RP: Reactivated Reactivated M4: Firebase Assault

Susan's first response to the fire order was to prepare to fire the plasma rifle in his hands. Fortunately for everyone in the Squad, his training kicked in and he immediately took his finger off from the trigger, making sure to slide the safety on for good measure. The yeoman felt a spike of frustration, knowing it would take too long to stow the plasma rifle and switch out for his battle rifle, so Susan went with the only other weapon he readily had access to.

With a primal cry the Valhallan charged forward and leapt, using a piece of debris to boost himself over the skitterbug. Then that heartless bitch gravity got involved, pulling Susan's full quarter tonne weight down onto the back of the beast, focused down into the monoplate-reinforced sabatons armouring his feet. The yeoman grinned as he felt something solid give way beneath him, as a portion of the carapace broke under the applied force. However, before he could really think about taking advantage of his new position as a quarter-tonne paperweight, Susan was forced instead to focus on maintaining his balancing atop this new, increasingly precarious perch.

As she followed Auli’I stayed vigilent, her eyes scanning the surroundings for any potential threats. But the shortest member of the team was pleased that Nara had joined them. She loved her sister very much and now to have two of her sisters with her and her dad, she felt almost invincible. At Morris’s command, she moved into position to the left.

As they stepped inside the storage area, the grim scene of shredded nekovalkyrja greeted them. Before they could process it fully, a Skitterbug charged at them, causing chaos in the already chaotic space. Reacting swiftly to Morris's command, Auli’I took aim with her her rifle, firing precise shots at the Skitterbug, aiming for its weak spots and joints. The sound of gunfire echoed in the area as she and her team fired, but unlike them, she was able to only do cosmetic damage that caused her to swear. Only to see Mike’s antics, as well as Susans.

Nara fell into the middle position, her eyes adjusted to the darkness as they entered. She smelled the blasted corpses right before Morris nearly lost his footing. Thank the builders she had nasal filters under her armor or the stench alone would have knocked her on her rear. With her rifle at the ready she took aim at the skitter bug and fired at the joints of its two forward manipulator legs, fates be damned she was jostled by items falling off the shelves.

She barely managed to dodge them herself when she saw Susan land on top of the beast. After a slur of mumbled curses in Nira'las she made her way over to the beast, one of her feather drones placing a small range plasma concussion grenade in her hands. Nara lept on top of the beast behind Susan, "Take cover!" she blasted over the comms as she shoved the grenade into whatever had given way under Susan's rump. With the most polite motions she could muster she wrapped one arm around Susan's waist to strongly suggest he get the hell off the beast. Not waiting to see whether or not he listened, she leapt off setting a five second timer. "Boom in five!" she blasted over comms before diving for cover herself.

"The one time we don't have any ancestor's damned spears!" Morris roared as Susan slammed into the top of it, the creature recovering enough to be dangerous despite the very real hammering the boy had just given it; as it made to snap at him with its pincers the big man bum-rushed-parrying the snapping claw that would've bisected the boy before driving the head of his hammer into whatever passed for its face-he'd planned to face it down and give the boy time to get clear even as Mike tried her suicidal attack. The buckshot did little real damage as it tore into the meaty flesh-no did Nara's or Auil'i's rifles do much of anything either.

He figured he could probably hold it for a minute so the junior could get clear...then it would be up to the Gods and fate to decide whether he lived or died.

Of course, whatever plan he had went right out the window when the woman gave her warning. With a stream of curses, he dropped his hammer and seized Mike by the back of her armor, pulling her away and doing his best to keep his shield between him and the 'Bug-and damn near tripped over the rubble, but he got them clear even as the creature moved to shake the boy off...

The Grenade detonated with a wet, roaring fwump! that filled the room...sending bits of critter flying everywhere as the blast wave expanded outwards-Morris and Mike had barely anytime to clear it; but found themselves splattered with bits of shrapnel and ichor and leaving their ears ringing. Nara and Susan weren't as lucky-Nara was thrown into yet more shelves-despite her armor protecting her from the worst of the impact the air was blasted from her lungs and her vision was swimming as she hit the ground hard, and the taste of blood filling her mouth-she'd bitten her cheek in the impact. Susan was similarly thrown-slamming into the ground next to Morris and Mike-ears ringing and a thin line of his namesake slowly winding its way down the side of his face.

Auli'i was seemingly fine-she'd been far enough from the grenade's detonation. "Damn it-administering Nanite Injection!" Morris roared, his voice faint in his ears as he pulled a syringe from his belt and injected the rookie with it, the cool rush of the medication sweeping through his veins, "Mike keep an eye on him-I'm gonna go check on pointy ears!" The big man rushed over to the prone norian, pulling another nanite injector and slamming the needle into one of the gaps in her armor in her neck-the same medication began rushing through her as the nanite worked to repair the internal damage. "You're gonna be fine, nanites should help with the worst of it." He said, his tone semi-comforting. "Auli'i, watch our backs!"

The norian woman heard the roaring noise a mere split second before she was thrown into the air. A string of unspeakable nira'las curses flew around in her mind felt the impact of colliding with yet more shelving. Thankfully her armor had protected her body from what could have been much worse. Her form sunk against the shelving as the pain coursed every fiber of her being. Nara gasped for air, after what seemed like forever she was able to take a proper, yet excruciating breath. She opened here eyes and through the visor in her armor could not see jack shit. The only thing her eyes could see looked like the aftermath of a wedding orgy. She shook her head in an attempt to clear things up a bit, to no avail.

Every sensation as she took pained breaths was filled with a searing electric fire. "Swi fir swi//Two for two." Nara thought to herself as her tongue swished around in her mouth, just now realizing that it had been filling with blood. Utilizing her sthibon symbiote's connection to Tae'ia the mindhive that assissted in operating her armor, the visor opened. Right as she was about to spit the blood out she felt a sharp pinch in her neck. Blood flew out of her mouth spattering her armor, the weapon in her hands, and the ground near her. "Fecronj hull//Fucking hell." she coughed as the cool medication rushed through her veins. "Thanks boss," she groaned in accented trade as the worst pangs of suffering begun to marginally subside. "I really need to stop getting blown up one of these years." she said in trade and chuckled darkly, wiping blood from her lips with the back of her hand.

Using one hand to support herself while the other clung to her rifle she spewed more curses in nira'las, bringing herself to stand while her visor lowered once more. "Is the damned creature dead?" she spoke roughly as her covered violet eyes looked over the carnage. "Really need to tinker with ranges on those things," she thought to herself as she finally managed to stand, albeit in much pain.

Susan smiled to himself as he felt consciousness return. Judging from how much his head was ringing and his body was hurting, it must have been a great celebration the night before. The yeoman knew from experience that it took a lot of alcohol and fighting to wake up with this much pain. He was just thinking about what greasy food he would need to finish chasing away the aftereffects of the night before when the nanite injection Morris had hit him with finally reached the concussion portion of his injuries. The resulting adrenaline spike worked wonders on focusing his wandering thoughts and memories of the fight with the skitterbug came rushing back.

"Ugh." He groaned, flexing his fingers and toes - at least everything still felt attached and in working order. "Grenade-powered escape technique needs work." Susan worked his jaw, trying to get his ears to pop or the ringing to end. "Haven't felt this rough since I wrestled a Thurok and got trampled." The yeoman, vaguely aware that he shouldn't be seeing three Mike-shaped people hovering around him, blinked until his vision swam back into focus. "Hey, I can't hear over the ringing, but is anything attached to me making unsafe noises?" Susan felt the painful throbbing receding as the administered medicine worked to dull the pain signals racking his body. "Because, you know, have totally had enough boom-boom for today... she didn't even buy me dinner first..."

He giggled to himself for a moment before remembering that he didn't giggle. Ever. "Ugh. Concussions suck."

Morris sighed. "You wanna thank me-keep your helmet sealed," He retorted as she stood, "I'll be pissed if you suffocate from this crap." Looking between the norian and Blood he sighed. "Don't be so reckless next time." He admonished, helping the boy to his feet, "You're both lucky to still be in one piece; give a warning next time and send a plasma bolt down range if you can. Brigandines are tougher than you think." He retrieved his warhammer-or would have had it not been so bent and mangled by the skitterbug stomping on it after he'd pulled Mike to safety. Now down to his hunting knife-he resorted to the time honored tradition of every soldier since time immemorial-scavenging.

With a sigh, he instead searched the bodies of the dead nekos-turning up on one of them an awkward-looking pistol. He gave it a once over, pulled the trigger-nothing, fiddled with a dial on the side, pulled the trigger again-nothing. He was about to give up on it when he saw the button on the right-hand side. Smacking himself mentally he hit the button-pulled the trigger-a bright green beam hit the wall. It also had a flash light. He gave it a few experimental swings-not as hefty as a scythe, but might actually be a better fit. Pilfering the holster-and brushing a few bits of neko guts off of it-he picked a suitably sharp, heavy piece of rebar and placed it where his warhammer would normally be. With a sigh, he gave the order to fall in as he unholstered the gribbly gun. "Try not to get yourselves anymore banged up-I don't have too many more injectors to waste on stupid stunts-get ready to breach the door." The door lead to a side hall, dimly lit by emergency lights, their dull red casting sinister shadows-but they couldn't see too far ahead in either direction.

Outside the battle raged on, heedless of their progress, or lack thereof...

Auli’i’s curses were nearly as fierce as the blast of her rifle, a series of vivid and unfiltered words strung together in frustration. She gritted her teeth, her orange-tipped ears flattening back as she tried to keep her cool despite her rifle’s lack of effect on the Skitterbug. “The gribblies really make their shock trooper creatures tough,” she muttered, her vulpine eyes narrowing as she sought a weak spot. She repositioned herself slightly, making sure her tail stayed out of her line of sight as she moved, her ears flicking nervously.

Just then, her adoptive sister, Nara lept onto the skitterbug behind Susan and shoved it into the hole that Susan's ass created in the skitterbugs shell. Then the Grenade appeared thrown at the Skitterbug. It soared through the air, landing with a loud crump! and sending a shockwave that Auli’i felt in her bones. The explosion echoed off the walls, leaving her momentarily deafened and forcing her to wince. She let out another stream of muttered curses, her voice filled with indignant annoyance, though she managed a smirk of appreciation at Nara’s quick thinking.
“Ay, pops!” she called, raising her rifle again, pivoting slightly to ensure no other threats approached. Her keen eyes scanned the area with practiced ease as she watched her teammates' backs, staying alert for any signs of more trouble.

Susan took his bollocking from the Sergeant like a man with nought but a nod to signal he understood - it wasn't as if Morris was wrong on any of the salient points. Plus, no-one ever proved themselves worthy of membership in the Iron Company by acting like a little bitch and making excuses. That had been an easy lesson to learn seeing as Susan, like most Valhallans seemed to, had an instinctual grasp of the 'You fuck it, you own it.' approach to personal responsibility. It only made sense that you can forgive a man his trespass, so long as he's honest about it. But if he wants to be a lying shit, then by all means, indulge yourself in a friendly round or two of 'stab a bitch' until you felt forgiveness had been earned.

With Morris calling to prep for breach, the yeoman turned his thoughts towards the plasma rifle he carried and gave everything a quick once over. The last thing he wanted was to go to send some plasma down range and instead have the helstrom explode in his hands because one of the connectors got knocked askew during his grenade-powered tumble. With everything seemingly nominal, Susan pointed the rifle towards the door, took off the safety and put a light pressure on the trigger. Not enough to start pumping fuel into the combustor, mind you, but just a twitch away from sending blue-white beams of plasma hell down range.

"Onyx 4-1, ready to breach on your go."

A small smirk graced Nara's features under the cover of her helmet. "If we survive this, its on my to-do list," she said with a groan as she leaned on the wreckage. Maybe with enough liquor she could convince Susan to help her with the experiment. As in having him lure something in for her to blow up, maybe. Her attention focused on Morris as he looked between Nara and Susan, blocking out the pain became easier with each minute that passed as the nanites worked.

Nara took the admonishment from Morris in stride, he had a fair point. Though this whole grenade shoving had not exactly been planned. While she stood half supported on fallen shelving she made a mental note to do some research on these creatures if they survived the ordeal. After an additional scan Tae'ia saved the results to be added to the queue for analysis later. If there was any usable information Nara could potentially tweak her grenades to cause damage to "ol crabby" without so much collateral decorative risk.

When Morris suggested to avoid further injury Nara remained suspiciously silent. "Aye, falling in" she chimed while falling back into formation as Tae'ia scanned for life signs that might be lingering in the shadows. While she could see in the dim lighting better than her counterparts, she could not quite make out if anything lie in wait. "Ready," Nara said firmly when she was in position.

"BREACH!" The big man slammed the door open, and the first thing he noticed, save for the noise of the battle outside-rapidly becoming a steady rhythm of gunfire, screams, and intelligible shouts, was the corridor was quiet and far too empty; the self-same utilitarian grey material, likely a form of concrete or some other exotic material. At least it wasn't that organic crap that they favored so much...

"Left side clear," He said quietly as he brought his shield up, pistol in hand, "Susan watch the right, rest of you take up defensive positions facing either way; could be anything waiting for us." Though given the racket he'd just made it surprised him that no one had jumped them-then again the sudden artillery barrage followed by the appearance of a bunch of angry yeomen might've had something to do with that...speaking of which; the sound of more incoming rounds signaled a danger-close barrage, but nothing hit directly thankfully.

"Nara, get me scan if you can-need to know if anything's nearby." Morris ordered; last thing they needed was to walk into an ambush...

Nara took up a defensive position nine o'clock relative to Morris' position on the left. Her rifle at the ready for anything that might jump out from the shadows, though she doubted it would be another giant shelled creature. After all there were only so many grenades she had brough with her and those nanites had not quite finished their job yet. Her side twinged in pain to remind her of just that. "Clear on this side," Nara reported sharply.

"Aye, didn't get anything back from the last ones. Running another now." she responded as her sensors scanned for creepy crawlies or suspicious items that might lie in wait. "Here's to hoping its a clean sweep," she thought, while knowing it was likely anything but that.

Thankful that the architects building the place hadn't been vertically challenged, Susan followed the other's through the doorway and into the corridor beyond. Wordlessly the yeoman complied with Morris' order and turned to the right. Bracing his quarter-ton mass for maximum stability, Susan positioned himself against the far wall so as to not completely block the view down the corridor from the rest of the squad. His plasma rifle was kept steady, facing down the corridor and ready to blast whatever colours the enemy bodily fluids came in across the bland greyness of their architecture.

"No contacts." Susan tilted his head slightly, wondering if anyone else had the sudden urge to enjoy a sandwich. Something meaty, perhaps. With a nice chutney or sharp pickle. That'd be nice, he thought to himself. Part of him couldn't help but wonder if they would find the enemy's mess hall and, if so, did he possess the gastrointestinal fortitude to digest whatever it was that they ate. Based on the bland design of the corridor, the yeoman had a sneaking suspicion that their food would probably have the texture of foam peanuts. Would probably taste like them too. Bleugh!

Morris nodded and signaled the squad to move left. As he advanced down the darkened corridor, nearly 30 feet, they came to a large door; the big man thought he could hear voices on the otherside. Feeling the door's hinges-seemed to swing outwards rather than in he gave it a gentle nudge and peered through the crack. It lead to what seemed to be a barracks or armory; NMX infantry being overseen by officer dressed in a field uniform and equipped with a rifle directing her troops with her hands on her hips.were rapidly drawing weapons and armor from their footlocker; the usual mix of plate carriers and environmental gear. Morris was honestly surprised they hadn't run into parasite swarms yet but didn't want to push his luck any further.

Backing away and readying his pistol, he nodded to the squad. ("Alright, got at least a dozen, maybe more in there-no gribblies,") The big man said quietly, bringing his shield up, ("Might be able to surprise em-Mike, Nara-open up with grenades then Susan follows up with a plasma bolt-should be enough to cook most of em then we storm them.") And maybe he could get a replacement for that piece of sharpened rebar he was using. ("Stack up and prepare to breach!") He nudged the door open again, so they could follow through only to wind up face-to-face with one of the NMX troopers. She looked at him for moment, made to scream an alert to her companions only for the big man to grab her by the front of her armor and pull her through-slamming her with the edge of his shield and caving her forehead of-she dropped soundlessly.

He stomped on the back of her neck for good measure. "Yumi?" Someone called.

("Grenades out, NOW!") He growled harshly, it was only a matter of time before the nekos on the other side got their act together...

"Grenades, aye," Mike nodded as she primed two with her thumbs, forming up behind Morris for the killing. The moment he stiffened, ready to call out, she started cooking them.

When he made the call, both grenades soared over and past him, in the same motion that Michelle slipped her shotgun from her hip, aiming at anything that looked like a leader, her other hand finding her pistol to snap off rounds at any cowards so that Susan and Morris could have some fun.

When Morris signaled the squad to move left, Nara followed. She kept her position in the formation as they moved down the darkened corridor. Her slender ears twitched when she thought she heard voices, her finger that hovered over the trigger wishing for a purpose. Time seemed to move in slow motion as she watched Morris peer through the crack and praised whatever gods he believed in that nothing had gave his face a welcoming gift.

As he nodded the norian woman readied for action, that type of gesture usually proceeded some form of go time. "Give a warning next time he says," Nara thought when Morris authorized the fun boom boom toys not even an hour after sternly directing her to be more careful. Letting her rifle rest to free up her hands, Nara opened her palms as the feather drones dropped one in each hand. She followed Morris in and programmed a five second delay, not yet starting the count down. "Grenades, aye." she chimed in after Mike, starting the timer as she launched the grenades.

After launching the little bites of hell Nara readied her rifle once more hoping, praying that nothing came through. Though she knew it might. Only time would tell at this point.

As soon as Morris mentioned sending plasma into the room, Susan tightened the trigger of his oversized volley-gun pattern helstrom plasma rifle. Not wanting to engage it fully, not wanting yet to trigger the lazing and ignition process, the yeoman felt it 'bite' at the first stage. The rifle jerked slightly in his grip as pumps began pulling the deuterium and helium-3 fuel mixture into the combustion chamber. Susan watched the simple pressure gauge as it rose and held steady, indicating that the rifle was ready for ignition. The yeoman felt a hint of relief that the pressure was holding steady as that meant his earlier close encounter of the grenade kind hadn't caused damage to the hosing or connectors which was always a desirable outcome unless you wanted to set yourself and your buddies on fire.

Susan smirked appreciatively when Morris just reached out, grabbed the hostile and put her down hard. He definitely approved of the follow up neck-stomp - far too many people were far too happy to leave an enemy combatant supposedly-indisposed at their back. While the yeoman wouldn't be surprised if the devil-cats had some kind of devil-magic within them that would allow them to recover from a broken neck, the injury should at least keep them down for long enough to clear the room ahead and come back to finish the job with a little decapitation. He liked to think that would be a much harder injury to bounce back from.

Seeing Mike start to cook her grenades as Nara palmed hers, Susan aimed as centrally as he could and tightened his grip further on the trigger. The rifle hummed as the lazing process initiated, kick-starting the fusion reaction within the compressed fuel mixture and converting the lot to beautiful and extremely dangerous plasma. With a jolt that he felt reverberate up through his arms a blue-white flash burst forth from the barrel of the rifle, accompanied by the sound of a thunderclap, as a blue-white beam blasted into the room chasing after the grenades.

Susan loosened his hold on the trigger and took a step back and to the side just in case there was any return fire. He also took a half-second to quickly check the rifle for signs of impending boom. He really didn't fancy exploring just how well his brigandine held up against a hot plasma bath.

The low, gravelly voice of her adoptive father echoed in Auli’i’s ears as he gave the warning Moments later, the door was blown open with a thunderous boom. The shock of the blast reverberated through the corridor, causing her sensitive ears to flatten instinctively against her head. Despite the ringing in her ears, Auli’i maintained her focus, gripping her rifle tightly as she fell into formation.

Moving swiftly, she positioned herself to the right of her adoptive father, covering his 5 o’clock. Her movements were precise, her vulpine tail swaying low to avoid interfering with her balance.

Auli’i’s own search led her to scan the shadowy corners. “My side cl—” Her words were cut off as something burst from the darkness, launching itself at her. The creature resembled a grotesque slug, with stubby arms and a slimy sheen that caught the light as it lunged. It moved unnervingly fast, but Auli’i was faster. Reflexes honed through countless missions kicked in, and her finger squeezed the trigger. A quick burst from her rifle slammed the creature to the ground. As it writhed, emitting a bizarre guttural sound that resembled “hu hu hu,” Auli’i hesitated, her ears twitching in confusion. “Are you laughing or in pain?” she muttered, cocking her head slightly. Then, with a shrug and a sly grin, she raised her rifle again. “Never mind. I’ll end your suffering.” A well-placed shot silenced the slug-like abomination, its grotesque form going limp.

“Now my side’s clear. Sorry!” Auli’i called out, her voice tinged with embarrassment and a verbal curse slipping out for good measure. She shook her head, muttering something about gribblies and their annoyingly unpredictable designs, before refocusing on the mission. She moved herself into position properly, while cursing herself for potentially almost getting separated from her team. She held the rifle and watched the activity but kept her keen senses up for any approach of their enemies. But she grinned as she saw the grenades being thrown in. Sorry Friends of Yumi, your dead now She thought silently.