side; its front leg was covering the bulk of the weapon! Despite this however, the mini-missiles' shaped charges left small holes in its armor before an incendiary grenade's contents splashed and clung to the side of its left front leg and burned away, weakening the armor there. Ylfa was close by to him and managed to get back on her feet as well. Shaken hard, she needed to recalibrate her weapons; aiming high with both her cannons, the woman fired, the massive slugs haphazardly smashing into the armored base of the left autocannon turret.
With all this damage being taken, the TASHA wasn't going to let them hammer at it without a fight though; it's left autocannon quickly turned on the marines to its left and started to fire to suppress. Luck was on their side however; it was trying to cover both the observation areas on its left side and was spread thin. "Richard, Stenos, Ma - Damnit!" she swore, seeing the marine go. Despite this, the machine girl quickly steeled herself."When you're ready, I'll activate my shield and draw fire while you guys shoot!" Kelly called over to them. That way, they could circumvent the fire, if only for a short while.
"Aim for its autocannons first! After that, we can move freely and break its legs off at the joints!" Ylfa ordered the marines. "It goes for whatever's exposed or moving in plain sight first and anyone who hurts it bad after that - someone needs to play rabbit to grab its attention!"
