Multiverse Crisis MUSH - User contributions [en]

371/A Muse's Legacy

2014-08-09T03:09:11Z

Magenta: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2014/08/08 |Location=Desert Mountains |Synopsis=Kalliona and the Union make an attempt to capture one of Chrysanthemum's strongholds. |Thanks= |Cas..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2014/08/08
|Location=Desert Mountains
|Synopsis=Kalliona and the Union make an attempt to capture one of Chrysanthemum's strongholds.
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=13, 61, 73, 101, 253, 495, 512, 533, 537
|Tinyplot=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:101|Chrysanthemum (101)}} has posed:'''     The resistance is pretty small and scattered, but they have managed to set up an encampment with, thanks to Kalliona contacting the Union, an artificial Warpgate nearby! This gives a decent vantage of the rocky and narrow path leading to the fortress guarding the mountain pass... a very secure fortress, by many accounts. It's no wonder this was viewed as strategically viable, since it can be a choke point. It's not as defended as it could be because it's... well, Chrysanthemum's Empire controls most of the land, period.     The encampment is hidden under an overhang, but has a decent view of the tail end of the force that is winding away to the east, vanishing into the distance. The fortress is not undefended by any means though! Troops can be seen on the walls, making the rounds, but it's something of a skeleton crew compared to what it could be and should be. No doubt they are expecting reinforcements shortly. 

:'''{{#var:253|Psyber (253)}} has posed:'''     "So my plan, as per usual, will be that I will totally charge the front of the castle, draw most of their troops, and have an epic and heroic fight. You guys sneak in the back," Psyber says, emerging from the warp gate and only THEN taking the time to look out at the fortress. He deems his personal plan still viable, and rubs his hands together.     Despite normal appearances, he is also wearing gloves on his hands today. The leather kind of riding gloves you see people wear, mostly meant to conceal his hands in case any Confederate surveillance might be around. 

:'''{{#var:533|Sir Gawain (533)}} has posed:''' "Sneak, Master? That is..that is..we should all face them in battle, swords raised high like brave warriors, instead of sneaking and avoiding our opponents like cowards!". Sir Gawain, also emerging out of the warp gate, feels very strongly about stuff, obviously, staring at the fortress. "The fortress does not seem like much, we could easily strike it head on!". Sir Gawain does not look very knightly. He looks more like some sort of spy or character out of a movie, a black suit with a gold tie comprising of his outfit, a sort of flower motif on the tie. He's not armored, but that isn't very important at this exact time and it wouldn't take long to armor himself. 

:'''{{#var:73|Frederica (73)}} has posed:'''     Frederica sighs and shakes her head. "You are insane." she says, though there's a hint of approval in her voice. She ... kind of has a thing for stupidly brave men, not that she'd actually admit it or ever let that 'thing' be more than a pleasant like. Funnily enough, 'stupidly brave' is a LOT of Union elites, particularly among the men and boys in leadership roles.     "I'm fair at stealth, I suppose, if someone else distracts everyone." she observes. She's actually fairly terrible at sneaking, but that's okay. She's not actually actively noisy and that probably counts for something.     Frederica draws her hood up, letting the bat ears poke up above her head. "I'm usually better at firing at things from range. With a big thick dumb person in front of me to keep enemies from getting a good shot." she claims. "Er, not that there's anyone that fits that description HERE!" she admends hastily. 

:'''{{#var:495|Riva Banari (495)}} has posed:''' "We're not sneaking like cowards. We're going around back and flanking them to more effective take them down. We're still going to be fighting, just working together." Riva might be a Templar, but she still has a sense of self-preservation. Unlike, apparently, some of these guys. Ironic, considering her nature. "I'm fine with this plan. You and whoever decides to charge head on go in the front, and the rest of us move around to cut off the potential for enemy reinforcements. Believe me, I'm sure we're all going to be seeing plenty of fighting. No one doubts your courage, but none of us can fight forever. We need to limit how many enemies we're going to need to deal with." 

:'''{{#var:13|Milla Maxwell (13)}} has posed:'''     "Sneak? Ha! You don't need to concern yourself with such humble tactics! With Lord Maxwell here, this will be over before it starts! No, not even! I, Ivar, cannot allow Lady Milla to sully her hands. I'll handle the fighting!" comes a haughty male voice, close to Psyber-- he's met him already. That's Ivar, the dark-skinned, light-haired man in ceremonial white and grey clothes, with two sheathed blades.     Milla is with him, wearing her standard clothes (which some might argue are too little), quietly rubbing her temples at the sound of Ivar's voice.     The Four Great Spirits are with her, for those sensitive to such presences, though they are as usual invisible otherwise to most senses, awaiting orders.     "I am extremely sorry. Ivar insisted on coming," she settles on. 

:'''{{#var:512|Kanade Tachibana (512)}} has posed:'''     Kanade... does not look like she should be on a battlefield. At all. Stepping through the artificial warpgate wearing her usual school uniform and with absolutely no weapons to speak of, one might wonder what morbid sort of death wish she's harboring. And yet, the elites here have probably seen enough weird garbage to be able to tell that she's one of theirs. Maybe she's another magical girl or something? Makes as much sense as any other guess. Aside from pure intuition, though, there's something else that might hint to someone that she's an Elite: she seems unaturally stoic. Turning her head this way and that to give her an idea of where she's ended up, she doesn't... react to anything. At all. Maybe she nodded her head once or twice, but otherwise? Nope. Nothin'.     Pretty soon, though, Psyber gets her attention. She listens as he proposes a suicide mission... and just nods again. The only verbal response she makes is to mumble the words 'Hand sonic', eliciting the appearance of a small sword-knife on the back of her hand. Otherwise, though, she just... kinda... stands there, glancing to others as they speak up, not breathing a word. 

:'''{{#var:537|Kalliona (537)}} has posed:'''     Kalliona hasn't been seen before, as she mostly spoke on radio. Well, here she is, at the head of a cluster of resistance troops arguing about how to take things out. The Muse looks... like a normal young adventurer, to tell the truth. Blonde hair, lightly tanned skin, wearing a travel cloak and leathers. A quiver is at her side, holding about a dozen or so arrows, and an ornate but aged bow is slung across her back.     The 'plan' makes her sigh and shake her head. "If you insist... but only if you are certain. We still don't know exactly what the forces are in there, but I admit that battle and strategy are not my strengths." 

:'''{{#var:61|Anivia (61)}} has posed:''' Anivia was still finding ways of proving herself useful to her Union allies. The Multiverse always had some terrible conflict or another that required a Phoenix's intervention... and today was no different. The Cryophoenix was one of the first to cross over, but she didn't spend much time within the fortifications of the mountain base. Immediately upon warping in, the mighty Frozen Phoenix beat her crystal wings and leapt into the sky, circling above briefly to get a 'true' birds-eye view of the battlefield, trying to note any areas of interest or possible dangers before the attack begins. After circling the skies several times, the Cryophoenix flaps her wings once more and begins to descend back down to the base. She lands on one of the outer gates, about two-dozen feel from the Union forces. Slowly Anivia tilts her frozen head from one side to the next, as any curious bird would, as she quickly inspects the gathered Champions in front of her. She listens to Psyber's proposal, and Sir Gawin's reply for a brief moment... then simply blinks her bright red eyes and turns her head away. After a few seconds of silence she turns her head and quickly dips her beak under a wing, taking a moment to adjust a few frozen feathers before the battle begins. She really didn't have much to add to the plan it seems... 

:'''{{#var:101|Chrysanthemum (101)}} has posed:'''     It would be a little rough to attack head on, if only because it would require tumbling down a hill... or approaching by air. The troops on the battlements are pretty sparse, but the main door only has a narrow trail leading up to it, enough for only a few people abreast or a mid-sized wagon. It'd be a pretty cramped assault, and basically placing anyone in the range of a death rain of arrows.     The 'back door' /does/ exist, and is more open, but also includes a drawbridge across a ravine. This makes it kinda hard to get into through either door. Going over the walls is an option, but the entire company of resistance fighters can't.     It's also hard to get an idea of the troop layout /inside/ the place. Anivia's distant flyover doesn't appear to attract any attention, but nets only a rough layout of buildings, for the entire fortress has a blurry haze over it that obscures details and troops. It looks like they have magical protections upon it. 

:'''{{#var:61|Anivia (61)}} has posed:''' "Hmm, strange. Though I see the Union in front of me... I swear I'm in the Institute of War again listening to the Champions attempting to one-up everyone else's plan." the Cryophoenix muses to herself as she continues to watch the Union from a safe distance. From Angels to School Girls, Knights to Sorcerers... actually, yeah... Anivia feels pretty much right back at the Institute of War. New faces, same song, same dance... After shaking the sudden feeling of deja vu, the Cryophoenix begins to shuffle across the perimeter walls, taking a quick headcount of all the available soldiers and what equipment they carried. Warfare was nothing new to an Immortal... and Anivia has seen this kind of chaos quite often before. Though she wasn't a General... she was a Guardian, and often a Guide... "I suppose we could split up, take half the soldiers in the front and half to the back? Perhaps with Union Champions by their side, we can find a way in?" 

:'''{{#var:253|Psyber (253)}} has posed:'''     "Well, I can't say I mind all these positive attitudes," Psyber says happily, not minding that more and more people are falling in with the 'Let's just siege the place' strategy he has in mind. Psyber rubs at his chin.     "Hmm..." He's not great a complex plans, that's usually why he drags Nathan along. While not stupid, he's just not a shrewd political mind, "What if we pretended to be messengers to get in?" He looks to Anivia, "Her plan works, too. I guess we should avoid doing too much damage to the BASE if the rebels wanna keep it for long, though."     Kanade, for the moment, goes unnoticed by Psyber-sempai due to being so quiet. 

:'''{{#var:495|Riva Banari (495)}} has posed:''' Riva looks over at everyone present. "Hmm. We have to get control of the gates if we want to get in, but the easiest way to do that is to go over the walls. We can't bring over a regiment that way." Riva thinks about the messengers idea. "Well, it's worth a shot! If we can get into the gatehouse and hold it long enough that's all that matters, right?" Riva is bad at plans. 

:'''{{#var:533|Sir Gawain (533)}} has posed:''' "Her plan is fine, but I have the preference of attacking them head-on, if allowed.". Sir Gawain's tone and demeanor makes this seem like he might argue if told no, but then he smiles, as a small sphere of energy circles him. When it fades, he's in his armor, blade by his side, as he smiles. "But either way, we will take this base for their rebellion!". 

:'''{{#var:13|Milla Maxwell (13)}} has posed:'''     "If you would like, I can grant most of us flight," Milla offers, for those few who can't fly and might want to take the direct approach. "For my own part, I am willing to stay with Kalliona and follow her guidance. I believe she mentioned this is her world?" she says, looking towards her.     Ivar just frowns at her. "Lady Milla, I said leave the fighting to me! This is below you and what you have a handmaid for!" She retorts: "Unfortunately my handmaid has no skills appropriate to besieging a castle, does he? Hm. Perhaps I should find a new handmaid." Ivar shakes his head nervously. "N-No, that won't be needed! Alright, we'll go with..." Grump. "THEIR plan." Huff. He'd rather it be his plan. Or Milla's. One day he'll get the attitude beaten solidly out of him. 

:'''{{#var:537|Kalliona (537)}} has posed:'''     Kalliona just stares at everyone incredulously. "I am no General, but my usual means of doing this is to find a way in... perhaps over the wall?... and fight to the door to open it for the rest of the troops. I'm not sure I can do that by myself, though..." Ah, Riva is suggesting the same plan.     The Muse turns and looks at the fortress again. "I can already fly, and turn myself invisible, but they probably have anti-air and it is... somewhat likely they can see through my invisibility." 

:'''{{#var:73|Frederica (73)}} has posed:'''     Frederica cocks her head, looking at Psyber. "I don't think we're really going to pass as messengers." she says dubiously. Not because she considers there to be a chance in hell of it, of course. She's dubious because she's not sure whether or not Psyber is joking.     She grins happily at mention of flight, having gained an appreciation for that in Alfheim Online. "I like that idea. But you probably couldn't give flight to all the resistance, right?" Frederica muses. Then, at Kalliona's suggestion, she nods eagerly. "If our small group can fly, or most of us anyways, then that works! We open up the gate, and let the resistance fighters in!" she suggests in turn. 

:'''{{#var:512|Kanade Tachibana (512)}} has posed:'''     Kanade continues to dutifully watch and listen to everyone, but she still doesn't seem to have much of her own to offer. For the moment, she keeps on being small and ghostly. And honestly? That might be for the best; she's wandering pretty close to the edge of the overhang, where she could probably be seen by an exceptionally keen eye. Thankfully, though, she's not exactly the most conspicuous target.     After spending some time in someone's metaphorical crosshairs, she wanders back inside and finds somebody to gravitate near. For the moment, that's apparently Milla. 

:'''{{#var:61|Anivia (61)}} has posed:''' Anivia nods her head as the Cryophoenix tilts her head back at the castle, "I saw two ways in on my fly-over. One a heavily fortified front entrance down a sloped hill, likely far more combat focused and more dangerous..." she pauses and looks at Milla, "And your ability to make others fly will be best used there." She paused, "The second entrance is in the back, but over a drawbridge. I have many spells that could keep a bridge like that stable should the enemy try to cut it... I would like to follow the soldiers there, lead them if I must unless another prefers to take command." 

:'''{{#var:253|Psyber (253)}} has posed:'''     "Flying in works," Psyber agrees with Milla, "I have my own wings, so I can save you from magic." He crosses his arms and debates having a cigarette, "I agree with Riva about taking the gatehouses to secure troops across."     Psyber looks to Gawain as he armors up, "Alright, so. Gawain will go to the gate as a wandering knight and challenge their champion. The rest of us will go in over the top, since I bet the base will wanna watch this happen. We take the base before they realize and deploy their anti-air." 

:'''{{#var:13|Milla Maxwell (13)}} has posed:'''     To Frederica, Milla quickly answers: "I believe I can use Sylph to grant the whole of the resistance flight, however, such would require him to dedicate his energy to that. If an underground route were desired, Gnome would be able to dig us a tunnel there very quickly. I am unfortunately not very well versed in castle-taking strategies, though I have read a book on the subject. Sadly it implied several months of inaction to wear them out. Will we be staying here for several months, now?" The... question is actually genuine.     Baffling. Or maybe not, for those who know her. 

:'''{{#var:73|Frederica (73)}} has posed:'''     "Three groups then? Sir Gawain as a heroic distraction..." Frederica shakes her head. King Arthur first, now Sir Gawain. The game player in her is loving this. "A flying group to open the front gate and deal with archers. And a ground group of the resistance and anyone else not wanting to fly, heading to the rear, led by the ice... um, ice-bird. Sorry." she adds, having forgotten Anivia's name and not having any idea just what type of bird she is. 

:'''{{#var:533|Sir Gawain (533)}} has posed:''' Sir Gawain thinks for a second. They're still committing trickery, but it's better than pure stealth. Additionally, of all the tactics they have so far, it seems the most honourable and he doubts he can get them to just all go straight to the gates at once. "Very well. I will begin my march, then!". Nope, he's not waiting to see if everyone else agrees with the plan. Sir Gawain is actually rather fast, but it might still take him a while to get to the fortress. But once he's in enough of a range that seperates him from the others and gets him close to the front, he bellows out. "NOBLE KEEP! I challenge the strongest of your warriors to a duel of honor, a battle of blades! Do you refuse the challenge of a wandering knight, or will you accept my call?" 

:'''{{#var:61|Anivia (61)}} has posed:''' Anivia watches Sir Gawain run off first, a small chuckle escaping her beak.... then she shakes her head and turns to what soldiers have gathered behind her, "We must move quickly, the Knight moves quite fast even in his plate armor. With a quick beat of her wings, the Cryophoenix also dashes off after the knight, with several dozen of the soldiers stationed at the Mountain Base quickly taking up their arms and following after her. It takes Anivia far less time than most to reach the castle, after all it's hard to outrun something that can fly. But Anivia kept circling back occasionally, ensuring her soldiers didn't get left behind. As Sir Gawain begins to call out and challenge the fortress master, the Cryophoenix takes a group of men to the drawbridge in back. "Weapons at the ready, we have to presume they are expecting us..." Anivia speaks, and the soldiers, needing little coaxing, quickly drew their swords and shields and begins to cross the bridge, with the Cryophoenix following above. 

:'''{{#var:101|Chrysanthemum (101)}} has posed:'''     Gawain calls out a challenge! The challenge is met with a roar of laughter... but not a denial! After a few moments, the front doors open up wide enough to allow a single man to step through. Sandy brown hair and a fit physique match up with light armor, a chain shirt his heaviest protection. Yet he carries a simply /massive/ sword over one shoulder, like a JRPG hero, wandering out with a smile on his face as he plants the tip of the blade in the ground.     "All right, as you wish." The man sweeps his hair back. "My name is General Tomas, of the Imperial Army. It is your poor luck that I was passing through. If it is a challenge you want, I can provide." 

:'''{{#var:495|Riva Banari (495)}} has posed:''' Riva nods as the plans are laid and the groups split. She quickly moves along with Anivia. She's not exceptionally durable, but she has her own ways of dealing with these problems. She can't fly, but she'll... think of something. She looks at Anivia, and then at the walls. Pondering. 

:'''{{#var:253|Psyber (253)}} has posed:'''     Psyber does not elect to fly or move to the ground. Instead, he's working with his own strengths at the moment, and the perch he's on gives him the perfect viewpoint. The half-angel takes out a pad of paper and tears off a sheet, the slip turning into a briefcase.     The briefcase is set down on the ground in front of him and opened. He starts taking out the pieces of a rifle and assembling them, eventually winding up with a bolt action police rifle with a scope on it, "I'll provide overwatch and fire support. I can put a bullet through a wall, so if you're pinned down, give me the coordinates of what you want shot and we'll see what we can do. Otherwise, I'll watch the ramparts."     He starts sliding cartridges into the rifle as he conversationally notes to Kalliona, "You know, if you really think about it. You're a muse of art, right? Isn't everything an art form if you think about it. Battle, war, driving, swordsmanship. All expressions of self." 

:'''{{#var:101|Chrysanthemum (101)}} has posed:'''     Anivia leads some troops over to the other gate! As expected... there are defenses there! The cryophoenix and Riva will find that there's a little detail that Kalliona may have forgotten to mention, as the oncoming charge is met with not just arrows, but arrows that blaze with fire or crackle with lightning, along with streaks of mystical force that start to blast into the oncoming group.     On the other hand? The resistance fighters smoothly form up, and a series of magical barriers leap into being, meeting the arrows and bolts with a stalemate that stops the advance, but prevents the loss of life. The other fighters are forming up behind the shield-makers, readying a mishmash of weapons but not 'firing' yet.     It looks like basically /everyone/ is using magic. 

:'''{{#var:495|Riva Banari (495)}} has posed:''' Riva yells in shock as she sees the horde of burning and shocking and icy arrows. "OH GOD THIS IS GOING TO HURT!" She yells. She never thought she'd die in a siege. And then she looks up at the magical barrier. "Huh." She says, poking at it. "That's different." She looks at the hail of arrows, and then at Anivia. She waves. "Hey!" She calls. "Anivia!" She points at the archers. She'll leave it to awesome ice bird to figure out what to do from here. 

:'''{{#var:61|Anivia (61)}} has posed:''' Anivia pauses when she saw Riva Banari was following her, giving a small smirk as she slows down to follow the other Union Champion. "I'm glad I'm not the only one going with these men, I haven't heard much of your abilities, but I know you're capable. Lets just try to keep these men alive." Before Anivia could hear Riva's reply, a volley of lightning suddenly rains down on the party of soldiers from the wall. Anivia was expecting this... With a loud and fearsome bird-cry, greatly resembling many large birds of prey found on Earth, Anivia suddenly dashes forward and flies directly over her soldier's head, creating a large U of ice against the bridge, and forming a thick ice barrier between the men and the lightning arrows all the way to the entrance. "Quickly! To the gates!" Anivia cries, as she leaps into the skies over the bridge, flying towards the archers and summing forth a volley of frozen spears raining down upon them. 

:'''{{#var:533|Sir Gawain (533)}} has posed:''' Sir Gawain smiles warmly at General Tomas. "I am Sir Gawain, of the Round Table of Camelot. Well-met, and I do indeed challenge you in a duel. Though, you may find my luck is not that poor.~". He removes Excalibur Galatine from its hilt, raising it upwards, before putting it to his side. The blade reflects the shine of the sun off it as it is risen, and Gawain moves it from his side in front of him, grinning as he speaks. "Now then, let us battle, General Tomas!". 

:'''{{#var:73|Frederica (73)}} has posed:'''     Frederica accepts the flight option with barely-checked enthusiasm. She's just like a kid it seems, despite being visibly many years out of childhood. As the group forms up, she holds out a hand. "I can do some of that too!" she claims, but then shrugs. "I suppose I can do some other things instead. Like... keeping their heads down?" she offers. It's easy enough to do. Wide-scale destructive flames are quite effective in general, and with Frederica's skill they're terrifying. Should any heads pop up, and should any weapons or spells be raised, she'll fire off broad gouts of flame. Nothing terribly intense, though it should have the power to burn clean through weaker shields. The fire is tenacious, though in broad sweeps like this it's not intense enough to kill. Just perfect, however, to make unprotected individuals decide to find shelter and to be more concerned with protecting themselves than attacking. It's also rather effective at blinding, for that matter. 

:'''{{#var:13|Milla Maxwell (13)}} has posed:'''     Flight! Well, it is granted to people who want it. Milla motions in the air, tracing four colored circles before her-- red, yellow, green, blue, all connected by a white circle. She moves her hand into the green one, and magic moves out of her into a shape that finally appears. Sylph, looking like a young teenage boy, with green air and almost-green skin, floats in the air, grinning, pulling aviator goggles down from atop his head to in front of his eyes. He extends his hands forward, and...     Anyone who consents to it receives a pair of bright green wing-shaped magical fins, which hover around their ankles. They grant flight! It is basic-level, but it'll do for most purposes.     Ivar sighs, and unsheathes both of his swords. "If this is your wish, Lady Milla. Very well! I, Ivar, will ensure no harm comes to you!"     But this pose only covers granting flight for now. To everyone! Resistance included. Well, everyone friendly, that is. 

:'''{{#var:537|Kalliona (537)}} has posed:'''     While Milla is granting flight, Kalliona tosses her hair back. "I can only hope they don't have more than General Tomas. I don't think we can fight their entire leadership." She doesn't need flight, so she doesn't bother to get it. In fact, as she unlimbers her bow from her back, the young woman is already floating off the ground and drifting toward the fortress. A shimmer in the air surrounds her as she fades from view completely. Those with magical senses that can penetrate disguises might see her as a shimmering, translucent outline, more solid depending on how much they can see through such things.     She reappears when everyone takes off for the fortress, laying down covering fire. She doesn't use her quiver, just drawing back the bow to cause brilliant arrows of sunlight to appear in it, four at a time, and starts raining them down on the battlements in a sudden storm of light-arrows to clear that section of the fortress. 

:'''{{#var:101|Chrysanthemum (101)}} has posed:'''     Tomas... twirls the massive blade as if it were a much more slender one, moving into a stance with ease. An experienced knight sucha s Gawain can instantly tell that this one is very, very skilled. And if that weren't hint enough, the sudden flash of movement settles the matter. He moves far faster than a human should, making him a Servant-level threat with ease. The sweeping slice shouldn't be hard to avoid, but he's following it up with a battering punch with his off hand, trying to open up with a flurry of action that tests his opponent's reflexes.     He's really good. But he's taking it easy right now, and probably doesn't expect Gawain to be quite as badass as a Servant is. 

:'''{{#var:253|Psyber (253)}} has posed:'''     Rifle in hand, Psyber brings the weapon up and cracks off a shot at the archers up on the castle wall. He centers the sights and then gently pulls the trigger, trying to send a long-distance shot streaking off towards the wall defenses. Then he pulls the bolt, chambers another cartridge, and starts repeating the process. He's trying to pick off and lessen the onslaught of arrows. 

:'''{{#var:495|Riva Banari (495)}} has posed:''' Riva should have expected such facility with ice from the Cryophoenix. Riva stares in awe for a moment, saying, "Coooooooooooooool..." She didn't even intend the pun. However, the opening is given. She shakes her head, and as soon as the magical barrier falls, Riva draws her blade, a broadsword with a crude, silvery circuit pattern inlaid into the blade. As she grasps it, Anima flows into the weapon, igniting it with magical energy. She calls, out, "HOLD!" and rushes forward, rushing the gate as adrenaline carries her forward. She grins to herself, thinking for a moment. This is amazing! For a moment, she can see why Gawain wanted to fight them head on. And then she remembers the hail of magical arrows, and winces. She and the resistance movement almost got slaughtered. She lunges towards the Gate, and cleaves into the surface multiple times. With all the magic she's seen, she's expecting magical reinforcement. It won't be simple to breach, but there's something shr brought with her. Reaching to one side, she pulls out of... somewhere... A small package wrapped with green plastic and stamped with white letters: C-4. There's also a glob of some golden material on it. Riva frowns, and just jams it on the gate, using the glob, apparently, as some kind of adhesive. It sticks there, and Riva affixes a device to it. She turns and runs away, calling, "SHIELDS UP!" As soon as she's behind the shields she hits the detonator. The C-4 detonates in a large explosive fireball. There's more than one way to breach a gate. 

:'''{{#var:533|Sir Gawain (533)}} has posed:''' Sir Gawain grimaces as he sees that his opponent is most definitely skilled, and the speed is definitely something he didn't expect. As the swiping slice comes forth, Gawain's side stepping as fast as he can, a narrow dodge, but the fist catches his completely off guard. Timing his reflexes fast, he swings his head to the side, General Tomas's fist virtually just touching his skin, that is how narrow of a dodge it is. Sir Gawain's definitely having doubts about how easy this will be now, quickly moving backwards. He's going to have to work defensively, and work around the weaknesses of Tomas. "You sure are quick. Let's see how that works in opposition..!". Sir Gawain charges inwards, a two-handed horizontal slice to test Tomas' defenses and manueverability, the battle being focused on to the fact that he is ignoring the very loud noises his comrades are making on the other side. They can handle themselves. 

:'''{{#var:101|Chrysanthemum (101)}} has posed:'''     Anivia's barrier of ice... is soon cracking under the fire, since it is now literally fire. From below, a cry is heard from the battlements: "CRYOMANCER! FIRE TEAM FORWARD! READY METEOR TEAM!" Apparently they are... pretty damn organized in the case of such an occurance, though Anivia's utter mastery of ice magic has given them far more pause than some random cryomancer might have.     Riva will thus be in a position to help the resistance fighters, who seize the moment and form up in a wedge formation. The front of the wedge surges forward to catch up to Riva, and the explosion of the gate washes over the 'battering ram' formed of mystical barriers. Thus the team has managed to pierce the gate, and now finds a small detachment of warriors still forming a line of defense. They look about even in numbers, but their lances are starting to shoot pulses of force that batter the barriers already.     Still, they're in. That's something. 

:'''{{#var:101|Chrysanthemum (101)}} has posed:'''     Although the fortress does have anti-air defenses aside from archers, they're mostly over dealing with the other assaults, and they don't have the range of a sniper rifle or the skill that the Muse has with her bow. Fred and Milla and the rest of the resistance fighters will find a few smattering bolts shot at them, but the troops can block those well enough. The small group thus slips through with relative ease!     The troops are mustering all around though, starting to pour out. The group can either make for the gatehouse as planned, or try to swiftly strike from behind the force that's fighting Anivia and Riva. 

:'''{{#var:61|Anivia (61)}} has posed:''' Ah, fire. Of course. The Cryophoenix was wondering when they were going to pull this tactic, after all if they could control lightning, Anivia naturally assumed they could wield other elements... and it always ends up being Fire... The Cryophoenix gives a loud call of displeasure as she quickly gains altitude, putting more distance between her and the mage's fireballs... she has long mastered the skill of dodging Skill Shots in the Fields of Justice... these Fire Mages were strong, but they were nothing compared Brand... Still, not to underestimate their might, Anivia circled above... directly over the battlements of archers and their mages... and begins to chant, casting a spell in her native Phoenix tongue. In an instant, the calm winds around the enemy soldiers transformed into a sudden and lethal blizzard; hail stones the size of tennis-balls, winds of 60 MPH, and sudden lethal cold... making it all but impossible for the soldiers to fire their next volley, as Riva and her soldiers begin to charge in to finish the job! 

:'''{{#var:101|Chrysanthemum (101)}} has posed:'''     Tomas looks surprised that Gawain managed to dodge it. "Eh? You have some real skill!" It means he can't just fool around, and his blade is still on the backswing! He can't parry that slice... can he? That blade is moving awful fast, but fast enough?     The ring of steel on still fills the battlefield between the two, as there /is/ a parry done! It's just done by the pommel of Tomas's blade, bringing it up to deflect the strike and actually force him to take a step back. Apparently he's used to his opponents being pushovers compared to him, as this makes the crowd of troops above casp in shock. Gawain managed to force their General to /adjust his footing/? That's unheard of!     The General twists and his own massive blade is brought about again, faster than should be possible. He's wielding it /almost/ like a longsword, one-handed even, and this one is moving in a swift arc upward! Gawain might be able to compensate though... because even if he has the speed of a smaller sword, the blade has much of the bulkiness of a larger sword, meaning that he does have openings he might not otherwise have. 

:'''{{#var:495|Riva Banari (495)}} has posed:''' The battle is joined and everything becomes chaotic. Riva lunges towards the battle, watching Anivia bend the forces of nature itself. Riva quickly attacks right on the back of the blizzard, spinning as she cleaves into the defensive line with an empowered blade in a whirlwind strike. She stays mobile, however, working to break through the lines to harry them and engage their support from behind. She gasps as she sees the flaming retaliation however. "Man, does /everyone/ here use magic?" She asks aloud, before a fireball smashes next to her, knocking her aside. She shakes her head, smoke rising from her as she grunts, her body burned. "Ouch..." She shakes her head, and forces herself back to her feet. "I'm not going to be beaten that easily!" She sheathes her blade, and draws her pistols, the guns bearing similar circuit patterns. They hum with energy, and Riva launches herself through the battle, strafing the enemy mages and archers with a hail of sizzling green bullets of Anima. It might be something they're familiar with, but Riva is sticking to target priority. The resistance soldiers fighting with her are fighting for their future. Her intent is to reduce how much of the enemy ranged DPS and support can have an effect on the battle. 

:'''{{#var:73|Frederica (73)}} has posed:'''     "Burn! BURN!" cries Frederica gleefully, flying along in slowish swoops, keeping the heads of the defenders down. For all her manic delight however, she's doing remarkably little actual burning. She's definitely sending out great gouts of flame, but it's not really focussed on the defenders. They'll likely get singed, even burned, but they'd have to be maliciously stupid or extremely unlikely to get seared and killed by her careful attacks.     In fact anyone watching her attack, if they were to observe closely, they'd see how she pours on massive streams of flame only where the defense is strongest. Her fire is strong, and the nature of her pyrokinetics makes it possible for her to overwhelm a defensive shield, but she projects that flame stream only while the shield holds. Once it breaks, a puff of flame goes through to lash those underneath and score some damage, but then she focusses her attention to others who haven't broken. Either she doesn't want to kill, or she just wants to focus her power only where resistance is strongest. Both, perhaps.     As the air team makes their way towards the front gate's towers, Frederica shifts her focus. Taking a break from keeping heads down, she turns her flame loose on the towers themselves. "Pyro Queen!" she cries. "Flame burst!" The power coughs out of her, a narrow column of flame that extends from the girl to a narrow slit in the tower's wall. Within, the flame indeed bursts. Hot flames burst out of other windows as the flame expands. They're not omnipresent within, but they're relentless. She's baking the inside of the tower, slowly at first, giving those within the chance to escape before the relentless flame turns the tower into an oven. 

:'''{{#var:253|Psyber (253)}} has posed:'''     Psyber idly wipes some sweat from his brow with the back of his hand as his long-range shots drop several of the archers. From a crouched position, he spots Riva blowing the gate wide open with C4 and can't help but cast a grin of approval at such an action. It reminds him of something he'd do, so he can't help but respect it where it happens.     Taking a deep breath, he reaches into the pocket of his jacket and his gloved fingers pull out another fistful of rounds, lowering the rifle away from his face. He brushes the collection of brass away from himself with his boot, slowly sliding each new round into the internal magazine before he raises it up again.     He's not shooting quite yet, but his scope is sweeping over the field, from Gawain's fight all the way over to the other groups, looking for an ideal spot to put down fire. He turns his attention towards gathering forces, aiming the rifle at commanders and leaders, trying to scatter the troops by taking out the ones giving directions. 

:'''{{#var:533|Sir Gawain (533)}} has posed:''' Unlike the General, Sir Gawain isn't as surprised by skillfull maneuvers, but his guard never drops. The deflection of his blade causes Gawain to voluntarily step back himself, and position Excalibur Galatine in a one-handed position, even if it seems to be like a claymore. Moving quickly, he decides to take advantage of the opening he /does/ have, lifting his empty-handed arm up to take the blade, as he moves Excalibur Galatine in an attempt to slice into the General's side. As Tomas' blade strikes on his arm, he grunts, the force of the hit definitely felt but his armor more or less intact. "I must say, you are quite the worthy opponent. I haven't had such a great battle in centuries..!" 

:'''{{#var:537|Kalliona (537)}} has posed:'''     Kalliona nods to Milla and Fred and the soldiers. "Keep going, I will help our allies at the back gate." She flits off at high speed, drawing her bow to fire single arrows this time. Her intent is to swoop in from behind while the others are occupied, but she isn't targeting the leader. Instead she has a very specific target, since she sees that Anivia is causing a blizzard.     Kalliona knows magic better than the non-natives, so the bow twangs and shoots out arrows toward any of the troops that might look like they can counter the blizzard. Hopefully from behind, the won't be able to defend as well against an archer of her skill. 

:'''{{#var:101|Chrysanthemum (101)}} has posed:'''     The archers on the battlements, which apparently include long-distance battle mages, are a threat to both Riva/Anivia team and the Milla/Kalli/Fred team, but fortunately Psyber is picking them off well enough that the remainder are distracted trying to deal with the sniper! A few send streaks of lightning up toward Psyber, but it's pretty clear they can't pinpoint where he is yet. Possibly because of the savage beating they're taking. It's a pretty well-organized defense, they're putting up, but they are undermanned for this sort of opposition. They may all use magic, but actual Elites are just as rare if not rarer than in other worlds.     Even with this, they work in teams well enough to compensate! It turns out that the 'Meteor Team' is made up of /Meteormancers/, or 'weather mages' They immediately work to start countering or lessening the blizzard. Anivia outclasses every one of them, but there are several working in concert, so they may lessen it-     Or would if the precision arrows from the expert archer behind them didn't take them out in a few heartbeats. The mages crumple to the ground, leaving the archers in a storm of snow and ice. With Riva's support, the key archers are taken out, and within a few more moments the resistance fighters begin to overwhelm the troops at the back gate, who start calling for quarter at last. With chattering teeth. 

:'''{{#var:13|Milla Maxwell (13)}} has posed:'''     Milla is apparently quite content staying back and playing support. With a wave of her hand, a large gush of water rushes through the air, curving about effortlessly into the incoming waves of arrows, whatever ones have managed to be fired despite the pressure on the archers. Obviously the goal is just to eliminate as much of the projectiles as possible, not to spare herself, but rather the resistance.     Ivar, with his twin swords out, has mostly dived into the fray. He's an above-average Elite, as far as his swordsmanship goes, and trails lines of light-aligned mana with his blades. In other worlds it might be called holy energy, though it's not entirely accurate. He seems pretty good at fighting without lethal intent, surprisingly-- and even better yet at navigating through the fires caused by Frederica, as if experienced. One can probably guess Efreet trained him the hard way. 

:'''{{#var:61|Anivia (61)}} has posed:''' With the majority of enemy soldiers under siege from THREE Union Champions, two in the front lines and sniper support... the armed soldiers following Anivia and Riva barely broke a sweat as they charged through the ruined gates and claimed the fortress. The soldiers seem to make quick work of what men remained, they were here for a fight and clearly they were not going to leave the whole bought to Anivia and Riva. The sound of metal on metal rings through the back quarters as the soldiers mop up who Riva and Anivia hasn't already dispatched. As the tides quickly turn for the battle in the south, Anivia slowly calls and end to her blizzard and swoops down, landing on the wall overlooking the battlefield she helped create. Her head turns from one side to the next, her tail feathers twitching slightly before she turns to Riva and simply dips her head in appreciation. "We should check on the others soon." 

:'''{{#var:101|Chrysanthemum (101)}} has posed:'''     The defenders of the gatehouse fall quickly to the combination of Ivar and the wave... but not so swiftly as normal mooks might. They're really unprepared for Elites of this level though, so fall they do, and are forced back further by the actual resistance fighters. The tide(literally in this case) was swiftly turned by the presence of so many powerful Elites.     And the gatehouse itself? The defenders throw up barriers, but Fred's pyrotechnics blast through them with minimal effort. Not /easily/ mind, but it doesn't take much. They just aren't in her class! So with a few cries the soldiers start leaping out of the gatehouse, doing the abandoning for her! Nobody wants to be fried in there!     Besides, most of their leaders are knocked unconscious by earlier flame blasts, or Psyber's shots. Nobody is there to rally them, while the resistance fighters are at incredible morale! 

:'''{{#var:101|Chrysanthemum (101)}} has posed:'''     This time Tomas isn't surprised by Gawain's skill. The other swordsman does have a 'hole' in his defenses, the size of his blade meaning it does have some predictability. He must rely on the hilt to help protect him... or maybe something else, like his vaunted invulnerability.     That is exactly what he relies on now! As his own blade bites into Gawain's armor, he lifts his free arm to block Gawain's attack! The Servant can feel it skitter over /skin/ that is hard as steel, tearing through cloth easily but meeting far more resistance from the actual flesh. It's a simultaneous parry of blows!     Except that a tiny trickle of red oozes out from Tomas's arm where Gawain's sword has been caught. It's not a deep cut, by any means, but it's more than what Gawain took.     "Ah... Sir Gawain, I must confess, you have drawn first blood! And from the sound of it, your allies have managed to overrun the fortress despite my attempts to keep it secure while I took care of my foolish pride." He laughs, stepping backward. "I think it is fair to say you have won this engagement... but I think I will not underestimate you next time. Shall I take my leave with my surviving troops and cede the battle to you? All I ask is the chance for a rematch." 

:'''{{#var:253|Psyber (253)}} has posed:'''     Psyber ducks back behind the perch as several lightning bolts collide into the surrounding terrain. He scowls a bit at how close those were. A bit longer and they were going to actually start hitting him. He slings the rifle up over his shoulders as the group secures the castle and then steps off the cliff-side he was standing on.     He has a remarkable amount of balance afterwards, sliding down the side of the surface, eventually landing on the battlefield. He dusts his hands off and then shouts in a booming voice, "Let Sir Tomas go, Gawain. He fought bravely, with honor, and I don't see much to gain from killing him here." He advises to his Servant.     Knowing Gawain, though, he doubts there will be much objection. 

:'''{{#var:495|Riva Banari (495)}} has posed:''' The enemies are broken and begins surrendering. Riva nods, definitively, and raises a cheer. "YEAH! VICTORY!" She calls out. "Gimme fi-" She pauses, looking over at Anivia and realizing she doesn't have a hand. "Um... Nevermind. Good work!" She also turns and gives Kalliona a thumbsup. "Thanks for the support!" She calls, before pointing. "Come on! We can hit the remaining enemies from behind! They won't know what hit them!" And then some more shouts go up. "Wow, they got their side too! YES!" She is /so pumped/. "I've never been in a siege before, this was crazy!" 

:'''{{#var:73|Frederica (73)}} has posed:'''     Frederica is staying safe more by dint of stopping attackers from looking at her than by any great defensive ability. Her flame keeps heads down, and it's not easy to look straight into the source. She's a great big beacon target though, for any mages or archers that have a good oblique angle. She's taken a few near-misses, a few hits. Her reinforced clothing is a good enough armor to protect her from the worst of it. She's relying on Psyber though, to pick off any who are sighting on her. That and on her own abilities to turn flames on anyone who dares take a shot. They have to hit with their first attack to do her any harm or someone's sure to put them down quickly.     Now though, bleeding from a few grazes and some magic that struck home, she turns her fire on the second gate tower. Again the stream of fire pours out, this time into an arrow slit on that second tower. The inhabitants have to know what's coming though, and should be more than ready to pour out as she begins to direct her attention their way. No one stands in the way of a raging fire if they can help it, not unless they have good reason to believe they can withstand it. 

:'''{{#var:533|Sir Gawain (533)}} has posed:''' Sir Gawain takes a second to make sure this isn't a trick, before sheathing his blade and smiling. "If I was to refuse you this, I would have no honour. Take your survivors, and the next time we meet, I expect us to match blades once more! Until we meet again, General Tomas.". Gawain waits for Tomas to turn his back first, before he turns himself to part back to the warp gate. 

:'''{{#var:537|Kalliona (537)}} has posed:'''     As the battle comes to a close, Kalliona finally draws an arrow from her quiver and nocks it. Pointing the bow up toward the wall, she lets fly with the arrow... which appears to be a signal arrow, releasing a high-pitched whistle over the battlefield. This brings the resistance fighters to cheer!     "Thank you all for the help," she says, breathing a deep sigh. "This was a great victory today. I only hope that we can use it for a proper foothold before Chrysanthemum sees it as a real threat." 

:'''{{#var:101|Chrysanthemum (101)}} has posed:'''     Tomas whistles loudly, sheathing his blade and finding no problem in turning his back to Gawain. He gestures to his men, who all begin surrendering and making their way down to the gate to join him. "The Emperor will not be pleased to hear we lost the fortress," the General admits. "But then, this is the first real loss we have had in a while. I think it will be... interesting."     He sounds way too jovial about that. 

:'''{{#var:61|Anivia (61)}} has posed:''' Anivia blinks as she holds out a wing for an awkward moment when Riva goes for a high-five... not quite sure what to do in that moment. When Riva switches to a thumbs up, Anivia gives a, "Oh!" and replies with a rather friendly soundly chirp. "We did well this day; you are quite fierce in combat. I know many Champions who would be impressed by your skills." she compliments, before looking around. "My job here is done, I should move on. I'm starting to fall behind my schedule..." she mutters, mostly for herself before she turns and nods again at Riva. "Until we meet again." With that Anivia leaps into the skies once more, soaring back towards the Union Warpgate. 

}}

350/BUG SQUASHING!

2014-08-06T02:58:42Z

Magenta: Created page with "{{Log Header |Date of Scene=2014/08/05 |Location=Desert Mountains |Synopsis=A big bug comes to a Confederate factory followed by a gorilla... and the Confederates decide to sq..."

{{Log Header
|Date of Scene=2014/08/05
|Location=Desert Mountains
|Synopsis=A big bug comes to a Confederate factory followed by a gorilla... and the Confederates decide to squash it! HARD!
|Thanks=
|Cast of Characters=222, 380, 399, 492, 522, 523, 524, 530
|Tinyplot=
|pretty=yes
}}
{{Poses
|Poses=:'''{{#var:523|Manata (523)}} has posed:''' The Confederate factory #982059 is mostly a hidden factory. Off the side, out of the way, and it's only an armory producing one at that. Low security, not much to it. So... the question is, why would something this big want to go there? And by big... it appears almost like a miniature kaiju fight going on. They're both about 60 feet tall with a two distinctive looks. The first one nearest the factory is a large dusty white color facing away from it. Said giant has a glowing red "grill" for a face and is currently trying to shoot the other one. Overall, it looks like the mecha version of a gorilla crossed with something. Hunched over, even moving as it tries to keep the other one from firing on the factory. Something which leads to it being smashed against a wall by some form of beam weapon. And the wall collapsed with rockets on top of it mostly. The other one is a red-purple "skin" coloring and looks like something of your typical monster. Squatting down, it's definitely 60 feet or so with large legs that stay bunched up. No head, at least 12 or so eyes, and the long mantis like pincers for "hands" unlike the other one. A chipped red spine fine goes down the torso and it looks like it's been damaged by the laser fire from the other one some. And it appears to have no problem shooting the factory at all. Needless to say, the factory workers are alerting the Confederate forces simply because the red one's first strike took out the bunker of guards and armored vehicles. 

:'''{{#var:222|Regina of Borg (222)}} has posed:'''      The Borg are quick to respond in this case. If there is one thing they know needs preserving, it is production facilities. A Borg ship appears overhead. This one is not the usual cube or sphere shape. Rather, it is shaped much like a diamond. It is the Borg Queen's personal ship. Not nearly as large as other ships, but it looks to be much more heavily armed and armored. "Are either of these creatures an ally?" the Borg Queen asks over the radio as the 100 meter long ship descends toward the battle. "It would be a shame to destroy an ally." 

:'''{{#var:522|Gaius Van Baelsar (522)}} has posed:''' The signal has gone out and Gaius gives orders for the Dreadnaught to move in toward the signal location. The several mile long armored airship moves across the skies with little effort. The lights on its underside flicker from time to time and as it comes down ever slightly lower the sheer raw power that its conducting creates a low rumble in the air. For unlike jets and many air-type ships, the rumble is not created by thrusters, gravity generators, or any other types of normal science devices. Instead it is being generated by the power of refined aetheric flow, powering a field under it by that of sheer magic. As it moves in closer, Gaius at his bridge post goes to stand up from his seat and walks foreward, as he moves past the holographic projection of the area to view the very battle taking place with his own eyes from where he stands. The dark armor which yields to no light, the gold trim ever polished, and the crimson red cloth on his form where his armor does not touch. The full plate helm hiding all facial features and where the eyes should be seem black and that of a dark void, with no visual of his own eyes at all. He has already sent word the Confederacy of his ship's arrival and with it coming into visual range-- her very body casts a shadow of the world below. The Dreadnaught then starts to ever so slightly lean as the massive airship starts to turn to bring the side ports gun around to bare. It is with this position does she hold, but yet does not fire. As with another ship's arrival and allies coming in. Gaius wants to be sure they have a clean enough shot to not create to much friendly fire. 

:'''{{#var:530|Garen (530)}} has posed:'''     Hitching a ride with General Zod, Garen (Cipher Nine) took a long look over the field and the giant insect. "Hrm....Keeper. Alert the Imperial Air Force. Have them remain on station for potential bombing runs." <Done. Be careful, Agent.> "Aren't I always?" He asks of his handler. He finds a good place to set up on the ship, and begins lining up for sniper support. 

:'''{{#var:399|Taro (399)}} has posed:'''     Taro would be among the first to respoond, by virtue of the fact that the factory is practically on his doorstep. (Relatively speaking, anyway. Scale of distances tend to be skewed when speaking of a gargatuan superlandmass.) The indigo flash of a teleport in the sky heralds his arrival, several hundred feet above and a short distance west of the factory grounds. Electromechanical wings unfurl to hold him there as he takes a first impression of the intrusion...     ...one of those below is presumbably intelligent, or at least capable of speaking over broadband. The question is which one?     More ships - ones much much larger than one android - likelwise come to investigate, and he changes his position so as to not accidently become a casualty of crossfire. 

:'''{{#var:524|General Zod (524)}} has posed:''' The insectoid black dropship comes flying in at hypersonic speeds, though the passengers seem unperturbed by the extreme speed the kryptonian vessel comes screaming in at, nor are they bothered over much by the thing turning on a dime. Inside is a pair of pilots, helmets on, work the controls while Cipher Nine and Zod prepare for the assault. The back-end opens, providing a rather convenient firing platform for the Imperial agent, and a springboard for Zod. Zod glances at Cipher Nine, his helmet retracting and his super senses flaring to life as he takes a deep breath of air. They clear after a moment. "I will call any weak points I spot over the tactical band." And then... he jumps towards the giant bug monster, cape fluttering out behind him. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     A place that appears to not have much to it is always the first place that someone would go to hide something, isn't it? Because no one would think to look there, right? Well most people, anyway. People like Blurr know better. Sometimes you have to be a bit counterintuitive, in his business.     At any rate, the speedster had been monitoring local probes when one of them picks up on an unencrypted transmission from a Confederate facility. Something about an attack, and there were two of them? Huh. He decides it's worth investigating, so off he goes, the hover racer speeding across the desert, kicking up a mini-sandstorm in the wake of the sonic booms.     Upon arriving close enough to determine what appears to be happening via a short-range scan, he stops to take further stock of the situation. It seems Confederate forces have already arrived to deal with the threat. The Autobot hides in a nearby oasis, staying out of sight for now but watching very closely whatever is to happen next. 

:'''{{#var:380|Madeline Vance (380)}} has posed:'''     'GOOD TO HAVE YOU BACK, EMPRESS.'     Madeline sighs as she increases the throttle, building up a larger charge. "You, of everyone, shouldn't call me that."     The simple AI doesn't respond to that, only returns to its duties. 'IMMANENT SOLAR GLORY BATTERIES AT 92% CHARGE. OVERDRIVE CAPACITORS AT 0% AND READY. CORE POWER AT 100%. RESERVE POWER AT 90%. STARTUP SEQUENCE COMPLETE. EXECUTING LAUNCH. GOOD LUCK, SIR.'     Madeline braces as the Warstrider launches itself through the warpgate at high speed, already in her seat. She closes the program she was writing as she hurtles through, happening to have been only one short hop away. Offhandedly, the girl tosses her hair and pulls her helmet on... admitting softly, "It's good to be back in the cockpit, Empress."     Madeline's flagship is considerably slower than the launched Warstrider, and is soon lost behind her... so will not appear for some time. All that arrives is Madeline herself, slamming into the ground in her Warstrider with both feet, causing two massive furrows in the earth to be dug in by her skid to a stop. Steam hisses from joints as the war machine lifts its own autocannon, held in two hands, and considers the scene. A brilliant yellow circle appears on the Warstrider's forehead with a burst of energy, and Madeline's voice booms out over the battlefield.     "This is Confederate-controlled territory. Cease hostilities toward the factory or be eliminated. This is your only warning." 

:'''{{#var:523|Manata (523)}} has posed:''' The red skinned Mantis turns to look upwards at the air ship, raising it's arm pincers menacingly before turning and regarding the smaller Radiant Empress. If it had a head, it would be cocked to one side and giving off some emotion. Instead... it decides to answer the easy way. A beam of green-blue is shot out at the smaller Radiant Empress, followed by a series of rockets up at the two larger ships. Multiple rockets at that. The darn thing's firing them from small vents around the eyes at that. It so far hasn't seemed to have spotted Zod, Garen, or Taro as of yet. It even gives a warbling chittering cry which is translated via Multiversal effect, "<DIE APE MEN!>" It is very much hostile from the looks, and even crouches, prepared to apparently get moving as soon as possible. Or even pounce on the Radiant Empress in front of it. Both pincers are slammed into the ground as it seems to be getting to a stable position to fire off some more weaponry or just acting however the pilot normally acts. 

:'''{{#var:522|Gaius Van Baelsar (522)}} has posed:''' The rockets come soaring in from the Insectoid like creature and they bombard the side of the Dreadnaught airship. The armor creaks with the explosions ringing against the several layers of armor. Those within the hanger have to brace when the impact happens and thankfully with the alarms already sounding-- everyone knows where they need to be and the drill of actions to be taken. The Airship continues to hold position however, as then the gun-mounts that had been aimed at last start to open fire. Rain of bullets pour down from the Dreadnaught like a hailstorm from the very sky. The bullets designed to tear past a normal's man armor and even shred into the strongest of ocean going fleets. Though Gaius is unsure how well it will handle against the multi-worlds many creatures of such oddities. It was indeed a moment to study his own ships capabilities against these threats and take note of adjustments that need to be made. "Keep me updated on the armor conditioning. Prepare to change out ammunition load if this proves ineffective." "Yes, my lord!" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Hmm...the thing sounds pretty hostile, what is it? Blurr starts attempting to scan it in more detail...it kind of reminds him of a giant Insecticon. What's it attacking that factory for? He attempts to see if he can find a way to communicate with it from a distance. 

:'''{{#var:380|Madeline Vance (380)}} has posed:'''     Madeline kind of expected the shuddering blast that rips along her mech's frame. A few alarms blare loudly, but she does a quick redirect of a damaged power line and resumes looking at the readouts. "That was a surprisingly solid hit," she muses. "We may need to get serious."     'NOVA SHELL ORDNANCE LOADED,' the AI says in apparent agreement. A glowing burst of light appears at the tip of the autocannon, ripping off a loud shot that burns with plasma around the physical bullet.     But it's apparently leaping at her, so she's going to have to deal with that. In a flash of light, the autocannon is just... gone, and the Radiant Empress drops into a martial pose for unarmed combat. That might seem odd, considering that it lacks any melee weapons at the moment, but Madeline isn't worried.     'ACTIVATING DARK MESSIAH FORM.' 

:'''{{#var:399|Taro (399)}} has posed:'''     It appears that being of smaller size has its advantages. Not being an immediate target, for instance.     The other one can speak, then? Interesting. Not that firing on another another sentient creature bothers Taro overmuch. Besides, it's the apparent aggressor, and it's making a mess of Confederate property.     His right hand clenches, and a panel in his gauntlet retracts to reveal the barrel of a plasma weapon. Rather than saturate the entire area, he fires a single volley at the insectoid-mech.     He also keeps half an ear to the radio chatter. Interesting indeed. Perhaps he should take home a sample, if there's the opportunity...presuming there weill be anything left once they've all finished. 

:'''{{#var:530|Garen (530)}} has posed:'''     Garen found a reliable stop and dropped down to a knee. He bagan to line up his shot when he overheard that it was, in fact, a machine. He hrm's softly, but stores his thoughts for the moment. Rather, he aimed for the nearest joint, and let fly a shot. 

:'''{{#var:222|Regina of Borg (222)}} has posed:'''      The Borg ship's shields flare when the rockets impact it, protecting the body of the ship from any real damage. "Aggressive actions will earn you an aggressive response." Regina says over the local frequencies before her ship opens fire. Since there -is- a friendly in the area, the Borg ship uses precision fire from its plasma beam weapons. It isn't the power they would use against an enemy ship, so there is not much devastation if they miss, just a large hole punched into the ground.      If it does hit the Mantis mech, it would sear into it and leave burning plasma along the hull. "Quite an impressive construct. I would be most interested in studying it." she says over the radio. 

:'''{{#var:524|General Zod (524)}} has posed:''' Zod lands heavily onto the earth, plume of dust kicking into the air. He takes a deep breath and runs /under/ the thing and jumps, bracing himself for impact as his face contorts and turns red with the massive of shoving a 40 ton mass into the air and away from the Confederacy's factory. He hasn't pushed things quite this much yet, but Zod is reasonably sure he can get the 60ft bug to move. "HRRRRRGH!!!!" 

:'''{{#var:523|Manata (523)}} has posed:''' The 60 foot bug is first nailed by the equivelant of a.. well... whatever it is Madeline shot at it. The boom is pretty big and the thing's armor is ripped away a bit along what passes for a forehead. It even forces the thing backwards along with the suppressive fire from the two ships. Then a joint is hit on the leg and it drops down to a 'knee'. It's what Zod does that confuses it at first. "<What did you do, ape-men? Why are my gyrostabilizers showing my being off the-- GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOUUND!?>" And that's about the time that there's a new UFO. A flying giant bug form of UFO that goes under the borg ship and actually impacts the mountain side. As comical as it may seem, the giant bug proves it's still dangerous by unleashing what can only amount to suppressive fire in response. The two ships earn some of the blue-green beams firing at... Madeline, isn't so lucky as she appears to have become the target of the rockets... along with Zod and the drop ship with Garen on it. Taro, however. Apparently whatever is in it may like fire backed humanoid for lunch. Plasma fire baked that. A burst of plasma is released from somewhere on the torso, aimed at Taro himself. 

:'''{{#var:522|Gaius Van Baelsar (522)}} has posed:''' The energy beams slams against the more front side of the Dreadnaught as the massive ship goes to turn about in order to not only follow the target to where Zod threw it off too, but also to get ready for the next pummel of attacks. The beam attacks streaks across the body, cutting open a gash in the armor plating. The magical field over the windows starts to crack under the heavy hit force. The people keeping an eye on it all call out damage loads and power loads from all magitek generators. Gaius looks over to his weapons officer as he crosses his arms over his chest. "Bring about the cannons and prime the magitek cannon as well." "Yes, Lord van Baelsar. Bring about main cannons and sending signal to prime the Magitek cannon." Another one then spoke up, "Firing main cannons!" The Dreadnaught moved easily still through the skies, mindful she seemed of her surroundings and the others whom also lined the air. Making sure to give them the space they would need and herself to open fire without catching those on ground in her wake. The cannons lowered from the belly of the airship and then spun around to take aim. One explosion after another they fired their massive shells, which detonated a low explosion on impact with its attended target or with the ground around it. 

:'''{{#var:222|Regina of Borg (222)}} has posed:'''      Regina moves her ship to pursue the flying bug armor, and as soon as it lands, there is a set of plasma torpedoes flying toward it. When they impact, they explode in a flash of green fire, sending burning plasma showering down on the surrounding area. Hopefully no one is there in the area already!      The return fire from the Mantis shakes the Borg ship, causing visible damage along one side even through the shields. "What surprising power from such a small construct." Regina says, making a note that her ships will have to be careful even against seemingly smaller, weaker targets. As the plasma burns down below, Regina relays a message.      "We are the Borg. Lower your defenses and surrender yourself and your machine. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Resistance...is futile." Regina says this in her own voice, rather than the usual monotonous symphony of voices. And at the end, she adds a little chuckle. "And, you are quite outnumbered. Even with your impressive construct." 

:'''{{#var:380|Madeline Vance (380)}} has posed:'''     Madeline's fingers fly over the controls as she readies herself for a pounce that... never comes. Oh well. She shrugs inside the cockpit, then suddenly kicks the Warstrider into motion, rockets flying all around her and exploding in a series of concussive blasts that rattle her even in the cockpit, tearing off armor. A warning light comes on, and the voice of the AI quietly advises, in a more normal tone, "Warning: Further damage will result in internal structural damage and loss of functionality. Advise deploying defensive measures."     Madeline shakes her head as she comes out of the rocket storm, leaving behind slagged armor and a whining hip servo. She skids to a halt in front of Manata and Had-whateveritsnameis, taking up a defensive posture again. "Are you all right?" She asks the fallen Engel.     Meanwhile, a flicker of light appears to summon up two pistols for the Warstrider, her braced and open position letting her level both. 'SUNDOG GUNSLINGER STANCE,' the Warstrider announces, followed by a rattling series of blasts from both pistols, the giant-sized hand-cannons firing off a stream of bullets into the mountainside as a sort of suppressive fire against the Mantis. 

:'''{{#var:399|Taro (399)}} has posed:'''     Taro notes the impressive amounts of firepower tucked into the frame of that insectoid mecha. Including plasma weaponry, apparently. While this is not the time for academic questions, he can't help but wonder what power sources it uses.     It also has a highly accurate targeting system, as its aim is true and strikes him squarely on the left side of his chest. Ablative sheets hiss as they vaporize from the heat, down and through the secondary underplating, and the inpact sends him into a clockwise spin. Altitude is lost as he tumbles, and he finds himself in the dreadnaut's shadow before he can pull up.     This is not the place he needs to be, and the android hastily wings easdtward before he's accidentally hit by friendly fire.     Once back in sunlight, he takes aim at the enemy mecha again and fires more plasma volleys, closing the distance somewhat while staying airborne. 

:'''{{#var:530|Garen (530)}} has posed:'''     Garen had just lined up another shot when the missiles struck the ship. "Now I'm angry..." He says, and when a Chiss gets angry, they get nasty. Locking eyes on the flying insect, Garen does the awesome and likely impossible. He charges up his rifle once more, and fires towards the flying insects head. 

:'''{{#var:524|General Zod (524)}} has posed:''' The former general manages to knock all the rockets that would have hit him off course before they exploded, but in doing so manages to land badly (for he has yet to master the trick of flying), battering plates off his armor and scraping his face across the ground. He picks himself up and wipes his face off of dust and ignoring the sting of the messy looking scrapes. He watches as Vance and Gaius batter the insectile mechanoid with guns (lots of guns), and decides to draw the thing's ire so it will minimize the damage to his allies. How? Well... Zod starts running across the desert landscape, legs turning the run into a series of bounding leaps as he approaches the Mantis-class. And then he goes for a giant leap, drawing back his fist as he attempts to land a train-wrecking punch square in what looks like its face. "GIVE ME EVERYTHING YOU HAVE, INSECT!" 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     Blurr watches from his safe distance as the Confederate forces bore into the colossal Insecticon (okay maybe that's not what it is, but that's what it looks like to him, anyway) like there's no tomorrow. One of them even seems to possesses tremendous strength for his size, and picks the slagging thing up to throw it a good distance away from the factory.     ...The Autobot's vision field flips from the monster to the factory and back. They're all after the Insecticon. They don't know he's here. At least, not as far as he can tell. A good operative would never pass up an opportunity like this one! If that Insecticon was attacking the facility, there's a chance it was after something important. And even if not, he could at least try to hack the control room and see if he can find any information on Confederate supply lines or Primus knows what else.     Therefore, while everyone is distracted shooting the giant mantis thing, the Autobot suddenly speeds off toward the factory. If he's lucky, everyone will have evacuated the place by now due to the attack, and the elites will be too busy fighting to notice him zip by! 

:'''{{#var:523|Manata (523)}} has posed:''' For the sake of Madeline, she can see that the Engel is currently well and truly trapped. There's a rather large pile of rocks trapping a majority of it and it looks like it's struggling to move. There's even the sound of something being fired from in the rock pile and a small red glow showing briefly before dieing down. If there was any doubt that it was the voice on the broadband recently, it's quelled by the speakers, "We're fine. Trapped under this rock pile, unfortunately. We're trying to burn our way out with some lasers. It'll take us a bit, though." Then the pinned mecha actually GROWLS. All the rumblings over the broadband probably just made one hell of a lot of sense. And it's definitely not the pilot's doing either, as he pipes up over the speakers, "Hey! You're the one that got nailed! Now stay still and let me fire the lasers while your arm bones regenerate so we can use the talons to dig out." Apparently the two have an odd definition of 'fine' under there. At first, it looks like the thing is about to leap, then there's suddenly one nice big volley of guns on it from the Dreadnaught. That earns the bug's anger at least. Or attention even as the plasma torpedo nails it and burns off some of it's own armor plating. Then comes a pelting of bullets that seem to be aiming at the melted off armor plating and doing some serious damage. At one point, a bullet tags it and there's a small explosion. That did look like where the rockets were coming from, too. Taro's plasma fire earns a bit of a look as the beast turns to follow it, only to get a headshot nailed that takes out at least one eye that earns a turn towards Garen. Just in time for Zod to smack the overgrown bug. The bug is actually pushed back into the mountain by Zod's punch, which earns the mountain a new crater practically. Just before the bug decides to answer Zod with a pincer coming up to swat at the odd ape-man in it's way. As for the two ships, the more dangerous seeming Dreadnaught earns something new. A larger, much stronger beam of the blue-green energy. Followed by a red beam on the Borg ship that seems to be different than the other lasers as it's designed to cause anything it hits to explode. It's then that the large bug leaps to get past Zod and go straight for Madeline, swiping at the ship that Garen is on in passing as it aims to get into melee range with the Radiant Empress, namely by landing on her and pushing her away from the trapped Engel. And good grief, that is one big freakin' leap it just did, too! 

:'''{{#var:522|Gaius Van Baelsar (522)}} has posed:''' The Dreadnaught is not an evasive vessel. moving quick while in battle is not something it can really do and when the heavy power of blue energy beam slams into the Dreadnaught, it does so in a very impressive manner. The energy beam slams through the side and tears apart a few of the side turrets, carving a massive tear into the side armor. The sheer impacts of force actually causes the airship to lean slightly to the side, as a few crew members near that section nearly get knocked off their feet by the sheer force. Those at the bridge are doing their best to compensate for the impact, trying to bring the big girl back right. Orders are flying around amongst the crew as Gaius continues to stand and look onward. "What is the status of the Magitek cannon?" "The Magitek cannon is about ready to fire, my lord." "Continue bombardment. Hold no quarter. Send out the Juggernauts while the cannons reload." "Yes My lord!" As the cannons ready for another bombardment of fire. From the hanger areas, openings take place on the Airship as several mechanized machines fly out in droves. They have long tower like structures and 'legs' that are kept up while they fly and 'wings', best be called, that move every so slightly as these things called 'Juggernauts' move into attack position. Like fighter wings, these Magitek machina fly overhead at great speed. Communications happening between the pilots inside and the Dreadnaught. As a few come back around and have a clear shot, they take it. Machine gun like bullets fly out with rapid speed, buying the Dreadnaught the time she will need for her next assault. 

:'''{{#var:222|Regina of Borg (222)}} has posed:'''      That red beam impacts the already weakened Borg shields, and punches through to the hull. The explosion of fiery red that follows is quickly engulfed by green flames as the plasma networks that power the Borg ship are ruptured along that side. "You cannot destroy me!" she shouts over her radio. Within the ship, drones are busy trying to supress the damage while in the middle of the ship Regina sits on her throne, a green light shining down on her, relaying her commands to her drones at multiples of the speed of light.      The green fire slowing from the ship goes out a few moments later as the crew gets the flow rerouted and the fires put out. "Alright." Regina says as she peers at her viewscreen, drones moving in the shadows around her. "Let us see how you enjoy this."      The Borg ship moves in closer, then a beam like a flashlight shining through mist shines down. Green of course. A tractor beam. The Borg ship attempts to hold the bug thing still while a trio of other beams, searing white in color, burn along the hull. It is designed to cut into a target and retrieve what basically amounts to a core sample. If successful, a cylindrical piece of the Mantis will float upward along the tractor beam. If not...well, the beams are still sure to hurt. 

:'''{{#var:530|Garen (530)}} has posed:'''     Garen once more was setting to fire when the insectoid came and swiped. It very nearly managed to cause him to lose an arm. Again, he got mad and got an idea. He took his rifle and, after stretching his neck, set up. He used the scope to scan the mechaniods form for the firing mechanism's for it's guns and once it started to fire, let fly a shot of his own. 

:'''{{#var:399|Taro (399)}} has posed:'''     Taro tucks his wings in closer to swoop in and to the side as the insectoid mecha fires into the air, but it appears he wasn't directly targeted this time. No doubt the mecha has much more immediate (and larger) threats than one small engineer.     That gives him enough breathing room to consider a differnt tactic. "sitta, attend me," he speaks aloud as well as over the radio. "I have need of you."     There's a tiny blink of energy in front of him, which blossoms into a twinkling blish-purple sphere of light about the size of a child's fist. 'I'm here, Em Taro!' it warbles. 'What do you need?'     A ghost of a smile plays at the corners of the android's lips. "Activate your ORBIT system," he commands, in a tone that's almost gentle. "Your target," he points with a gloved hand at the mecha as it leaps past them, "is that. See if you can undo some of it."     'Right away! this'll be fun!' Off it zips, a faint blurr of energy and light as it crosses airspace to swoop right at the insectoid mecha...and right through it.     There may or may not be warning indicators for the pilot as the cyber-elf enters within in a move to disrupt its internal mechanisms, tweaking a stablizer here, a servo there, shifting gears to slow rather than speed... 

:'''{{#var:380|Madeline Vance (380)}} has posed:'''     "If you're fine, then," Madeline says. She pauses to listen to something from... her Abstractum? But it's brief and leaves her just shaking her head. Looks like she can be useful here, in any case, because she /could/ be possibly stopping Blurr from the factory.     Instead the claw of the Mantis tears into her Warstrider's shoulder, causing a shrill alarm to wail as the 'wound' erupts in fire-retardant foam to put out the sudden internal fire. Some status monitors pop up, but Madeline reads them calmly despite the damage. "Hmn... Essence-Lending is down. Oh well. Lambent Bolt functionality disabled... that could have been useful..." Sigh.     Bright yellow light flares from the symbol on the Warstrider's head again, external to her musings. The massive war machine is hit, and hit badly, but the wrenching attempt to hurl it aside is stymied by it halting in midair, hovering a few dozen feet off the ground. A snap-kick bursts with Essence, and the AI chimes in with, 'STRUCTURE-SHATTERING BLOW.'     It's a Dark Messiah maneuver, so the broad foot strikes as if it were a vibroblade, rather than something blunt. And it unerringly strikes for a vital joint, aiming to shear into one of the claw-arms and cripple it. 

:'''{{#var:524|General Zod (524)}} has posed:''' General Zod peels himself carefully out of the impact crater after being swatted by a giant freaking claw, and takes a moment to regain his bearings and senses, breathing heavily. He doesn't remember being this tired in a very long time. He wipes his face again, noting the blood smears from the gouges the rocks and claw had given him from the massive impact. He peels off the remains of his shattered armor, revealing the black undersuit with the crest of his house emblazoned on a shield across his chest. The armor isn't going to help him like that. He needs... mobility, lightness right now. Zod runs again, the strides turning into leaps and bounds as he moves across the rough terrain towards the Mantis. He aims to shoulder-tackle the leg and shove the entire thing along his path. Depending on how much punishment the thing has taken, it might snap the leg off instead. In which case, Zod has a handy club to beat the Mantis with. Otherwise, he'll try to get it as clear of the factory as possible with this shove. 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     So far, so good. No one appears to have spotted Blurr zooming toward the factory, and now he's made it to the main entrance. He scans it again at close range for any lifesigns, and there appear to be none for now. Yep, evacuated as he'd thought.     He chuckles slightly to himself as he enters casually, as if he owns the place because right now he technically does since he's the only one here. It's not every cycle that you get to enter an enemy facility through the actual main doors, and then simply waltz down the corridor, following the signs that are intended to direct workers and visitors to the control room on a normal day. At this point the Autobot hardly even cares if he finds absolutely nothing useful here, simply because of how incredibly easy this was. Once he's found the control room, he searches for open sockets he might be able to use to jack into the system and steal whatever he thinks might be useful, wreaking havoc along the way. 

:'''{{#var:523|Manata (523)}} has posed:''' "No! Damn it, Had, can't you regenerate faster!? Hey, Migou! What's wrong? Not going to finish me off!?" The Engel gives a roar of challenge at the Mantis. There's a red glow again. Then a larger green one and the rubble shifts a bit. Not enough to be free, but it's obvious the white mecha is getting there. The insect looks to the Engel, pausing long enough to give an answer, "<I'll finish you off in a moment, Ape-Child-Traitor!>" Of course, then comes the bombardment. It's lucky that the Mantis is so large. It's practically a shield for the Radiant Empress as all the fire hits it. Smoke pours from more areas, and it's a bit of either luck or tactical that a clawed pincer LITERALLY is kicked off before being sucked along with the sample by the Borg ship. Once back in the borg ship, it's obvious that perhaps they got a piece of the pilot as well. There's an insectoid leg sticking out and the thing's speakers are giving off an ear piercing shriek, even as the thing's other rocket pod explodes thanks to Garen's lucky shot. Then comes Zod... who impacts a leg with his face and does nothing to it other than moving it just a bit. And leaving an impression of his Holy Kryptonian Visage in the leg. Fortunately, a lot of this is due to Taro's Cyber-Elf wrecking havoc in the systems of the Mantis. Then the Mantis decides to attack back. The first to feel it's wrath? Poor Zod. Zod now knows what it feels like to be kicked by an overgrown insect. The Radiant Empress, however, suffers from another stab of the remaining pincer before it looks skywards towards the drop ship that seems to be snipering it. A plasma bolt is sent that way, while the red beam is this time sent at the Dreadnaught and the blue-green beam is sent at the Borg ship that just took a chunk out of it. 

:'''{{#var:530|Garen (530)}} has posed:'''     Garen grins as he spots the rocket pods go up, but then the plasma nails home. Even his radio fills with static for a moment, suggesting the agent had met his demise. That was...until a trio of sniper shots fly out. It appeared the resourceful agent had hooked himself into something before his radio fell out of the drop-ship, and was hanging out...literally. He also synched up a secondary radio he had brought with him. 

:'''{{#var:222|Regina of Borg (222)}} has posed:'''      The shields are still not recharged fully when that blue-green beam hits, so much of the beam slices into the Borg ship, causing more fires and even sending a few drones falling the several hundred meters to the ground below. But, the ship remains in the air, and the tractor beam draws the 'samples' up into the ship's hold.      Then, the tractor beam cuts off, and there is a moment of quiet from the Borg ship before it fires again. Those powerful green plasma beams sear their way through the air toward the Mantis, despite the fires burning visibly along the side of the hull that has been exposed to the Mantis's attacks. But, luckily for this ship, there are several other sides, and a mere rotation along its vertical axis provides the Borg Queen with another undamaged side to try and hold off critical damage. She is certainly not going to ask for help! 

:'''{{#var:522|Gaius Van Baelsar (522)}} has posed:''' Another beam comes for the Dreadnaught, but one of the Juggernauts gets in the way of its line of fire. One impact with the beam, the Magitek armor explodes and pieces go flying everywhere, including a bit that actually goes to 'plink' against the aura barrier of the bridge's window. Though by radio confirmation and also id's on ground. The Dreadnaught is unable to bring its cannons to bear and the Magitek cannon is about ready to be fired. Which by this point the half orb at the bottom of the Dreadnaught starts to open up as the lights around it actually 'dim' before shutting off completely. The cannon itself is rather large and blue field can be seen coming up to actually protect it. Including a blue glow that seem to be feeding into the housing of the weapon. "My lord, Magitek Cannon is about ready to be fired. Should we abort?" Gaius remains silent for the moment as his head lowers slightly. "My lord?" "..hold steady.." He says with a rumble in his words as he then starts to walk across the plank to the massive window itself to get a personal better view of the battle below. "..Hold steady." he repeats again as he then goes to cross his arms over his chest once more. An intense air surrounding him as his right hand tightens a bit on his arm. The one shot could end it all.. but they are all to close and with no way to clear the line... As for the Juggernauts they continue to fly around the area a few of them swoop in aware that there is a possibly ally in danger and attempt to use the 'bird-like' legs to pull the Insectoid machine away. Including a few taking well timed shots in attempt to not catch anyone as they fire. 

:'''{{#var:380|Madeline Vance (380)}} has posed:'''     The other claw tears through armor as Madeline remains where she is, taking the blow with the Radiant Empress's bulk. A few more red lights flare to life on the status screen, but she merely frowns now. "Well if he has a cannon to take care of them..."     'VOID AVATAR PRANA ENGINE ONLINE,' the Warstrider speaks, and more golden light shimmers around Madeline as the image of a fortress surrounds the Warstrider. With it comes a /wave/ of chilling cold, frost forming over rocks and the Mantis before her. It's not as damaging as it was when she was an Abyssal, but it's going to be pretty damn uncomfortable. What's more, it's going to make her next strike much, much more intense.     'LASHING TEMPEST SYSTEM ACTIVATED'     Gripping the arm that attacked her, Madeline directs her Warstrider to twist... then SLAMS her other hand forward, a pulse of Essence unloading a massive impact into the Mantis in an attempt to HURL it away and into the air. 

:'''{{#var:399|Taro (399)}} has posed:'''     Taro allows himself another ghost of a smile before spreading his wings and rising higher into the air once more. He's not overly concerned about Sitta - the cyber-elf should be able to disengage herself from the mechanical insect's systems before she suffers too much damage herself.     Once he's at the same altitude as the Dreadnaut, the engineer brings his plasma rifle to bear...though he finds that there are a number of allies doing much the same.     Patience...patience...     He snaps off a volley when the way clears - or in this case when the accursed thing is flung into the air. 

:'''{{#var:524|General Zod (524)}} has posed:''' There's a crunch as Zod avoids being kicked like a soccer ball, getting a grazing hit from the giant foot along his arm, ripping the undersuit's strange weave and leaving a trail of scarlet along the kryptonian's arm. He gets up and looks blearily at the Mantis and grits his teeth as he does his best to get this beast away from the factory and the potential ally trapped under the rubble. With a scream of effort he jumps into the battered beast, shoving and pushing as hard as he can into it, possibly ignoring gravity as he hits, eyes shut and face contorted with effort. He's going to need a bit of a breather after this fight... 

:'''{{#var:523|Manata (523)}} has posed:''' At first, the insectoid proves a bit heavy, even swinging at the Juggernauts trying to carry it away from the Radiant Empress. That gives it the beseiged Empress it's opening to nail it. The Juggernauts actually lose their grip as it goes flying. Plasma fire pelts it as it barely touches down before Zod barrels into it. The thing flies away even further. That mountain it and Zod hit earlier? It now definitely has a crater on it! The thing moves to stand slowly, giving a scream of defiance. A long stream of expletives in the creature's native tongue is heard from the pilot... loud enough that the sample that cut off one of it's legs is also hearing a lot of it. The pilot's definitely mad. Not to mention it appears that between them, Madeline and Zod took out the remaining weapons it had. The thing is literally helpless now except for the one pincer and is having trouble standing thanks to all the damage. Meanwhile, there is a rumble from the rock pile around the potential ally before a pair of hands raise upwards and out. Black flesh is visible along the forearms as it gives a roar of it's own and starts to swipe at the rock pile, the massive hands clearing it away as it starts to fully break out of the thing keeping it down. It is impressive in it's sheer strength at least, and the feral attitude it seems to have. "Finally! Didn't know the arms being crushed would take that long." The Mantis, seeing this, crouches down, apparently getting ready to flee before it can be shot down. Although, there are sparks from the legs and more expletives as the thing looks ready to move. The Cyber-Elf's work seems to have managed to take out whatever allows it to move like it was. It's now one big sitting target on the mountain and free for elimination. 

:'''{{#var:522|Gaius Van Baelsar (522)}} has posed:''' Gaius watches as the instectoid is knocked up by one and then knocked aside by another. With that he turns to his weapon's officer. "Fire the Magitek Cannon!" He says as his arm swings out to signal the fire. Many of the areas that don't need power go into the dark for this moment. The Juggernauts flying around quickly move aside and head upward in order to make clear as well, knowing it is not the blast they have to worry about, but the air currents that follow the explosion. There was then a glow from the barrel of the Magitek Cannon. A glow of bright red and fire that seem to swell in a circular motion. Then with a blast of red, the cannon was fired. The air shook from the explosive force as the cannon's blast screamed down for the attended target. Once on impact with the ground, the sheer force of the power roamed upward in a orb of red before a massive cloud of dust was kicked up and exploded outward. In the wake of the sheer force left an area that was charred and fire still burning across the ground, some of the sand turned to glass itself. The only question for all its impressive power-- did it actually impact the attended target... (( For visual ideal reference: http://youtu.be/bb3_4GGHjR8?t=2m3s )) 

:'''{{#var:530|Garen (530)}} has posed:'''     Garen watches the mechanoid be sent up into the mountain and nods. "Lazing location. Air strike approved." He says into his radio. With enough time for the magitek cannon to fire, down came missiles from the sky. It appeared that Imperial strike craft were indeed mobilized and dropped their payload on what was left of the machine. 

:'''{{#var:399|Taro (399)}} has posed:'''     Mere moments before the cannon fires, the bluish-purple orb of light draws itself from the mecha, and it flitters away to join Taro's side.     The engineer brings an arm up to shield his face from the blast, his other hand cupping around the cyber-elf to protect her as well. The blast is impressive in its brightness, and the shockwave jerks him back several meters meters in the air. He blinks several times to clear his vision, eyebrows arching slightly as he surveys the damage. "Mm..."     'ORBIT System disngaged...phew, I'm tired.' the little cyber-elf warbles.     "You did well," he praises quietly. "Rest now, and I'll take you home shortly." 

:'''{{#var:380|Madeline Vance (380)}} has posed:'''     The war machine known as the Radiant Empress doesn't join in the attack... Madeline has already used more Essence than she really wanted, but it felt good to be out and about in her Warstrider again. She stays put and watches the devastation instead, then turns to Manata.     "My flagship should be here shortly to scour the area and recover any remaining debris," she states. "We can take a look at your beast's armor damage as well, if need be. You did attempt to stop this thing." 

:'''{{#var:492|Blurr (492)}} has posed:'''     While everyone is outside beating up on the Insecticon and meeting a new one, Blurr is in the factory, having jacked into the system. As he'd expected there's nothing major, though there are a few useful tidbits here and there. Armor and weapon schematics, and such.     Once he's finished, he prepares a little surprise for them, too. If anyone tries to come in here and get the place operational again later, they are going to have one hell of a time trying to do so, because the system will be filled to the brim with scrambled code and corrupted programs. The equipment will go haywire as soon as anyone touches it. Heh...Blurr's almost disappointed that he probably won't get a chance to see a reaction if it does happen.     Still, he is feeling rather smug as he leaves, transforming back down into a hover racer and speeding off across the desert. Sand swirls up behind him as he disappears behind the dunes. 

:'''{{#var:222|Regina of Borg (222)}} has posed:'''      The Borg ship joins in the final assault, unleashing a full out attack of plasma beams, cutting lasers, and plasma torpedoes. If there -is- anything left after the Magitec attack, it is sure to be destroyed by the follow-up attacks.      But, Regina is hoping it survived. Then, she can fly in and claim the remains. She did call 'dibs' after all. And it is her understanding that dibs entitles one to something so long as you were the first to call it. "I do hope something survived. It would be a shame to have wasted all that potential knowledge." Regina says to herself.      Then, her ships sensors pick up an unidentified signature leaving the facility. "Hmm? Does anyone recognize that vehicle?" she asks. 

:'''{{#var:523|Manata (523)}} has posed:''' There's a boom as the magitek cannon hits. The head of the Mantis is just... gone. It's not there. Then comes the missile bombardment. More of the torso is gone. Enough that the remaining arm just falls off. Briefly, there is a look at the pilot as the mecha is cracked open. It's... a giant roach. Yes, a giant roach. The Mantis staggers drunkenly on it's legs before the Borg ship nails what's left of the torso. The pilot has enough time to look up with it's large insectoid head... then the rest of the torso is just blown apart. Somewhere in there, there might be the remains of weapon systems. Meanwhile, the Engel's torso opens and from the front comes an odd... human pops out of what is apparently the cockpit to the giant machine. His helmet comes off and... well... he looks like there's something wrong with him. His skin's white, his hair's white, even his eyes are a shade of white! The Engel gives a growl, as if in appreciation before the man looks up at the Radiant Empress. "Nice to know. I'm Manata, the big guy is Hadraniel, designation Chashmal Engel. So... who are you guys and where'd you get all the firepower?" The Engel is set with it's large hands flat on the ground. Despite the damage, it is one hell of a sight for a mecha. As for the pilot, he's just standing there naturally on the edge of the cockpit, hanging on to the side as he looks at the others around. 

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