Scene #1349: Thunder vs Steel Part Three: The Thundersteelening.

Owner	Pose
Thor	The Bifrost wastes no time in delivering Thor where he needs to go, bringing him to Phase Rock across the cosmos within an instant, runes forming in the ground around him with a deep blue glow. The Thunderer's cape trails behind him as he storms towards the base set up by Confederate places, a massive cartridge in one hand and his hammer in the other. The bullet dances about in Thor's grasp, the thunderer bearing a wide grin on his face. He has missed this rush of battle, oh yes he has, and hopefully Shardcore's just as raring for a fight as well. The bullet dangles about in his fingers, as Thor advances until he stops just short of entering the base itself. Then, he waits.
Tesla Armadia	It doesn't take long for Thor to get his response. Or his opposition. You now how much power it takes to launch the weight of a walking tank into the air? Enough that even if the ship doing so isn't in view, the sound is deafeningly audible, a ringing thunder that could rival that of the Norse god's own. Followed immeadiately by the crash of heavy mass slamming into the ground in front of the Confederate garrison and heaving a dense cloud of dust into the air from the impact's force. Cooling vents his steam, and briefly the flash of irradiant green vagely resembling eyes can be seen in the billows. Step brings a massive metal foot crunching the ground as emerges from the cloud. A sweep of heavy tail helps disperse the dusty shroud, bringing the entire hulking form into view. That's already got arm raised and ready, waiting only long enough for the cloud to settle and afford a clear view before the smaller machine gun ports built into it open fire, small flashes visible with the flaring muzzles. You can take that as accepting the challenge, yes.
Thor	"Finally." Thor says, grinning ferally as he pops his neck. "Remember this?" He holds up the cartridge plainly enough for the mech to see, "I recall you sent this to me as a threat the previous holiday, the one before this. I certainly do not forget threats so easily." Of course, his speech is cut off by machine gun fire, and Thor grunts as he catches a few rounds against his chest. The bullets definitely hurt enough to leave blood trailing from his chestplate, but he manages to regain his footing after a brief stagger. "Nor do I forget an enemy as fierce as you." He finally says, before he winds back and pitches the bullet like a baseball, aiming right for Shardcore's maw. Immediately after it makes impact, Thor raises up Mjolnir and fires a bolt of lightning to cook the bullet, setting it off point blank before the bolt arcs towards Shardcore to strike him asd well.
Tesla Armadia	A bullet like that doesn't have a lot of mass to it, but look who's throwing it. Guy swings around a hammer that is essentially unliftable, throwing a bullet with enough force that hitting Shardcore in the snout actually rocks his head back a moment from the blow. Followed by an electric shock to set off the charge in it. Black metal makes it hard to see blast marks clearly, but the sheen is visibly roughed and marred as Shardcore grabs the remains of the detonated shell with one hand and yanks it out. The hole in the plating of his snout is a bit more noticable, yes. "Tactical action: inferior." See he -can- speak. Unsurprisingly in a deep, mechanically resonant tone. "Analysis..." Ducts open up in the back of his arm, looking for the world like the recoil diminisher for another weapon was being activated... Only not as instead the jets fire, putting extra momentum into the swing as Shardcore physically lunges at the Norse warrior to swing the clenched metal fist at him. "You should of -stayed- gone."
Thor	Thor braces himself for the approaching Shardcore, charging forwards like a linebacker only to be swept up and decked across the chest. The Asgardian is sent flying across the landscape a good few yards, leaving a trail of earth when he plows through the ground in his wake. Grunting, Thor coughs and stands to his feet. "On the contrary, it's my absence that makes this sweeter..." He says, brushing dirt from his hair as he unclips his cape. Then he returns the gesture, lunging towards Shardcore with his hammer propelling him forwards, crashing headlong into Shardcore with earth-shattering force.
Tesla Armadia	Glowing optics settle on Thor as he recovers from the blow, watching his movements. Part of Shardcore's combat processing is dedicated to referencing their previous encounters while the other part focuses on what he is doing now. The lead-up to his hammer-propelled launch is familiar enough and the machine reacts in kind, deploying the anchors from the back of his legs normally used to brace himself firing his heavy weaponry. That and sheer bulk is the only reason he's not thrown off the ground, but even then Thor collides with more than enough force to send them skidding backwards even with the anchors dragging, the massive blow enough to impact the bulk of the robot's armor inward at the strike zone. Massive ruts left in the ground? Check. Retaliation? Check. Shardcore heaves both arms over his head to bring them down on Thor's back and knock him off his torso. Followed by half turning to swing his heavy tail and slam the son of Odin with it before he can get back out of immeadiate physical range.
Thor	Thor has come to expect a difficult, if glorious, fight with this machine. Shardcore's tenacity is matched only by his capacity to adapt in battle and his formidable strength. The robot's a tought nut to crack, and despite the terrible damage Thor's unleashed on him so far, it's clear Shardcore's able to dish out as much as he can take and then some. He's smacked off his feet by the tail, knocked back a couple of yards as he tries to stop his flight, putting his feet in the ground to skid himself to a stop. Dropping to a knee, Thor stops himself from falling over with his hammer, leaning on it as he catches his breath. After a moment, he stands back up and flings Mjolnir directly at Shardcore, the hammer flying with terrible force as it builds up a charge of lightning juuuuust before making impact. Once it strikes, Thor recalls it swiftly, knowing Shardcore's attempts to stop that in the past have failed.
Tesla Armadia	If Tesla was there personally she would probably be chuckling to herself when Thor winds up to throw his hammer. Shardcore hunchs forward, putting his large head in front of the rest of his body. The prongs of his certaposian headgear extend fully, crackling with energy of their own. Which is directed in front of him, so Mjolnir slams into the barrier of repelling force instead. Looks like he remembered trying to catch the hammer was a Bad Idea. Though even with the hammer blow deflected, the electrical charge it had built up still goes off from the impact, and that actually manages to partially bypass the shield, sending sparks cascading down Shardcore's back as the impulse diffuses through his body. Right arm panels flip open and extend outward, deploying one of the war machine's namesake weapons as Shardcore extends it in Thor's direction and fires, deadly sharp shatterblast screaming through the air.
Thor	Mjolnir lands mid-flight, and Thor is hit head-on by the mechanical dino's shatterblast. The energy beam seems enough to cook a lesser man alive, boiling skin and melting muscle within seconds. But Thor isn't a normal man, he's made of sterner stuff than that. While he's dropped to a knee, his body smoldering a bit and flames forming on his tunic, Thor pats them away before he stares Shardcore down. And then he takes off at the machine again, recalling Mjolnir before he makes a flying leap, sending the hammer off to let him fly towards Shardcore from above, slamming his hammer down upon the robot's head.
Tesla Armadia	The downside to calculated learning capability is that sometimes it takes -failing- to work. In this case, the didn't fail, so the logical step is to keep using it. Which would be why Shardcore lifts his head to reposition the shield above him when Thor leaps to the air and comes diving down. Unfortunately what stopped Mjolnir alone isn't enough to stop it being supplimented by the thunder lord's own mythological might. With the impact the shield breaks, and the resulting explosion of uncontrolled energy being released is enough to send Shardcore slamming into the rocky formations behind them. Well, at least he didn't get hammered directly, but that wasn't really any less destructive of a blow to take. Smoke hisses off his form as Shardcore extradites himself from the rocks. The conduits in his sides and up his neck are the only warning there is before he opens his mouth and expells a blast of noxious fumes from his power core. Definately not a pleasant experience if you get caught in them, godly endurance or not. But it's also an attempt at producing more hazard for his opponent, making it difficult to see clearly in the irradiant clouds.
Thor	Thor grins a little as he feels Shardcore get sent flying through the rocks, satisfied as he presses the assault, pursuing aggressively. He stops just short of the impact area before his nose curls, and the Thunderer begins to cough heavily as he's sent into a fit of illness. Hacking and coughing from the fumes in his lungs, Thor feels his eyes watering as well. It's enough for his vision to blur, giving him plenty of trouble as it is. He tries to clear his lungs as he lets off a gust of wind, summoning storms to blow away the fog of war while he tries to figure out where Shardcore is. Once he does manage to do just that, Thor spins his hammer, winding up as he lashes out with a crushing blow...somewhere in Shardcore's direction.
Tesla Armadia	Hmmm. Tesla might of overlooked that Thor's portfolio included the winds and other aspects that come with thunderstorms. Not that knowing it would of made much difference, it's hard to make gas based weaponry that isn't just blown off again. At least it seems to have had an effect on the heroic god before he was able to disperse it. Shardcore on the other hand has sensor modes specifically designed to be able to 'see' through his own disruption so he's got a bead on Thor the entire time. Only when Thor decides to charge via hammer again does he detain from shooting. Instead he drops down, not just hunching this time, but getting down as close to the ground as he can thanks to being capable of shifting to a four legged stance more like his prehistoric inspirations. Because he was aiming for his bipedal body Thor speeds over his head, though there is still a hideous screech and flying sparks as the hammer scrapes along his backside, breaking off a few chunks of armor before rocketing away. Shardcore turns around instead of bothering to get back up on two feet, weaponry housing unfolding to deploy his hybrid gatling cannon. Six spinning barrels wind up to speed as the weapon aims, and then belts out a volley of glowing green particle beams after the thunderer.
Thor	As Thor is assailed by a barrage of energy blasts, he seems to opt for an unconventional approach in response. He bats each energy ball away with his hammer's strikes, but it definitely takes a toll on him, as he's caught in the blast of one his misses, striking him in the side. Grunting, Thor pants for breath as he notices Shard's prone position. He'll take this chance, if nothing else it'll give him an opening to get this finished. Thor leaps to the air, bringing Mjolnir down upon Shardcore with meteor-like impact. There's probably going to be a pretty big landmark of a crater after this one.
Tesla Armadia	It's a good thing he's just deflecting them and not trying to play projectile tennis. If there is one thing Thor definately has over his opponent, it's being able to fly and thus faster. Apply that speed to a thunderous descent and... well meteor-like impact is a pretty concise way of putting it. Though the results of the blow looks more like a bomb being dropped and probably produced the same amount of kinetic energy being released if not more. Crater? They're lucky he didn't slam a hole staight through the island! Pieces of smashed loose armor are still falling to the ground even as Shardcore heaves himself back to his usual biped stance, grabbing a chunk of debris and yanking it out of his shoulder. The grinding of dislodged parts underneath is ignored. There was still a fight going on, after all. "Let's see if you can deflect THESE." Oh look, he learned how to boast, too. Debatable if the flat mechanical tone makes it less imposing or more so though. As for what he's talking about, that's what the multiple launch points in his body opening up are for, spewing out a literal hailstorm of explosive missiles screaming towards Thor's vicinity. All at once, instead of the interspaced timing the gatling blasts had been in.
Thor	Missiles hurdle towards Thor, all hailing onto his position like rods from god. They all go off in a massive fireball around Thor, and he's seemingly engulfed in debris and shrapnel on top of being scorched by the blast impacts. He should be dead, nothing can survive anything that punishing directly, right? Wrong. Thor remains in the middle of the crater, scorched and battered, most of his tunic pretty much gone now as he sheds the remains, leaving himself bare at the waist, with some new scars to show for it. He takes off into the air, charging up with lighting as he brings thunder down on Shardcore's head, giving a furious lightshow augmented by the crystals this zone produces no less.
Tesla Armadia	No normal being would be able to withstand ground zero of a multitude of missiles, but that's hardly a 'normal being' they're being used on. That Thor eventually flies out of it, abiet now as a walking shirtless scene, is not anything to be surprised by. The ionization can be felt in the air moments before Thor sends the majority of the charge thundering (ha ha ha) down towards his foe. Lightning augemented by the supernatural nature of him being a god, striking Shardcore with little trouble. Arcs of electricity crackle up an down the war machine's chassis, causing a little smoke to puff out of a seam here and there, but for the most part the conductive dispersal system Tesla installed after the first time the two faced off holds out. That the already bare ground is -zorched black- around Shardcore's feet is a good indicator of what sort of power that lightning was packing though. Shardcore lifts his gaze up, as the weapon module over his left shoulder activates this time and expands into his heavy shoulder cannon. As it locks into place the front of the barrel extends fully, speckles of energy already charging within as the rear duct panels flare open, and leg anchors redeploy for stability. A brunt of excess energy plumes from the recoil disperser ducts, but the majority of the charged energy erupts from the weapon with enough fury that the beam is actually a bit wider than the muzzle itself appeared to be, energy accelerated to the particle splitting speed of an accelerator. Weaponized.
Thor	Well, it seems Shardcore's lightning proofing has proven to be as unyielding as ever. Thor grunts irritably as he finds his actions all for naught, before he's blasted by the machine's energy cannon, sending him flying hard into a nearby hill, leaving a gigantic hill. Of course, he definitely has his bounce-back still present and accounted for, leaping forth from his little hidey hole swinging. He charges Shardcore, slamming him like a footballer. Then he winds back with his hammer, unleashing a punishing assault packed into one blow.
Tesla Armadia	Things start to fall into a pattern. Thor makes a few physical blows, then drops one of his longer distance attacks, then goes back to melee usually by charging in some way. Patterns, calculations, stategizing; adaptive military hardware processing at full speed to try and work a few steps ahead of the son of Odin. This time it seems to work as just as Thor comes charging in Shardcore again lowers his head forward as the massive cannon retracts back into storage. The shield doesn't come back up though. Instead Thor pounds against his head, heels grinding against the ground to keep his footing. Thor has a few moments to notice he's not been impaled on the robo-beast's horns, but caught between them. Exactly where Shardcore wants him to be, for as Mjolnir is wound back to swing, Shardcore swings first by whipping his head back to use his horns to throw Thor off and out of the reach of his own swing, and hopefully crash back to the ground before he realize what happened and, y'know, remembers he can fly.
Thor	Thor's had enough of this. As he's tossed through the air, he tries to reorient himself to fly through the air where he can recover, only to find himself slamming into the ground with shattering force. SOmehow he's left only with a broken rib, but it definitely leaves an impression as Thor tries to stand. He tightens his grasp on Mjolnir, before he lunges towards Shardcore once more, suddenly verring right as he approaches the robot's side. And then, he strikes, unleashing an underhanded blow with his hammer to shatter armor and internal electronics.
Tesla Armadia	A second charge?! Thor was thrown a distance away, but there had only been a 35% chance that he would charge again, compared to the 65% that he would hammer throw or otherwise initiate a ranged strike due to his condition. Just goes to show that not even the most sophisticated of tactical hardware is entirely foolproof. Shardcore attempts to make a readjustment, but Thor's veering to the side this time throws his projected processing off even farther. A few split seconds from miscalculation is all it takes to leave a window of oppritunity for Mjolnir to SLAM into the war machine's center of mass with enough force to heave Shardcore off the ground, ripping his anchors out of the ground with the power its packing! Armor crushed under the blow, only complicated farther when Shardcore slams back into the ground several times over before finally coming to a stop. It takes a few moments for the machine to pull himself back into order and get up, grabbing his head and turning it back into place manually with one hand. Busted armor breaks away from the movements, revealing smarking components and bend infrastructure. The eerie glow that starts to radiate through the conduits is hard to miss, turning the already green highlights a more sickly looking shade. Why are things that are poisonous or radioactive so often displayed as being green and glowing? Maybe Tesla just enjoys that cliche or something. The glow eminates the brightest from the depths of his mouth as Shardcore opens it wide, causing backlighting against his form as a torrential surge of irradiant energy erupts from the maw. Not just sickening fumes this time, it's a full scale discharge of radiation channeled from the depths of his experimental power core.