Non-HPU: Beacon of Hope

[Welsh Halfwit]

Sarah huffed. "Seems nowt. thought might be a door or... Any of youse got a shap'd charge? Mak' oor ain door?"
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Corp gave Conall a thumbs up before rolling his eyes and contacted Recon on a private channel. "According to our little loca the air's poison," he muttered. "Probably OK for the short time we're here but,we'll need decontamination and check ups when we get back. The others don't need to know just yet, Recon. It'll take their minds off their jobs. Could get them hurt. I'm telling you so they can be told if this unit goes down." He cut the line and engaged the group setting. "If they're tracing us, there's no logic to being upstairs. All downstairs and cover the doorway." As he said it, he was using the helmet screen directions to sign that Conall should get the little local downstairs to safety if he could. For his part, he grabbed the Coyote. "Can't leave you up here," he told him. "And your friends want you dead more than we do. Like it or not... You're with us now."
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"I was referring more to when we meet the Varanians," Hannabelle said. "Because, if they're being used for food, the Varanians are at the end of this trail. If they're being used to build a slave military..." She checked her weapon as they headed after the truck. "...the Varanians are at the end of this trail. Either way, it's us verses nine foot tall, armour plated behemoths for the Corytophians. And I don't plan on losing easily."
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"And," Keeva asked smoothly, "would he be one that might accept an invitation to meet with a augmented Feline and a large, friendly, Pred? Who appears to have a child on his toe."
The child, being Golten, had somehow not seen the huge drone as he'd been racing the passages, engaged in chase games with Corvis. "S...sorry, sir," Golten said, "didn't see you there..."
Corvis just looked up at Pred, then at his brother. Then back at Pred. "Didn't... see... him..?" Then he just facepalmed.
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"I'll cert'nly try, sir," Cherry sniffed, focussing on getting through to someone she'd not met. "Home base to Hawk, come in Hawk. And, please, you're live on channel Mindwire. No swearing please."
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Sana was at the rendezvous point. Well, she was nearly absolutely sure it was the rendezvous point. Now she just had to wait and hope Hawk had caused that large explosion and wasn't in it.
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Jaken looked out on the cityscape. He could just about see where they'd landed from here. "Not in one portal," he admitted honestly. "But I can roof hop there in... Four portals?"

[Hlaoroo]

Cailean immediately grins at this question.
"Yer askin' me if Ah hae explosive an' can mak a door." he answers without answering.
"Ah willnae dae it wi'oot Corp's orders though. It would mak our position clear an' Ah dinnae if they ken exactly where we are yet."

~~~~~~~~
Conall nods in understanding and crosses back to Et'wan.
"Boss says tae gae daownstairs." he writes to the reptilian creature.
'Come on. We'll tak care o' ye. An' boss' boss will dae his best tae tak care o' th' situation 'ere. Ah'll explain when there's time." Wisely the Laird refrains from actually promising Et'wan safety, just in case.

[SeanWolf]

Hawk continued running up the steps that connected to the wall, his eyes on the two remaining transports. He didn't have a plan to take them both out as, much to his dismay, the launcher he used to destroy the one was, itself, destroyed when it crashed onto the streets below. Still, he thought as he scurried up the stairs, that's one less transport for the crew to deal with...

Hivemind was considering when he noted the explosion in the middle of the outer city of New Rome. He let out a synthetic sound similar to a sigh and rubbed his forehead. "Get me in contact with Hawk..."

Hearing his comm-unit go off, much to his annoyance, Hawk grabbed the communicator and activated it; Hivemind's ID appeared on the screen. "You're going to have to call me back, sir! Situation here just went from already bad to even worse!" He said before turning off the comm-unit as he reached the second to last set of stairs. "Man, I'm gonna get chewed out for this...swear he's gonna think this is my fault...I know that, it's just...thanks to that replica? My reputation is more shot than ever..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Back at the outskirts, Tobias was readying to play another song when he heard a rather peculiar noise. First thinking it to be some sort of wildlife, he was set to ignore it until he looked up..."Ay, Dios mío!" He tapped Eira on the shoulder and pointed to where he was looking. "Aren't those the two buques* that Hawk mentioned?"

*buques = Ship

[Legotron123]

"We're here Gear. We'll be there in a few." Liz said, before looking back to the others. "That would be our cue to leave."
Kolt smiled and gave them a thumbs up. "Well good luck! Hope to see you when all this is done and we've back on the Beacon."
Liz gave him a thumbs up back and a nod to Eira before she and Lewis headed out to meet up with gear.
Kolt turned back to his new gal pal and his smile turned into more of a smirk. "Let's go beat up some bad guys." He said, starting to float somewhat above the ground.

[CyberDragon]

Conall looks alarmed at this revelation. He raises a finger in the universally-recognised "wait one moment" gesture and hurries over to Corp, having no idea the mouse had just mentioned him. He makes sure to give the captive a wide berth, his pad converting his scribbles into clear print as he walks. He waves urgently to get the Mican's attention and shows him the pad.
"Danger! Et'wan say deadly disease in air! We all exposed, need masks! Government gone, privatised. No help coming for people." The pad says, keeping the message as succinct as possible.

Corp gave Conall a thumbs up before rolling his eyes and contacted Recon on a private channel. "According to our little loca the air's poison," he muttered. "Probably OK for the short time we're here but,we'll need decontamination and check ups when we get back. The others don't need to know just yet, Recon. It'll take their minds off their jobs. Could get them hurt. I'm telling you so they can be told if this unit goes down."

"Guys, calm down. Why do you think Hive insists we wear the armor he provides? On the base of the neck on the right side, just next to the pauldron, you'll find a button. Press it, and it'll deploy a sealed full face helmet. I'll contact Gadgeteer. He should be able to do a scan of the air to figure out what's in it." Recon said before pressing the button on her own armor. Like she said, a full face helmet materialized out of the pack on the back of her armor and wrapped around her head.

"If they're tracing us, there's no logic to being upstairs. All downstairs and cover the doorway." As he said it, he was using the helmet screen directions to sign that Conall should get the little local downstairs to safety if he could. For his part, he grabbed the Coyote. "Can't leave you up here," he told him. "And your friends want you dead more than we do. Like it or not... You're with us now."

Conall nods in understanding and crosses back to Et'wan.
"Boss says tae gae daownstairs." he writes to the reptilian creature.
'Come on. We'll tak care o' ye. An' boss' boss will dae his best tae tak care o' th' situation 'ere. Ah'll explain when there's time." Wisely the Laird refrains from actually promising Et'wan safety, just in case.

Et'wan nodded and cautiously followed along behind the others as they all went downstairs. Recon remained on overwatch on the roof while Titan kept in her position in one of the back rooms. The captured merc didn't have much choice but to follow along.

Meanwhile, the group of mercenaries and their Varanian leader were right on top of the building. The Varanian with the tracker turned to face the front door, then barked some orders at the other mercenaries. The six armed thugs fanned out and surrounded the building, with two covering the back door, two covering the windows on the left side, and two covering the windows on the right. The Varanian drew a massive gun and approached the front door.

The Varanian pulled his gun back, then slammed the butt of it against the door, smashing it to pieces. The massive reptile stepped inside and sniffed the air, before noticing the people coming down the stairs. It raised it's gun and roared, preparing to fire.

--------------------

"I was referring more to when we meet the Varanians," Hannabelle said. "Because, if they're being used for food, the Varanians are at the end of this trail. If they're being used to build a slave military..." She checked her weapon as they headed after the truck. "...the Varanians are at the end of this trail. Either way, it's us verses nine foot tall, armour plated behemoths for the Corytophians. And I don't plan on losing easily."

"Ah. I see what ya mean." Gear nodded, before pulling a case of ammo out of the pack on his back. He opened it up and handed Hannabelle a fistful of armor piercing ammunition. "You wanna take out a Varanian, aim for the heart. They've got two, but take one out an' their limbs stop working an' they usually pass out. Blood vessels in non-vital organs contract, cuttin' off flow so the remainin' heart only has to pump enough to keep the vital parts alive."

Gear loaded a single round into his rifle.

"We're here Gear. We'll be there in a few." Liz said, before looking back to the others. "That would be our cue to leave."

Once the two were back, Gear stood back up. "Glad y'all could make it. Van's still on the move, an' it's headin' out of town. Unless any of y'all have a land speeder in yer pockets, I'm gonna call in some transport."

Gear held up his arm and typed something in on the display screen that appeared above it.

"Any of y'all know how to ride a motorcycle?"

--------------------

"And," Keeva asked smoothly, "would he be one that might accept an invitation to meet with a augmented Feline and a large, friendly, Pred? Who appears to have a child on his toe."
The child, being Golten, had somehow not seen the huge drone as he'd been racing the passages, engaged in chase games with Corvis. "S...sorry, sir," Golten said, "didn't see you there..."
Corvis just looked up at Pred, then at his brother. Then back at Pred. "Didn't... see... him..?" Then he just facepalmed.

"I am large enough that I look like a vehicle or otherwise a piece of equipment. It is more understandable than one might think." Predator commented. "But I would appreciate you standing back. I am heavy machinery, and you could get caught underfoot or injured by shifting plates when I move."

"Why are you two here, anyway?" Hivemind said sternly to Corvis and Golten. "This is a machine shop, full of heavy and dangerous equipment. It isn't safe for you two to be roughhousing around here. Why don't you two meet me outside, and I'll show you the way to the park?"

Hivemind turned to Keeva and nodded. "I believe he wouldn't mind meeting new people. He is currently walking around and seeing the sights on the ship. I will ask him if he is willing to stop by."

Hivemind paused for a moment, as though waiting for an answer from someone. Not long after, he spoke again.

"He's open to it. He should be here right about..."

Hivemind paused, and a writhing mass of shadows and darkness materialized in the air next to him. The shadowy tendrils twisted, forming into a vaguely anthropoid figure with a long tail. The shadows faded, and in their place stood a portly fox, roughly 5 feet tall, with feathers and talons on his arms. He held a skewer with what looked like fried tentacles wrapped around it in one clawed hand and a footlong hot dog in the other. On his neck was some kind of torc, slightly bent in places from being roughly handled.

"Greetings! Name's Vex! Man, can you believe how many festivals and carnivals there are on this ship? I haven't even gotten to the Wurstfest yet!" Vex said in a deep, yet cheerful voice.

He moved the skewer to his other hand, holding it between two fingers as he reached out to shake Keeva's hand.

"And who might you be?"

--------------------

"I'll cert'nly try, sir," Cherry sniffed, focussing on getting through to someone she'd not met. "Home base to Hawk, come in Hawk. And, please, you're live on channel Mindwire. No swearing please."

Hearing his comm-unit go off, much to his annoyance, Hawk grabbed the communicator and activated it; Hivemind's ID appeared on the screen. "You're going to have to call me back, sir! Situation here just went from already bad to even worse!" He said before turning off the comm-unit as he reached the second to last set of stairs. "Man, I'm gonna get chewed out for this...swear he's gonna think this is my fault...I know that, it's just...thanks to that replica? My reputation is more shot than ever..."

The comm unit clicked itself right back on again the moment Hawk turned it off. Hivemind had hijacked it, and was overriding it's controls. "Hawk. That is the second explosion you've been at the center of. YOU ARE IN A CITY! And a crowded one at that! It's a miracle if nobody's been killed."

"Grab Sana, link up with the others, make sure you aren't followed, and keep an eye on your surroundings. There are civilians all around you. The last thing we want is a fatality." Hivemind said before disconnecting from the comm unit.

- - - - -

The droid sighed again, sitting down and holding his hand to his head in a very human 'mentally exhausted' manner. He didn't say anything else.

--------------------

Jaken looked out on the cityscape. He could just about see where they'd landed from here. "Not in one portal," he admitted honestly. "But I can roof hop there in... Four portals?"

Hivemind looked out over the city, feeling unsure about this plan. Finally, he conceded that they needed their gear. He wanted to have it available in case things went south, which was the direction things seemed to be rapidly heading towards.

"...Alright. If you think you can do it, then do it. Just go in, grab Rika's equipment, and get back as fast as you can. If you're spotted, come back immediately. Understood?" Hivemind instructed.

--------------------

Back at the outskirts, Tobias was readying to play another song when he heard a rather peculiar noise. First thinking it to be some sort of wildlife, he was set to ignore it until he looked up..."Ay, Dios mío!" He tapped Eira on the shoulder and pointed to where he was looking. "Aren't those the two buques* that Hawk mentioned?"

*buques = Ship

"...Right..." Eira said, focusing on the two ships flying over the town a short ways away. "Gadgeteer, I'm going to need more water."

"Way ahead of you." the Varanian said, running towards her with two twenty gallon jugs slung over his shoulders. He lowered them to the ground, and Eira pulled the water out from inside. She engulfed herself in it, then froze it into a solid armor entirely made of ice.

"Jenny, you hang on to Kolt. Tobias, you grab hold of me. Given their descent and where they're headed, they'll be too far from us to be able to go on foot, so we're going in hard and fast." Eira said. "Kolt, keep a low profile. Stay close to the ground. Weave through the streets and alleys, but don't go above the tallest buildings. Seeing us flying without wings will draw too much attention from too great a radius."

Eira waited until Tobias had grabbed hold of her, then she lifted the armor into the air with her inside. Tobias would notice that, despite being made of ice, the armor wasn't cold at all.

"Let's get going!" she said, before flying off. She kept low, avoiding going higher than two stories off the ground as she made her way toward the dropship.

[Welsh Halfwit]

Corp took in the situation. Exposed. No room to evade the enormous gun. No way to evade the guns outside. One way to give the others a few seconds that could be used to escape. He took it, throwing the Coyote off to one side as he charged the assailant with a warcry of "do it, you Scots nit!" He brought out his psionic knives, one of which he used to try to damage the gun with when he was under its aim and slashed at the behemoth's leg with the other. He watched for the response, ready to shift away and believing that the Varanians troopers wouldn't be willing to fire so close to their boss...
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Sarah staggered as she caught the thrown Coyote. "Think he jus' said yes, Connall," she called, hauling the temporary captive back with her.
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"Thanks, Gear," Hannabelle said, before licking his cheek and loading up her weapon. "Kill shots to inconvenience them. That's annoying." She grinned. "That thing similar to a snowspeeder," she asked of the motorbike. "My licence for that's only a few years old. The Bike one's expired."
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The two boys, recognising when an offer is an order, trooped off to be taken to the park where they might find other kids (and Corvis wanted other languages to learn), leaving Keeva, Pred and the room's Hivebot. "Well, that was a diversion," Keeva extolled before the other exploded into being. "Haven't visited them yet myself, being more of a socket monkey than anything." she replied, shaking the hand. "Hi, Keeva Storm. I'm from another universe! And this is Predator. Nice to meet you."
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Cherry chose to add a little something before releasing the comm. "Mr Hawk? Please be as careful as warrented. We do want you back in one piece." The feeling might have been muddled somewhat by the sneeze at the end but she hoped it had gotten across, into his head. She closed the link and put her arm around the droid's shoulders, trying to be supportive.
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Jaken prepared himself. He knew his aim was good but eight portals in a row at maximum range wasn't something he'd done that often before. He looked out over the rooftops, set his jaw. "Back in ten, sir," he said before opening a portal to a distant roof. He turned around after stepping through and closed it, mentally filing away the location he'd just been in. Then he continued on his way. He might need a soda at the end...
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Jenny held on to Kolt and considered jetpacks. After she'd mentally shook her head and stopped thinking about six-packs.

[Hlaoroo]

"Cailean, but aye." Cailean corrects, glancing over at the wall which he'd prepared earlier with strategically placed pawprints.
"HEADS DOWN!" he barks, giving everyone a heads up before drawing on his power and punching a hole through the wall. That done, he pulls off a glove and grabs a chunk of rubble which he throws at the Varanian's head, causing it to explode as near to the alien's head as he can get it.

~~~~~~~~
Conall grabs Et'wan and positions himself between the little alien and the fight, guiding him towards Cailean's newly-formed exit.

[Legotron123]

Kolt picked Jenny up with a somewhat flirty smile as she tried not to think about whether she could grind meat on his abs, and took off, staying low to the ground like Eira request.
--
Liz shook her head. "I'm afraid not. Not a lot of free time or reason to do so on the ship."
Lewis meanwhile, scratched the back of his head. "I mean, I got hoverbike certified during a slow period just to have something to work towards, but I don't know how much of those skills would be transferable." He said, making a sorta "eh" motion with his hand.

[SeanWolf]

Making it to the top of the wall, Hawk watched as the transports began their landing procedures. He swore under his breath, realizing he may have been just a bit too late to stop them and quickly began thinking up a new plan...

"OK, I could...no, I can't do that; too many civvies...maybe I could...No, I already got heat inside, don't need any more...What? No, we can't do that...it's too risky and they just accepted me after the replica fiasco...I know you can handle it, but I'm just...worried, s'all...frag..." Hawk was running out of ideas. In all his years of bounty hunting, he could not think of anything to do here and he was getting slightly frustrated. But, that frustration soon lead to annoyance, for coming from behind, he heard a familiar sound. A sound that he really wasn't hoping it was what he thought it was and, sure enough, as he turned? "Ah, double frag." A group of droids he figured survived the crash had followed him up and were training their guns on him. He smiled and nodded at them, chuckling as they had him outgunned (seeing as he left his revolvers with Big Dog), and turned around. As he turned, a look of determination crossed his face as a fire in his eyes ignited. Crouching like a ferocious beast from hell, he roars with the sound of a million tigers and rushes into the horde, launching into a fury of well-timed punches and kicks. One by one, the droids fell lifeless and dismantled to the ground as Hawk continued fighting. And when he heard the telltale CLICK of a droid's gun, he quickly yanked it out of it's grip and continued the rampage, with the gun as his makeshift Caliburn. To Hawk in this moment, he was the conductor of this symphony of destruction, with his rage as the percussion and the droids as the choir. He lived for this moment, the moment where he could use this strength to save the innocents. Soon, the symphony ended, the guns were silent, and the droids were now lifeless pieces of smoldering crap. Standing on top of this pile of death, a lone figure stands, clutching a broken rifle in one hand, a droid's head in the other, and drenched in droid bile: Hawk had won. But that victory was short lived as, from behind, one more droid stood; A bigger, more armored variant. Hawk, panting, looked at the hulking beast and smirked. "You too? Come on then: I can do this all day..."

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Eira waited until Tobias had grabbed hold of her, then she lifted the armor into the air with her inside. Tobias would notice that, despite being made of ice, the armor wasn't cold at all.

"Let's get going!" she said, before flying off. She kept low, avoiding going higher than two stories off the ground as she made her way toward the dropship.

Tobias yelped as Eire took off, hanging on as she flew. "Ay, Dios mío!" he shouted. "Hope my case isn't dragging you down!"

[Welsh Halfwit]

THe sounds of banging and crashing alerted her to something going on and Sana found herself running towards the sounds of violence like Golta had always advised her not to. She was feeling a bit overwhelmed and was trying to get back on an even keel by acting. She climbed piles of rubbish and slid down the other side, letting her ears lead the way through the madness. She looked on the scene from a short distance and sighed. "Of course it's Hawk," she told herself as the big droid appeared. "I'm betting you can accept inputted commands," she said, getting her wrist computer into play in an attempt to shut down the droid. "You think YOU got firewalls," she remarked quietly as her fingers danced, "I've been annoying Hivemind!"

[CyberDragon]

Corp took in the situation. Exposed. No room to evade the enormous gun. No way to evade the guns outside. One way to give the others a few seconds that could be used to escape. He took it, throwing the Coyote off to one side as he charged the assailant with a warcry of "do it, you Scots nit!" He brought out his psionic knives, one of which he used to try to damage the gun with when he was under its aim and slashed at the behemoth's leg with the other. He watched for the response, ready to shift away and believing that the Varanians troopers wouldn't be willing to fire so close to their boss...

The Varanian and his allies saw Corp heading their way with knives raised. They all in turn raised their guns. When they fired, however, each of their guns suddenly veered off-target as though struck by some invisible force all at once. The shots flew off in wild and seemingly random directions, punching holes in walls and the ceiling. The shot from the Varanian's gun went straight up and nearly blew the entire second floor into ashes. Wood and ash fell from the sky around the house.

Corp's knives struck the Varanian's gun, causing the energy core to rupture. The reptilian roared in panic and rage, before hurling the broken gun straight at Sarah and the twins. Before the gun could reach them, a large armored gauntlet reached out from around the corner and caught it. Titan stepped into view, then crushed the weapon between her hands.

BMMPH!

The gun exploded, though the blast was completely contained in her grip. She brushed her hands together to get the ash and soot off.

The Varanian snarled and drew a large axe from its back before taking a heavy swing at Corp's neck with it.

"Cailean, but aye." Cailean corrects, glancing over at the wall which he'd prepared earlier with strategically placed pawprints.
"HEADS DOWN!" he barks, giving everyone a heads up before drawing on his power and punching a hole through the wall. That done, he pulls off a glove and grabs a chunk of rubble which he throws at the Varanian's head, causing it to explode as near to the alien's head as he can get it.

~~~~~~~~
Conall grabs Et'wan and positions himself between the little alien and the fight, guiding him towards Cailean's newly-formed exit.

The rest of the mercenaries went after them, firing all of their guns at the canines, their Corytophian witness, and even the captured merc they had with them. But suddenly they were faced with a bigger problem. Titan had casually stepped to the side, and now stood between the mercenaries and their targets. She simply stood, arms crossed, as the bullets and blaster shots bounced off of her armor. One shot ricocheted back at the mercenary who fired it and would have taken his head off if he hadn't ducked.

--------------------

"Thanks, Gear," Hannabelle said, before licking his cheek and loading up her weapon. "Kill shots to inconvenience them. That's annoying." She grinned. "That thing similar to a snowspeeder," she asked of the motorbike. "My licence for that's only a few years old. The Bike one's expired."

Gear smiled at the little 'fox kiss' on the cheek. "Makes it convenient for us though." he said in response to Hannabelle's comments about the annoyance of how durable Varanians were. "Considerin' we've got a no-kill rule to follow an' our rifles ain't built to be gentle."

Liz shook her head. "I'm afraid not. Not a lot of free time or reason to do so on the ship."
Lewis meanwhile, scratched the back of his head. "I mean, I got hoverbike certified during a slow period just to have something to work towards, but I don't know how much of those skills would be transferable." He said, making a sorta "eh" motion with his hand.

"Well, that's even better!" Gear said with a lopsided grin. "'cause I'm actually callin' in some hoverbikes. I asked 'cause motorcycles are more common, but them skills are plenty transferable."

Gear pulled out a pair of small spheres, then started typing something on the device on his wrist. Once he was done, he tossed the two spheres into the street. A moment later, the air distorted above them, and only a moment later two hoverbikes slipped into existence with a *pop*.

Gear climbed onto one of the hoverbikes and motioned for Hannabelle to climb on behind him. "I'll lead the way. Got a fix on their location."

--------------------

The two boys, recognising when an offer is an order, trooped off to be taken to the park where they might find other kids (and Corvis wanted other languages to learn), leaving Keeva, Pred and the room's Hivebot. "Well, that was a diversion," Keeva extolled before the other exploded into being. "Haven't visited them yet myself, being more of a socket monkey than anything." she replied, shaking the hand. "Hi, Keeva Storm. I'm from another universe! And this is Predator. Nice to meet you."

"Good to meet you too! Seems this place is a magnet for interdimensional visitors. You could say I'm from a different universe too!" Vex said, shaking Keeva's hand. "Specifically, I'm a demon. I was born in Hell, but decided to get out of dodge after the archdemon I worked for tried to possess me." the Enfield said casually. "So I basically switched sides. Now I live with my girlfriend, Harriet, in a forest cottage in a different mortal realm."

Hivemind was rubbing what would have been the bridge of his nose if his face weren't an LED visor. "It might do to at least attempt to be subtle about where you come from until I can figure out some way of letting people know about these kinds of things."

Vex simply shrugged. "Sure, because I'm the weirdest thing on this ship. If you want my advice, it might be best to just come out and say that we're here now, and be honest about what we are."

"That might work for the Guardians, but I imagine people will have a harder time accepting you." Hivemind responded.

Vex took a bite of one of his corn dogs. "Eh. I don't really care what they think of me. I'm mostly here to see the sights."

Hivemind sighed. "By the way... where is Harriet? It's not like you to leave her unattended..."

Vex swallowed his bite, then smiled. "Now that she's got that TAL droid you and Nikolai made, she doesn't need someone watching over her all the time. She's still at the festival."

--------------------

Cherry chose to add a little something before releasing the comm. "Mr Hawk? Please be as careful as warrented. We do want you back in one piece." The feeling might have been muddled somewhat by the sneeze at the end but she hoped it had gotten across, into his head. She closed the link and put her arm around the droid's shoulders, trying to be supportive.

"Thank you." Hivemind said to the attempt at comforting him. "But it's not him I'm worried about. I already know he is fully capable of handling himself given what I've been able to gather from the information I have on him. But if he gets caught, it could jeopardize everything we're doing down there."

"The Champions technically have not been given permission to operate anywhere on the surface. We can get away with disguising them as mercenaries in the outskirts and slums, but the city itself is a lot higher security."

--------------------

Jaken prepared himself. He knew his aim was good but eight portals in a row at maximum range wasn't something he'd done that often before. He looked out over the rooftops, set his jaw. "Back in ten, sir," he said before opening a portal to a distant roof. He turned around after stepping through and closed it, mentally filing away the location he'd just been in. Then he continued on his way. He might need a soda at the end...

While Jaken was gone, there was a knock on the door. Hivemind went to answer it, and found it was one of the hotel staff with a package. Hivemind opened the door.

"Good afternoon, sir. I was told to deliver this to you." the man said.

Hivemind accepted the package. "Do you know what it is?"

"I'm afraid it is not my place to pry. This was marked as a priority confidential delivery."

"Very well. Thank you." Hivemind said. He tipped the man and closed the door before opening the package. Inside was a strange, glowing crystal. Hivemind looked at it, scanning to see what it might be. The more he looked into it, the more he felt the spark of power from within it. At the same time, he felt chills running through him. He could swear he could hear it... screaming.

Hivemind pulled out the note and started reading through it thoroughly.

--------------------

Jenny held on to Kolt and considered jetpacks. After she'd mentally shook her head and stopped thinking about six-packs.

Kolt picked Jenny up with a somewhat flirty smile as she tried not to think about whether she could grind meat on his abs, and took off, staying low to the ground like Eira request.

Tobias yelped as Eire took off, hanging on as she flew. "Ay, Dios mío!" he shouted. "Hope my case isn't dragging you down!"

Eira led the way through the streets and alleys, through wastelands and ruins, until they came upon the closest landing site for the hostile dropships. This part of the town was marginally in better shape then the totally abandoned and derelict ghost town they had landed in, but it was still clearly impoverished. A crowd of people going about their day looked up at the descending dropship as it landed. Most knew the sign that they needed to clear out, but with the crowd as dense as it was, they couldn't evacuate properly before the dropship's doors opened and the androids inside started pouring out.

"Kolt! We need a shield between the bots and those civilians! Jenny, cover the dropship door! Hit them at their choke point! Tobias, keep the crowd under control! Last thing we need is a stampede!" Eira landed in front of the droids, her right arm forming into a shield in front of her as the droids opened fire on her. "Boss, can we get a scan on these guys? Are we good to hit 'em hard?" Eira waited for a moment until she got an affirmative response. "Cool." she said as she formed her arm into a blade of ice and swiped it through the droids in front of her, cutting four of them clean in half. "Boss says they're just drones. Go ham on 'em."

[Welsh Halfwit]

Corp, focussing on not enjoying himself in the moment, twisted under the axe swing, towards the Varanian's side as he reasoned Titan was ready to take over. He slashed out at the nearest leg in passing before engaging the first trooper behind him. He'd think about what had affected their aim later.
--------------------------------------------
Sarah aimed her weapon and extended her fighting staff with the other hand to smack a gun that was trying to point at Cailean off aim. With a coyote at her feet, and her gun pointed at the assailant, she invited him to surrender. Or get hurt. Whichever.
--------------------------------------------
Hannabelle, deciding she was going to borrow one of these things later, got on behind Gear, rifle strapped to her back and tail wrapped, as best she could, around both their midriffs as she held on to him.
------------------------------------------
"My dad used to have something to say about Demons," Keeva said, never having taken it literally until now. "Never be afraid to face them, nor run from them. Overcome them." She offered the metal arm and hand with a grin. "Wanna arm wrestle?"
-----------------------------------------
"So," Cherry interpolated, sitting down and sneezing away from Hive. "what you're not sure about is if you trust him? I get the same from...<choo!> Davidstow. Old history between the races. He said once that he might not trust me but... <choo!> he can rely on me to do my job. Rely on...<choo!> Oh, I'll be glad when the sneezing time stops... Another few weeks..."
----------------------------------------
Jaken looked around as he landed again, making sure he memorized where to put the portal before he made the last jump to inside the shuttle to get the equipment. And an isotonic drink. He opened the hole in space...
--------------------------------------
"Right ho," Jenny called, kissing Kolt on the cheek before dropping off to the ground, rolling into a half covered position and bringing her guns to bear, looking to keep her, rather obvious, superpower as back up. She opened fire.

[Legotron123]

Kolt didn't have time to blush as he rushed forward, making a forcefield big enough to cover the crowd from the droids gunfire. "What is it with bad guys and swarms of generic robots?" He said, the gunfire weak enough that he could afford to spare the focus to quip. "I swear, it feels like most of them have never heard of quality over quantity."
--
Lewis stepped onto the hoverbike, his mother seating herself behind him. He took a moment to get himself used to the controls, finding them close enough to where they'd be situated in his home dimension for his liking. "Ready when you are sir." He said to Gear, hand waiting on the throttle.

[Hlaoroo]

Sarah aimed her weapon and extended her fighting staff with the other hand to smack a gun that was trying to point at Cailean off aim. With a coyote at her feet, and her gun pointed at the assailant, she invited him to surrender. Or get hurt. Whichever.

Unfortunately for Sarah, knocking the gun away from Cailean points it straight at Conall. The unfortunate laird gets knocked flat and winded as the shot ricochets off the body armour protecting his back.

"CONALL!" Cailean barks, rushing to his older brother's side. He's relieved as the older dog flashes him the universal "okay" sign between gasped breaths.

"That's gonnae leave a bruise! Thank goodness fer armour!" Conall signs as Cailean helps him up, also privately thankful he doesn't have to try to talk out loud.

Seeing that the laird is okay, Cailean sends him on his way with Et'wan and dashes back to the hole in the wall. Yanking off a glove, he starts strategically placing fingerprints with the intent of bringing down the remains of the house on the heads of the attackers.

[SeanWolf]

Eira led the way through the streets and alleys, through wastelands and ruins, until they came upon the closest landing site for the hostile dropships. This part of the town was marginally in better shape then the totally abandoned and derelict ghost town they had landed in, but it was still clearly impoverished. A crowd of people going about their day looked up at the descending dropship as it landed. Most knew the sign that they needed to clear out, but with the crowd as dense as it was, they couldn't evacuate properly before the dropship's doors opened and the androids inside started pouring out.

"Kolt! We need a shield between the bots and those civilians! Jenny, cover the dropship door! Hit them at their choke point! Tobias, keep the crowd under control! Last thing we need is a stampede!" Eira landed in front of the droids, her right arm forming into a shield in front of her as the droids opened fire on her. "Boss, can we get a scan on these guys? Are we good to hit 'em hard?" Eira waited for a moment until she got an affirmative response. "Cool." she said as she formed her arm into a blade of ice and swiped it through the droids in front of her, cutting four of them clean in half. "Boss says they're just drones. Go ham on 'em."

With a smile that could melt the polar ice caps, if one was to go by his fans on his home planet, Tobias got to work, laying his guitar case down and drawing his guitar from it. Within a few seconds, he began playing the perfect tune to calm the crowd and keep them under control, while adding a few notes to give the Champions who can hear a bit of an advantage: 'Never Let Death Know Your Afraid', to which he also began singing, in his native language, the lyrics as well.

[CyberDragon]

Corp, focussing on not enjoying himself in the moment, twisted under the axe swing, towards the Varanian's side as he reasoned Titan was ready to take over. He slashed out at the nearest leg in passing before engaging the first trooper behind him. He'd think about what had affected their aim later.

As the axe swung over Corp's head, Titan reached forward and caught the blade with one hand, stopping it in it's path. The Varanian tugged and pulled, trying to get it back, but Titan casually yanked it from the reptilian's grip. Grabbing the axe with both hands, she snapped it in half.

The Varanian roared in rage and rushed towards the armored Champion, trying to claw and bite and strike at her with all of its strength, but she simply stood there taking the hits like a spring breeze.

Meanwhile, the merc Corp had slashed fell to the ground, yelling in pain at the injury to his leg. As Corp turned to engage another trooper the new combatant raised his gun. There was a blur of motion, a rush of wind, and suddenly the trooper's gun fell to pieces. Stunned and alarmed, the man quickly dropped what was left of the gun and pulled his knife, ready to engage Corp in close quarters.

Sarah aimed her weapon and extended her fighting staff with the other hand to smack a gun that was trying to point at Cailean off aim. With a coyote at her feet, and her gun pointed at the assailant, she invited him to surrender. Or get hurt. Whichever.

Mercenaries are not the type to surrender easily. The coyote pulls a superheated knife from a sheath on his hip and takes a swing at Sarah's leg.

Unfortunately for Sarah, knocking the gun away from Cailean points it straight at Conall. The unfortunate laird gets knocked flat and winded as the shot ricochets off the body armour protecting his back.

"CONALL!" Cailean barks, rushing to his older brother's side. He's relieved as the older dog flashes him the universal "okay" sign between gasped breaths.

"That's gonnae leave a bruise! Thank goodness fer armour!" Conall signs as Cailean helps him up, also privately thankful he doesn't have to try to talk out loud.

Seeing that the laird is okay, Cailean sends him on his way with Et'wan and dashes back to the hole in the wall. Yanking off a glove, he starts strategically placing fingerprints with the intent of bringing down the remains of the house on the heads of the attackers.

Seeing that the witnesses were clear and that Cailean was preparing to blow the house down, Recon stopped running and shouted out to the others.

"Alright everybody! Disengage and bail! Through the hole, now!"


[1 Varanian, Unarmed Combatant]
[5 Mercenaries, 3 armed with guns, 2 armed with knives]

--------------------

Hannabelle, deciding she was going to borrow one of these things later, got on behind Gear, rifle strapped to her back and tail wrapped, as best she could, around both their midriffs as she held on to him.

Lewis stepped onto the hoverbike, his mother seating herself behind him. He took a moment to get himself used to the controls, finding them close enough to where they'd be situated in his home dimension for his liking. "Ready when you are sir." He said to Gear, hand waiting on the throttle.

Gear revved up the hoverbike and shot forward down the street, turning to follow the path he had recorded from the tracking device he planted on the truck. The trail took the group outside of the broken and partly abandoned town and into an equally broken wasteland. Dead and rotting trees, gone black from smog and smoke, lined the rough and tattered road. Eventually, through the bare branches of the dead forest, an old airport came into view. In the distance, Gear could see the truck from before, pulled onto the old runway where a large spaceship was waiting for them.

The spaceship was a combination of crude and sophisticated. Like it was made from technology taken apart and roughly reassembled by people who had a bare minimum understanding of space flight. Heavy armor and plating was tacked on in places for reinforcement.

It's design was characteristic of a Varanian ship. Varanians never developed space flight on their own, and instead reverse-engineered technology from alien civilizations they had devoured on first contact.

Gear slowed his hoverbike and parked it amongst the cover of the trees, gesturing for the others to do the same. He used his cybernetics to zoom his vision in on the truck enough to see two mercenaries standing beside it. Three Varanians, two armed with halberds and one with massive hand cannons in hip holsters, stepped out of the ship and approached the truck. The Varanian with the guns appeared to be speaking with the mercenaries.

"Five targets. Three Varanians. Two Mercenaries. All armed from the looks of it. There's likely more Varanians in that ship. Looks like the big one with the guns is the leader of the Varanian group."


[3 Varanian Combatants. 2 Halberd, 1 Dual Hand Cannon]
[2 Mercenary Combatants. 2 Energy Rifles]
[Combatants are unaware]

--------------------

"My dad used to have something to say about Demons," Keeva said, never having taken it literally until now. "Never be afraid to face them, nor run from them. Overcome them." She offered the metal arm and hand with a grin. "Wanna arm wrestle?"

Vex looked down at the hand Keeva had offered. The missing arm reminded him of someone he had met on this ship recently, but he considered the offer. "You know..." he said, "Normally, I would say that wasn't a good idea. My domain is 'Raw Power' and even with this Inhibitor Torq..." Vex gestured to the band on his neck, "...I am still quite a lot stronger than most mortals."

"...Most. This realm has offered a lot of surprises lately! In the past day or so, I met someone who could push a black hole, and watched as a mortal exploded another demon with her mind. I am quite glad we're on the same side, honestly."

Vex smiled, and the snacks he was holding vanished in a swirl of shadows as he held out his hand. "I've been looking to arm wrestle with someone who won't accidentally rip my arm off. I accept!"

--------------------

"So," Cherry interpolated, sitting down and sneezing away from Hive. "what you're not sure about is if you trust him? I get the same from...<choo!> Davidstow. Old history between the races. He said once that he might not trust me but... <choo!> he can rely on me to do my job. Rely on...<choo!> Oh, I'll be glad when the sneezing time stops... Another few weeks..."

"I barely know him." Hivemind said simply. "He showed up today to join and got an expedited trip down due to the situation on New Rome. He's never been through Champion training."

--------------------

Jaken looked around as he landed again, making sure he memorized where to put the portal before he made the last jump to inside the shuttle to get the equipment. And an isotonic drink. He opened the hole in space...

Hivemind waited for Jaken to return, holding the strange gem in his metal hand. He had a feeling he knew what it was. He hoped he was wrong.

--------------------

"Right ho," Jenny called, kissing Kolt on the cheek before dropping off to the ground, rolling into a half covered position and bringing her guns to bear, looking to keep her, rather obvious, superpower as back up. She opened fire.

Kolt didn't have time to blush as he rushed forward, making a forcefield big enough to cover the crowd from the droids gunfire. "What is it with bad guys and swarms of generic robots?" He said, the gunfire weak enough that he could afford to spare the focus to quip. "I swear, it feels like most of them have never heard of quality over quantity."

With a smile that could melt the polar ice caps, if one was to go by his fans on his home planet, Tobias got to work, laying his guitar case down and drawing his guitar from it. Within a few seconds, he began playing the perfect tune to calm the crowd and keep them under control, while adding a few notes to give the Champions who can hear a bit of an advantage: 'Never Let Death Know Your Afraid', to which he also began singing, in his native language, the lyrics as well.

The droids opened fire on the crowd, their blaster shots just barely intercepted in time by Kolt's shields. They all continue their barrage against the protesters as they screamed and ran, threatening to trample each other in the process. That is, until Tobias started playing his music. The song cut through the sounds of the blaster fire, through the sounds of screams and explosions. The civilians heard, then listened, then calmed down as they looked over towards Tobias.

Meanwhile Jenny and Eira faced the group of extermination droids. They were moderately armored, and several of them were carrying riot shields and pistols while the rest carried energy rifles firing on full auto.

There were 30 androids in total. The 10 in the front had the riot shields, and the 20 with rifles were in formation behind them. Eira planted herself in front of Jenny so the rat could use her ice-encased 7 foot tall frame for cover. With Eira's ice armor up, the small arms fire bounced effortlessly off of her. She pulled her right arm back, an arm made entirely of ice from the elbow down, and she launched it forward. The fist plowed straight through the shield droid in front of her and exploded in the second row, destroying five of the droids and damaging four more.

Jenny continued to fire, but her pistols are unable to pierce past the shields of the droids in the front row. The shots simply bounce off of them.

"Unless those things have some kind of anti-armor or grenade launcher attachment, you might want to think of something else. Don't suppose you've got any grenades on you?" Eira asked her.

[9 Shield Droids. 2 Damaged.]
[16 Assault Droids. 2 Damaged.]
[All Droids are firing towards the crowd.]
[The crowd is shielded and calmed.]

[Legotron123]

”If she doesn’t, I’m pretty sure I do somewhere in my hammerspace pocket. Though I can’t really search it and grab one and keep the shield up at the same time.” Kolt said, sparing a a glance towards the others as he kept blocking the gunfire. He seemed focused, but not incredibly concerned, like this was just another problem they’d overcome.
—
Liz and Lewis hid behind the trees with the others, peaking out to get a look at their opponents. “So, what’s our plan of attack here? It’s a big open airfield, so sneaking up on them is going to impossible once we’re past the tree line.” Liz said, looking back at Gear.
Lewis meanwhile used the telescope feature built into his armor to get a closer look at the insides of the ship and the truck.

[Welsh Halfwit]

Jenny looked around quickly. She could see cover some ten to fifteen feet away. It suited her perfectly. She slipped a glitter grenade from her pouches. It should, hopefully, mess with the robot's targeting systems... "Well, if we're not bein' subtle," she mentioned, "Cov'r me?" She lobbed the grenade and waited until it detonated, throwing millions of pieces of glitter into the air, before she ran, pell mell, for the new cover, putting her guns away as she went. "Who needs a bang," she asked in her colonial dialect, "when ya c'n 'ave a boom?" She brought her hands together, directing the sonic and concussive blast at her opponents. "Tho' I ain't exactly subtle!"
---------------------
Jaken looked up as he completed the required task, opening a portal into the room he'd left Hivemind in and pulling the equipment Hive had requested through with him before flopping into one of the chairs. "Hope I didn't forget the.. instruction manual," he joked, clearly exhausted.
-------------------
Sarah stopped the blow by blocking it with her staff before adjusting her stance to let the assailant's motion carry him towards overbalance and striking for the back of his head. "Rec'n," she called, "Grab coma Coyote 'ere!" She made sure she wasn't leaving until after her charges did and this merc wasn't getting past her to them. She aimed to boot him in the crotch.
------------------
Corp waited for the opening he knew would come. It often did with knife fights involving those who didn't knife fight. The speed slash. The forgetting that, if you're in range to strike, you're in their striking range. It was just positioning and patience...And speed. They always doubted his speed as he struck for the enemy gut with a stabbing motion.
-------------------
"If anyone's got explosives," Hannabelle mentioned, "there might be a plan." She began setting up a shooting position. "Fightin' him there's suicide as we don't know who's on that ship. So we pull them over here for the fight. Then someone can get up to the ship and plant summat to blow the engines. As for how we get him over here? We really annoy him. And shoot his guns."
------------------
And yet you <choo> trusted him enough to send him?" Cherry grinned. You're tied into all the news and intelligence outlets there are. Think you know him better than you think you do?""
------------------
"Then we'd better get a table," Keeva grinned and walked with the others. "Wanna prebook a repair," she asided to Hive. "In case?" She sat and offered the hand.

[Hlaoroo]

With the enemies held back in the building, Conall takes a moment to pull out his pad and materialise a small stun gun from the screen.
"Dae ye ken haow tae use this?" he writes, showing the pad to Et'wan and offering him the gun grip first so the Corytrophian doesn't feel nervous.
"It has enough charge fer twenty shots. It willnae kill but it should knock 'em daown fer a few minutes."

~~~~~~~~
"GO, GO, GO!" Cailean calls to his team, all his "charges" ready to blow.

[SeanWolf]

The droids opened fire on the crowd, their blaster shots just barely intercepted in time by Kolt's shields. They all continue their barrage against the protesters as they screamed and ran, threatening to trample each other in the process. That is, until Tobias started playing his music. The song cut through the sounds of the blaster fire, through the sounds of screams and explosions. The civilians heard, then listened, then calmed down as they looked over towards Tobias.

Meanwhile Jenny and Eira faced the group of extermination droids. They were moderately armored, and several of them were carrying riot shields and pistols while the rest carried energy rifles firing on full auto.

There were 30 androids in total. The 10 in the front had the riot shields, and the 20 with rifles were in formation behind them. Eira planted herself in front of Jenny so the rat could use her ice-encased 7 foot tall frame for cover. With Eira's ice armor up, the small arms fire bounced effortlessly off of her. She pulled her right arm back, an arm made entirely of ice from the elbow down, and she launched it forward. The fist plowed straight through the shield droid in front of her and exploded in the second row, destroying five of the droids and damaging four more.

Jenny continued to fire, but her pistols are unable to pierce past the shields of the droids in the front row. The shots simply bounce off of them.

"Unless those things have some kind of anti-armor or grenade launcher attachment, you might want to think of something else. Don't suppose you've got any grenades on you?" Eira asked her.

[9 Shield Droids. 2 Damaged.]
[16 Assault Droids. 2 Damaged.]
[All Droids are firing towards the crowd.]
[The crowd is shielded and calmed.]

Tobias continued playing, adding in some extra notes here and there to help Eira and the crew along with keeping the civilians calm. His fingers danced across the strings with such ease and fluid motion, it was almost as if they were a separate entity onto themselves. As he played, he also began to sing, his smooth voice carrying over the crowds like a warm blanket on a cold winter's night.

[CyberDragon]

”If she doesn’t, I’m pretty sure I do somewhere in my hammerspace pocket. Though I can’t really search it and grab one and keep the shield up at the same time.” Kolt said, sparing a glance towards the others as he kept blocking the gunfire. He seemed focused, but not incredibly concerned, like this was just another problem they’d overcome.

Jenny looked around quickly. She could see cover some ten to fifteen feet away. It suited her perfectly. She slipped a glitter grenade from her pouches. It should, hopefully, mess with the robot's targeting systems... "Well, if we're not bein' subtle," she mentioned, "Cov'r me?" She lobbed the grenade and waited until it detonated, throwing millions of pieces of glitter into the air, before she ran, pell mell, for the new cover, putting her guns away as she went. "Who needs a bang," she asked in her colonial dialect, "when ya c'n 'ave a boom?" She brought her hands together, directing the sonic and concussive blast at her opponents. "Tho' I ain't exactly subtle!"

The glitter bomb explodes in midair, spreading reflective debris over the formation of androids and effectively blinding them in the process. The droids start firing ahead, randomly, in an attempt to hit their assailant. 2 assault androids are destroyed by the droids behind them. Likewise, the two damaged shield droids are destroyed by the androids behind them. Beyond that, 4 assault droids and 3 shield droids are damaged by attacks from the droids behind them.

Jenny's sonic blast rattles the droids in a wide cone. The sturdier shield droids appear to weather through this particular blast, surviving though not unscathed. The same cannot be said for many of the assault droids behind them, as four of them are blasted or shaken to pieces.

Tobias continued playing, adding in some extra notes here and there to help Eira and the crew along with keeping the civilians calm. His fingers danced across the strings with such ease and fluid motion, it was almost as if they were a separate entity onto themselves. As he played, he also began to sing, his smooth voice carrying over the crowds like a warm blanket on a cold winter's night.

Calmed by the sound of Tobias's music, the crowd begins to file out of the area in a surprisingly orderly fashion. With the chaos normally expected of a panicked crowd being subdued, the crowd is able to vacate the battlefield unusually quickly.

Encouraged by Tobias's music, Eira flies through the gap in the enemy ranks to come up behind them. She takes a deep breath, filling her lungs with the water of her ice armor, before exhaling a blast of freezing air that rushes over the androids like a blizzard. While one assault droid manages to dodge the attack, 2 assault droids and one shield droid all lock up as their joints freeze, while another 2 assault droids and 2 shield droids fall to the ground and shatter.

In the distance, two more dropships can be seen approaching the area.

[8 assault androids remain. 3 are damaged. 2 are frozen solid.]
[5 shield androids remain. 1 is damaged. 1 is frozen solid.]
[The crowd has dispersed and left the combat zone]
[Enemy reinforcements incoming.]

--------------------

Liz and Lewis hid behind the trees with the others, peaking out to get a look at their opponents. “So, what’s our plan of attack here? It’s a big open airfield, so sneaking up on them is going to impossible once we’re past the tree line.” Liz said, looking back at Gear.
Lewis meanwhile used the telescope feature built into his armor to get a closer look at the insides of the ship and the truck.

Lewis would see that the Varanian ship was as expected of most of Varanian technology. Big, powerful, and crude. It was clearly built with little understanding of the technology that went into its mechanisms, leading to a lot of vulnerabilities past its sturdy armor. Unfortunately, the ship also looks highly unstable, with a ton of power packed haphazardly within it.

The truck is a standard armored transport truck. It is sturdy enough to withstand small weapon fire, but it isn't a tank. An armor piercing round could go right through it and damage the eggs inside. From how it's sagging under the weight of its load, there must be a lot of abducted eggs in there.

"If anyone's got explosives," Hannabelle mentioned, "there might be a plan." She began setting up a shooting position. "Fightin' him there's suicide as we don't know who's on that ship. So we pull them over here for the fight. Then someone can get up to the ship and plant summat to blow the engines. As for how we get him over here? We really annoy him. And shoot his guns."

"Knowin' Varanians..." Gear started, "That ship's prob'ly a house of cards with an armored shell an' a nuke inside. We start smashin' things and the house'll come down, yeah, but that ship'll go out with a bang. It'll kill everythin' out there, includin' the eggs."

"Varanian's hate fightin' at a range, an' they don't like runnin' either. We start a fight, they'll come for us and the mercs will scamper with the eggs. I'm thinkin' we load up amber rounds and disable them guns-for-hire. Once the Varanians are closer, you and I'll load up AP rounds and aim for the heart."

Gear looks over to Liz and Lewis. "Hannabelle and I'll get the party goin'. Catch 'em by surprise. Lewis, think ya can disarm 'em with that telekinesis? Liz, Ya got a Varanian form and can go in close, keep 'em at the right range for our rifles. Sound like a plan?"

--------------------

Jaken looked up as he completed the required task, opening a portal into the room he'd left Hivemind in and pulling the equipment Hive had requested through with him before flopping into one of the chairs. "Hope I didn't forget the.. instruction manual," he joked, clearly exhausted.

Jaken would be able to feel something coming from the gem Hivemind was holding. It sounded almost like whispers. There was a tremendous amount of power in that crystal, enough power to give him anything he wanted. Before this line of thinking continued, however, Hivemind stowed the crystal away and the sense of raw potential was immediately extinguished. Hivemind turned to Jaken.

"Thank you, Jaken. I know that was a lot to ask. Take a moment to rest, I'll take care of the equipment from here." Hivemind said while moving to pick up the gear Jaken had brought.

--------------------

Sarah stopped the blow by blocking it with her staff before adjusting her stance to let the assailant's motion carry him towards overbalance and striking for the back of his head. "Rec'n," she called, "Grab coma Coyote 'ere!" She made sure she wasn't leaving until after her charges did and this merc wasn't getting past her to them. She aimed to boot him in the crotch.

The mercenary tumbled forward and, upon getting struck in the back of the head, fell forward unconscious. He vanished in a rush of wind as Recon carried him away to who-knows-where, removing him from battle and leaving the house herself. She called back to corp. "Stop playing with your new friends and get out of there, Corp! Titan will keep them at bay!"

Meanwhile, Titan casually lifted the Varanian she was fighting with one hand and lifted it up, plowing it through the ceiling and throwing it through the floorboards into the attic. The display of casual power and sudden removal of their leader leaves the three gun-carrying attackers stunned and unsure of what to do.

Corp waited for the opening he knew would come. It often did with knife fights involving those who didn't knife fight. The speed slash. The forgetting that, if you're in range to strike, you're in their striking range. It was just positioning and patience...And speed. They always doubted his speed as he struck for the enemy gut with a stabbing motion.

The mercenary doubled over in pain as the psionic knife pierced his abdomen. He falls to his knees, incapacitated. Titan reaches out, grabs him, and throws him straight out of the open door, removing him from the battle.

With the enemies held back in the building, Conall takes a moment to pull out his pad and materialise a small stun gun from the screen.
"Dae ye ken haow tae use this?" he writes, showing the pad to Et'wan and offering him the gun grip first so the Corytrophian doesn't feel nervous.
"It has enough charge fer twenty shots. It willnae kill but it should knock 'em daown fer a few minutes."

The small corytophian looks at the gun and takes it into his hand. He seems surprisingly experienced with it as he holds it ready to use if needed. He nods to Conall, indicating he understands.

"GO, GO, GO!" Cailean calls to his team, all his "charges" ready to blow.

Once everyone else is out of the house, Titan would be the last one remaining with the enemy fighters. As long as everyone else is out, Titan will signal for Cailean to detonate the charges.

Recon reassures Cailean. "Titan is invulnerable. Don't worry about her, she's buying us time to get out of here."

[1 Varanian combatant, prone, disarmed, in the attic]
[3 gunmen, stunned]

--------------------

And yet you <choo> trusted him enough to send him?" Cherry grinned. You're tied into all the news and intelligence outlets there are. Think you know him better than you think you do?""

"I know a great deal about him." Hivemind said. "The question is, what among those things was him, and what is attributed to the reploid assuming his identity?"

--------------------

"Then we'd better get a table," Keeva grinned and walked with the others. "Wanna prebook a repair," she asided to Hive. "In case?" She sat and offered the hand.

"Already booked." Hivemind said. "Still, Vex, please don't break anything."

"No promises! Really, it just sort of happens with me." the demon said before the two of them went off to find a table. Predator followed behind them until they found a table.

"So, you're from another realm? What was it like, if you don't mind me asking? And how did you get here?" Vex asked as he took a seat.

[Hlaoroo]

"Good. Ah should also warn ye that it'll disappear in five minutes. Nothin' personal, it's just haow mah power works." Conall writes, just so Et'wan won't be surprised.

~~~~~~~~
Cailean pulls his gloves back on as he waits for Titan's signal and then, after a final glance to make sure everyone is safely behind him, draws on his power.
"FIRE IN THE HOLE! FIRE IN THE HOLE!" he yells through cupped paws. An instant later his charges detonate with a solid thump, causing the entire façade of the building to slide down into a pile of rubble big enough to completely cover the hole.
"Yeah! Didja see tha', Sarah?" he asks, with a pleased fist-pump as the dust cloud settles.

[Welsh Halfwit]

Jenny looked up at the incoming. "Great," she muttered. "Eira, you an' Kolt 'andle this lot. I got bigger fish t'fry." She steeled herself for what followed and brought her hands together in the direction of the ships. And held them together, feeling the vibrations as the sonic blast became more of a beam aimed at the dropships, meaning to bring them down by destroying their gyroscopes.
--------------------------------
Hannabelle shrugged lightly. "As a plan, it'll do," she announced with a grin. She began readying the weapon.
-------------------------------
"Ah saw," Sarah complimented Cailean after Corp announced he was OK. She put an arm around his shoulders after dropping a Coyote captive she'd grabbed. "'Avin' a blast, eh? C'mon. We're 'sposed, 'ere."
-------------------------------
Corp looked towards the Corytophian with the gun. "Keep it," he insists before indicating Connal. "You're probably a better shot."
------------------------------
Sana grinned as her system gained access to the big robot. Only to less protected systems. She got it to dance erratically by adjusting the movement sensors and adjusting the internal gyroscopes "HAWK," she yelled, "Y'WANNA DO SUMMAT BEFORE IT ESCAPES?"

-----------------------------
Jaken sighed and forced himself upright so he could get some water. "Thanks f'r permission to pass out, boss," he said cheekily, resuming his occasional battle to make Hivemind laugh.
------------------------------
Cherry thought on what he'd said and decided it was too much like 'a rose by any other name' for her to actually say that. "Sometimes the wild card is what you need," she advised. "The slightly independent thinker who does things a bit different." Now she actively grinned, before facing away and sneezing. "At... least the excuse of 'losing comms' isn't one he can use now, eh?"
------------------------------
"There are some universe," Keeva announced, "where the hamburger just has different lettuce on it and some so different the hamburger eats you. This is a different lettuce type universe. Near the same but some differences. Like Demons?" She sat and readied herself. "I was on a ship I'd joined just a few days before after escaping kidnappers. Something happened - not totally sure what - and we jumped dimensions. Annnd pretty much broke the ship in two. Y'know,"/color]" she grinned, "tuesday around here?"

[Hlaoroo]

"Ah saw," Sarah complimented Cailean after Corp announced he was OK. She put an arm around his shoulders after dropping a Coyote captive she'd grabbed. "'Avin' a blast, eh? C'mon. We're 'sposed, 'ere."
-------------------------------
Corp looked towards the Corytophian with the gun. "Keep it," he insists before indicating Connal. "You're probably a better shot."

"Och, right. War zone. Forgot that bit." Cailean blushes. He starts to follow Sarah but stops as his brother waves at him and signs something.

"Ah. Chief Corp, sah, Conall saw ye indicate him and asked me tae repeat what ye said in sign but Ah wasnae listenin' tae ye, sorry. Could ye say it again, please?" the younger dog asks politely, approaching the Mican, Laird and Corytrophian. He hopes the mouse won't be too irritated by his battlefield inexperience and informality.

[Welsh Halfwit]

Corp almost snorted. "Sayin' the little one's probably a better shot." Corp kept moving for the next cover.

[SeanWolf]

Sana grinned as her system gained access to the big robot. Only to less protected systems. She got it to dance erratically by adjusting the movement sensors and adjusting the internal gyroscopes "HAWK," she yelled, "Y'WANNA DO SUMMAT BEFORE IT ESCAPES?"

Looking towards the shout, Hawk is briefly distracted by the yelling Sana, allowing the droid to get a cheap-shot on his face. Hawk grunted as he stumbled back, before looking back up at the droid. "OK, you wanna dance with the dead? I got your ticket here." With all his might, Hawk leaped and tackled the droid, almost like a beefed-up linebacker, over the ledge, sending both careening down the encampment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"How are we looking, Eira?" Tobias said into the comm-unit as he played, unaware of the free-falling Hawk and the droid. "Looks like the crowd are almost out."

[Legotron123]

Once the crowd had fully dispersed, Kolt smirked before shrinking and shifting his forcefield, changing it from a massive wall to a full body covering. “Finally. Time to cut loose.” He said, before launching himself forward towards the robots, trying to use himself as a living battering ram to smash through them.
—
“Yeah just from a quick look, that ship is about as stable as the average pillow fort. Best avoid trying to set anything off there. Lewis said, shifting his armor out of the telescope mode and looking at Gears.
The two of them listened as the hero explained his plan, and both gave a short nod once he was done. “Sounds good to me.” Liz said.
“I’m going to have to wait until they start actively drawing their weapons before I can effectively yank them away, but other than that I have no issues.”

[CyberDragon]

"Good. Ah should also warn ye that it'll disappear in five minutes. Nothin' personal, it's just haow mah power works." Conall writes, just so Et'wan won't be surprised.

~~~~~~~~
Cailean pulls his gloves back on as he waits for Titan's signal and then, after a final glance to make sure everyone is safely behind him, draws on his power.
"FIRE IN THE HOLE! FIRE IN THE HOLE!" he yells through cupped paws. An instant later his charges detonate with a solid thump, causing the entire façade of the building to slide down into a pile of rubble big enough to completely cover the hole.
"Yeah! Didja see tha', Sarah?" he asks, with a pleased fist-pump as the dust cloud settles.

Everyone got out of the building before the explosives detonated, with the exception of Titan. She stood between the blast and the squishier of the enemies to absorb the hit herself. Still, the blast did what it was meant to do, and the entire building collapsed on top of Titan and the remaining attackers.

The smoke and silence that followed was broken when a massive, armored fist smashed through the layers of debris. Titan climbed out of the wreckage, completely unharmed and unphased. She had the unconscious bodies of the mercenaries on one arm and the knocked out Varanian on the other. She nodded at the others, indicating she was ready to move on.

"Right... I suggest we get back to base so we can secure the witness and interrogate the knuckleheads." Recon suggested before sending a message to Gadgeteer.

Corp looked towards the Corytophian with the gun. "Keep it," he insists before indicating Connal. "You're probably a better shot."

"Not bad. Maybe we see." Et'wan said, keeping the weapon ready. He nods in acknowledgement towards Conall. "Fine. Just need get to safe place."

"Right. We have a spot picked out not far from here. It'll have medicine and defenses. But, uh..." Recon started, realizing what might be a problem. "Just, uh, don't shoot anyone once we're there. One of our teammates might be a little... surprising. Is everyone ready to move?"

--------------------

Jenny looked up at the incoming. "Great," she muttered. "Eira, you an' Kolt 'andle this lot. I got bigger fish t'fry." She steeled herself for what followed and brought her hands together in the direction of the ships. And held them together, feeling the vibrations as the sonic blast became more of a beam aimed at the dropships, meaning to bring them down by destroying their gyroscopes.

The beam cuts through the air above the battle and strikes against one of the dropships. It's armor plating buckles under the force, and it strains against the sonic blast. Eventually the ship loses control and starts to drop towards the ground. It crashes into the street a few hundred meters behind the line of droids.

Looking towards the shout, Hawk is briefly distracted by the yelling Sana, allowing the droid to get a cheap-shot on his face. Hawk grunted as he stumbled back, before looking back up at the droid. "OK, you wanna dance with the dead? I got your ticket here." With all his might, Hawk leaped and tackled the droid, almost like a beefed-up linebacker, over the ledge, sending both careening down the encampment.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"How are we looking, Eira?" Tobias said into the comm-unit as he played, unaware of the free-falling Hawk and the droid. "Looks like the crowd are almost out."

Eira reaches out to the three frozen droids, connecting to the ice with her cryokinesis. She uses her connection to launch the three in different directions. One plows straight through the droid next to it, destroying it in the process, before striking another android and exploding into a shower of ice shards, taking out the frozen droid as well as two others.

The second android is launched sideways, colliding with the previously undamaged droid before both explode.

Finally the shield droid also flies sideways, crashing through two more androids before it also bursts into a shower of ice. One of the remaining shield droids gets coated in ice from the explosion, while three are destroyed.

"Almost done with these guys, but there's more on the way!"

Once the crowd had fully dispersed, Kolt smirked before shrinking and shifting his forcefield, changing it from a massive wall to a full body covering. “Finally. Time to cut loose.” He said, before launching himself forward towards the robots, trying to use himself as a living battering ram to smash through them.

The remaining four droids were almost lined up perfectly for this. With great speed and power, Kolt plows straight through the remaining shield droids and turns the two rifle androids in the back into scrap metal. All that remained of the androids were broken bits of armor, oil, mechanical parts, and some scattered weapons.

Unfortunately, only one of the incoming dropships had been destroyed. The other flies in behind the heroes and opens it's back door, allowing two unmanned light tanks to roll out onto the streets a few meters from where Tobias was standing. Worse still, now three more dropships appeared in the sky, flying towards the fight.

(All androids destroyed)
(2 Light Tanks remain, Both with a Cannon and a Machine Gun)
(Reinforcements inbound x3)

--------------------

Hannabelle shrugged lightly. "As a plan, it'll do," she announced with a grin. She began readying the weapon.

“Yeah just from a quick look, that ship is about as stable as the average pillow fort. Best avoid trying to set anything off there. Lewis said, shifting his armor out of the telescope mode and looking at Gears.
The two of them listened as the hero explained his plan, and both gave a short nod once he was done. “Sounds good to me.” Liz said.
“I’m going to have to wait until they start actively drawing their weapons before I can effectively yank them away, but other than that I have no issues.”

With everyone confirming the plan, Gear crouched behind his hoverbike, using it as a support for his rifle as he lined up his shot.

"Load up amber. I'll take the far one, you get the one in front of him. We shoot on 'shoot'."

Gear finishes preparing his weapon, and once everyone is ready, he starts counting down.

"Three... Two... One... Shoot!"

Gear fires his weapon, the shot sailing right past the first mercenary and hitting the second in the torso. The bullet burst into a sticky golden-yellow substance that coated the mercenary's entire body before freezing solid, immobilizing him.

The three Varanians immediately turn to find where the shot came from. They draw their weapons and charge in the direction they heard the shots come from.

--------------------

Jaken sighed and forced himself upright so he could get some water. "Thanks f'r permission to pass out, boss," he said cheekily, resuming his occasional battle to make Hivemind laugh.

Hivemind didn't laugh. Instead, he seemed to be lost in thought about something. The droid paced the room for a moment in silence.

--------------------

Cherry thought on what he'd said and decided it was too much like 'a rose by any other name' for her to actually say that. "Sometimes the wild card is what you need," she advised. "The slightly independent thinker who does things a bit different." Now she actively grinned, before facing away and sneezing. "At... least the excuse of 'losing comms' isn't one he can use now, eh?"

"Indeed it isn't..." Hivemind replied. "We'll just have to see how he does."

--------------------

"There are some universe," Keeva announced, "where the hamburger just has different lettuce on it and some so different the hamburger eats you. This is a different lettuce type universe. Near the same but some differences. Like Demons?" She sat and readied herself. "I was on a ship I'd joined just a few days before after escaping kidnappers. Something happened - not totally sure what - and we jumped dimensions. Annnd pretty much broke the ship in two. Y'know,"/color]" she grinned, "tuesday around here?"

"I think I heard something about a ship the Beacon picked up recently. Honestly pretty lucky timing that Hive found you guys, though this whole realm seems to be a magnet for weird things. A ship showing up from another universe is hardly surprising, all things considered." Vex said as he sat down and took hold of Keeva's arm, readying for the arm-wrestling contest.

"Normally, my kind and the Guardians wouldn't be allowed to interfere with mortal worlds, but things are so crazy here the higher ups decided some more direct divine involvement was warranted."

"But that's all above my 'pay grade' so to speak. I'm mostly here as a tourist of sorts. Now, you want to count down to start, or should I?" the demon asked.

[Hlaoroo]

Corp almost snorted. "Sayin' the little one's probably a better shot." Corp kept moving for the next cover.

Cailean signs this to Conall and adds one of his secret signs to mean "he's not wrong", earning him a playful shove from his big brother as the two boys and the Corytrophian follow Sarah and the Mican to cover and await further instructions.

[SeanWolf]

Eira reaches out to the three frozen droids, connecting to the ice with her cryokinesis. She uses her connection to launch the three in different directions. One plows straight through the droid next to it, destroying it in the process, before striking another android and exploding into a shower of ice shards, taking out the frozen droid as well as two others.

The second android is launched sideways, colliding with the previously undamaged droid before both explode.

Finally the shield droid also flies sideways, crashing through two more androids before it also bursts into a shower of ice. One of the remaining shield droids gets coated in ice from the explosion, while three are destroyed.

"Almost done with these guys, but there's more on the way!"

With a nod, Tobias looked over at the crowd and, sliding his fingers down the fretboard, transitioned from playing 'Never Let Death Know You're Afraid' to one that, while keeping the civilians safe, would give Eira a slight advantage with her cryokinesis: 'Tartarus Will Fear You'. As he played, he continued singing, making sure the civilians were safe and out of harms way from Eira's ice-capades. Tobias' fingers danced gracefully around the guitar as the notes filled the air of carnage and robot parts...and a falling droid and wolf nearby who, with a loud bang and explosion, hit the ground nearby, starling Tobias but not enough to stop him playing. "Ay, Dios mío!" he exclaimed as the dust hit him. "Was that you, Eira? ¡No sabía que mi música era tan fuerte!*"


*¡No sabía que mi música era tan fuerte! - I didn't know my music was that strong!

[Legotron123]

Kolt smiled as the remaining droid turned to scrap in his wake, starting to feel a little bit of a battle high. He grimaced slightly as the tanks showed up and the other drop ships got closer, though even that didn't last long as he realized this was a perfect opportunity to take part in an activity he rather enjoy, mid air combat. "You guy's deal with the two tanks, I'm going to make sure that two is the most we'll have to deal with." He said before rocketing up into the sky. He pressed a few buttons on his gauntlet, causing a set of targeted missile pods to manifest on his shoulders and thighs. Letting out a "WOOHOO," he launched them as he passed the dropships, aiming them at the wings, where the armor would hopefully be thinner.
--
As soon as Gear fired his shot, Liz and Lewis burst out of the brush, racing towards their opponent. As she ran, Liz started shifting, her frame growing taller, her muscles growing denser, and her skin turning to scales. She let out a roar as she finished turning into her Varanian form, before aiming to try and ram her body into the closest goon.
Lewis meanwhile, set a pull line between the butt of each of the Varanians guns and their closest eye as he ran, hoping that even if the eye jab didn't do much to them, the fact that their guns would be constantly trying to attach themselves to the side of their wielders face would impair their ability to fight.

[CyberDragon]

Cailean signs this to Conall and adds one of his secret signs to mean "he's not wrong", earning him a playful shove from his big brother as the two boys and the Corytrophian follow Sarah and the Mican to cover and await further instructions.

With everyone ready, Recon led the way back towards the landing site with Titan guarding the rear. The Corytophian kept his eyes open and his head on a swivel for any signs of more mercenaries. His eyes kept darting back to the one's Titan was carrying, not trusting that they were entirely secure. However, while the gigantic, armored monolith of a person guarding them, he wasn't going to be able to do anything to ensure they wouldn't be a problem.

The group managed to make it back to a position where they could see the drop ships, as well as the various temporary tents and defensive fortifications that had been set up while they were gone.

"Hey, Gadgeteer! We've got a witness and a few captured enemies. Where do you want them?" Recon called out.

Gadgeteer was inside of one of the tents. He reached out and opened the flap, stepping out into the open. Et'wan took one look at the Varanian Champion and immediately jumped back with a shout. He drew the stun pistol and opened fire on Gadgeteer, with each shot striking him directly in the chest with surprising precision and accuracy.

Eventually, the stun gun stopped firing. It had run out of shots. Gadgeteer stood there, unharmed, and looking more tired and annoyed than angry. He rubbed the bridge of his snout.

"Don't know why I would have expected a different reaction..." Gadgeteer mumbled to himself. He sighed, then addressed the group. "Right. If none of the prisoners are hurt, interrogation room is right there." Gadgeteer pointed to a pop-up building close to the center of the makeshift base camp. "Is there a reason why the Corytophian needed to go with you guys?"

"The mercs were trying to abduct him." Recon answered. "If we let him go, odds are more of these guys will try to target him again."

Gadgeteer nodded, then continued while signing for Conall. "Fine. Recon, get him set up in the Barracks until I can finish installing the Torchbearer. The rest of you, I'll need you to tell me your versions of what went down out there."

--------------------

With a nod, Tobias looked over at the crowd and, sliding his fingers down the fretboard, transitioned from playing 'Never Let Death Know You're Afraid' to one that, while keeping the civilians safe, would give Eira a slight advantage with her cryokinesis: 'Tartarus Will Fear You'. As he played, he continued singing, making sure the civilians were safe and out of harms way from Eira's ice-capades. Tobias' fingers danced gracefully around the guitar as the notes filled the air of carnage and robot parts...and a falling droid and wolf nearby who, with a loud bang and explosion, hit the ground nearby, starling Tobias but not enough to stop him playing. "Ay, Dios mío!" he exclaimed as the dust hit him. "Was that you, Eira? ¡No sabía que mi música era tan fuerte!*"


*¡No sabía que mi música era tan fuerte! - I didn't know my music was that strong!

"Nope!" Eira launched her icy arm forward. Her fist detached and launched through the air at the tank on her right, smashing into it with enough force to send it sliding back about ten meters. "But that was!"

Eira maneuvered her disembodied fist under the tank, then lifted up. The tank lifted off of the ground. Eira tilted the hand to the side, and the tank rolled out of her grip and landed upside-down on top of its turret.

With one of the tanks disabled, Eira moves between the second tank and her allies, ready to intercept any attacks.

Kolt smiled as the remaining droid turned to scrap in his wake, starting to feel a little bit of a battle high. He grimaced slightly as the tanks showed up and the other drop ships got closer, though even that didn't last long as he realized this was a perfect opportunity to take part in an activity he rather enjoy, mid air combat. "You guy's deal with the two tanks, I'm going to make sure that two is the most we'll have to deal with." He said before rocketing up into the sky. He pressed a few buttons on his gauntlet, causing a set of targeted missile pods to manifest on his shoulders and thighs. Letting out a "WOOHOO," he launched them as he passed the dropships, aiming them at the wings, where the armor would hopefully be thinner.

The missiles explode, dealing quite a bit of damage to the dropships. The explosion disables the engines on one of the ships, causing it to crash down to the street below before it can reach its destination. The second ship starts to slow down, flames shooting from its turbine as it slowly loses altitude. The final dropship continues, the missiles having taken a chunk out of its wing but missing the engine or turbines.

The remaining ship approached the combat zone, lowered itself down to be level with the roofs of the surrounding shops, then dropped its cargo. A single large robotic walker, equipped with missiles and heavy autocannons, landed behind the group of Champions.

Meanwhile, the remaining light tank aimed its main cannon at Eira and fired it. Eira braced herself and allowed the blast of plasma to strike her icy armor. Her feet were frozen to the ground, rooting her in place. She stood tall, seemingly uninjured by the massive blast. The tank then aimed it's machine gun at Jenny, firing at her in bursts.

(1 light tank remains. Cannon and Machine Gun)
(1 heavy walker remains. Missiles and Autocannons)
(Damaged reinforcements inbound x1)

--------------------

As soon as Gear fired his shot, Liz and Lewis burst out of the brush, racing towards their opponent. As she ran, Liz started shifting, her frame growing taller, her muscles growing denser, and her skin turning to scales. She let out a roar as she finished turning into her Varanian form, before aiming to try and ram her body into the closest goon.
Lewis meanwhile, set a pull line between the butt of each of the Varanians guns and their closest eye as he ran, hoping that even if the eye jab didn't do much to them, the fact that their guns would be constantly trying to attach themselves to the side of their wielders face would impair their ability to fight.

The three Varanians were caught off guard by Liz's transformation, giving her just enough of an opening to tackle into one of them. The Varanian she hit staggered back, set off balance by the attack but not yet falling. Combined with the telekinetic force applied to his Halberd caused his grip to briefly slip, and the head of the weapon to fly back and smack him in the face, the sharp spike on the back of it digging into his scales. He shouts out and regains his grip, stepping back before swinging the axe-like weapon right at Liz's head.

Meanwhile, the other two Varanians maintained their grip, but the leader of the group clearly had some trouble aiming with his hand cannons. Each shot went high, blasting the tops off of a few dead trees behind Gear and Hannabelle. Gear switched to armor piercing ammo, took aim at the Varanian with the hand guns, and fired a shot straight at the reptilian's heart.

With a shriek, the Varanian's arms and legs locked up, causing him to collapse onto the ground in a paralyzed state.

The second Halberd wielder, upon seeing his captain collapse, charges towards the snipers with his gauntleted arm in front of him, guarding his heart.

[2 Varanian Combatants. Halberd. 1 wounded]

[Welsh Halfwit]

"Oh, this is gonna suck," Jenny complained, taking off to one side, away from the incoming fire whilst heading for cover. She was aware of the danger behind her but chose to concentrate on the danger that was focussing on her.
---------------------
"Great," Hannabelle groused, "we got one with a brain. Shame about his legs." Switching to her own armour piercing rounds, she altered her aim to target his lower appendages and fired on the oncoming behemoth.
---------------------
Corp put a hand on Et'wan's shoulder. "You're definitely a better shot," he told him with the whisper of a smile. "This one's on our side, though. Go with Recon, okay?" He'd decided he liked this little guy. Somewhat.
--------------------
Sarah laid out the action as she'd seen it, sometimes repeating herself in non Northern colloquialisms.
-------------------
Deciding that he didn't quite feel like passing out, Jaken watched Hive pace the room from where he was perched on the chair, feet underneath him. "Whatcha thinkin', boss?" He glanced around. "How long they leaving us alone in here anyhow?"
-------------------
"HAWK!" Sana called before scrambling for the encampment. "Why are the handsome ones always slightly mad," she asked rhetorically.
------------------
Cherry sneezed. "This is the worst part," she pointed out. "Waiting for someone to tell me what's going on."
-------------------
Keeva counted down from five. She also wondered if this place had a different power source for it that meant she wouldn't always need to be recharging it. She'd have to ask and it was strange how long five seconds seemed when... "...One..."

[Hlaoroo]

Conall stares in shock as the Corytrophian opens fire, although he's more surprised at the little alien's accuracy rather than the fact that he'd opened fire. Gadgeteer is an imposing figure, after all. Still, he nods at the alien to follow Recon as the gun vanishes to nothing as the timer on his power runs out.

He's equally surprised as Gadgeteer signs to him. Not having spent much time with the large creature, he hadn't realised the Varanian knew sign.

Once Sarah finishes telling her story, he tells Gadgeteer all that had transpired and all that he knows in sign with Cailean looking on just in case translation is needed. The younger collie relates his own experiences afterwards.

[Legotron123]

As soon as Kolt noticed the tank firing on Jenny, he immediately turned around and flew to confront it. He took on a sorta dropkick pose, covering his leg in a piercing cone shaped forcefield and rocketed himself towards the tank, aiming to take out its turret.
--
Liz turned to dodge the slash of halberd, before trying to grab the long poled weapon out of the grip of it's user, also attempting a knee jab into her opponents gut while she was at it.
Lewis, sensing his mother had her foe handled for now, looked towards the Varanian charging towards Gear and Hannabelle. Dropping his three previous lines, he switched them all to sticking the lizards left foot to a paved bit of the runway.

[SeanWolf]

"Nope!" Eira launched her icy arm forward. Her fist detached and launched through the air at the tank on her right, smashing into it with enough force to send it sliding back about ten meters. "But that was!"

Eira maneuvered her disembodied fist under the tank, then lifted up. The tank lifted off of the ground. Eira tilted the hand to the side, and the tank rolled out of her grip and landed upside-down on top of its turret.

With one of the tanks disabled, Eira moves between the second tank and her allies, ready to intercept any attacks.

Tobias watched in awe at Eira's strength, mumbling something about not wanting to get on her bad side, before catching a glimpse of something from his right: From the smoking and burning impact crater, multiple rockets came screaming out towards the second tank...right where Eira was as well. Swearing under his breath, Tobias quickly transitioned to playing 'Swift As An Eagle', a song that helps those who hear it with their dodging, hoping she'd hear it and get out of the way in time..."EIRA! FROM THE RIGHT! WATCH OUT!" Or he could just yell a command as well, that works too. As he played and shouted, he couldn't help but noticed a shadowy figure inside the smoked-filled impact crater...and wondered if more trouble had just arrived.

[CyberDragon]

"Oh, this is gonna suck," Jenny complained, taking off to one side, away from the incoming fire whilst heading for cover. She was aware of the danger behind her but chose to concentrate on the danger that was focusing on her.

The closest cover to Jenny was an old and half-destroyed truck that looked like it had died in the middle of the road and had been left there to rot. The bullets shredded through the rusty frame of the vehicle, hardly slowing down as they passed through. However, ducking behind it did throw off the tank's targeting mechanism, so the shots ended up flying high and missing their target.

As soon as Kolt noticed the tank firing on Jenny, he immediately turned around and flew to confront it. He took on a sorta dropkick pose, covering his leg in a piercing cone shaped forcefield and rocketed himself towards the tank, aiming to take out its turret.

As Kolt flew towards the tank, it turned its cannon to face him. It was about to fire when Kolt struck the weapon with his piercing kick, causing the barrel to split all the way down its length like a banana peel. Kolt continued through, and with his power managed to tear off the turret of the tank.

Tobias watched in awe at Eira's strength, mumbling something about not wanting to get on her bad side, before catching a glimpse of something from his right: From the smoking and burning impact crater, multiple rockets came screaming out towards the second tank...right where Eira was as well. Swearing under his breath, Tobias quickly transitioned to playing 'Swift As An Eagle', a song that helps those who hear it with their dodging, hoping she'd hear it and get out of the way in time..."EIRA! FROM THE RIGHT! WATCH OUT!" Or he could just yell a command as well, that works too. As he played and shouted, he couldn't help but noticed a shadowy figure inside the smoked-filled impact crater...and wondered if more trouble had just arrived.

Eira was in the middle of her own attack on the tank, ready to finish it off now that its gun was disabled. She heard Tobias call out, felt her own danger-sense alert her to the incoming threat, and dodged to the left just as the missiles struck. The shockwave from the blast pushed against her, but she managed to keep herself stable. The tank flipped up into the air, heading right for her, but she stood her ground. Cloaked in her ice, she caught the mangled tank as it landed on top of her and lifted it over her head with ease. More annoyed than hurt, Eira swung the remains of the tank around before hurtling it straight at the walker.

The tank crashed straight into the Heavy walker and exploded, causing it to stagger. The Walker observes the battlefield, and quickly determines it is outmatched.

Instead of attacking the team directly, the walker's back opens up. A single large missile emerges with sirens blaring and warning lights flashing the entire time.

"WARNING: NUCLEAR SELF-DETONATION IMMINANT."

[1 Heavy Walker remains: Warhead Detonation in 2 turns]

--------------------

"Great," Hannabelle groused, "we got one with a brain. Shame about his legs." Switching to her own armour piercing rounds, she altered her aim to target his lower appendages and fired on the oncoming behemoth.

Liz turned to dodge the slash of halberd, before trying to grab the long poled weapon out of the grip of it's user, also attempting a knee jab into her opponents gut while she was at it.
Lewis, sensing his mother had her foe handled for now, looked towards the Varanian charging towards Gear and Hannabelle. Dropping his three previous lines, he switched them all to sticking the lizards left foot to a paved bit of the runway.

The one-two combo on the Charging Varanian proved to be incredibly effective. Lewis's power locked the Varanian's left leg to the ground just enough to slow its movements and give Hannabelle a clear shot at its knees. One shot rang out, and the Varanian shouted and dropped to one bleeding knee. It moved its hands on instinct to catch itself from falling entirely forward, and Gear took the opportunity. The alien's position meant his head was in the way of a clear shot against his heart... So Gear aimed lower, towards the pavement. He fired, and the bullet bounced off of the ground, ricochetting at exactly the right angle to pierce into the Varanian's heart.

The massive alien seized up and collapsed, paralyzed.

Meanwhile, the other Varanian engaged with Liz wrestled with her over the large weapon between them. It took the knee to the gut but barely flinched. Meanwhile, it opened its jaws, showing its razor-like teeth, before trying to bite down on Liz's hands and arms in an effort to get her to let go of the weapon.

--------------------

Corp put a hand on Et'wan's shoulder. "You're definitely a better shot," he told him with the whisper of a smile. "This one's on our side, though. Go with Recon, okay?" He'd decided he liked this little guy. Somewhat.
--------------------
Sarah laid out the action as she'd seen it, sometimes repeating herself in non Northern colloquialisms.

Conall stares in shock as the Corytrophian opens fire, although he's more surprised at the little alien's accuracy rather than the fact that he'd opened fire. Gadgeteer is an imposing figure, after all. Still, he nods at the alien to follow Recon as the gun vanishes to nothing as the timer on his power runs out.

He's equally surprised as Gadgeteer signs to him. Not having spent much time with the large creature, he hadn't realised the Varanian knew sign.

Once Sarah finishes telling her story, he tells Gadgeteer all that had transpired and all that he knows in sign with Cailean looking on just in case translation is needed. The younger collie relates his own experiences afterwards.

Gadgeteer listened to everyone explain their understanding of the story, and everything seemed to match with what the others were saying. At the end of it, he nodded and responded, both out loud and in fluent sign language for Connal's benefit.

"I'll take care of the rescue and the prisoners. Archangel, Tempest, and The Lycan will be back soon. In the meantime, I've got a report of Champions engaging with hostiles nearby. The situation should be handled, but more people on our side can't hurt. Second, Hivemind just sent me a report of suspicious activity near a New Rome Security weapons factory. He wants to know for sure what is going on there, and if we can disable the factory in the process, all the better."

--------------------

Deciding that he didn't quite feel like passing out, Jaken watched Hive pace the room from where he was perched on the chair, feet underneath him. "Whatcha thinkin', boss?" He glanced around. "How long they leaving us alone in here anyhow?"

Hivemind said nothing for a moment. Finally, he responded. "I am thinking that the situation is far worse than I had originally believed. It might be worse than even the 'bad guy' can comprehend."

"I don't know how long we are supposed to wait. But we might end up leaving early."

--------------------

Cherry sneezed. "This is the worst part," she pointed out. "Waiting for someone to tell me what's going on."

"I believe there is about to be an attack on one of the Weapons factories for New Rome's security." Hivemind explained. "It would explain the comment about 'breaking the devil's fingers'."

--------------------

Keeva counted down from five. She also wondered if this place had a different power source for it that meant she wouldn't always need to be recharging it. She'd have to ask and it was strange how long five seconds seemed when... "...One..."

The moment the match started, Keeva would notice the demon's strength. Vex's arm didn't budge more than an inch.

"You're actually pretty strong!" Vex said with a friendly grin. Slowly, however, he started increasing the force he was using, gradually pushing Keeva's arm towards the table. "I'm actually putting effort into this. Not bad!"

[Welsh Halfwit]

With knowledge of what was to come, Jenny turned her attention to stopping the event or, at worst, minimizing the damage as she turned her sonic lance attack on the heavy droid, straining to keep the beam of waves going on the armoured beast.
-----------------------------------------------
Hannabelle adjusted her position as quickly and carefully as she could so as not to spend too long in one spot now she'd identified it. She took up position again and waited on her chance to shoot.
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Corp rolled his eyes but no-one could see them. "Recon, is the little guy familiar with that weapons factory? If he is, you want to weapon him up and we'll go deal with it? Sarah, you're sticking with the Laird and his brother."
---------------------------------------------
Jaken pulled himself up and tried to escort Hive to a window. "Still tired," he explained. "So I can probably only manage one or two portals. If we need to escape, which roof do I aim for?"
---------------------------------------------
"I hope they're all OK." Cherry remarked, holding in the sneeze.
--------------------------------------------
Keeva laughed back. "Nothing like an invincible force," she chuckled, feeling the strain as she put some extra power into the arm, to see if it could push back.
-------------------------------------------
Sana ran forward to check on Hawk.

[Hlaoroo]

Cailean signs Corp's words to Conall who nods in understanding and waits for marching orders.

"Sae, are we targeting the skirmish first, an' then the factory? Or headin' straight tae th' factory?" Conall asks, with Cailean translating for him for Corp.

[Legotron123]

Kolt swore under his breath as the walker announced it's impending detonation. His shields couldn't contain a nuclear explosion, and trying to funnel it upwards might just cause the radiation to spread through the atmosphere. That just left trying to disable it before it got a chance to explode. Forming forcefield blades out of his forearms, he rocketed towards the walker, aiming to fly just underneath it, between the legs. Flying with his back to the ground, he had one blade extended upwards, aiming to slice at it's underside and damage it's internals, the other to the side, hoping to damage it's legs and send it crumbling to the ground.
--
Liz snarled in pain as the Varanian bit down on her arm, but kept her grasp on the weapon firm. Lewis turned to try and help his mother now that his own opponent was dealt with, but it seemed she had her own plans. Turning her snarl into something of a smirk, she started to grow, and grow, and grow, turning into her Shipmaster form and towering over her opponent.