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

Max looked up from the floor to orient himself. Using his thrusters he picked himself up off the floor and got his bearings on the heavy militant. He needed to finish him off and he did so by firing his plasma rifle and guass cannon at the militant. He needed to cut him down quickly and hopefully this would do the trick.

Trying to stand, the Upgraded Militant's efforts were rewarded with cannon rounds. Shattering its body, mechanical guts were strewn across the floor as armor and plate was simply torn apart.

Yet, the fight went on as the Giant still stood, but not for long. With their attention focused, the entire squad of marines turned their attention on the last remaining target. Hot in his suit and shaken from the point-blank blast, Max picked himself up and blindly fired into the towering mass along with the rest. With the sheer volume of fire streaming in, it was difficult to tell who was doing what. Mini-missiles exploding, and the incendiary grenade splashing its magnesium-bright contents over the hull only added to the confusion. However, the giant war machine made to raise its remaining cannon-arm as rifle fire poured in. Rounds pelted the armor plate, embedding themselves in the weakening alloy as they let loose, reloading and firing as fas as they could while cannon fire pounded craters into the thick hide. Plasma bolts boiled away its surface, and it still sat there on its knees.

"Hold fire! Hold fire!" Ylfa's voice cut over the comms. When the last gun died, the squad found itself looking at something that could have belonged in a modern art exhibit. Relentlessly pounded by multiple weapons, its fuel rapidly streaming away and unable to stand, their remaining enemy couldn't even fight back fast enough to matter. Burned and pounded together, the joints had fused together, while its smoking, flaming hulk of a body could have passed off as a kid's failed attempt at making a volcano. With parts of its armor still glowing from the fire it had taken, there was one piece in particular that stood out from the rest. "Thing's dead. Form up." As she said this however, the woman realized something. The small, puny little eye still glowed.

"And shit. I think it's still got a little battery power left."

After he finished firing at the last target and everything began to settle down, Richard spoke up to the rest of the squad over the comms. "Hey there's a hole in the ball back here, I think we can get out through here and move on." He peeked out from behind his cover just to make sure, seeing the last militant still somewhat active. "We should probably get away from this thing just in case is has a self-destruct or something."

Terrence swallowed down the bile that had begun to rise in his throat, leaning against the side of the locomotive opposite of the downed Upgraded Militant. He took a few moments to get his breath back and reload, counting the magazines he had left. "Sonuvabitch, I'm down to a mag and a half, Top." He reported as he leaned against the entrance to his car, aiming at the location the Cyber Neko had allegedly relocated to. Knowing their luck, the thing would end up walking out just as the squad had finished the Upgraded Militant. "I'd leave it alone, if it can't fight anymore. I'd also leave real quick before that... Thing comes back."

"It's not just any hole on in the wall - that's our ticket out of this whole mess," Ylfa quickly replied to Richard. Right through that hole was most likely the command center and then the AI Core of the station, or if they were particularly lucky, a shortcut to the core room itself. Hearing Terrance, she nodded to him as the armored thigh of her suit popped open with a faint whir. "This is it everyone. Check your ammo and get ready - we're going to clean up after the cats because they couldn't bother to wipe," the Daisy-clad woman spoke, her hands tossing a pair of magazines towards the end of the train car and the younger marine there. However, as she did so, someone didn't quite understand what he said next.

"The 'Thing comes back'? What thing?" a peppy young woman's curious voice asked from besides him.

Her thin, dainty body was even more slender than Freia's Sylph, and like a nude ebony doll, was featureless save for the faint curves of her plated body and ball-joints. However, the pitch-black paint she had was covered in a coat of shiny, wet crimson. In an instant, it was clear what it was, but worse still, the marines could see the reddish, inflammation at her neck where hemosynthetic flesh was somehow bonded to machine. The young woman's feline ears were perked up in curiosity as she tilted her bald shaved head, a pair of dark, shiny cameras staring at Terrance as he failed to immediately reply out loud rather than over comms.

"Oh well! Forget about that!" she spoke, a skeletal hand waving the thought away. With everyone stunned by its sudden appearance, she stepped closer to him like an eager schoolgirl hoping for a signature. "None of the others fit, but Master said that if I was good, I can have skin like a real girl. Any I wanted, and I bet you're totally my type!~~~<3" the Cyber Neko's clawed fingers reached out to him.

As the fighting cooled down, Vaikon approached the hole in the wall, and slumped up against the wall next to it. As the group talked, he began to laugh. Not loud enough to interrupt anyone, but loud enough to be thought crazy.

"2 and a half mags, for anyone interested in the new guy." he said, still in a half-chuckle.

Then, as the Cyber Neko stepped out, he became distraught with horror. As she approached Terrence, he raised his LASR and Aether Pulse Cannon. "Get back Terrence!" he shouted, firing a burst of rounds at the mostly featureless figure.

Richard checked over his gear, making sure every thing was in order, and there were no opening on his armor. Once he was satisfied that his magazines were in good locations and wouldn't slip he made a move towards the hole. However he heard a voice that did not sound like part of the team, and quickly turned around to see this strange being in front of Terrance taunting him. It took several seconds for him to process what had happened and once he did, he rose his rifle. He did not shoot right away though, and instead waited for Terrance to move back before firing, he didn't want to catch him in the burst too.

The blood in his veins turned to ice as he heard the voice. A third party might have described the voice as melodic, but Terrence could've sworn it was nails on a chalkboard. He stared at this newcomer with a terrified expression under his helmet, frozen in place. When what could only be the Cyber Neko began to extend her- no, its claws to him, he balked as he began back-pedaling, as if from shock of catching sight of this abomination. "B- bl- BLOW THE FUCKING CAR!!" He screamed as he fired off his thrusters, intent on blasting out the back of the train while leaving a trail of pulse rounds to disinterest the damnable creature from giving chase.

As more than half the squad froze in horror, gunfire spurred them into action.

"Hehe~!" Giggling, the Cyber Neko darted straight at Terrance as Vaikon's burst of gunfire chased after her. Already at his feet, she had no problem keeping up with him, and quickly grabbed the young man's wrist and twisted him about. Blue white light flashed as Terrance's shields sparked and crackled from the rounds the other marine fired, but the two quickly crashed out the back of the train. The Cyber Neko ground him into the floor, pieces of marble and sparks flying from the impact as he felt hot, smoke filled air suddenly start scorching his lungs. "A guy?" both her non-existent eyebrows jumped in surprise. "Oh boo, what a letdown!" she tossed about his helmet like a ball. With a blast of light, another wave washed over his shields as the Cyber Neko vanished, leaving them behind.

"Everyone, move, now! Get through the breach, quick!" Ylfa yelled. As they started to move, static tugged at the edges of their vision like a creeping darkness. She hated it, but with Terrance stunned by her attack and quick teleport, the precious seconds he needed to recover from the flash and blast were going to cost them! As her rubberized boot dug into the ground, a chill went down her spine as the marine heard it speak again.

"What about you?" Vaikon felt a hand fall onto his shoulder with a metallic clack. "Are you a Neko too?" she asked from beside him. Moving into his field of vision, he could hear the chalkboard scrape of a claw draw circles on his 'chestplate' as the Cyber Neko began pressing herself against him, using his body as a shield against the rest of the squad.

"Or maybe you, since you were faster than the rest?" Richard suddenly felt a pair of arms wrap around his neck from behind. The Cyber Neko was on him as well, and like a lover, pressed her cheek against the side of his helmet. However, the dark, blood stained claws that fell into his vision left faint smears as it made to gently caress his armored face!

"Though, don't think I've forgotten the rest of you!~<3" she spoke again, the clack of metal on stone crisp in their ears as she leisurely walked towards the rest of the squad from behind.

Terrence's face showed the unmitigated fear of a hunter becoming the hunted, as he and the Cyber Neko tumbled out of the back of the train. As she grounded him into the deck, he began pawing along his person, trying to retrieve his revolver while she-. "Well of course I'm a guy! Where'd you get the idea otherwise!?" Upon glancing down and noting the very slight curve of his chest-plate, he groaned in annoyance. "Oh, right." Upon being temporarily blinded by light, he lay there, dazed by how close to death he had come. After a few moments, he reached over for his LASR and pushed himself off the floor, making his way to some cover near the breach in the wall. Upon finding it, he stabilized his weapon by leaning against the cover and began firing bursts at the Cyber Neko. "None of us are Nekoes, ma'am! This is some firepower straight outta Nepsleslia!" Evidently, he felt the need to yell to keep his nerve.

Rachael, who had as usual simply been observing things for whatever reason, also raised her rifle and began firing from her location. She sighed to herself lightly in annoyance, she was regretting suggesting the idea to stay around this place. There just seemed to be so much more wrong then she thought. Once ordered to, she lowered her weapon and moved to follow Ylfa. To be honest, she was a little surprised that a NSMC Marine was so terrified of death that he would have to yell, or even get scared. She thought on it as she moved, and eventually just came to assume that not all Marines were like here, she personally didn't fear death, nor did she fear staring death in the face. She watched as the Cyber Neko hugged on Richard, a look of annoyance on her face, though it couldn't really be seen. She muttered beneath her breath in retaliation; "Stupid Bitch..."

Richard made a move for the breech as soon as Ylfa spoke, he didn't want to abandon his comrade, but it seemed that the thing had quickly lost interest in him so he could likely get out without much more damage. However fast they moved it didn't seem to be fast enough as the neko caught up to them in an instant, taunting them as it picked it's next target. It seemed she was after a female neko, and he could easily let her find out she was other wise, but she would just go after each one, and there was no telling what she would do after find out out none of them were neko.

The moment he felt her hands on him however his thinking stopped and he only reacted, his rifle came up as he tried to hit her in the face with the butt of the weapon and then grab her with his off hand and try to throw her off. He didn't have the time to regulate the suit's strength and he didn't want to either, he had the feeling kid gloves wouldn't stop this thing.

They gave Terrance the greatest insult possible; to be ignored.

"Shit, this is bad. Real bad," Ylfa tried to keep her voice calm. The very moment his helmet came off, they didn't even so much as look at him again. Richard however, was another story entirely. As Ylfa and Rachael were kept from fleeing towards the command center with the others thanks to the one in front of them, the young man watched his melee attack hit nothing but air - she simply vanished like a ghost as the static started to slowly invade their vision in small bits and pieces. The Cyber Neko up against Vaikon suddenly turned her head a full 180 degrees like a sentry turret locking on to a target, with the one blocking the route to the command center turning her head ever so slightly to look at the same person. Richard. As Terrance started randomly firing for no apparent reason, the squad saw the last two simply vanish before they were all over Richard in an instant. Like a pair of twins, they grabbed him from either side with their claws and hugged close to him, their finger tips tearing into the soft, black under-layers in between his plates. Red splattered to the floor as the neck and shoulders of his suit were haphazardly sliced to ribbons, metal raking across metal as their nails clattered against his helmet.

"It must be her first time!"

"She must be scared!"

"I think she's ticklish!"

But what Terrance saw was completely different.

He watched the one initially on Richard step back and dodge the bash before sidestepping him entirely and hiding behind his body. Using the other marine as a shield, it looked back at the young man from over Richard's shoulder; his ears heard an unmistakable "Shhhhhh!" as the bald, butchered Neko smiled, a skeletal finger pressed against her lips. But he soon spotted the other Cyber Nekos suddenly snap their heads about and start moving. Firing his rifle, they simply dodged his tracers - like ballerinas, they spun and twirled about, briefly striking poses as though to mock him as they moved towards their target. Forced to stop firing with how close they were to Richard, Terrance was given no choice but to watch as they dug their claws into the soft black layer of his suit, and the blood red layers beneath. But worse still? The first one initially at Richard had taken the distraction to move up behind Max, and even gave a cheery wave back at Terrance, safe and sound behind her human shield.

"They're in our fucking suits!" Ylfa swore.

Richard was concerned about the vanishing, but he did not let it slow him down, if they had jumped away that just gave him more time to run. However a chill ran down his spine as he noticed the other two both turn towards him. Even though he was ready to act he couldn't catch them when they vanished and before he knew it they were digging into his suit. He thought at first it was his own blood, but the pain did not match it, and he remembered he was in a Yamataian suit. When he remembered that though it became a perfect opportunity and despite the warnings his system was giving him he tried to activate his plasma blades and thrust them into the pits of their stomachs, at this range even he stood a chance of hitting.