RP: OIF Atuan [OIF Atuan] Episode 7: Mine

Re: Episode 7: Mine

Viki felt adrenaline rushing as she pushed through line of the enemy Ashigaru's. She hated to leave Kelly and others, but she was sure Lucien will be enough to deal with them. Those two tanks sniping from afar were trouble, they already made Yoshiko hole up. In sniping those tanks had advantage. Only good way to deal with them was getting close. Up close, those tanks were defense-less against mecha. At least Viki hoped so.

As Viki moved forward she left forest and got at the edge of the town, where tanks were. She checked building on the side, studying them. Would they be enough to hold her weight? Most likely not. Charging forward would be just dumb. Those tanks seemed to have big cannons.

In the end Viki targeted each tank and sent particle cloud missiles to mess with their targeting. She aimed at the land just in front of them, so the missiles would not be acquired by any anti-missiles systems tanks had. She herself took to the sky, jumping to the side street, moving forward to the flank the tanks. She was ready for other enemies in that street too though.

Re: Episode 7: Mine

And just as missiles came from one side, Feathers came from the other. Mark had waited, the Feathers had drifted away. Now, they came back, joining with Viki's attack except from the opposite side. The pointy puppets sliced through the air and shook out a barrage of lasers over the tanks.

Inside the Kirin, Mark was putting on his war face. He watched the sensors and viewscreens with sweat pouring down his face.

Re: Episode 7: Mine

The chainstraight whirred to life as Taela brought it up and about - metal smashed into metal as the sharp, jagged teeth bit into armor plate and sliced through the hull. Sparks fell over her Garuda in a fiery hot rain before it continued clean on through, the left leg toppling aside as hydraulics burst, the fluid quickly catching on fire and splattering across the two like flaming red blood. The HIGA Ashigaru quickly lost balance and fell off of the Neko thanks to this, it's thrusters coming to life to slow down it's fall.

"Shit, you got this Taela! You got this!" Kelly yelled over his own struggle. The man quickly gave up on his 75mm gun and proceeded to pound the crap out of the Ashigaru on the ground he was fighting, alternating between bare metal mecha knuckles and spiked wrist blade, puncturing the hull or caving it in with powerful, rapid punches. Meanwhile, the Ashigaru swarmed by the Impulses struggled to cast them off, but for each knocked off or evading a deathly grasp, two easily hopped back on, their rifles rapidly tearing into weaker joints and weapon systems.

With Victoria's move, the tanks' guns let up on Yoshiko's deteriorating cover and shifted to the Abwehran woman, trying to pick her off like snipers shooting at a runner. A pair of solid metal arrows slammed into her, one bouncing off shields, weakening them while the other shattered across Victoria's hull, the blow severely blunted by what remained of her protective systems and stunning her frame, slowing her down - despite this, her momentum carried her into the side street.

Beams of light showered down from above again as the tanks continued to go back in full reverse - their top mounted autocannons hammered away at the vulturous drones before letting loose missiles. The gunners of the main weapons turned the turrets about to bring them to bear on the new threats, taking their aim off of the stunned Asura. "Thanks Mark!" Yoshiko cheered at the man's help. "Victoria! Together!" she squeed in anticipation, her own frame bursting from cover at the enemy tanks.

Re: Episode 7: Mine

Taela's rage was not one to quickly subside, and she continued to retaliate, pushing the Ashigaru to the ground, straddling it, and stabbing as hard as she could with the Chain Straight, holding the melee weapon like a ritual dagger.

Inside the cockpit was another story. She was a nervous wreck fueled by adrenaline created by fear and rage, shrieking, "WHY DON'T YOU JUST DIE ALREADY?!" among other things.

Re: Episode 7: Mine

There was a slight problem with having a spear stuck in your shoulder - namely, that the impaling weapon severely reduced your mobility with that limb. It just so happened that the limb the Ashigaru poked was the one that was holding his sword. Lucien know that if he moved, the spear would do even more damage. However, the spear wielding Ashigaru was also immobilised as it tried to gain purchase on steady footing to drive the point home.

Instead, Lucien's other hand had his smaller Gauss Cannon - while it wasn't much chop at longer distances or spread between many targets as seen before, up close it was a very different story. The scotsman started with its chest, and let the recoil even out once it reached the head, and emptied the magazine.

With the hopes that the hand wielding the spear had loosened its grip, the Scotsman continued, and bellowed over loudspeaker to the three Ashigaru, "Line up! I'm giving out free tickets ta HELL!" With that in mind, he continued on the offensive and tried to end the fight with the two other Ashigaru, using upward strikes and feints to deflect their spears to the side and come in cutting for the neck.

Re: Episode 7: Mine

"Jawohl Yoshiko!" Viki responded to ex-neko and started moving forward as fast as she could, she could not stay in side street for long. First she now had no idea where exactly tanks are since, they started reversing to keep the distance and second they now focused all their fire on Yoshiko, who had her mecha already banged up. Viki seemed like coward like this.

THis is why she hit holstered her weaponry and took to the sky, hovered over the nearest building and landed in the main street again. She was laughing as she felt the rush of battle. Adrenaline. She loved it and she loved these moments. Be it rock climbing without rope, fencing or live and death battle, she loved it all.

Viki started moving forward in sort of zig-zag motions, making it harder for tanks to accurately shoot her. As soon as she got little close, she took to the sky again, sure that tank could not elevate its gun far anough. It's secondary weapon could be worse, but Viki did not care right now. Reckless or not, fight just had to be fun. Viki was attempting to land on the tank, gripping the cannon and ripping the whole turret off. That sounded like lots of fun.

Re: Episode 7: Mine

"Let's finish the job!" Mark shouted, throwing all of the feathers forward. Laser-hell rained down on the remaining tanks, slipping between the cracks of his allies' advance. The moves got even more risky for the feathers, which sailed in at high speed and waited until the last possible second to pull up.

"Who's next?" Mark asked, barely reacting visibly to the firey flashes before him.

Re: Episode 7: Mine

The enemy Ashigaru flailed about helplessly as Taela plunged her frame's chainstraight into it again and again, the ground quaking under the impacts. Hydraulic fluid rapidly gushed out as servomotors shorted out, turning it into a flaming fountain of red, oily slick blood. It's struggling suddenly died out as she hit something vital, and all of it's limbs went slack.

Meanwhile, Kelly quickly severed the cockpit from the rest of the suit with a good stab and slash of the wristblade before quickly surveying the scene. Dashing to his dropped weapon, he aimed it at the Ashigaru the Impulses were trying to drag down, "Off him, now!" he called - a burst of 75mm fire smashed through the weakened knee joint and sent it toppling down into the earth below, a faint tremor vibrating the dark Skinned Nepleslian's seat as the hull of his frame felt the tremor. The Impulses quickly moving to finish the job like Wolves tearing apart a Moose. "Taela, good work there!" he called out to her. "But there's more to go! Up at them, fast!"

At the same time, the Ashigaru pushed harder with it's spear, tearing through the armor and damaging the shoulder servos even as the 50mm machine pistol recoiled up its chest and into it's face, shattering it's visor and riddling it with holes. With visuals filled with static, the pilot drew back instinctively, allowing Lucien to finish it off with even more autocannon rounds to the chest. As it pitched over, a second fell to Meena and Shinji's combined firepower, leaving the man with just one more to go!

Dashing in and out between the buildings, Yoshiko and Victoria quickly got closer and closer - their attention divided between the two frames and the feathers' fire. One tank opened fire with a high explosive round even as it's autocannons hammered away; the shell exploded mid air like a flak blast, buffeting one of the feathers and sending it careening into a building. Before they knew it, the two were practically set upon by the Origin Frames. "Gotcha!" Yoshiko called out victoriously.

Mark and Yoshiko watched in horror as their view of the world toppled straight for the ground, the cannon of the frame sending a sabot through the ankle of their frame.

Re: Episode 7: Mine

"Verdamnt!" Viki shouted as she noticed Yoshiko's frame going down. She hit on booster and moved to that air. She flew the last twenty meter of distance, landing right on the tank at the font. She winged her hand and crushed the gun-turret on top of Havoc tanks. Her frame's fingers then wrapped around the cannon. She pulled at full strength of her mecha and painful squealing of ripped metal could be heard.

Another pull and yank and it was visible that the turret was giving in, being torn from the tank itself. By this time VIki stopped yanking the turret and just started pulling it away, essentially ripping it off. Viki moved the turret away, having it cradled under her right arm, her left arm extending and firing a burst from her forearm auto cannon into the open tank.

She then grabbed the torn turret by its cannon, making a giants hammer out of it and jumped into the air away. While she flew, her new hammer was raised above her head. Blitzkrieg was moving towards the Havoc, ready to smash the puny tank upon landing.

Re: Episode 7: Mine

Taela sheathed her Chain Straight and picked up the rifle in one fluid motion, hardly thinking about the action. Her adrenaline-fueled fury had given way to a natural state of combat focus, and this was turned into HE rounds impaling themselves on the opposition. Not to be forgotten, the shoulder cannons unloaded upon her targets in a salvo of coordinated destruction.

Cat be trippin'.

Re: Episode 7: Mine

Warning! Right Shoulder is Damaged!
Alert! MARK and YOSHIKO are Down!

Dis ain't gud, Came the Scotsman's train of thought, surprisingly apt for the situation at hand that was unfolding before him. He knew that if he strained his shoulder servos, they'd likely break under the pressures. He was fighting with his off hand.
"Meena, Shinji, go help Mark and Yoshiko with the tanks!" He made a quick command upon seeing the warning messages flash upon his screen, "I'll finish off this one myself!"

Fighting with one hand proved to be something of a new thing, and Lucien had to expend something he was keeping in reserve. He was very careful about firing missiles, and he usually reserved them for the big things that showed up when he thought it was supposed to be over - and there usually was a big thing that showed up when it was supposed to be over.

In the Scotsman's mind, the final Ashigaru before him was not one of these 'big things', but he did have to finish the fight as quickly as he could by launching a small barrage of missiles at its chest and following it up with an unwieldy stab to its midsection, hoping to impale it and finish it off with his armoured fists while not stretching the shoulder's servos too far.

Re: Episode 7: Mine

Mark watched his new helmet go tumbling into Yoshiko's lap with a sort of tired frustration on his face. If he'd had the helmet up there with him, he might have allowed himself to vomit his new sandwich up along with the breakfast that had made it into his last helmet. At this point, the former journalist was just tired of digestive fluid. His arms dangled low, hanging just past Yoshiko's shoulders; gravity pulling him hard against the harness.

"This fuckin' day. This didn't happen when Kitty was drivin', baby." Mark said, watching his helmet roll around on the front of the cockpit. "No'fence, Yoshi, honey. I think I just got lucky when we was in space."

Markus twitched a bit in his seat and reached down to the controls for the CECS, idly toying with new and strange frequencies to broadcast into the remaining tanks; mostly out of spite.

Re: Episode 7: Mine

The world lunged at Yoshiko as her harness suddenly strained - the girl violently coughed as they held fast . It had felt like her entire chest was suddenly crushed, and she fought hard for a few breaths! "Sorry I'm not a smooth ride Mark," she weakly replied from her position. Looking up from her seat, the spherical cockpit showed both of them quite a sight. Metal teared and groaned as Victoria pushed her frame to the limits, but the other tank was already pivot turning on the spot, bringing its turret and gun to bear on the Abwehran woman's frame!

Meanwhile, bursts of fire poured into the final enemy Ashigaru as Lucien squared off against it - metal plate and hull disintegrated under explosions, melted under blue flashes or became riddled with holes as everyone shot at whatever opportunity presented them. As Lucien lunged, what started out as a feeble attack quickly became the coup de grâce, the final punctuation to the staccato fire - with a sound of squealing metal, the melee weapon tore through the hull of the ragged final frame before it toppled over with a definitive thud.

As the tank turned to face Victoria, Yoshiko fought to bring her frame's autocannon to bear; with an arm, it leaned up from it's faceplant and hammered away one handed as the Abewehran woman's frame leaped to the sky with makeshift hammer in grasp. Though Mark's signalling did little, his drones still continued to fire, lancing out with their ultraviolet weapons. Beams splashed across the fields or disturbingly curved away as the shields defended the tank, but with that, the 75mm autocannon rounds found purchase and pushed through. The massive rounds struck across the tank's power pack and smashed it's sprocket wheel, tracking the vehicle.

At that moment, Victora's frame, Blitzkrieg, descended from the skies with turret-hammer in hand as the tank's turret traversed to face her. Swinging down with everything her frame had, the tank fired - the round smashed into the turret-hammer, but it continued on and bludgeoned the crippled tank and destroying the weapons. The sheer force of the blow caused it's suspension to give out as its whole hull came dropping to the asphalt. With weapons destroyed and power gone, it was 'dead' for all intents and purposes.

They had won this little skirmish.

"Everyone, take cover and cover Yoshiko, now!" Kelly barked over the comms. "And both teams! Status reports - anyone else down?" Kelly could still hear distant gunfire and explosions. He couldn't help but wonder at what was going on, and could only hope that wasn't what he thought it was.

*****

As the frame had rampaged, a final rocket streaked into the cockpit block from above and sent it crashing completely through and into the mall, sprawling over the plaza inside. The way it had fallen, it practically looked as though a chalk outline and CSI team would have fit the scene perfectly. "Oh fffff-get this thing off of me!" a man yelled over the comms in a panic.

"Aw crap! Man d- ..." Coffee paused for a moment, bewilderment quickly taking over and defining her tone. "Wait, how the hell are you even still alive man?"

"I don't know! But, Sarri's down here with me, and she's saying shit!"

Re: Episode 7: Mine

Camellia came too with the crushing sensation that she was being crushed. God, she hated that feeling. "Coffee. Gather the others and continue the mission. I'll try and free myself and the other trooper caught under this dead weight and we'll try and catch up with you." Camellia told her apparent second in command over the comms.

Switching to the frequency of the other pinned armorer, she asked. "Where are you stuck at? I think I'm pinned under a shoulder."

Re: Episode 7: Mine

Taela breathed heavily, her pulse finally settling and the adrenaline running low. The battle-fog that had clouded her vision was finally gone, and she felt exhausted.

"I. . . I believe I lost it for a minute there. . ." She mumbled over comms, advancing towards Yoshiko and Mark's position and taking a knee down next to her mech. "Do you require assistance getting up?"

Re: Episode 7: Mine

Viktoria laughed maniacally for about a minute or so, standing above destroyed tank. She had her make-shift hammer sitting on her shoulder, as if it was supposed to be swinged again. She laughed and laughed still being full of adrenalin.

"Ja, ja...." She then said, trying to catch breath. "Das ist the life!" She added throwing the gun turret on the rest of the ground. She lost interest in it. Two man in the turret were most likely dead. Driver possibly survived. She turned away and walked to Yoshiko and Mark.

"Aless in ordnung?" She asked, high values of adrenalin in her veins making her speak her native language. "Ah enshuldigen Sire mir bitter. Are you okay? We make great team Yoshi!" She corrected herself, she still looked around for more targets sorry to not see anyone else she could battle.

Re: Episode 7: Mine

Warning! Right Shoulder is Damaged!

"Shuddup, I know!" Lucien bit back at the AI for stating the plainly obvious. He moved away and reloaded his weaponry as he made his way back towards Yoshiko and Mark.

Non-Vital Warnings Disabled

"Thank ye," He replied before reporting in, "As ye can see, me shoulder's out, but I'd say the rest 'o me is in fightin' nick." He made a check of his ammo reserves and found that he'd chewed through two of the eight magazines after reloading previously. He also had three quarters of his missiles remaining. His Frame-Sized longsword was also somewhat battered but still sharp enough to make his point abundantly clear. All in all, not bad.

He decided to remain on watch while the others helped Yoshiko, looking about himself and scanning the area for any other incoming threats.

Re: Episode 7: Mine

"Aww crap," Coffee moaned, kicking aside a concrete chunk. "Alright, you heard her," she spoke, turning to the others of the power armor team. "I want a minimum distance between team members of 5 meters - otherwise make sure you're in visual with someone else. Move it!" With that, Camellia was left alone with only the other squad member, both buried somewhere under the fallen frame.

"No idea ma'am - I'm guessing somewhere around it's chest or something," he explained to her. "I can't even see anything." As he paused briefly, Camellia could hear faint scraping filtering in over the connection. "I can't move much either - if you can manage to get out, maybe use your thrusters, maybe the cockpit is still intact enough to move this thing," the squadmate suggested to her.

*****

"Good to hear everyone's alright," the team leader spoke, glad that even their power armor escorts came out with nothing worse than bruises, scraped paint and perhaps dented plates.

'That's odd. The other set of weapon fire off in the distance stopped.' Kelly knew that could have meant any number of things, but right now, he had to focus - one of his frames had a possible mobility kill, and another just had its combat effectiveness reduced. But how was he supposed to deal with this? The Frame Team was originally meant to be just testers, not a real fighting force with support assets. At this rate, he might have to have Yoshiko and Mark bail out and -

"Hold on, I got it!" a familiar voice called over the comms. "Hang on Mark, I'm rolling over!" At that, Yoshiko's frame did just that, moving both its arms and legs to bring it about before sitting up. "Go ahead and dock the feathers please, they've been loitering," she asked him without so much as a hint of worry. Inside, Mark could see Yoshiko quickly access a smaller console off to the side; after opening the cover and flicking a switch, the Ex-Neko slammed her fist into the red button.

The others watched as the damaged leg ejected from the downed frame with a spurt of gas and steam, dropping into the street and sending bits of asphalt about. "Yoshiko, what are you doing?" Kelly asked, not quite following what the other pilot had in mind.

"We can just salvage parts from the knockoffs!" she replied. "It won't be perfect, and someone's gotta...get out of their cockpit to access the other frames...but it'll work!" Yoshiko explained, her voice quavering briefly as she mentioned that one of them would have to exit their place of safety. Mark could see her briefly bring a hand to the side of her helmet as she softly mewled.

"Alright - finding these parts shouldn't be too hard considering just what we went through. Lucien, stay with Yoshiko and Mark and eject that dead arm while you're at it. You two too Shinji, Meena," Kelly spoke, issuing orders. Time was of the essence, and this was going to be risky. "Victoria, Taela, you two are with me - we're going to go...shopping." At that last part, Kelly smiled.

The three of them needed to find frames with an intact right leg and a left arm. But what's more, the cockpit had to be in one piece as well - otherwise, it was going to be hell getting the limbs off properly.

Re: Episode 7: Mine

Mark winced when his back met the seat again in the roll, but he was more comfortable than when they were hanging by their harnesses, so he let it go without a smarmy remark. As the feathers slid into place in the best way possible from such an awkward angle, Mark did some sliding of his own to adjust to his new seating arrangement.

"Yoshi, sweetheart?" Mark called up to her. The new up, that is. "Could you find my helmet up there, baby? I don't need it just yet, doll. I'd just like to be ready when the heavy stuff goes down, y'dig?"

Mark craned his neck over the back of Yoshiko's seat and peered around in the direction his helmet had fallen. After giving up the search on his own, he decided to apologize in the worst way possible.

"Oh, and Yoshi, baby, don't you worry your pretty head about that 'smooth ride' thang, baby." Mark didn't blink or flinch, looking dead serious as he added, "I get to where I complain, but at the end of the day, it's hard to not say 'this girl gave me a rough ride' without a big old smile on your face."

Re: Episode 7: Mine

The Neko nodded to Kelly's orders, moving over to where she had her breakdown. The mech she wrecked appeared to have it's arms intact - it was just everything else that she went psycho on.

"Er. . . You don't think these are serviceable, do you?" She asked Kelly, gesturing to the effective scrap heap.