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Post by Erika Widowmaker on Apr 16, 2015 8:46:04 GMT
Erika Widowmaker nods once to Atticus, then again to Chloe before sprinting out of the war room, stopping only to get her gear and weapons from her room, then blurring to the garage. When Atticus and Volodja arrive, they find her patiently sitting in the back seat of Atticus' Raptor, calmly munching on some K-rations, her VBI assault rifle on her lap and her Magnum pistol strapped to her side. Keeping her thoughts to herself during the subsequent ride, she inwardly relished the idea of action. She longed to unleash her long pent up anxiety by killing someone or something that deserved it. Finally, a problem she could actually DO something about, unlike her personal ones of late. "Yes, something or someone WILL die today," Thought Erika with conviction to herself, "And we WILL save my friend Belle."  |
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Post by Lady Christianna on Apr 16, 2015 8:54:03 GMT
Lady Christianna pouted as she looked at her new red car now firmly planted on the second floor of the ruined building at Fisherman's Wharf. "Bummer," Thought Lady to Sandy through their telepathic link. "Numerous enemies in the area, but I see a friendly near the water. Might be Belle?" Sandy informed Lady. Lady readied her VBI SMG as she cloaked and moved out, avoiding the red dots on her EGO's radar as she moved ever closer to the blue one.  |
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Post by Volodja Uljanov on Apr 16, 2015 9:04:29 GMT
"Hello again, Erika," said Volodja after spotting her tall war queen like figure in the back seat of Giant's Raptor. "How are we today? I know that you don't drink before missions, but you sure look thirsty to me." So he offered his boot flask, filled with brandy, to her, seeing that she was upset, although she hid it well. Maybe he can offer her some constructive solutions to her issues later, but now he only had his flask and few friendly words. At least he had to try.
And then Atticus jumped into Raptor, pressing vehicle significantly closer to the garage floor with his weight, and they drove away, Giant behind the wheel and using his mad driving techniques again. Volodja remembered Giant's driving style from the last time, they shared the same set of wheels and nothing had changed ever since. If they succeed to get things fixed at Fisherman's Wharf, then he probably hitch hike himself back to base. Chances of his surviving seemed to be better if he does so.
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Post by Atticus Batman on Apr 16, 2015 9:07:57 GMT
As I get to the Garage, well-equipped with my pistol, LMG, Sniper and a new epic Amakune blade, I see that Volo and Erika are already there. I quickly put Belle's armor in a weapons chest secured in back by Erika. Then I hop in and as soon as Volo is in, I drive off, using a remote system Chris installed in all my vehicles to open all the secured doors as I approach them and close them as soon as I am clear. Once we are free of the base, I stomp on the boost, trying to get us to the Wharf as fast as possible.
When we get there, I see Lady's new car stuck in the second floor of the building, so I send Chloe a quick message to send a team to retrieve it, then I get out as Volo and Erika are surveying our surroundings. I also quickly send Lady an EGO message, "Lady I hope you are ok. We are here at Fisherman's wharf looking for you now."
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Post by Lady Christianna on Apr 16, 2015 9:23:25 GMT
"A-OK. Cloaked and headed to Belle," Lady answered Atticus, smiling knowing that he would come after her and glad of it. She still hadn't seen who the current enemies were, but Sandy had kept her on a path to avoid them, and she hadn't been spotted - yet!
Erika followed Atticus, also glad he was there and ready to fill Taffer's shoes as team leader. She didn't trust her own judgment beyond the instinctual level, as she knew her tactical mind was clouded by her personal problems. She readied her AR, enjoying the cold metallic feel of it in her hands, just as she enjoyed the taste of Volodja's brandy on her taste buds. Normally, she didn't drink before a mission, but she understood the importance of ritual, and would not think of denying him what she saw as a ritual of friendship, although she accepted but the one sip.
Meanwhile, Belle waylaid a stray mutant enemy, taking his weapon and ammunition, and preparing herself for the slaughter as his fellows began to surround her position in the ruined building.
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Post by Volodja Uljanov on Apr 16, 2015 9:28:00 GMT
"Nicely planted," was Volodja's only remark about Lady's new car. "Think I will look around for some sea shells...You just saved my life, Giant, by stopping the car, so I would like to avoid endangering it again. Better to look out for hostile units. After all - we are in favourite area of Dark Matter and scrappers and Volge and mutants and afflicted..."
He sneaked carefully towards single blue dot on his radar and saw red ones approaching it faster, than he liked. And when he got close enough he could see blond haired girl, wearing some old rags, on the ruins of the building ready to defend herself.
He cloaked, crouched and aimed carefully. No time to hesitate. He will protect Belle from this side, so he informed her about that: "Hello, Tinkerbelle. Your left side is covered by me. Rest of the team may have their share of mutants too. There are plenty of them for everyone." And he announced to Atticus and Erika: "Belle is surrounded by muties in ruins of the building. I ll cover her left side and will be waiting your signal to start action. Over and out!"
Volodja was calm and concentrated and he picked his targets in advance. If he had to kill again, then better be prepared for that. He can feel guilty later, but now it was all about battle and possible results, so he sent one more EGO message to Erika: "Keep your eye on Giant. I trust your mind and judgement. You are cold blooded warrior after all, and a team player. I believe that you can handle his possible rage bursts or inform Lady or me about them. After all - you fought on one side before, so you have a common ground."
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Post by Belle Starr on Apr 16, 2015 9:43:19 GMT
"Thanks Jiminy Cricket, but my EGO had spotted you earlier as a friendly! Still awfully glad to see y'all - or not see as the case may be! " Said Belle as she smiled, sure she could take out the mutants on her own, but relieved that her friends were there.
"On your right," Chimed in Lady through her EGO, adding unnecessarily, "Cloaked."
For her part, Erika kept silent, staying on Atticus' flank in case he needed a wing man.
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Post by Atticus Batman on Apr 16, 2015 9:55:02 GMT
I grabbed Belle's armor from the raptor and slung it over my left shoulder, as well as grabing my spare Epic Blackened Hellfire smg from the weapon crate. Erika and I quickly go to our team's position. We enter the ruined building as I chop a mutant in half with my new blade. Then I toss the armor and Smg to Belle's feet.
"Thought you could use this Starr Eyes. Sorry I didn't think to grab one of your guns, hope my spare is to your liking. There are mutants coming from right behind us though. So hurry and get the armor on. Erika guard the door. Volo, Lady keep guarding from those windows you are near. I am going to get to a better sniping position. I f I see them approaching our possition to attack, then I will aim for the nearest mutant aproaching us that I see, count to 3 and kill it. Which will be your signal to be ready."
I quickly climb up to a better position, and survey the area. I definitely see a number of mutants approaching us, so I aim my Calling bird for the nearest one. As I count to 3 over our EGO connection, I line up a headshot. I fire right on 3 and a cleaver's head pops off, starting instant action, as I aim for another shot knowing my team can handle what gets past me. |
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Post by Volodja Uljanov on Apr 16, 2015 10:27:03 GMT
"Don't you worry, Giant," grinned Volodja from his position "Ill make sure that nobody from my side can't mess up our reunion." After hearing opening shot from Atticus, he stepped out from his cover, still cloaked and after tiny moment of hesitation (he could not defeat his nature that easily) took out a storming Cleaver, which was not very easy task, because mutant was obviously under influence of Adreno, which made him faster and tougher than usual. "Bloody junkies," he thought and took out another Cleaver who fell forward and ploughed a lonely furrow on the ground. Suddenly there was too many attackers so sniping them became ineffective. After few shots he switched to SMG and tilting himself out from empty window, started to slow down their attack them with short, well aimed bursts pulling himself into cover as soon as mutants opened fire at him. He switched position and delivered couple of bursts from another window.
Have to make mutants confused. Have to keep moving. Have to spare ammo. Have to be careful to avoid getting hit. Lot of "have to's" indeed, but if he wanted to survive, then he had to keep them all in his mind. And he had to keep that grenade in his hand...not any longer than a few seconds, so he tossed it among small group of attacking mutants and got himself back into cover again to reload his SMG.
Too many mutants were rushing from his side and he was the one, who promised to hold them back. A promise is a promise, so he better stick to it, although it demands more direct approach than he liked. His SMG coughed out last burst and stopped "talking". He run out of SMG ammo and there was no time to use an ammo spike, but he still had his sword and side arm, so it was time to do something stupid and heroic, like playing young handsome officer who leads remains of his platoon, sword in one and pistol in other hand. Usually artists create only "before" images of young heroic officers, not "after" ones which depict them lying on the ground, covered with dirt and blood. Those images aren't very heroic nor patriotic, and repel people from fighting. Volodja was not especially fond of that "after" part either, but this time he had to participate in hand to hand combat, if he wanted to live and keep his friends alive, so Volodja cursed through his teeth and blurred out from ruins to clear out remaining enemies, coming from his side.
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Post by Belle Starr on Apr 16, 2015 13:57:17 GMT
Belle Starr had changed into her trademark Liberty Trooper armor, and armed herself with the blackened SMG, throwing a "Thank y'all kindly" over her shoulder in her thick Southern drawl to Atticus as she began firing at the attacking mutants, standing back to back with Erika Widowmaker as they both fought those mutants who came into the ruin through the debris. Lady Christianna was doing fine picking off mutants with her borrowed SMG, but she really missed the havoc she could create with her crime fighter shotgun. Suddenly the mutants threatened to overwhelm her position so she sent an EGO decoy towards the ruins where Belle and Erika were entrenched, then switched places with it when it was close enough to them. The maneuver confused the mutants enough to give her a chance to take cover with her girl posse as Erika eliminated the mutants who swarmed around the replica of Lady left on the battlefield. "Volodja getting surrounded," Announced Sandy, Lady's EGO Psyche, to all the team mates, with more than hint of concern in her voice. "I got it," said Belle with a reassuring smile, blurring to Volodja's position, her blackened SMG blazing, setting many of the mutants around Volodja on fire creating more chaos among the attacking forces. Belle continued to race back and forth among their forces, strafing them with the fire nano ammo as she ran, uttering rebel yells as she went. The mutant force began to get demoralized, with some beginning to retreat; at least until the bioman mini-gunners and grenadiers began to arrive! "A strategic retreat might not be a bad idea," Suggested Erika as she placed a protection spike at her and Lady's position in the ruined building.  |
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Post by Volodja Uljanov on Apr 16, 2015 14:39:23 GMT
"Ill be all right," said Volodja with his calm battle voice "Especially now, when I got some serious fire support," he continued, when spotting Belle, who harvested rows of mutants with her blackened SMG. Volodja worked with his sword, slashing and stinging attacking mutants and pistol in his other hand was not just a visual detail either, but did it's deadly job, when needed. Unfortunately big guys, equipped with grenade launchers and mini guns, started to arrive, making things unbalanced, so Erika's wise suggestion about retreating made Volodja to say:
"Agreed. You can start to move out. Since Belle and I are outside already, we will hold them back for awhile and follow you. At least Belle will. Ill catch you later or you can catch me."
And he made evasive move, sticking his sword between legs of attacking Shotgunner right after that, making him stumble and fall, so he could finish him off with a short burst from his pistol. Then he put his weapons away, pulled out two grenades and blurred towards attacking Biomen. He evaded few explosions from their grenade launchers, pulled out rings from both grenades, he held, and passing two Biomen, stuck grenades into remains of their trousers and kept running forward. After hearing two muffled explosions he was ready to retreat, so he made 180 degree turn and started to move away from battleground, drawing mutants after him. Nothing heroic in that - just a rational calculation. He was faster then mutants and as long as his blur lasted, he could escape them easily, giving others a chance to retreat. When he loses his followers, he can meet his friends later, although it meant a little detour for him. But he planned to visit an old friend anyway, so now it was a perfect chance. After all - he is traceable through EGO link.
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Post by Atticus Batman on Apr 16, 2015 21:46:32 GMT
As Volodja runs off, I snipe the mutants following him. Then I shoot a mini-gunner. I look towards where my Raptor is parked in my scope and see some of our men there with a tow truck, working on reclaiming Lady's car.Over our EGOs I say, "Retreat sounds like a good idea. Get to my Raptor! A small team from base have arrived and are retreiving Lady's car, so we have some backup guns over there!"
I keep sniping as the girls retreat. After they are almost to the vehicles, I toss a shrill grenade off the building near where I am going to jump. Then I switch to my blade and drop to the ground. I slice a few mutants, that the shrill didn't quite kill. Then I blur to catch up to the team, cutting down any mutants in my way. I toss a couple shrill grenades over my shoulder to weaken the mutants, as I blur after my friends.
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Post by Erika Widowmaker on Apr 16, 2015 21:47:11 GMT
"Gods!" Erika Widowmaker exclaimed through her EGO to the rest of the team's EGOs. "We should stick together!"
She bit her tongue, knowing it was not her call, as Atticus was Team leader, but she said her mind anyway. Her team mates were all very capable people, but she felt they were such rugged individualists that they might never be a team, and she feared that their very survival depending on them being a team, since their true enemies were many and organized.
Belle smiled, knowing Erika's nature and proclivity towards order, so she said, "Don't worry, I'll watch his back!"
"No, not her!" Blurted out Sandy, Lady Christianna's EGO psyche, who also was hopelessly in love with Volodja. Sandy was worried that now that Belle was available, since her Prince Charming Vo was dead, Volodja might feel drawn to Belle both because he was already drawn to her even while Vo was alive, and he might have new sympathy to her because of her loss. Although Sandy was loathe to admit it, she and Volodja were not on a par as Belle and him, especially on the intellectual level. Furthemore, Belle was... well Belle, and everybody loved her. Sandy felt she couldn't compete with Belle Starr who was the "perfect" woman and Sandy was, basically a dead grunt with no feminine wiles to speak of.
"Why not?" Said Lady with a pout, not understanding or even recognizing Sandy's concern.
"Um... we are closer, so maybe we should watch his back, although that's not an option as we need to protect both you and the baby so that leaves... Erika! Erika should go, because she is as close as us! Yeah, Erika should protect Volodja!"
Belle raised a blond eyebrow as he shot pointblank into a Bio-man mini-gunner's face, the ballistic weak point of all Bio-men, saying, "Guys, distance wise, I'm really closest to Volodja, so no problem, I'll stick by his side!"
Sandy cursed herself for being jealous of such a selfless soul as Belle, thinking that even an EGO hologram like her couldn't find anything to dislike in Belle, other than the fact that Belle could probably have Volodga with a single blink of her big blue eyes, or so Sandy believed, but she merely replied, "Oh... okay. Guess I miscalculated the distance, ha ha, silly me."
Lady and Erika fire their weapons as they retreat to the vehicles while Atticus covers them with his sniping rifle, but Belle blurs after Volodja, however ready to rejoin the main group if Atticus insists.
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Post by Atticus Batman on Apr 17, 2015 2:54:13 GMT
I hear the arguing over the EGO and respond as I run to Belle and step in front of her. "Dak! What the hell is going on?! Belle the Raptor is the other direction! We lost you once, we will NOT lose you again! Besides Volodja is planning on goin to see a friend near here so he will be fine. He is an Ark Hunter and former soldier afterall! However if everyone is that concerned then get to the vehicles faster and we will follow him in our shielded vehicles since he does have his EGO tracker active! And our crew should have Lady's car free, so we can go, two in my Raptor and two in the Challenger. Belle with me in my rig. Erika with Lady! Dak it all!
And before anybody argues let me break it down! Taffer left for personal reasons. Erika is new to the team and needs time to adjust. Belle your old position doesn't exist so that makes you a regular Officer and not command. So like it or not, I am in charge, if we go by team hierarchy!
However, If we consider this a family, then think of it this way! That makes me the oldest brother and Erika the oldest sister, and we say get to the vehicles! Volodja, that goes for you too! Dak it, Fool get to Lady's car, you are riding with her and Erika! Belle and I will follow in my Raptor! Erika dismiss the recovery team to go back to Base, once Lady's car is free for all of you to get in. If anybody needs a better weapon, check the weapons locker in the back of my Raptor, but leave my rum crate alone!"
As I turn back towards the vehicles and jog away from Belle, hoping she and Volodja listen, I mumble under my breath, "Dak it all! I am the unstable one here! What the dak is this world coming to, when the one considered mentally unstable, by EVERYBODY, must be the stable leader?!?!?!" |
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Post by Volodja Uljanov on Apr 17, 2015 4:11:01 GMT
Volodja indeed heard Atticus's grunt, because Dinara was kind enough to send it to Sophie, like she has done it couple of times before, and he replied with his calm voice: "Giant. I believe, that you can keep anything under control. Our world is a crazy place and we might need a crazy leader at moment. And don't forget that most of he time you can have your Fool around to keep your feet on the ground, but I am not the only one. At moment you have Lady by your side and she is perfect anger management for you. She was with you, before I sneaked into our tale. And since you are leader, you have responsibility to watch over us now. Think about that. Keep your head cool, Giant. Last thing we need is you going to berserk.
I will be rejoining you as soon as I can and maybe I can convince my friend to join us or at least give us a consultation we need, because our problems will keep growing unless we do something about that. It's about Erika's children. I believe that he can help us to solve that one. I owe this to Erika for talking reason to me when we were in Freedom. But my friend...well he doesn't like huge crowds, so we must approach him delicately not to repel him off. I will survive against of all odds - did it before and no way I am going to die before a birthday party. That's a promise and you know that I am keeping it."
Saying that Volodja started to jog towards the see. Wolfram lives near by and has settled himself so openly, so nobody paid attention to him. People and even Votan tend to not spot something what is right under their noses. That helped Wolfram to last long enough, so he had plenty of time for a slow self destruction. Somehow Volodja didn't felt bad at all about his intention to drag Wolfram out from his well organised solitude.
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