Nerrone's Rangers IC

Flank didn't need a second prompt to duck back down behind the desk. As he swung his cannon back around and lay down on the floor, a flock of brightly coloured blaster bolts zoomed through the air his cannon had just occupied.

It would have been unwise for him to pop his cannon back over the desk and keep shooting, so being some kind of world-class intellect he decided to shuffle over to the side of the desk closest to Grey and pop his cannon around that instead. Still lying on his side, but only extending his cannon from the cover of the desk like a periscope, he aligned his cross-hair with some of the robots within the group devoted to shooting him that were standing almost in single file.

Once he was certain he had a sure aim, he fired his anti-aircraft weapon once again, hoping to skewer a handful of the security robots.

In the air, Chalen scanned below through the throngs of mechs trying to find a target. Personaly he did not want to lose to a girl (that did happen before when he came second place in a science fair and the overall winner is his other female friend Slurp).

No. That can't happen again. I'm not allowing it!

Chalen found two mechs trying to go after one of the members/mercs. This is going to be an excellent head start for him. He flew towards them.
----------
Bianca wasen't as fortunate. Most of the mechs are already being taken out by the mercs. If she doesn't find a lot to destroy soon, Bianca might actually lose to a guy!

"Ah come on there has to be a whole group or something that'll give me a boost!" No such luck. A lone mech was shooting like crazy probbaly trying to shoot something that kept moving out of the way. Bianca sighed as she saw it.
"At least you'll give me a point." Bianca sighed then started to go after the loner.

Grew ducked as a wave of blaster fire flew towards his position, only to hear the sounds of metal and circuitry being slashed in half. He jumped up and saw one of the rangers finishing off one of the mechs who were attacking Grey.

"Thanks for the assist!" Grey yelled.

The horde, now down to 28, still marched on the ranger's position, with only about 14 feet seperating the two groups apart.

-----

Flanks round impacted dangerously close to the command drone's poistion, violently rocking it around and disrupting one of its optical ports, casting a blind spot over the side of the room opposite to the rangers. With the mechs numbers thinning, it decided to use other weapons against the Rangers. Throughout the floor, they were small, black orbs mounted on the desks, invisible in the darkness. The command drone switched on three of them, mounted on desks that were behind the rangers, and trained them on the target with the highest threat level.

3 light armored turrets began firing on Flank from behind.

Xol ducked out of the way of the new conflict, not wanting to get into anything too soon. Grecsh on the other hand got right in on the action, and lobbed an EMP grenade into the center of the cluster of mechs.

Dagon kept on as he had before, sticking to the cover of the doorway like glue and letting off controlled bursts at individual targets amongst the large group of enemies — he couldn't suppress them all alone, but at least, with a bit of luck, he could thin their numbers out.


Kwa, meanwhile, was contributing what little additional firepower her pistol could manage when a glint caught her eye in the shadows behind Flank. A split second and another flare of light later she identified the source as a set of auto-turrets. By then, however, she was already halfway across the intervening distance, right arm pulling the Malli Moonblade free of its sheath and legs pelting her forwards. A stray shot escaped the fray and scorched the ground not half a meter from her feet.

Kwa ducked and rolled, the momentum carrying her agile form forwards to within striking distance of the turrets, and she rose, swinging the double-ended crescent-shaped blade around in a horizontal arc, aiming to bisect as many of her targets as possible in that single move.

There was no sound as the Moonblade swept out, a silver blur in the darkness. The air caught in its path had no time to scream.

Flank, having been completely focused on what he saw through his cannon's scope, wasn't really paying attention to what was within his chest's field of view. Almost like seeing something move out of the corner of your eye, a bright flash entered the hooded crimson lens on Flank's chest, but he didn't realise the meaning behind it until something very hot punched him in the stomach.

With a roar of pain Flank curled his arms, legs, head and wings into a tight ball and rolled himself over with his cannon so that his armoured back and tail faced the source of the shot. He could hear someone running towards him above the sounds of the fight, but he was more concerned about a dampness on his hands.

Unravelling his wings to let a little light into his desperate sanctuary, and holding his wet hand up to his chest where he could see, Flank let out a long stream of swears in his natural language. He was bleeding again.

Flank's natural language is actually a common method of speech for many races that had pincers for mouths rather than lips, teeth and tongues, and so is a very widespread language. But given the aforementioned anatomies of the mouths of those who speak it, the swears translated roughly into a string of phonetic shrieks.

Either way, once he had done insulting the robots, the person behind the attack, and his or her various relatives and pets, he brought his cannon to bear on the source of the shot. Through his scope he was greeted by the intimidating sight of Kwa, who had carved clean through several black orbs on the desks with some sort of sickle. It didn't take a wounded genius to figure out that they were a threat, so he picked one out that was still intact, and with absolutely no regard for Kwa's sense of hearing, fired his cannon.

"Thanks for the assist!" Grey yelled.
"Your most welcome!" Chalen yelled back. He flew back up into the air to find his next target.

Score one for the boys back home! Chalen is now ahead of Bianca who has yet to score still.

---
Bianca gave up in her pursuit when she half noticed Dagon is in a spot of bother. It looks like he's sticking to the cover of a doorway like glue. Flank is also in danger and is bleeding bad (again) but Bianca reckons Dagon may need a helping hand first to clear off some mechs. Not only will her aid help Dagon but It'll give her a shot at getting points. Quickly as she can, Bianca went over to Dagon's position.

Grey immediately knew what was happening the second he heard the characteristic sound of a turret warming up and firing. They were being flanked, potentially from every direction, and there wasn't much they could do about it until the turrets began firing at them. He saw Flank hit the ground hard, screaming in some horrifying voice, Grey was about to move over to help him when he saw a Greenish blur slice down two turrets, and barely graze the third. He made a mental note not to mess with whoever that was, and continue towards Flank, before he was blown back by Flank firing his cannon, completely destroying the remaining turret.

"Nice work, I guess." Grey said as he ran over to Flank. "Now stand still, this may hurt."

Grey locked down his suit, and booted up his medical systems. He made his suit search for the best entry point for any sort of medication. It found a large vein that flowed into Flanks blaster wound, however, it was fairly deep under his skin, and would require a good amount of penetration to reach. Grey prepared a mix of stem cells and painkillers, and cut off a little bit of skin in order to calibrate the stem cells to Flanks genetic code.

"Treatment ready, you may begin at any time." Chimed his suits monotone voice.

A large, thick needle shot out of a tool on Grey's wrist. He poistioned it just over Flanks skin, aiming for the vein.

"This is going to hurt a lot, but you'll receive a piece of candy if you be a big boy and dont move."

Grey plunged the needle into Flanks skin, and began injecting the mixture of pain killers and stem cells.

"This is f*ck*ng ridiculous!" Rhak yelled as the mech closed in and the hated sound of turrets.
He had taken cover behind a desk and shielded himself from number of bullets trying to reach him. He though one of his ribs were fractured, and the rifles first magazine had already run out.
Part of him loved being in battle, while the other were angry at the circumstances.

"Why didn't the mechs attacked the Kingdom when they took over Sapphire Point?"
Still there are better commandoes than this, Rhak thought as he saw Bianca and Chalen going on around the mechs.
He needed to survive. Not for these goons, not for this bl**dy planet. He needed to survive for the revenge. To kill the one responsible for his unseen scars.

Rhak reloaded the rifle and started suppressing the mechs again. The turrets seemed to have him low on their priority list.
"Should've flown..." He muttered as he targeted mech after mech.

Despite the best efforts of Dagon and the rest of the Rangers, the mechs continued to advance. Standing by the doorway, it would be very difficult for him to be flanked by anything inside, but it was only a matter of time until the steady flow of enemy fire left him with something less superficial than the handful of dents and scorches his armour had sustained up to this point. He was, therefore, relieved to see Bianca join him, the diminutive elvar remarkably unscathed by the crossfire.

"Get your head down!" He called to her as another volley of hostile fire showered the doorway. He lacked the equipment to put a serious dent in the enemy force on his own, but for now his focus was on keeping the mechs from creeping round to the left of Flank and Grey's position — if the Ravis' cover was compromised, he and Grey would surely not last more than scant seconds.


Kwa, meanwhile, found herself in a state of total temporary deafness in the wake of Flank's latest attack — she had manoeuvred swiftly enough to give him a clear shot, but there was no time to protect herself from the noise. With the threat of the turrets disposed of, for now, she took cover next to Flank and Grey, briefly assessing the situation. It appeared both of them would be occupied for a few more precious moments, while blaster fire continued to rain down on their position. Kwa switched back to her pistol — a reliable, if somewhat unimpressive weapon — and supplied what covering fire she could while Grey performed whatever curious medical treatment he was currently engaged in.

*Pant* "To close. That was too close but at least I don't have to worry trying to save two lives at the same time. Dang that would be hard." Bianca continued on her way to reach Dagon gripping her weapon should more of them dare to block her way. Thankfully she is not scathed but she had a grim feeling she will soon. As Bianca approached Dagon, he is relived and glad to have assistance. Before anything could be said Dagon yelled:"Get your head down!" As a volley of hostile fire showerd the doorway. Bianca didn't need to be asked twice she wisely took cover. Bianca yelled as loud as she could over the volume of the mech's shots.
"Please tell me you have a plan Dagon! I'm open to any ideas!"
-----

Chalen hated turrets a lot. They always want to kill him but sometimes, they might attack those that he knew. The turrets seemed to be after the most interesting targets. That could be anyone! He has to take them out or they'll be some annoyance.
"Back to scrapheap they go!" Chalen lowerd his left clawhand to prepare to use a vertical slash attack on the turrets.

Dagon turned to address Bianca as she joined him, on the side of the doorway opposite him.

"I don't know how much longer we can keep this up," he raised his voice as another round of blaster bolts swept by, "There're, what, how many of them?" He glanced back at the staircase behind him — if push came to shove, he considered, they might be able to retreat upwards, though it would mean being cut off from Quark, Cuna and whoever else was left on the lower floors.

"This is going to hurt a lot," Grey said, "but you'll receive a piece of candy if you be a big boy and don't move."

It was hard for Flank to give Grey access to his vulnerable stomach, especially as he brandished a needle that protruded from his wrist in the same fashion that his wrist blade did. But he was already feeling dizzy from the unsurprising lack of blood, and decided it would be best to give Grey a shot at giving him a shot.

But he still didn't like the needle one bit. In one quick movement it slid home, and home was one of those places that you'd never dream would become a source of pain; right under the skin where there was nothing you could about the horrible, mind-blocking sensation.

Flank crammed a fist into his mouth and bit it as hard as his jaws could allow, while a cool mixture of Grey-only-knew what flowed into his system. The pain began to ebb, and Flank found it bearable to open his mouth and take out his now marked hand.

He took a short, sharp breath before managing to say: "Th-thank you."

"My guess is this. There's about 20 or 24 of those mechs left and even with that many, ugh it's still enough to give us quite the beating which I do not enjoy thank you very much." When she finished, Bianca glanced backwards to find a staircase. Bianca wasen't too sure where they might lead but in case the mechs manage to break down the door, they could use it as an escape route. However if the pair do so, they'll be cut off from Cuna, Quark and the rest that are still on the ground floor. Bianca and Dagon need to formulate a plan..and fast!

There seemed to be some commotion occurring unseen at the back of the enemy ranks: the sound of metal scraping against metal invaded the soundscape of the battle from afar, and moments later a group of ten mechs broke away from the main unit and charged directly at the Rangers' positions.

These constructs were clearly not of the same make as their compatriots, who seemed content to keep their distance and engage the Rangers with firearms: these were humanoid, lightweight, armed with powered wrist blades and currently moving very rapidly on all fours at their targets. The first of these managed to reach within three meters of the doorway and leapt, arms outstretched, towards Bianca and Dagon.

Across the area, everyone else taking cover on the second floor found themselves assailed similarly by multiple hostiles, each intent on relieving their targets of life and limb with their wrist-mounted melee weaponry.

The command drone began to realize that it had used up almost every weapon system it had access too, the Mechs, now down to 24, were quickly being thinned out by the Rangers, and turrets have proven to only be useful in attacking single targets before they were taken out. It's prime directive was too delay or kill any intruders, and it was going to try until either it or the Rangers were dead.

One last weapon remained. The drone activated them, and assigned them to random targets.

10 AZ-342 Scout mechs closed in on their targets
------

"Good, if you notice your flesh magically mending, it's working. Now, get moving before you get shot again."

Grey helped Flank up, and turned his attention to the oncoming mechs. He took a couple of shots, and tried to dive behind cover, only to realize that he was completely immobilized. The suit locked up its hydraulics when the medical suite was active, and he would remain rooted for about 4 or 5 more minutes before the suite could fully shut down and depressurize his hydraulics. Until then, he wasn't moving. He stood up, and began taking shots at the mechs, hoping that he wouldn't draw too much attention to himself.

He then saw the first of the light mechs break out of the crowd, and saw one rush into him. He began taking several shots at the mech, and felt his heart sink as he noticed the powered wristblades they wielded, they were similar to his, but about twice as lethal. This was a bad thing, considering he was completely rooted in place.

"Hey Flank, you may owe me a couple of new limbs after this."

Grey unsheathed his own wrist blade, and prepared for hand-to-hand combat.

"Are you f***ing kidding me?!?" Bor swivelled towards the oncoming Scout Mechs and launched a spread of plasma bursts at the nearest ones, shouting, "Ten more coming from behind!"

As the woozy Ravis was pulled onto his feet, he felt his stomach where he had been shot. He could feel the skin closing over the open flesh, and he immediately pulled his hand away. He took up a position facing away from Grey and targeted one of the newer additions to the fray.

Machine though they were, their form and gait reminded Flank of savage animals, and the blades on their arms did nothing to make him feel comfortable. He was about to fire at one of the mechs when it suddenly brought its blades to bear and leaped up onto the Ravis, above his cannon's line of sight.

Thinking fast, he swung his cannon up into the air and caught the machine under the chin. Partially stunned, it fell victim to a tight bear hug from its assumed prey. With well built arms Flank pulled the machine into a crushing embrace, while its wrist blades scratched hopelessly against the curved metal plate on his middle back. With no other use for it, Flank targeted one of the other security robots with his cannon and sent another anti-aircraft bullet bellowing across the room. As the battle returned to relative silence, Grey called out:

"Hey Flank, you may owe me a couple of new limbs after this."
By turning his cannon around Flank could see that Grey's armour had frozen up and he was being approached by another one of the mechs.

"I'll be there in a second!" he called out, and proceeded to jump forward and body slam the machine in his arms with all two-hundred and fifty kilograms of flesh, skin, blood, bone and steel-carbon-kevlar alloy.

Chalen couldn't get to the turrets cause there are too many heavily armed mechs *guarding* them. He hissed angerly.

Not cool, not cool at all!

He had no clue where Dagon or his friend were. His wing-like ears picked up the others shouts. Facing to the direction of the sound, he gasped and saw Bor, Grey and Flank being hit left right and center. Though they fought bravely, they would fall soon if nothing is done to help them. Chalen flapped his wings wildly and flew towards them while shouting a rather clever scream.

"Ayieeeh!"

((Shar, there are no more turrets.))

Flank cut down two of the enemy's number; one turned to smoke and shrapnel as it took a direct hit from his cannon and another fell limp in his grip as its electronics ruptured. Nearby, a handful of Bor's shots found their mark on another scout mech, and its charge turned into a slide as its momentum carried it forwards, limbs flailing like a ragdoll.

Seven of the scout mechs now remained: Three of them vaulting over the desk that Kwa, Flank and Grey were using for cover, one each splitting off to engage Bor and Rhak respectively and the final two charging straight through the doorway to the second floor to strike at Bianca and Dagon. Wrist-blades flashed in the dark as the Rangers were engaged in close combat.

"Aw, crap!" Flank yelled as the scouts leaped over the desk. He rolled off the mostly flat piece of metal that used to be a mech; only one of its bladed arms remained intact.

A robot targeted him and jumped off the desk, but before it could assemble a delicious floor and Ravis shishkebab, it was shoved roughly back into the air by one of Flank's rubber-soled jet boots as it found its mark on the scout's underbelly.

Both combatants assumed a standing position at the same time, with only two feet between them. The scout drove its arm forward, but the Ravis caught it with a butterfly palm, a two handed block and strike. The latter half of the attack was strikingly simple: the robot copped the outer edges of Flanks hands, in which its arm was just trapped, held out at an angle.

The robot staggered back, and Flank quickly followed through with a spinning heel kick. He twisted around on his feet until he was facing the other way (but keeping the robot in his cannon's sights) and brought his right foot around with the momentum, hitting the scout right on the hip. It fell over, unhurt but a little battered and out of reach of Flank.

It got up, and Flank finished off his combo with a jumping kick: he took two quick steps forward and jumped off his left foot, with a little assistance from his right wing. In the air, he switched the positions of his legs by rolling the left over the right as if he was riding an invisible bicycle. His left foot now in front, he pushed forward with it, aiming his boot right at the scout's chest.

((Thought I'd take the opportunity to throw some more Kung Fu into the mix ))

(Lol invisible bicycle and 1000th post! Woot! )

Bianca could not hide forever and neither could Dagon. Loud bangs can be heard from the outside. The mechs seem to be really getting more p****d at the idea how is it possible not being able to break down a simple metal door? Another bang made Bianca yelped though it was only a small one. She dared herself to lean back against the door, peeping through a little gap at the side. Two things came out from this. The good one, Bianca saw only two mechs are after them. The bad one, the metal door has finally start to give away. Now would be the best time to strike.

"Dagon there's only two of those things! Should we attack?!"
--
Chalen was still trying to get to Grey and the others, but the mech's shots are making things a lot more harder on the Space Sprite. He is seriously afraid they might actually cause his wings to burn or severe them off.
"This not be my day!! Still, no shots going to prevent me from saving others!" He forced his arms to stick near his body and leaned further down to try go faster.

Bor fired a pulse as the mechs vaulted over the desk, but their speed had caught him by surprise and the blast soared overhead to hit the ceiling above.

By the time he adjusted his aim, one of the mechs was advancing on him with some kind of wrist-blade. Too close to use his gun, Bor - not to be outdone - drew his own steel dagger and made a "come at me bro" gesture with his hands.

"Come on!" Rhak shouted, starting to lose his patience. He fired a copule of bursts against the scout mech, which was closing in rather fast.
Rhak followed up by for the first time, ejecting his wrist blade and jumped towards the mech.

Dagon flashed a look at Bianca, "Well what do you bleedin' think!" Before there was even a chance to reply, the door was pierced by a pair of blades, the deafening sound of shearing metal assaulting their ears as one of the scout mechs tore the door from its hinges. The other rushed through the opening like lightning, slashing with both wrist blades at Bianca's arms and chest.

The mech opposite Bor assessed his threat level for the split second the calculations took, then, without warning, bent its knees and launched itself through the air at him in an acrobatic pirouette, blades swinging out to snag at its target's head.

A total of three mechs seemed to have taken Flank as their target of choice: even as the first was sent sent spinning away by his kick, limbs flailing to recover balance and sparks spurting from its joints, another two descended on him: one coming around the desk from the right, slashing out with both wrist blades in a back-hand movement at his torso, and the other making a flying leap over the desk, reaching to grapple the hulking Ravis.

Rhak's bursts, not six meters away by another desk, took the right arm clean off their target, which nonetheless continued to charge at him, lifting its one remaining blade underarm to cut him from groin to gizzard.