(ooc- where? :)
"Oh really," the commando leered, circling Starzone. She turned on the spot to face him, and he wasn't silly enough to cross between her and the bike. "You two are slightly outnumbered."
Starzone smirked. "Quality over quantity. Give me back my pilots." She lowered her head slightly, looking dangerous.
The cat commando lifted his chin. "Or what?"
*take the shot* Starzone ordered.
Trajectory already had the commando in his sight. Inhale, gentle exhale, beat, squeeze. The commando let out an ungodly screech as he took a bullet in the spine, collapsing to the ground in a twitching, agonised heap. Starzone observed dispassionately.
The weapons of the claw troopers came up. Streak tensed.
"I want my pilots back," Starzone said again.
After Rav'una reported in, Byte put a hand to her headset in disbelief. "Ransom? We're not important enough to be ransomed. Why would they be doing that?"
"Go go go," Cypher barked, throwing his mech into full speed. The Atlas bolted from around the corner as much as an assault class mech could, thundering towards the makeshift camp. Chip did the same thing, reuslting in his Dire Wolf leaping off the spire it was precariously perched on. He made a dent in the ground when he landed. He glanced at his HUD. There was som minor damage there, he'd probably shattered the shockies. Slamming into high gear, he winced as he hearde a squeaking, scraping sound from one knee. Derek wasn't going to be happy. Speaking of which, he locked on to Derek's poitin and headed to it, taking a route to go around the outside of the camp.
"Comin' to getcha Techy," Chip called.
Byte had also jumped off the ledge she was on, but unlike the heavier mechs her brothers drove, she hit the ground running. Watching the other two, sh paced so they would close the pincer and arrive at roughly to same time.
(ooc- I see your avatar and it is cool ^_^)
Starzone flicked her tail, it looped into a full circle briefly before she lashed it, causing a whip crack noise. Streak unleashed his grenades. He automatically cringed as around them, several weapons fired. Starzone touched her closed right fist to her open left hand and rose both to her chest in a gesture that was purely a cue for her and not necessary in any way, shape or form for exercising her talent.
Flames shot straight up from the ground in a ring around them, crisping weapons, exploding bullets and causing burns to anyone unlucky enough to be too close to the inferno. It didn't last long but it was long enough to cause chaos and confusion, especially with Trajectory sniping from the top.
"Rainbow," Trajectry said, his voice barely above a whisper and sounding strange as he was still mostly sniper breathing, "Free reign."
Starzone moved out of her bike's line of fire and Anarchy began hammering the ranks with heavy laser fire. Starzone and Trajectory flanked it as it methodically started cutting its way towards the Catatonian ship.
Through the haze of dust and heat, the Atlas suddenly became visible, lumbering threateningly into view. The crowd Starzone and Streak had to deal with rapidly thinned out as severl able bodies hastily retreated and piled into vehices and bucket walkers to deal with the nwd threat. And the other new threat as shortly after Cypher's mech became visible, the Timber Wolf sprinted into view, arrival heralded by two long range missiles spiralling into a pair of nearby jeeps which subsequently went up in flames.
"Jus' pickin' up." Chip's wince was evident on his face as he once more heard the knee screech. "Shit's hit the fan." His top speed had dropped, oscillating wildly between 64and 65kph. He covered his concern for his ride with his usual chirpy grin. "Gettin' bored of ridin' with me are ya?"
(OOC: Thanks ^..^! I think she did a brilliant job drawing him!)
Seems the fight had indeed just began, both Derek and Rav'una having by now obviously caught the sound of weapons firing off in the distance. Derek may have already shown how effective he can be in battle but Rav'una had yet to show how she shines in battle. Patience and careful quick actions where the key to success in a fight however and so each would have to be patient and keep their cool until given their orders. Even if Rav'una didn't particularly like being given orders but at the same time it was a bit of a pleasant change from her usual solo-style missions and the likes.
"Perfect..." Rav'una responded, her tone creepy at best and you could notice the smirk in her expressions in her tone by this point. She'd gather some evidence along the way if need be and if found but for now...it was time to feed her blades and tear into some Catatonians! (OOC: "Free reign" pretty means the equivalant of something to the likes "Open fire" or something to that extent, right? As in no need to sneak and hide, just get out there and fight? Just want to make sure before I rush ahead.)
Not having the need to hide anymore Rav'una timed her actions carefully, creeping up and onto a ledge above a group of about six Catatonians, leaping down right into the middle with a blade in each hand, bringing them down into a downward-diagonal slash that slit through four of the six, the fifth down beneath her with the base of her wrist smacking into a lethal point in its throat, the final one meeting his demise when he foolishly got too close behind her, Rav'una in turn smoothly leaning forward onto her fingertips and using her flexibility to its advantage with a swift kick backward that forced the Catatonian's gun to colide hard enough into his face to knock him out cold, possibly having even been lethal. In fact quite highly possible considering Rav'una's usual approach on such a situation. Lesson one; Don't sneak up behind Rav'una.
Once her first set of targets were down for the count she moved quickly to higher grounds, slipping in and out of places and up and over obstacles with skillful flips, ducks, rolls and agile reflexes and manuevors to get past even some of the more seemingly difficult spots that most would have a bit more trouble with. It was all in a day's work for Rav'una, who now was in full battle tone, her firm and serious nature kicking in as too along with her killer instinct. One of her more finer qualities, as unsettling as that may sound.
"So I've noticed..." Derek responded with a perk of his brow, settling a little as he tapped at a few keys to prepare himself to move out as he continued "Someone take away their yarn?" in a semi-humor manner, more so to ease the growing tension than anything.
"Bored? Nope" Derek then began with a shake of his head, smirking back as he added "Just didn't expect things to go haywire so soon" It was shortly after that Derek suddenly perked his brow, giving Chip a blank sort of look as he asked in a borderline mutter after having had caught the sound of something moving awkwardly in Chip's mech "Is that the knee gears grinding?..."
(ooc- free reign is short for do as you will :)
"Find the Scouts," Starzone said shortly.
Even though he knew she was fully capable of taking care of herself, Streak still wanted to argue as she was sending Anarchy with him, which meant she would be facing the hoardes alone. Something in her voice had him instantly obeying, like he was one of the star. It had taken him a while for him to feel like one of the group, and the greater tribe of the Tir, but he had never felt like one of the star, really. Even as his brain was devising protests, his body was scrambling onto Anarchy and Anarchy in turn was hurtling him straight at the ramp of the ship. He barely got his helmet on and turned to see Starzone turning her back to them, facing the advancing hoardes.
"Where the hell do they come from?" Streak muttered to himself as he steeled and turned to his appointed task. It was a sentiment echoed by many a hapless MArtian when faced with the seemingly endless squads of Catatonian claw troopers. There was vague speculation that maybe they were clones, like the Albinos, and maybe they could con the Albinos and the Catatonians into wiping each other out. Or something.
Chip had a guilty caught out look when Derek muttered about his knee gears. "Uhm...maybe?" he said, looking suitably pentinent. Chip casually fired a few flamers here and there to add to the chaos, studiously ignoring the lasers that managed to hit him. Most were being absorbed by the heat sinks, but he had to watch the knees and he needed a new paint job. "In your area. Where are ya?" Chip deliberately accidentally set fire to a bunch of vehicles parked close together as he turned his mech slowly, searching for Derek.
Cypher and Byte were also cruising the perimeter, not daaging any builings but tearing through vehicles and blithely attacking the seemingly endless waves of Claw Troopers, and probably also wondering how they fit into the ship. Unless there had been a few shipments of them. The camp was looking kind of cozy.
"Techy," Chip's voice had a sudden noe of urgency, "get your tail out here right now."
(OOC: I thought so ^..^. *Twidles fingertips* Eeeeeexcellent...)
In truth it was more than likely that these days no one really knew the right answer as to where the Catatonians all keep spewing out of and swarming out like bloody ants although of course there were rumors and no doubt thrown about guesses around here and there as to what the possibilities could be. Rav'una, for one, knew that the Catatonian armies have always been large in size however these days they were fueled more so by corruption and greed than the will to fight for what is right. It sickened her and Derek, as little as he knew about these Catatonians, didn't like much of what he was seing already.
He had heard random things about them but never did he imagine he would ever be fighting against their troops. And it seemed like a worthy enough challenge. Or at very least a good form of entertainment to amuse everywhere for a while and give them something to do in their spare time.
("deliberately accidentally" XD!) And speaking of Derek...he wasn't too happy about what had happened and once again exhaled deeply with a shake of his head. "Well could be worse I guess..." Derek shrugged, hoping he wasn't speaking too soon.
It didn't take long for the Catatonians to find Derek's location and he turned his Battlesuit in their direction. You could almost see the camera zoom into the cockpit and to his face as he said "Oooooh crap..."
"Behind the structure!" Derek quickly replied, checking his radar before then as he steadied his Battlesuit into defense mode he added "Just head North-East from your current location and be advised, I have contacts! I'll do what I can to keep them busy" With that Derek soon found himself having to dodge and 'duck' away from incoming missiles and gunfire, using his Battlesuit's weight and size to its advantage in hammer, slamming, bardging and Battlesuit bitch slapping his way through the groups of random baddies. Though he tried not to move too far from his location so to make it easier on Chip to find him.
But of course typically when confronted by a bunch of individuals who would much rather drink your blood out of your skull than sit down for a pleasant chat and a coffee someone else seemed to always need you and with Chip's calling of urgency Derek had no choice but to do his best to bardge through the crowd, managing to slip by a few larger vehicles and just barely side stepping behind a wall as a set of about three missile struck it behind him with enough force and an impact to take a large chunk of it out.
"On my way!" Derek replied, heading straight for Chip's location.
Chip translated turning his head to turning his mech almost on the spot, looking from the outside as if the mech had heard something. It didn't take him long to find the firefight, and putting his sharpshooting skills to good use, he picked off the bogeys surrounding Derek while lumbering menacingly towards the comparatively tiny Battlesuit.
Anyone with an immediately operational brain immediately retreated before the towering angry mech. A few stuck arouund still trying to take Derek down. Chip covered the rest of the distance in seemingly no time, sticking his left arm between Derek and a missile. Sparks and hot bits, and profanity flew as the medium laser and two small lasers exploded, graying out on Chip's HUD. He slammed the afflicted left arm into Derek, scooping up the smaller mech, muttering "Sorry, sorry," when he saw the extra dents the speed that particular manuver, for use only in dire straits such as this, had put into the Battlesuit. He turned his right side to another barrage of lasers and bullets, wearing it on the upper arm and shoulder this time, calmly switching to chain fire mode then stretched his arm back towards the source of the offensive, leaning on the trigger. Colourful lights sprayed out across the area, he watched his heat sensor rising, and in the meantime kept his left arm still so Derek could dock securely and not be shaken off if he had to move suddenly.
"Got the techy," Chip reported.
"Good," Cypher responded, "now someone get Starleader, she's goin' nuts."
Up top, Trajectory kept passing the scope back over Starzone. Her face, when he caught glimpses of it, was completely blank, as if she was absent from her body. He picked off a few more, listening in on the conversation Cavalry Beta was having. He and Streak were probably the only ones physically capable of stopping Starzone.
"On it. Leaving post," he said simply. He exhaled, and then started resuming normal breathing as he got up abruptly, picking up the sniper rifle and heading back to his bike, unloading the bullets that were in it and stashing them. He headed back to Wired and mounted up, putting the rifle in its compartment and shutting it. "Fastest way down," he said to the bike. Wired purred, running some calculations. Trajectory kicked off as Wired spun and headed for a section of the cliff different to the one they'd come by, nitrous blasting.
It was certainly starting to get very tense and this also meant Derek's mood was going to start boil any moment. And though he did his best to manuevor out of the way of danger and smash and bash his way through any incoming enemies it was Chip who saved the day. Even if he did cause a bit of a damage and earned himself an "Awwww maaaan..." kind of whine on Derek's behalf as things started to get a damaged. Still, didn't mean he wasn't grateful for the help. It just killed him to know what was in store for him when it came to repairs...
"Umph!" Derek felt his Battlesuit shake on impact but at least he was out of danger's way. And though he did snap out a quick "Hey! Easy on the metal work!" there wasn't time to bitch and moan about things. Not now. Plus Derek had to try and keep his cool anyway for a number of reasons. Especially since he started to feel his heart begin to beat that familiar certain beat...
'Not now, it's not a good time!' He thought to himself with a frown, gripping his teeth as he breathed heavily to try and concentrate in the fight and keeping himself alive as well as keep his calm and his head clear.
At last! Derek wasted no time when it came to hopping on board and docking himself securely into place and he did so with hastey efficiency. He was starting to become a bit of a pro at this docking thing. Now securely in place Derek announced "Docked and ready!" so Chip would know it was safe to knock him about again. If need be. Which chances are probably would happen. Again, thank the Gods of Mars for the interior padding!
Meanwhile Rav'una been keeping herself busy, by now having left a trail of blood and bodies behind her and was standing some distance along the blood soaked, body scattered trail and surprisingly had broken a sweat. Of course it didn't mean she wasn't starting to feel the effects of the fight but she was actually having the time of her life. At the same time though she was serious about her job and this much was evident in the number of enemies she had taken down by now. She was starting to breath heavily from it all but she had the energy and fitness to fight on. And that's exactly what she did.
More enemies swarmed in from the cracks of the battlefield and like a true professional that she is Rav'una sliced, diced, punch and kicked her way to victory, one enemy at a time. She did recieve a few small cuts and marks along the way but it didn't stop her from fighting for her life. It was getting tough though as eventually the fatigue would start to kick in and her muscles began to ache. Yet still she faught on, using the obstacles of the battlefield to her advantage and even using certain ones to counter some of the attacks like something out of a martial arts movie.
Nine out ten of the enemies which challenged her ended up dead while only a very few of them ended up with either near fatal injuries or disabled in some painful way or another. Rav'una remained at an eerie, unsettling sort of ease, serious and intimidating and keeping her pace calm and herself on alert and at ready, reaction as need be and unleashing all kinds of punishment upon her enemies as one followed the other only to be taken down again one at a time. She was using her agility and quick reflexes to her advantage as well and you kind of had to pitty anyone foolish enough to have challenged her while she was in her little fight mode zone. It got to a point where one had to wonder if she was enjoying it or just doing her job. Maybe a bit of both.
At one point Rav'una found herself surounded by a circle of enemies, all aiming their guns at her and ready to fire. With a smirk she lifted a handle of what she considered to be her special blade, a favourite of hers and something that would soon enough be a trademark of sorts. A press of a button and a curved lazer blade on either side would spark into existance, giving the blade a curved boomarang kind of shape and with a quick flick of her wrist to right the blade whizzed through the air, turning and actually curving with the wind and slicing through the surrounding crowd before Rav'una caught it with right hand, not even flinching as she did so, and stood there holding it over her chest as lifelessly bodies fell around her.
"Too slow..." She smirked.
"Niiice," Byte drawled as her leggy mech stepped in behind Rav'una, scattering a few more enemies that were closing in and giving her some breathing room. Rav'una had a big version of Starzone's blades. Except Rav'una's were curved whereas Starzone's were straight. "How you goin' Rainbow? Want a ride?"
"You right there bro?" Chip glanced at the look on Derek's face before legging it, straight towards the enemy of course, rather than away. There was something about having a 100 tonne mech barrelling at you that uually made things think twice even when in a omparable sized mech. And the Catatonians had nothing that big but their ship. So strangely the cats Derek had been facing off scrambled, and fast. Hearing Derek lock in and then his vocal confirmation, Chip pulled back, turned and fired off a few more lasers and a flamer, backing up towards where the small mechs were parked at the back of the ship.
They barely heard the whine of a high powered machine increasing in volume, and then something hit the ground at high speed and continued moving. Wired emerged out of the dust cloud with the associated rapidly increasing and then rapidly decreasing whine of a rapidly approaching and then receding superbike as it shot past them, Trajectory leaning low over the handlebars.
Wired's nose opened up, revealing a tiny little PPC, a tiny little blue energy ball firing ahead into the crowd, melting down the unfortunate personnel that didn't get out of the way. Wired slowed down a little bit as they got into the main crowd around the ship centred around Starzone. Trajectory let Wired drive, pulling out his slivergun and sending bullets flying seemingly at random into the crowd.
Trajectory shot past Starzone, wrapping his tail around her waist and yanking her onto Wired's pillion. His fur stood on end as she felt the surge of fury in her, and then she recognised him. Nekamah's guise receded and Starzone leaned against him, exhausted.
With Byte now stepping into the area at first Rav'una was expecting to see an enemy rather than an allie, so needless to say it was a relief to find it was Byte standing near by in her mech when Rav'una turned to see who it was.
"Please. I certainly could use it" Rav'una nodded, smirking as she withdrew the lazer blades and slipped the weapon back into its holster. "Although I admit it is rather a shame that was over with so quickly" She then added with a purr.
"Yeah...Yeah I'm fine..." Derek replied to Chip, snapping out of his little moment and doing his best to keep his breathing steady and his whole self calm. "Just need to take try and take it easy" He noted as he proceeded to fiddle with a few knobs and switches, also trying to keep himself occupied so not to have to concentrate too much on what he'd rather not. On the other hand though things were starting to become harder to ignore the more he pushed it back.
Now locked into place Derek decided gave Chip a few words of caution and avise when the time was right, a small streak of concern in his voice. "Chip? Listen, if I start to...act a little strange and you start seeing some weird effects in shadow form and stuff like that don't worry, just chill and if you have to let me out. Don't worry, I'll fine...If it happens..."
Derek wasn't even sure if any of that made any sense but he figured it was probably better to give a word of warning before hand than wait until happens, if it happens. He could just see bits and pieces of what was going on in the battlefield and his heart began to beat that awkward rithym again, Derek in turn having to close his eyes and just breath easy. He didn't seem to be winning by much though as small shadows began to leak from his Battlesuit, lapping at the edges as they slowly weaved out from the smaller nooks and cracks of the Battlesuit...
Byte stood by so Rav'una could scamper up the mech, watching for danger, firing the odd shot here and there and getting ready to pop the cockpit as soon as Rav'una was ready to jump in. "If it's any consolation it's not over yet. Freak." Byte grinned and winked.
Chip nodded, turned back to stomp a truck into the ground and would have ground it into the ground if his mech had the flexibility and manuveerability to grind, lacking that he had to be content with just the single stomp and then shooting the remaining lasers on his arm. Of course he immediately got an overheat warning as his arm started smoking, suggesting an internal fire threatening to start if it hadn't already. He paused as something clicked, then looked up at the Battlesuit on his arm again. The blue-black stuff leaking out the joints in very unlikely places was not, as his logical brain had first suggested, oil, fluids or dents. He remembered Cypher saying something about Starzone going crazy. He glanced towards where Wired was circling the ship, taking potshots at the Catatonians with Trajectory and Starzone on board. He remembered the things that happened to them when weird freaky shit happened. This definitely counted as weird freaky shit.
"Uh, can you not do that, please?" he said, not sure if Derek was even capable of controlling much less containing the shadow spew, "Seriously man, now's not a good time..." Chip tapped his console. "Techy might be having a meltdown."
"Where you at Squidbait?" Cypher barked.
"Located Scout and we've jus' secured some intelligence. Workin' our way out now," came the cheerful response.
"Work faster, Squidbait. Shit's hittin' the fan," Cypher pulled his Atlas around and stormed towards the ship. "Dire Wolf, pull out. Techy, keep it together."
"Well now..." Rav'una smirked just before she reached the cockpit, holding onto the side as she looked over at Byte the best she could from her position as she continue "I never thought I'd find something sharper than my blade but your tongue certainly seems to be doing a fine job of that" Lucky for Byte she found her response to be amusing and actually it earned her a little more respect as a result. Looks like Rav'una was starting to show a little trust, at least so far to Byte mainly. Which was ironic considering how Rav'una first greeted her.
"Freak, am I?" She soon added with another smirk as she waited for the cockpit to open, adding with a little chuckle "This coming from a martian mouse with antennae"
Derek meanwhile was focussing hard to try and hold back whatever it was he was going through but his guess was it could only be one thing. Sydonai. But it felt a little different this time around...for starters he was aware of it and wasn't starting to black out. At least not yet. Oh yes, he certainly was starting to feel different and things certainly had started to feel very strange, those dark tendancies starting to gradually bloom like blossoms of a black rose in some gothic garden, but the other thing was that he was holding back and it was working. For now at least. Still, right now wasn't the time and place he needed Sydonai to bust out and cause chaos and havic. And it was getting harder to hold back by the minute.
"Damn it, I'm trying here!" Derek growled behind gripped teeth, not meaning to sound so harsh but he was obviously starting to struggle. "Ya think? Dude, if I had a choice right now I would be doing this, believe me..."
'Dereeeek...' Sydonai's eerie whispers echoed in his mind 'There are still more left Derek. Why don't we take them out? They are threatening us and your friends...I do not like this Derek...'
"God damn it Sydonai, now's not the fucking time!" Derek blurted, not having realized he said it so loudly.
'But Derek, now could be our chance...We can be as one you and I...'
"For the last time, not...NOW!" Derek growled behind his teeth but the struggle still went on.
"Fuck, he's as stubborn as I am..." Derek muttered to himself, breathing heavily as he tried his best not to let things turn sour. Were it the right time and place he would have probably just let it all out but as Chip said, now was not the time. And Derek was making this point clear to Sydonai who seemed stubbornly eager to take the next step. Why now seemed like such a good time was beyond Derek.
"Doing my best..." Derek replied to Cypher through his struggles "He's not giving up easy though..."
"Don't dis the headgear," Byte chuckled as she popped the cockpit for Rav'una. "You know you could do a horror movie. That plastering on the side of my glass was awesome."
As soon as he heard Cypher's command Chip wheeled and pushed his mech up to top gear with a mumbled "Sorry baby." The mech hit 64kph, the knees screeching and grinding horribly. Chip aimed to crunch anything immediately in his path as long as it was an enemy, chipping away with lasers but not slowing down for anything. He heard Derek speaking aloud to no one in particular. The first thing Chip thought when he heard Derek mention the name "Sydonai" was that someone had hacked their comm frequency. Then he realised Derek was talking to himself. Chip glanced back towards roughly where Trajectory and Starzone were. Trajectory had pulled Wired hard around evidently, from the dust trail settling in a ring around them. Both of them were sitting a little too still. The Catatonians for their part were milling around uneasily, none of them daring to so much as fire a shot. "Hang in there," Chip said, trying to sound reassuring which was made a bit hard by him also trying not to get blasted too much. He hoped that moving Derek away from the battle would stop or at least slow down the shadow spew.
"Then don't call me a freak" Rav'una responded back with a smirk, chuckling at Byte's remark about how she should be in a horror movie as she slipped into the cockpit. "I think the more frightening part for the audience, were it the case, would be figuring out if the deaths were genuine or theatrical" Rav'una smirked, sitting herself down and buckling up for the ride.
It wasn't easy but so far Derek was just barely managing to keep things from turning in a direction that right now wasn't a good way to go. He had hardly realized he was talking to Sydonai out loud, if Sydonai at all was a seperate entity or not was still something of a mystery but more or less things were starting to fall into place, and was just trying not to let things get out of hand. It made him sweat and breath heavily as he struggled but the battle still driven strong around everyone only increased this struggle's difficulty. So far though, just barely so good.
"Affirmative..." Derek responded, his breathing heavy and a sweat drop running down his temple.
(ooc- sorry bout the gap, getting our bathroom renovated and a few things have gone slightly awry, fortunately the overseer dude is all over it)
"Theatrical deaths are always overdone." Byte shut the cockpit glass, securing it, and then opened fire again. "What the hell are those two doing?"
Byte being Byte and up where she was couldn't see or sense the pulsating energy eminating from Starzone and Trajectory, nor could she really see from this distance the shadow spew from Derek's Battlesuit. She could figure that something major was happening from the fact that Cypher had just ordered Chip to take off and for some reason the Claw Troopers surrounding Wired and its passengers weren't attacking. And even they weren't that stupid.
A mound of stiff-furred Catatonians, a handful of scientists and ancillary staff but mostly soldiers that had been caught off guard, bubbled forth from the ship, some throwing themselves sideways off the ramp. They were immediately followed up by the bullet shaped Anarchy, Streak not so much riding as staying on board. Anarchy fired laser beams over the heads of the fleeing crowd ahead of it before thundering noisily down the walkway.
A willowy platinum male Martian stepped through the doorway, hefting a sturdy looking and very unconscious Catatonian with surprising ease. He moved down the walkway, immediately flanked by two armed females of the same species who kept a wary eye on the raging battle below. Anarchy and Streak stood by, both looking like they were itching to join Wired, but kept guard as the three made their way to the three small mechs.
Starzone blinked and looked around. Her brain buzzed in a not unpleasant fashion with the sudden surge of power. So something was happening but not happening hard enough to have knocked them out. She wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. She felt Trajectory snap out of it at around the same time, and grabbed onto his vest with one hand, the other ready to throw a fireball if needed, as he kicked off, revving hard and spinning the bike again, kicking up dust into the faces of the Catatonians.
*lace* they suggested to each other simulaneously, smiled and Trajectory laid down the foundation, weaving lines of crackiling static electricity through the dust particles. Starzone almost simultaenously shot small flames throughout. The static network caused an explosion, throwing molten sand and rock particles outwards. It wasn't nearly hot enough to disintegrate people but it tore through clothes and fur and seared flesh and definitely gave the surrounding Catatonians a lot to think about.
(OOC: No worries, I hope it works out for you in the end ^..^! How is it all in all though?)
"True" Rav'una began with a nod or two "But as can be the real thing"
Now seated and buckled up for the ride Rav'una closed her eyes and focussed, doing her own style of trying to at least sense what it could be that Byte was referring to in regards to what 'those two' where doing. Calmly she opened her eyes and looked over at Byte as she stated rather surely "I can not say for certain although I can tell you whatever it is...it is causing much tension in the air..."
Rav'una was no Psion nor could she be considered a psychic and whatever else to that extent but she did have her ways of 'tuning into' certain things from time to time. Kind of similar to the extent of Telepathy however even that wasn't exactly the right choice of word for it. She couldn't really tell by much what was going on ahead of them from her position but she had a strong feeling that something big was about to happen. Yet again.
She soon found herselves resisting the urge to unbuckle and leap out of the mech into the scattering crowd, which she spotted a few of, to wet her blade that little more. But that would be foolish. For starters she only just recently came out of the medic bay and was already in a battle. And what better battle to be a part of than against those certain types she obviously hated with a deadly passion.
Meanwhile Derek's struggles where finally starting to settle but the odd thing was that now...he was starting to find control over it. Or at least it seemed Sydonai was starting to realize Derek's point or something. That is Sydonai indeed was a seperate entity or just another part of Derek himself. It was hard to say at this point.
Just when he started to feel more at an ease and was about to sigh in relief however Sydonai's voice was yet again heard in his mind. 'Derek, to our left...'
"Huh?" The moment Derek looked to the left, trying to figure out what it was Sydonai was talking about out of the blue it seemed a large one of those walkers suddenly burst from the clouds of gunfire and took aim at Chip's mech. Before it could even fire its lazers however in an instant a large shadow-based tenticle of sorts shot out from Derek's Battlesuit, slithering fast through any gaps it needed to pass and as quick as a gunshot it stretched out and pierced right through cockpit of the enemy's walker, a surprised "Holy shit!" escaping Derek as he watched it happen, unable to shake off the surprise and absolute shock of what just happened even after the tentacle thingy retracted and slipped back to its place.
'It has began...' Sydonai whispered to Derek.
Could it be the two where forming as one? Was Derek's struggles all some kind of test? Will Derek grasp control of his gifts? Find out next time on Dragon Ball Z! Wait...wrong show...BMFM!
(ooc- hopefully they will be done by Monday)
"Never seen a theatrical death myself." Byte pulled hard around as a missile barrage battered her left side, swearing like a mercenary, strangely enough. Several alarms sounded as the temperature where her ammo was stored rose to dangerous levels, and then there was an explosion and she lost most of the left side. Byte's swearing went up a notch as she turned her right side to the enemy and took them out with her other arm. They were finished off nicely by getting cut in half by autocannon fire from her oldest brother.
Chip had turned right to blast a walker, he became aware first of the walker to the left as it approached on his radar. He echoed Derek's sentiments as shadow spew shot forth from the Battlesuit, striking down the approaching walker. "You are so not like Darkmoon," he blurted.
(ooc - bahahahaaa XD and now I have bad Spice Girl lyrics stuck in my head, I will find a way to make you pay! XD)
(OOC: Nice ^..^. Best of luck with that!)
"Spend a little more time with me and you will soon enough" Rav'una replied with a bit of a chuckle but she quickly stopped, all amusement halted as she went suddenly serious but before anything more could be said or done the next thing she knew she was ducking in her seat with her arms covering her head before she then a few moments later lowered her arms to look back as best she could at the gaping hole.
"Curses!" Rav'una hissed, turning her attention firmly to Byte as she practically demanded "Where are you weapons stored here?"
It took a few moments for Derek to do much more else apart from just stare in absolute shock horror at what had just happened, getting the feeling Sydonai was feeling quite pleased with himself, and even though he heard Chip at first, after about a minute or two of just staring wide eyed and in absolute shock at what had just happened, he replied with a "Yeah..." but then snapped out of his stareful moment with a brief shake of his head, turning his attention then to transmission screen with a curious perk of his bro.
"Wait...What?...What's that supposed to mean?..."
(OOC: Oh noes! D= I swear that was in my intentions! I swear it! *Eye twitch* Oh good God...now I have Spice Girls Lyrics in my head! This is all your fault! XD!)
Chip looked very distracted and slightly uneasy. "I donno why I said that," he said, glancing around behind him.
"Someone scored a few lucky shots in the torso," Byte answered through a clenched jaw as she wrenched the Timber Wolf hard around again, strafing a few vehicles.
Two new faces appeared in the comm section, both bald with a thin covering of pale fur, one male and one female. The male looked a lot older than the rest of them, the female looked late teens to early twenties. "Scout secure," the male purred. "And guest," he added, amused. "Thanks for the rescue Cavalry."
"Anytime Scout Starleader. Unusual for you to get picked up," Cypher sounded amused. "What's with Raven-10's camera?"
"Slight malfunction," a disembodied female voice responded, "shouldn't be too hard to fix."
The three Scout mechs had started moving, shooting their way out.
"Got what we came for?" Starzone's voice broke over the comm suddenly, sounding strange.
"Affirmative Cavalry Starleader," the male responded, smiling.
"Good to hear you Scout Starleader. Catch up with Dire Wolf-01. Timber Wolf-02, Atlas-01, escort them."
"Affirmative Starleader," Cypher answered.
The bikes ducked and wove, shooting their way through the somewha thinned ranks of Catatonians. It didn't take them long to catch up with the mechs, Scout in full on flee mode and the two larger Cavalry mechs running away and taking pot shots over their respective shoulders. In what looked like a well practised move, the bikes drew parallel, Streak shifting back onto Anarchy's pillion and gamely riding hands free. The sentient bike held its own course unerringly. Starzone in the meantime stood up on Wired's pillion, her hands resting on Trajectory's shoulders lightly. Wired pulled ahead or Anarchy dropped back slightly, or maybe there was some cooperation either way from both bikes. Starzone sprang upwards and sideways. Streak reached his hands up and caught her hips as she landed on her feet on the saddle of her bike and then dropped into mounted position, grabbing the handlebats. Streak wrapped his arm around her waist, and she wrapped her tail around his.
"Cavalry, triangle formation, Dire Wolf-01 take point seeing as you're up there."
"Affirmative Starleader," Chip replied, slowing down slightly. "My knee actuators are fucked, might be stuck at fifty or sixty if we're gonna make it home."
"Gotcha covered bro," Cypher smirked, switchins sides with Byte so her very damaged left was going to be protected.
Scout formed themselves into a triangle on the inside of Cavalry's triangle, the Incubus leading. The two bikes tacked on to the two Ravens, flanking them.
Derek just stared at Chip with that look of total loss as to how to even begin to react to that. It was random but he couldn't help but wonder if there was something more to it. Eventually though Derek snapped out of it, trying to keep focussed.
"Well at least on the plus side things seem to be under control...kinda...for now..."
Meanwhile...
"Oh fantastic..." Rav'una replied with a roll of her eyes, exhaling in frustration on how things just so happen to go from bad to worse when you least want them to. In particular when you're on your way out of a certain situation. Although on the other hand it did give her an idea. Wether or not anyone would approve of it wasn't on her concerns nor did she see it as a problem of hers either.
Before she did anything else though the two faces that came up on screen caught her immediate attention. She didn't say anything but did acknowledge them with a nod when she was refered to. Even if she was referred to as "guest" apparently but it wasn't like they knew who she was. Not even her codename yet alone her name.
It didn't seem like Rav'una would have to proceed with taking shots from the broken side of Byte's mech like something out of an action movie as soon everyone had that cover.
Derek meanwhile had managed to pull himself together but was obviously still thinking about what he had just done. Of course for the sake of staying professional and the likes he decided to shrug it off for now. Easier said than done really but it would have to wait for any further annylisis later. In the meantime he just stayed put, trying to stay at an ease as communications took place and each had their say accordingly. And boy was he starting to dread the repair jobs. Needless to say...he hadn't yet found out about what happened to Byte's mech.
"This may be a good time to inform you all" Rav'una later began with a small smirk "That during my inflitrations I managed to leave behind some very pleasant surprises. All I need is an affirmative and the whole place will be blown away. Just be sure to keep your distance"
(ooc- being a techy, if he gets bored Derek could probably check the specs on the other mechs in his star, the field techs are able to do that kind of thing so they can do field repairs quick and easy ;)
"Depends. What did you find in there?" Starzone asked, starting to sound more like herself again, though that oddity was still laced through her voice.
*epoch* Starzone called, her antennae glinting unseen beneath her helmet, where they were flattened against her head, *come meet us* She felt a gentle affirmative from her brother and relaxed a bit. Kodi and Epoch would sort out anyone following them and they would leave immediately, and so would meet them about halfway. And there was Rav'una's offer of blowing the place sky high if things got a bit too hot.
(OOC: *Slaps his forehead* Why didn't I think of that? lol! Thanks! ^..^)
Derek decided now would be a good time to check on the specs of the other mechs...finding some very unpleasant surprises in the process that made him sigh in defeat. "Boy do I have my work cut out for me..." Derek though out loud before transmitting to Byte "Hey Byte, I can try and patch up that gaping hole you have at least until we get back to base. Figured it's better than leaving an opening there...And Chip" Derek tuned into Chip's transmission as he explained "Just try and take it easy. Your mech should do just fine for the moment but the more wear and tear it gets the worse it'll get from here. The best I can do at this point is tighten the bolts and adjust the cog belts. That's about it"
With that Rav'una later responded to Starzone's question. "Apart from a small warhead of sorts that is about the extent of it. I did manage to grab a hold of some blueprints and planning notes but otherwise the place was rather bare and there was not a great deal more else to be found. Of course you could always attempt to raid the ammo bays however that is rather time consuming and probably best left alone"
At that point Rav'una slipped off a small bag full of rolled up papers and various note books and gadgets she gathered as items of interest, placing the bag down in front of her as she added rather seriously "It was not an easy task however this is all I could find."
Some of the stuff she had managed to snatch up was hard to get kind of stuff which means she would have had to pick a few locks and...improvise her way into a few points of interest. She figured though it had to be enough to know at least for the most part what the Catatonians where up to this time.
"That's be awesome, techy," Byte answered. "You gonna run over here or you want me to come pick you up?"
"Warhead?!" Starzone looked up sharply towards Byte's mech, lacking the visual comm link the mechs had. "Do NOT blow the place up." She touched her helmet, tapping into another communication frequency available to all stars. "Tir, Cavalry. We have a reported warhead in that camp we just hit. Advise."
"Cavalry, Tir," Xu's voice responded after a while, "Commander says come home and talk to him. We're sending out Hunter to keep an eye on them."
"Tell 'em to be careful, they're a bit jumpy after our raid."
"Affirmative, Cavalry Starleader. Tir out."
Byte in the meantime had twisted around to see the spoils of Rav'una's raid. "Ooh, stuff," she said, her eyes darting over what Rav'una had managed to pick up. "Can I see?"
"Stuff?" Starzone echoed.
"Rainbow picked up Stuff," Byte answered.
"Hold on a sec..." Derek checked his radar to see how far off from Byte he was and figured that according to the distance and such he should be able to make it over to her. He was still docked to Chip's mech but he would just have to inform Chip before hand. Of course.
"Should be able to make it to your location now that the area's a little more secure" Derek proceeded to explain "Chip, I'm going to have to start on some repairs so that means I'll have to un-dock and scoot on over to Byte's mech. That all good?"
Even though Derek wasn't exactly his usual more enthusiastic and chipper self at least he seemed to have his situation under control. It shook him up quite a bit and even though he was pretty much settled now it still didn't help to know something like that happened. Period. Not to mention the feel of a war doesn't die easy.
"It is only a minor one" Rav'una attempted to explain after having recieved such a reaction. She should of known. But she also didn't want to end up blowing the absolute crap out of half the planet and a large portion of its military while she was at it. And as far as disarming thing where concerned...unfortunately warheads were not one of her specialities purely because she doesn't come accross too many of those at all, if any at all. Still, she knew one when she saw one. "Although your reasons of concern are understandable..." Rav'una added with a couple of nods.
Turning her attention now to Byte she smirked as she began with a proud sort of "Indeed" before proceeding to open that pouch-like bag she had taken with her and proceeded to reveal what was inside.
"By all means, do take a look" Inside where a whole bunch of various forms of paperwork, blueprints, gadgets, drives, discs, anything and everything she managed to scoop up that she found to be of interest and/or that looked of any importance. Everything from classified information and plans to notes and video/audio logs and PDA data. One really had to wonder how on earth she managed to stuff that bag with so much stuff but in her line of work stealing, although done only when need be such as in important missions such as this, became second nature and so the art of taking as much as possible while still travelling light became another part of her profession. But not something she liked to fall into habbit of doing. Her speciality was in assasinating and taking down enemies effectively and quietly, not stealing.
"I think you both be pleased with the 'stuff' I managed to bring back" Rav'una smirked proudly, holding the bag open for Byte to see.
"How much for the gold watch?" Derek joked to which Rav'una replied "Far more than your ego. In other words, too much for anyone" with a smirk of amusement.
"Hardy-frikkin'-har. Very funny..." Derek replied with a roll of his eyes.
(OOC: Crap! Sorry about the triple post...my browser's been playing up tonight and I hit the post button twice thinking it didn't work and then went back and posted again...)
Chip looked over at Byte's smoking, beat up mech. "Told you to put extra armour on," he said jokingly, both of them knowing full wel that the Timber Wolf was physically incapable of packing any more armour. Byte's camera picture was askew as she shot a look at her brother's mech out the cockpit window rather than through the cameras. Chip chuckled. "Off you go, techy," he said to Derek.
Byte grabbed a couple of notebooks, flicking through them. "Think Salvage will have more luck with this," she said at length, passing the notebooks back over her shoulder y Rav'una and pulling out a rolled up sheet that she unrolled and looked at, turning it over and over as she tried to work out which way was up. "When are Retro and Mariis gettin' back? Retro would looooooove this."
Derek could have added his geeky sense of techy humor to that remark Chip had aimed in Byte's direction but instead he just smirked, shaking his head a little with a chuckle before announcing with humor still present in his tone "Alright, de-docking now and on my way"
With that Derek de-docked, using his boosters to help make the landing smoother and once on the ground he started making his way over to Byte's mech. "Shit...it's worse than it looks when it's in your face..." Derek commented with a perk of his brow, exhaling in a kind of sigh as he added "Well, better get to it. I'll need you to stay as steady as possible. I'm pretty sure I can do this on the move but it's tricky so try and keep your speed at minimum" Derek explained "I know, I know, it'll slow the others down but this needs to be fixed"
Meanwhile Rav'una took back what was handed to her, putting it back into her bag as Byte meanwhile went through some of the other stuff. Looking over her shoulder Rav'una looked at what was rolled out as best she could from her position.
"I could not quite figure out the plans myself however if this...Retro individual is able to figure it out that could-"
Rav'una was cut short by a sudden fuzz that appeared on everyone's transmission screen, Derek heard saying "What the heck?..." as the image gradually began to clear. From time to time it static would run over the image, distorting it for a second or two before it cleared up again, revealing something that may have come to everyone's surprise.
A mouse, pale furred and with a bite/scratch like scar that ran down the right side of his neck and a little beneath the right side of his jaw smirked proudly and wickedly at everyone as the transmission cleared. His eyes where of two different colours, his right eye being a more of hazel-brown colour and his left eye being such a pale blue it was almost white except for the pupil, which formed into a freakishly eery slit-like shape. HIs clothing choices where very darkly themed too and all in all...he gave even Derek the creeps.
"So predictable, as usual..." The mysterious mouse began...and so the plot thickened.
"Shit happens eh." Byte smiled and slowed to walking pace, everyone else slowing down along with her. "Reckon you can manage this speed techy or you prefer me to stop?" She frowned as the static happened, tapping her camera. "Oi, what gives?"
"Fried wires?" Chip suggested, also frowning in puzzlement as the static increased.
"On all of us?" Cypher inquired.
Starzone frowned and glanced across at Trajectory when the alien voice came over. "Tighten up Scout," she ordered.
"Affirmative Cavalry Starleader." The Incubus responded. The two Ravens drew closer, the two girls piloting them seeming glad to do so, confronted with the creepy stranger as was. Cypher remained mostly impassive, though it was evident from his eyes that he was disturbed. Byte and Chip were slightly more openly wary.
"Eyes on." Starzone sounded bored, or indifferent, or both. Sure she was irritated that their comm channel had been hacked but after Lorus, exactly nothing was scary. Concerning perhaps, disturbing maybe, but you didn't know fear until you were in the presence of Phobos or Deimos, or worse both together, and they liked hanging around their high priests. "Who is that?" This time irritation tinted her tone. As she asked the question she tapped Anarchy's console, attempting to track the signal.
"I should be able to man...age..." Derek's response came to a gradual halt as he noticed the static on the transmission screen, he too tapping in turn at his own screen with a frown which was soon followed by a perk of his brow.
"Beats me" Derek had began to explain "There shouldn't be any static, unless Byte your transmission reciever got knocked but even then it shouldn't effect everyone else. Not where we are right now and considering I checked and updated everything before we left..." It wasn't until the screen cleared up that Derek was really thrown back by surprise.
"Friend of yours?..." He asked with another perk of his brow before shortly after quieting down as the one sending out the transmission started to say something. 'This is gonna be interesting...' Derek though to himself with a roll of his eyes though sarcastically as he knew this was only to get worse from here. Not to mention it couldn't have come at a worse time. Derek had only just began to start on the repairs so he couldn't stop right now or he'd loose track of what he was doing. But he did try and make the repairs as quickly and quietly as he could. Easier said then done when working on a giant sized mech with a gaping hole in its side.
Rav'una meanwhile remained silent although her irritations were rather obvious in the way her tail twitched and how suddenly serious she had become. She didn't know who this was...but whoever it was she didn't trust him. Not one bit.
The mysterious stranger gave a chuckle that matched his eery, wicked sort of appearence as he leaned in a little closer, leaning on what appeared to be some kind of desk that he the transmission device sitting on. He seemed amused in the reactions he had recieved and was obviously hiding something.
"Awww, you don't remember me? What a shame." He began, his expressions and tone becoming more serious as he continued "After all it was the ones you work for that put me behind bars. But I don't expect some of you to recall who I am so let me refresh the memories of those who have forgotten me and enlighten those who don't know...if my name doesn't ring a bell or two then I've been more forgotten than I thought..."
"Does the name "Daemun Shade" ring any bells? It should do..."
"Oh and I wouldn't bother trying to track this down. Believe me when I say I know what I am doing and besides, you'll only end up tracking it down to your very Tir." Smirking in a proud, borderline insanity in present particularly in his left eye shining through, he added in a unsettling manner "Yes, how the tables have turned..."
"I hope you're at the Tir, then I won't have to hunt down your sorry tail to hand it to ya," Starzone retorted, tapping into the Tir's computers and patching the current communication through to Xu. The brains of the Tir was immediately on it, deploying IC to help track down the intruder, or at least see if they could track back the reoutes that would be going through the Tir if a trackback would lead to the Tir. "Whoever the fuck you are," Starzone added as Xu got on it.
The triplets and the two girls from Scout exchanged glances with each other across the formation, each looking equally blank when faced with the revelation of the identity of this "Daemun Shade". They thought they might get more information from Starzone initially, up til her addendum. Starzone and Trajectory had also exhanged puzzled glances, wondering if perhaps this guy had delusions of grandeur.
Unbenownst to the youngsters, seeing as Daemun Shade had gone and hacked their visuals as well as their comm channel, the Scout starleader was calmly studying the video feed of the intruder, a mirthless smirk twitching up the corner of his mouth.
"You could always try..." The mysterious new individual began with a wicked sort of smirk. He had actually said, purposely, where he was so to distract everyone from where he really was located. The first sign of this should of been apparent in the transmission and the small glimpses of the background which didn't look like any place from the Tir. Even he wasn't crazy enough to attempt to take over that area. While Xu tried to track him down he had bought himself some extra time so to proceed with whatever plans he had up his sleeve.
"I wouldn't expect all of you to know who I am" Daemun continued with a small chuckle to follow, leaning toward the screen with a smirk as he added "Although at least one or two of you should know who I am..." His expressions became suddenly more serious as he added once more "After all it was all because of him that this whole thing happened. You can thank him for making this mouse particularly pissed the fuck off..."
Well one thing was for sure. Daemun was certainly dillusional. Or at very least thoroughly disturbed. He had been kept in some high security prison off in the middle of nowhere but apparently that wasn't enough to hold him in. And what he wasn't revealing was that he was also banished due to some big incident that happened a while back now. But what was with his eye? Something about him wasn't quite...all mouse.
While he may have successfully hacked into their systems to send out the transmission he had, yet again, underestimated the ability of the team and unknown to him someone apparently had found something of interest without his knowledge. Looks like things were about get interesting.
(OOC: Just throwing in whatever I can to correct my previous mistakes. I hope I didn't screw it up...This is why I worry about throwing in extra twists but it's a learning curve I suppose ^..^.)
(OOC: I sent you the link...you didn't get it? o..O Lemme try again. http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h293/moonshade84/DerekbyKaslynWintersNightbeatBMFMRe.jpg Or if that doesn't work try http://s67.photobucket.com/albums/h293/moonshade84/?action=view¤t=DerekbyKaslynWintersNightbeatBMFMRe.jpg . Hopefully one of those will work ^..^.)
With the commando down, the screech making Derek, who heard it if not rather faintly from his position, cringe at the sounds of agony. Sydonai remained within smirking with utter glee, wanting out but knowing better than to do so now. It wasn't the time yet and may not be the place to do so either. His time would come soon enough and perhaps that time would spark something new for Derek as well.
Rav'una too, although somewhat closer, perked her ears at what to her was a familiar sound and she just shook her head a little and moved on with her mission. 'Foolish creatures...' Rav'una thought to herself moments before she had began to move on, shortly after having found her find and the rest unfolded soon after that.
"Your guess is as good as mine..." Rav'una responded "Perhaps you have something of value to them they are willing to go to great lengths to find. I am going to search further more to see what more I can find..."
With that Rav'una slipped further into the vacinity, heading into the main structure but still keeping clear of the area she wasn't supposed to be in. Orders are orders. She would have to be careful for a number of reasons but also because it seemed the action was just getting started. Perfect. Rav'una may well have the chance to really show her stuff on the field. As an assassin she was more than just good at more than just hide and seek.
"Let me guess..." Derek exhaled, having a feeling he knew in part as to why Chip was one of the only ones headed straight for him "You're not just coming over to pick me up, are you?..." Actually Derek had caught a glimpse, briefly, of one of the mechs leaping off of something off a distance from where he was located and from what he could tell it looked like Chip's mech. Of course then again it was pretty far away and too brief of a glimpse to really gather much else apart from that the landing couldn't have been that forgiving.
You ain't got a life 'til ya live it free!
(Thanks Nightbeat/Katana for Derek's picture! ^..^)