5085/Operation: Secret Father

Operation: Secret Father
Date of Scene:	12 February 2017
Location:	Earth-115<E115>
Synopsis:	General Peter Van Doorn, a high profile member of the UN and a key contributor of vital resources to the XCOM Project is under fire. Both XCOMs and Elite presence move to assist.
Cast of Characters:	62, Karian Icefang, 1046, 1084, Gilgamesh, Kotone Yamakawa

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Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
(Mood music. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c83QEeaM9SM )

    The Skyranger, Big Sky, starts lifting off the pad with its cargo of XCOM Troopers inside, along with whoever else might need an insertion into the hotzone. "Strike Elements, we have a VIP on the ground. Updated intel marks their Motorcade got cut off by a collapsed intersection of the Paris-Berlin autobahn. Energy signatures indicate shaped plasma explosives took out the central support beam and collapsed the road. You're being inserted on the near side of the collapse. Make your way through the debris, find the VIP and get him back to the Skyranger. All other targets are secondary."

    The big dropship lumbers upwards, then jets off towards the European continent. "Expect heavy resistance, the VIP's bodyguards will be attempting a holding action but they will not last long against the Alien force."

    After a travel time, the dropship lands on an elevated roadway, the collapsed section is easily seen from even this distance, cars overturned, a few fires here and there and a whole mess of damage.

Karian Icefang has posed:
    Once more into the fires of war, so to speak. Along with the Skyranger, a thunderhawk races through the skies towards the Paris-Berlin autobahn. "Understood Central. We'll handle VIP security once we make contact." He radios. "Brothers, once more we take the field against the xenos threat to XCOM's earth, and once more we shall defeat them. Spare no alien that opposes us, and ensure we suceed." He voxes over his squads radios. Once the Thunderhawk touched down, the Space Wolves immidiately deploy with the practiced ease of centuries-old combat skill. The xenos won't know what hit them, or how many trucks it felt like.

Samira Amirmuaz (1046) has posed:
    A second familiar scream of engines comes as Firebrand comes, bringing her load of members from the Resistance branch of XCOM. The state of the AO means that she's a lot more cautious about trying to land than she might've been before... So much so, in fact, that she doesn't even land, electing instead to open up the Skyranger's ramp and drop ropes for everyone to slide down. Five soldiers have come to join the fray tonight: Sq. Thompson, a darkly scowling Sq. Martinez, Cpl. DeGaspard, Sq. Jackobi, all lead by the freshly promoted Sgt. Kelly. Seeing the state of the road, everyone moves into cover quickly, just in case some alien tries to get wise and start off the confrontation early.

    "Menace 1-5, in position," Kelly grunts into her radio. "Strike Three, Space Wolves, we'll follow your lead."

Seras Victoria (1084) has posed:
The Paladins have a vested interest in keeping XCOM from going the way of Samira's world, and one thing lead to another... Seras Victoria's found herself deployed to this operation. Yellow might stand out at dusk in an urban zone, but she emerges from Big Sky wearing just her standard uniform. No apparent body armor. A backup pistol holstered at her side. A few spare grenades from the supplies on Big Sky.

    ... and, toted as if it weighs bloody nothing, a god damned CANNON. 30mm Anti-Tank rifle, really, but let's be honest: it's a cannon so over-engineered that it has to be breach-loaded. 'Hellsing Arms - HARKONNEN' is printed proudly on its sides.

    "Understood! We'll need to move quickly"

    She wastes very little time making a dash in the right direction and finding some cover to hunker against while she examines a path forward...

Gilgamesh has posed:
     It's been less than a day since the King of Heroes was introduced to the strange new land of Multi-vars. Incapable of sitting still and unwilling to do so anyway, the sixteen/seventeen-year-old youth immediately decided that the best way to immerse himself in Multi-Vars' culture and countries was to walk them, just as he did in his youth in Uruk. So he picked up the Box, turned on a video of kittens doing cute things, and walked out into the wider world.

     And he walked out into this.

     It is overwhelming, in more than one way. It is chaos, violence, and all the things like both. It is fire and blood, lawlessness and destruction. Though he does not know the enemy, though he does not know the landscape, though he does not know the customs, there is nothing surer the King of All Creation knows than lawlessness, for it is his antithesis and his archenemy. Monsters are that which does not follow Law, which does not follow Order; Men are those who understand. Ever is the King compelled to end the monsters.

     On the other hand, the /adorable kitten video/ is *right there*. And it's *really* compelling.

     With almost casual laziness and /criminal/ coincidence, the King wanders the streets of the city until he emerges from an alley near the burning cars. He watches the Skyranger take flight with some mild interest, the people piling out to prepare for war. He watches Karian land his Thunderhawk.

     The King walks over. His presence is radiant. There's an aura of palpable Divinity, of supernatural beauty and power, just rolling off him, an intoxicating power that is as much a drug as anything else - an aura of unmistakable *godhood*. It's not unlike Samira's aura of authority, but somehow more.../kingly/, as if being a King is not merely a thing that he won but a thing that is ingrained in his very *existence*. He is a beacon of shining, glorious light, radiant despite being a *sixteen-year-old youth in a sheet with a hole for his neck to stick through, a golden necklace, and nothing else*. He appears to be completely unarmed, wielding nothing more complex than a cell phone in one hand - a cell phone playing, again, an adorable video of a kitten.

     Except, again, for that *palpable*, *physical* aura of Divinity, that supernatural beauty and charisma that just *rolls* off him like sunlight. His soul, is very existence, is /gold/. He does not physically light the dusky hour but he might as well.

     "Tell me," the King says in a voice imperious not by intent but by nature, an imperiousness so very ingrained in his existence that it is inseparable from him, "What monsters lurk in the darkness of modernity's cities? Your King is here to slay them."

     He rubs his chin thoughtfully as he looks over the assembled.

     "You," Gilgamesh says, pointing at Seras, "You'll make fine a treasure after this battle. Hard-won beauties. Yes, that will do." The young man tosses the phone over his shoulder, and it...it just /vanishes/ into a ripple in space and time, like it never existed.

     "An excellent addition to my treasury!"

     He walks on behind them, as if he just doesn't /care/ that this is a war zone, because...well, as he said, he's here to kill monsters. He's the King. It's what he does.

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    Strike Three exit the Skyranger and fan out, taking up positions ahead of the other units.

    This means they make first contact, as plasma fire erupts from behind an overturned boxvan. The telltale orange glow of a Sectoid skittering away to another vantage point, while others pop out to take shots... about twenty of the little buggers spread across the collapsed motorway. "CONTACT!" cries Strike Three-6, before taking a plasma bolt to the chest and crumpling into a scorched heap.

    "Strike Three-6 has gone flatline, tighten it up people!"

    The rest of the team rally and open fire on the Sectoids, laser beams streaking in a crossfire with plasma.

Seras Victoria (1084) has posed:
The battlefield is a terrible time for something like Gilgamesh to happen. Because that's what he is. Less a person and more like a hurricane of glory. You don't stop it. Hunker down and wait for it to pass, maybe?

    "Huh?" Seras rather innocently looks over her shoulder... and just like that, her jaw practically hits the floor. Why hello, tiny little fangs there!

    "Wha- buh-- this is--" She'd be sweating beads INSTANTLY if she were capable of it. The majestic aura she's presented with her is breathtaking to those who breathe. To her, it's just... silencing. Her lips work, trying to form words, but nothing happens. She can only stare.

    Then her shoulders sag and the stare goes very noticeably into 'what, really' territory? Color comes to her cheeks for some reason and a million primitive instincts clash against the hard ingrained needs of this operation. The Draculina's face tears up with consternation and confusion, as if to say, 'someone please wake me up, NOW what?'

    "You know..." She begins to say. 'You might be killed out here.' Except she can't finish it. Because the longer she beholds goldy boy...

    The less sure she is that he could die. That he's even human. The flirty comment's almost entirely ignored as the divine presence begins to gnaw at her own dark nature and she flinches a few steps back, pupils shrinking with growing fear.

    But after a point of that, something in her stonewalls against the fear. No matter how scary and awe-inspiring Gilgamesh might be, she's apparently not going to buckle and let him make a statement like that without giving him a sour, almost defiant glare.

    Rather like a kitten's, though, when you get down to it.

Karian Icefang has posed:
    Karian looks over to the boy with the godly aura and shakes his head. He simply chose to regard it at a later date. "Cut the chatter and focus.." He started, until strike three-6 was shot down. "CONTACT!" HE barks out, immidiately moving into what some would call 'mobile cover' mode for the other elements of the strike team. Meanwhile, the wolfguard take up aim and start returning fire with their massive bolter shells. "Push the line forward, Brothers. FOR RUSS AND THE ALLFATHER!!!" Screams out Karian, a shout echoed by the howls of his squad. The sectoids struck first, but the wolves would strike back.

Samira Amirmuaz (1046) has posed:
    Most everyone here was known in some way to the Resistance, so their presence here was a comfort... or at least not actively strange. Kelly gives nods of greeting to the members of Strike Three and the Space Wolves while prepping her men to begin their assault on the alien forces. "We'll be having the Wolves take the heat," she tells them gruffly, "While we support Strike Three via flanking and ambush tactics. Magdelena--you keep your goddamn head in the game. Olivera is dead, and you're not gonna join her. Understood?"

     The Shinobi growls lowly under her breath, but nods. Everyone else gives off looks of comfort or cold anger, but their little pow-wow is interrupted when someone... something comes to join in the warzone fun. Kelly is about to start yelling at him, but goes silent and blinks slowly upon seeing the ridiculously attractive teen... None of them have any kind of supernatural senses, but even they can feel the aura Gilgamesh puts off. Eventually, Thompson clears his throat and calls out, "Uh--might wanna take cover, kid, don't want to take a plasma bolt to the dome--"

    Because someone already has. Already, there's a man down. Kelly curses under her breath and starts steering thee Resistance members around to start flanking the Sectoid position on the right, using more of the flaming cars as cover. Jackobi and Thompson move to start providing covering fire, Thompson's minigun loudly screaming as it sent a hail of bullets, while Magdelena and Kelly try to move closer to bring their close-range weapons to bear.

Gilgamesh has posed:
     Seras's face brings a smile to Gilgamesh's. "Yes," Gilgamesh says, "In this world that holds cats in such value, you are most certainly a treasure worthy of myself and Y'toob. But let us save pleasure for later. For now there are monsters."

     He watches the Space Wolves go in first, not because of some inherent desire to see them all get killed, but because he's simply curious about what they're fighting. A brief glimpse of the grey thing.../revolted/ him. When more of them begin to spread across the area, the King's gorgeous face twists in disgust. These are not human. They are like the beasts he knew from long ago. The beasts that preyed on men. The beasts of lawlessness who reviled the King's orders. Creatures that held treasures.

     They shoot. They open fire. Plasma roars around him, bolts of energy. To him it is magic. It is all magic. He strides forward through the hail, confident and imperious, and takes his place upon a car. His face twists in a condemnation as one of the men dies. His aura flares like the sun as he spreads his arms from East to West.

     "You beasts who trample upon my kingdom, know that I am Gilgamesh, King of All That Is and All That Was and All That Shall Ever Be. From the sunlight's rise to the sunlight's fall is my kingdom; from the end of the horizon to its beginning spans its length and more. There is nothing under Heaven that does not belong to me. You who dare, will you continue to stand against me, or-"

     A bolt of plasma hits the car.

     It is a car in XCOM.

     It explodes, with the teenager on it. He is consumed in fire and flames. For a moment, it seems like he's dead.

     And then he emerges from the smoke, his face scratched, his body scratched, his robe obliterated. He is naked, now, except for the necklace around his neck and a few scraps of modesty hanging 'round his waist. And he is *angry*.

     "Then you have made your decision. There shall be no mercy. Let that which you have taken be taken from you - an eye for an eye, a hand for a hand, a life for a life. So says the King of All."

     Gilgamesh sweeps his hand forward.

     Swords. Spears. Daggers. Blades. They emerge from behind him, out of nowhere. The world ripples about him as if *protesting* to his existence. As if screaming in agony at the opening of something that shouldn't exist in modernity.

     The blades launch into the Sectoids like missiles. They shoot forth, magical weapons from antiquity of every design and color imaginable, apparently without Gilgamesh's active direction. They home and twist around Space Wolves to pin their foes and make their job easier. They shoot bullets from the sky to protect Jackobi, Thompson, Magdalena, Kelly, and Seras. They are active cover for everyone - and for any Sectoids who wander too close, death.

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    Strike Three are pinned down by the weight of fire coming their way, until the Space Wolves and Menace unit start taking the heat off. The Bolters punch straight through the flimsy cover of the cars, scoring kill shots on several sectoids, while the combined fire from Menace nails a few more, And then the Gate opens, and the shower of the Infinite Treasures turns the tide. Blades and spears skewer the Sectoids, pinning them down or outright ending them enmasse.

    Strike Three-1 holds up a closed fist. "CEASE FIRE! Headcount, who're still up?" The Strike unit sound off, apart from Maxime of course. "We'll secure the body on the way out, get his weapon. Two, you're with me. Five, get the high ground and give us cover. Three, Four, take left flank."

    The scene falls silent as the last Sectoids fall... and then, in the distance, a loud bellowing voice roars out. "COME ON YOU ALIEN SCUM! THERE'S PLENTY MORE WHERE THAT CAME FROM!" followed by ballistic rifle gunfire. "THIS IS FOR JOHNNY!"

Seras Victoria (1084) has posed:
Sectoids. And already someone is down. Seras is shaken out of her enamorment with Gilgamesh, a freaky bunch of urges and compulsions... some human, others VERY NOT SO.

    She's having a -terrible- time suppressing the urge to sink fangs into him... and the thought has her expression screwing up seven ways from sunday.

    Eventually a wave of rejection and REVULSION flows from her, right about at the time that car explodes. "No--!!"

    But her suddenly outstretched hand, ready to try and drag survivors from the flames... falls away, unneeded. Relief strikes, and Seras once again totes her weapon. "... Gilgamesh... where have I heard that name before?"

    She'll have to trust him and focus on this mission. She's got a job to do here! "Ah, right!"

    Skittery noises nearby have her taking a flying leap... almost literally... past an alley. With that oversized cannon still being toted around like it's merely a feather. In midair, she whips the weapon around like a cheerleader's baton, takes aim and simply FIRES.

    There's a thunderous BOOM, and suddenly... no more dumpster. Probably no more Sectoid hiding behind it, either.

    The recoil sends her flying backwards but the moment her feet hit the pavement she safely skids to a halt without losing a bit of balance, wrenches open the Harkonnen's barrel and discards the shell, then slams a new one in.

    "Right. Mr. Gilgamesh, we're here to rescue someone! Please--..."

    She ends up staring at the display of ancient weapons... ancient, and magical? "... Be careful... you aim those..."

Gilgamesh has posed:
     This pleases Gilgamesh, as the sectoids die at the hands of his allies and the Gate of Babylon does its work. The treasures, once they're done their grisly jobs (or their helpful, shield-y jobs!), vanish back into the Gate, unable to be looted or claimed by the hungry. He resumes his leisurely pace, despite being mostly-naked; he does stop to pull the clothes off one of the dead soldiers and dress himself in a somewhat more acceptable fashion, tearing the clothes into a makeshift robe. VIGILO CONFIDO hangs on his back like a promise bound in cloth and godhood.

     Vigilo Confido.

     Once he's somewhat properly clad, or rather, not exposing ALL of his divine majesty to the world at once, Gilgamesh resumes walking behind Seras. He pays careful attention to the cannon, as much attention as he's paying to the woman herself; his red eyes hang on the cannon more than /her/ for a long time. Finally, he tears his eyes away and falls into lock-step.

     "Prize," Gilgamesh says, walking up next to Seras - then he pauses and corrects himself when he hears her name, "Seras. Who is it we are rescuing?"

     "Is he a life worth many?" He asks, waving his hand at the corpses behind them, "Worth the sacrifice of Maxime Dupont?"

     "Your King would know of this hero so deserving of his aid against the monsters."

Samira Amirmuaz (1046) has posed:
    The weight of fire coming from all of these sources smashes through the cadre of Sectoids quite easily, despite the loss of one of the soldiers from the other XCOM. Martinez and Kelly don't quite manage to get into the fight before they were all torn down, but that's fine. It gives them the chance to move forward along the left edge of the ruined highway once the coast was (sort of) clear. DeGaspard keeps to the back of the formation, occasionally checking out the area ahead with his rifle's scope... looking for the big targets to start sniping. Hearing that Mutons are on the field brings a ghoulish smile to his face underneath the old EXALT headband.

    That being said, watching some of what these guys were capable of brings some looks of surprise and awe, especially to Thompson and Jackobi... though, the Jamaican Ranger crosses himself while muttering a prayer under his breath, while the American Gunner is gaping openly. It takes being reminded that there's enemies here to take care of to bring them both back into focus... Even though, THompson keeps on sending looks of appreciation over at Seras and her giant fucking gun.

Karian Icefang has posed:
    With all hell breaking loose, it only seems right to let loose a little hell of your own. Karian notes the headcount, and motions to his wolfguard to form up. "Allfather show mercy to what stands in front of us...for we shall not." He says, starting a slow march right for the enemy. With a quick motion, the Wolf Fang, Karian's giant Adamantium forged claymore, was drawn from it's back sheath. The group of Space Marines march forward, with no fear in their hearts.

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    Strike Three-1 and 2 link up with the much more imposing Space Wolves, mixing between the ranks as they move along the ruined highway.

    Three things become clear as the various units move up. One is a wounded soldier in UN uniform, another is a /lot/ of spent shell casings in a trail leading away from the soldier, and the third is a whole mess of Sectoid corpses and a few Thin Men just laying as if taken out by a sudden, localized hurricane.

    The Soldier coughs, sits up straighter while holding a hand over a plasma burn that grazed past his stomach. Superficial damage, but it hurts like a sonofabitch. "You're here for Van Doorn huh? He went on ahead, trying to link up with the rest of the Unit that got stranged after the blast..." he thumbs over his shoulder in the direction of gunfire and bellowing challenges. "If you can round him up, I think we'll be able to help get you back to your aircraft."

    Looking around, there's another five or so soldiers in UN outfits, most of them wounded from shrapnel or plasma bolts in non-threatening, but still crippling ways. They won't be able to move much without help, but they're still armed.

Seras Victoria (1084) has posed:
Seras opens her mouth reflexively to correct Gilgamesh, but when he speaks her name properly a moment later... she clamps down on urge to scream. But a part of her has to wonder even amidst this madness. Is 'prize' better than 'police girl'? She's nooooooooooooot really sure.

    "Unfortunately I have no idea. The XCOM commanders know more... rescue missions like this aren't launched for just anyone though. They're always people who--" She takes aim down another alley and takes another Shot. BOOM!

    "People worth the blood cost. People with lots of followers. With lots of skills. Or who might know crucial things. But we're already losing people... there has to be something I can DO here... I won't let more people die!"

    The group pushes forth, finally catching up to the UN detachment...

    So much blood everywhere in these streets. She's new to this, but it doesn't take long for her to figure out that nobody here's on death's door.

    "Did you guys take out these monsters?! ... good work. Help's on the way, right? I don't think we can evacuate this many..." Between the two skyrangers... well, maybe for a short distance, she wonders. If they're not swarmed by aliens...

    Seras clenches her teeth, because this isn't looking good.

Karian Icefang has posed:
    Karian nods towards the soldier. "My thanks. Let's get all of you home safely." He says, offering out his arm. If clasped, he gives an old school 'warrior's handshake'. "Brothers, move up. Once we're in position, transition to rear guard action. Keep the enemy suppressed so our VIP can extract." He says. Then a quick look to Gilgamesh. "My apologies for calling you a child."

Samira Amirmuaz (1046) has posed:
    Seeing the UN soldiers having done all their good work against the bastards, Thompson in particular gives a hoot and a wave. "Fuck yeah! Humans kicking some alien ass!" Sadly, they lost their Specialist when they attacked Julian at the ADVENT tower, so nobody's really capable of giving them much comfort--at least, from the Resistance side. Regardless, the guys from Resistance XCOM keep moving forward at a quick pace, trying to find Van Dorne and Kotone to give them some backup for the coming retreat. The UN soldiers--and the more prevalent Strike units--can work at guarding the way back to extraction without them for now.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa had been cloaked in all the chaos ot keep an eye on Van Dorn, she knew it would be wise to do her best to guard them. The unexpected help from Gilgamesh was very welcome all things considered. As was Seras who was also new to this, it's funny. Kotone mused this was ... a day at work for her now? She had no idea still how quite that came along yet she was still very bothered by things. She's moving to do to give covring fire to Van Dorn.

"Sorry about delay! General, I had to sneak past the aliens to reach you!"

She'll settle in to give the general support as she's packing some sort of SMG which doesn't look to be native to this earth. She's also clad in some sor of light form ditting armour which seems to be stealth related from how she dropped in.

Gilgamesh has posed:
     Gilgamesh waves his hand dismissively at Karian. "The King graciously accepts your apology; your service is adequate enough to earn that much. Don't allow your tongue to slip so far in the future, Space Wolf."

     He ruminates on Seras's words as they walk. "That is true," he observes thoughtfully, "Always there are men full of life, for whom the empty are worth breaking. Men full of life who die for a man make a man greater still."

     "And men who die against monsters are men who are of worth," he says aloud as he falls into lock-step beside her.

     "Something you can do, is it?" Gilgamesh asks as he watches her shoot, as she acts. "Is that what you wish? To do something for them? To prevent them from dying gloriously in service to their King and their home? They have earned their honors, have they not?"

     *Modernity*. He just doesn't /get it/. It's clear on his face that he doesn't understand *why* she, and the others, would strive so hard to /stop/ people who wanted so clearly to die gloriously from doing just that. There were, after all, so many teeming people. So many. So spread out. So...pointless.

     Oh well. The King shrugs and looks up at the sky. A flying object, is it? Very well then.

     He recognizes Kotone from the party last night. It's clear by his face. "You are a strange diplomat, to come so far with weapons in hand after such a fine party."

     The young man's makeshift XCOM dress flutters around him as he decides. Sure, he could kill a bunch of these things, but really, these grey, horrible beasts weren't *worth* dirtying further treasures. Sure, he could slaughter tons of monsters, but this wasn't /glorious/ for him. It was glorious for the humans, who were fighting and dying to defend his Kingdom - or their home, or however they chose to see it. To help them was...an insult. An insult to their honor. To their bravery. The King's face fell into a frown.

     No, he did not like that. He did not like plucking death from those who sought to die in glory.

     Then again, there was pleasure in denying men what they sought. And, after all, he /had/ decided to claim Seras as a prize after the battle. Perhaps Kotone, too, since she hadn't been tribute last night. And if this Van Doorn was beautiful, maybe him, too. He could not /not/ help them. He had given his *word*.

     "Stand back, humans!" Gilgamesh orders, "I will ensure that you reach your flying device. So says the King, so shall it be!"

     The Gate of Babylon ripples, and something...*massive*...falls out. It is a bow the size of a MEC, perhaps twice its size. No human - not even Gilgamesh, evidently - could possibly lift it. It sits in the highway, cracking the pavement with its sheer weight. There is no arrow.

     Gilgamesh steps up to it. He points it upwards, in the direction of the buildings barring them from Peter Van Doorn, and barring Van Doorn from escape. He draws back the string.

     "Mushushu ~ Of Marduk's Displeasure."

     Gilgamesh releases the string. An arrow, larger than Gilgamesh himself, goes shooting forward. It looks like a dragon in flight, and as it's loosed, it roars with thunder and lightning. It punches into the building and /explodes/, with all the force of an anti-tank cannon, to make a hole to ease evacuation.

     Yes, Gilgamesh decided, that was an acceptable alternative to dirtying his treasures.

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    "You with the Ops team? It's about damn time! It's not fair if I have all the fun!" says Van Doorn as he racks the slide on his assault rifle, dropping the spent magazine and slamming another into the slot, before opening fire again. "C'mon! I won't go down without a fight!" dakdakdakdak. He seems to be doing okay for himself so far, but there's more aliens than there are bullets.

    "Thank God you guys are here though, I'm still breathing, but I can't say the same for some of my men."

    Strike unit moves into covering positions. "General, fall back, we'll cover!" shouts 4, as laser beams start to rake across the alien line. Thin Men, Sectoids and a hulking brute of a Muton stand atop an artificial ridge, raining down plasma fire. The lasers get the smaller units to scatter, but the Muton just roars in defiance as the beams glance off the rounded, reflective armour chestplate. And then he promptly gets turned into a fine mist as the bow shot rips through the intervening building and takes out a good portion of the roadway as well.

    "... Saints preserve us." murmurs Strike Three-5, making a cross gesture over her chest, before sighting down her rifle scope to provide some long range sniper cover.

Samira Amirmuaz (1046) has posed:
    Finding Van Dorne and Kotone in a bad position, Thompson and DeGaspard start setting themselves up down the road while Jackobi, Martinez, and Kelly move in closer to start fighting. THeir ballistic weapons aren't really able to do near as much to the creatures as the Laser weaponry that the other XCOM had, but should still be enough, right? DeGaspard in particular starts aiming for the bigger targets--the Thin Men, and (hopefully) another Muton, given that the first one's head had turned into a fine mist. THompson is busy with surpressing the group with his minigun.

    Kelly and Martinez get close to Van Dorne, and Kelly gives a terse nod to Ko when they arrive. "We need to move fast. They're spending a lot of resources to fuck us. All it takes is one strafing run from a UFO and we're done for. Let's go, Samsara," Kelly grunts while reaching to her belt to draw out a frag grenade, which is promptly thrown in the direction of the alien menace.

    Martinez, meanwhile, starts pushing forward more, unsheathing her machete while sticking to the shadows and cover. Just waiting on something to come and pop up in her vision, because she needs to get some blood on her hands tonight.

Karian Icefang has posed:
    With the sniper cover, The space wolves move to get in close to Van Dorn. "General, gather up your men and start falling back. Leave this to us." Karian says to him with a nod. As for any mutons or other aliens that tried to fire at the general, they would meet with bolter fire. But at the spotting of Mutons, the wolf Lord couldn't help but expect Berserkers, and prepared to have to wrestle one down.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Kotone Yamakawa has no idea that Gilgamesh is interested in claiming her as a Prize, she has no idea how much she's caught Gilgamesh's eye in this regard and she's got a mission to carry out and keep the VIP alive. "Yes I'm with the OPS team, more are comming General, we need to get you out alive or everyone whose bit it today did so for nothing. I'll cover you..."

Then a Muton goes up in a very flashy way.

"Damn that's new."

She'll move to start iving the general covering fire so hopefully at some point she can escape and the support from the other XCOM is welcome as well.

Seras Victoria (1084) has posed:
"You would get along REALLY well with my Master." There, she went and said it. And the idea Seras just floated might be darned terrifying if too many people thought about it. "He's always saying similar things about people." Philosophies she doesn't entirely agree. Doesn't really care to put words to.

    She's just stepping forward to bring her weapon to bear against the Muton - a monster to be sure and one that has her instincts screaming DANGER - but then... Gilgamesh again.

    A colossal bow, and a colossal boom. The uniformed vampire GAPES at the destruction. How many treasures does goldy boy HAVE?

    "Glory in death... that's not what most people want, is it? Fighting for a cause, risking everything for it, that's one thing... WANTING to die... isn't that another? These soldiers, they have families. Parents, lovers, children. Sure you can say... dying for a great cause can be worth it, but what's better is... winning and returning alive!!"

    It's probably the most philosophical Seras has been in months. With anyone. But something about Gilgamesh's charismatic stance and ancient regal bearing has stoked a few flames of defiance in her.

    Just as with Alucard.... as much as she respects, genuinely listens, and even fears him... it doesn't mean she's inclined to change her values.

    Seras clenches her teeth, displaying - rather freakily - a toothy grimace that's way too fierce and shark-like. Is that just a trick of the light or...?

    Whatever the case might be, she focuses hard and... "HOOOoooRRRRRRUUUUAAAAAAAHHHH!!!" Takes off like a ROCKET, kicking off the ground with enough speed to blur into a yellow streak. Despite carrying that heavy weapon, her speed's enough to kick up a wind in her wake. Eyes that were blue before now vividly glow red.

    If anyone's going to die, Seras sure wants it to be the aliens.

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    The unearthly wail of a UFO engine whips by overhead... it's not doing a strafing run though. Instead, it drops... oh dear. With a loud KERCLANK, a hulking monstrocity of metal and alien engineering. It's in the path between the ground units and the Skyranger. Strike Three-3 grunts. "Shit. Some kinda alien robot!" before she unshoulders the rocket launcher on her back, and takes aim. "Eat HEAT!"

    The rocket streaks out, slams into the upper glacis, above the optic sensor, and staggers the device, but the warhead doesn't do more than buckle the plate. "Damn it, the target is still up!"

    The rest of the Strike team move into positions to laser the thing, aiming to punch through the armour with combined beam focus.

    Menace find themselves easily able to do damage to the aliens. Bullets work just as well as lasers, especially against the soft targets that are presented by the Thin Men and Sectoids.

    A Muton steps out and leaps down from the platform the rest of the aliens are on, and seeks to intercept Seras with a counter roar of challenge, beating its chest with one massive, meaty fist.

    Martinez would find a target, a Thin Man, separated from the rest in the mad scatter as more troops arrived than the aliens had anticipated. it doesn't seem to notice the Ranger just yet, skulking behind a car and looking for a shot at an exposd flank.

    Van Doorn doesn't need to be told twice. he starts backing off as soon as an opening in the plasma fire comes, pulling back and dropping the spent weapon to lighten his load. "Out of ammo, anyone got a sidearm I could use?" he asks.

    Strike Three-2 unclips the secured Laser Rifle he took from Three-6, and hands it over as it unfolds. "It's just like a ballistic, just don't compensate for recoil, there isn't any. His this switch to cycle heatsinks, it'll bleep when it's spent." he explains quickly. Van Doorn nods, tests the heft, then opens fire again, falling back with the rest of the Strike team as they work over the Sectopod and the remaining aliens.

Gilgamesh has posed:
     Gilgamesh purses his lips. "Is that so? Modernity truly has fallen far."

     The idea of people wanting to fight *only* to live was...just...wrong. There were *so many* humans. Didn't they *get it*? Didn't they understand that humans were at their fairest burning bright? No, he supposed they didn't.

     "Your 'master' sounds like someone I would appreciate," Gilgamesh observes thoughtfully, "And fortunately, since I am King, the existence of someone called 'master' does not bother me. Your King trumps your Master, after all, and if you are indeed a slave then perhaps I will simply buy you from him."

     Her defiance is, itself, beautiful. It is more beautiful because it is defiant. The thought hangs on the tip of his tongue, but he doesn't bother voicing it. Instead he watches Seras go racing into the beasts, taking aspects of a beast herself. He leans against the bow.

     Van Doorn, Seras, Kotone. The man who died. The men who were dying. Modernity. It was so...messy. So wrong. Didn't they understand? Couldn't they *see* what they wanted was order, was comfort, was safety from the monsters and the darkness that the King provided? If only they'd *listen* to him. But, no. He had promised to follow their rules, for they were echoes of his own. He had promised to follow their laws, for they held his own in image. A thousand thousand fragments of himself.

     "Modernity," he repeats, shaking his head as the bow vanishes back into the Gate of Babylon. He starts checking the pockets of the uniform he borrowed. Eventually, he finds a field snack. He unwraps it and bites into it, then makes a face. He digs around a bit more, searching for other treasures. Eventually, he finds the Assault's pistol, which he pulls out and fiddles with. The BANG startles him as it goes off, firing into the air.

     It doesn't take the King long to recognize a weapon.

     "Well," He says idly, still walking forward; the gun starts spinning in his hand like he's a gunslinger or something, "I suppose that I cannot dirty my treasures on such base creatures...*BUT* nor can I allow my new treasure to be dirtied by them."

     Gilgamesh takes aim with the pistol and fires vaguely over Seras's shoulder. He's good enough not to hit SERAS but it's mostly just suppressing fire. He's not really a good shot. Modernity doesn't agree with him.

     Once the pistol runs out of ammo, he hurls it at the thing Seras is fighting.

     Backed by superhuman, Divine strength, that /might/ actually do way more damage.

Karian Icefang has posed:
    Karian looks over and spots the Muton roaring out a challenge. With a wide smirk, The wolf lord howls an equal challenge towards the hulking alien. With his sword pointed he shouts out "Come face your death with dignity, alien!" He then starts running right for it. Meanwhile, the wolfguard hold firm, firing at anything and everything alien. They then move to leapfrog back, watching the backs of everyone.

Samira Amirmuaz (1046) has posed:
    The AO had become a realm of chaos as more aliens were dropped into the fight, and everyone was springing into action. At least DeGaspard and Thompson are still in a good position to kill and cause disruption, though Thompson needs to reload before he can do much else. the French ex-EXALT is happily trying to level headshots on the coming x-rays whenever they come into scope... But it's clear that a retreat will probably be necessary for everyone who isn't a super-powered Elite. For now, his target is the mecha-monstrosity that'd been dropped in their midst.

    Magdelena narrows her eyes and gives an ugly smile to the unaware Thin Man. Sure, killing it in close combat was a bad idea--anyone who'd foguth these things before knew what would happen when they died. It doesn't stop her from sneaking out from her hiding place, screaming as she jumps up and tries to cut the fake human from his shoulder down to his hip. "Die, you fucking son of a whore! FUCKING DIE!"

    Back with Kelly and Jackobi, the Jamaican grunts and ofers Van Drone his pistol while they started to beat a hasty retreat. Kelly sticks close as well, but she's also trying to go on some flanking manouvers to clear out opposition. THis leaves her a few yards to the left of the mechanized enemy unit, which gets a load of buckshot emptied at the supporting joints before she ducks back into cover.

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
There were no mythicla heros on her world the world surive the hell of the thrid world war by people drawing a line and going no. The common person has to save themselves where they are from. She moves to see the huge thing tht dropped int. Oh hell, oh very much a bad thing has come to play.

Kotone keeps shooting and trying to give fire she knows they have to get the general out. He seems to be a good man and he's a general who has seen the aliens powers first hand. Which could get a lot of aid to the XCOM project.

As kotone had said to a friend from a time long before her own? Mankind has got far too good at war, war is something to be avoided at all cost as one man could push a button and a million could die. She shifts and opens fire on the alien that's just dropped in.

"Focus fire! BRING IT DOWN!"

Seras Victoria (1084) has posed:
A Muton's coming straight at her! This time, Seras merely grins at him. The grin of a monster, perhaps, staring death in the face and bringing greater death. There might be truth in what Gilgamesh says. Because as much as she denies it, the prospect of racing towards danger seems to set some part of the vampire's fallen soul on fire.

    As much as she rejects it, she's a creature of chaos, bloodshed, and darkness, and that creature thrills in a fight like this!

    She allows the Harkonnen to drop, for bringing it into inevitable melee wouldn't help her in the slightest.

    Instead she clashes against the Muton with a devastatingly powerful punch to meet its own!

    The impact's enough to crack the pavement, but when a small, unstoppable object hits a large unstoppable object... the smaller one's bound to pierce.

    As much as Seras' arm will ache after this, her monstrous strength is more than capable of tearing through meat and bone as if it were nothing more than tissue paper.

    That poor Muton.

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    The Sectopod is an awesome machine, taking so many hits to its already weakened armour plate and still standing. But that level of firepower is withering, and it just cannot rectify balance long enough to bring any weapons to bare. The large cannon atop is locked inside the bent armour, the lower gun gets lasered clean off, and the barrage system... well, it shifts, extends the mortar unit, which promptly explodes when multiple bullets and lasers strike it, causing one of the plasma shells to rupture. This chain reacts into the central mass, and a massive green blasts engulfs the machine, blowing out the internal core and causing it to twitch, before slumping over onto its side.

    "Mech down! Move it or lose it people!"

    The Muton doesn't know what hit it. The arm turns into a fine mist, and the creature spins like a top as it smashes back into the concrete and rebar, slumping down in a quivering heap of pain as it starts to bleed out, it's ruined stump of an arm spraying its purple life fluid across the ground.

    Karian meets another Muton in combat, axe blade clashing with great sword... however, the Muton is no match for a Son of Russ, and is swiftly overpowered by millenia of combat experience compared to pure bestial power.

    Gilgamesh, for all his work, earns a kill shot with one of those pistol rounds. A sectoid pokes its head out from behind cover at exactly the wrong moment, and has said head perforated with an additional cranial ventilation duct. It slumps down in a pool of its sickly orange ichor.

    The Thin Man that Martinez hacks in two, unsurprisingly, explodes into a noxious poison cloud, enveloping the Ranger in the thick, toxic cloud.

    The rest of the alien force is decimated, whatever is still alive is probably cowering in fear, not of the Humans, but of what the great Masters will do to them for this failure.

    They don't need to wait for too long, as the wailing of the UFO engine comes back... along with the deep, eldritch thrum of its main cannon opening fire. It's strafing the entire road!

Karian Icefang has posed:
    Karian grimmaces and chops down the muton with ease. But then the strafing run from the UFO sends him scrambling. But that alone wouldn't stop a Son of Russ. He rises up and quickly calls for a status update, moving as best he could to extract.

Samira Amirmuaz (1046) has posed:
    Magdelena spends a few moments mindlessly hacking at the THin Man, even after she'd damn near split him in two... even taking a deep breath of the poisonous cloud left behind with a wildly victorious look on her face. She spits down at the corpse in hateful derision before setting off, coughing, hacking, and stumbling, but it appears her bloodlust has been satisfied... even if it means she'll have to take help from Thmopson's shoulder to get her off of the bridge.

    The scream of Firebrand's Skyranger is loud as it tears across the sky, just ahead of the coming strafing run. It was built to outpace and outmanouver ADVENT interceptors, after all--though, it definitely doesn't try landing when it arrives. The ramp drops, and the ropes drop down while Firebrand tries to rush everyone along. "Asses in top gear, people, move it! I can't take hits from those sons of bitches!"

    Jackobi is quick to shuffle Van Dorne over to the ropes while whispering a low prayer to himself; Kelly has to duck down to avoid being blown away by the Sectopod's explosion, and she gives the hunk of scrap metal the finger while hustling over to extraction. Once the pasenger bay is full, the Skyranger lifts off and streaks towards safety, as fast as it's engines will allow.

Seras Victoria (1084) has posed:
Seras proves victorious over the Muton! Her own arm bleeds from a few wounds where the flesh and bone ripped rather painfully, just enough to notice... but all this means is her left arm's sluggish and moves painfully. "Rrrghh..." She quickly retrieves her Harkonnen after regaining some of her composure... takes aim... and puts a 30mm shell through the Muton's skull.

Gilgamesh has posed:
     Huh, he killed it. Well, that's interesting. Gilgamesh strides forward again, stepping over the corpse of the alien with no more thought than he might step over a rock. He actually steps *on* it, crushing it with his bare feet, as though he weighed far more than he does.

     Seras's injury receives some attention. As she blows the Muton apart, Gilgamesh takes a scrap of cloth from his makeshift dress and wraps her wound. It's not really /first aid/, it's just kind of...basic. He does wipe off the blood in the process first.

     "There," he says, surveying his handiwork like a man proud of how well he's done dusting his mantle, and not like he just helped another person, "Much better."

     "We are done, yes? The Van Doorn is saved, the monsters are mostly dead, and this sickening modernity can be abandoned to its fate safely for the moment, until such time as reclamation is necessary?"

Elise Leroy (62) has posed:
    The strafing run comes in, hard and fast... but Firebrand is far faster. The late model Skyranger scoops up Menace, and Van Doorn, while Strike team beat feet for Big Sky, the bulkier Skyranger better armoured against attack. Strike Three-2 doesn't make it past a car in time, the blast of a Craft plasma cannon striking the vehicle, causing it to erupt in a fireball. it engulfs him in flame, and his vitals flatline quickly from the concussive shock and heat.

    The rest of the team make it inside the Skyranger, which lifts off and makes a different line away from the zone, so the UFO has to pick a target. Both Skyrangers easily able to outrun the vessel since it has to turn to engage after its run.

    Van Doorn says, "I owe you one, seriously. I wouldn't be here without your help. I dunno what outfit you're from, but I've never seen gear like this before." He folds the laser rifle into its compact form, then leans back in his seat. "I just hope I get another shot at these bastards. I owe it to my men."

Kotone Yamakawa has posed:
Now comes the strafing run oh god her life has turned into a bad day witht hat. She knows they have to move she knows they have to get the hell out of here and out of harms way. The aliens are taken out. She's pulling out and she will move to help anyone who needs aid in getting the hell away from this palce. She scrmabnles and moves hard as the fire comes her way. She'sjust barely got clear and another life lost s the car goes up she just slumps now a sthe are clear.

"They wanted you dead for a reason General."