((OCC: Sorry about the little confusion; that was my bad. I'm with Granseal, to clarify.))
The man began talking about this mission to a W&RF, but at the mention of his father his eyes looked down and he twiddled with his thumbs. Blake put a hand on this man, "Hey, it's alright. We just gotta push, eh?" At this point I had finished my shot, "Wanna get another shot with me? It's on the house." He said, grinning.
I decided to go down even though the gremlins could still be there and the turrets as well. I put my flute away and pulled out my Dark Briar Barrage and Guardian Shield and pushed the down button on the lift and started to go back down. I charged the Dark Briar Barrage and pulled my shield up and prepared to rush towards the location where the message came from. When the lift stopped, the gremlins started to attack and the turrets started to shoot at me again. I drop the Dark Briar Barrage and it gave me enough time to escape the gremlins but the turrets kept shooting towards me. I switch to the Shivermist Buster and it stopped the turrets again but my shield's defense was in bad condition meaning that one more hit would destroy it. I made it back to base and then repaired my shield before advancing to a bit of open land where the message came from. I put the shield back on and walk into the open land and I then see a knight who looks to be in a bad situation. I charge up my Shivermist Buster and launch it near the person so he wouldn't get frozen but the ghostmane stalkers would but they would then notice me. I quickly switched to my Gran Faust and launched a charged shot at the ghostmane stalkers but it cursed me and I quickly looked and saw my bombs were cursed and thought "This is going to be harder." I hear a buzzing of a saw and faced the direction of it. I still had my shield up and once the ghostmane stalker launched his blade, I slashed at it killing him. I see some of them frozen in place and I rushed to pick up the knight. I put the shield on my back and carried him back to the base. After I took him back, my curse vanished and I switched to my Dark Briar Barrage and put my shield back. I then charged the bomb up and then shielded myself from the explosion. The explosion knocked all the ghostmane stalkers out and it nearly destroyed my shield's defense. I then go back to base and said "You hurt there knight?" I checked his class which was Trooper...
Alec looked around at the base as the knights dug in for the knight. Bubbles of warmth and restoration were visible as injured crowded around the Guardians. Pshaw. Weaklings. Why when he was that injured, he didn't give a -
Blast. I'm sounding like a typical old person, aren't I.
Yes. Yes you are.
Next to the old Striker, the sprite Glaedr was hovering by his shoulders. His brown eyes gleamed with mirth. Alec held up a gloved hand and affectionately stroked the Maskeraith. They had been together through thick and thin.
You know, why do they even call it thick and thi-
What's this? An emergency beacon? Alec gave a disdainful sweep around the camp. The knights were too busy tending to their wounds to notice the said alert. Sighing, he stood up. Looks like this was going to be another all-nighter. And maybe tomorrow too...
Activating his Striker boost, Alec dashed through the war torn battlefield, surprisingly spry for a man in his sixties. Hearing sounds of combat, he carefully drew his Acheron. Somehow keeping up to a person dashing at over forty miles per hour, Glaedr activated the shadow cloak. With his ridiculous power levels, Alec would be invisible for several minutes. A wave of chilling blue mist from a bomb about 800 yards away made him hasten his footsteps. Jumping into a tree, he had arrived just in time to see a knight haul another one back to...the base...
Are you kidding me?!
No. You're not a kid, you're an old geezer.
Well, this old geezer's going to kick some(thing)(one)'s hiney.
Alec, still cloaked and miffed, now carefully looked at the scene that greeted him. A fallen tree with blaster shots. Crystals of ice on the ground. A chipped, metal saw wedged in a rock. And quite a few gremlin corpses. Well, if he had gone all the way here, he might as well finish off some stalkers.
Alec scooped up a handful of dirt and threw it into the air, firing a Valiance potshot. Dirt exploded everywhere, and Alec mentally noted a few areas where the falling debris seemed to bounce off the air. Lunging towards one such spot, he planted his sword into the air, revealing a now dead stalker. A saw, to his right. He "jump dashed" above it and put a shot into the gremlin. As the body fell, Alec seized it and tossed it behind him, knocking over an attacking foe. It clumsily got back to its feet and tripped over the corpse again. Glaedr shot a crystal of pure toxic material into its chest. After spasming a bit, the corpse lay still.
Idiotic beasts.
Beasts you say? Use the Barbarous Thorn Blade!
...
The stalkers, realizing they could not outsneak this elderly man, all uncloaked, saws in both hands. 1...2...3...4. 4 stalkers. This would be fun. A stalker lunged at him, swinging the saws over his head. Alec blocked one with his blade, the other with his gun. Carefully, he shifted his gun and managed to direct it at the gremlin, slamming the trigger. Sparks erupted as the Stalker staggered back, a hole in his saw AND his stomach. Whirling around, Alec stabbed forward with his Valiance, plunging the gun's blade into a gremlin arm. Dropping a gleaming toothed saw, it hissed, and slashed with its other hand. Alec swung his Acheron in retaliation. CLASH!!! The dark clearing lit up with a flash of light. Alec slashed at the stalker's shoulder. CLASH!!! The saw broke in two. Holding his blade in front of him horizontally, Alec dashed forward, slicing the stalker in two.
Meanwhile, Glaedr had shot a dozen quills at a stalker. It backflipped, dodging most of them. Three more quills rushed at it. The stalker slashed with both saws, deflecting two. The last one came. The gremlin held his saw in front of him, like a shield. Poor gremlin. The quill shattered the saw and lodged in his ribcage. Boom. Glaedr, without hesitation, cloaked and reappeared right in front of the last opponent. Shrieking in fright, it fell on its back crabwalking away, all thoughts about his weapons forgotten. One quill later, there were only two creatures residing in this clearing.
Alec scooped up another handful of dirt and shot it. This time, the bits fell, unhindered, onto the ground. Whistling, Alec dashed back to the base, picturing a dish of roasted honeysuckle pig with oil glistening...
Adam held out his Leviathan Blade and his Aegis. He shielded to block another spray of buzz saws.
Hmm... Not as tough as I thought. Adam was great at guessing with recons. Their attacks were predictable to him.
Block close range attack, dodge buzz-saws, counter attack. In no time, ten Ghost Manes had dropped.
I better hurry up...
Adam let go of his shield, spun around, and took a step backwards so that the shield would attach to his back. He punched to valve again. The shield did as it had before, and launched off Adam's back. The sudden attack managed to knock down four of the Stalkers, but many others saw it as a time to lunge at Adam.
Adam dropped to the ground to dodge the half-dozen Ghost Manes that had come for at that moment. He did a quick 360 kick, and managed to knock down all of them. No times to waste with these guys...
Stab, stab, slice the neck, slash at legs of the ones retreating.
Adam dashed at his shield, narrowly dodging the flying buzz-saws.
"Alright, bring it on-" Adam was cut off by an unexpected hiss of air to his left. He looked over to see an icy haze.
What the- Adam's thought was cut off by a Ghost Mane who took the opportunity to attack him.
Reinforcements...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Everything was black.
"Hey, you okay there, knight?"
Adam opened his eyes. A female Guardian. You don't see those often.
"I don't think I can really blame you for messing my flow up, so thanks. I'll be fine here."
The Ghost Mane had gone for his right arm, hoping it would limit Adam's attacks. Huh, nice strategy there.
Adam chuckled to himself. He looked up at the Guardian, and then stood up to get some breathing room. She seemed a bit confused.
"What do you mean, messed your flow up?" she asked.
"It's nothing, don't mind that."
I sound too arrogant. I wouldn't have lasted that long.
"...Well umm, I'm Adam. Nice to meet you there, err... never got your name."
I see the knight waking up and said "I don't think I can really blame you for messing my flow up, so thanks. I'll be fine here." I got a bit confused and said "What do you mean, messed your flow up?" and the knight then said "It's nothing, don't mind that." I thought "Better check to see if he is injured or not. The knight then said "...Well um, I'm Adam. Nice to meet you there, err... never got your name." I said to Adam "Sorry about that, my name is Lucario but people call me Nights." After I finished that sentence, I thought I heard a sound from a maskeraith...
"Ugh, will you quit bothering me?...okay, okay, I'll let you escort me. Sheesh. I can't drink anymore anyways." She hopped off the barstool and strutted out the door. Astran left the bartender a generous tip and followed her.
The group took the Azure Rook Gate down to Emberlight. A tall Stranger stepped in front of them, blocking their path.
Alec dashed into camp and nearly rushed into a Guardian knight. Glaedr gave a sound of surprise, startling
Alec muttered a word of apology. "Hey," he said, taking a better look at the people he had nearly knocked over. "Weren't you the people who were just running away from some Ghostmane Stalkers? One heck of a mess you got yourself into there kids." He held his hand out towards the female Guardian, realized that there were two people, and held out the other hand towards the person who was unconscious.
Seriously? Glaedr thought. Gah, you're terrible at greeting people. What's next, you grab the bartender and shake him while yelling, "I'll take a Triple Ring Lager!"?
Oh be quiet, you. As if you can do better when you bump into that Seraphynx. You become so embarrassed, I'm surprised you don't Shadow Cloak.
Eren grit his teeth as he stared up at the behemoth Stranger that blocked his group's path. Slinging his rifle off of his shoulder, he growled, "Move out of the way, old geezer."
Whoopsie-daisy. I forgot my manners again....
OOC: Wait, am I in the escort party? xD Or did you leave me in the bar?
"Woah there...." Carter put his hand on Eren, pulling him back slightly, "Not that rudely, dude."
Then to th Stranger, he asked politely, "Hello. As my friend just said, get out of our way."
Vincent began to drift back into consciousness, his mind still blurry from what he had drank before-hand. While looking up from his layed-down position on the Bar floor, he saw a couple of Ghost manes discussing what seemed like plans. Though to be honest, he didnt speak a word of Gremlin, so had no idea, but it sounded important from their hushed tones. Looking both ways aftewards, he noticed that they were the only 2 placed in this area of the bar. There were some other bodies sprawled across tables and on the floor too, but he couldnt make out if they were allies of enemies.
The coherent technician took out the wrench from his satchel, trying to be as quiet as possible. With the best motion he could muster, he threw it across the room, where it clinked on something metal. The 2 Gremlins perked up, and quickly went over to investigate. Vincent took this chance he had bet on, and crawled around the other side of the bar, staying low and out of sight. The only issue now was he was stuck in a Bar with 2 Ghostmanes on alert.
He begain to think to himself:
"I could maybe take one with a swing from this mech-arm, but there'd be another left to get help, or just take me down while I crunch his mate's face in...".
Upon taking a pause from pondering, he noticed a few materials were stored in the Utiility cupboard on this side of the bar. There were refills for drinks, some snacks, but also some spare parts.
"That's interesting", he thhought to himself, on a new train of thought. Vincent hoped he may be able to make something out of the Junk stored in that back room. His Emberlight training must recognise something of use inside...
Grunt adjusted the shield on his arm, then turned back to the knight. "Cover me."
He stood and dashed out toward the left of the cover, shield on his right arm and Combuster in his left. He could still swing, but he wouldn't be much good if he ended up in a duel.
His new friends began to fire their Sentenzas and Blackhawks and spread out across the area; one following Grunt and the other two going right. The gremlins were forced to spread their fire, but apparently Grunt was a bigger target. Two Demos sprinted out of the enemy lines, tickers already whizzing and clicking. Grunt slowed and swapped his equipment back to the right hands.
The knight following slowed too, and he saw it was the one with the Nameless Hat from before. "Keep moving," he ordered. "I'll take the gremlins."
"Even your shield can't hold against tickers for too long," the gunslinger argued. "Besides, they'll dodge and make sure you can't hit them while it's down. I have a gun."
"And so do I." Grunt removed his Valiance from its holster. "Everyone needs a sidearm."
The gunslinger hesitated, but stayed beside him. Grunt clenched his jaw. "Go. Now."
The demos were worryingly close now. The gunslinger said quickly, "You distract them. Your shield can hold out until I weaken them. Your Valiance should be able to finish it. Then run. The tickers won't go down with them."
Grunt shifted his shield. "You're crazy, kid."
The demos arrived.
Olivia's rude tone made its way back into her system as she sobered up, snapping rudely to Jack despite his rank. "Ugh, will you quit bothering me?...okay, okay, I'll let you escort me. Sheesh. I can't drink anymore anyways." She lifted herself off the stool and gracefully landed on the metal floor, confidently making her way through the door. Astran left the bartender a generous tip, before the group made their way with Olivia to Emberlight.
A tall stranger, donning a feathered grey hat and black trenchcoat, stepped in front of the group as Eren gritted his teeth. He slung his rifle off his shoulder and pointed his sight at the Stranger as he threatened the creature. "Move out of the way, old geezer."
Jack was about to stop him, though hesitated when Carter lay his hand on Eren, pushing him back ever so slightly so that the Stranger or Eren would not be provoked. "Not that rudely, dude." Carter turned to the stranger, politely asking,"Hello. As my friend just said, get out of our way."
Stepping in front of Carter, and pushing him back only slightly, Jack spoke to the Stranger. "Forgive these two for their rude tone. Prithee you will step aside, for we wish not to be interfered with in our endeavors. As you may already recognize my position, my acquantainces-" Jack pointed at his group, smiling cockily at Carter for a second prior to returning his conversation with the Stranger. "-would be ecstatic if you stepped aside to let us through. I would wish least to unleash the greatly feared deathly force of a Rose Leader onto you." Jack waited for its response as he slowly reached for the two heavily modified 5* Strikers behind his back, ready to strike and immobilize it in an instant if conditions were not met.
"Now now.... No need to withdraw your swords." Carter put a hand on Jack's shoulder, pulling him back slightly.
"Just let us go through, please?"
I hear a person saying "Hey" and the person had a maskeraith where I heard the noise from. He looked at me and Adam and then said "Weren't you the people who were just running away from some Ghostmane Stalkers? One heck of a mess you got yourself into there kids." He then held his hand out to me and the other knight... I said "I only run to get this knight to safety and I tossed my shivermist nearby to stop them from changing directions and attacking us. I tossed a Dark Briar Barrage nearby myself with the shield up to protect myself but it nearly destroyed my shield's defense." I thought I hear the sound of a dreadnaught but it wouldn't make sense...
Vincent looked at the mirror reflecting his sight over the counter, and saw the Ghost mane's had calmed down. Breathing a slight sigh of relief, he crawled into the utility cupboard, and set to work on making some sort of useful gadget. Scouring over the junk stored all around him, he made a visual map of what could go where to make some sort of temporary firearm.
"That Spark plug could slot into the dynamo core, making enough charge to do a knockout shock...but then that could short circuit the device, making it one use only. How could I maintain the power yet make it more reliable?"
He looked underneath some more of the shelves and spotted a Punch Gun. It must've been stored into some sort of Lost & Found box which then must have gotten jumbled around and forgotten itself. More cogs, gears and pistons began to click inside Vincent's mind.
"I could modify this to be the basis of the Charges, letting me focus more on the charge and requiring less parts for each round. I could then shape it up to be an effective, albeit clunky Stun gun..."
Vincent began work on the unconventional Gun design, and after a few mins tweaking, without the aid of his wrench he had thrown, a gun that looked fit for the scrap heap was made. He loaded up the gun, and peered out of the door.
"I hope this doesnt explode out of my hand like that Solid Slug Shrapnel bomb..."
A Past thought on a failed experiement started to make him sidetrack he regaing focus on the task at hand. Breathing in deeply hoping his idea would work, he smashed a bottle on the counter with bottom of his robotic fist. The 2 Ghostmanes sharply looked around, and made a beeline for the Bar. As one jumped over the counter, it got grabbed by a Robotic arm, and smashed into the ground with a crack. The other Ghostmane looked over for his partner, and started to make an escape. Vincent rose from the counter and made a shot at the Ghostmane, missing by a foot or so. The electric round crackled as it impacted onto a metal table.
"...Oh Torque", Vincent uttered in a Monotone voice. He grabbed the Ex-Ghostmane's Razor, and made a dash for the back exit. He figured that if he could get to the On-Camo workshop, he could piece together something worthy of his Slug-Orientated training to use instead of his Frankenstein Firearm. Once outside, he began to make an effort to stick close to the buildings and tents, trying to get to his destination without having to use his unstable weapon.
I go in the direction where I hear the dreadnaught but it just seemed to be walking around. I then see in the distance another guardian and some gunslingers battling some gremlins. I pull out my Dark Briar Barrage and charge it up and put my shield up as well. I run towards the location while tossing the fully charged Dark Briar Barrage's towards the gremlins but far away so the knights didn't get hurt. I quickly switched to my shivermist buster and tossed 1 into the mix and quickly switched back. When I reached the battle zone, I said "Guardian Nights here, what's happening?"
((OOC: Today is clearly a busy day (!)))
The Stranger shrugged and stepped aside, still staring at the party. As they neared the elevator, they could hear a gremlin screaming out a name that sounded like 'Dusty.' "Dusty! Get back here this instant, you...you rebellious snip!" A dust bunny hopped past, followed by an agitated Gracken. The gremlin pounced at the dust bunny, which hopped onto Eren's shoulder, and Gracken toppled to his face. He sat up, rubbed his sore nose, and looked up at the party. "Eh...heh heh...hi." He stood up and saluted Eren, still eyeing the bunny. "Sorry about that fellas. Times have been rough since the lower depths went beserk. Say, mind handing over my bunny?"
Suddenly, an unmistakable groan of a Deadnaught echoed through the camp. It had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and "Jeopardy" comes on at 7 p.m. instead of 7:30.
Wait, what's Jeopar-
Shhhhh. Don't let them know that.
The Guardian immediately sprinted towards the sound, priming a bomb. Alec shrugged and walked towards the mess hall. He was FAMISHED. Tossing a silver crown at the chef (busily stirring a stew) , he smiled,
"I'll take the noodles with beef, please. Extra salt. And a Bechamal's Beverage (that was so cheesy I'm glad don't have dairy allergies). Oh, and my Maskeraith would like to have a 4* material." Alec pulled out his wallet and held out a few golden crowns.
Eren growled as something leapt onto his shoulder, and instinctively reached up with lightning speed, grabbing the bunny. He squeezed it until it's eyes started to bulge out . He had half a mind to snap its neck, but then heard someone say, "Say, mind handing over my bunny?" He snarled in displeasure and loosened his hold on the creature, then lazily tossed it at the Gremlin. "Control your animal, fool..." Eren readied himself for another biting remark from Olivia.
"Just another thing that makes her like Annie..."
Luna dove between two descending hammers, swerved to avoid a Scorcher and fired a few shots from her Supernova to keep the gremlins at bay. Athena, flapping her wings frantically, did her best to follow. One of them grabbed at her, and clutched his chest in pain as her ray of light pierced him. She shook herself and moved in the direction of Luna's shots.
More of this, and Luna was clear - a bunker! No, it was deserted.
And a gremlin came out of it.
Catching sight of the knight and the sprite, she growled and slipped a bomb from the pack on her back. A Demo. Great. Luna readied her Valiance, her usual choice for one-on-one (sorry, two-on-one) battles. She aimed it at the demo and...
The Demo began to cough uncontrollably, and collapsed onto the floor in convulsions. She heaved a few times and then lay still.
Luna, startled, stood staring for a moment. Then she became aware of a loud noise, steadily growing closer. Turning, she noticed more bunkers, almost surrounding her. Gremlins poured out of them, with rather unfriendly expressions on their faces.
"...I think it's about time I left..."
---
Luna staggered into her tent, and sat down heavily on her bedroll. Athena dropped into her lap.
"Well, that was fun."
How long was it since she did something like that? Quite a while. But it was so fun to do... why had she not tried it for so long?
The answer came quickly.
Because it's not something Guardians do. It was more of a Recon thing. She should have been out on the frontlines. What if....
What if she were not allowed to become a Guardian for this?
No, that was ridiculous.
But what was the protocol for becoming a specialist? She didn't even know.
Maybe there's a book about it. She'd find out next chance she got. But for now, she should go back out.
"Before that," she said aloud, startling the little Seraphynx in her lap, "when was it that I last ate?"
Alec gave a little sigh of satisfaction as he finished his enormous bowl of beef and noodles, along with the Bechamal's Beverage.
4.31 seconds, Glaedr commented. New record.
Alec had made a habit of eating his meals within seconds. Being a Striker, he always had to be on his guard for potential attacks. More than once, he had been rudely interrupted by enemies while dining. Wiping his mouth on a napkin (yes, that's right, he actually follows etiquette), he slowly stood up as his sprite finished his material, a Shadow Orb.
Meh. Now I'm bored. Might as well go and see how that Guardian is doing.
Alec dashed through camp, jumping over Lionheart Blades (lions) and Strikers (tigers) and chairs (bears) (oh my!). After a minute or two (or less), he reached the battlefield. Observing some frozen gremlins and one Deadnaught, he chuckled.
At least this time I got here in time.
"Sir!"
A knight holding a Blitz Needle paused. "Is that really Mr. Prelude?"
I'm FAMOUS!
"Yes, yes, you can swoon over me later. What's the status?"
"Well sir," the knight replied, firing some rounds, "this female Guardian just spontaneously jumped over the barricade and froze all those gremlins. We're mostly snipers, so it's a massacre. Especially since most of them seem to be Thwackers and Knockers."
"Ooh, boy," Alec muttered, "This is going to be even more fun than those stalkers..."
Alec dashed over the barricade, Acheron in hand. Around him, ice shattered as the gremlins broke free. Looking around, Alec saw quite a few gremlins.
"Surrender now, and your end will be quick!"
"Just like my speed?" Alec held his blade in front of him as he dashed around in a circle, cutting gremlins in two. A Thwacker swung a solid steel axe at him. Alec held his sword perpendicular to the ground. The axe harmlessly bounced off his Acheron, and a second later, the Gremlin had a blade in his stomach. He held his sword out as far as he could and spun in a circle, cutting down another gremlin. Dashing above a Knocker, he charged his sword, releasing the charge into the ground. A wave of purple energy exploded outwards, knocking down the gremlins. The battlefield was covered with bullets and fragments of metal, so most of his assailants were incapacitated. Two Thwackers and a Knocker clumsily stood up and charged. Pretending to run away, Alec suddenly backflipped over the combatants and decapitated them all with one strike. He looked around, cleaning his sword.
Suddenly, a furry arm wrapped around his neck and a charging body pinned him to the ground, scratching at Alec with its claws. The two rolled around as the gremlin desperately tried to pierce his armor. Failing, Alec managed to get enough leverage to send a devastating kick into its midsection, knocking it back. He dashed his fist into the gremlin's face, and dashed upwards, his kneecap shattering the gremlin's jawbone. Coming down, he directed his momentum into a kick that snapped the Thwacker's spine. Death was instantaneous. Panting with exertion, he slowly retrieved his blade and trotted back to the barricade.
"Nights" had healed Adam's wound with her Guardian Shield, before heading off to investigate. His armor was still damaged, and the healing was always very badly done, but it had stopped hurting. That's all that really mattered.
The old man had ran off to do something as well. Strange guy.
I guess I should help with the fight... Just gotta grab my sword and... shield? Adam's heart sunk. He looked around frantically. She forgot to bring his shield back!
What do I do now? All he had was his Leviathan and his Valiance.
Could I really fight just like this? Adam unsheathed his Leviathan Blade. Said to hit enemies like a tidal wave.
His Blade hit harder. Made of an alloy of Sun Silver and Volcanic Iron, it drove through like a hurricane. It was a large blade. Large enough to block with. Too large to run with while fighting.
Well, guess I don't really have a choice.
He ran towards the battlefield, Valiance in hand, and Leviathan on back.
I look at the battlefield and see the person who had the Maskeraith entered the battlefield and started to slash at them. Before I could help them, I heard loud footsteps coming and it was a Dreadnaught charging, I dodged it's charge just by an inch. I look at the Dreadnaught who changed directions and was coming back at me. I activate my shield's defense and started to move back since Dreadnaught's are very fast and would easily catch up. I drop a shivermist buster in the hope's of freezing it but it was too fast. I then dropped a Dark Briar Barrage which hit the Dreadnaught who seemed to have stopped. I look and see armor collapsing and it showed it was a void version of the Dreadnaught. The Dreadnaught charged at me and started to chip away my shield's defense and I countered it as it broke. I switched to my Leviathan Blade. I then said "This sucks, I need to find a repair bench but this Dreadnaught is in the road." The Dreadnaught charged right back at me but I dodged it and launched a charged Leviathan Blade into it's back. It quickly turned around and trapped me into a tight corridor. The Dreadnaught started to sick something onto his spear and when I looked carefully, it was poison. The Dreadnaught charged at me and stuck me in a wall starting to stab me with his spear...
Granseal waved as they went off without him. He quickly finished the rest of his soda and whipped the can with all his might. It arced through the air and dropped into the waste can with a clink. Shrugging his shoulders, he picked up his equipment and threw a large gold crown to the barkeep. Waving to the scout, he stepped onto the lift. "Farewell, see you around! Oh and barkeep, thanks for the drink!", he said cheerfully in farewell. The lift descended rapidly on its track, back towards the camp.
A short lift ride later and he emerged to an unwelcome surprise. The lift hissed and a squad of Thwackers with a Mender turned around. Sighing, he narrowed his red eyes as he clutched his Acheron in his left hand, shield in his right. He paused, assessing the grouping before him. Taking it as a sign of weakness, the Thwackers charged as one stayed behind to hurl his axe. Deftly, he rolled off the lift as the axe clanged off the back of the lift. Chuckling as he came out of the roll, he sliced horizontally and cleaved the first three charging Thwackers in two.
The remaining Thwackers tightened up around their Mender like bison guarding a calf. They snarled as the Mender raised his wrench wand and cast his regenerative aura on the ground. Muttering under his breath, he charged the Thwackers as he charged his blade. With a flying leap, he sliced the air and the inky explosions sent them flying out of the healing circle. The Gremlins groaned and woozily regained their feet, but their mender only twitched before falling still. Smirking, he pressed the attack as they attempted to recover their axes, both hands gripping the Acheron now.
The sound of steel on steel rang out loudly near the barricade as he toyed with the surviving, sickly gremlins. Ducking an axe blow, he parried another with the Acheron as he heard a gremlin's chuckle behind him. They thought they had him cornered as the axe came down on his backside but it was met with the screech of Mitula and her Ray burning a hole into the gremlin's chest and it fell to the ground with a thud. He feinted left and they took the bait as he countered with a swift slice of his blade. He took satisfaction in his performance as the last gremlin stood before him. It held a prototype rocket hammer in its paws, shaking with fury. "Oh, did I offend you? I'm sorry...", he said softly, charging his blade.
The gremlin revved the rocket engine and swung, but the rocket malfunctioned and the gremlin exploded. Laughing, he put the blade away and hopped to it back to camp, counting himself lucky. He ran into an older knight near the barricade and he waved. "Hey there, sir.", he said softly, tilting his head respectfully to his elder.
"Hey there, sir," A knight rushed past him, nodding.
At least some people respect their elders.
Gazing through a pair of binoculars, he searched around for the Deadnaught. The damn thing could probably decimate the barricades. He had to take care of it pronto. A gleam of a spear caught his eye. As he observed, the zombie champion promptly skewered a knight. Wait, was that the Guardian?
What day is it? Coincidence Day?
"Get me a medipack! Pronto!" A knight scurried forward, medikit in hand. Snatching it and drawing his Combuster, he ordered,
"Get me some cover fire. I'm going after that Deadnaught." Shots erupted as Alec once again leapt nimbly over the barricade and dashed towards the zombie. A needle whistled past him and sank into the Deadnaught's back. Glaedr shot another volley. Boom. The zombie, amazingly, was still alive. Come to think of it, it looked dark. Alec had previously assumed that was because it was night. But seeing the red eyes sent a jolt of adrenaline through his veins. The Swarm? [Bleep]. It whirled around, and the Guardian collapsed, a gaping hole in her ribs.
Buy me some time!
That'll be 299 crowns, plus tax, sir.
As Glaedr activated his Miasma ability, Alec opened the Medikit, searched for a bandage, and wrapped it around the Guardian's wound. The skin was tinted green, implying poison. Alec fished around in the Medikit. SonovaVog. Where the heck were the Remedy Capsules?
Meanwhile, the Deadnaught gave a howl of rage as Glaedr shot a dozen needles into its back. Boom. As it spun around, a few knights opened fire with their Blitzes. Unfortunately, Alec, Glaedr, and the Guardian were also in their range. A hailstorm of needles sank into the zombie's back, but many more missed and skittered off the ground, dangerously bouncing back up.
"This is Alec Prelude, Striker," he hissed, "Cease fire! Are you trying to turn me into a porcupine?" He finally snatched up a Remedy Capsule and took off the top, revealing a liquid. Sonova... Alec grabbed a needle and emptied the capsule's contents into it and injected it into the Guardian. Slowly, the green tint faded, and the expression on the Guardian turned into one of relief. She'd at least last long enough for Alec to finish the zombie.
"Ey you. Dust-for-brains. Yeah you." Alec held his Combuster in front of him. The Deadnaught snorted, flakes of decaying skin falling like grains of sand.
"Come and get me." The zombie charged at him, spear in front. Alec deftly leapt over the creature, planting his blade into the head of the zombie. As he reached the ground, the blade tugged through bones and skin, vertically splitting the Deadnaught in two. Only one problem left. How in Vog was he going to get this bulky knight to a hospital?
"Medical assistance required. Miss Reckless here got stabbed by a Void Deadnaught - with poison, no less." This being done, he calmly pulled out his Acheron and stood guard for gremlins.
"Hey kid. What's your name?"
Adam ran. Faster than he ever had before. His shield was off, but the weight of going into battle without it brought him down. He saw the Dreadnaught charging at the female Guardian, obviously not good with close-quarters-combat.
The striker from before rushed in. Alright, you have fun with that...
Gremlins were everywhere. Were they not afraid of the behemoth that was only 50 yards from them?
Might as well try to hold them off... Adam fired a shot straight up.
"Hey, over here!"
That attracted most of them. A few too many. Long as I help...
Adam managed to get in three head-shots, and several shots to the limbs and bodies of the Gremlins before they reached melee range.
He narrowly dodged as a Gremlin dashed towards him. He grabbed his Leviathan, and parried the first few attacks. With each parry came a quick counterattack with his Valiance.
Several were slumped to the ground, in pain. Some lay still, having too many wounds to continue living. Adam breathed heavily. Yeah, just a few too many...
Three blackened Gremlins staggered towards him, wielding jagged blades. The Swarm? Why here!?
Adam was terrified of the Swarm. It had taken the lives of many he knew, and he knew not to mess with it.
They slashed at him. Quickly. He fell over from the surprise of the simultaneous attacks they did. From three different directions?
His arm had gone numb, as the wound had opened up again. Shoot...
They attacked again and again, devoid of all pity and mercy. Is this where I die? Not now...
Adam was desperate. He did a spinning roundhouse kick, followed by a stab at the center Void Gremlin. The kick had made contact with all three of them, but the Gremlin had parried his lunge. Bah... Adam head butted it, knocking it to the ground.
He jumped onto the Gremlin, and killed it without hesitation. Adam ran for his Valiance. The two Gremlins were both mainly doing horizontal slashes, so Adam managed to grab it.
He emptied the clip, hoping they would at least be stunned. The duo reflected all three. What!?!
Adam rolled forward, dodging their downward slashes. Kicking one from below and grabbing the blade of the other's, Adam sliced off both of their heads with a single slash.
"...Worthy opponents..." Adam placed both feet together and bowed his head. He could fight the Swarm.
As I was just about to give up hope, someone hits the Dreadnaught which made him lose his grasp on me and I collapsed on the ground. I started to lose sight when I hear what sounds like a knight running and wrapping something around me. I then heard tons of bullets fired towards us which I think was aiming for the Dreadnaught. I thought "I would have been fine if it wasn't swarm..." I felt so much pain and wasn't feeling good until someone puts a needle into me which removed my poison. I felt a bit better but I was still feeling pain. I heard the Dreadnaught dying and also heard someone saying "Medical assistance required. Miss Reckless here got stabbed by a Void Deadnaught - with poison, no less." I thought "My gear is not really built to deal with Swarm and why did the Dreadnaught come after me and not the knights with guns only?" I heard someone else saying "Hey kid. What's your name?" I said in a very weak tone "My... name is... Nights..." After I said that sentence, my eyesight vanished and it was from the constant Dreadnaught and his shield was strong which was why I was so useless...
Granseal turned around at the comms chatter of "Medical assistance required." Peering over the barricade, he saw the crumbling pile of a Deadnaught, shivering. He rushed the medical tent and spoke to the medics, "I need a few health capsule hypos, just enough to get a knight back here." They agreed and gave him an ultra health capsule syringe, which he held tightly. Thanking the medics, he sprinted out of the tent. Feeding his sprite a Divine Star, he vaulted over the barricade and charged up to that same elder knight.
Panting softly, he saw the downed knight and gasped. It was Nights, unconscious but thankfully not poisoned. "Sir, this was the best I could get from the medics. It should be enough to get her walking. We'll get her back behind the barricade.", he whispered, plunging the needle into the vein on her arm, delivering the restorative and regenerative liquid into her. Rising, he stood beside the elder knight, Mitula casting her Angelic Aura as another line of defense against the enemy.
((OOC: I imagine this in the background of his mad sprint towards Alec and Nights: http://youtu.be/7ghNldskXKI ))
Yuuki had fully expected to battle the Swarm on her mission. She knew the dangers, and she and her squad still accepted the challenge. What caught her off guard was the fact that Eren and Jack -and a few others she hadn't met before- were there as well.
slightly earlier
Yuuki parried a strike from a Void Wolver and kicked it square in the jaw so hard, it's neck snapped. Whirling around, she easily sliced through another Wolver, but not before receiving an agonizing cut along her stomach. She grimaced for a moment, then returned to the fight. She yelled out to her three squad mates, "Ryan! Give me suppressive fire! Mikasa, flank them! Tom, set off the explosives!" All at once, a multitude of Swarm beasts was sent to the primordial ooze from whence they came. It still wasn't enough. Yuuki knew she couldn't go much longer before she messed up -as always- and resolved to take out as many Swarm monsters before that happened. Unfortunately, she knew she had a bit of ADD; no sooner than she had taken out her fifth monster did she forget to jump over a large rock on the floor. She tripped, and fell like, well, a rock. Hitting the floor with the force of a Callahan shot, she felt a swollen bruise beginning to form on her cheek, and, despite being a hardened warrior...
She cried.
Yuuki was still busy crying when she saw another Void monstrosity stalking towards her amid the chaos of the fight. She scrambled for her swords, which she had dropped ten feet away, but just before she could reach them, the beast pinned her to the floor. She whimpered, but just before it could rip her to shreds, a flash of white burst through the abomination with such force, it was decapitated. Yuuki turned in the direction of the shot to see Eren holding his sniper rifle, blowing the smoke away from its barrel. As a few others joined the fray, fighting off the Swarm, Eren grinned down at her and held a hand out to help her up. "Hey, kiddo. Looks like I had to save you again."
As medics arrived and hoisted Nights onto a stretcher (and got a new one since the first broke under the weight), Alec dashed back to camp. Maybe, just maybe, there would be news from Arya. Arriving in his tent, he grimaced. His leg still ached like Vog's flames. Rolling up his pants, he massaged the limb, face set in stone. Ever since that encounter with those Trojans, Lumbers, Deadnaughts, and several Menders, his leg had never really been the same. In the day, after medicine, it was only a dull ache. But at night, when the drug was wearing out...
Arthritis immediately after broken bones. Sucks. Eh? What's this?
A letter was emblazoned with the seal of the Strikers. He ripped it open, reading mentally"
October 17, 2273
S.T.R.I.K.E.R. Headquarters (Soldiers To Rid us of Imminent Killers in Emergency Re-encounters)
Dear Mr. Prelude,
We have contacted you to notify you that your spouse, Arya Kotell, has been reported MIA. She was last seen leading a squad into a factory. One survivor reports that Battlepods were everywhere, and that Mrs. Prelude was pinned under debris. He was knocked unconscious immediately afterwards, and only regained consciousness after rescued and placed in the hospital. As of right now, the search for Squad 14-L is still ongoing, though it is suspected that all members besides one survivor have been killed in action. The search will officially end on October 25, 2273. It has been extended this long due to several fresh Gremlin footprints found near the ruined factory. We send our deepest regrets, Mr. Prelude. In the unhappy event that she has passed, 120000 crowns will immediately be transferred to your account to attempt to accommodate for the loss financially.
Mr. Generi C. Guy
Alec let the paper slip to the ground. His mind was numb with shock. Sure, he knew Arya was always in danger, but to actually lose her...
Hey, Glaedr said. She might still be alive. There WERE Gremlin footprints...
...Yes. I suppose. I can hope, at least. I-I'm going to retire for the night.
Alec laid onto his cot, pulling the Snipe-feathered blanket over him. In the distance, he could have sworn he heard Arya yelling, the Battlepods exploding, the factory collapsing...
Following behind the medics, he quickly returned to camp. The day was over, at least for him. He'd fought enough foes for one day. Mitula mewled in agreement, resting her head against his cheek. He quietly made it over the barricade and to his own tent. Whistling softly, he fluffed up his pillow and pulled back the covers. "Mitula, we've lived another day. Thank the Ancients for that.", he said softly, climbing into the cot. It wasn't the comfiest of things to sleep on bit it sure beat the ground. He slowly closed his eyes, ignoring the intermittent bursts of fire and explosions as he let sleep overtake him and his dreams crept back.
I look around and see it was a dream considering I was in the Unknown Passage. I then see a Dark version of me walking up and said "Well, well, well, look at who we are slowly corrupting." I thought "Of course, since that was a void Dreadnaught, he must sent some swarm particles." My dark version said "If you somehow survive the corruption, all swarm entity's that spot you will come after you." I said "Why me?" The dark clone said "Why you? You are a big threat to us constantly saving knights and healing them. Even gremlins have you on their wanted list as No.1." I started to worry and then the dark clone said "If you are lucky, you can find the particles before it is too late but it's really hard to find them, only a sniper could find them."
"Now, now. No need to draw your swords." Carter patted Jack's shoulder, causing Jack to stop grasping his swords and take a small step back. "Just let us go through, please?" The Stranger shrugged, analyzing the party catiously with its yellow eyes as it stepped aside to let them pass.
The group neared the elevator, hearing along the gravel path an occasional 'Dusty' that seemed to sound from a gremlin. "Dusty! Get back here this instant, you... YOU REBELLIOUS SNIP!" A minor dust bunny hopped past the group, followed by a slightly bigger, yet stressed Gracken. The small gremlin pounced at the dust bunny, though it hopped onto Eren's shoulder, causing Gracken to fall on his face. Soft curses could be heard from Gracken as he struggled to sit up, rubbing his sore nose as he looked up at the party. "Eh... heh heh... hi." He tried his best to stand up and salute Eren, his eyes darting menacing glances at the bunny every now and then. "Sorry about that, fellas. Times have been rough since the lower depths went berserk. Say, mind handing over my bunny?"
Eren snarled in annoyance as he threw it at the gremlin in disgust, leaving a nasty remark. "Control your animal, fool." He seemed to ready himself for another insult from Olivia, though it did not come. Jack led the way to the elevator as Astran punched the 'Down' button, causing the elevator to lower. Suddenly it came to a screeching halt on an unknown depth as darkness enshrouded them,
Jack lifted the Chapeau off his head and put it between his sheaths as he took a step so as to stand in front of Olivia, unsheathing both his special elemental Strikers and immidiately assuming a professional battle pose as he turned his face to her. "Don't worry. I'll protect you." Jack smiled friendlily to her, and turned his face back to the oncoming attack.
A void snarble crawled slowly towards Jack, circling around him as Jack waited. What was he waiting for? The void snarble immediately pounced at him, though in a blinding flash of extraordinarily swift movements, the snarble fell onto the floor before it even managed to get off the ground. An immensely deep laceration could be seen on its ruptured heart as sparks of lightning made their way through its blood, its disabled carcass aflame. Jack sheathed his swords and extended his hand to Olivia. "Let's get you to safety."
As the gremlins chittered and began to drop their tickers, Grunt heard footsteps from behind him; not close, but still there. It could've been a Ghostmane Stalker, but Grunt didn't dare turn around in the fear of getting a ticker to the back.
He raised his shield and absorbed the first few blasts, but before the second waves could explode, a Spiral bomb - a Dark Briar Barrage, he noted - flew out from behind, followed swiftly by a Shivermist Buster. The first exploded right in between the two demos, spraying them with spikes. They howled and began to panic, but before they could go anywhere the Shivermist exploded, freezing them. A few shots from the gunslinger and they were dead.
A knight in white cat-like armor ran up to him, toting the two bombs, and said, “Guardian Nights here, what’s happening?”
Grunt began to formulate a response, still astonished at how quickly the battle had ended. He’d thought he’d be going sword-to-ticker with a demo, having to protect the gunslinger who’d decided to risk his own life to help Grunt.
Apparently he was too slow, because before he could speak, the knight had sprinted off. He would’ve pursued him, but he still had to win the battle. He raised his shield just in time to block several barrages of gremlin gunfire, then he and the gunslinger dashed toward the next round of cover.
They were facing the gremlins on a diagonal, and were closer than the three gunslingers had been. There were about six or seven knights there; some with guns and some with swords. One had a small armada of bombs he was juggling around and tossing at the enemy.
“I’m here.” Grunt began to heal the knights with his shields. Like before, the gunslingers popped up and began to rattle off bullets, and the bomber threw with renewed vigor.
One of the swordsmen immediately spoke, “If your shield can hold out long enough, I think we can flank them. They’d be focusing us if we went immediately, of course, but if we could set up a diversion to the right…”
Grunt nodded and turned to the gunslinger. “Can you contact them?”
He shifted unsurely. “They’re part of my squad. I can signal them, but they’d need to be looking.”
“Squadmates wouldn’t want to lose track of each other. I’m a Guardian, I should know.”
“I’ll try it, then.” He still seemed uncertain, but he walked to the edge of the cover and tried to signal his squad.
“Alright,” Grunt said, turning, “let’s do this.”
OOC: Sorry, Creeperlucario... I'd written up the first two paragraphs of this earlier, but now, thirteen hours later, I only just finished it, because I had to go and stuff. :/
Alec groaned. He just couldn't fall asleep. He usually did in seconds. Now, he had been laying in bed for half an hour. Sitting up, he startled Glaedr. The Maskeraith gave a grunt of surprise, and Alec stroked it with affection. At least he was still here...
Since I can't sleep to save my life-
You're practically undead if you don't sleep anymore. No, Alec. Go and rest at least.
Ahem. Since I can't sleep to save my life, I should at least be productive.
An audible sigh was heard from Glaedr as Alec consumed a pain-reliever pill and stood up. He tagged along with his companion as they exited the tent, only to look up in surprise.
Was...was that stars? Twinkling dots of light shed pale luminosity on the camp. Most knights had turned off their Energy Lights, and were now pointing upwards in awe. No one had ever seen stars before, except on the Skylark and in Haven occasionally when not busy. No one had ever expected to see them, once again. They were...beautiful. As Alec raised his eyes to the brilliant displays of light amidst cool night air, he observed an extraordinarily luminescent one to his left. On closer inspection, Alec realized that a whirring sound was emanating from it. What? And come to think of it, Alec didn't recognize any constellations here, either...Just like that, as quick as a flash, the spell was broken, the die was cast. This, like the Sky Islands, was all artificial. Spell broken, Alec sighed and trudged towards the mess hall, ordering a coffee.
Olivia was admittedly a little stunned by the presence of Swarm here, even though she should have known that it had a presence everywhere. It was some comfort that her escorts were able to take it out; perhaps they weren't so useless after all.
But now she wasn't going anywhere on a stuck elevator. She shooed everyone to the edges of the platform and began to pry off the grate. Immediately discerning her intent, Astran brought down his crowbar and leveraged it off with a resounding *clang.* "We can climb the rest of the way down," he explained as he took Olivia in his arms and began to climb down the cords.
The dark clone vanishes when the ground started to shake. I figured that the swarm started to spread through my body and I am defenseless against it. I look through the dream unknown passage when I find a recipe deep in passage. I look at the recipe and it seemed to be for a mask but the description said "When the owner wears this, they can't be corrupted by the swarm. Warning, this mask does not give protection." I look at the materials needed and said "I have all these things and I have the crowns for it. 5K crowns, 100 Blue shards, 100 green shards, 100 red shards, 100 dark shards, 100 light shards, 2 Nightmare Mane, 3 Celestial ore, 3 Gremlonium and 4 Maiden's tear"
*Nights wakes up*
I look and see that I am in a hospital but no nurses or doctors where nearby but there was an alchemy machine at the end of the floor. I look in my inventory and see the recipe I saw in the dream. I then took out the materials needed and started to walk towards the machine but I suffered pain from that dreadnaught. I then get off the bed and walked towards the machine and I reached it and placed the materials, crowns and recipe into the machine which started to craft it. I started to feel tons of pain and see my clothes turning to black and said "Swarm, please, not now." The face mask was finished crafting and I put it on and the swarm corruption stopped. I noticed a owlite feather and placed it on the middle of the mask. I then looked in the window and saw the mask was basically my eyes. I thought "Thankfully this stops the swarm corruption but if it falls off, I would be corrupted..." I felt more pain and saw a bandage around my ribs. I look outside and see stars and thought "Wow, stars are rare here." I go back to the bed I was on and wrote down a note saying "Don't remove the mask on Nights, if you do, she will get corrupted by the swarm." I feel to sleep with the note near the mask.
((OOC: The Mask's appearance is basically a female eye mask, just add Owlite feather in the middle, also, I was bored and I think all Knights are too busy elsewhere.))
Vincent crawled into the back of the Workshop with minimal resistance. There didnt seem to be much Gremlin activity around as he had expected. It all seems to have calmed down. He thought to himself that maybe the Knights had pushed them back. But now wasn't the time for assumptions. Vincent got onto his feet and walked slowly through the vacant area. It seemed like no-one had bothered to check out the Workshop during or after the assault.
Shrugging to himself about his wonderings, he found a spare Wrench on a work-station next to him, and stored it into his satchel. Stopping and turning toward the work-station, he rumaged around his satchel for one of his blue prints for a Slug-orientated gadget he now had the resources to pull together. Clicking his fingers and neck, he spread out the paper covered in Diagrams, numbers and sketches, pulled down his visor sitting on his helm, and got to work.
"I need to help out with whatever theyre having trouble with, and I think this'll do nicely with some suppression".
Smirking to himself, he carried on making one of his creations. Taking apart his Franken-Stun gun, he began to use the Punch gun as a basis for something with a bit more bite.
Grinding sounds, Whirring of machinery and flashing lights from a welder were all that could be heard or seen eminating from the small facility from that point onward until Vincent decided he was ready to haul his "baby" to the battlefront.
Yuuki's eyes lit up at the sight of Eren, and once the Swarm was destroyed, she leapt up into his arms and said happily, "Hey, Eren! Long time no see!" Eren smiled and patted Yuuki on the head playfully, which earned a scowl from her. Eren was still treating her like a little sister. She noticed some of the group Eren came with waving for him to join them, and sighed. "Hey... Your friends are leaving now." Eren shrugged. "Yeah, we have to escort some Biotech to floor 18..." Yuuki's brows rose slightly. "We were supposed to go there and clear out the swarm for some "important scientist"... So is that Biotech the one they meant?"
Eren shrugged. "How should I know? Well, since you're going there as well, no harm in you tagging along!" Yuuki was about to object, but her squad mates came up and said, "Sure thing! We could use some backup, anyway."
Eren nodded, and the conversation was over. "Then let's go." He jumped down the elevator shaft, deftly maneuvering down from the cables. Yuuki sighed and followed, her squad close behind.
Alec drained his coffee to the dregs. Wait, did high-quality coffee even have dregs? Well, if they did, he drained it to it. He flipped the chef a silver crown and exited the hall.
Hmm...now what? I can't sleep.
He opened up his comlink and opened a call to a knight on guard. "How's the situation?" He inquired, fingering the hilt of his Acheron.
"We've got reports of Void Gremlins, sir. A few just rushed our position. Strange, it's not like Gremlins to send troops to certain death."
"Unless..." Alec stroked his beard. If there was one benefit of being older, it was the long beard. You're only young once, but you can be immature forever.
"Unless they were Void Gremlins, and The Swarm wanted to have a rough estimate of how well our defense is!" The Swarm couldn't care less about sacrificing troops. It probably had thousands, if not millions. What it did care about, though, was how defensible the human's position was. Being an entity with virtually no feelings, it was capable of operating at extraordinary speeds. You know how Albert Einsten only used 6% of his complete brain? The Swarm wasn't limited by human needs, and its mind was of a higher intelligence (at least calculations-wise) than the Spiral Order.
Well, if it wanted to test how well humans could defend the position, it'll get its results.
Instead of dashing this time, Alec set off for the battlefield at a brisk pace. He wanted to let his Striker Boost recharge. Whistling, he seemed to be the polar opposite of the scene around him; while knights were groaning from injuries, he was chipper and bright-eyed, bushy-tailed.
_____
After a few minutes, Alec reached the end of camp and the start of the battlefield. A few rounds were echoing in the distance, and he could just barely see a few bullet-riddled bodies with eyes red like flames. Other than that, it was quiet. Very quiet. No, not too quiet. Whenever some idiot said that-
"Void Gremlins! Incoming!" The knights opened fire, but the Gremlins pulled out their shields and deflected, slowly advancing.
Damn it. Even thinking it will tempt Fate?
Alec pulled out his Valiance, dashed to the right, and put a blast through a Knocker's head as it hacked at the barricade. But what the? It shrugged it off and continued to attack. Grains of sand flew into the air as bags were split open.
Of course! It doesn't really use the brain that much! Since it's controlled by The Swarm, not itself.
Alec launched a charged shot at the Gremlin. This time, the entire head was vaporized at the close range blast. Without a brain to give unconscious nerve orders, the Void creature faded into nothing. He tried to charge another blast. Suddenly, he saw a message on the gun:
ENERGY LEVELS LESS THAN 1%. ESTIMATED SHOTS LEFT: 20 CHARGED SHOTS, 75 SINGLE SHOTS.
Really should have charged it up...
"Damnations!" Alec swore as his charge blast was deflected by a hammer swing from a Gremlin. The Swarm was very, VERY intelligent. Luckily, it had no sense of self-preservation. The Gremlin swinging the hammer deflected the charge shot into another one. His hammer also crushed in a Scorcher's face, making both of those "die".
"Aim for the heads! Use a weapon that can destroy the heads!" Cries echoed along the barricade as more and more Gremlins - and sandbags - were eliminated. Alec, realizing that they were about to be overcome, leapt over the sandbags, slashing with his Acheron. He hit a Demo's arm with his shield, shattering it. The Demo stared, and gave a chilling, haunting laugh, swinging at Alec with his other arm.
Boom. The Demo exploded, revealing Glaedr, who had put as many quills in it as he could.
They're harder to destroy than a Trojan shield! They don't feel pain, and it seems The Swarm knows exactly how to frighten our psychological state!
His thoughts were interrupted as several Knockers swung at him, ignoring any friendly units they may have decapitated. One managed to score a deep gash along his arm.
What the? My armor should have protected me!
Alec, much more cautious, retreated, firing Valiance shots as he fell back. When he felt like he had enough room, he dashed forward and lopped the head off of the nearest two. Even beheaded, they still moved on the ground for a few seconds before fading away. Spinning his sword in a circle, a Thwacker blocked it and swung at Alec. Jumping back, Alec tripped over a shield. He rolled left to avoid a vicious blow and got a bruise on his shoulder for his efforts. Boom. Glaedr hovered in the Thwacker's place and activated the Shadow Cloak, allowing Alec time to examine his wounds.
His arm was a hideous mess. It was long and deep, and rolling on the dirt ground didn't improve it. He winced as he dislodged pebbles from it, using a piece of his clothing as a bandage. He gasped and held his arm, suppressing a groan. Realizing it had been dislodged he slowly held it in front of him, made a fist, and carefully twisted it to the left. Tendons popped as he winced, and with an audible sound, it fell back in place.
I know what's going on, Alec realized. I've been treating these Gremlins as mooks when they're closer to my equals. I'm doing these stunts that would massacre mooks but are practically suicide here! Like that dash. I exposed my sides for several seconds. Several seconds too long.
Alec, with the last bit of his strength, crossed the barricade and huddled under a Guardian shield. As knights arrived with Pulsar lines and finished off the attacking foes, Alec thought with a bitter smile,
It's been so long since I've fought an equal. Only Arya was able to match me...
With another thought, he realized that he was behaving exactly like the injured had at camp. As the gash along his arm slowly closed, he thought,
I need some sparring. With someone who can actually match me.
I heard fighting from outside which woke me up. I look at my items which have shards of swarm on it and I thought "This protective eye mask is helping me but if it gets knocked off, I would be corrupted..." I get up and leave the hospital not in the best of conditions but I needed to help. I see tons of Void Gremlins and knights fighting them off until I see a person running back to base with a Maskeraith... I realized it was the same person who attacked the Void Dreadnaught before. He seemed to be restoring his health because he was underneath a Guardian shield. I go over the barrier and run by the Void Gremlins who didn't bother trying to attack me. I thought "They must think I am swarm which could be useful." I rush towards the Gremlin's base and see a swarm portal. I started to suffer pain since I wasn't fully corrupted and the cut still hurt. I took out my Dark Briar Barrage and tossed it towards the swarm army and as soon as I threw it, I rushed behind the building so they didn't realize it was me attacking them... I look and see a new item in my bag which seemed to be a swarm seed. I thought "If I remove this, would it purify me?" I pull the seed out and toss it farther away and I saw all the swarm in me going with the seed. I collapse on the ground and thought "Huh, the seed is the main point if they haven't been fully corrupted." I get back up but a few Void Gremlins spotted me. I struggled to run so I dropped a Shivermist Buster and tried to get away. I barely made it away and got back to the base dropping more Shivermist Buster's and Dark Briar Barrage's. When I reached the base again, the bandage around my ribs fell off and it still showed some swarm particles on it. I realized, most of the swarm was new but these particles seem to be a basic barrier for them. I noticed it stopped growing and I realized it was from the protective eye mask I had on. I go towards the knight with the Maskeraith and said "Thanks for saving me earlier but you look hurt, do you need any help?"
Alec sighed as he realized who it was talking to him.
What. This many times I meet this Guardian. Fate, you sure you don't have a messed up sense of humor?
He replied, "No, but thanks. I need to get in practice." He gestured towards his arm with a bitter smile. Though the gash had healed, blood was still visible.
Indeed you do. Heck, you need a year of practice to get back on par. Glaedr telepathically communicated to both Alec and Nights.
"Shut up!" Alec patted the Maskeraith. "Glaedr here once took a trip to the Unknown Passage with me. As you know, that place can be deadly to the weak of mind. He's never really recover-"
blahblahblahtryingtosavefaceinfrontofpeoplenowaren'tyou? Glaedr speedily interrupted as he hovered in the air.
Suddenly, a demo bomb flew over the barricade and landed right next to them. Alec immediately scooped it up with his shield and tossed it back. One explosion later, he calmly put back his shield. He could here cries of pain as a Thwacker here slipped his hammer into a knight's shoulder, or a Scorcher gave a group some third-degree burns. A nearby knight suddenly flew back and hit the ground hard. Paramedics swarmed him, and Alec realized that as he and Nights were idling, knights were dying every second.
I can't retreat. If I do, that many more knights will die. Remember your training...
Are you crazy?! Wait, why am I even asking you that anymore?
Alec took out his Valiance and took out a hand crank from the gun, turning it rapidly. A sudden explosion startled the two of them, and Glaedr whirled around, shooting quills. Alec tapped his ear and realized he was temporarily deafened, so Glaedr spoke for him.
Come on! They need help!
Alec dashed towards the front lines (ignoring the jolts of pain from his shoulder) , recalling his lessons on fighting equal opponents when he was an adolescent. He took a look at his Valiance.
CURRENT BATTERY: 32%. ESTIMATED SHOTS LEFT: 2246 CHARGED, 7129 REGULAR.
Grinning, he charged up a shot and blasted apart a Scorcher.
Carter slowly climbed down with Astran in front, but he heard a voice, someone that wasn't here before. He turned to find...
"Wow." Carter was in love.
He stumbled backwards a bit, then caught Yuuki's eye. He smiled awkwardly, then smiled, turning back to climb so that she wouldn't see his blush.
.....O....M....G.......
Adam watched as his opponents decayed and disappeared. All that was left was the weapons. A dark, jagged blade. Probably could use this on them...
Now then, onto more important things. Adam grabbed his weapons, and sprinted towards the fallen tree. Unlike the Void creatures, the normal gremlins remained there. Creepy. Adam had never looked back to see what he had really done.
Sixteen were killed by him, and the rest were probably handled by the reinforcements. Adam heard a groan, and a faint mumble. He looked down, and saw a Ghost Mane, waking up after it had knocked out by Adam's shield. Adam took a knee near the fallen gremlin. "Nothing personal... You fine here?"
It was probably startled by him. The Ghost Mane reached for a buzz-saw, only to find that Adam had taken them. "Looks like you are. Head back to your base, the Spiral Order has finished fighting here."
It looked around. His comrades, slain one after another by this one knight. The Gremlin noticed a deep wound in his opponent's right shoulder. It scowled at him.
"You're not too kind, are you? Head off, I won't fight you here." Adam showed an awkward smile. He walked over to his Aegis, and looked into the shining shield. There was twenty-three buzz-saws lodged in it in all. Haven't seen you in a while, old friend.
Adam heard a few footsteps. The Ghost Mane had gone. "Goodbye, you'd better hope you won't see me again." Adam chuckled, and walked back to the camp. Repairs... to the shield, and then me. His arm was feeling better already, with the shell near it again.
Blasts erupting from outside the Workshop's doors hurried the finishing touches to Vincent's Original construction, and a side project he thought would be pretty good to keep with him for personal protection. Carrying the smaller in his hands, he hauled the larger project onto his back with it's ammunition. Slowly he walked his way to the door controls, opening it enough to get through, and help who he could on the battle-lines. A quick thought popped into his head, as he put down the Heavy armament, and went back for general supplies that would help the repair and restock of any Base Cobalt Guns & Armour that other knights had. Holstering the Large gun onto his back with his right robotic arm once more, he urged himself closer to the sound of conflict with every step.
Eventually he got close enough to see a couple of warring Knights in his field of view. One looked to be a pretty well bandaged Guardian, who seemed to be watching quite an experienced Knight blazing away at odd behaving Gremlins, Valiance in hand and a ghostly Battle Sprite providing assistance. Vincent tried to look closer at what he was fighting as he stepped closer. The Black colouration and lack of self preservation in their acts sounded like Swarm. Though he had never seen or fought it much before, details and reports he had dug up in Emberlight told him of how bad it could get. Blocking out worst case scenarios, he tried to quicken his pace, calling over as clear as he could over the sound of battle.
"Hey! You guys still alive!? I got some Extra kick to your gear and defence! Just hold up...".
Alec carefully observed his opponent, a Thwacker.
You guys aren't going to get the better of me this time, [insert offending name here].
The Thwacker lunged, swinging its hammer on a diagonal slash from top left to bottom right. Alec caught the blow on his Grey Owlite Shield. For a second, the two stood in place, silently struggling against the other. Then Alec shifted, drew back, and rammed, hard. The Gremlin was sent flying back. Alec looked around to make sure that no creatures were close enough to be a major threat, and dashed his sword into the Thwacker. As it dissolved, a gleam of light caught his eye. Silently, Glaedr activated the Shadow Cloak, and Alec turned around.
Woah.
A man was charging across the battlefield, one arm glittering as if made from polished metal.
"Hey! You guys still alive!? I got some extra kick to your gear and defense! Just hold up..."
What in Vog...was he trying to get himself killed?! He was getting the attention of almost every darn creature on the battlefield! Even as Alec watched, a Scorcher began charging towards the person, who seemed to be carrying a few items. Wasting no time, Alec dashed his sword into the Scorcher's stomach, making sure that no hostiles were within range. As the Scorcher stumbled back from the ferocity of the stab, Glaedr finished it off with a quill. Boom. Turning towards the stranger, Alec greeted him.
"Hey there! Sorry about the mess here. We've a few unruly guests who won't leave! Alec Prelude at your service." He whipped out his Valiance and took a few pot shots at an approaching Knocker, destroying it.
While moving over, a Swarm-infested Scorcher began to charge toward Vincent, reacting more to the sound than he had thought. With a vacant expression and coming almost to a stand still, he did almost nothing as the Scorcher was felled, and finished off by a few quills. Blinking back into reality, he noticed the experienced knight standing there, greeting him to the fight.
"Hey there! Sorry about the mess here. We've a few unruly guests who won't leave! Alec Prelude at your service."
While nodding and about to respond, Alec took some potshots at a Knocker who was also rushing over. With the threat lessened, he began to respond, in a quieter tone than before.
"Hey, sorry about that, didnt think how responsive that those swarmed Grems would be. Im Vincent, Im one, if not the only ech I've seen around Camp. Apart from some of the Emberlight Gremlins, I service the Knights base equipment and-", Vincent unholstered the Large Gun, onto the ground, making a heavy thud, "-design some of my own for a bit of extra kick".
Vincent opened a supply bag to reveal the other equipment that was needed for the Larger Gun, as well as some Field rechargers for Proto Guns, Proto-stones for Blade sharpening, and Ammo for his 2nd Weapon he had designed alongside his Main Weapon project. He non-coherently started to run down the logistics of his bigger gun.
"This is one of the finer weapons I've designed. It's a Belt-fed, Fully Automatic, 180 Rounds per Minute, Support Gun. Bipedal stand for greater support. Loaded with another one of my greater inventions. I call 'em 'Wolver Rounds'. Enough of these hit some armour which isnt reinforced and it punches right through. The piercing power of an Alpha vs a Shield". Vincent awkwardly scratches his head "Only thing is that the recoil is a bit unruly...and that the materials to make this ammo is pretty scarce, so we only have 600 Rounds...and that there is no more back at camp". He then sighs while lowering his head..."And Im fairly sure it'll overheat if constantly fired...". He finally raises a finger to summarise, "But it should do the job to take out enough of these things for a plan to come together...you do have a plan on how to deal with this swarm of well, um, swarm...dont you?".
Vincent packs his equipment back up into his bag and holsters it.
"Show me where I can set up this thing, sir..", Vincent then russles his hand around the bag and tosses him a Field Charger, "..and here is something for that Life-saving Valiance of yours".
Yuuki slowly descended with Eren directly in front (well, technically, behind) her. When they reached the next floor, Eren jumped off of the cables and flawlessly rolled back onto his feet. When Yuuki tried to do the same, she tripped -again- and went tumbling forward, landing right in front of Carter. She started to cry, then heard Carter say, "Wow..." and wiped her tears away, sniffling. She looked up at him, and he stumbled backwards. Locking eyes, she whimpered, "Oh dear... So sorry about that..." and swiftly got up to her feet, more flustered than she had ever been before. She dusted herself off and looked straight at Carter, but he had already turned around, as if to hide something. She skipped her way in front of him and turned back to face him, her face slowly reddening as her eyes darted about nervously. She bowed and held her hand out, "Hi... My name's Yuuki..." and blushed even more when her squad mates, Tom, Mikasa, and Ryan, snickered from behind her. Yuuki bowed her head down in embarrassment, trying to hide her blush.
Granseal chuckled softly at the Scout's story, shaking his head ruefully. He loved a good prank as much as the next knight but that one was really cocky and the scout almost paid for it with his life. "Now then, did you learn anything from that experience? I hope you got some valuable intel from that besides Gremlins are pretty gullible and paranoid.", he said quietly, draining the rest of his soda. He blinked as Jack settled in with them and struck up a conversation with Zero, it appearing to be a foregone conclusion that he would be left behind in regards to escorting the biotech.
He didn't get any objections to telling his tale, so he took a deep breath. He might as well tell it while they were all here. Who knows, it might change the Commander's mind. "Well it all began as an assault on a Gremlin research and development facility. I was on the frontline with an Acheron and a Grey Owlite Shield. The fighting was fierce, Gremlin experimental weapons and constructs were being let loose. They fought to the last mender to keep us from acquiring this very suit I wear, supposedly it had an Overdrive function that could cause massive havoc and shield the wearer in a shocking field or boost forward with jets in the feet of the suit. Many knights perished that day, I nearly died myself when I discovered my father had been slain in a compound siege several floors above us. I snapped and fought in a frenzy, taking a blast from a puppy before I regained my senses on a gurney. I was in this very suit and was told my old suit was shredded beyond repair, and that I'm lucky to be alive. It's also where I got the nickname Granseal. The gremlins called it the Metal Sonic project for reasons the Order hasn't been able to decipher, or so I was told by the techs present when I awoke.", he said softly, eyes misting over a bit as he remembered his father. He began to recall games of catch, sparring sessions and meals at the table with his mother.