(ooc - oops got a bit carried away with the last topic :)
(ooc- aerotech is built like a fighter, two seats one behind the other)
"No, no, no," Strike repeated despairingly as two decent sized warheads shot past, one either side. "Two and three, fuck the missiles, focus on an unlaunched warheads. Two, with me. Engage from the rear only. Tir you ave two incoming warheads, repeat, two incoming warheads." He winced as up ahead he saw another wo fire off, followed by a third, and then Aerotech-03 dropped a bomb that made a very big, very satisfying explosion. "Four incoming Tir." Strike loaded up rockets and set about the closer warhead.
-=o=-
Geiser sneezed to disguise a breathing irregularity as Rav'una walked towards the door and followed her. He had no idea how old she was but he figured probably about the same age as Byte and that was defnitely too young for him. He felt the desperate twinge of sadness, coloured by the slight pangs of guilt. It had been a while, he was probably ready to move on, Lyric would not want him to be pining forever, she'd want him to be happy, but he still felt like it would be a betrayal.
He followed her through the door, closing it behind him, and walked beside her through the Atrium so he couldn't have to keep looking at those sexy, sexy hips, even though there ws an undeniable part of him that was more than happy to enjoy the view.
Crazy old fool, his head declared. What the fuck are you thinking?
As if the kid would fall for damaged goods that was probably a decade older than her anyway.
-=o=-
Garnet cleched his jaw and exhaled slowly through his teeth as he drove his brain at full pelt trying to come up with solutions. They were going to wear more missile damage, it was impossible to stop them all before the Tir was fully out of range. Derek's idea - assuming it worked - would knock out an appreciable chunk of the incoming missiles. It wasn't strong enough to throw the warheads though.
Strike's transmission came through. Chip turned palere underneath his fur s he sighted the four incomingbehind the one he'd just blasted.
"I can't do it," e whimpered.
"Yes you can bro," Cypher yelled, "shoot the fucking things, one's gonna fuck us over never mind four of 'em, shoot!"
"Battlesuit-22, go with Marauder-07, do your thing. Marauder will boost you. 18 and 19, reload the LAMs. Move!" Garnet roared.
Trajectory guided his Marauder closer to Chip so that erek could make the meh to mech trnsfer quickly and easily.
"All units wih MASC form up at third rank. Last Ditch inclusive. Go."
Like the remarkably efficiet military unit they were, the lines started moving as the pilots rushed to obey the captain's orders, the non-cloaking mechs automatically readjusting to fill in gaps in the defences and batting down what they could.
The Tir shuddered again as more missiles hit, and then there was an extremely unsettling grinding soundand they very noticeably lost what speed they had.
"We've lost an engine," Xu sounded way too calm, "All engineers to bay three."
Battlesuits 18 and 19 managed to load up a bracket between them, one clunking into the launcher. Trying to remain calm, Chip once more took aim.
A series of bizarre clicks and shrills came overe Strike's comm. His ears twitched as he listened intently. Then his entire posture brightened. "Aerotech-01 to Morning Star, we woud love assistance. Thank you."
Strike pushed his aerotech forward at full speed, chasing down te last of the four warheads. Their top speed was higher than his aerotech's but damned if he wasn't going to try anything. He had no idea what Daemun was going to do but having dealt with Darkmoon on a regular basis he knew to just do now and question later.
"This is as close as I'm gettin'," he said, keeping on the tail of the missile and working on getting a lock on it.
-=o=-
Geiser caught the chair as Rav'una pushed it out and plonked himself into it. A young teenage boy approached with a datapad. "Hey Geis. Hey." The boy nodded towards Rav'una. "What would you like?"
"Beer for me thanks, Leo," Geiser replied, looking at Rav'una to see what she wanted and noting the deeply thoughtful expression.
-=o=-
Trajectory winced hearing Derek's Battlesuit grinding and carrying on. He moved them to th designated area and popped his cockpit, climbing out and climbing up onto the shoulder of Derek's Battlesuit, watching as the other mechs moved into line as Derek had specified. He looked up bleakly at the incoming missiles. Without the protection of his Marauder around him, he was going to die if one hit close by. He settled comfortably, feeling more than hearing the electromagnetic fields of the cloak enabled mechs powering up.
On Derek's mark he would boost Derek's mech, adding to its power output. That would hopefully knock off more missiles.
Alternately...
Trajectory blinked as another idea slammed into his brain. The thought of it frightened him, it was something he would never have contemplated before, because it would have without a doubt killed him. Now however, not only did it seem perfectly feasible, but he was also calmly certain that he would survive.
He settled himself more comfortably on the shoulder of Derek's Battlesuit, looking up at the missiles, waiting for the mark.
"And that is as close as we need to get" Daemun noted as he began to unbuckle himself, grabbing onto whatever he could and keeping his balance as he can as he added with a firm tone "Open the hatch..." Even for Daemun this was going to be a suicide attempt more than anything but something had to be done. If he failed it may well be game over from there. If he didn't do anything the missile would cause more damage than they could afford and so long story short failure was not an option either way.
"Prepare for incoming debri and keep your eyes peeled for more incoming missiles. Guide me in the right direction and I'll deal with whatever I can. But do what you have to do to stay alive. Got it?"
Daemun had reason to be blunt and straight forward, directing his words quickly and sharp at Strike so to get his point accross fast and effectively. Strike probably would have been used to it by now, even though nowadays Daemun was far more that way in general than he was back in the day.
Meanwhile...
Rav'una didn't even look at Leo when he approached the table to take their orders, simply raising her hand with a lifted index finger as she replied "Water for me..." She didn't realize just how blunt she sounded then until after she said that, bringing herself out of her deep thought and looking at Leo with a shake of her head. "My appologies. I'm...not quite feeling right at the moment..."
With that she turned away to look down at the table with a small frown. "Actually I think I will change my order to something with a little more flavour and a kick to go with it. Nothing alcoholic though. Whatever you recommend will be just fine, thank you."
Meanwhile back over to the field...
Derek got into position and activated what needed to be activated, his ears perked as he listened carefully for the right pitch he wanted to hear. Suddenly, as if struck by another sense, he felt that someone was on top of his Battlesuit and suddenly wondered for a moment what the heck they were doing there. He had to shrug it off and trust in their decision, however crazy it may seem, and concentrated on what needed to be done.
He waited, watching the missiles incoming and fast, announcing through the transmission "Wait for it....waaaaait for iiiit...." Just at the right moment Derek suddenly yelled "NOW!" and slammed down on the cloak activation button, a large sonar-like ripple bursting from his Battlesuit and if successful it would be accompanied by a series wave of other ripples and be sent straight for the incoming missiles. God he hoped this would work...otherwise they were as good as gone.
"Two, go help Three and Four take out the convoys, we got this," Strike said. His wingman acknowledged and peeled off, shooting out anything that looked like a launcher on the top of the canyon. Already the convoys were starting to disperse and return fire against the aerial onslaught. Strike listened as Daemun delivered his instructions while putting his mask on and popping the hatch. "Yeah yeah. Don't get dead," he responded with a slightly maniacal grin that while it couldn't be seen through the mask, could be heard in his voice. "I gotcha back."
-=o=-
Leo was used to the mercurial attitudes that presented in the mercenary pilots so Rav'una's brusqueness was nothing new. Still he hated it when people took that tone with him. It made him feel slightly better when she apologised though. He forced a smile.
"Beer for you, and a Virgin Mary for the lady." Leo touched the pad and then turned and headed back to the bar. After he left, Geiser leaned on his elbows on the table, looking at Rav'una.
"What's on your mind, kiddo?" he inquired. He winced as a few more missiles contacted, his wince echoed by cries of fear from some of the civilians. "Sides the fact we're gettin' blasted."
-=o=-
Starzone felt the prickle at the back of her head. She stopped shooting. She couldn't hear anything. Physically all she could hear was this ringing in her ears, but she didn't notice it. Her awareness had sharpened so much her senses had ceased to be of any assistance. She turned, even though she didn't need her eyes to see Trajectory perched on the shoulder of Derek's Battlesuit.
Trajectory didn't hear Derek's mark. He couldn't hear or see anything. He didn't need to. He was so aware of everything, it was like he was in himself and watching himself and everything else in time lapse, and he had all the time in the world. He was calm. He felt Starzone. All was well because she was there. He could "see" Strike in his aerotech, he could feel the intense energy of Sydonai close by, within and without Derek, he couldd feel the almost overhwleming buzz of Daemun, could "see" him too, leaping for the last warhead in the queue.
He was trying to help, who knew. Maybe Starzone's faith in Daemun's desire to make up for whatever it was that had happened in the far distant past he shared with Strike and Flak was not so misplaced after all. But Starzone had a knack, like Darkmoon, like Zenith.
He felt the simultaneous powering up of the electromagnetic cloaks like the stabs you get from pins and needles, one at a time and then they built up into a slightly uncomfortable prickle. He inhaled sharply, tensing as it coursed through his body. He looked upwards towards the missile rain.
The magnetic field generated affected some of the smaller missiles by themselves, they wavered, some veering completely off course. Not strong enough.
Soon they would be.
Trajectory took control of the strands of energy he could see as an interlace of colour expanding outwards from the cloaking mechs. Derek had done his bit, working his techy magic to make the mechs output it the way he needed. Now it was his turn. He expanded the weaves upwards and outwards, adding his own energy, upwards and outwards further.
The collective breath of the mercenaries atop the Tir caught as more missiles wavered. The major problem with this plan was that no one could safely use guided missiles now so everyone was standing by with beam and slug weapons.
There was a flash of sunlight off three small objects. As they approached seemingly from out of the sun they took on the apparent appearance of very large, oddly shaped birds. Oddly shaped birds that started casually grabbing hold of and pointing missiles away from the Tir.
"You're doin' it techy!" Byte yelled suddenly, jubilance in her voice. She was convinced that between Derek's plan, boosted by Trajectory, Daemun's help and the arrival of the humanoid birds, the number of missiles would be down to easily manageable. Her sentiments were more or less echoed by most of the other mercenaries.
Maybe they just had to hope because it was their last home they were protecting.
"I'd be more worried about that yourself if I were you" Daemun smirked before seriously noting "I'm moving out, keep it steady."
With that Daemun began to exit the hatch, clutching the sides and taking a quick moment to scan around and study his surroundings before making his next move. "Why did I change back?..." Daemun grunted to himself before slipping out of his gear quickly and re-checking his surroundings. Coast was clear. Daemun latched onto whatever he could as he climbed his was hastedly to the top-front of the aerotech, coming up to just above the windscreen and holding on with one hand as the breeze damn near forced him right off the aerotech.
"I hate this part..." Daemun once more grunted to himself as he realized he would need his demon form...again. And with that he focussed strongly to bring forth the transformation, tearing away his 'outer shell' so to speak and forming back into his demon form. Once in that form he could grip onto the aerotech like a bird of prey, forming his feet like talons and gripping through the aerotech with such force the talon-like claws now at the end of his toes peeked through the bottom a little as Daemun stood and held his hands as though ready to cast a fireball, one hand held in a clawed style to his side and the other raised in a gripping motion as he 'caught' one of the missiles, yanking it toward a second one and watching as they collided with a booming force of debris and fire, lashing his other hand out to bounce a large piece of shrapnel away from the explosion and launch it toward a third incoming missile which also went out in spectacular fashion.
"Three down..." Daemun smirked to himself, his tone creepy to say the least. This time Daemun made sure to bring along something to communicate better with. He could use one of his little mind tricks but that might be destracting for Strike who was probably having enough troubles keeping them alive as it is. "Strike, notify me of any further incoming missiles" Daemun transmitted, his voice probably sounding extra eery through the transmission regardless of how hard he tried not to make it sound so. "In the meantime get me as close to the Tir as possible. If I am able to reach the highest point I can help prevent further missile hits. Do not concern yourself too greatly about shooting down any missiles along the way. I will deal with them."
Meanwhile...
"Thank you..." Rav'una nodded to Leo, trying her best not to sound as blunt as she had a moment ago and once he turned away Rav'una was back into her thought pool again, swimming about in a mix of emotions and thoughts until Geiser's voice cut through and snapped her back into reality. Before Rav'una had the chance to reply her ears folded back as she cringed at the sounds of the missiles striking and exhaled deeply with a shake of her head at the reaction it had caused. Turning her attention back to Geiser now Rav'una's expressions remained serious but her tone was far softer as she gave her response.
"Apart from the attacks" She began with a small silent sigh "I...I am...not certain exactly what it is I am feeling right now. In truth Geiser though we have known each other for only a few hours I feel..." She paused a moment, lowering her gaze almost shamefully as she perked her ears back and continued "As silly as it may sound I think I am having feelings toward you." With a shake of her head Rav'una then added with a small frown "Perhaps I am being foolish in allowing myself to feel this way. Especially in such times as now with the attacks and in a crowd of fearful civillians but I have to be honest with you Geiser..." Another pause came into play before Rav'una lifted her gaze to look at Geiser as she added with a more softer expression, though you could tell she felt uneased by admitting it, she would add "I think...I have fallen in love with you Geiser. I have never felt this way toward anyone before. Not as strongly and not in this way."
Meanwhile...
Speaking of Sydonai it wasn't long before he made his presence known, slightly emerging and beginning to form that shadow-like aura over not just Derek's Battlesuit but everyone's Battlesuit, mech and whatever else was used within a certain radius, aiding in boosting up the needed energy to stop those missiles even though Derek's plan might have worked just fine without his help. Right now though every bit of assistance was needed and Sydonai, no matter how dark he was, felt he needed to assist. He didn't take control but instead it reached a point where Derek and Sydonai were truly as one. Oddly enough Derek hadn't even noticed this and the fact that his eyes were glowing that eery blue and his voice had a hint of change within in its tone that was dark and yet balanced in that odd kind of way. It wasn't until shortly after he gave his mark however that Sydonai decided now was the moment to fuse with Derek, giving him a sudden heightened senses and more awareness of his enviroment. Add to that further protection for all involved, weather they needed it or not.
Sydonai did not interefere with anyone else's attacks toward the missiles, giving him enough space and time to up the defenses with his own 'magic' so to speak, forming a shadow-based wall of 'flame' that was visible enough for all to see as it spread accross the field like a protective barrier but not high enough to get in anyone's view of what needed to be seen. If need be Sydonai would force his own wave of energy out toward the missiles but for now that seemed to be well covered.
Derek felt a sense of relief when his plan worked but grew suddenly concerned when it didn't work to its full extent. Or better put how well he had hoped it would but something was better than nothing. He could feel a build up of energy coming from above him as Trajectory worked his stuff and could feel every pull and push of energy as Trajectory did what he had to do. It was intense and it certainly helped to know that it would aid them greatly in this situation. Again, any and all help was needed right now and there was no time to pick and choose.
Byte's voice sounded twice as loud as it normally would which at first made Derek cringe with pain in his ears. He shrugged it off as just being a side of effect of forcing so many fields of energy outward or something to the likes of being in that battlezone and, still yet to realize the slight change to his voice, he replied with a grin and enthusiasm "Excellent! Keep the energy flowing though, it isn't over yet!"
"Aww Daemun, you messed up my suit..." Strike said, and it was exactly the cue he needed for the acceptance Darkmoon had taught him to get around the block his brain was trying to drop in to denounce the fact that what had happened had just happened.
He skilfully avoided missiles, moving Daemun higher as requested.
He could see the Mercurites clearly now, clear enough to note the rainbow sheen of Phoenix's wings and tail, as her triad made their way down, knocking missiles aside. The three of them were remarkably efficient. Barely visible, way above in very low orbit, their cargo ship would be waiting for it to be all clear before they landed.
Phoenix dove through the missiles, leaving her male companions to deal with them, and snapped out level with Daemun. She regarded him in a calm and unsurprised fashion before dipping her wings and dropping further towards the Tir.
-=o=-
Chip could initially only sit and stare as his brain grappled with the sight of the demon clinging to the side of Strike's aerotech, and it boggled more as said demon did funky jufu movements that caused the other warheads to blow up.
Shoot the missile, Chip, Starzone's voice said in his head. It was flat and toneless, but it snapped him out of it. Quickly, he regained his lock and blasted the remaining warhead into obvlivion.
"YEAH!" he whooped, as exhiliration ripped through his body, replacing the paralysing terror. He also noted that Derek's plan seemed to have worked, with Trajectory's help, and with the assistance of Crazy Shadow Demon, the blue flames of which he could see licking around the cockpit of Derek's Battlesuit. Oh well, Starzone wasn't worried about Crazy Shadow Demon therefore Chip saw nothing to worry about either.
"On ya techy!" he yelled, quickly powering up his beam weapons so he could help shoot down missiles while he kept an eye out for more warheads.
They would have to watch where they were shooting now too, as the Mercurites were ridiculously fast and it wasn't always easy to predict where they were going to be.
-=o=-
That much blood rushed to Geiser's head that he had to lean on his arms to stop from falling over.
Leo returned with the drinks, setting down te bloody red thick concoction in front of Rav'una and giving Geiser his strong, bitter smelling brew. "Everything okay sir?" he asked Geiser.
"Yeah. Thanks."
Looking slightly confused, Leo headed back to the bar.
Geiser sculled almost three quarters of the pint, the intense burning sensation in his throat and stomach grounding him to a degree. He exhaled softly. ""How old are you kiddo?" he fially managed, his voice low and slightly hoarse from the speed at which he had imbibed the alcohol.
-=o=-
Trajectory blnked as he felt Sydonai' presence, but only briefly. Then all he could feel was a presence that was entirely Derek and entirely Sydonai but both and neither and the paradox would have shut his brain down in a it of insanity if he'd been anyone else. Just as well the other mice had automatic mental defences (known as denial) against such things.
He felt Derek's need for more energy, and was aware that he probably vocalised it to the others. He inhaled, exhaled, expanded. His mind briefly touched the molten, roiling energy of Phoenix, he felt her double take slightly as she initially started and then recognised him. He gave what he had, playing, weaving, unconsciously working in tandem with Sydonai. It was harder than weaving with Starzone, it was slower, but it did the job for now.
The non-cloaking mechs were quite confidently taking down the missiles that were getting past the Mercurites and Daemun.
They were going to do it.
"I am pretty certain I took it off before I came up here..." Daemun responded with a curious perk of his brow, shaking his head a moment so to not concern himself too much about the topic and simply adding "We will talk about that later. Right now we have more important matters to concentrate on." When Daemun was in his more serious state and mood he there alright, focussing on what needed to be done and getting it done right. After all half of the decisions he has had to make in the past was often a 'no second chances' situation and one wrong decision could cost him more than just his badges. In fact it already had at one point.
As they continued onward Daemun gripped the aerotech with his newly formed talons, a little trick/gift he has, and crouched down so to hold on with one hand onto whatever he could, all the while using his free hand to prepare for any incoming missiles and to dispose of them as quickly as possible. With Daemun now up on top of Strike's aerotech it was like having a near unstoppable barrier that would deflect just about anything you threw at it, guardian perched and ready to crush any and all threats. As they passed the missiles Daemun stood up a little more from his crouch and reached out quickly, snatching one of the missiles by a latch of sorts beneath it and yanking it to the other side of the aerotech, making sure no other allied flyers were in the way as it zoomed over and crashed right into another missiles setting off another spectacular display. Daemun held on as they continued to fly higher. Sure he could of stayed inside the aerotech but he was more useful out here than sitting inside the aerotech. So he felt. Besides, it was kind of fun out there anyway if it wasn't for those damn missiles.
When Phoenix, an obviously skilled pilot indeed from what Daemun could tell, first flew level with Daemun he wasn't too sure how anyone would react to him and so it kind of caught him a little by surprise when Phoenix so calmly acknowledged him in the way she did. Daemun nodded back in both the same reasoning and also in a bit a thank you gesture as well all rolled into one before turning his attention back to matters at hand.
Meanwhile...
"Nice shot!" Derek enthusiastically whooped over the transmission, letting out a quick victory howl and allowing his enthusiasm to be unleashed for a moment before settling with a proud sort of smirk. Not just at the fact that his plan, with help, worked but at the over all team effort. But it wasn't over yet. There were still a few more missiles to worry about so Derek snapped himself out of his little moment and yanked his concentration back to the missiles ahead.
"Shit!" Derek hissed as his Battlesuit's overheat light flashed at him and the Battlesuit started to beep warnings at him. "I'm overheating fast, I have to tone down the boosters a little but it should still be sufficient" Derek still didn't notice the slight change to his voice or that aura lapping away at the border of his Battlesuit.
Meanwhile...
Rav'una nodded a thank you at Leo when he came along and placed her order in front of her and she reached out and took the glass, or whatever it was served in, giving it a small taste test before confirming with another nod "A job well done Leo, thank you" Though she didn't change her expressions much her tone hinted she was at least trying to be nicer than usual. Besides, right now she also had a lot on her mind. Taking another sip of her drink she gently placed it back on the table.
At first Rav'una turned to Geiser with a small smirk in her expressions, which may have eased things a little more, as she replied "It is rude of a male to question the age of a female first. Why don't you tell me your age first and I will tell you mine?"
Meanwhile...
One of the missiles came too close to the defensive wall of which Sydonai had put up and no sooner had it done so did that area of the wall 'come alive', tentacle-like shapes forming quickly and wrapping around the missile and dragging it into a thickened dome of dark-blue shadows, the pressure within that dome forcing the missile to explode and light the inside of it like a bursting lightbulb, the dome parting to release the cloud of smoke and fire but having absorbed the blast the missile failed in causing any damage.
Derek meanwhile was surprised to witness this, shock kicking in fast and hard as he started to realize that Sydonai was out and yet what caught his curiousity is that he didn't black out or was being 'possessed' so to speak by Sydonai. He did feel a little different though...
"Guys...when did the wall appear?..." Derek asked with a hint of slight concern in his curiosity.
(ooc- I think I meant to type plane, obviously my fingers were doing their own thing when I typed that - also the Mercurites are Avien ;)
Strike was getting the hang of having a large deadly hood ornament and slowly losing his squeamishness about flyng the apparently indestructible demon closer to the missiles. They were so close to being all done. No more were coming in, and he hoped the oher aerotechs would report in as finished soon, he was starting to worry about them.
There were similar overheat issues in a lot of the smaller mechs. With the missiles being taken care of though it was beoming less critical that they hold.
"One more incoming," Chip announced, sounding very much like his old self as he took aim and waited for his LAM to lock. "Make that two."
-=o=-
Phoenix felt a chord from Starzone. She flapped twice, finding a thermal amongst the heat trails the missiles had left, and turned to look at Falcon and Goshawk. She made eye contact with them very briefly and the two of them immediately wheeled in the air, kicking aside a couple of stray missiles that got into their path. The first warhead dipped through them and they got out of the way of the explosive end, then both latched onto the second one, the sharp talons on their remarkably humanoid hands digging through the outer shell of the warhead. Both flapped mighty wings, and together turned the warhead a goof seventy or eighty degrees off course and slightly upwards before pushing hard off it, sending it careering off into the desert.
-=o=-
Chip waited until Falcon and Goshawk were clear before unleashing his next missile. It exploded lower than the other ones had, the mechs beneath retreating to avoid being struck by extraordinairily large fragments.
"YEAH!" he punched the air in triumph and winced as he accidentally punched the top of his cockpit.
-=o=-
(ooc - is it just me or is it slightly hilarious that while everyone else is fighting for their lives upstairs Rav'una and Geiser are having romantic drinks? :P also I'm going with earthly ages seeing as I have no idea how they would count time, if we were to go with they count in years they would be twice as old as Mars takes about twice as long to hoon round the sun :)
Geiser looked down at his beer as once more he felt like he was going to spontaneously combust with embarrassment. He distracted himself by slowly spinning his glass on the table with one hand, listening to it scrape across the surface, as if he was just settling the head on the beer. What the hell was it with women and ages? Lyric had been equally coy. Seemed like once they got past 25 they felt they were too old or something and wanted everyone to think they were still 17, at least appearance wise. "I'm thirty six," he replied, not looking at her. And he should have had a 34 year old wife and an 11 year old daughter, and a 6 year old son or daughter.
Geiser stared harder at the beer and stopped thinking.
-=o=-
Diving after the missile that eventually got swallowed by Sydonai's defences, Phoenix flapped hard, throwing the entirety of her slight weight backwards as the wall thrummed and then lashed the missile out of existance. Her polarisers flashed, causing her void like eyes to turn white for the duration of the blast, and reflecting off the smooth downy sunburnt reddish orange of the feathers that coated her lithe body. She put her arms up, molten flames of the type usually associated with the kind of combustion that went on in stars spilling from her hands, licking down her arms and countering the stray shadow fire.
She clicked her beak in irritation, and then felt another thrum from the mostly recognisable Starzone. Say hello to Sydonai.
With a look of amusement that could very easily be mistaken as regarding one as a potential meal when plastered on the face of a bird of prey, Phoenix trilled a greeting, then turned and hovered in the air, watching to see how the demon and the other two and the Tir itself handled the rest of the missiles. There were only a handful left, they would be fine.
-=o=-
"When you put it there," Byte answered cheerfully. She had double took the first time she heard the change in Derek's voice, but like Chip she trusted Starzone and Trajectory regarding all things weird and freaky and if they thought Crazy Shadow Demon was all right, then Crazy Shadow Demon was all right by her. "What you didn't notice you've gone crazy shadow demon again?" she grinned at him and unleashed her last batch of LRMs at another bunch of missiles. The first missile in the group she had been aiming for exploded, the other two didn't make it too much further before they were cut down by machine gun fire from the mechs flanking Byte.
It would appear that you're getting it together, Starzone commented.
-=o=-
There was next to no warning.
All yours, Trajectory sent, his tone abrupt, and it was uncertain who the message was intended for as Starzone (obviously), Sydonai/Derek, Phoenix and Daemun were capable of hearing it. He mentally stonewalled, the blinding flash in his eyes and the ringing in his ears momentarily unbearable as his senses kicked back in. He only barely registered the intense pain so he didn't have time to scream before the pain knocked him out cold. Just as well his body hadn't had time to start reacting to the pain as all that happened was that he slumped lifelessly off the Battlesuit and onto the arm of his own mech.
Starzone clamped eyes and ears shut and roared until she ran out of breath. Fortunately that was about as long as she needed for the dump shock to release, and after a few shuddering breaths she forced a slow, deep inhale, filling her lungs from the diaphragm up.
Over exertion much, she rebuked her unconscious friend gently, getting a weak sheepish response from him. A good sign, meant he hadn't completely shut down. Starzone wheeled her mech around and dashed back to the Marauder. Once she got close enough, she popped the hood and started scaling the larger mech to get up to where Derek and Trajectory were.
(OOC: It's okay, I'm so focussed on not screwing things up and letting it all sink in so I can remember who each does what where and when now that I probably didn't noticed really, lol! I've probably made a few mistakes myself and hadn't even realized it ;P. And no worries :), thanks for that!)
As hard to kill as Daemun may be, especially in his demon form, he still was mortal and had to keep that in mind when it came to times such as...oh, you know, gripping onto the top of an aerotech and swatting missiles away with ooga-booga mojo and brute force strength. Besides Daemun didn't have only himself to worry about. There was far more at stake than just his own life and good health.
After having dispatched what missiles he could Daemun managed to stand up straight, his hands held to his side and his mane of silver-white hair flailing in the breeze behind him like some kind of dark anime character when suddenly he heard the sound of two incoming missiles. One zipped right passed him and toward the Tir but no sooner had Daemun turned with a curl of his lip to stop it did he hear something approaching from behind and fast. He turned just in time to find himself slamming into the side of one of the incoming missiles, a few small deep gashes from the talons he had formed tearing into the top of the aerotech but nothing that would have prevented it from being useless. Though he was hurting Daemun still tried to reach out and grab the missile but just barely his claws scraped its side.
"Aargh! Fuck you!" Daemun hissed before plummeting to the ground and fast.
Meanwhile...
(OOC: LOL! Actually I was thinking the same thing, XD! I'd be all like "And the missiles hurtled toward our heroes with death accompanying their presence, invetible doom in their ire! Meanwhile, Rav'una announces to Geiser that she is in love with him while they have a nice drink to ease the tension. Irony. Gotta love it!" And that's fair enough. I originally was going to have Rav'una not actually know her age but I decided better on that since I felt it would kind of downgrade her somewhat or something. Whatever works, we'll use it :). )
Maybe it was just a woman's way of being a smart arse half the time when she would say something such as what Rav'una had said and in a way she was in part but being coy with him. She had to do something to ease the tension. But in general though it was perhaps a pride thing or something. Either that or some are just old fashioned and Rav'una, dispite her position and all, had a tendancy to be quite old fashioned at times. She could tell Geiser was feeling a little embaressed after she had given her response and it kind of amused her. But what amused her more so was that he had fallen under the impression that she was much younger than he was and so when he told her his age at first it made her smirk and chuckle a little in amusement before she settled then with an almost proud sort of smirk as she leaned her left elbow on the table, resting her chin on it as she held her drink up with her other hand in a casual sort of matter.
"Thirty six you say?" Rav'una began, her smirk strong throughout her response as she continued "One should never assume that what lays on the outside is what truly is within. I may actually be a little too old for your liking but let me tell you my age and I'll let you be the judge of that." With her arms rested on the table Rav'una leaned forward and spoke in a bit of a whisper as she replied "I am fourty three, I will be fourty four in two days time. Amongst my people this is a very young age but I am not so sure how it is viewed amongst your people." Rav'una had a feeling that what she had just revealed might just shock Geiser and the fact she didn't look anywhere near her age may have thrown him completely off. With that cheeky little smirk still in tact Rav'una leaned back and rested against the back of the chair, her drink raised to her lips as she took a casual sip.
"And you thought I was too young for you" She added with another sip of her drink.
She could tell something was on his mind however. Something more that may prove a problem but nothing that could be helped. However it didn't mean Rav'una didn't care or worry about whatever it was and slowly her expressions changed to a more serious yet concerned manner.
"Is something on your mind Geiser?..."
Meanwhile...
"If I had of noticed..." Derek began calmly before throwing his arms up and blurting out in frustration and borderline panic "I wouldn't be asking about the damn wall, would I?!" Blinking some at hearing his own voice Derek sort of sat there for a moment in silence before finally noting "That...sounded like my voice...only creepier and that outburst kind of made me almost pee a little in fear..." Hearing Starzone's comment was when it really hit Derek and he fell silent with shock shortly after that.
"Holy sh-...Wow...You're right! But...when the hell did this happen?" Derek was obviously completely thrown off by this. "Or for that matter how did I manage to pull it off without going all crazy-doom-wolf-from-hell mode? That's-" He suddenly fell silent when he caught a glimpse of something falling toward them before turning his attention to the falling demon in the sky. "That's something you don't see every- Oh shit!" Derek blurted as he stared wide eyed as Daemun came hurtling toward them with greater speed the more he fell. "Am I the only one seeing the falling demon in the sky or have I have finally cracked?" Of course there were still those remaining missiles and falling debri to worry about but anything falling from that height could be potentially lethal. That and who knew what kind of damage it could of caused Daemun when and if he hit the ground...or if it would even kill him. It may or may not really and it didn't take long for Derek to notice the missiles also hurtling their way. "And typically enough we've got more damn missiles..." Derek exhaled almost too casually with a blank expression toward the two missiles soaring their way.
Trajectory's voice cut through Derek's senses like a razor, since he currently was in high senses mode so either way just about any sound was hard not to hear and all (something he would have to get more control over in due time), and Derek could feel and almost see just about everything that was going on. His heart started to beat hard and suddenly everything became muffled around him, his vision going into a momentary tunnel zone as his perception became suddenly sharpened and sounds became to gradually clear. It was then he noticed Trajectory had fallen. He couldn't say or do much however as his body felt kind of numb and his head was throbbing.
"Urghn...what the hell just happened?..." Derek asked himself as he held the side of his head, waiting for the throbbing feeling to go away.
"Holy shit!" Strike yelled as one second Daemun was there and the next he'd been forcibly removed by a stray missile. He pulled abruptly upwards as sensors informed him of another one about to hit him that passed harmlessly underneath, then dropped back to his previous altitude and blasted the spare missile.
Phoenix zipped, her colours blurring together as she threatened speed records and came back into focus above Daemun. She grabbed onto him, four toed claws on her feet digging into his hips and her claw-tipped fingers gripping his shoulders tightly. Sorry, she sent quickly. She wouldn't have dug in claws if she could have helped it, but that was how she grabbed things and their claws weren't exactly retractable. She flapped hard. There was a slight size and weight mismatch, the hollow boned Phoenix was only just 1.6m tall and all of 40kg. She did have a good set of wings, a good deal of training and a surprising amount of chi to back her up.
Her energy flared as she beat her wings and while she had no hope in hell of actually lifting Daemun what she did do was slow their descent before pushing off him hard, sending him on a much shorter fall towards the Tir, a drop that was easily survivable and probably a lot less painful on Daemun than hitting the sand would hve been.
Strike, observing the blur of colour, figured Phoenix was onto Daemun and went to help Falcom and Goshwak dispense with the remainder of the missiles.
-=o=-
"Thankaresimnotcradlesnatching," Geiser mumbled and downed the rest of his drink. He felt slightly dizzy as it hit him all at once. He smiled slightly lop-sidedly at Rav'una. "Lies," he said flatly, and then unable to maintain the flat tone he broke back into the jovial normal one. "You sure as hell don't look it. Damn." He coughed and once more avoided looking at her so she wouldn't think he was perving. Sobering a little, he inquired, "You don't have family? No lifemate, no pups?" He didn't mean to be rude or prying. He needed to understand himself, why he felt so guilty when he knew it should be all right.
-=o=-
Starzone rolled Trajectory over, crading his head and running a hand through hs hair, scanning him for damage. He was fine, just exhausted. And something in his brain had changed a lot. Maybe they needed to go see Doc again. The knot of concern that had formed in h er stomach since the realisation that they were getting more powerful and not always able to control themselves grew and hardened.
[i]Nobody doed,[/i[ Trajectory said, very faintly, somewhere in the back of her mind.
"Shh," she murmured. She looked up and saw Phoenix teering Daemun towards the Tir. According to his flight path he wo9uld probably land not too far away. She turned her attention to her field techy.
"Techy," she called. "Techy." She could see him mumbling to himself and shaking his head. She tapped the glass gently. "Derek. You okay?"
Daemun wondered if even he would survive this fall, regardless of being in demon form or not, and suddenly had a feeling that this may well be the end for him. Oh well, at least he did the best he could and would go out as a hero as opposed to a menace and the villain he used to be. Not that he would let death take him away so swiftly by that was beside the point. Suddenly he caught a blur of something above him and the next he knew he felt a sharp pain in his hips and let out a hiss at the pain, feeling then someone grabbing a hold of him and he suddenly realized he was being saved.
'It is better than hitting the ground' He sent back with a small smirk, adding then with a nod 'I owe you my life stranger' Though creepy as he may sound and look right now that last part would have been more soft and easier to recieve.
He immediately could sense that whoever was currently carrying him may have been small but certainly held a lot of strength in other areas to make up for that. Especially considering Daemun wasn't exactly short and though thin he still had a lot more mass compared to her apparently. It was impressive that she didn't drop down with him and this further proved that she had to have been well trained for this sort of thing. Either that or the situation summoned that inner boost that turns someone into a borderline superhero when given the choice of saving another or watching them die or be injured. 'Flying...' Daemun thought to himself 'Now that is an ability I wish I did not lack...'
Though she could only carry him so far it was better than how far he was falling earlier and even though Daemun did land rather awkwardly onto the roof of the Tir, nearly sliding off the edge had he not gripped onto something quick enough, he managed to land a lot safer and with an obviously higher guarantee of staying alive. Daemun exhaled in relief after picking himself up into a crouched position and taking a quick moment to recollect himself before then heading straight to the very highest point of the Tir.
It took a good while before he reached there and what he was about to do would take up a lot more energy than he was even sure he could manage. Regardless he stood straight and pressed the base of his palms together, holding his thumbs against their sides and holding up his index and middle fingers with hand pointing his fingers upward and the others pointed downward as he began to chant in some strange tongue, runes beginning to appear around his feet as though he was standing in the middle of some kind of ancient alchemy kind of circle, the runes glowing like red fire was burning a short distance beneath them, and right at the end of his chant he crouched down quickly, slamming his right palm hard enough into the circle of the circle to cause a mark to appear where it had impacted, in turn sending out a wave of energy over the entire Tir which formed a see through like barrier bubble over the entire thing. Any missile that would hit the Tir while the barrier was up the barrier would absorb the damage, in turn preventing the Tir from being harmed. However Daemun could only hold this for so long as for every moment the barrier was up Daemun's energy would gradually drop like mana to a Sorceror. That and the barrier could only take so much damage before it would fade.
Meanwhile...
Rav'una simply smirked at Geiser's first remark, chuckling as she raised her glass for another sip and looking at Geiser with a flirty sort of look in her eyes as she replied "I thank you for your compliments. You certainly do not look your age either Geiser." Taking a sip of her drink she crossed one leg over the other in a tempting sort of way. She was toying with Geiser but in all the good ways. One could say that though Rav'una took herself and her life seriously she had her moments where she loved to play and flirt. Of course it took the right sort of male for her to actually mean any of it and Geiser certainly was the right kind of male from what she could tell. So she hoped.
Her mood began to change however when Geiser asked about her family and her once was flirtacious and cheeky attitude gradually changed to a more serious and not-so-cheerful tone which was thoroughly obvious in her expressions. It was an innoscent question though so she did her best to keep her tone soft and understanding. "None as yet, no." She began, placing her drink on the table and keeping her gaze lowered to her glass, though hardly changing her expressions or mood at all, as she continued "No male could really handle me nor were worthy of being in my life or even worth the time. Or would die in battle or in some fight they never stood a chance in winning" Rav'una paused a moment to roll her eyes with a shake of her head at that last part before continuing with a small shrug "Therefore I have never formed a family of my own. As for family...I have none. At least not anymore."
Meanwhile...
Derek snapped out of his little moment with a drained sort of "Huh?..." and looked up to see Starzone tapping at the glass, Sydonai still present and obviously so from the faint glow in his eyes as opposed to the more presently stronger glow Sydonai caused when in full control. "Y-yeah, I think so..." Derek nodded slowly in his response. "I think Sydonai is trying to balance himself. I'm not sure how much longer he can hold up the wall for...And I'm feeling damn tired all of a sudden."
(ooc - the Tir is pretty flat on top so the runic circle would probably be in the dead centre of the Tir which would be the top of the blast shields over the Atrium if that helps, the Tir is kind of a triangle with the vehicle bay, mech bay and hangar making up three large spherical nodes connected by giant walkways which have residential quarters and various other facilities you'd expect in a city inside them, and of course the Atrium with the command centre in the middle :)
Starzone blinked as the barrier went up just in time to wear four more missiles.
"Dump shock," she said, explaining the sudden intense tiredness to Derek without looking at him, her eyes scanning for missiles. There went Strike after one. They were running low on ammo. "Take it easy, Derek," she said, smiling at him. "You and Traj did great. My turn now." Laying Trajectory down gently, she clambered up on top of Derek's Battlesuit.
"Hold your fire!" she yelled, turning towards Garnet's Templar and crossing her forearms in front of her chest.
"Hold your fire," Garnet repeated Starzone's request through the comms, turning it into an order.
Tag team? Starzone sent to Phoenix. If she'd known they were going to be fighting for their lives, and if she'd known the Mercurites would have arrived in time to help, she might have worn her falconer shirt. As it was, this was going to cane.
Incoming, responded Phoenix. There was a blur of colour, and Starzone vanished from the top of the Battlesuit.
-=o=-
"Seems we have a bit in common." Geiser was feeling much more relaxed now, and much less embarrassed about enjoying the view he had. He was feeling warm inside, proof that there was something in him peerhaps still capable of enjoying life, rather than merely going through the motions. He wasn't quite ready to touch on the topic of his lost wife and children, and it seemed the topic of family was a sensitive one for her, so no point harping on that until they were good and ready to deal with those issues, he figured. Still, having been born and raised in the Tir, the family comment stuck to him nonetheless. "The Tir is a family, and from the looks of things you may have already been adopted."
He reached out and tentatively touched the back of Rav'una's hand, slightly tense as if expecting to get clawed or slapped or something equally deserving for being so forward.
-=o=-
Starzone breathed deep and tried to acknowledge and work with the white hot burning agony in her hips and shoulders where Phoenix's razor claws dug into soft flesh. She was wearing a leather top but it wasn't her specially designed falconer outfit and didn't have the handles for the Mercurites to grab onto.
Phoenix flapped a few times, boosted by chi, drawing them up roughly to the average height of the missiles.
There weren't too many left, less than fifty, more than ten.
Below us, Strike, Starzone sent, and Strike's aerotech obligingly dropped below their line.
Phoenix found a thermal and hung, balancing precariously as she released Starzone's shoulders. Starzone took a quick breath, the hot dry air tearing down her throat and feeling like it was going to rip her lungs apart. Molten starfire bubbled out of Phoenix's talons, mirrored by bursts of flame from Starzone's hands. Simultanesouly, they both raised their arms, and the flames coalesced, weaving together and lashing out in a rather large arc of visible heat that pulsed towards the missiles on a slight upward trajectory.
Several of the missiles exploded within the first second of contacting the visible heatwave, ten to twelve of the bigger ones staggered out of control and fell through, spinning violently. Three of them thudded more or less nose first into the sand.
Incoming Daemun, Starzone warned as the remaining nine smashed into his barrier.
The air was clear. No more missiles.
In the distance, the other three aerotechs that were out could be seen heading back, one of them trailing smoke.
They'd done it.
(ooc - please check OOC topic)
In the Atrium, Redspot kept moving to keep herself from going crazy while the fight was happening outside. She wanted to protect those who were, in a sense, protecting her. THat was why she was in the Atrium instead of her room that she had been assigned, when the fighting was over she could go out witht the support groups to help.
She was walking past a table where a couple, the male was familier but not the female, were sitting and talking. She smiled, thinking back to her mate, when pain exploded in her head. She collapsed to her hands and knees, unable to control the electricity sparking off of her fur. The pain abruptly stopped and she just stayed there breathing hard, trying to get under control.
Redspot sensed someone approaching her. "No, don't touch me! I'll be... fine in a minute." She didn't mean to be so harsh but she didn't want anyone getting hurt from the sparks coming off of her.
(OOC: Figured it would either be flat or sort of come up into a sort of roof-like point with defenses around it or something. In any case you're right though, the runic circle would be right in the middile of the of the Tir so it would easily encase the entire thing in its barier/shield. It also drains a lot of Daemun's energy too and may have some slight effects on some of the electrical stuff in the Tir but nothing that would prevent anything from working though. Again, thanks for the heads up and update ^..^! )
Daemun gripped his teeth together as he focussed and concentrated on keeping the barrier up and strengthening it with each and every impact it recieved. Like a reflex effect (similar to if someone were to stab you with a sharp object or poke at you) Daemun could 'feel' the impacts and and in turn strengthening the barrier in time wasn't so much of a problem. Or at very least a much easier task with this handy little add on to this already ancient yet effective trick. He would hold it up for as long as he can. In the meantime he just hoped no one else would get hurt in the process and that his help would give anyone inside a chance to help anyone that may have been injured earlier.
"Great..." Derek exhaled, adding with obvious sarcasm and a quick roll of his eyes "Totally worth experiencing..." With that he looked up at Starzone and smiled back with a nod to her note. "Take care out there Starzone. Let me know if you need my help." Derek wasn't sure how he could help in his current state but he was willing to give it his all and stretch himself beyond his limits if need be.
"I'm going to need some time out" Derek later announced via the comm once Starzone was done "I know we're in the middle of a battle right now but I need to recovery some energy if I'm going to be of any use to anyone. Don't worry, it'll only be for a moment." With that Derek checked to make sure his path was clear before signalling with the according gesture to a near by Battlesuit to take his position for the time being before turning his Battlesuit and heading toward the safe zone, parking his Battlesuit with a small cringe as he felt his muscles begin to ache.
"Damn, even my muscles are aching...This sucks." Derek muttered to himself before taking a moment to recover said needed energy.
Meanwhile...
"So it seems..." Rav'una responded softly as she looked at Geiser with a small smile in her expressions. It seemed she too could find a reason more now to live than running about assassinating those unfortunate enough to be her targets and to be reminded time and time again of her own pains and misfortunes. Though she was strong about that it still was something that nudged at her regurarly and she would have to push aside all those negative emotions or use them as fuel in her missions and such. Now all of that seemed to fade away with Geiser being near. It didn't matter to her that he was not the same species as her or that they were of two different cultures or any of that. It mattered only what she felt toward him and she hoped, oh how she hoped strong, that he would feel the same for her.
Geiser's explination on how the Tir was a family and that Rav'una may well have now become a part of that family certainly comforted her and it was obvious she was touched by this. When he touched her hand Rav'una instinctively tensed for a brief moment, easing herself and stopping herself from reacting in a way that was not appropriate for the moment nor neccessary. Instead she rested her other hand gently over the top of Geiser's with a smile. Though there was a hint of slight concern in her smile added onto the fact that she was actually starting to feel nervous about this. She rarely ever became nervous about anything but obviously she had good reason to be since she just revealed her true feelings toward Geiser.
However concern took over the moment as she looked deep into Geiser's eyes and replied with a slightly more serious, yet still tender tone "What you say is touching and makes me feel welcomed and secure. But I can not help but wonder if it is truly so. However what concerns me more is how others may react to us...I had not thought of that before. I know I should not care but-..."
Meanwhile...
[i] Affirmative...[i/] Daemun's eery tone echoed back and with that he let out a hiss-like growl as he pushed a further boost of energy through the barrier, strengenthing it just as the missiles hit, the impacts actually causing some slight pain to run through his body which he held back as he focussed and concentrated on the barrier's power and strength. Sydonai meanwhile assisted while Derek rested, the entire wall now vanishing as in its place the entire Tir was now covered with shadow-like tentacles scattered randomly over the entire thing that wrapped onto and squeezed any other missiles that Daemun may not be able to stop in time, regardless of the barrier being present or not, a few explosions here and there sending out globes of fire and scattering debris away from the Tir.
[i] So you are the legendary Daemun, am I correct? [i/] Sydonai asked Daemun who responded through his struggle [i] Right now is not the time for idle chit chat and introductions...But if you must know then yes, I am he. And you must be Sydonai.[i/]
[i] Ah, you learn quickly my brother of darkness. You are right. As too you are correct that now is not the time to chat. We will speak soon...For now just accept my aid.[i/]
[i] With grattitude.[i/] Daemun responded with a slight smirk before both now worked together to help in any way they can. By the looks of things though the battle had been won.
Meanwhile...
Rav'una caught the sight of Redspot shortly after the electricity had settled (given that it has) and turned to Geiser to excuse herself. "I will return in a moment Geiser. Someone is in need of help but I will return."
With that she stood and headed over to Redspot, kneeling down onto one knee and reached out to help her up but stopped when Redspot warned not to touch her. Rav'una remained firm but kept her tone somewhat softer as she explained with her arm now resting on her raised knee "I have no fear for my own safety nor is that my concern at this point. If you require assistance stranger I will do what must be done. I have no time to argue or debate I might add so if you need help again I will do what must be done."
"What is your name stranger?"
(OOC: Hey there Redspot! Welcome to the RP :)! I saw your OOC posts and read through your character sheet before I came back here to continue to catch up on what I didn't have time to do last night and the last time I logged in. If you need any further info or whatever else on my characters and/or what's happening by all means feel free to ask. Yay! Another role player for our RP! Woot! ^..^ )
"All clear, Commander," Aerotech-02 reported to Strike as they came back.
"Good work guys. Three, get back in the hangar. Two and Four, escort Morning Star down here."
The aerotech pilots acknowledged their orders, 02 and 04 rising upwards towards where the egg shaped Mercurite cargo ship had begun its descent. 03 i the meantime requested and received landing clearance and limped towards the hangar, the dome of which was opening to receive it.
Strike set himself in a lazy orbit around the Tir, keeping an eye out for any more signs of danger, but otherwise just waiting for the greeting ceremony between the two pyrokinetics to happen, and to make sure that the roof was clear before he went back inside.
Speaking of pyrokinetics, Phoenix came swooping in towards the Tir. She dropped Starzone onto the roof first, the latter landing in a crouch and then straightening up. Phoenix continued her line before flipping in the air, flapping once to retain altitude, and then swooping in for landing. She hit the barrier rail feet first, claws curling around the rail, and then crouching and grasping the rail between her feet. Her wings splayed briefly, scattering rainbows as her feathers caught the light before she furled them against her back.
Goshawk and Falcon circled in, landing in similar fashion on either side of Phoenix.
Epoch's Kodiak made its way through the forest of mechs, and then Epoch himself popped out of it, dropping down and then moving to stand beside and a bit behind his sister.
Dropping into raw thought, Phoenix inquired after Darkmoon. Starzone recounted her memory of events. Phoenix's inner eyelid blinked on its own in an indication of surprise, accompanied by a slight tilt of the head.
Starzone caught her breath, then sraightened. Bringing her hands to her chest, she formed a small flame, which she then extended to Phoenix. Relinquishing her hand grip on the rail, Phoenix accepted the flame from Starzone, bringing it to her haert where it illuminated her chest feathers before absorbing into her body. Mirroring Sarzone's earlier gesture, Phoenix held her hands in front of her chest, starfire birsting forth from them, and offered it to Starzone. Starzone took it and absorbed it, wincing slightly as she always did. Her fires burned hotter than most but they still had nothing on star fire. Both Goshawk and Falcon raised their right hands vertically to about chest level, the first and second fingers reasonably straight, the last two relaxed, thumb curleds into the hand, in a gesture some martial artists mightt recognise as a Buddha palm salute. It was one that seemed common in most martial arts strangely, as it featured in the nameless art the followers of Mars studied, and in the one the Mercurites had.
Starzone and Epoch returned the gesture, Starzone looking tired and leaning on her brother when he moved closer and put a hand on her shoulder. Phoenix turned her head slightly and trilled to Falcon. The large black speckled white male nodded and lifted off, heading uo to Trajectory. He poked the piebald mouse first and, upon finding him still unconscious, lifted him up gently in his arms and brought him down.
Garnet started organising the units to go back down into the mech bay.
-=o=-
Geiser was going to let her go when he noted wh it was that needed help and hurried to catch up with Rav'una.
"Don't touch her," he said to Rav'una, reinforcing Redspot's request as he noted the static in her fur. It was very similar to what happened to Trajectory when he got out of control, except that Trajectory tended to spark up a lot more. Maybe this girl had a lot more control. He stood by behind the two women, remembering that Redspot was a new medic, having come in earlier with Starzone and Trajectory when they'd returned from one of their pilgrimages or whatever it was they went on with Darkmoon. Only that time Darkmoon hadn't returned with them. He couldn't remember her name though, or if he had ever heard it, so like Rav'una he awaited an introduction.
(ooc - Thanks Derek! Hope I worked this part into what Daemun was doing all right. I'll ask if anything comes up.)
"I'm greatful to you," Redspot said through clenched teeth. Something was wrong, she couldn't seem to control the sparking from her fur. There was some kind of energy field playing havoc with her control. She looked up to see a few of the electronics in the Atrium sparking as well. The field seemed to fade, and her control became stronger.
Redspot sighed and sat back, smoothing the fur on her arms. "Thank you. I'm Redspot, medic." Something clicked back into memory, though it wasn't that long ago. The room with the prisoner. She had been walking through the Tir when she felt the pain radiating from the room and heard their voices. *Oh, crud.* What they were saying and talking about came through the door as she listened. *It was necessary; it was necessary, there wasn't going to be any easier way to get the information. At least the end was quick.*
With the announcement to prepare for battle, Redspot ran for the Atrium. The pain radiating from the room lessened as she went further away. Just before reaching the Atrium the pain stopped abruptly and she knew the prisoner was dead. She had been glad when the pain stopped, wishing it had stopped just as quickly for her in the beginning.
All this was thought in an instant but Redspot had felt herself freeze. She relaxed and smiled warmly to the two in front of her. Standing, she held her hand out to greet them.
(OOC: No prob at all ^..^! It seems to fit in well enough ;). Lol, And well it is a role play so pretty much anything goes but when in doubt don't be shy to ask anyway. Ask Torama; Whenever I'm in doubt or make some kind of mistake there's pretty much a guarantee that I will be corrected and/or ask before I go right ahead and do anything I'm not sure about ;P.)
"It is...finally over..." Daemun said to himself and closed his eyes as he finally could relax, relief washing over him at knowing they had won. The barrier of which he had formed soon faded away, 'melting' back to the runic circle it had emerged from and completely vanishing along with the runes once it was done. [i] We will meet again... [i/] Sydonai told Daemun to which he replied with a smirk [i] That we will Sydonai. And thank you.[i/]
[i] No, thank you Daemun...[i/] With that Sydonai retreated, the wall he had caused to emerge vanishing almost instantly and leaving behind scattered debri from the missiles of which had hit and been grasped by it earlier. Daemun meanwhile slowly opened his eyes and stood tall upon the rooftop, taking a moment to allow the victory to settle in. He had done what he had come back out here to achieve and it felt unexplainably grand to know that with help the Tir was saved. At least more so than it would have been had it recieved the full impact of each and every missile. Or at very least just the bigger of the warheads.
Transforming back to his original form again, which was much easier and looked a lot more pleasing to the eye than tearing away at his skin, Daemun stood atop the Tir and watched the happenings below, the breeze blowing through his fur like a breath of fresh air. Though naked...again...he didn't seem to mind. He was just glad it was over.
"Urghn..." Daemun winced, falling to one knee and clutching his chest with his right hand as he supported himself with his other hand. "I need to recover...That was a bitch and a half to hold up for that long. Damn those missiles were a pain..."
Sydonai meanwhile had by now returned to within Derek and gave him a sudden boost of energy that felt like a brief adrenaline rush, Derek sitting up quickly with a quick gasp, resting against the pannel and breathing heavy with a surprised "Whoa..." After a moment he shook his head to clear it up some and rested back against the seat of his Battlesuit, taking a quick moment to allow whatever the heck just happened to settle before moving his Battlesuit and heading to where he needed to go now.
"Did we win?" Derek asked semi-tiredly even if the answer was fairly obvious.
Meanwhile...
"I would hope I am wiser than that..." Rav'una responded somewhat bluntly as she had already noticed the static running through Redspot's fur. Rav'una had, once again, now entered one of her usual moods; The more firm and yet calm and patient type mood. Well at least it wasn't the I-don't-trust-you-so-watch-it-or-I'll kill-you type moods she tended to get into from time to time. Of course speaking of trust that was one thing Rav'una didn't hand out too easily at all. But she was willing to give this fellow female a chance. Besides, she seemed like she was in need of some help.
Regardless though Rav'una wanted to show that she was willing to give this chance and so hoped that Redspot would at least give her a name to go by. Geiser seemed a little lost as to who she was exactly too and so a name would no doubt help him more than it would Rav'una.
Turning her attention back to Redspot now Rav'una nodded once in response to her given grattitude and for a moment she studied her and what was happening to her. Sure it was odd seeing this sort of thing happening at all but Rav'una had seen enough to be surprised by very little these days. Or at least be very intimidated by much. "It seems something was preventing your level of control" Rav'una began as stood back up, her stance proud and strong and yet calm and casual all at the same time. She could tell something suddenly bothered Redspot but remained silent and instead waiting for her response in regards to her name. Though her expressions didn't change a great deal more from what truly matched her current posture and stance she did offer a good sign of warmth in greeting through it all as she reached out and shook Redspot's hand with a few nods.
"It is a pleasure to meet you Redspot. I am Rav'una" She paused a moment to take her hand back and with that same hand gestured to Geiser as she continued "And this is Geiser. I welcome you to the Tir. I would ask why it is you are here however you seemed to have answered that question already."
(OOC: Sorry about the delay everyone ^..^.)
"You came with Starzi and Traj and the dragon, right?" Geiser inquired. He hadn't heard much, just that a strange ship had arrived piloted by a dragon, and Starzone and Trajectory and Streak had hitched a ride home on it, bringing Redspot with them.
"Crisis averted," Xu's voice came over the intercom like it was no big deal, really, that they had up til recently been severely pounded by missiles and were under threat from nearly a dozen warheads. A cheer erupted in the Atrium, making Xu's next message of "Please be patient while lockdown is lifted." barely discernible. They all heard the request of "First aid please report to the mech lab. Trauma and all other medics report to med lab." There was a brief pause, and then an addendum: "Redpot, report to the mech bay, please."
Geiser relaxed a little, then his hand snaked out and grabbed hold of a red furred, red headed young mouse in a trench coat that was sprinting past. The easiest thing to do would have been to grab him by the coat, Geser latched onto his arm. The young male struggled, the stronger Geiser reeled him in and secured his grip.
"Ease up nitro," he said jovially, "you can wait here like everyone else."
Streak glowered at Geiser. "Dere's always one o' ya..." he stopped and looked at Redspot in surprise. "Redspot! You're still here!" he grinned.
-=o=-
The hangar opened fully as up above, the escorting aerotechs spiralled downwards, preceding the much larger Mercurite cargo ship, which was still not that big compared to most cargo ships the others would have been used to. There was a strange metallic sheen to the craft, one that was vaguely mirrored in the armour plating of the Front Line mechs and to a lesser degree on Cavalry, an even less so on the other mechs. The sheen was also recognisable on the wings and underbellies of the aerotechs.
Goshawk and Falcon kicked off the rail, heading upwards, gaining altitude rapidly despite the searing hot desert winds, and cirled around above the craft.
Garnet started organising the mechs to go inside, starting with Last Ditch and the flatbeds loaded with what remained of their ammo. Once lockdown had been fully released they would send out Salvage to scout for parts and any ammo the enemy hadn't used.
"Yeah we won, techy," Chip said, looking a bit weary but very elated. "That idea you had, fuckin' awesome!" Chip twitched excitedly, the movement would have been a lot mre exuberant if he'd had more room to manuver in that cockpit of his. Byte's Timber Wolf loped back to join her brothers and Derek. Piloted by one of the techies, Trajectory's Marauder sauntered past them and stood in line to go down into the mech bay with the smaller units.
Down on the roof of the Tir, Epoch carried Trajectory over and put him down in the shade of the Dire Wolf. Starzone sat by him, stroking his head.
Xu's called for Redspot, Epoch informed Starzone, standing behind her. Starzone looked up at him with a smile.
Epoch looked through the legs of the mechs at the now naked Daemun, who looked like he was basking, or something. Or maybe he was too tired to move. That was also a possibility, seeing as his energy seemed to be rippling in a very irregular fashion. Epoch picked up one of the trauma blankets the first round of first aid team had brought up and made his way over to Daemun. He kept his distance, partly out of respect, partly due to a lingering mistrust, and wordlessly held out the blanket towards him.
"Rav'una," Redspot nodded, then looked at Geiser, "Geiser." She looked at her arms and then felt the back of her neck, slightly embarrassed at the lack of control. "Yea, I don't know what happened. My control is usually not that bad. Some kind of field was interrupting the electronics in the Atrium; they were sparking as well."
She nodded to Geiser. "Yes, I came with them and Nova. I've been hanging around the Medbay, keeping out of the way and to myself."
Redspot smiled then frowned and looked up, as if she could see the speaker, as Xu called for her to the mech bay. THat usually meant someone was in serious trouble and needed to get stablized. She was startled when Streak tried to get past, but she felt the same way. She would have been right on his heels if he hadn't been snagged by Geiser. "Still here," she replied with a grin at him.
Twitching slightly, wanting to get to the mech bay, Redspot waited until the exodus of the Atrium had slowed so she wouldn't run anyone over. She felt like Streak at the moment and just wanted to get there NOW. THere was a break in the people and she started walking backwards. "Exuse me. So sorry... have to go..." Redspot hoped they wouldn't be too irate with her but she couldn't wait any longer.
Redspot ran from the Atrium, finding her way through the Tir to the mech bay. The other medics were already working with those who were injured, so she couldn’t see who would need her. She looked up to where the mechs were coming into the bay and then saw that her friends weren’t here.
“Starzone? Trajectory?†One of the lead medics noticed her standing there and motioned up.
The mechs were coming down to slowly for her taste. *All the mechs were battling today. This is going to take forever.* Redspot saw an access ladder, and using her energy to enhance her speed, she ran to and up the ladder out onto the roof.
Up on the roof, Redspot looked around. The mechs were working their way down the elevator, then she saw Starzone sitting by her mech with Trajectory on the ground with her. Epoch was standing near a pale mouse that she’d not seen before. The pale mouse was moving slightly and looked to be injured, but she recognized the burst of energy that brought her to her knees as coming from Trajectory.
Redspot ran to Starzone and Trajectory first, thinking that all Trajectory needed was energy. If he was any worse, Starzone would have been acting different. The pale mouse could wait a few minutes, knowing she would still have the energy to Heal anything that happened.
“Starzone, I’m here. What do you need?â€ÂÂ
Kneeling down next to Starzone and Trajectory, Redspot held out her hand. There was a flare of yellow, then green as she touched Trajectory’s arm
(OOC: It's been a week? O..O... *Sweatdrop* Sorry about that everyone ^..^... )
A dragon? Now Rav'una didn't feel like she was the only odd one out of a group of a mice living at the Tir. Or this planet as a whole for that matter. Still, right now she was more curious about Redspot and at the same time was still overcoming her emotions from having admitted what she had to Geiser only moments before. She would have to get back to that soon.
Rav'una wasn't as an expressive about her enthusiasm in the good news but you could tell through all that outer calm that she was, on the inside, jumping about excitedly and with a good loud of relief washing over her at the news. Now all that needed to be done was no doubt a clean up and some repairs to the Tir and hopefully no one had died during the mission. Sure there were injuries but even that, hopefully, wouldn't be so bad.
Standing up now Rav'una stepped aside and watched as Geiser latched onto the arm of a passing mouse and it quickly became obvious that this mouse knew Redspot somehow. She could also tell that neither wanted to be in the same spot for long and though she only gave a single nod to Redspot as a response she watched curiously, yet calmly, as she made her hastey retreat. Turning back to Geiser with a small smirk Rav'una asked "Is she often so eager to leave?"
Meanwhile...
"WOO!" Derek cheered loudly at the news that victory was indeed theirs and stopped himself from thrusting his fists too high up in his excitement. Settling then with a proud and confident smirk he turned his attention back to the transmission screen and groomed his head fur/hair back a little as he proudly noted "I knew it would work but thanks for the confirmation of my brilliance" Derek smirked with a chuckle. "Yeah! We kicked some ass!" He then added with a thrust of his right fist, this time actually hitting the roof of the Battlesuit's pilot area. Holding back the stinging pain Derek grinned wide and slowly lowered his hand.
"Ow."
After the pain settled Derek moved his Battlesuit to park it where it belonged along with everyone else.
Meanwhile Daemun had time to take a moment and allow himself to gather up enough energy to at least walk and as he did so he could sense that someone was approaching. Of course it didn't seem like a threat so Daemun remained calm. What did surprise him was who it was and he looked over to the blanket and then up to Epoch. At first he didn't say or do anything more but then with a grateful nod he accepted the offer, taking the blanket and standing back up as he put it on.
For a moment more he remained silent, turning then to Epoch and with a firm calm gave him one more nod.
"Thank you" Daemun began with a pause "Not just for the help but for a job well done."
He did sense another presence and looked over his shoulder at Redspot, ironically the side of which that odd eye of his was, and silently watched her for a moment, turning to Epoch then as he asked with a gesture with his head toward Redspot "Who is she?"
Daemun was recovering steadily enough but he had drained a lot of energy in his little trick to save the Tir. Derek too was feeling very drained but oddly enough seemed to be recovering quicker than Daemun, which was odd considering Daemun was no doubt stronger than him even in demon form and even in comparison with Sydonai. Still, they all needed their rest and some time to heal so to speak.
Streak shook free of Geiser after Redspot took off and belted after her. Geiser sighed in annoyance, briefly conemplated going after him and then figuring it would be better not to crowd the medics.
"I don't know much about her," Geiser admitted.
As if there wasn't enough going on, Xu's next announcement was: "On duty ship engineers report to hangar."
Geiser looked up towards where the voice had come from, then looked at Rav'una. "Wanna come?" he asked casually. "The Mercurite ship's just landed, or landing, that's if you're friendly towards the Mercurites..." he faltered slightly.
-=o=-
As Redspot tended Trajectory, Starzone stood up as Streak rushed to her, hugging her hard. She snuggled against him, as relieved to have survived it as he was.
Trajectory started, a protective bubble flaring arund him as he sensed an intrusion. Recognising Redspot energy, he relaxed, and allowed the influx. It surrounded him. He felt the burning pain in his muscles die down to a manageable ache, and felt strong enough to think about returning to consciousness soon.
-Hello again, Redspot- he sent.
-=o=-
"Yeah watch that," Chip smirked, noticing Derek having a similar accident to what he himself had suffered earlier. "You can sit tight with us or go down. We're gonna be shade til everyone's in."
Cypher smirked, the only indication of the intense relief he felt at not dying and not letting the missiles destroy his home again, and more importantly that his siblings, his last surviving blood, were still alive. He observed the revelry of his younger siblings, Chip and Derek sharing their smug I-am-god attitudes, and leaned back in his chair, breathing in as deep as he could while sitting down, exhaling slowly and gently.
"You did good, techy," he said at last. "You too, little bro. Told ya you could do it." He smiled as Chip flashed a grin, looking very much like the little boy who wanted nothing more for his big brother to be proud of him, temporarily ignoring the fact that his big brother was only eleven minutes older.
-=o=-
Epoch glanced towards Starzone where she was wrapped up with Streak, then turned and nodded to Daemun, as much an acknowledgement and a thank you for the very necessary assistance rendered. The guy had just helped save them, he had to be all right...right? The paranoia continued to tug at the very back of Epoch's mind, forming conspiracy theories that explained Daemun's apparently contrite behaviour.
Jolted out of his dark thoughts by Daemun's question, Epoch glanced where Daemun was gesturing and noticed Redspot had come up and was seeing to Trajectory. He then fell into the usual struggle he had as to whether to speak or not. He was quite sure Daemun would hear him if he chose to speak telepathically but at the same time, not knowing the capabilities of the demon he didn't really want to.
"Redspot," he responded at last. He was never, ever going to get used to the cold, metallic artificial voice. "Medic." And because Daemun could probably see it anyway, he added, "Electrokinetic." Having said all he was willing to say, he motioned to Daemun to follow him. Standing out in the sun wasn't the best of ideas, thee was sunburn and heat stroke to consider, and they had just spent a lot of energy, Daemun in particular.
Rav'una nodded to Geiser's response to her question before Xu's voice distracted her from the situation. She too looked upward before then looking at Geiser and once more nodding before her response, a small smile playing in her expressions.
"Of course. And so long as they are friendly to me I have no reason to be unfriendly to them. In fact I have not even met them from what I can recall..."
Meanwhile...
"Tell me about it..." Derek muttered as he scoweled at the roof of his cockpit, rubbing his knuckles to help ease the sting. "Sounds good to me" Derek chuckled to begin with before then adding with a more serious yet well natured tone "I sure as heck could use a drink and some R&R..."
Cypher's comment really lifted Derek's spirits and, of course, fueled his ego that much more. But he didn't let his ego get in the way as he smiled with a salute responding with a soft tone to his voice as he suddenly felt a little emotional. "Thanks Cypher. Really, thank you." It was a combination of reasons as to why Derek felt the way he did but above all it was relief. Sheer, absolute, brilliant relief.
Meanwhile...
Daemun was no fool. Though Epoch was trying Daemun could still tell that he was bothered by him. And who could blame him? After all if it wasn't Daemun this might not have happened at all. But Daemun hoped none the less that he had proven, even just a little, that he regretted his decisions and worked hard to fix it which, thank the powers that be, was successful. However still there was a long path ahead of him to earn the trust of many at all.
When Epoch did respond it did surprise him, on the inside, to find he sounded so different. But unlike some who listened to him Daemun didn't seem too bothered by it and he could certainly tell that was all that Epoch was willing to say. And so he respected that and what was said was more than enough to answer his question.
"Right" Daemun nodded before then proceeding onward to get off the roof. It sure was getting hot out there anyway.
(OOC: Sorry if I jumped ahead at all. I'm pretty sure it was my turn after Torama and the Redspot's after mine but correct me if I'm wrong.)
Redspot smiled physically and mentally. *I can’t leave you two alone to have adventures all the time, now can I?* She knew they had been gone for a while but she hadn’t been able to go with them for a long time. Trajectory was feeling better so she slowly left his mind for him wake on his own.
Opening her eyes, Redspot smiled at Starzone and Streak. She noticed the pale mouse getting up and start walking towards the access ladder she came up. Standing, then walking in front of him, she held out her hand. “Hi, I’m Redspot, a Healer. If you can sit down again I’m here to help if you’ll let me? I saw you’d been injured in the battle.†The hand she held out flared yellow again then green so show him she could give him what energy he needed to recover.
(ooc: not a problem with me. I've just been to tired to work on my part of the Bar until this weekend.)
(ooc - we don't really have turns, I generally wait til everyone's posted once since last time :)
The hangar had closed by the time Geiser and Rav'una got to the hangar. The medium sized egg shaped craft had settled and a door slid open seamlessly, appearing to be absorbed into the ship. They climbed up onto he docking platform. There was a blur of colour, and a small object lashed out of the ship and attached to Geiser. He exhaled sharply to avoid winding, and looked down at the tiny birdlike creature attached to his chest. The bird looked up, turning its head to one side to look at him out of one eye. The expression on its face could have been an excited happy grin or it could have been contemplating ripping his heart out, either seemed equally likely.
"Hello, Flit," Geiser said, placing one hand under the tiny bird. It sat easily in the palm of his hand, folding bright blue wings against its back. Geiser patted it very gently on the head with one finger. The bird seemed to flip over in the air rather than turn, it moved so fast, and regarded Rav'una with its beady little eyes.
"This is Rav'una. She's a..." he paused briefly ad pronounced carefully: "...Xa'rlu'k." Taking a breath, he said, "This is Flit. He's a Mercurite, Trochill family?"
Flit warbled in response.
-=o=-
Trajectory groaned and carefully opened his eyes. He felt the comforting buzz of his power blocker. Starzone must have put it back on him at some point. He reached up and found her hand, and smiled up at her.
"We did it," she said simply.
"I'm thirsty," he managed.
Streak exended a hand. Trajectory hesitated briefly, then took it. Streak stepped back, pulling Trajectory to his feet and supporting him as he wavered. Starzone tucked under Trajectory's other arm.
Epoch stood by keeping an eye on things. They'd been outside for quite a while and he was starting to feel the heat. Definitely time to get everyone below and hydrated.
-Can it wait until we get below?- Epoch asked Redspot. Just in case he was sounding too harsh he added with a slight smile, -not going to do your patient much good if he gets heat stroke, and he looks like he'd burn easy.- There was a hint of a tease to his tone.
One of the medical transports cruised over to them. "Need a ride?" the driver called cheerfully.
"Two patients for you," Starzone responded. She and Streak guided Trajectory over to the transport. He plonked onto it and leaned back, closing his eyes. Streak stepped over to Starzone and put his arms around her.
(OOC: Thanks Redspot and I understand. It's okay with me. Hehe, no worries Torama. I figure though it's easier to keep up with the RP once everyone has their posts so like yourself I try and wait until everyone is done too :). And now...to the RP! XD )
Daemun stopped suddenly when Redspot stepped up in front of him and at first he didn't say anything, looking at Redspot's hand and for a moment there looking like he was debating on wether to respond to her. After a moment of silence Daemun looked at Redspot face to face and though his expressions didn't change much it was apparent he could sense the kind of energy she held.
"Daemun" He responded with a shake of Redspot's hand, taking his hand back after a moment before proceeding to ask rather firmly but more so to make his warning clear "You sure you want to go through with this? You may be able to heal and you're obviously a powerful one but you don't know what lays within me, do you?"
She certainly had what he needed, or at very least in part of what he needed, but in saying that he couldn't help but wonder how his more darker traights would react to the energy exchange or whatever it is Redspot had in mind doing to help.
Epoch's words soon cut through the conversation and his remark toward Daemun made him smirk at him in a kind of silent 'Smart ass...' manner of amusement (if that makes any sense at all, lol.). Looks like the ice was finally starting to break.
"Well the sun is starting to heat me up"
Meanwhile...
No sooner had Rav'una stopped to start to take a look at, from a distance, the craft that had just landed when suddenly the sight of something zipping out of it caught her attention quick enough. Turning her attention at full alert she settled with a perk of her brow at the little bird creature latching onto Geiser and then after smirked in amusement at the whole thing. When she gathered it wasn't a threat that is. It was actually kind of cute and amusing in its own ways.
Certainly was a beautiful little creature that was for sure. Rav'una watched curiously, pushing away her instinct to chase even in a playful manner, and chuckled at the Flit as a little character that he is. Looking at Geiser with a smirk and a nod she noted in regards to the pronounciation of her species name "Well said." With that she turned her attention back to Flit now regarding the small bird as a fellow member of her team as opposed to a bird tempting her to chase on some instinctive level.
"Well met and blessed greetings to you Flit" She began, holding her palm out flat in a welcoming manner as she added with a bow of her head "I promise you I will bring you no harm although I am more than certain you have a few tricks up your sleeve. Which I am most curious about. What is it that you do?"
(OOC: Trying to quit smoking cold turkey style and attempting an RP response that makes a lot of sense can be a challenge. This I know as a fact. XD!)
Redspot was a little confused. She had sensed a darker presence with the brief contact. It was different from the darkness she had encountered in others, in that it seemed demonic in nature. She thought about that in a second but felt that her control would able to handle anything that came across from him.
She smiled at Epoch. *Yes, sorry. SHould've thought of that*
“I should be all right,†Redspot said, confidently; almost to confidently, to Daemun. “Let’s get on the transport so it’ll be easier and we can get out of the sun.â€ÂÂ
Starzone looked up and waved her hand at Cypher. Looking down at her, he pointed two fingers to his eyes to show he had seen her. She motioned for him to head down into the mech bay, then added by tapping on her shoulder that she was going to hitch a ride on him once she got back to her mech.
Cypher sat back in his seat. "Looks like we're goin' in guys," he said to Chip, Byte and Derek. "Keep shading the shuttle."
Starzone in the meantime turned to Streak. "You make sure that dropkick doesn't shock anyone accidentally," she said, motioning to Trajectory. The piebald opened one eye and tried to glare at Starzone but eventually shut his eyes against the glare of the light. Realistically it was kind of stupid sending Streak along as defence against Daemun. But she didn't feel like Daemun was hostile. At least not now. She turned to Daemun. "I know this sounds kinda dumb seeing as you've just been ripping apart missiles with your bare hands but don't sit too close to Traj. He sometimes sparks randomly when he's that tired."
She turned and headed over to her mech, scrambling up and vaulting into it and starting flying docking manuvers with Cypher, who had started the other mechs moving once Starzone was mounted and ready.
-=o=-
Flit trilled and warbled, puffing its tiny little chest up. Geiser had one ear tipped towards Flit, listening carefully. He chuckled.
"Flit's training to be a scout."
The little bird trilled in protest.
"Yes, you're good at it. But you're still in training."
A group of Mercurites emerged from the ship, first two black birds, one a lot larger than the other, and they were followed by a smaller, streamlined bird with similar markings to Flit, but about the size of the average four year old.
Geiser stood by and let the Mercurites get into the larger area where he and Rav'una were standing so there was more room for everyone. As they landed, he put Flit on his shoulder and extended both hands to the larger of the black Mercurites. The Mercurite extended his hands, they clasped hands in what looked like a double handshake, right hands clasped in t he handshake, left hands covering, and then retracted, placing both hands on their hearts and bowing their heads. He repeated the gesture for the other two, getting down on his knees to get on a level with the child-sized one. When he bent down to greet her, Flit transferred from Geiser's shoulder onto the shoulder of the shoulder of the less small bird.
Geiser gestured to Rav'una. "This is Rav'una, a Xa'rlu'k." He was still very careful and deliberate with his pronounciation. Pointing out the larger black bird, the smaller black bird and then the child sized one, he introduced them to Rav'una. "This is Raven, captain of Morning Star. Rookwing, head scientist. And Hummer, master scout."
Each Merurite nodded to Rav'una as they were named. They were acting vert friendly but it was a little difficult not to feel like prey with that many raptor eyes regarding you.
When it came to Daemun no one really knew if they could handle or even control or tame anything that he threw at anyone. Even Daemun himself was not completely aware of what exactly he could be capable of were his powers to combine and be unleashed upon the world. But he certainly had a good idea of what that could be...
Daemun smirked at the confidence in Redspot's response and with that he replied "Well in that case let's get some much needed and deserved rest." With that he turned and heading back toward the Tir. He was doing reasonably well considering what just had happened and all however some much needed rest was neccessary. That and he failed to seem to notice that the missile that had hit him and thrown him off the top of the aerotech had left a few cuts and a nasty looking graze/burn sort of combo along the right side of his chest.
Meanwhile...
"Excellent!" Derek began with a sigh of relief "Man, I can't wait to sit back and chillax a while...I don't know about anyone else but I sure could use a cold drink right about now" He chuckled, somewhat tiredly but more out of relief than anything.
Daemun stopped and turned to Starzone who gave her words of advise and with a nod he replied "I'll keep that in mind." With that he watched Starzone make her depart before turning also to make his own.
Meanwhile...
Rav'una watched curiously as all the others soon entered the scene and it certainly was a sight to behold. Something unique and truly special in Rav'una's eyes and she was honored to meet such a crew. Of course there was also irony in these avions meeting with a feline-type creature as Rav'una but so far no one seemed to be bothered by this. Or at least no one was really showing it.
She was amused by how Geiser still pronounced the species of her name with such careful precision but he was certainly doing far better than a lot out there. Rav'una smirked at this however before turning her more serious yet calm tone and expression back to the others he now introduced her too.
"A pleasure and an honor to meet you all" Rav'una, once everyone else was done, began with a closed hand rested over the middle of her chest and one foot stepping out into a humble and elegant bow before she straightened her posture tall and proudly so as she added then with a slight nod "Your assistance in our recent matters is most apreciated and I hope that we may continue to work together dispite our obvious physical and species differences."
Redspot followed Daemun to the transport and they sat down; Redspot sitting in between Daemun and the recovering Trajectory. If there was to be any sparking from Trajectory she should be able to absorb them. She got a closer look at the injuries Daemun received from the fight and found the worst one was the one along his chest.
Daemun looked exhausted as he sat there. Redspot held her hand out, and the aura that formed turned from yellow to green.
“Are you ready?â€ÂÂ
Raven bowed to Rav'una on behalf of the other Mercurites. At that point Strike put in an appearance, his fur ruffled and still slightly damp from what appeared to be a hasty shower and equally hasty drying.
"Forgive me," he said, his tone not quite synching with a more formal speech pattern, smiling at the Mercurites, "I couldn't greet you covered in soot."
The Mercurites warbled in amusement. Strike went through the greeting ceremony with each of the Mercurites, nodding to little Flit.
"Does Silvereye need help with the engines?" Geiser asked. Raven clicked in response, an odd sound coming from somewhere in his throat. Geiser listened attentively, then nodded. "Sounds serious. I'll get the box just in case." He motioned for Rav'una to follow him if she wanted and headed towards the staff room.
-=o=-
"Drinks are on me," Cypher said, glancing out of the cockpit window to make sure he was still shading the transport. "It'll have to be alcohol free til tomorrow though, we're on call til lockdown's over and no gettin' drunk til then," he grinned.
"I'm gettin' absolutely hammered tomorrow night and Ares help anyone who even thinks about attackin' us between now and then," Chip added.
-=o=-
Trajectory's ear perked even though his eyes remained closed as he felt the energy flare from Redspot. He remained mindful, hoping Daemun wouldn't go evil demon on them. Starzone and Epoch weren't that far away but it would still take them a bit of time to get there either physically or mentally or both and in the meantime there was just him in his weakened condition and Redspot who was currently busy doing her thing.
(OOC: Lol! It's all good :).)
(OOC: Ah, well in that case he's sitting behind Strike, closest to him.)
Daemun was starting to kick himself for having even started any of this but something needed to be done and this all needed to stop right now. Taking a moment to check his level of energy and assuring himself he still, surprisingly, had plenty to spare, Daemun raised his gaze to Strike as he firmly noted "Strike, tell me which missile to worry about most. I'll deal with it and you handle any others. At this point we need to use what we have..." Strike may or may not have wondered just how on Mars Daemun was about to help or, for that matter, what he could use since he was completely unarmed but Daemun was planning on using more or less the same technique as he had to destroy the previous warhead. All he needed was a quick point in the right direction and from there he'd handle the rest. If he was lucky he may even be able to take out more than one, giving the others time to strike at the other missiles in need of being shot down fast.
Meanwhile...
Rav'una was older than she looked. Physically her body had been very kind to her though she never did tell anyone what her age was. She wasn't too sure how old Geiser was though she didn't mind if he was a little older than she was so long as it wasn't by a long shot. Either way she couldn't help but feel whatever it was she was feeling toward him and though she herself was rather awkward about it and had her taste of bad males in the past she never truly felt this way before. But she could tell, in some small ways, that Geiser wasn't too sure how to react to it and something about the feeling in the air hinted that there was good reasons behind it all.
"Bless you" Rav'una smirked over her shoulder at the sneeze, though she knew better than to fall for the cover up but none the less went along with it, before proceeding onward.
The further away from the room they walked the more deeper in thought Rav'una drove herself. What had began as a bit of a playful tease had suddenly become something much more and all kinds of questions and doubts began flooding her mind. Rav'una forced herself to stop thinking about it too much for too long more so for sanity's sake than anything and once at the Atrium she headed straight for a near by table. Like some kind of switch her emotions ran suddenly cold but a stronger part of her faught against it and she seemed suddenly bothered as she sat at the table and pushed out a chair for Geiser with her foot from the other side. Now she had that uncomfortable feeling that she had just thrown herself into the path of possible heart ache. What if he wasn't ready for this? What if he didn't feel the same or just simply didn't like her all that much?
'Stop thinking such silly thoughts Rav'una!' She mentally snapped at herself 'Straighten up and stay strong!'
Meanwhile...
"Oh shit..." Derek exhaled with widened eyes and absolute horror at what he saw, time seeming to slow down for a moment before Derek's little zone bubble was popped by the incoming transmission. Snapping himself back to reality Derek firmly nodded in his response.
"Affirmative, Battlesuit-22 on the move"
It was a little harder to move the Battlesuit as the knee joints grinded and whined under the pressure as Derek forced his Battlesuit to move at a quickened pace, arriving at his destination and wasting no time to explain what had to be done. "Alright people, we need to form an semi circle and spready out a good ten feet apart each. Boost your battery boosters to the max and get ready to reverse charge the cloaks on my mark."
He may not be in charge but Derek didn't have time to argue. There was a job that needed to be done and fast, it was simple as that.
You ain't got a life 'til ya live it free!
(Thanks Nightbeat/Katana for Derek's picture! ^..^)