Prior Thread: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive/19207778/Archive: http://suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com/archive.html?tags=Maverick%20Hunter%20QuestThe IRC: suptg.thisisnotatrueending.com, #MHQAnd big thanks to LL for helping with our archive problem. You are Anode, maverick hunter of the 4th Overland, currently trying to decide what to do with yourself. You've had a few hours to unwind since your last op, you're fully repaired, and your new weapons data hasn't come in from--
>>19378150Wait, that must be it. A small notification tells you to visit your room.A quick jog takes you back to your room. Just inside on the shelf, is... A small envelope, and a datapad. You check the envelope first. Out of it falls a handful of individually-wrapped metal objects. In various forms and sizes, it presents the maverick hunter insignia--a red double-V crested with a yellow diamond, flanked on each side by a blue half-circle. You look over a few of the pieces--two little gold ones with an adjustable backing, a larger one with a clasp pin, some sort of silver clip, and then a larger fabric item. A small missive is pinned to the back--MAVERICK HUNTER Anode,ENCLOSED ARE 2 (TWO) LAPEL PINS, 1 (ONE) UNIFORM BADGE, 1 (ONE) EMBROIDERED PATCH, AND 1 (ONE) TIE CLIP, ALL BEARING OFFICIAL MAVERICK HUNTER INSIGNIA.HUNTER PERSONNEL ARE REQUIRED TO WEAR INSIGNIA IN PLAIN VIEW AT ALL TIMES. FOR THOSE WITH UNUSUAL ANATOMY (reploids, you assume) UNABLE TO WEAR STANDARD UNIFORM, A STANDARDIZED EMBLEM MUST BE PLACED ON YOUR CHASSIS VISIBLE IN PROFILE, ON THE SHOULDER IF DESIGN PERMITS. SEE YOUR UNIT'S SUPPLY DEPARTMENT FOR THIS AS SOON AS POSSIBLE.WELCOME TO THE MAVERICK HUNTERS.
>>19378173Below that is one more piece of metal, a silver bar, and one more note, this one hand-written.Lieutenant, This letter formally recognizes your officer's commission. Though there will be a great deal of hardship ahead, I am confident you will serve with honor and distinction. Trust in your unit and work to continue the proud, growing history of the Fourth Overland and the Maverick Hunters as a whole.Thank you.--Rhodes, Maverick Hunter Commander"Got your useless metal bits, then?" comes a voice from the door, making you jump. India smirks. "Boo, I guess.""So what do I do with these?" you ask, looking over your bits and bobs. She shrugs. "I have a flight jacket I can actually wear, I put most of mine on that. Get a neat little display or something? It'll look real fitting next to your plush met.""Only God can judge me," you reply with mock curtness. She grins."Okay, Princess, relax. I came by to give you something too." She flicks a patch at your head, bouncing off your helmet and fluttering into your hand.SPACE SHUTTLE DOOR GUNNER, it reads.
>>19378213"For bold action under fire yadda yadda whatever," she says. "Thanks, by the way. You handled yourself pretty damn well out there.""Now I just need someplace to put it," you add, tucking it back into the envelope with the more official pieces."I have a few suggestions," she offers. "Besides up my ass." "You're no fun," she huffs as you reach for the datapad. "That'll be your pay for this op." She sounds amused, and...Music: http://youtu.be/ZgjwDhmm-0Y"...Holy shit, did they misplace a zero?" you ask."Nope. Read the full report." You do so."Standard combat mission and retirement 15k, captured equipment 23k, captured personnel 30k, valuable intel on new mav development 10k, and...""And a cool hundred for stopping a nuclear launch, yes." She grins. "Just an afterthought for me after Vienna, but it's a nice afterthought." You look back over the record (which includes yet another note from Rhodes, a clipped thanks for preventing the missile and saving countless lives), and your eyes lock onto the total pay. Z178,000.
>>19378222Z178,000."Say what you will about the hunters," India says, "But they know how to write a paycheck. Not bad for almost getting killed, eh?""I could buy the whole goddamn world with this," you murmur in a rapturous daze.She pats you on the arm. "Easy there, Midas. It pisses away sooner than you'd think.""An X-ray machine. A pet cobra. Sunscreen. Pants that fit. Karate lessons. A pistol...and one bullet."India slowly removes her hand.>Pilot freaked out, our work here is done. Go get that hunter emblem put on your shoulder. Maybe see about weapons data?>MUNNAY MUNNAY MUNNAY. Buy things. ALL THINGS.>Other?
>Pilot freaked out, our work here is done. Go get that hunter emblem put on your shoulder. Maybe see about weapons data?>MUNNAY MUNNAY MUNNAY. Buy things. ALL THINGS.In that order.
>>19378241>Pilot freaked out, our work here is done. Go get that hunter emblem put on your shoulder. Maybe see about weapons data?First we deal with that then we go shopping.If we don't have one already we need to acquire a trenchcoat and fedora so we can go full electric Humphrey Bogart.
>>19378342Seconding this. Seconding this HARD.
>>19378241LOADS A' MUNNAYWe should probably offload it before we do something REALLY dumb with it. Emblem and weapons come first.
We oughta make a shopping list or something.Also, don't forget. Birthday presents for Cath. WE SHALL NOT BE UNDONE
>>19378401OR OUTDONE, which is what I originally meant to say. But we won't be that other thing either.
>>19378241First, if it's not to disrespectful, Put all that rank stuff ON the plush met.
>>19378241Shelving unit with a bottle of the best of every booze.
>>19378401Ok, first we acquire a batman costume for her with utility belt of course. Also, we find her favorite old movie female character and see if we can't get her a replica of what that character wore. Another idea is really rare movie memorabilia if we can find any, vintage posters, props and movie reels.We see her current combat and equipment specs and if we have any weapon data that matches we send it her way, we should do that even if it isn't her birthday.
"Right," you say. "I'm gonna go get an iron on for my jeans and then buy a soda at the drug store fountain.""...What?" India asks, still dumbfounded."I'm going to get a stupid hunter patch painted on my arm and then go waste stupid amounts of pay.""Oh.""Although..." you say, scratching your chin. You have an IDEA.A quick moment later and LIEUTENANT FULL METOOL is complete, the cross on his helmet matched with your bars and pins. The lapels go over the 'ears' where the helmet is mounted, and just for the extra mile, you put that useless, useless tie clip on his front. The patches you leave to the side, wishing you had a uniform jacket to put them on (and one that would fit your bulky armored frame, of course), and step back to admire your handiwork."Well?" you ask your audience. India facepalms."You are something else, Anode.""I see a smiiiiiile..."Leaving Lieutenant Fullmetool with strict orders to guard your quarters, you head down to the tech lab. Supposedly, Em's quartermaster and all, so he'll know who to point you to. India tags along, still massaging her temples at your stroke of brilliance-slash-idiocy. About par for the course for meeting your techie, after all.You walk in, and there he is, arm back in place... eating a bowl of pistachios. Okay.>Provide snark?>Let India snark?>No snark, commence painting!
>>19378577Give India the look, the look that signifies that a wave of snark shall crash down upon Emerald like has never before been seen, he faces the Snark of both us and India. We shall join forces for this one.
>>19378577"I knew gobbling nuts was a pasttime of your, Em, but *damn.*"
>>19378577We let her snark first, then play off her snark for some sort of devastating snark combo.
>>19378615If we make a reference to nuts we have to comment on how he's eating green nuts with so much relish, is he trying to tell us something. Also maybe something about how while their shells may eventually turn from green to tan, he will be green all his life.Also combo snark with India.
Ultimate Snark Combo go.
I've got an idea of what we could do with some of our newfound DOSH.We get us one of those ride chasers, and mod it up to look like the bike from Akira.
>>19378789And also a copy of Akira for movie night.
>>19378577You and India share a look. "Nuts," she notes."Little green ones," you add."Just SO little.""Tiny." You nod sagely."The tiniest.""Ah, fuck the both of you," he grouses, throwing a handful of shells at you."I can just HEAR the slide whistle," you say mournfully."Look, it wasn't my idea," he grumbles darkly. "The Lifesaver who patched me up got on my case.""What, really? You're eating nuts on doctor's orders?" India asks. He crosses the room in an eyeblink, dunking the bowl full of shells on her head. She grimaces and starts picking them out of her hair as he continues."Yes, smart-ass, I am. Apparently I don't ingest enough organic matter for my auto repair--""'Organic matter,' you say.""'Ingest,' you say."Em throws up his hands. "Do you actually have a reason to be here, or did you just come down here to insult me?""Insult of opportunity," India says smoothly, brushing shells off her shoulders as she jerks a thumb at you. "He's here to get his nails done.""Gurrrl," you say in your best worst voice, "Got my nails did!" Em stares at you like you crawled out from under a rock. "No, but seriously, I need to get insignia painted, apparently." His expression doesn't change. "So you came down here to ask me for something AND dick with me in the process?" "'Dick,' you sa--" you clamp a hand over India's mouth."Pretty much.""...Yeah, all right," Em grumbles. "I can run up a decal real quick. You want your rank on the other shoulder or something?">Yes>No>Other?
Benjamin Franklin's Skull with lightning bolts for crossbones.
>>19378846Yeah, put it there, we need to leave our back free for a bitching symbol involving lightning bolts and skulls.
Yeah, that works.Also, good to see MHQ again, even though you're running it later than usual.
>>19378846Also, his advice on what we should spend all of our hellatious dosh on.
>>19378880We already have the anode symbol plastered all over us.Let's not do more than we have to, but if people want our rank on our other shoulder, then I guess it can't hurt.
WAITINSTEAD OF ETCHING THAT ONTO OUR SHOULDERWe should get a custom fit leather jacket. For when we're JOUSTING on our RIDE CHASER
I would be all for putting our insignia on the gay shoulder, but I just don't think it would be fair to lead the poor boys around base on like that.
>>19378932Gay shoulder?
>>19378960You know, like the gay ear? The ear gay men would ware an earring in as a sign that they loved the cock?Maybe it became less of a thing.
>>19379099no, lets just get it stamped on both shoulders and call it a day
>>19379148The same emblem, one on each shoulder? Sounds excessive to me.
>>19379164Symmetry, and so people know our rank from either side
>>19379164At least we'd be symmetrical.
It is now confirmed that the official schedule for this quest is "Whenever I'm not paying any goddamned attention". Not missing this thread!That said, we need the Hunter insignia, but do we need the rank? Seems a bit pompous to have that displayed on us all the time. I say we stick with Hunter logo on shoulder, and leave it at that for now.
>>19379293But Pomp is what rank is all about, that and ceremony
>>19379293You don't wear rank to brag about it, you wear your rank so that you can easily establish chain of command in stressful situations.
>>19378846You're briefly tempted by something out of a 1980s metal album--something like a skull adorned with a powdered wig and spectacles, with crossed lightning bolts AND A BURNING KITE and--And then you remember a piece of advice about not getting a tattoo when you're young. It's not technically a tattoo, but you realize you are in your single digits. Maybe if you get a leather jacket it'd look appropriate on."Yeah," you decide, "I'll take rank on the other shoulder." Em runs up the design quickly and quickly applies it like a patch. A brief blast of heat from a small device coupled with the printer-thing, and you've quickly been marked as a Maverick Hunter. India mentions that they have berets, but you'd look a little silly with a hat for your helmet. Your right shoulder is up next, a silver bar prominently displaying your officer status. Beneath that, though, is one more thing--a reversed American flag."You know, like on a uniform," Em explains. "...So you'll at least LOOK professional," he adds, smacking you on the back of the head for your jibes. "Plus, you can always take it off."Cont.
Dammit. That was me.>>19379511Before you can snark back, India clears her throat. "Children, children. Did that weapons data come in yet?" Nothing like the promise of new toys to get everyone excited. Em quickly hops into his chair and checks his terminal. "Nothing yet," he says."Makes sense," India nods. "It probably got flagged for higher review protocols because of the whole...""Whooooosh, boooooooom thing?" you ask, pantomiming. "Yeah, that.""Yeah," Em says dourly. "Real professional motherfucker." Sheesh, someone's grouchy today."Look, sorry," you say. "We'll call it even for humiliating my ass on the range, all right?"He sighs. "Yeah, all right, thanks. And sorry, I hate getting yelled at by the docs, is all. We good?" And that's when the priority alarm goes off. All three of you receive the same comm message asking for any officer on site to report to the communications room."Tanker's out again, we're probably closest from here," Em notes.The three of you hustle, the base coming to life around you. You're first through, followed by Em and India, as the screen winks on with an INCOMING SIGNAL notice. The signal is...>From the 17th Unit.>From the 0th Unit.
>>1937952917th. If anyone can appreciate Fourth Overland's skills at holding the line, it's the 17th. Not like the Shinobi who ask "what line?" as they destroy everything.
>>19379529>From the 0th Unit.
>From the 17th Unit.Sup X.
>>19379529Hmm, X or Zero. I'd say 17th, they'd appreciate our work more and X sounds like more fun than Zero. Also it probably means killing traitors and I love killing traitors.
>>19379529Oh, shit, how am I supposed to choose there? I'll go with 17th, just because I like X.
>>19379529Lets meet the 17th!
>>193795290th, might give us something to learn from, watching the Shinobi in action.
The 17 seems to be a shoe in, but the 0th would probably be worth it to see Em geek the fuck out.
>>19379620You mean the "noted for lack of regard for collateral damage" Shinobi? Tempting, but I'll pass.
>>19379651And what did we do to the Enigma?
Voting we take the line from the 17th
Definitely taking a line from the 17, let's meet daddy.
Take both signals, put phones to opposite sides of head. Initiate confusing conversation.
>>19379971Seconding. be neat to meet X.
Music: http://youtu.be/csNnPhz3NxAYou hit the button, and onscreen--in the flesh this time (so to speak)--is the father of all reploids, Megaman X himself."Fourth Overland, this is the Seventeenth," he says, "we have a situation.""I hear you," comes a second voice--Frog, on a relay from Vienna. "I'm still off site. Sound off, who's in comms?""Me, Em, and India, sir," you say."And me," Schwarz adds quietly, coming up beside you. You never heard or saw him come in."Good to see you, Schwarzhund," X greets warmly. The old dog nods. "You too, sir. You said we had a situation?"X nods, expression becoming more serious. "In the wake of Doctor Doppler's maverick virus findings, a strike force has taken the Bellweather plaza. They're the first network that released the information.""Hostages?" Frog asks."Unconfirmed, but we have to assume. They've taken over an entire block and begun putting out their own broadcast.""Why us, sir?"X's expression darkens further at Schwarz's question. "The propaganda they're putting out paints the Hunters in a very negative light. This operation is as public as they get.""And they want you," Schwarz notes. X nods grimly. "Me, and as many popular figures they can get their hands on. That includes you, Miss India," he directs at the Hero of Vienna. "And you, Mr. Anode."
>>19380112You balk. "Me?""They didn't..." Schwarz begins."They did." "Bastards.""What? They did what?" you ask. X sighs. "The Hunters have a never-ending battle for public opinion. Rolling in with tanks and cordoning off an area in a heavily populated area--when there's a maverick feed on the air telling them we'll do precisely that--""Publicity nightmare," Frog grunts. "And they just made you a celebrity." Schwarz is in stoney silence, opting to stalk to the door and hold it open as a handful more officers make it inside."I'm afraid so," X says. "They've announced that you're the one who brought in the test case.""Weasel?" you ask. "Anyone could have...""Anyone could have," Em replies, "but it was you. They're capitalizing on that.""Welcome to the Fourth," Schwarz mutters."We're mobilizing to retake the news tower," X explains. "Elements from the 1st are already deploying, with Commander Kinsley of the 10th for advisement. Our first priority is securing the block, evacuations are still underway. Then a small team is going in. That's going to be us." He looks at you all, with no small amount of sympathy in his bright green eyes. "Any questions?">
>>19380112What sort oh negative light? Can we switch on the T.V. and take a look?
>>19380136What are we up against? Do we know who's in charge of the enemy?
>>19380136Why would anyone listen to anything that the Mavericks have to say?
>>19380136What elements of the 1st, is my sister Cathode included?What are we up against, do we know who is leading them?Do they have any demands?Is there anything at or near Bellweather that could be their actual goal?If they're trying to drag us out there they could be trying to distract us from another operation of theirs.
>>19380136If they're publicly broadcasting, shouldn't we be able to easily identify them?I'd suggest having Navigation hijack the signal and stifle the message, but that may make us look like big brother smothering anything we don't like. Which, technically, we are, but still.So, what, they want us to come forward and confront them directly?
What steps do we take if we're infected?
>>19380142>>19380154when is the answer not sigma
>>19380180I'm gonna second this post.
>>19380180 Thirded
>>19380180See if we can get Cathode on this small strike team X has planed. We were, after all, designed to work in concert with one another.
>>19380288If we get Cathode we are going to have to be taken in for repairs given how large our grin is going to be. We will no longer have to spend time to build up power or find something electric. We will be able to burn power with great abandon, OUR SPEAR WILL CHANNEL THE LIGHTNING!
>>19380337>We will be able to burn power with great abandon, OUR SPEAR WILL CHANNEL THE LIGHTNING!Did you forget that this is a highly public demonstration that could double as a possible hostage situation? If ever there were an op that would teach Anode to check his fire, it's this one.
>>19380379That just means were going to have to take shots for civilians and come back missing more parts
>>19380379We finally get a chance to throw the lightning around and it's a hostage situation. Damn you Hunter Command. We'll just have to CALL THE LIGHTNING very carefully.
>>19380399Such is the life of a Hunter. It's like what that motivational poster says about the difference between a hero and a villain: one uses a victim as a human shield, while the other becomes a human shield for the victim.>guardian nduresug
>>19380136"What sort of propaganda?" you ask."Old footage of collateral damage, some real, some manufactured, inflated figures of costs of the Hunters, rhetoric and calling on reploids to rise up against humans everywhere," X explains. "That sort of thing.""What are we up against? Who's on point for these guys?" Em asks."One of Doctor Doppler's projects, "Professor" or "Minister" Bisanu. He's extremely powerful, made several public appearances. He's a priority one target, but securing the plaza is our primary goal. If we can catch him, so much the better, but if he gets away I won't lose any sleep. The civilian threat needs to come first.""Riddle me this," India interjects, "Why would anyone care about their tripe?""They honestly believe in their cause," Frog answers. "If I had to guess, their first objective was to try to show themselves as a movement, not deranged from this virus.""They do get their converts," X adds. "Extremists who think this is their time to rise up.""The First is there?""As a rule," Frog answers. "They're trained to deal with this kind of situation.""Is my sister there?""Exact operatives are unknown. We're getting in touch with Striker Cobra, but no word from him yet.""The two of us work well with each other, it could be helpful if we're both on-site," you explain."I'll pass that along," X says with a nod.
>>19380576"Any demands?" Schwarz asks from the door, his prior anger gone. "None. They have to know we'll be deploying against them, and they'll likely be hoping it turns into a disaster." "Could they actually be after something else? Or could this be a feint?""It's a possibility," X admits. "Bisanu's coordinated small bands of mavericks into organized armies. But we can't afford not to address this either way.""Have we jammed their transmissions?" Dodo asks as he strides in briskly, having heard the discussion by comms. "Navigation is working on it, but they're using something similar to the skyjammer Brama commanded. Nothing's been able to interfere with their broadcast. Cutting power to the block didn't work, they've set up their own generators.""One last thing," you add. "Do we know anything more about infection?"X shakes his head. "Not yet. We do know it takes some time to manifest, so it's not an immediate concern.""Anything else?">
Not a derangement, huh? Guess they didn't hear about Jagwire.
>>19380592I think that's all we needed to hear. Let's get moving!
>>19380592Could you give us more information on Bisanu, his strengths, weaknesses, personality, specialties and so on.At worst how many hostages are we talking about? Do we have a general idea of what forces, both in quantity and type he's brought to bear. How many are we planning on sending in total?Where is Bellweather Plaza?
>>19380592>>19380654You move out, remaining in contact with X by comms as you load up. Already, a pair of transports are waiting. You see Crankshaft climbing into one, and India quickly commandeers the second. You pile in with her, having seen her flying skills for yourself once. "What's Bisanu like?" you ask, as you see Schwarzhund embark onto the other transport through the window. Either he was already going, or he volunteered himself. Makes sense, now that you think about it--he's an ace hunter, he probably has a name for himself. X replies as India runs a pre-flight check close to lightspeed. "Bisanu has several advanced systems. He's been repairing and rebuilding forces since defection, suggesting comprehensive skills, and made repeated public appearances like this. We don't have much more information on him, unfortunately, but he's rated a G-rank threat. If you see him, do not engage without me.""If there are hostages, how many?"You can hear the worry in the 17th Commander's voice. "Well over a hundred, and that's just staff in the news tower alone. They might be killing the humans as we speak."
>>19380826"Any idea on the layout of enemy forces?" Frog asks, the line choppy with static."None. Given the forces they had to direct at Vienna, we have to expect a significant tally.""How many are we bringing in?" India asks. X did say a small insertion team."Myself, you, Anode, and Schwarzhund. Crankshaft has agreed to fly interference and suppress any attacks on those outside the plaza."It hits you-- "Where is this plaza?" "Right here in Geneva," X answers. No wonder the hunters have put this response together so swiftly. If the mavericks can operate here... "At any rate, Frog has turned command for this over to me as ranking officer on-site. Let me know how I can best work with you, please."Anything to share with your "dad?"
>>19380827Best to be open about it."I doubt you've had enough free time to have read my dossier, what with being, well, X. I should have you know my gimmick is storing a sizable charge of electricity and releasing it in various forms at the enemy. I'll be extra careful not to hit any innocents with my charge today. What am I saying? I'm always careful."This is my first real, well, 'delicate' operation. Any advice?"
>>19380827Give X a full low down of our abilities and the way we usually fight.Also, add that if we almost get completely scrapped out there, he shouldn't worry too much because that happens pretty much every time we go out. Basically, if we take loads of damage, it's nothing worse then what we've already experienced.
>>19380827Do people call you Dad often, because I'm kind of tempted to.Well you already know me and India are sometimes are a bit crazy and how Schwarz operates.Other than making sure that we get to use our specialties when they're called for, I'm good at storing and releasing electricity and I have a Lance and can charge effectively with it, India's a hotshot pilot with a large gun and you know Schwarz better than I would.Any advice for how to deal with this sort of delicate situation, my previous operations have had much lower consequences for collateral damage.
>>19380871I'm tempted to ask what Light was like, but now's not the time, plus I doubt X has a good answer.>>19380894If anything, X can take hits way better than us, so we're not really in a position to talk. But yes, as Hunters go, we're actually pretty hardy.
>>19380916It's more of a forewarning, if anything. I just don't want X to beat himself up over us probably being on deaths door by missions end. X seems like type of person who would blame himself for something like that.
>>19380827No sense beating around the bush. "I'm good in close with my lance or at mid-range with my busters. I can take a hit. Don't know if I'll be able to use it with civs around, but I can store and release a big electric charge." Almost as an afterthought, you add "I might be able to drain their generators that way, actually. ...Sir." "Just X is fine," he says amicably. "Though that sounds useful. We'll keep it in mind.""Schwarz calls you 'sir,'" India notes wryly through her headset. "Schwarzhund is a stiff old dog," X replies fondly. "His commission came with a set of straight laces.""Comes from being German," Schwarz chimes in. "And you were right behind me in line at the shoe store, sir."Apparently somewhere in those four rejected offers to join the 17th, they became fast friends. Even despite the atmosphere, you grin as India takes the transport up."For what it's worth," she adds to the exchange, "I might be better served up here."India..." Schwarz begins."She's right," you interject. "What's our combined rank here? Not counting you, sir, because let's face it, if you're a B-rank I'll eat Lieutenant Metool. India's the odd man--er, woman--out.""They just picked us for star power," India agrees. "I can provide support on the ground once we get there, but as long as there's anything resembling an air threat, we'll do better with me up here."Schwarz is quiet a moment. "...All right," he relents."...Lieutenant Metool?" X asks.You grin. "Don't worry about it."
>>19381049Lieutenant Metool, while new to the Maverick Hunters is a valuable member of the team. Even though he is but a plushie he does his duty well in guarding our room and has received extraordinarily fast promotions.
>>19381049As you get underway, X relays your game-plan--he'll be beaming in via the 1st's beacon on the outskirts of the hunter cordon. You'll be linking up while you're underway, Crankshaft (and now India) running defensive screen in the transports. From there, you'll work your way inside, protecting civilians and guiding them to positions where they can be escorted to safety. Once you enter the building, your goal is to seize the broadcast room. Hunter infantry will secure rooms as you clear them, leaving you to your own devices in a Search and Destroy op. First priority is protecting the noncombatants.Music: http://youtu.be/pOeVG_BFC1g"What about anti-air? Stray shots could hit other buildings.""Leave that to me," you reply, standing ready at the door, Chaff missiles readied.Your objective rapidly approaches. Until X arrives, you're acting on your own initiative.>INPUT OPENING GAMBIT/LACK OF GAMBIT
>>19381118I'm thinking of recommending him for the position of moral officer.
>>19381127So all we have to do is keep anything off India and Crankshaft's ass until they set us down on the ground before linking up with X and moving up together? Sounds straightforward enough. Let's play it straight and see what happens.
>>19381127Tie up their anti air guns. Give them something to be more concerned with then enemy aircraft.
>>19381127Lets blew a hole in the anti-air curtain, then see how far we can get before we ground pound. Lets get operator support going, whoevers free, preferably our bro. Also, if ther are any children amomg the hostages, extra hurt on the main target
>>19381127Ok, what possible entrances do we have, where are the biggest threats to the aircraft and the highest concentration of civilians that we know of.We'll want to focus on taking out their anti-air first, use chaff missiles to screw their targeting, and then get close while blowing the hell out of them with our busters. Feel free to jump out of the transport after we've launched a pile of missiles, the fall will give us a nice electricity boost.
>>19381167Speaking of electricity, if we have the chance, lets draine the battery on their jammimg device, preferably while firing the energy as a giant laser.
>>19381205*Hostage* scenario. No lightshows if we can help it.
>>19381167Well if it comes down to Jumping out we might as well go lance first, Dragoon some bitches
>>19381216Actually we could use our wires a zip line and ascend back to the carrier with ease to, multiple dragoons if we have to
>>19381213Ishould have clarified a bit, im aiming a giant laser right through mr. G-level threat if there arent any hostages or freindlies in the way. Or just straight up if we need to burn off the power because we overcharge like with the enigma fuckyourshitup cannon.
>>19381232BRILLIANT.I'm all set to see some more T-COIL FUCKERY
>>19381232Sweet. Also, im fetting the worst ideas for a hstage situation right now, like running a charge through the coil and having it drag behind us like a downed powerline
>>19381127"So India," you call, "What are we looking at?""No real anti-air," she says. "Oh, nix that, they've got a few manportable launchers and beam cannons.""Better come in high," inputs Crankshaft. "The beams'll rake the buildings if we're low.""Copy." You feel a lurch as she pulls up on the stick. "Anode, hit the door and brace."Once again, you play door gunner, only this time with nothing to strafe. As the side slides away, you see Crankshaft's own transport matching. Schwarzhund nods at you, one hand on the wall to steady himself. "Only downside to flying high," India reports, "they can acquire in about three seconds. Incoming missile.""Leave it to me."You lead carefully--fortunately you have more time than you'd expected, as India moves away not-quite-as-fast as the oncoming explosive death. A split decision, and you've switched your VWES up, and instead of jamming it, you smack it straight on the nose with a torsion cable, grappling onto it fast. THEN you scramble the thing's shit. Which, of course, leaves you with a haywire missile flapping about on a tether out there."Hey, Anode? They still explode.""Yeah, I figured," you say coolly, turning in to the shelter of the transport's belly as it finally detonates, high in the air and out of their way. Crankshaft grunts, impressed. "Not bad, son. Think you can do that twice?""No need," Schwarz replies, as he hurls himself from his ride, two thousand feet in the air.
>>19381360He falls like a bullet, his long coat flapping behind him. You see it torn off as he twists and a semicircle of plasma rings out. Your last glimpse as he fades from view is him firing some sort of grapnels and swinging around.You have no doubts about his success, and soon enough, he confirms by comm--"Air threat down." "Your turn, Anode," India replies. "I'll come down when we've run a few sweeps of the neighborhood."Sure, just one question. Does your ten thousand zenny offer stand?"India cackles. "Sure." "Then does it still count if I'm the one who scratches your paint?""What?"You don't give her time to answer as you fire two coils in opposite directions. One moors to the transport wall behind you. The other embeds itself in the Bellweather tower.
>>19381366Without upgrades, you can't really zipline effectively. But using two, and spooling out more coil as you fall, you can make a rough approximation. You swing through the air, finally cutting your line back to the transport and drawing your lance just as a trio of mavericks burst out of a rooftop door. You drop in among them, sending them sprawling. One catches your boots full in the chest and you add injury to insult, triggering a dash and blasting him clear off the side of the skyscraper. The second you catch through the middle with your lance, the momentum carrying your arm clear into his stomach. Before the third can get to his feet, you snake the T. Coil you rode in on around his legs and pull, spinning him back off balance while you release the cable, draw your second blade, and quickly dispatch him."I'm on the roof with Schwarz," you reply."Copy. Bisanu is broadcasting from the middle.""God DAMN it, someone finally figured it out," you curse.You're down, but with you and Schwarz somewhere up here, and X down on the ground, you're spread out. What now?
>>19381374We'll move in with Schwarz from up top, clear it room to room and evacuate people as we go. First we can ensure the roof is clear of all enemy forces and anti-air we can use that as a preliminary evacuation point. Us going in top with Schwarz means that the enemy forces will group up against us and focus their efforts on preventing attacks from below which will give X more of an element of surprise and let him do his job better.
>>19381374Spread out? We're is position for a pincer attack!
>>19381374Well, with X working up and Schwarz and us working down, it ought to make for a nice pincer when we hit the middle and catch Bisanu.Is the broadcast dish/needle up here? Can we identify the jammer anywhere in the vicinity?
I'm not so sure what to do. We could wait till X enters the building or go in now. We won't have support either way.Any chance we can find a live wire up here?
>>19381403I second this course of action
Can we make it look like X is the one up here? It would confuse and intimidate the enemy if they didn't know which direction he was coming from.
>>19381433Even better would be if we hack into Maverick communications and let X broadcast directly into their tacnet and their propaganda broadcast.
>>19381433I dobt know about you, but i LIKE them having some idea of X coming up. Their more likely to panic, as hes blocking they easy way out the ground floor represents, while we block the easy exit the roof is viewd as.
Gonna break here for a little while. You know the drill. Give the thread a bump now and again, I'll be back for it.Plus, this will let me confirm some details with Cain before we get there.
>>19381496Only good can come from this, as that means you two have something crazy awsome going on. Break away, my good man.
>>19381496Bump, it'll be fun to see Schwarz in action again.Remember to follow his lead, he knows what he's doing.
Mid-morning bump while I clean the house. Eagerly awaiting more hostage rescue action in Nakatomi- er, Bellweather Plaza.
bump for everlasting peace
Bump before mowing
Just going to say, if this guy is in the center and IS a G we should just not deal with himOn top of that we're better for serious engagements and not hostage rescue. Let Schwarz and X take care of that mainly. We need to focus on the generators. We're more or less BUILT for that op and it'll charge us up if we do have to mess with a G rank.
>>19385573You read my mind. Ranking aside, we don't have the EXPERIENCE to tangle with a G-class just yet either. If that's what's going to happen, then we'd better prepare by doing our energy vampire bit on the generators.
Oh godfuckshitholyyes this thread is awesome!Even the music I heard drakesword's remix like 10 years ago it's like all the awesome again is coming back.We can do this. We can nix Cain. Nip it in the bud. Try NOT contacting the virus.
Okay! I'm alive. Need a little more time to get back in gear, but I'm about. Thanks for the bumping.
>>19383611Oh god, we could pull a nakatomi. We have the coil, we could jump like that. Shouldn't overuse it though.Also, I don't remember anyone dropping WEAPON or LIFE. Does that happen or is that just a game abstraction?
>>19385927Take your time.
Bumping because of unusual silence.
>>19386032Turns out I'm gonna have to. Internet hangups and an assorted pack of things bugging me. I'm a writing prima donna, I can't get anything done if I'm pissed. Also, not that it's pissing me off, but Team Jerkass wants to hang out again, too. I told them I'd pass for now, at least until I've got the ball rolling.>>19381374You look across the plaza rooftops, clearing the three dead mavericks. You see several groups mobilizing to attack you. You don't hear any fighting, though, meaning Schwarzhund got down almost undetected. How he did that on a dynamic entry is beyond you. You don't have time to wonder about it, though, as another enemy fireteam rapidly closes on your position. You take cover behind a high broadcast tower. The spire's heavy reinforced base easily absorbs the plasma they throw your way. A quick look around the corner tells you they're communicating by handsigns, their point man directing them around either side of the antenna. They're well-trained, and trying to flank you.Unfortunately, as one nears the side of the building, that turns out to be a bad idea. A hand snakes up from the side, grabs one of the mavericks by the ankle, and sharply pulls him over the edge, letting him fall to his demise. His fellows look up as his scream dopplers away--giving you a moment to dive out, busters blazing. No sooner than they turn back to you, Schwarz flips himself up onto the roof, vaults an air conditioning unit, and pounces a second victim. You're on the last of the team in a second, running him through.
>>19386650Schwarz stands up, his target dead, disengaging the rows of crackling claws you didn't know he had. "Commander?"You hear X's voice, line riddled with static. "Go ahead.""Linked up. Rooftop.""Copy. We can either meet there and work down, or fight our way through.""Hostages," Schwarz replies softly."Yeah," X says. "If you move out up there it will have to be carefully. If they know they're trapped they might start executing.""If they haven't already," you add."And there's the problem with Bisanu. I don't want you engaging him--that includes you, Schwarzhund.""Wasn't planning on it," he replies in that tone that makes it hard to tell if he's being honest."Any advice?" you ask. "Hostage rescue is new.""They won't deal with negotiators, so it comes down to freeing the captives directly. The best way to do that is not being seen until you're already there, making sure they can't coordinate. Right now you're the newest to this, Anode, what do you think you're capable of?">Play it safe, link up on the roof.>Try for the pincer.>Other?
>>19386658Pincer, we'll use our electricity draining to futz with power, communications and so on. We'll play back up to Schwarz with his stealth and follow his lead. Linking up will take longer and give me them time to react to this. We need to move quickly.
>>19386658>Play it safe, link up on the roof.Strength in numbers is always a good thing, and we shouldn't chance things with lives on the line.
>>19386658For now, let's play it safe and meet up on, or at least near, the roof. Our whole schtick is being made of lightning, which is really, really noticeable and has noticeable effects.If the power just suddenly goes out, they'll know that we're coming. Them knowing that means we suddenly have to deal with bodies.
While we're not exactly ninja material, I think we'd be a better asset in a pincer attack. Let Schwarz take the lead though.
don't forget we can scale the outside of the tower and so can Hund with his grapple thing. we could ninja this shit so hard.
>>19386694>>19386770If the Mavericks figure out that they're sandwiched between two operatives and X himself, they'll get desperate and start taking lives. We can't afford that. Plus, moving as a concentrated force will improve our odds and speed things along. Schwarzhund can only do so much, even if he's a candidate for the 17th.
>>19386658How is X going to get to the roof? Skip up the whole building?
>>19386694Seconding this.
>>19386833...He could, actually. That wall cling is useful.
>>19386952I was gonna say, X is pretty beastly at the wall jump. We'll just have to trust that he can get up to us wicked fast before we move in as a unit.
>>19386985I think it's most prudent to ask X how quickly he can get up here if we're going to link up. If it's short enough, we can wait for him. I'd hate to go in understrength.
Something of a deadlock, it seems, unless you guys want to settle on a course of action to help you decide on the course of action....Not that I mind. Gives me more time to get my bearings this way.
How about a compromise?We move down a floor or two to clear a path for X to come in through and give him time to get there at the same time? We then have a foothold inside the building that we can hold, and we get a little action while we wait so it feels less like waiting.
We wait and play it safe, is there anything we can do to the Antenna from up here?
>>19387037I like that idea. Ask X if he thinks he can get up here before they realize they just lost a whole team. Even if he can't, he should star hopping up the building while we move down it. A pincer attack isn't advisable in this situation. We should all be coming from the same direction.We have to at least appear to give them an avenue of escape. If they think they're trapped they'll get desperate and either start killing hostages or taking human shields. I'd rather they abandon the hostages to try and make a run for it, and they won't do it if they know that it's X they're running toward.
>>19387129I like this idea.
I'm voting that we let Schwarz take the lead as we head down, and the two of us can remain as undetected as possible while X makes his way up. With any luck we'll be most of the way through before the main forces become aware that we've infiltrated, and along the way we make sure to locate those generators. Coordinate our actions with X and Schwarz for maximum effectiveness.
Late post but good post.Hound is a crazy stealth dude. Have him check on the hostiges and secure them without anyone knowing if he can.Have X push up from the bottem to draw attention to help him while we push for the generators.It'd be best if we can pinpoint the generators and repell down to them.Once the generators are out and the hostiges secure we pincer
>>19387156Don't we have building plans? It's right next to the hunter HQ the plans have to be SOMEWHERE.
>>19387192I like this.
>>19387156>>19387192We are 4th Overland, not 2nd Recon. We can't chance stealth as Anode, not with lives on the line. Again, if we're compromised, and the Maverick tacnet figures out that there are two Hunters on the roof and Mega Man X on the ground floor moving for a pincer, people will die.
>>19387236if they notice X they might as well start killing the hostages anyway.
>>19387236Plus, do we really want to chance an encounter with Professor/Minister Bisanu, a G-rank threat, without backup from X?
>>19387256Sounds like fun!
>>19387251All the more reason for X to link up and the trio to move in reasonably hot. We need to play it safe.
>>19387236Basically this, i mean we have no stealthy equipment aside from or modified Hi-beam sword
Depending on how we do this, we could make a pretty darn good ingress via the elevator shafts. Just hook into the pulley system ourselves with T.Coil and ride the express route where-ever we're needed- even if they cut the lifts, we can literally string ourselves down at speeds a human wouldn't appreciate, but will likely drive anyone trying to track us nicely.What we need is infrared reads on the building. We need to know where humans are clustered so we can get down there, release them, and have minimal interference from the Mavericks in the building.Navigator call?
I honestly can't see why all of us moving together would make things any safer for the hostages. They're holding a building practically a few blocks away from Hunter HQ, so it's not like they can just run to the streets and expect to escape anyways.
Got enough to work with. Writing in progress.Depending on how the scene progresses, it might be a big one, so it'll take a while.
>>19387328No, of course they can't REALLY get away. What I'm counting on is the desperate hope that they might be able to. They won't even have that if they know X is coming.
>>19387328The more guns on hand, the easier to clear a room without incident. We're here to Rainbow Six the shit out of this building. Plus, with such a public profile this close to Hunter central HQ, I'm pretty sure they're already expecting us, so let's not do this under-strength.
>>19387350Hence why we probably shouldn't let X move in on his own. To a Maverick, it's defcon 5 if X is on the scene. If he's moving with us, they'll be less likely to pick him out.
>>19387373I mean defcon 1.
You mull it over. "Why don't Schwarz and I start establishing a foothold up here while you're in transit? The hostages will need someplace safe to go to if we can't send them down anyway.""Good point," X replies. "Okay, I'm on my way.""Fast climber?"He chuckles. "Something like that. X out."You fall in with Schwarz. "Nice trick with the cables," he says as he collects his coat, speared on a small antenna."Thanks. So what's our move here?""Most of stealth is not being where they look. Noise discipline--stow the lance. Little one's okay, keep it off until you strike. No EAS. No jumping if you can help it. Move at a slow, constant pace."You try to keep it all in mind as you follow him to a doorway leading down into the news building. He holds up a hand for silence, his long canine ear angled to it."Door guard," he whispers. "Just finished a check-in, we'll have a few minutes."He directs you to one side, and takes the other before knocking on the door. "Clear!" you call.The door swings open, and Schwarz grabs the poor bastard before he manages a syllable. You breeze in as he hauls the mav to the ground and puts a claw through his throat, quickly elbowing his partner in the mouth and following up with a quick stroke of the misericorde, putting him out. You both strain to listen for the sounds of an alert. It's clear.Schwarz breezes in calmly with little more than a "Follow me. Don't talk if you can help it."
>>19387415That liar. He's totally a badass.
>>19387444He is beyond badass. I love Schwarz.
>>19387415It's tense, slow going--you're used to a breakneck pace, but up here you have no backup beside your partner, no infantry to bring in behind you, and one mistake could mean a hundred-plus deaths are on your hands.None of the gravity seems to hit Schwarz, who must have done this a thousand times for the surety with which he moves. The roof access is bland and unadorned, and you wince at every scrape you make hammering your ears. If Schwarz minds, though, he hasn't said a word. You reach another door, stop and listen. "Double checkpoint," he whispers. "Clever. Get ready." You draw your misericorde again, waiting for his go.So it takes you a bit off-guard when he opens the heavy, old-style door in one stroke, slamming it into a guard behind it. He turns and spears someone you can't see before he can finish a cry, leaving the one he hit behind him. You power through, seize him and throw him into the hallway behind you, and once again a quick knife and it's all over."One of these will be missed soon," Schwarz mutters, wiping his bloodied hands off on his victim's armor as he drags him in with his dead fellow. "Room by room clearing. Faster if we stay close but take them two at a time."You nod, keeping your misericorde handy as you move into the first hallway of the top floor. Schwarz tucks himself in beside the door on the left, and you take the other. You can't hear anything inside, but..."On three."He raises a finger.You tighten your grip on your weapon.Two.He leans forward, hand hovering just off the door. Three.You both slide into your rooms fluidly, in a single motion. Inside, one hostile is looking out the window.The other is looking at you.>Act.
>>19387776Are busters loud? If so, use the misericorde as a throwing knife and charge the one staring at us. Schwarz can take care of the one not paying attention.
>>19387776Turn on the misericorde and throw at the one who is looking out the window, he won't have a chance to dodge it. Then charge the one who can see us and first focus on removing his ability to warn others then kill him.
>>19387776Throw our blade at the one looking at us before he alerts his friend, grab the other before he knows whats going on and jolt him just enough to fry his brain.
Don't suppose we can throw our misericorde into his face like a boss?
>>19387810>>19387830>>19387834>>19387848Wow, throwing knife mind. Suppose that clinches that.The guy at the window, or the guy looking at you?
>>19387776Aim for the throat cant make noise with no vocal cords
>>19387865Guy staring at us. Schwarz can deal with the window-gazer, and the one looking at us is the more present threat.
>>19387865The one looking at us might be able to block or deflect it, the window guy. Also for the guy looking at us we might want to use the coil to grab him by the neck, cut the vocal cords and shock him.Schwarz is dealing with a different room.
>>19387834If we jolt one of them, can we do it just enough to knock him out for the remainder of the mission. This is all a Maverick PR stunt and considering the news about the virus being made public taking some prisoners, even if it's only one, would do well to combat what the mavericks are putting out.
>>19387897knife the guy looking at us, strangle the other guy, im down with that
>>19387903Zapping the one with a cord shock would be effective if we can launch the blade at the unawares one. Tie him up for a while. No pun intended. Right now this is more important to keep him occupied and not raising an alarm. Off balance, it doesn't necessarily have to be a one hit kill on both. This is provided we trust our throwing arm.
>>19387948You know our miscord is a hi-beam weapon, odds are if we threw it at the guy at the window it might just go clear on through to the other side and out the window
>>19387968So we use a tension cord to hold onto it and pull it back so it doesn't fly out the window.
>>19387985Too much effort in far too small a time window. Throw the misericorde at the one staring at us, then KO the window-gazer before he catches on.
>>19387985This is getting pretty complicated for something you have to pull off inside of a few seconds, especially since "yelling or radioing = bad."
Facestab guy looking at us, rush other dude.
>>19388023Knife the guy in front of us thrown or other wise, while using the t-coil to strangle the guy looking out the window, unless we arnt able to multitask like that
Compromise time!>>19387776You surge forward, closing in on the first one before he can raise an alarm. You plunge your hi-beam into his head, then quickly disengage, letting him crumple.As his partner turns from the window, you re-engage and whip the blade at him as it ignites. It pirouettes through the air in slow-motion--His hand starts to fly to his ear--The blade is just starting to disengage as it catches him through the chin, slicing deep into him as the blade dies. He takes a halting half-step, hand shaking, and falls bonelessly to the ground. Your blade comes to a rest embedded in his neck, nestled in the furrow it cut through him. You listen anxiously. Nothing. A split-second later you jump as Schwarz's commline taps twice, signaling an all-clear. You return it."Good job," he responds as you work your knife back out of the dead mav. "Stack up outside." You do so, coming to a third and final door with him. He holds up a hand again, his expression shifting slightly."They're in there. The hostages.""How many?""Maybe all of them. At least several dozen. Probably more. Floor plan says this is an executive lounge of some sort. Entire back wall is window.""Hostiles?""I hear four minimum. Posted at corners.">What do?
>>19388357Wait for X to show. Whatever weapons he has, he's better armed for the situation than we are, and three bodies is better than two when dealing with four armed guys, all of whom, as far as we need to be concerned,, are hair-trigger-grade stressed out, and aiming at the hostages.
>>19388357What entrances do we have, how effective would one of us assaulting from the window and the other hitting from different entrance. We need to confirm exact numbers and layout before we move in.
>>19388357Wait for X, unless it becomes evident that they know were here and make a move against the hostages
>>19388391Too much work to go out and around just to abseil into the executive meeting room. Plus, I'm pretty sure they can see us if we do. Wait for X. We need more guns for this one.
>>19388357Can he tell where the hostages are? How thin are these walls? Because if they positioned at corners, we might be able to get two at once by shooting through the wall while he bursts through the door and get's the other two.Or we could drain the power from the room and let him go in and cleve em all down before they know whats happening. Either one is REALLY risky, though. We might want to wait for X. That way, we would be able to get at least three of them once we go in.
>>193884371.) Drain the power how?2.) We kill the lights, they raise the alarm, and everything is fucked.
>>19388387>>19388428>>19388434Call X, and ask how much longer he'll be.
>>19388486we need to make sure we move out of range of anyone hearing us then, but yeah good idea
>>19388526That goes without saying.
>>19388357"X," you call quietly."Almost there," he replies loudly--you wince, even though he's only audible to you. "Where are you?""Executive lounge," Schwarz replies. "Western side. Hostiles at the corners, maybe more.""I'll be there.""What's our plan?" you whisper."Going to have to coordinate this well," Schwarz replies."They know we'll be attacking, so if they have the hostages in one place it's not to stop them from calling for help," X adds."Meaning they're going to kill them," you realize. "Great.""I'm ready when you two are.">Ready?>Strategy, before you commit?
>>19388608Is there any sort of camera we can fit under the door to get a look inside? Any sort of special reconnaissance gadgets? I'd really hate to jump in blind.
>>19388608what the hell, ready!
>>19388608We need to know how many are actually in there? Are there any vents or entrances other than the door and window?
>>19388656Well we could start by putting our-self between the mavericks and the hostages
>>19388608Use a chaff missile on one corner at the other side of the room, making sure that all hostages are clear, as we charge the closest corner ourselves. leave the rest to Scwharz and X.
>>19388608Taking a moment to prepare, you plan out what to do in a few eventualities. "Okay, ready.""Once we're in, stealth is no longer a factor. Weapons free, watch your fire. Go."Schwarzhund opens the door painfully slowly, maintaining surprise as long as possible. You just hear a "hey..." as he vanishes inside with a whirl of his coat, leaving you a clear path. Inside, you can see rows of civilians on their knees, hands on their heads. Straight down the line from you, you see a maverick armed with a rifle, held loosely at his front. You trigger your dash, thundering in after Schwarz in an explosion of noise, just as a blinding light fills the room from the back. You don't worry about it as you vault, clearing the lines of hostages and coming down right on top of the first guard you see. He manages to cry out as you stab him through the chest, your momentum toppling him backwards with you. You ride his corpse as it skids across the plush carpeting, springing off and looking for your next hostile. The light from the back--which you now see to be wide, clear panes of glass--abates, and you realize it's the front searchlight on Crankshaft's transport. And clinging to the side is Megaman X.
>>19389082He leaps as you lock eyes on your next target, in the inner corner to the right. He's raising his rifle for the chest of the hostage near him--You dash again, dropping just a bit of your capacitor reserve into your boost, and in the tenth of a second between his squeezing the trigger and the weapon discharging, you've put yourself between him and his victim.You barely feel the automatic fire as it splashes into your chest, instead delivering a quick abdominal thrust as you hear glass shattering behind you and screams beginning to chorus around the room. The maverick grunts as you slam his head into the wall with your free hand, still firing into your front. The barrel of his rifle jerks up as you rip the misericorde free, and you recoil as a shot glances the side of your face.He goes down as you turn to see Schwarz's shots strike home on the maverick at the left side window, sending him hurtling through the glass with a scream of pain.In the same instant X turns and fires on the last window-side enemy, a blinding, massive bolt of plasma that catches him in the sternum, the impact slamming him against the adjacent wall, his gun clattering to the ground uselessly. You don't need to see the foot-wide hole in his chest to know he's dead. The last enemy has grabbed a hostage by the hair and begun barking something, his eyes wildly flitting between you and X.Schwarzhund stalks up behind him, wrenches his arm in a painful direction, and strikes him on the back of the head so hard you hear metal snapping from here. "No."You all cast one last desperate look around--it's done.No casualties. Not even one.
Maybe something we can do with T. Coil, string their weapons together or the like?
>>19388739This. Its silly how much abuse we attract in our fights, mite as well use our fire magnetism for good
>>19389094LIKE A BOSS!Showboating later, steal all the delicious civs and get them out of thereasap.
>>19389094I am in awe.
>>19389094Win
>>19389094Cam Crankshaft airlift them out if we get them to the roof?
>>19389094Things are going so good that we HAVE to get the hostages out of here, but not before we check them out and make sure they're okay. Never trust these goddamn Mavericks. I could totally see them having a plant in the crowd, or a bomb ready to go off during Evac, or worse.
>>19389094"That went... Well. For once."Radio an all clear to your two fliers, unload your troops(if we brought any), and start getting the people on board the fliers, so we can start getting them out of here.
>>19389282Probablly, but i want to know if he can get right form the room were in. The india can take a rooftop landing even sooner. The faster we clear the hostages, the smaller the chance of our G-class freind has of interupting us
>>19389287Also, don't assume that this is all of the hostages. Start asking questions, see if everyone in here. In fact, call Wellsly and see if we can get an employee roster for the night, or something like that.
>>19389299Also, horrible thought. He's G-Class. What if he, upon realizing that we have his hostages, tries to bring the building down on top of us? He could just claim that it was us, calling their bluff on them having hostages, and being wrong.Ask X what Bisanu's really capable of.
>>19389366"Would the Hunters really demolish a highrise office building filled with innocent people because they thought Mavericks were there?"Then you get slapped by someone else for asking such a dumb question.
>>19389094You hear X addressing the hostages as Schwarz sweeps the room one last time, then meets up with you. "Status?"You check your front in the glass. The plasma fire raked up your front, culminating in a blast to the side of your face. It's burnt and damaged, but you can still see and it's a minor injury. The real hit came from the point-blank shots on your sternum. A glance back tells you the heat melted the muzzle of his gun from the sheer proximity. The human whose life you saved stares at you, too stunned for words."I'm fine," you decide. "Armor's a bit chewed up, but it held."You head back to the door to watch the hallway, giving Crankshaft's bird a wave as you go."They said their leader was coming up," one says. "That he was going to kill us all on-camera.""All humans," Schwarz notes quietly behind you. "Cordon detail is reporting that they let the reploids go.""Classy.""I think they were expecting an attack from the ground.""Yeah?""Had a lot more anti-air than we saw. India's playing with them. If I had to guess..." Schwarz folds his arms. "X enters on the ground floor, clearing his way up, when they get word he's here they execute the hostages en masse, X meets this Bisanu up here among the bodies.""What makes you think that?""They spent most of the last war luring him out to try to assassinate him.""Yeah? What'd he do?"Schwarz smiles darkly. "Assassinate them back."On that note, X approaches the two of you. "That's all of the human employees accounted for. Let's get them out.""Roof clear?" Schwarz asks."Clear enough for me, with India doing her thing," Crankshaft drawls. "Meet you up top."
If i recall correctly from the Viena sequences, he has four arms, 2 to 4 scythes, and what looks like the ability to eat everyone but Zero for breakfast in close combat
>>19389421That was Brama.
>>19389421>>19389433Even so, I read Bisanu, my brain hears Bison, and the first mental image to come up is M Bison. It may as well be Brama; we stand about the same chance if that's even close to the case.That's why I'm curious.
>>19389433Ah, my bad. Names are my weakness. Yeah so what can Bisanu do? How, exactly, are we going to get a free trip to the med bay if we fight this guy and are stupidly lucky and not die? And does X have any comment on our lance color?
>>19389419Escort the employees up top, get them out of here. Then we confer with out team and consider what we're going to do with Bisanu.
>>19389419Okay, I have an idea for taking out the boss. This guy probably has no reason to thing that anyone is here but X, and he's show himself to be a bit of a showman.So we set X up in a room and hide. We wait for this guy to make his entrance, then pop out and unload funking everything! After that, we leave most of the fight to X, taking potshots when we can.
>>19389517Considering that being a G-class threat puts Professor Bisanu roughly on par with Vile himself, how well do you think that would work?
>>19389517Id rather not engage him peroid. If we can, bypass the fight to wreck propoganda. Afterall, this is a publicity thing. We should take care of that next maybe it will also free us from potential comm blackouts.
No matter what we do, Bisanu is pretty much out of all of our leagues individually, and even if it was us and Schwarz facing him down the odds would be heavily in our favor. We need to stick together while we move the hostages, and discuss tactics that might be effective against Bisanu on the way.
>>19389589>OurHis favor, I mean. He would stomp our shit. We need to not fight him if at all possible.
>>19389589This guy. Copy him. Also, i wonder wat weapon data a G-class threat would give us.
>>19389641With the restrictions that HQ puts on upgrade capacity, I sincerely doubt they'd even consider letting us have anything that came out of a G-Class. That's like getting a weapon off of Sigma.
>>19389696According to Toolcircuit (and Cain), the only restraints on upgrades are your wallet and the space in your chassis. If anything, you'd think the Hunters would love to get weapons data off a G-class. That aside, there's no real official restriction on upgrades that I know of, as long as they make sense.
>>19389696Speculation cant hurt. Besides, it would be more like getting a waepon off Vile. Sigma is P-class. I dont want to be on the same continent as that shit, let alone get weapons off it. Im just wondering what a threat Bisanu would give us as weapon data, not whether we would even see it.
>>19389733From how I understand it though, a B-class hunter obtaining G-Class weapon data would just end up with a B-class version of the weapon.
>>19389419You make your way up to the roof, escorting the humans single-file. X stays at the front of the line, you at the middle, and Schwarz at the back. They make good time, surprisingly calm and collected considering what they've been through."I didn't have a chance to ask--are you okay?" X radios."Fine," you reply. "Just a bit of armor and cosmetic damage. Thanks.""Nice work back there," he says brightly. Now that you're not in a high-tension combat situation, you can't get over how...youthful, he seems, even despite his rank. His voice is high and quick, almost excited. If you didn't know better, you'd think you were older than him, not a century his junior."Thanks," you settle on. It will take a few flights, and India's "a little fucking busy here!," so you camp as guards for a while. No enemies are forthcoming, though you do see a few news helicopters hovering just outside the cordon (and firing range for the mavs). X arranges for a few more transports to speed things along, and after about five tense minutes you finally send the last of the civilians packing, the last of them waving and calling their thanks as they're led to safety.
>>19389796Each shuttle also drops off a contingent of soldiers to help hold the roof, leaving you, at last, with your back clear. X details the intel on Bisanu as you return to the building."Doctor Doppler came through with his schematics, and his specs are almost off the charts. Multiple weapon systems, the ability to drain energy and restore himself with it, some kind of short-range time dilation...""Work's cut out for us." "Normal doctrine's to cut losses and throw mechaniloids at it, right?" you ask."Basically. They usually deploy Zero if they get the chance. Starlight protocol's enacted, at least.""Starlight?""Evacuate non-hunter personnel," Schwarz explains as you reach the cleared floor. "Block's ours now.""So is that it? Bisanu's trapped now?"X doesn't answer, because he's looking right at him.>...Well?
>>19389823Fire everything?
>>19389823Fire Blackout Rocket, pray for a lucky hit. Try not to get in X's way and stay alive.
>>19389823Whoduwatta HUH?!?! TIME DILATION?We are so taking that data if we can.
>>19389823>Panic.jpgEr, follow X's lead, don't let him get a hold of you. Distract him with a rocket in the beginning, just to make sure he doesn't try and take potshots at the transports.Rest is just wait and see.
>>19389823"Permission to freak the fuck out sir?"Black-out Rockets and pray
>>19389850So where did we leave the Enigma cannon again?>>19389823Prediction: Based on past performances, Anode will survive this encounter, but only his head will be intact. Next episode will be Emerald reenacting Hamlet with Anode as Yorick.
Tacking on to this, lets not get grabbed. I dont want to get into a vampire war with this guy.
>>19389823>FuuuuuuuuckShort range time dilation? Doppler, you are a motherfucker. Swell idea, though, if he stops one of our blackout rockets in midair, we shoot the son of a bitch and detonate it in his face.That idea aside? I just say we stay the fuck away from him. Energy draining... that sounds like an improved Jagwire, and we need to mention that to someone if we do get out of here alive. Call for backup, tell India to keep covering the hostages, or if they're gone, to keep a low profile until we know what the hell he can do exactly. We don't need her blown out of the air if he turns out to have some serious anti-air B.S. to throw around, and having her strafe him might save our asses later.
So, while things are on hold, I reappear to offer a bounty of Q&A or perhaps another interview. Floor's open to requests!
>>19389886Can we hi-jack some of the power from the antenna?
>>19389886We must absolutely say this.
>>19389823"No, then. Great."Snap-fire... one blackout rocket his way. If he's got time dilation, he can potentially redirect solid-state weapons. That would get bad quickly.Cover it with a sizable volley of plasma from the other arm and ready the lance.
>>19389823He absorbs energy, the best thing we can do is take all of the electricity for ourself.We want to fire blackout missiles to screw with his targetting.
>>19389823>ohboyherewego.jpgLet's not go down as the eager newbie who fired the first shot at the bad guy only to get promptly annihilated and give X added purpose to hunt Bisanu down. Wait for X's mark.
>>19389913Who are Bisanu's colleagues? Also, whats the country with the least maverick attacks at the moment?
>>19389947Bisanu, Brama and Shiva make up a trio known as the Philosophers. Each was a powerful Reploid scientist before turning. One of the micronations is easily the one least affected by Maverick attacks. Nauru or Palau or some such. China publicly claims no Maverick activity, but they're China, come on.
>>19390026I'm not quite sure the general thread is aware of the state of the PRC. You should probably elaborate, Cain.
>>19390026How lousy with Maverick activity is China, really?Also, whatever happened to N. Korea?
Music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhz-AkxDc3UThe Philosopher looks at you all impassively, his expression as cool and glacial as his celestial blue armor. He stands tall, with a lightweight, almost T-shaped body. Eight shields glow a brighter shade around his waist in a loose circle, orbiting like lotus petals. His four arms are folded over his chestplate, his severe expression cast in shade by the wide-brimmed 'hat' on his head, two glowing pinpricks for eyes standing out all the more for it. His body is obscured by a shimmering field like rain on a window, though you can make out ornate winged boots beneath.X raises his buster, but doesn't fire. You switch to your blackout rockets. Schwarz tenses, one hand going to his coat to throw it off. "...Next time," the G-class says, voice as cold as ice, as he raises two of his hands. Six bright discs coalesce in front of him, pantomiming his motion as they form into a single ringed mass, and with a dismissive motion, he slams it into the ground. The entire floor beneath you collapses. The three of you leap back, but in an instant he's gone in a bolt of--and from--the blue."That shouldn't be possible!" X exclaims."Their jamming tech works for beam-out, too," Schwarz replies. "Navigation says they're not reading any more signals. I think they bugged out."-----Aaaaand hiatus.
Welp.
Okay, that's enough main story for now. Thread is now Q&A, interviews, shenanigans, and storytime. I'll be here, drinking delicious beers. Cain's on deck as well.
>>19390052A very good point.China is currently even more isolationist, refusing the Hunters access to its territories. China maintains a standing Reploid army, which is likely employed to put down Maverick activity. Their current international position can best be described as an effective and credible version of Best Korea.
>>19390093let's get an interview from a Steel Beret.Just a random, ordinary rank and file
>>19390060Best Korea got themselves Best Annexed by Best China.China's had a lot of Maverick activity. It's repeatedly been on the list of places suspected to be the hideout of the current Maverick high command. Mind you, that's been incorrect so far...
>>19390095>>19390131It should also be noted that because of Chinese policies, the Hunters have basically posted a "No Chinese Allowed" sign on the front of HQ. Outside of maybe three Chinese defectors working for the Hunters and a few assorted others around the world, don't expect to see any reploids wearing a qipao anytime soon.
>>19390131Ah, but the big question; Mavericks who are "born" within the country, or ones that sneak in seeing to hide from the hunters?
>>19390151Qipao-t?
>>19390131In other words, nobody else will be able to actually do anything about checking China out for activity until their mavs glass enough of the country to kill their government.Fun.
>>19390131ok, since no interview, some questions about the steel berets in generalHow are they named?Male models only?Who are some that got promoted and into the command structure. I think Killiton from the artiliary unit was implied to be an upgraded SB
>>19390131Any celebrity Reploids in the civilian world? Also, are there any Reploid-exploitation films around and if so, how many times has Anode watched them?
>>19390160Both!
>>19390168Technically, China has not been classified as Maverick country.Yet.Still, it should be said that China's standing reploid army (the People's Reploid Army, as it were) are a war crime waiting to happen. Plus, the PLA proper is used for garrisoning countries they've annexed and controlled. They're trying to put the "empire" back in "Chinese Empire."
>>19390207was also wondering about this. Any reploid actors or tv personalities?
so... storytime, I'm told. haha!pre-typing this one out, hopefully it'll turn out better! haha! so, as of the end of our last mission, Russia has effectively said "Don't send those psychos here without serious parental supervision again". Fairly reasonable reaction, all told, to the fact that we (accidentally) set off a small stockpile of hundred-plus year old nuclear warheads. Rabbit ends up shipping to geneva for refit, as well as extended debreif by command- he'd had closer encounters with the hostiles. We had a pair of Operators assigned to us on a perminant basis- the excitable young human, Svetlana (the only Russian speaker onhand) and an upper-crust German gentleman named Franz. Our downtime was being spent, predictably, drinking, though I was absent from the early parts of that, and busily acquiring a corgi puppy, whom I named Rotor. Worked out a deal with some of the base personel that if i got called up, they'd take care of him.
>>19390222You've already told us what went on between the original games and the X series. What happens between them and zero are explained a little, and you can picture what happens between Zero and ZX pretty easily. But what the Hell do you imagine went down between ZX and Legends?
>>19390203They're named fairly arbitrarily. They have serial numbers, and are given a random name index to pick from depending on the location of the factory producing them. Some choose to make up a name; most don't.Steel Berets are a production model, so yes, male only. Other production models have existed that are female only. Others are neuter.There have been several Steel Berets that have become officers of one grade or other; Franklin, Sprocket, Lendemain, One-Gun and Jim 36 are all notable Steel Beret officers from various divisions.>>19390207There are Reploid celebrities in many fields, yes. And for a few years, a robo-exploitation genre did exist to some extent, but the Maverick Wars did a lot to curbstomp that genre - it's not so fun when it's on the news.
We discussed the hostiles we'd met- their lack of combat prowess made us think either they'd been overestimated, or something else was afoot. The night ended with a barfight of truely epic proportions, wherein Tiger and I remained uninvolved and only once shot a death-glare at someone nearby. We played go-fish and discussed our miserable luck in missing the show in vienna, which had gone off right before we'd been comissioned as a team. The next day finds our crew cleaning up the mess of the bar, along with a few daylaborers they'd hired. Tiger and I get in some range time, with my brand new quad buster vulcans making a solid wreck of a target plate. (it's worth noting, the 'range' time was also a fast test of us switching combat engines in the game system... i like the new system better). however, we're interrupted by a base-wide comms call, summoning us to the breifing room.
Tiger and I amble our happy metal asses to the breifing room, and are the last in. Firestorm gopher, our immediate boss, is there, along with a nondescript male reploid. Gopher hits the lights and explains what's up. (for those of you that are wondering, yes. he sounds like Gopher from winnie the pooh) "how do you feel about space?" He starts by asking, then waves us off. "I'm kidding, I don't really care how you feel about space, you're going there. Here's the deal. Mavericks have found, and re-activated an old, old Soviet Russian weapons station. How this thing is still in orbit, let alone capable of functioning is beyond me, but... " he shrugs. "it was called, in it's day, the Iron Fist. any of you familiar with the old 'rods from god' concept?" a series of blank looks and he sighs. "basically, it boils down to this: Put a telephone pole... yes, Ursa?"
>>19390290>corgi puppyDaaaww, those dogs are adorable.
I interrupt him to ask "what is 'Telephone pole?'" "it's a big pole. moving along, put one of those, made of tungsten or Depleted uranium or something into orbit, then, when something irritates you... de-orbit it. it's kind of a poor man's strategic railgun. no fallout or lingering damage, it's all kenetic. understand?" We nod. "well, a few days ago, the 11th picked up transmissions to and from this base, and we think they're getting ready to shoot at something. We know they've heavily modified it, possibly added onto it significantly. Hostiles onsite are unknown, so that's why they're sending you in. you'll get a further breifing once you're at the 11th's base in orbit. Questions?" we asked about if we'd need any special equipment for vacuum, or zero g, and we're told that the necessary work will be done at the 11th's base. the nondescript dude is our inteligence contact, who would have awnsered any questions, but at this point, we're all feeling pretty pro, given our track record.
We fly up in a hunter SSTO cargo shuttle- besides us, there's some support staff, and a load of ammunition and a pair of lifesavers. At some point during the ride, Berserker, metalbro's new character, manages to hijack the PA of the shuttle, and we listen to "twilight of the thunder god" on the way up. We're greeted at the 11th's base by a pair of pilots, who just look happier than all hell to see us. at least, we thought it was us, turns out it was the mailcall and delivery- these guys can't shop like we could on base, since the nearest civilian town is a few hundred thousand Kilometers away. through space. Fedex is a big deal, here. A lone Steel Beret greets us, and guides to the second breifing of the day.
Astro Cygnus, in a hurry, explains farther. "this is probably the biggest op we've had in a while, so sit down, shut up, and pay attention. you've got a reputation for blowing things up, and you need to know that, if you do that up here, you're probably going to end up floating till we can get a search and rescue ship out there. This is going to be a high-speed, no-frills assault, and I've tasked my best shuttle drivers to it. The girls will get you there just fine, just make sure you're strapped in till they say to not be, understaood? If you guys and girls don't pull this off, or that thing looks like it's ready to fire, we've got orders- strict ones- to destroy it. you've got one shot at this, don't screw up. you're already vacuum proof, and zero-g is easy to modify for, so we're going to do it enroute. and don't ask about the graffiti on the bridge."
We meet our pilots- a quartet of tall, severe-looking blonde reploid females. Valkyrie flight- the best assault shuttle drivers in the business. As we hoof it to the launch bay, we also see tetras and mechanoloid fighters scrambling. We go in two assault shuttles- myself, tiger, and wolf on one, Berserker, mantis, and cobra on the other. we're patched in with our operators, as well as the tacnet for our pilots. The girls show us the cabin- very, very basic, with a pair of benches down either side of the cargo bay, and doors on either side. Our loadmaster greets us, says he's also acting as the jumpmaster, and says it's better if he shows us how to strap ourselves in, at which the girls look rather disappointed. "ach, he never lets us haf any fun" one grouses, as she heads into the cockpit.
>>19390301>There have been several Steel Berets that have become officers of one grade or other; Franklin, Sprocket, Lendemain, One-Gun and Jim 36 are all notable Steel Beret officers from various divisions.Any of those in the first or fourth?
the ride out is, well, high speed. The girls put the shuttles right to the edge of their performance envelope... and kept them there- constant 5-6gs of acceleration. the fighter escort suddenly peeled off, and our pilots started a running commentary of what was, by all accounts, a MASSIVE dogfight. comentary included "ja, Indy vill be very angry vith command for making her miss zis!" (Along with a pilot and his RIO chatting "You're gonna do WHAT?" "I gonna hit the breaks, he'll fly right by").
About 5 seconds later, our loadmaster, a human in a military spacesuit, flashes 10 fingers at us twice, and makes the 'stand up' signal, followed immediatley by "hook up"- yeah, we were in space, and no, we weren't going to hook up to anything, since our issued assault kit was pretty much just a fast-brun retro pack to slow us from whatever ungodly speed we were at to "something slightly less than Damaging". 'check equipment' followed, and we sounded off for equipment check- all three of us. LTBs and SBs were on a second lift, but we'd waived that off when the dogfight happened. our Jumpmaster dumps the cabin atmosphere, popping open the doors and standing aside as the red light came on. Tiger, the first in our stick stands in the door, as we hear "five seconds!" cut over the tacnet. The JM checks his watch, and the green light pops on, and tiger jumps.
>>19390301>Jim 36I dont know why, but he seems the most badass out of all of them.
I'm last in the stick- it'd give me better awareness of scatter. I'm cruising through the void at a good clip when the first stage of the retropack goes, burning hard for three seconds, then popping off. Around me, the space is lousy with radiation, debris, and fighters as the last of the mavs make a desperate attempt to re-gain local superiority. most of the mech fighters are gone, but the better part of the older, piloted jobs are still flying. Then time to admire the scenery is gone, as the second part of the retropack torches off, a five second, 10g burn. Unsurvivable by humans, it slows me down enough that I go from "out of control bear-shaped KKV" to "almost kind of in control, bear-shaped projectile" and I slam through the old part of the station's exterior wall. the retropack dumps, and I make a fairly poor landing, rolling along for a while, finally stopping after wrecking some old equipment consoles.
Tiger and Wolf link up quickly- the girls rolled far better landings, and we get in contact with Svetlana, who says she dosen't have anything except the old plans. The station is built around a massive mass driver that's also horiffically obsolescent. it can accelerate a payload to a few M/s, maybe 20-30, but not much more. however, it'll continue gaining speed on the way in, and re-entry will turn it from "flying tungsten telephone pole" to "partially molten falling tungsten telephone pole" the other half of the team landed nearby, so we move to link up, encountering a few mechanoloids on the way, but no mavs. Cobra, communitcating over the team's net, notes he's been picking up a lot of wireless activity, with a lot of data being bounced back and forth, between this station, another station, and earth. If he'd been a data specialist, he'd have been able to track it, but alas. he's also picking up a powerspike in the system- which elicts a "move it, guys" from Cygnus, who's in on our net while flying some custom job fighter out there.
Rushing would get us dead, and the station is old, and full of hideously outdated equpiment- no sign of the upgrades or modifications. just the barest sign of repairwork done to bring it back online, hell, it dosen't even really have an appreciable atmosphere. WE're starting to get a little paranoid too- the paltry few hostiles we've seen so far have been mechanoloids, nothing really worth sending us out to kill. There's a distinct lack of hostile reploids, or anything, really. Talking with our operators dosen't help much, since they're still trying to get enough sensors pointed at the thing to be of use. Meanwhile, we're making our way to the command bridge, where, hopefully, we can shut this thing down.
As we go, we encounter more and more mechs, but, suspiciously, no reploids, not even infantry models. the power buildup continues, and cygnus is riding our shit, at this point, noting that he's going to have no choice but to order the hit soon- 'the hit' being a Planetary defense laser shot from a surface facuilty- basically, just a step down from the enigma cannon. That said, it's actually a national military's- US, but on Canadian soil (NORAD)- but they're working with hunter command on this one. they've also lined up a second shot, immediatley after, with a salvo of SLBMs modified to hit the station. you know, just to be sure.
the station. you know, just to be sure. We double time it through the station, finally getting to the command bridge accessway- and being met there with a storm of plasma fire from dug-in Lance teamers, a mix of As and Bs, mostly. "Guess we found them!" I quip, diving for cover and activating my own weapons. (the new combat engine, by the way, means that, while my 'sponge' style armor is still effective, Tiger's hardened armor is far, far better for this kind of thing. ) They're heavily fortified, and very well placed to stop anything, having a killzone in front that streteched about 50 feet or so. Well, would have been very well placed, barring two things. the first thing was mantis- who used is first action to break cover and blink into close combat, icing an LTA as soon as he got in among them.
the other thing? his name was Berserker, and he weighed about 1.75 tons.... and had a HELL of an EAS system. he breaks cover at a run, takes a firm two-handed grip on his axe, lights that sombitch up, and with a battlecry that silences all the comms channels for a few seconds, EASes into them. his charge trampled over one LTB, dealing massive damage, and his axe swing bisected a pair of the bingo's teammates, causing minor explosions when their capacitors went. he took several hits on the way in, but nothing got through his armor, proving the value of a monster like that in cramped quarters like this. Needless to say, the appearance of not one, but two flavors of close combat freaks in their midst causes the hostiles to really radically re-think their target priorities, and the supressing fire coming at us ceases entirely. Tiger breaks cover, moves closer, and fires a pair of HE rounds, one missing and blowing up a console along the far wall. the other nails an LTB who was carrying some sort of modified rifle, with a pair of integrated battery systems and a large, bulky cooling unit.
Wolf breaks cover and slams a GRB downrange, missing her mark and causing the unexploded equipment consoles on the far wall to... well, explode. Cobra, being the sneaky git he is, stays in cover, and cranks his brand new sensor suite up to '11'.... and detects a large power spike in the systems, like it's getting ready to fire. He fails to mention this to us. I break cover, but there's no real targets for me to shoot at in the bridge area, so instead I run to get in behind tiger and wolf, banking on us getting everybody in the bridge area all at once and completely overwhelming whatever's in there. Mantis continues to be some killy unhittable demon, dropping a pair of lance teamers, and wounding another.
Berserker, alternating between laughing manically and roaring incoherently, is kind of the opposite of 'unhittable'... not that it matters. beam bayonets, fists, bigass metal boots, rifle butts, they do all of "dick" to him, though another 4-5 turns of combat would drop his armor to yellow. hah. He's dropping Infantry like it's going out of style, cleaving 3-4 in one attack, then hacking one apart at the waist on the return swing. we're rapidly running out of hostiles. Cobra calls out "bogies!" just then, and on the bridge, a pair of malicious, glowing crimson eyes opens. we're all thinking, "well, shit" since our two closest characters have already gone, and can't react, and the rest of us can't get a good angle on it this turn.
the hostile, coming online, asks "why? why fight your own kind? we are the future! mankind's time is done! we're the next stage!" a very heavily armored unit steps onto the bridge proper from a side alcove, a solid sword in one hand, and a sheild in the other. Berserker looks positively stoked, since this is is going to be an up close fight, by all appearances. ... which is when a high-powered solid slug round nearly missed mantis (despite him being effectively flat-footed for the attack, our GM rolled miserably and didn't land the hit) and a second, lightweight unit equipped with an over the shoulder cannon and a pair of oversized busters stepped outbeside him. Tiger and Wolf and I really don't have angle- but I spin-up my guns anyway, also charging them to the first charge stage. Tiger takes a second to switch her ammo from HE to HESH rounds, loading the only two of those she brought along, and Wolf charges up a midpower shot on the buster part of her combination weapon.
Mantis polishes off the last of the Infantry, ditching one of his now-depeleted hibeam knives and drawing another. he's burnt off most of his S.weapon capacity by this point, using the majority of it up in his initial blink into the infantry line earlier. Still, he gets a running start, and burns off the last of his blink drive to jump into close combat with the new, close combat unit. Berserker turns to face the (now slightly occupied) opponent, yells something like "BLOOD AND THUNDER" at the top of his lungs, and goes barreling in. this is a good time to explain how close combat works. see, You get your usual attacks, which are rolled against a static to-hit that's mostly composed of a base target modified by certain stats and circumstances. if you hit, the target gets an opposed parry (Weapon skill), dodge (dex), or block (sheild only, works off of weapon skill) roll. That opposed check has to beat the number of successes you land (it's a dice pool system). if it does, you get diddley. if it dosen't, you do your damage, which is controled by your actual roll (so it tends to average out on the high end) and your weapon's multipliers (and situational ones).
Berserker gets in his charging swing, and the DM blocks it. we're all kind of surprised, though the sheild is almost cut in half by the blow. Cobra takes over communications with our operators, and relays the data to us as he ducks into a more defensable (and covered) position near the doors. "Hostiles tagged as Blind Knight and Phalanx, paired team! No available data- these two were slated for a hunter command contract, went mav on drive-start and butchered the lab staff that built them." ... and that's when the jamming started. "race traitors!" knight yelled, backing up and engaging Mantis. Remember that thing about how close combat works? Mantis was built around dodge- he's hard to hit, but if he gets hit... well, he's got diddley/poop for armor. Knight lands a solid hit with a blade that houses a Hibeam emitter inside the hilt... and backs it up with a row of further emitters in the physical part of the blade. Brand new tech, made the blade positively eat energy, but, well... in this case, Mantis was counting on his dodge roll to save his ass. it didn't, and that was the end of his character. we were all kind of shocked, but it was what it was, and mantis' player took it pretty well, getting a blank character sheet out, along with his scratchpad and a pencil. (Rabbit was available as a 'ready replacement', but he said he had an idea he wanted to roll with)
With Mantis down, Berserker's the only one in close, but then again, so far he's proven to be a total monster, so we're not too worried. Phalanx, Knight's companion, unloads a HE round at Wolf, which hits and badly damages her armor across her torso and legs, but fails to breach, and a pair of buster shots at tiger, one of which hits and does moderate damage, but nothing really significant. Tiger returns the favor, firing both her loaded HESH rounds at Phalanx. HESH is actually a really nasty round, in reploid combat. Designed to create spalling damage in tanks, and kill the crew and cut up the soft shit inside the armor, in a reploid, it has the same effect on the more delicate systems housed within. That said, anti-spall lining tends to limit their effectiveness, but In this case, the worked like a charm, hitting and causing limited armor damage, but also causing Phalanx to lose a 'energy systems' box. the threatened critical effect though didn't happen, due to a low roll. this staggered her enough for wolf to respond, the GRB hitting and overloading her damaged energy systems, forcing a shutdown. it also caused significant sensor damage, and caused phalanx to lose a sensors box and both electronics boxes as well- meaning, if she stabalized, she'd be pretty badly off, unable to use her busters, EAS, or any electronic systems. at this point, though, that was still an if.
I didn't have a shot, so instead I moved so I could cover Cobra to get to a console and handle the launch, which was about to go off. by that I mean, 'NORAD had the station locked and the charge in their cannon's capacitors built, and were just waiting for cygnus to give the word' He had the highest computers skill of all of us, and we were hoping he could override the launch, or target it somewhere else, or something. The next round, knight kicked his broad-spectrum jammers on full blast. suddenly, everyone (except Cobra, who's own ECM counteracted it, somewhat) was disoriented and drunk like a three day DN bender. That said, Berserker, in true 'viking' (read: metalhead understanding of viking) fasion, was about as capable drunk as not, due to a few skill choices.... well, that, and his back story involved getting hammered nigh-constantly, so fighting while inebriated wasn't anything new. they exchanged a few blows, Knight landing a good one that knocked out Berserker's autorepair, and Berserker knocking out Knight's sheild arm (completely- he tore it off and hucked it through the bridge viewport. which also depressurized the room). It was pretty clear, from that point, that Knight wasn't really a match for berserker, and the only thing keeping him functioning was armor- and lots of it.
Cobra made it a console, and, without much effort A) stopped the launch, and B) found that the old reactors on this place were rigged to go, deadman's hand-style, if Knight ceased function. it'd take them a couple minutes, but they were modified RMBK jobs, and they'd go, no doubt about it. Tiger and Wolf moved to cover Phalanx, with some discussion as to if we should retire her on the spot, or capture her alive. That said, we weren't about to jump in close combat, and besides, our guy had a handle on it anyway. Knight's defense lasted another turn, then B hacked off his legs and bisected his torso- triggering the deadman's hand weapon. it also killed the jamming, and we all started hollering on the tacnet to clear the area, the base was about to go all tzar bomba on us. Valflight disagreed, demanding that they'd make pickup even if it meant flying into a fucking atom bomb to do it. couple of seconds later, we were pounding through the station, making for the old airlock, carrying the still K.O.ed Phalanx with us- and B had Knight's sword, to boot.
We made it into the shuttle, and the rest of the team hurredly strapped in, while I ran to the cockpit hatch, stuck my head in there, and yelled "BY PUTIN'S BALLS, FLY!" the valkyries spared one look for me, then punched it, tearing the airlock assembly away from the station, and flinging me backwards, through the cargo bay, past the rest of my team, to slam against the rearmost bulkhead. We'd only just cleared the most immediate blast zone when the reactors popped. Contrary to popular beleif, when a nuclear reactor goes, it's not a nuclear explosion. it's actually pretty conventional. it just flings radioactive shit in just about every direction. when the station went, it also touched off stocks of jet fuel and explosive payload elements for the mass driver, creating a near nuclear detonation. we outran the debris, for the most part, and made it back to the 11th's base in one peice. We decided to forego medical aid on station, since we were going to route back through Geneva with our POW anyway.
We flew back down on a hunter Dropship, after saying goodbyes with the crews of the 11th (and exchanging some minor quips with the valkyries "Ach, next time vee vill haf to show joo vat fun is up here!" from them and "My friends! If every you are up for some play in the dirt, do not hesiste to call upon Uralmash ursa! he will show you a good time!" from me) and had a relatively lesiurley flight back down, Landing at geneva base where a pair of lance teamer teams was waiting to take our POW into custody, and the news was playing something from a press conference with Dr.Doppler that we didn't pay a damn bit of attention to since we were far too tired to care. We elected to forego repair onsite there as well, preferring to get home as soon as possible. we eventually ended up doing so with a transport flight full of parts and ammunition, as well as a brand new Steel Beret squad, to be garrisoned at the Japan base. when we landed, our wounded (mostly Berserker, who was missing critical boxes) went in for repair. Debreifing was smooth, and the loss of Mantis was noted. R&D took the sword from us- no big loss there- and MCAR and Feild Reports officers were hounding us just about from the moment we stepped off the Bird for combat data, espeically since the target units were so new and effectively untested.
R&D cleared us for upgrades, and Mantis rerolled. Cobra added a pretty beefy wireless data systems pack, allowing him to hack things on the fly a lot more easily. he also mentioned doing some skills training especially computer work- slowly morphing into our signals guy. Wolf decided to say "fuck it all" and get an inbuilt, dropping her rifle for a Standard, VWES-2 buster. however, it's 'normal' mode was still a very powerful gamma-ray blast, as opposed to plasma. Tiger added slightly more armor, then spent the rest on hardening, meaning that, unless you hit her point-blank with a fully charged buster, she wasn't going to feel it. I decided on a broad series of systems upgrades, uprating my reactor, and updating my guns to VWES-2, and Charge +3 (think of +1 and +2 as being what the X buster is capable of in X1 before you get the buster upgrade. +3 is after it) and dropping the original 'prototype' status for 'limited'- which means that repairs are still fiddly, but weapons crits and fumbles won't be an issue. I had enough left over for some armor hardening, which, while it didn't bring my armor up to par with Tiger's, did make me the second most armored member of our team. Big B added a cluseter of secondary emitters in his axe, adding even more kill power to it. he also added redundant systems, but that was all he had points for.
>>19390723>BY PUTIN'S BALLS, FLY!Oh my sides!
gonna throw it up for vote. anyone want storytime 4?
Sure why not
>>19390918hell yes we want more storytime
>>19390918YES
ok.. then storytime 4 in a sec. talking to the ex fiancee. ... IDK how to feel about that.
>>19391073I would say awkward is the usual feel in that situation.
The opening of the next game has tiger and I riding through the streets of the base on slightly modified ride chasers. (we got to the GM's place early). it's stictly RP, no combat, which is par for the course early in the game anyway. Long story short, we decide that jousting at "however fast these things will go" is a great idea, and should be done now. the problem was, we didn't have anything to joust with... until we saw a streetsign. note that I do not condone pulling up streetsigns to joust with a teammate on a supersonic hovercycle. However, we did, with rules to "not aim for the head". Two passes later, we had a pair of mangled streetsign poles, a few dents in our armor, and one absolutley furious gopher reploid chewing our asses. apparently the term "It seemed like good idea at time" is NOT an acceptable awnser here. We were ordered to put the replacement signs in and never, ever, do anything that brain-dead again. Ever. or he'd know. and he'd find us.
After doing that, our options shrunk to "drink. Heavily" and "hit the town". We decided to not hit the town just yet, because, while despite wanting to go shopping, our backpay hadn't really cleared yet. This led to some grousing, which led to us going to the bar. We didn't really drink anything heavy (read: no Data Nanites) and instead focused on the news, which was still covering the confirmation of the virus theory. we speculated on the fate of our POW, since we'd figured she'd be decomissioned immedatley upon arrival, but now we weren't sure- if it was a virus, after all, there should be a cure, right?
this is when our GM's little bro showed up with his replacement character. (it was thursday, he'd just gotten home from school) I'll spare you the hard details, but he's a...variant.. of his "every character concept ever". basically? he's a zombie badger. not literally, of course, but he dropped a lot of his build points into redundant systems, so he can keep fighting even past when i'd go down (comparitively. to explain it farther, I've got One extra box in each systems category, so i can 'abosrb' the first crit in each category before I start seeing penalties. he's got 5, and could give less than a shit about a critical hit. He's pretty bog standard though, otherwise, VWES-2 charging-2 buster, standard hibeam saber, medium armor, standard EMS. In other words, completely unremarkable... except he's about impossible to put down without completely depleting his armor and HP. and even then, there's a good chance he's repairable, since, in order to really kill something, you need to score either a critical reactor explosion on a critical chart, or deplete their HP and their core systems boxes.)
The rest of the crew slowly shows up, and we head to the range. (range time grants *small* improvements to whatever skill you give rangetime to. The other option is the Training center, which handles non-combat skills. those can also gain improvements through RP use, which, to this point, is fairly limited, since Beer drinking and barfighting aren't skills. well, ok, barfighting is, but beer drinking isn't) Our range time is cut short by an mission warning that pops up in our communications gear, with gopher popping up on the range screens. we dutifully file off to the breifing room.
Gopher is there, along with a pair of twins, both with violet eyes and muted paintjobs. Both clearly are combat models, with small wings and turbojets on their backs. "sit down, and no stupid questions till the end, understood?" we nod. he fires up the holoprojector and launches into his breifing. "First, some housekeeping. your little group is now being considered for inclusion as part of the 0 unit. Your individual assignements won't change, but so long as you're working togther, you're shinobi if this goes through. For the time being, I'm still your immediate superior. What lunatic thought that this is a good idea is beyond me, but it is what it is. Second, incase it wasn't already painfully fucking obvious, You are forbidden from fucking jousting on ride chasers, under-fucking-stood? Lastly, the boys and girls at the intel shop have gone over your combat data from Russia. You might be interested by this." He turned around and pointed at the projection. "Every time you retired one of those hostile reploids, it sent out a massive squirt of data, maybe a couple milliseconds long. this was directed into orbit, and was bounced back down to that building where those warheads were housed. immediatley after that, we saw a tiny radiation spike- almost undetectable against the noise those warheads was putting out- that's in line with a reactor firing up from a cold start. "
"what they think is that group of units are predominantly infomation constructs. It was extremely experimental tech back around the first maverick war, and the war killed all progress into the field- no one though an unkillable reploid was a good idea, after that. These guys may be the last functioning infomorphs, and command is tearing the planet apart, practically, trying to find them. when they do, expect a call." "however, for now, we don't know where they are. And we've got a mission for you anyway. 2nd's got a fix on a massive mav supply deopt in the fucking gobi desert. this may well represent the majority of their eurasian supplies, as well as a great deal of their available infantry and armored forces. It's also periously close to China's borders, and their border guards don't take kindly to... well, anything. at all. ever. In short, don't even get near their borders, and yes, you'll know when you're close. the People's Reploid Army is probably the largest cluster of combat-ready reploids anywhere outside of geneva or whatever base Sigma's squirreled himself away to. Do NOT, under any circumstances, fuck with them, understood?"
"This mission is a fairly simple smash and grab. Destroy everything you can, slap beacons on anything that looks valuable, prioritising ride armors if you find any and can keep yourselves from wrecking them. The 9th was going to send in a team to set up a teleport pad but that got nixxed at the last second. Instead, you'll be going in via an assault shuttle landing. some of the 7th's volunteered to fly you in, which is foolhardy of them, considering how many things explode around you. It'll be a fast, low altitude flight, going through Russian airspace, for the most part. We had to agree to not let you out of the shuttle till after it had left their national borders to get that. COmmand will have a large force on standby for recovery of assets as you mark them, but they're not going to have much in the way of front-line forces, so you'll have to do all the killing. Any questions?" "What's the in-flight movie? is it something good this time?" Wolf asks. "Yeah" Cobra helpfully adds. "watching Ursa go hurtling through the bay to hit a wall gets boring quickly." "speak for yourself" Tiger said "I could watch that all day!" "I hate you all so much" I said. "Not my fault last shuttle was driven by insane females!" Gopher took it all fairly well, considering his legendary lack of patience. "is that all?" we looked at him blankly. "these are your pilots. Twilight and Nightfall. they're nightfighter experts." he looked at them. "gay names though. Can't help but wonder if it was a teenage girl who named you two" they visibly clenched their jaws. "Anyway, take care of what you need to, then get with them"
Since we didn't need to take care of anything, we elected to just get airborne as soon as possible. The flight through Russian airspace is fairly uneventful, despite being escorted by a flight of Migs. THe migs, by the way, were supposedly so the Russian Air defense network in this area didn't blow our shit away, but we were pretty sure it was to make sure we didn't set down, or drop off in russian territory, since they were still miffed about those nukes. Once we his mongolian airspace, the migs peeled off, and we hit the deck. Unfortunate names aisde, our pilots did a very good job of getting the bird on the deck and keeping it there, staying 40-50 feet off the ground most of the way in. One of our pilots looked back. "we're five minutes out. We don't think they've got a live air defense network, and even if they did, we're well below radar. We're going to be in Russian airspace for the majority of your mission- we'll look like just another supply run from Geneva to Japan on any kind of radar pointed that way. figure a ten minute lag between when you need extraction and when we'll show up"
We disembarked from the shuttle after it had set down. Cobra moved in alone to scout the way in- and was able to find it without much looking. The "front door" had been left wide open, no guards. "this... is trap." I said. "Front door left open? no guard? is trap. destroy site from orbit." About the time I said "orbit" the doors slammed shut, and several Heavy-lift elevators buried under the sand disgorged Maverick infantry, backed by a pair of massive cannon mechanoloids and a trio of ride armors. "WAS WRONG. APOLOGIES MY COMERADES." I yell, cycling up the vulcans. There were a hell of a lot of targets, enough to cause us momentary concern. Well, all of us except for B, who went barreling into them screaming a battlecry no doubt pulled from some metal song. Badger was more... reserved than he usually plays, hugging the limited cover and picking his shots. Cobra dropped behind Tiger and I and busied himself trying to remotely override the door controls and lock out the elevators at the same time. Wolf slags one target with a fairly high powered shot, then heads to cover herself. Meanwhile, Tiger and I were in our element. Area packed with hostiles, none of them in cover, and their heaviest guns are also huge, unweildy, and slow? Tiger's first pair of 88 shells slams into a cannon mech's head, obliterating it and sending it toppling over on some mav infantry. My guns, they do their thing, and a half dozen infantry go down, a couple exploding.
Their return fire is limited, though a cannon shot from the reamaining mech hit me and did respectable, if not threatening damage to my armor. the big issue for the hostiles was Berserker in their middle, and the fact that many of them were caught in the open and didn't quite expect the volume of incoming fire. Some sporadic return buster shots impact against tiger and I's armor, but, uncharged, they do little more than singe the paint. The next turn finds Berserker opening by cleaving open a ride armor and cutting the arms off another one. both pilots scramble for saftey, but he catches one and throws him at the last standing ride armor, distracting it long enough for him to cut a leg off.
Their ride armors down, Badger EASes into close combat, since that's where we've got the biggest advantage. Cobra ducks a little lower (splash from the round that hit me hit him, causing some minor armor damage) but keeps at the door- and locks out the lifts, meaning the hostiles on the surface are cut off from retreat or reenforcement. A quick call from Cobra to the operators confirms that hunter command has lifts standing by to haul things out "and significant infantry forces" available to facilitate stealitization of maverick assets. We ask about their response time, and the operators relay that they'll be on site within 2-3 minutes. We go ahead and call them in, as Tiger claims the last 'mech kill, punching a pair of rounds through it's torso and reactor, causing a minor explosion as it goes. The remaining infantry throw up their hands, surrendering now that their last big gun is gone (taking the two closest to it with it's explosion) we relay this to command, who were kind of watching the op carefully through our operators. The incoming forces have no problem, having expected some POWs, and the first wave arrives. lines are lashed to the salvageable ride armors, we top off on ammo and do a really fast field repair, recovering most of my armor.
We enter one of the base's loading docks through the doors, destroying a few emplaced cannons on the way in. Inside, the docks clearly had room for a large fleet of various flavors of shuttles and lifters, but most of them were empty. Looking around, there were signs of hurried evacuation, but for the most part, the base looked like it hadn't had anywhere near a full capacity in quite some time. We encountered a few built-in defensive cannons, plenty of mechs, but no real resistance outside that. still, sheer numbers meant we suffered some damage. nothing major, but armor damage here and there. Each area we checked told the same story. Speedy withdrawal of assets, but not so speedy as to leave much behind. a few crates of parts here and there, several inactive mechs in a corner bay, an aincent ride armor in it's cradle. Nothing really major. As we went deeper into the base, we started tossing around theories as to what happened, and why they pulled out. there was no signs of violence, and it didn't look that hurried- it was pretty thurough, everything considered. Cobra, on an off chance, pushed his sensors out to their limit, and found a massive power draw deep in the base. We all looked at each other when he announced it- the base was covered in a faraday cage, so we weren't getting reception for diddley. In the abscense of orders, we decided to find out what it was.
As we pushed deeper into the base, we started encountering stiffer resistance. Still no reploids, but the mechs were starting to his 'swarm' levels, occasionally backed up by heavy models or some new flavor of hybrid mech with a pair of 200mm cannons from cannon drivers slapped on a gunbolt with improved armor, to boot. They gave us some trouble, considering those cannons, while not really advanced, are still big enough to deal some hurt. However, they're a worrying development, since no one's ever reported seeing them before, which hints the mavs are now designing and building their own mechs. We ended up hitting the factory floor and kind of stood there, in awe. an untold number of CF-0s stood in front of us, undergoing modification work, replacing one arm with what looked like a massive buster cannon, and up-armoring the things. The bay stretched on, ranks of the bastards standing in massive construction gantries as the fully-automated factory continued work on them .
Painted on each, bigger than shit, was the maverick hunter emblem. Cobra was first to react, rapidly firing up his wireless data package and beginning to attempt to hack through the factory's operating systems. The rest of us, however, were stopped from going on a jolly romp of mayhem by the nearest two gantries beginning to unlock, and the appearance of a pair of ride armors that looked for all the world like the old D-REX's head mounted on legs. as comical as that may have been, the pair of GAU-8-lookalikes in place of arms on the things kind of stifled our good humor. They started shooting first, and we all got the FUCK out of the way, with the factory floor tearing up in a messy blitz.
"what the FUCK are those things?" Wolf yelled, hugging cover. "WHO THE FUCK THINKS UP SOMETHING LIKE THAT?! T-REX HEAD WITH A-10 GUNS, NOT COOL MAN" Badger, who, along with Big B had taken cover with her, looked at her. "Looks to me like something command would just *LOVE* to have for the 8th, no?". we all looked at him like he was insane... which, to be fair, he probably is. Big B started laughing. "A GOOD CHALLENGE." he yelled. "YOU HEAR THAT LITTLE MEN? WE ARE COMING FOR YOUR TOYS!" now, we were decidedly lacking in less-lethal options, and if those modified CF-0s ever came online, we were probably boned. Our best option would have been to close to point blank range, inside those thing's guns, and kill the pilots, then drive them right the fuck out of the factory, but given the massive ammount of open space, we were kind of at an impasse. our firepower would *probably* kill one, but we really didn't want to risk return fire to find out. Mantis would have been perfect for the work here, but... well, he was dead.
Finally, we came up with a plan. Cobra, our best shot, stopped trying to hack the factory- finding out that each gantry was independant of the hothers killed his "shut the place down" plan, since it would have taken seperate attacks on each gantry's processing unit to do it. Instead, he went all cloaky-sneaky on us, heading off for the first gantry, which, if he made it, would give him a perfect firing angle down on the pilots. meanwhile, Big B and little B were plotting, their heads togther. The shit eating grin on their faces was priceless when they announced their plan.Wolf laid down some covering fire, distracting the nearest Armor pilot. that's when Badger goes sailing over their cover, hurled bodily by big B. He landed just under the Rex-armor, rapidly scrambling up and going all "pissed off badger" on the pilot. Tiger and I, not having been in on the plan, both roll out of cover in our move, lighting the other armor the fuck up. her paired 88 shells slam through the armor's left leg strut, while my vulcans sing their song and the pilot explodes.
We mop up quickly, mindful of the two modified CF-0s about to deploy, and decide to send Badger, with our stolen ride, the fuck home. He heads out, taking Wolf with as backup, and we do some fast work to see if the other ride is salvageable. Without a heavy-lift vehicle, it's not- but Cobra notes there were some very old ride armor lifters in the last flight bay we passed through. Judging we had the time to do it, we dispatch him and tiger to go get it and haul the damaged one out. That's when the first gantry unlocks, and the first CF-0 comes online. And Berserker flies at it, axe held high. I'd spent the intervening time charging my Vulcans. with their weapons capacitors sitting at full charge, I engage the thing- and do disappointingly low damage, all considered. they were very, very heavily armored, shrugging off the worst part of my firepower. Realising I'm not going to do much without an opening, I duck back into cover as it shoots at me. THe shot obilterates my cover and sends me flying ass over teakettle into the other gantry, smashing through it and out the other side. This actually saves me from the follow-up shot, which slams into the CF-0 still held in the gantry, dealing a good deal of damage to it's right leg.
And the rest of the gantries start unlocking. Big B, now climbing up the huge Mech, activates his axe and begins cutting into it as he climbs, opening gaping holes in it's armor with every blow. Seeing an opening, I shoot, making called shots on the openings, hitting with enough shots something internal goes in a muted explosion. The CF-0 begins to slump and Big B jumps clear as it topples over. Cobra arrives onscene, and in a bravura display of lifship driving, slings the damaged armor up and Gets it out of there. he shoots a warning that that CF-0 we hit is starting to emit a lot of radiation- like you'd see in a breached reactor. Still, we doubt that would destroy the factory, and we've got to stop it for good. (we'd decided earlier that capturing the place was out of the question) however, it gives us an idea, and we tell cobra. Now it's his turn to get a shit-eating grin, and he lets wolf take over the ride as he jacks back into the local data net. this time, though, instead of targeting the factory, he targets the mech's. specifically, their powerplants. Setting each for what could charitably be called "catastrophic explosion" mode, he advises us we've got about 15 miuntes to clear, and that no, he can't change that. Big B and I Make for the lift ship post haste, jumping up and grabbing the sling lines as wolf wheels the ship around and makes for the exit. a few pilot checks later (and several attack rolls as I take potshots at the remaining mech defenses) and we're clear, screaming our IFF signal and an evac order. The local airspace clears out in a hurry, and we follow suit, taking up the tailend of the squadron.
About a minute later, Cobra goes "oh, shit" and lets us know it's going to be MUCH bigger than he anticipated (the GM had passed him a note saying he'd mismathed- instead of a combined yeild of maybe a few hundred tons of TNT, we were looking at closer to a hundred million- 100Mt+. Wolf broadcasts the warning to the rest of the convoy, which rapidly claws for altitude. We kick a heads-up to command, along with an "oops" statement, and then it goes off. We'd later learn from BDA teams deployed out of Russia and several other UN nations that the yeild was "somewhere in the vicinity of" 78Mt- significantly smaller than we'd expected, but still very large. While it was far enough from China that there was no bomb damage inside the borders (from what they could tell) it was also safe to say we were in a SHIT TON of trouble. Still, later combat data analysis and gun-camera footage showed that we'd probably stopped a bigger political shitstorm, since intel analysts figured that horde of modified CF-0s was probably going to be deployed into China in order to provoke them into 'retalitory' attacks on hunter bases the world over. EIther that or depolyed into UN nations in order to get the hunters branded mavericks and create a void where the national militaries attempted to handle their own maverick threats independantly.
and that's the end of storytime 4. those of you wondering about where this fits, timewise, with MHQ, three ends just as anode gets back from his op against lockon bloodhound. Our Gobi Op is probably same timeframe as the current mission.
Damn, but storytime can be a wall.Thanks for posting, as always.You guys up for a staff interview to round out the thread?
>>19391677You hear that, Hunter Command, you'd better get these threads going more often, or these guys are gonna run right past us.Also, once we get back to base, we should put in for upgrades/swag delivery/donations to hospitals/etc.I vote we look in to see how much rapid-fire models of the 4-slot VWES would cost us.Also, voting on personalized Ride Chaser as well.
>>19391737Alright, give us some sort of interview
What's up?
>>19391884So, how willing are you to risk Anode's wrath in order to interact in a significant way with Cathode?
>>19391884Have you ever considered getting a shoelift?What are your siblings like?In all honesty, since your activation, what would you say is the single dumbest thing you've ever done?Exactly how many sabers and other assorted melee weapons do you own?
>>19391914Hey man, there's a code against hitting on your friend's sister....So not very. Ever been on the receiving end of that dude's thousand-yard stare?
>>19391936How do you decorate your room?Of all of the green jokes you've heard which one was the best?
So, Em: Cartoons about ponies. Menace, or vile curse from dark, uncaring gods of the outer realms?
>>19391990NONE OF THEM.And my room is kinda dull, really. Shelf with some tech manuals and magazines, a sword rack or two, A workbench with a bunch of stray electronics lying around. Little lamp for working with small parts.>>19392004Ah! Trick question, see, because the existence of the pony cartoon is proof that there's no God.
>>19392098do you enjoy being posted to the 4th, comrade? what is your opinion on comrade Anode?
>>19392098What is the single most badass action you have taken on an operation?
>>19392154Fourth's literally as close to my purpose as I can possibly serve. I think I fit in pretty well here. Anode's great. Really livens up the place. Exactly my kind of demented.>>19392161Okay, so me and Frog wound up sent out to take out this hideout the Second sniffed out. He sent me ahead to scout while he did some heavy lifting up front. Turned out they were pretty well armed, and a pack of them jumped me a few minutes in. I wound up fighting four guys with beam sabers at once and came out on top. Frog says it must have been almost four minutes, figuring off how long it took him to catch up.
>>19392302What do you usually spend your pay on, other than more beam sabers?Have you seen your siblings lately? What do you do in spare time?
>>19392302What is the one thing you'd say you cannot live without every day?Who is your role model?Who's your favorite Hunter in Geneva 4th, if not the Hunters in general?What's the one thing you want to do before you turn to rust?
Would you be willing to have sex (interface?) with Anode?
>>19392579Here we go...
>>19392302I know this is a a sensitive subject, but, in regards to your stature, why exactly did your creators design you so small in the first place?
>>19391935Whoops, sorry. I missed these.A what now?Sapphire's a bit of a smartass. I think Anode'd like her (and I also think that thing about not hitting on friends' sisters applies if you're reading this, hint hint). Funny, talkative, pretty cheerful.Diamond's pretty smart. I guess he helps figure out logistics in the Seventh? Anyway, he's kinda quiet. Always thinking about stuff, except when he's drinking. He says that's why he started.Dumbest thing I've ever done? Depends on who's telling, how drunk I am, and what week it is. But, dumbest in my opinion? "Hey, I bet I could TOTALLY win the Sigma simulation!" In my defense, I was drunk. (It didn't help my odds any.)Next dumbest after that is getting myself in shit for a year for ... ALSO getting drunk, and then getting a bunch of cattle up on the roof of the garage. I was carving my name into the wall with my beam knife to try to figure out what I was going to brand them with. I tried to blame it on Crankshaft, with EME- written on the wall behind me.I still don't know where the hell I found the cattle.I own something like two dozen sabers, a few of which are busted or cracked open for parts. Call it seventeen working. A few are in-progress projects or from memorable ops. I have nine or so that I use frequently. Usually take three to six on an op.
>>19392643What is the biggest explosion you have ever set off, Comrade?
>>19392405Beer. More beer.Haven't seen 'em lately, no. Got a comm call from Saph yesterday, though.I tinker. Futz around with saber components, puzzle out upgrades, try to go back and improve my earlier work with what I know now. Kinda overlaps with my supply duties for the 4th, so it all runs together a bit.>>19392488Be--kidding, though maybe...Anyway, probably my sabers. At this point I'm like a hobbyist. Make 'em, collect 'em, mess with 'em. It gives me something to do. Kinda relaxing.Schwarz taught me most everything I know. Him or Frog--pretty damn good boss, I'd say.Gotta give favorite hunter to Anode. I've had friends, but in a week's time I've gotten a drinking buddy, had a barroom brawl, and surfed mechaniloids while spraying industrial grease. ...Come to think of it, all three might be related. Anyway, you know that old saying? "A friend pays your bail. A good friend is in the cell next to you going "DAMN that was fun!"I really, really want to make Special A.
>>19392601In this day and age, two friends should be able to go for drinks after work without it being gay. And if they hang around to grab something to eat after, or some dessert, that's their prerogative. And maybe if one of them needs help scrubbing their back in the shower, that's just being helpful. Can't two guys cuddle each other to sleep without people making baseless assumptions?...No but seriously, I dunno.>>19392637I don't really mind the height thing, honestly. It's the frigging color scheme shit. Anyway, they built me small as some kind of proof of concept. I was actually originally designed as a new production model chassis--you know, like the Berets? Hunters didn't end up taking it, but me and my siblings are based on it. I'm actually the oldest--their prototype, with the least kibble tacked on. Built pretty solid, even if my armor's not great.>>19392731Punted a torpedo into a waterborne mav. Thing meant to hit ships, taking out one guy and the blast overloading his core? Big fireworks.
>>19392868>torpedoA seaborne op? Did you have to go under the surface, or was it just you singing about being on a boat cruising for mermaid ass? What was the mission?
>>19392868What is you preferred alcohol?any mission that stands out to you, comrade?
>>19392868What was your most satisfying hunt?What is your greatest regret?Why don't you just get a new paintjob? Add some red trim or some shit.
>>19392947I mean, you've been bitching about your color scheme for...Come to think of it, how long have you been activated?
>>19392868on the subject of romantic relations, ever had your eyes on any ladyploids? or even human girls?
>>19392939Beer. I trend toward the lighter ones, but I love a good dark brew as well.Almost got my ass killed once taking on this big, armored motherfucker without support out on some island once. At the time I really didn't think about it, but there's no way I should have survived that. Tends to stick with you.>>19392947There was this guy, called himself a duelist. Killed a few people and left challenges for the maverick hunters to come and get him. I got him.Came within a stone's throw of that S ranking once. Armor was just a bit too light, thought I could tank a hit to have better positioning in the test.Man, no one but no one gets more shit than someone with a peeve that he immediately tries to hide. No, the armor I can live with, it's just eyes, hair, everything? That shit's too much. Dyeing makes me feel a little less pissy about it, and besides, it's sort of a nice thing for my brother and sister and me to bond over....Besides, red trim? 'O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree...'>>19392992I'm...shee, four now? Three? Five? I dunno, I really don't keep track that well. Call it four, maybe four and a half.>>19393103A few, here and there. There was this navigator I was seeing for a while. She still runs me on missions now and then.
>>19393137after sabre slingin, what area are you strongest at? and don't asy beer and or drinking
>>19393137before I forget again, would you mind listing the hunter ranks, in order?
>>19393206You mean the grades?Ranks run E through S, generally, with varying degrees therein. If you're talking about threat class, then it's mostly the same thing. Beyond S, there's G-class threats, like the Skyjammer, Wheel Gator's city masher, and Vile himself. Above that is the mythical P-class threat, short for "Perfect." There is only one recorded P-class threat, and that's Sigma himself.
>>19393257so SA is before S. Are there any further S varients, like SS? any G class varients?
>>19393189Honestly, I've gotten a decent head for engineering. A lot of saber tech is applicable to other stuff, and I know my way around enough systems to do field repairs, maintenance, that sort of thing.Also pretty damn good with a ride armor from all the cargo loading a quartermaster does. Shame Punchy got taken away. They better be taking good care of him.
>>19393206Okay, it's based on the threat ratings--being whatever rank means you should be able to handle any threat of that rank. Goes like this:F through D are basically pre-military, rating from "your grandma could arrest this" to "A well coordinated police team could handle them." C-rank is hunter infantry stuff, or military.B is where you start getting serious business. Military team with good training, or specialists in the same field, or officers of higher rank. Here's where they want you to bring in mechaniloids. A-rank is, like, a team of Spetsnaz or Seals or an action movie commando. They discourage attacking A-classes alone. SA is the big leagues. "Special" A, or S, we use it interchangeably, basically means it's too risky for any human, no matter how good, to handle. Too strong, or too tough, or most of the time both. Even hunter officers get sent in teams for this kind of thing. Pretty much all the SAs know each other. It's a very special club.After that comes G, slang is "Great," which is where shit just gets crazy. They usually throw the 17th or 0 units at them, with a lot of coordination and back up so they can take the shot. Backup is actually mandated, and single-manning it is banned. At this level all non-hunters have to get evacuated from the area. Serious business. If the SAs know eachother, everyone knows the handful of Gs.After that is P, "Perfect," class. Which we solve by nuking the site from orbit, pretty much. When the maverick hunters go 'fuck this,' you know shit has gotten real.We're just about outta time here. Anything else?
>>19393344How often have you had to throw beam sabers? Is there a trick to it?Do you eat organic food often? What's your favorite?
>>19393338Variants? Not really, but there's specialist rank. Basically, they count you as a grade higher when you deal with what you're good at, instead of your general purpose rank. It's technically that rank, so if you're a Specialist A, you're just an A as far as the company memos are concerned.
>>19393348What is your fondest moment?What are your hopes for the future of yourself? Of humankind and reploidkind?Leave any closing thoughts of your own.
>>19393349I actually designed a little hitch-hilt where you can lock the button down to keep the blade engaged. Worked that onto a balanced hilt. Debated going back and adding a reverse-blade, too much work and too easy to slice your hand open.The only real trick is knowing the balance. Blade's weightless, so you have to factor in only the hilt. Sounds complicated, but since the hilt's what you feel anyway, you figure it out fairly quickly.I don't eat food much, honestly. Apparently that had 'nontrivial consequences' for my auto repair, which needs organic crap to fuel its ... thing. Apparently beer doesn't count as food. Stupid picky auto-repair.Other than that, I guess my favorite food is pasta. Like, spaghetti and sauce, that kind of stuff. Reminds me of home.>>19393367Believe it or not, when I got my commission. It came in the mail since I was still at home at the time. Snapped off a salute for a picture. I think my 'parents' still have it. Well, I really want that S. After that...I don't know, I don't think that far ahead. I just wanna do some good. Humans and reploids and their futures are a bit beyond my pay grade. I'll be happy just keeping 'em safe so someone else can worry about it.Closing thoughts? ...... Really, right now all I can think of is profanity. I guess that about sums it up.See you guys another time.
