ғ ᴇ ᴀ ʀ ʟ ᴇ s s - ᴀ ᴅʏsᴛᴏᴘɪᴀɴ ᴀᴄᴛɪᴏɴ ᴀᴅᴠᴇɴᴛᴜʀᴇ 「ɪɴ ᴄʜᴀʀᴀᴄᴛᴇʀ」

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Sarge in his own reaction smirked a bit as the blade pressed against his leg, he in turn pressed his pistol to Angsar's stomach. Ensuring mutual destruction, as stomach wounds were the hardest, and usually most deadly wounds to treat. They ensured a much slower death. The old man actually laughed, "You know...I fucking hate you. But you know all my tricks, and I know all yours. A fight between us would only be fair, and offer an equal chance if we chose a dark room with no equipment as the arena. There we wouldn't know each other, beyond the intimate grasp of two fighters locked into a struggle." The old man complimented, a small bit of wetness forming in his left eye. A tear of joy perhaps, and a hint of anger. Oddly Angsar had given him back one thrill, he rarely felt since he first left the clerical academy. The feeling of having an equally matched opponent, who was yet so much more diverse.

Andre lowered his weapon, not daring to move his leg until the blade was retracted. "I hate to say it even more...but I almost can't think of someone I'd want more by my side some days. But never get behind me, for that I fear." He explained, as the weapon by his side didn't find a holster, he still needed it to break out of this compound. He titled his head back with a pained sigh. "Now get your blade out from between my legs you bastard. We'll let command sort this ordeal out, after we get out alive. All our talking...means nothing if we don't escort the package out." The man continued, as he lowered his knife as well to his side. He planned to fight his way out with both items, even though it meant skipping an armory visit.

The old soldier rarely felt happiness around Angsar. But this exchange, this battle of words, brought something out he rarely remembered. It brought out memories of his old classmates. Who while now he battled them, he still harbored feeling for them. They were his brothers, and sisters for 18 years. They exchanged memories that were forever burned into his mind, and to have this small exchange, brought him back to thoughts of scraps in the barracks, and brawls in the training yard. His years of youth permeating his thoughts. "You remind me of my brother sometimes...shame he's still out there. Fighting for the Clerics, or perhaps the Paladins."
 
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This just felt great. The Chaos Witch felt great. Finally this mission turned into something she could get behind. Alas, it was still a battlefield, and standing there getting off like an idiot would get her nowhere. Still, Aresia was now on fire.

"Do I look like a goddamn pack mule?" The Witchy Witch barked at Brother upon his silly command. Even if, in this case, Juniper would have told her to do so. Would she have really been capable of lifting such heavy stuff anyways? Maybe. But now, the young NOAH had more important things to attend to.

While their 'surprise attack' somehow seemed to have worked out, the place was still crawling with CLERICs; and while Brother's drone already took care of some, it just wasn't enough. Considering they would leave this place soon anyways there would surely be no problem of attracting more enemy fire to this location.

"YOU HUMAN SCUM!" 'Witchy', as a certain biker called her over coms, shouted out as she made her way right towards the keys after the tank exploded. Unfazed by whatever gunfire was coming her way.

"Hence, raging fire burning inside me.
More violent than the depths of hell, all consuming even the stars of heaven.
Head your Queen's - my call and assemble here.

And at moment of all bloodshed and carnage, even the name of God will bend to my will.
Greedily eat away and burn them all."


As the Chaos Witch chanted her magic, otherworldly glowing circles began to appear all around them - safe their ride, the box and her allies. Waiting for their cue, she finished.

"Come forth,
-ROT HORIZON!"


Hell was unleashed. Fountain's of heat sprayed forth in every direction as metal and flesh were burned alive. The air took on a certain smell. The cries of human pain, replacing the sound of gunfire, were like music in Aresia's ears. Her face reddened. "Great. Great. Great. THIS IS JUST GREAT! Hahahahaha! This is truly the best." The woman continued her way towards the keys as she nearly stumbled upon something on the ground.

"Huh?" It was a Cleric soldier, missing bottom half of its body, slowly trying to drag himself into safety. "M-Mercy..." He coughed before the Chaos's Witch boot landed on the guy's head. "Huh? What was that? SPEAK UP!" Her laughter continued as she rapidly lifted her leg up just to hammer it down on the, by now already dead, soldier.

Having decided the soldier's head was turned enough into ground beef, Aresia now stopped. "Right, the keys." With that Aresia now made haste, her face still blushing, towards the locked box. Chanting another magic spell - the same one - this time just in some silent whispers she actually showed enough precision to make it work like a blowtorch: Simply opening the sealed lid.

Taking out the keys the Chaos Witch swiftly moved towards the APC, throwing the car-keys towards Juniper. "There you go, 'Boss'"
 
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\\ Juniper Hamilton
\\ Team III


“Nice work.” Complementing her team on their accomplishments, there was little to do know but to gear up in their new APC in get the hell out of there before the command at the compound got their bearings and ordered a proper response to their intrusion. To that end, everybody was acting their part as a defending CLERIC agent, with Brother even firing on his own drones to keep true to their deception.

Of course, having the main battle tank more or less nuked was a bit more conspicuous than the original plan had called for, but Juniper considered it an acceptable trade-off. It was about this time that they all were pinged by GODFATHER over their headsets; it seemed that first squad had pulled it off after all and achieved their objective already. It was time to saddle up. “Roger STINGRAY, we have the objective. ETA onsite in ten minutes.” She turned back to Aresia outside. “Chaos, grab the keys. Easy job, just get back here quick.”

Exiting the open doors of the red truck, Juniper had joined Brother in sending out her own potshots at the mock enemy, but within a few seconds she stopped. The deception that she had been so devoted to was useless; it had only taken a mere moment for the development to turn sour as Aresia took off in a rampage, ranting and raving her odd magical chants. When did she ever say that she could go and blow any semblance of cover like that!? And worst of all, the way she went about it, there was very little of it that Juniper could call humane There was a very subtle noise under the din of combat, and that was the sound of Juniper tightly gripping her fists.

It took all of the intelligence officer’s restraint to not verbally lash out and destroy Aresia over their radio. Normally, she would have, but that might have caused undue delay. Having already clambered onto the APC along with the rest of her team, her upper body was sticking out of the command hatch as the Chaos Witch made her triumphant return. With a swoop, she angrily caught the tossed keys which were unceremoniously thrown down below for somebody to start the oversized armored truck.

Waiting before Aresia had entered the safety of the vehicle with the hatches closed and the engine started, Juniper ripped into the fourth member of her team. “What was that? You think you’re hot shit, don’t you? Well you’re in hot shit with me now, you big fucking idiot! All the fucking diversions we made up, and you blew it all away.” Her voice was rising inside the confined space of the cabin, as she shot a glare at Rubel in the driver’s seat as if to say ‘Start driving. Now.’ “If there’s any deception they bought, it’s all fucked now. All gone to shit. Brother, you better punch it, with the help of our Chaos Bitch here, they’re going to already have heavy eyes on us. I think we're going to have another nice long chat back at base.”

Juniper slowly simmered down, shifting in the seat she was riding shotgun in. At least in Aresia’s chaotic lust, she’d wiped out any other proper response team left, but her methods still left very much to be desired. She let out a measured breath as they thundered down the road, praying that they hadn’t drawn enough attention that they would be intercepted before they could meet up with fourth squad and play taxi cab for first squad.

“This is BACKDROP. Objective secured. We’re on our way.”
 
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“Ah…” A bit of panic bled into Tinker’s voice as his searching grew a bit more frantic. It didn’t seem to have fallen beneath the seat, so where was it? His head snapped up at the sound of Empress’ voice, and his eyes seemed to glimmer as they came to rest on the remote, clipped onto a panel just behind his seat. The trail end of a relieved sigh bled over the radio as he picked up the tablet to take a look at the information. “This is Tinker. Roger, out.”

Swapping frequencies as he climbed back into position, he took a deep breath before speaking. “Backdrop, this is Tinker. If you need escort, standby for route updates, over.” Fiddling with his tablet for a moment, he prepped the data to be sent over before placing the device in its holder. He buckled himself back into the seat, reached over the shoulder to hit the remote, and watched as the steel shutter door climbed upwards. With a solid thud, ED-100 shuffled forward out of the garage and into the empty alleyway. Surrounded by a 360° of his surroundings that the various cameras took in, he tapped the remote again and pushed the walker into motion as the garage doors slid back down behind him.

As he stepped out into the open, it was good to see that civilians had already made themselves scarce. Asphalt cracked as he stepped over a few vehicles before swivelling about to face the proper direction. If they followed the route data, then he had probably a minute or two before they reached him. A quick study of the camera feeds showed no immediate threats, but street cameras had definitely already caught sight of him…. No point in taking it slow then. With Tinker at the controls, ED-100 lurched into motion and walked right into the vehicles on the road, pushing them aside to clear an easier path.
 

NOMINE MENDOX AKA 'CORVUS'


Gearing up in CLERIC armory over his usual attire, Corvus thought to himself in silence. Perhaps leaving the uniform on even until the end of the mission would be proven useful to perhaps replicate to their advantage for later missions? It was a sudden thought which had came up, and he shrugged strangely to himself as he exited the truck, proceeding to act as though he was in a hurry amongst the other CLERIC members who had ran around rampant to defend the beloved box which his squad had been after.

"YOU! GET OVER IN AREA-" a hoarse voice shouted at Corvus, causing the man to turn abruptly and eye the CLERIC soldier who seemed to take on a dominant role amongst his peers. Corvus immediately interrupted as he stood next to the truck while everyone was thwarting off their own techniques, such as Rubel with the drones and Juniper. "SIR! I BELIEVE I SAW THOSE REBELS RUN THAT WAY OPERATING THE DRONES. EAST OF AREA 809." Nomine yelled his voice challenging the man who ran this specific sector tasked to protect the key.

"Hmm..." At first, he gave an irritating glare in response to the words of Nomine however his icy glare did not cause the man to break one bit. How can one doubt someone who sound so sure of his words, especially given the CLERIC's current situation based on their little 'surprise attack'. The CLERIC man stepped in closer, just an inch of space in between he and the man in disguise before abruptly motioning a squad of soldiers over. "YOU 5, REPORT TO AREA 809 AND SCOPE THE SURROUNDING AREA." before he turned his gaze back to Nomine, who wore a smirk plastered across his face.

That irritating smirk of his and his famous gold eyes which seemingly pierced through ones soul.

"Don't ever interrupt me again, Rookie." the CLERIC soldier said through gritted teeth as his jaw tensed, pointing at a patch located on the vest of the CLERIC uniform which shrouded Corvus' true identity of being a rebel. The man then proceeded to jog away and Corvus quickly ran through a crowd of soldiers who ran about before his eyes recognized a box from afar.

Ah-hah.

Giving a salute of two fingers and a low whistle barely audible to no one else but his teammates a few feet away from him, Corvus motioned at himself to the box and then the rest of the members at the remaining soldiers who, although made them slightly outnumbered, should be easy to incapacitate. He then looked off to the side, striding away from his fellow cohorts as he nodded at other soldiers before hearing something which compromised their mission.

An explosion was heard, alarming Corvus abruptly before he looked at Chaos-then back at Juniper. Shit. Now there was conflict as the diversion had been proven useless-He didn't know if the Witch's intention was to truly help or to to cause trouble and he reached before stopping himself and damn nearly looking over at CLERIC soldiers who rushed in after the woman, alarmed by her presence. The start of her chaotic nature had already begun, or at least it was starting to and by all means the man felt he shouldn't interfere with her hot-headed temper especially since it seemed as though she created a sort of barrier around her teammates and what they needed.

Cries were heard form the CLERIC soldiers as each and every one of them met their torturous fate. At one point a hand reached out to Corvus but diminished and he nonchalantly observed the situation, before looking back at their runt of the pack and twitching an eyebrow of irritation. Although her ways vexed the man, he viewed it from a different perspective by trying to understand why she did what she did. Though, the simple answered appeared to be not only because she liked it-But because she probably truly believes she was being of help.

Maybe, Areisa tried. And if she did, that was another thing to acknowledge other than her compromising their plans and he eyed Juniper from afar in silence, having a feeling that she was gonna give the other young lady a hard time and be comparable to that of a 'nagging mother'.

Jumping into the APC, the keys had been tossed to Brother as he took a seat next to the man. If it was one thing Corvus learned throughout his life: It was to leave women alone when they were angry. Why were they so moody? Especially with other women? And if it were another thing Corvus had also picked up on it was that besides him: Women were always right. And even when they were wrong, they were batshit crazy enough to make up some sort of evidence in order to win their arguments.

"You two behave yourselves~" Purred Corvus as he poked his head from behind the seat, noting that Juniper's own tangent was beginning and sitting back down properly in his seat, looking ahead. "Women." He muttered to Brother, rolling his eyes before chuckling. He then eyed the blonde, rubbing the back of his neck before asking. "Why are they so..." He gave a true look of confusion. "Complex?" He finished, Inadvertently listening as Juniper frowned upon the methods of Areisa and waited for his turn to speak. Although it was wise, or actually more like common sense for every man to never speak up against a woman or correct them (as they are 'always right' or simply just downright 'batshit crazy') he looked from behind his seat and took in the tense atmosphere radiating from the two girls in the back.

"Now.. Don't yell at the girly-" Corvus had a rather bad habit of generally nicknaming every women he has come to contact with, and stopped himself midway feeling that Areisa wouldn't be to fond of his little name games. "As I was saying, you shouldn't yell at the girl. She did do her best-I'm sure she tried to help out the group and contribute as much as possible to prove her worth. And even if she did compromise the mission, or at least nearly did-We wouldn't have the ACU any sooner. Besides, didn't we take to long anyways?" Corvus stretched his arms up in the air before reaching through the CLERIC gear and underneath his own vest to pull out a cigarette. "Can I smoke?" He asked Rubel, taking in safety precautions before disregarding them and proceeding to light the cigarette up. "What i'm trying to say is-She shouldn't be blamed, especially not to harshly in something she's shit at. In fact," flicking his lighter, it was clear that the small red container had run out of gasoline as only flicks were heard from the scraping between the metal and his thumb, and sparks scattered.

"If we're gonna blame her for almost ruining our mission instead of acknowledging the fact that she also did this in a timely manner and considering other 'better qualities' rather than actual 'good', we should also blame ourselves for not complimenting her weaknesses enough. Or being to slow. Or not working at the same pace as hers where we slow down since she's clearly the runt and also guide her to speed up in the process. Or, giving a poor attitude and self doubt as a leader for her to go all.... Whoosh." His hands gestured away from his face as he imitated an explosion, looking over his seat at the two women who sat behind them before looking away. "Takes two girly.-" Corvus flicked two fingers after he stopped smacking his lighter and hissed to himself, bitterly facing the facts that he was out of gasoline in his lighter and he tucked it back in his inside pocket before removing the cigarette from his lips and twirling it in between his fingers in front of Juniper.

An obvious sign for assistance if she had a light.

"You know my respect for you is a privilege too." Nomine commented calmly, indicating that he was never one to put his two cents into those whom he deemed earned his respect. In all truth, although he did believe that Areisa was the spark of actual chaos in their mission, he simply smooth talked his way into the situation to ease it up a bit on both sides. "Also, Don't think i'm treating you like a kid because I want to." Nomine commented at Areisa. "Sure theres some things you need to work on-like working as a group... and communicating. But who am I to give constructive criticism to a hot head like you." He shrugged. "If you hate to listen or hate working as a group, learn to control your temper at least, pissy missy. Your temper makes you more of a brat to be stepped all over."

"Now can we just agree to have a quiet and civil ride.... Civil?" He asked despite the argument being over but the intense aura remaining. He eyed over Ruben, slouching in his seat with an exasperated sigh.

"Women."




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Gearing up in CLERIC armory over his usual attire, Corvus thought to himself in silence. Perhaps leaving the uniform on even until the end of the mission would be proven useful to perhaps replicate to their advantage for later missions? It was a sudden thought which had came up, and he shrugged strangely to himself as he exited the truck, proceeding to act as though he was in a hurry amongst the other CLERIC members who had ran around rampant to defend the beloved box which his squad had been after.

"YOU! GET OVER IN AREA-" a hoarse voice shouted at Corvus, causing the man to turn abruptly and eye the CLERIC soldier who seemed to take on a dominant role amongst his peers. Corvus immediately interrupted as he stood next to the truck while everyone was thwarting off their own techniques, such as Rubel with the drones and Juniper. "SIR! I BELIEVE I SAW THOSE REBELS RUN THAT WAY OPERATING THE DRONES. EAST OF AREA 809." Nomine yelled his voice challenging the man who ran this specific sector tasked to protect the key.

"Hmm..." At first, he gave an irritating glare in response to the words of Nomine however his icy glare did not cause the man to break one bit. How can one doubt someone who sound so sure of his words, especially given the CLERIC's current situation based on their little 'surprise attack'. The CLERIC man stepped in closer, just an inch of space in between he and the man in disguise before abruptly motioning a squad of soldiers over. "YOU 5, REPORT TO AREA 809 AND SCOPE THE SURROUNDING AREA." before he turned his gaze back to Nomine, who wore a smirk plastered across his face.

That irritating smirk of his and his famous gold eyes which seemingly pierced through ones soul.

"Don't ever interrupt me again, Rookie." the CLERIC soldier said through gritted teeth as his jaw tensed, pointing at a patch located on the vest of the CLERIC uniform which shrouded Corvus' true identity of being a rebel. The man then proceeded to jog away and Corvus quickly ran through a crowd of soldiers who ran about before his eyes recognized a box from afar.

Ah-hah.

Giving a salute of two fingers and a low whistle barely audible to no one else but his teammates a few feet away from him, Corvus motioned at himself to the box and then the rest of the members at the remaining soldiers who, although made them slightly outnumbered, should be easy to incapacitate. He then looked off to the side, striding away from his fellow cohorts as he nodded at other soldiers before hearing something which compromised their mission.

An explosion was heard, alarming Corvus abruptly before he looked at Chaos-then back at Juniper. Shit. Now there was conflict as the diversion had been proven useless-He didn't know if the Witch's intention was to truly help or to to cause trouble and he reached before stopping himself and damn nearly looking over at CLERIC soldiers who rushed in after the woman, alarmed by her presence. The start of her chaotic nature had already begun, or at least it was starting to and by all means the man felt he shouldn't interfere with her hot-headed temper especially since it seemed as though she created a sort of barrier around her teammates and what they needed.

Cries were heard form the CLERIC soldiers as each and every one of them met their torturous fate. At one point a hand reached out to Corvus but diminished and he nonchalantly observed the situation, before looking back at their runt of the pack and twitching an eyebrow of irritation. Although her ways vexed the man, he viewed it from a different perspective by trying to understand why she did what she did. Though, the simple answered appeared to be not only because she liked it-But because she probably truly believes she was being of help.

Maybe, Areisa tried. And if she did, that was another thing to acknowledge other than her compromising their plans and he eyed Juniper from afar in silence, having a feeling that she was gonna give the other young lady a hard time and be comparable to that of a 'nagging mother'.

Jumping into the APC, the keys had been tossed to Brother as he took a seat next to the man. If it was one thing Corvus learned throughout his life: It was to leave women alone when they were angry. Why were they so moody? Especially with other women? And if it were another thing Corvus had also picked up on it was that besides him: Women were always right. And even when they were wrong, they were batshit crazy enough to make up some sort of evidence in order to win their arguments.

"You two behave yourselves~" Purred Corvus as he poked his head from behind the seat, noting that Juniper's own tangent was beginning and sitting back down properly in his seat, looking ahead. "Women." He muttered to Brother, rolling his eyes before chuckling. He then eyed the blonde, rubbing the back of his neck before asking. "Why are they so..." He gave a true look of confusion. "Complex?" He finished, Inadvertently listening as Juniper frowned upon the methods of Areisa and waited for his turn to speak. Although it was wise, or actually more like common sense for every man to never speak up against a woman or correct them (as they are 'always right' or simply just downright 'batshit crazy') he looked from behind his seat and took in the tense atmosphere radiating from the two girls in the back.

"Now.. Don't yell at the girly-" Corvus had a rather bad habit of generally nicknaming every women he has come to contact with, and stopped himself midway feeling that Areisa wouldn't be to fond of his little name games. "As I was saying, you shouldn't yell at the girl. She did do her best-I'm sure she tried to help out the group and contribute as much as possible to prove her worth. And even if she did compromise the mission, or at least nearly did-We wouldn't have the ACU any sooner. Besides, didn't we take to long anyways?" Corvus stretched his arms up in the air before reaching through the CLERIC gear and underneath his own vest to pull out a cigarette. "Can I smoke?" He asked Rubel, taking in safety precautions before disregarding them and proceeding to light the cigarette up. "What i'm trying to say is-She shouldn't be blamed, especially not to harshly in something she's shit at. In fact," flicking his lighter, it was clear that the small red container had run out of gasoline as only flicks were heard from the scraping between the metal and his thumb, and sparks scattered.

"If we're gonna blame her for almost ruining our mission instead of acknowledging the fact that she also did this in a timely manner and considering other 'better qualities' rather than actual 'good', we should also blame ourselves for not complimenting her weaknesses enough. Or being to slow. Or not working at the same pace as hers where we slow down since she's clearly the runt and also guide her to speed up in the process. Or, giving a poor attitude and self doubt as a leader for her to go all.... Whoosh." His hands gestured away from his face as he imitated an explosion, looking over his seat at the two women who sat behind them before looking away. "Takes two girly.-" Corvus flicked two fingers after he stopped smacking his lighter and hissed to himself, bitterly facing the facts that he was out of gasoline in his lighter and he tucked it back in his inside pocket before removing the cigarette from his lips and twirling it in between his fingers in front of Juniper.

An obvious sign for assistance if she had a light.

"You know my respect for you is a privilege too." Nomine commented calmly, indicating that he was never one to put his two cents into those whom he deemed earned his respect. In all truth, although he did believe that Areisa was the spark of actual chaos in their mission, he simply smooth talked his way into the situation to ease it up a bit on both sides. "Also, Don't think i'm treating you like a kid because I want to." Nomine commented at Areisa. "Sure theres some things you need to work on-like working as a group... and communicating. But who am I to give constructive criticism to a hot head like you." He shrugged. "If you hate to listen or hate working as a group, learn to control your temper at least, pissy missy. Your temper makes you more of a brat to be stepped all over."

"Now can we just agree to have a quiet and civil ride.... Civil?" He asked despite the argument being over but the intense aura remaining. He eyed over Ruben, slouching in his seat with an exasperated sigh.

"Women."
 
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"God fucking damnit, whorepress! I can't pull something like that out of my ass!" Despite Ade's complaining, the chaotic chemist was already thinking about ways to weaponise the cars along with whatever materials they would have left after securing the perimeter. The abandoned vehicles were looking more and more tempting right now, especially seeing as Faceless had a very heavy, metallic briefcase that they could use to smash windows with. Brake fluid pipes were easy enough to cut or puncture with the tools at hand in case some of the cars locked themselves up, there were two other people that Ade could rely on... yes, it might just work. It would not turn an APC into an anthracite pancake as they had put it, but it sure as hell would halt it. Now the only thing necessary was a lot of time.

Of course, there was still a perimiter to wire up with anti-infantry defences, because there was no way FEARLESS could leave its bases uncovered. Wires were set up, grenades were hidden in obscure locations and a couple of unconventional traps were set up as well. Ade was especially proud of that they rigged up using a couple of fuel tanks that they succeeded in removing from cars. Anyone passing through that area would end up being doused in a lot of gasoline, then lit up as the sparks went off, making for a couple of nice, flaming corpses. It was marked on the map as a very dangerous area, especially because it would automatically go off after some time had passed in case the CLERICS did not trigger it. Ade did not know when exactly, only that the trigger mechanism they created could only hold out for so long.

While maybe not as inventive as that one, their other creations were equally devious. The trap master of FEARLESS had really outdone themselves this time as they had set up some false wiring along with semi-obvious trigger mechanisms, some of which they rigged so that disabling it would activate the real trap. Ade turned their section of the building into a chaotic mess of murder machines, though it was not quite as beautiful as it could have been given time constraints.

But good things only lasted so long as Empress reminded the chemist of their duties while they were headed to appropriate the necessary materials.
"Anyone who is sitting on their ass can help me," grumbled Ade as they switched to a more open channel addressing all Fearless personell in their squadl. "Can't finish alone in time! Oh, and if you want to live, avoid the two black cars right next to each other on the second floor and near the ramps to the first floor." Fortunately, they did not have to say it twice. The two other saboteurs along with some of the combat personell that Empress gave her permission to join him did. Munition along with metal briefcases and cars were cannibalised under Ade's half-understood orders, then turned into a contraption that not even the crazed chemist could make sense of in the end.

Then the little shit had the gall to order Ade around, crossing a final line.

"Oh fuck off, Empress!" At least Ade had the tact to speak to her in privately, but even with the distorion of the radio and the mask, Faceless did not sound pleased. "The Ronin can do it, but I won't. In fact, I'll tell them to do it and they'll happily die for the cause. Just don't whine if one of your dogs gets roasted because someone did not match your ideas millisecond for millisecond."
 
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1 8 3 0

The red sun had slowly retreated behind the towers of man, the daylight devolving into the evening's darkness. The PACKAGE had finally been secured by FEARLESS, only to find the PACKAGE was in fact, a RONIN.

However, getting the package was surely the easy part.

This would soon become one of the longest nights to come...

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"Blah blah blah blah"

Ji Yun made motions with his hand as he watched the members of First Squad fight among one another. They had yet to notice, but FOXTROT had already been unshackled and was as good to go as ever. While it seemed like FOXTROT was ready to get a move on, Ji Yun extended a carton of cigarettes that he happened to find in the corner of the room. Rather than interjecting, both Ji Yun and FOXTROT sat back and watched as the situation quickly devolved between Sarge, Angsar and Arata.

Exhaling a puff of smoke from between his lips, the NETRUNNER half expected a violent altercation in the middle of the base, but felt a mixture of both disappointment and relief when Sarge slowly let go of the situation, defusing the ticking time bomb that existed between the group. Once the situation was in order, Ji Yun waved his hand between the group, attempting to grab their attention.

"Hellloooooooooooooo? Sorry to burst everyone's bubble, but Third Squad is on their way. I don't think this is a ride you want to be missing today."

FOXTROT finally stood from his seat, a quiet expression drawn across his face as he tossed the half-burnt end of his cigarette onto the floor. "We should move, if you want to live." The Fox remarked, before leading Ji Yun out of the room. The pair moved out the way they had come, before stopping at the large opening which emptied out into the front of the complex. Sticking his head out, Ji Yun noticed a large group had already assembled outside the front entrance, with a large number of CLERICs filling the streets they had once fought through.

"Why hello there, rebel scum!"

An eerily cheerful, female voice shouted from behind the graveyard of destroyed vehicles. It was clear by her thick plate armor and the men around her that she was none other than a PALADIN, one of the many warriors dedicated to the Princess of Ecclesia. She donned a metal longsword, along with a shield which towered far over her own head.


"Shit. Just when we were almost out, the metal goons had to show up." Ji Yun spat, tossing his cigarette onto the floor. The boy raised his radio, clicking the unit in before speaking,

"This is NETRUNNER to GODFATHER. Be advised, we have confirmation of PALADINS blocking our exfil. How copy? Over."

"This is GODFATHER to NETRUNNER, we'll pass the information along and get you support. Sit tight. Over."

FOXTROT turned to Sarge, extending his hand outwards. "Give me Old Faithful." He remarked, knowing that the man carried the old 1911 everywhere that he went. While FOXTROT wouldn't mind meeting death, there was one final mission that still needed to be accomplished. To be caught in the next firefight without a weapon seemed less than optimal for him to complete such a mission.

He would not die until he killed the one that had taken ECHO's life.

Watching FOXTROT ask for a weapon, Ji Yun grinned,

"Want a yo yo?"


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During the mission, Auratta had fired her weapon only a few times, engaging targets that had been missed by Erja. Although her eyes gave her an advantage when surveying the battlefield, she found herself outclassed by the RONIN sniper, who was able to acquire and engage targets at a much faster rate than herself. Auratta had never seen combat before, and although she had performed admirably during marksmanship simulations, she found herself hesitating between each trigger pull.

After all, men did not scream after being shot in simulations.

As First Squad disappeared into the military complex, Auratta's eyes allowed her to see some of what was going on. "It looks like they secured their PACKAGE," Auratta mused, still clenching the end of her anti-material rifle. Upon closer inspection, it seemed that the situation was quickly deteriorating, with several armored personnel carriers pulling up to the entrance of the building. "Looks like they have company." Auratta held her fire as she reported it in to command, though she kept her finger close to the trigger.


"Think we should break up the party?" Auratta asked Erja, waiting for her to make the first shot. Before either of them could pull their triggers, however, Auratta noticed a figure moving in the windows across from the parking complex. "Wait... do you-" before she could finish her sentence, Auratta dodged to the side, pushing Erja to the ground as a streak of light passed overhead. The bolt of light crashed into a nearby vehicle, causing it to explode violently with only a single shot.

"Wh-what was that?!" Auratta shrieked. She moved to salvage her anti-material rifle from the ground when the parking structure suddenly vibrated, as if hit by a high intensity earthquake.

"This is GODFATHER to EMPRESS, two APCs have just crashed into the barricades and are releasing troops on your ground level. You also have enemy forces attempting to rappel onto the roof!"

Auratta paused, shooting a glance towards Erja. "I don't think we can support First Squad anymore." Mustering her strength, she lifted Erja's PTRS off the ground and handed it to her before picking up her own high-caliber weapon into her hands. "We have to get to the roof before things get bad."

Without waiting for Erja to follow, Auratta bolted up the nearby staircase that led to the top floor. Noticing a group of CLERICs that had already rappelled over the edge, Auratta tossed her weapon over the hood of a nearby car. The heavy rifle hit the hood like a hammer as Auratta began to fire the heavy weapon. While she had once held back from pulling the trigger, the closer proximity of the enemy now kicked her fight or flight instincts into gear.

"Do or die, Auratta... do or die..." She told herself repeatedly with each shot. She discarded the pain in her shoulder as she blasted away at the CLERICs that had invaded the roof, her mind only thinking about the ammunition left in her magazine. "It's you or them, Auratta. Kill them all."

As the numbers of CLERICs were thinned out on the roof, Auratta stopped to reload her weapon, crouching behind a vehicle as she loaded her last magazine into the TAC-50 rifle.

"This is IRE to EMPRESS. I'm repelling the forces on the roof. How's the situation below?"

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While Third Squad had successfully acquired their objective, they had taken quite a long time to do so, allowing response forces to finally encircle the position of First Squad. Without the fire support from Second squad, the situation was slowly becoming more dire with each moment.

"This is GODFATHER to Third Squad. Be advised First Squad's location has been heavily overrun by enemy forces. You will either need to come in hot or find a way to sneak First Squad out, over."

As the APC rolled down towards the objective, a large cargo truck suddenly cut them off in the ensuing confusion, forcing Rubel to smash on the breaks.

As he hit the breaks, everyone in the APC were flung forward in their seats. Aresia's face violently rammed into a computer console in front of her seat before jerking backwards. As everyone recovered from the sudden motion, a computerized voice suddenly rang out from within the vehicle.

IDENTIFICATION RECEIVED, 40mm Automatic Cannon Online. Currently Loaded: High Explosive Rounds.



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"This is GODFATHER. Tia, we need you to hurry up and get the APC to First Squad. Be advised that the situation is quickly deteriorating. Expect enemy forces inbound. MAGNA, get your ass into gear. We need your mech supporting First Squad ASAP. Don't worry about Second. They're on their own, now."
 
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Andre grinned a bit as he pulled the pistol out from his belt, and tossed down his AK-74. He drew his knife out as well, and handed the pistol over. He settled on the weapon he had taken from the Clerics, a wide grin spreading across his face, "Foxtrot, you remember those few moves I taught you, right?" The old man asked, as he readied himself for combat, looking over the Paladin he tossed his knife up. "I certainly hope so. Because if you plan to fight the paladin, I'm going to help you. So you need to keep up." He joked as he caught his knife and tossed it once more. The grin on his face never left. He had a few grenades, and one flashbang left in his arsenal. So he was already forming his own nonsense plan.

"Oh paladin, how brave of you. How valiant and honorable. You caught us. Why don't we have some fun dear? I hate to hit a lady. But myself, and my dear commander here, think you'd make a wonderful fight." Sarge spoke with a prideful tone in his voice, though his body was slouching a bit from the various bullet wounds, cuts, and shrapnel. He managed to straighten himself out. As he spat on the ground, and tossed his knife up into the air again, teasing the paladin. "Tell your men to stand down. Let us have a battle. Yourself, my comrade, and I. Nothing more than our pistols, and my knife. Against your armor, and your sword." Andre called out, perhaps stupidly. But his hope was to trigger the woman's pride. To put her in a state of anger, that would cause her to make such a stupid choice. Paladins were something to be feared. Yet Sarge didn't really have a concept of fear.

Especially when his plan seemed so fool proof. He knew he could pull the pin on his flashbang in the chaos of the fight, to blind his opponent for just a moment. Giving himself, and Foxtrot just long enough to overpower the paladin. Besides he had a Cleric's pistol, and his knife was honed to an edge plenty fine enough to kill someone who left their head so freely exposed. For the moment though, Sarge made no moves, didn't even flinch. Stupidity was his specialty, and he knew how deeply Foxtrot wanted revenge. "Don't worry Foxtrot...we'll have their heads...if we don't inspire her pride. All the better for us, it means we'll have a normal firefight on our hands." He said as quietly as he could, grunting a bit as he tried to adjust his stance, and his injured leg threatened to give out on him. He was in rough shape, but if anyone knew Sarge, they knew a push was all it took to awaken the deep, seething rage that powered his body through tough situations.​
 
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Fingers eagerly fingering the throttle as she kept an eye out and her submachine gun primed, and pointed steadily in front of her, it wasn't too long Tia had to wait before Team Three's APC came into view. Grinning under the helmet's visor, Tia gave a large, clumsy wave to the front of the vehicle, radioing in to Team Three's frequency in the usual loud and cheery manner.

"All riiight, great work! Whichever one of you losers is driving, stick close and follow me, okay? I've already planned a quick route that might be a tight squeeze for the APC in some parts, but we should get there safe and sound. Tinker should be here soon as well, so let's do this!" with that, the engine of her motorcycle erupted into song, the front instinctively tilting upwards as Tia began to direct and escort the APC, being sure to keep at a low speed to match the carrier's.

Listening into GODFATHER's transmission as she began to lead, Tia gave a firm nod at the simple orders. Just get the thing there, fast. With the CLERICs so confused and spread out all over the place, particularly around the parking lot, that seemed fairly easy going.
"Roger that! Escorting the APC now, the ETA will be... u-uh..." Tia paused, struggling to do the calculation in her head, "Very soon? Over?" With that, that seemed to be all Tia had to say on the matter, but suddenly after a pause, more words were sent through the radio's tight speaker.

"...Hey, wait! What do you mean 'don't worry about second'? I don't like that fucking tone! The way you said that... you're not suggesting second squad's... GODFATHER?!" Tia called into her radio, her tone rising, before her eyes fell and her stomach churned uncomfortably. Perhaps he hadn't meant that in the way she thought he did, but it sounded like second squad was going to take the brunt of the assault. There were skilled individuals in there, lead by the genius Empress, but against a rising CLERIC force? "Commander, you can't mean..."

Speechless for a moment, Tia could only pray for their safety and focus on the objective.
"D-disregard that. Getting the APC to the target location now, my apologies for the outburst... over..."

Taking a deep breath through a circled mouth, Tia kept positive thoughts within her mind. Positive. They were gonna be fine over there, and their condition wasn't what she should be worrying about right now. She had a key role to fill, and if she fucked it up, the well being of many of her comrades could be compromised. Positive thoughts. ...All right. Get it done.

Tires spinning, machine gun extended in front of her, Tia began to lay down warning shots to civilians and stray lesser CLERICs alike when the APC inevitably had to drive onto some of the main roads for a bit. Such figures were too unimportant; not enough of a threat for her to consider shooting lethally. Two smoke grenades released themselves from their wire caging without Tia even needing to lift a finger, their pins popping out to lay a smokescreen as they rolled behind the moving APC. Hopefully it would slow things down or confuse some sort of anti-vehicle weapon user she might've missed.

Radioing in, Tia's voice came inside the APC once more.
"Juniper, you're in command here, right? How are we going to do things when we get to team one? Apparently they're in some pretty deep shit, so how do you want us to tackle it? Guns blazing, or something more organised?" A pause came, before Tia spoke up, "Witchy might be the firepower we need here, but I doubt she'll be useful crammed up in there... reckon getting her on the back of this bike is a little too crazy? Heh, just some food for thought, over!"
 
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Erja Liikanen - Team 2
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Rejoining with Auratta she noticed the girl had gotten more and more used to firing on targets, her Baptism of Blood has passed. Coming to the girl's aid, it seemed several APC's were headed for Position One, this was not part of the plan.

"Think we should break up the party?" With her question Erja smiles thinly under the mask.

"Heh..we might make a proper sniper out of you Yet." Aiming her PTRS down at the assembly of Armored Fighting Vehicles, from the top they could do nothing to stop her 14.5mm rounds. Taking Aim a sudden flash of light caught her eye. Suddenly Auratta shoved her aside, as a nearby car explodes, throwing shrapnel everywhere. By luck nothing hit them, though the structure began to shake. With the roar of engines below

"Wh-what was that?!" Auratta called out in surprise, falling to the ground in turn.

"What the fuck do you think it was!?" Erja snapped out, the mechanized attack had begun. Looking for her rifle, the other girl picks it up handing it to her, the PTRS would see limited use here for now, noticing lines out of the corner of her vision company was coming.

"I don't think we can support First Squad anymore. We have to get to the roof before things get bad."

Before Erja can make another smart remark the girl runs off. Pondering her options Erja could head down below to deal with the APC's but there was no guarantees she could pen them head on, never mind survive the return fire that surely would return. Plus traps were laid thickly on the lower floors. She wasn't sure she would spot them all, at the same time, with what had to be some form of counter sniper Auratta would be in extreme danger, the enemy troopers climbing up would be a problem, if they gained a foot hold they would have troopers storming both ways.

"Goddamnit!!! This is why I hate working with others!" Swearing, had she been in an assassin post she could simply have killed a target and left, it was simple, easy. She had not fought alongside others since the deaths of her friends and family, always operating alone, always killing for revenge. Reaching a decision of her own Erja shoulders her PTRS, switching to the SVD, she had 67 rounds left, it would have to be enough, in close quarters and with armored opponents there was no guarantee of one shot, one kill.

The girl had saved her life, while Erja may have worked with and for scum, and may have been as much herself, her family memories and honor called out to her, Auratta couldn't be left to die, even if she deserved it for her foolishness. With gun fire echoing up the ramp, the girl had started her attempt to repeal the enemy. Somewhat Angry about the girls actions Erja follows suit... If the top fell they all did, she would inform Karin on the situation just in case.

"White Death to Empress, confirmed enemy sniper in area, will attempt to neutralize, enemies advancing upon roof top, engaging... Awaiting orders.. We detected signs of entry on lower level.. but I'm sure you noticed that. Over."

In a calm cool voice, SVD shouldered she heads up the ramp, catching her breath and breaking into an assault infantry run, she hadn't done this in some time. Up ahead was Auratta, covering half of the roof, using a car as cover, spinning on her heels Erja quick scopes men coming up from the other side, opening fire quickly and in rapid succession, killing four men and expending 7 rounds, she quickly slaps in a new mag, looking at spent casings and magazines, Ire was lastly on her last mag.

"Get back from there! There's a sniper out here in case you forgot! We need to deal with them first... for now back me up on the ramp, we'll use the cement and cars as over, I cover North and East, you West and South...you should have brought more ammo..." Pondering the girls abilities and her own, Erja was the much more experienced sniper, and the SVD Mags were in her belt, easy to grab. Reaching a hasty decision while there was still time, she grabs her PTRS With her left hand, laying it down on the ground, grabbing her spare casings and placing them with it, Erja quickly gives a brief instruction on how to use the weapon.

"Use what you have left, then pick her up. Simple clip feed from the bottom, I modified the design to take the rounds in from below without having to use the clip, the trigger works from the top, unlike most guns. She's heavy, Forty Pounds, so use her from kneeling or prone, use the barriers as a balance, she has nearly twice the speed and power of your 50. I want you to nail that sniper and focus on any heavies. Fourteen shots is all you have... Call out the lights and standards to me, got it? You owe me big time for this, those rounds don't come cheap...lose that rifle and its your ass.. Keep your head down and stay alive.. If we fall so does everyone else..." Belated and under her breath another set of words is said.

"..I won't see that happen ever again."

With a strong look of determination she isn't happy with this situation at all, but there was little else they could do, for now the cover the ramp provided was all they had, with the cars surrounding it, that sniper, or whatever it was would have to work extra hard to take them out. Being unusually sociable, this was a matter of life and death.

"Remember to keep moving every two shots, if you step out from here then use the cars, but remember what happened earlier...For now..act as my spotter, call out targets I don't see, but kill that sniper." Sighting her SVD more climbers were coming as a fresh magazine barks rounds down range. This wasn't how an assassin should work, but it fit a sniper. There was a form of solidarity that came from such a pitched defense, leaning her neck into her shoulder to activate the radio;

"White Death to Empress, we are holding for now, but that may change soon, requesting orders or reinforcements. We are pretty exposed here, but I'm making use of what cover we have, not sure how long we can hold.. I can't do anything about those APC's while they are climbing on us...and I might not have the rounds to do so later if this takes too long. Over."

This was more like squad marksmen work, fortunately the enemy needed time to grab their weapons, return fire was rare, though its pace was picking up, with what seemed to be a 5.56 deflecting from her face mask and off to the side, Erja fires upon another trooper, firing two shots into his chest, switching to another target, the numbers were starting to thin but that was no sign they were stopping, loading in a fresh mag, Erja ducks low using the car deck ramp as cover, readying to stand again. Hopefully some orders would come soon. And that Auratta would obey the words she had given her.

Even as she fired, part of her wanted to flee and evade, live to fight another day, with a grim smile beneath her mask at least several E C C L E S I A N scum had died this day, and if she had anything to say about it, she wasn't going to die here. Whatever this operation was about it sure as hell better be worth it. While still calm she was grateful no flamethrowers had been brought up yet. Though it wasn't likely those could climb. For now words from the Genius was all she could wait for..
 
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Ansgar had retracted his blade from between Sarge's legs, with a gruff grunt as he turned away from the man. Let Sarge revel in his past glories and go on and on about random bullshit. Seems they were stuck waiting for that damn APC for too long, since a far too cheery, sing song voice came ringing out at them from the Clerics that had gathered outside. A Paladin? A fucking tin can soldier, wound up and sent marching off to kill for the glory of Ecclesian interests. He'd always wanted to bag him one of those self righteous fuckers, seems they were willing to oblige him today. Things had to be planned carefully, to lure this Paladin into an ambush situation, slash her throat from behind, get one of the blades in between the joints on the armor. The planning would have to be fast, and decisive, to ensure that they would execute it and bag a Paladin. Of course, Sarge being the daft bastard he was, promptly bombed any plans for subtlety or ambushes.

Razor glared at Sarge in such a manner that, if looks could kill a man, Sarge would be nothing more than atoms broken down to their most basic for, floating about without any sort of direction or cohesion. Great, so their target, Foxtrot, was getting drug out into this bloody damn mess, the same person they were supposed to be getting into the APC and back to safety. So that meant he had to get involved somehow and keep at least Foxtrot alive long enough for the APC and support teams to arrive. Arata could be sicced on the enemies, but he'd heard stories of these Paladin's equipment shutting Noah powers down, hard. Sarge was dragging Foxtrot out to get themselves killed in some bloody minded duel of honor. That left him to clean up this damn mess. Shooting a look at the lot of them, he quietly slipped out the side entrance, the front commotion giving him cover a plenty to move into a more advantageous position.

Moving for the alley, he skulked forward, getting intel on the number of Clerics, the solitary Paladin, and possible solutions to said problem. The fence was ruined, so wouldn't slow him down if he had to move in fast. A well placed arrow could drop any of the hostiles, assuming the Paladin lost her helmet or something along those lines, and if he felt anything relevant came up, mostly for the sake of Foxtrot's survival, he would bring it up. But, for now, he was moving himself, as quietely and unseen as possible, into a position to ambush and assassinate the Paladin before she could turn this mission from a success into a failure. All because that bastard Sarge had to go and challenge her to some blind duel of honor, or some such bloody nonsense. Dead was dead, regardless of the methods.​
 
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Aresia was unstable felt awesome. Mere moments ago just as she did now. In fact, their 'oh-so great leader' was, in the Chaos Witch's eyes even more worthless than she initially assumed.

Clearly, Aresia wasn't one much for tactics. If it was because she was maybe just too stupid or she simply didn't like 'wasting time like that' and rather get things done, nobody would ever be able to tell unless they really managed to pry her open.

But now? Juniper spend time bitching. Maybe Aresia did make a mistake in assuming their infiltration efforts had already been busted - hence her taking the initiative in obliterating all in the first place - but, spending just some more thoughts on it, wasn't that firework actually helpful? As much as the black-hair hated to admit it there was a good chance for CLERIC survivors. Now, wouldn't that simply mean she just made a sort of big distraction which would lead enemy forces to the already destroyed base? Wasn't this oh so great leader of theirs capable of getting her way into CLERIC communications and ask for 'support'? Wouldn't... no.

Aresia closed her eyes. That was already more than enough time wasted on that stuff. While she could have stated her own thoughts Aresia simply deemed it as a waste of time. In fact, things only got better when Corvus decided to butt in. At first the Chaos Witch was honestly surprised, disappointed in a way, but his Spiel soon became apparent.

The glasses wearing woman simply enjoyed this. It was a weird and didn't make much sense. In one moment the Chaos Witch would bitch at those pitiful humans for what they said to her but right now it was all okay? 'Girly' even had to hold in her laughter, fearing that any noise she made would shift Juniper's attention back to herself. After all, it wasn't like Corvus was on Juniper's side and the best case scenario for the black-hair would be some drama between each other. Yes. The Chaos Witch simply enjoyed this. The mere fact the oh-so-collected snobby noble woman had an actual outburst of anger. An actual outburst of feelings made it all the better.

The show, however, got quickly interrupted as the vehicle suddenly stopped moving and crashed Aresia into some sort of interface stuff. Not only that, her glasses were ruined now too. "Urgh. Sonofa..." Aresia murmured as she held her bleeding nose - lucky that she didn't just outright get killed by her glasses.

"Identification received?" The Chaos Witch finally spoke up. "I'm not too fond of guns..." She now grinned again, still holding her nose though. "I'd much rather drive on Tia's back." Now Tia was a NOAH Aresia could get behind on. Even if her morals needed some work.
 
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Sir Elayna von Emmeria
aka paladinchan
Second Cousin of the von Emmeria Family
Fifteenth in Line


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"Well then. This is quite a predicament." Ji Yun sighed, removing one of his yo-yos from his pocket. It seemed that as soon as anyone were to pass through the entryway, that they would simply get blasted by the two... maybe three dozen CLERICs that stood outside in wait. If that wasn't enough, there was that PALADIN. God. Why did everything have to be so hard?

FOXTROT took Sarge's handgun between his fingers, the old, wooden grip giving off an odd feeling in his hands. The pistol was a relic, but FOXTROT would honestly take a pipe iron now if that's all he had access to. "Yeah, I remember. We threw all of those moves out a long time ago, you caveman." FOXTROT teased before performing a 'press check' on his weapon to ensure a round was seated in the chamber.

FOXTROT spent the next few moments thinking of a plan, there had to be some way of getting out of this predicament alive. As he explored all of his tactical options in the back of his head, Sarge stood up from cover, waving his knife around like an idiot. With that, FOXTROT's plans were done before he could even think of one.

As Sarge exposed himself, the PALADIN across the street raised her hand, signaling for her men to hold their fire. "Why hello there! Have you come to surrender, peasant?" She inquired happily, effortlessly twirling a crimson longsword in her hand.

"Tell your men to stand down. Let us have a battle. Yourself, my comrade, and I. Nothing more than our pistols, and my knife. Against your armor, and your sword."

There was a short pause as the PALADIN stared at the old man for a moment, her eyes blinking casually. After several moments of silence, the white-haired woman burst out into an uncontrollable cackle, laughing at the Sarge's attempt to even the odds with single combat. "Oh gramps, do me a favor and shut..." the PALADIN gracefully jumped off of the hood of the car she was standing on, "...the fuck up!"

FOXTROT reached up, grabbing Sarge and pulling him back into cover. Almost as soon as he was behind cover, the CLERICs opened fire, bullets ricocheting off of Sarge's formerly exposed position. "Alright! Who wants to ask the PALADIN for tea and crumpets next? Nobody? Okay, then here's what we're going to do." FOXTROT pointed towards the remaining RONIN in the unit, then towards the entrance where they were pinned down.


"Spider, Goblin, Escha! Smoke... now!"

On command, the three RONIN began to throw smoke out of the doorway, allowing the smoke to build into usable cover. "Get out, spread out and don't stop until you have some solid cover!" FOXTROT was the first to dart into the smoke, dodging a flurry of bullets before diving behind a sandbag fortification. As soon as he was in position, he began shooting off rounds at the enemy, which were having little to no effect given the distance and armor of the enemy.

Ji Yun dove out with the rest of the group, following behind the RONIN as they each dove through the smoke and into nearby pockets of cover. While everyone seemed to run to the right, Ji Yun decided to run to the left, ending up beside FOXTROT after emerging from the smoke. After coming out of the smoke, the group was still pinned, but at least they were now split and fighting from two different directions rather than being stuck in a small entryway.

"Grab a gun, kid!" FOXTROT barked as he took aim with Sarge's "Old Faithful".

Ji Yun grabbed a nearby assault rifle off the ground, pointing it towards the enemy. When he pulled the trigger, nothing came out.

"Your safety is on!" FOXTROT reached over, clicking Ji Yun's safety so that yo-yo boy could start putting rounds down range. While the crossfire resulted in several CLERICs being killed, Spider and Escha never made it through the smoke, most likely being hit despite the visual coverage. Noticing that the PALADIN was running the show, FOXTROT grabbed Ji Yun's rifle out of his hands.

"Give me that." He placed the PALADIN's head between his crosshairs, unloading a three round burrst at her head. The rounds were on target, but with a stroke of terrible luck, the woman managed to block the bullets at the last second with her tower shield.

"WHO THE FUCK JUST SHOT AT ME?! WHICH ONE OF YOU PEASANTS JUST TRIED TO KILL ME?"

FOXTROT casually placed the rifle back into Ji Yun's hands before patting him on the head. "I think she's mad."

Before long, the woman was charging head first into battle, with the CLERICs abandoning their cover and charging forward in an attempt to follow their clearly eccentric commander. In the next few moments, the firefight devolved into close quarters combat, with FOXTROT bashing soldier's heads in with the stocks of their own rifles before turning and shooting CLERICs running behind him.

In close quarters combat, Ji Yun shined far better, spinning his dual inertia yo-yos before bopping a poor CLERIC on the head that was assaulting him with a knife. In the midst of the confusion, the white-haired PALADIN approached Ji Yun.

"Yo-yos, huh? Interesting technique." The woman noted, holding her sword at her side amidst the confusion. "Are you ready to die, kid?"

Ji Yun growled, "I'm twenty four, bitch!" he shouted as he hurled his yo-yos at the PALADIN. He had heard stories about how strong they were, but he thought it was all noobtalk. He had never encountered somebody who could beat him in a fight - not with his trusty yo-yos at his side. The yo-yos swung wide, allowing the PALADIN to close the distance.

"You missed!" She screamed as she raised her sword to cut him down.

"Tch! Yo-yos don't miss!" Netrunner grinned as he pulled his yo-yos back towards him. Like a boomerang, the weapon assaulted the PALADIN from behind, threatening to smash her skull in with the velocity of a semi-truck.

Surprised and caught off guard, the PALADIN did the unimaginable before it was too late,

She cut the string.

With the string cut, the yo-yo propelled off into space, punching a hole in a nearby wall as the PALADIN bashed her shield into Ji Yun's face, sending the NOAH into the ground.

"SHIT!" He screeched in horror, fumbling for his other yo-yo. As he pulled it out of his pocket, the PALADIN jabbed her sword into his arm, pinning it to the ground and causing him to screech out in pain. "No... NO!"

"Die, you peasant!" The PALADIN wrapped her armored gauntlets around Ji Yun's neck, cackling maniacally as the young man's eyes threatened to burst from their sockets.

Finally, as Netrunner breathed his last breath, the PALADIN smashed her fist into his face, pile-driving his head unceremoniously against the concrete pavement. The ground beneath was painted vividly with the blood of the Netrunner.

It wasn't until after Ji Yun had been killed that FOXTROT had noticed he was fighting the PALADIN. The group was surrounded and his vision focused from target to target amidst the fighting. As he noticed the gruesome sight in front of him, FOXTROT immediately froze. Seeing Netrunner dead on the ground sent him intense flashbacks from when GLITCH had been killed... from when ECHO had died in his arms.

"NOO!" FOXTROT smashed another CLERIC's face in with the CLERIC's own rifle before turning the weapon on the PALADIN, emptying the entire magazine into the PALADIN, who simply blocked the oncoming barrage with her shield.

"Ooooh. Did I make the FOX mad...?" The PALADIN grinned, her face covered in Ji Yun's blood. "Don't worry, my FOX, you'll be jiyuning joining him soon enough..." She licked Ji Yun's blood from her fingertips, reveling in the pain she had caused.

Pulling her sword from Ji Yun's body, she slowly began to approach FOXTROT, who could do little than hopelessly stand there and die fighting her. As he waited for death, a sudden string of explosions buried the scene in a veil of smoke. Coming down the street was the APC from third squad, the 40mm cannon firing at any targets that could be found. Shortly thereafter, Magna's ED-100 Walker charged down the street, all weapons blaring at the reinforcements that attempted to get out of their vehicles and cross the street. While it only put a temporary dent in the Ecclesian forces, the sudden appearance of both a armored vehicle and Magna's powerful, ED-1000 walker was more than enough to provide a distraction for everyone to escape.

"Come on! We gotta go!" Goblin grabbed FOXTROT before dragging him off towards their escape at the APC. "We're leaving!" He shouted as the remaining members of First Squad dashed to the escape vehicle under fire.

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"for now back me up on the ramp, we'll use the cement and cars as over, I cover North and East, you West and South...you should have brought more ammo..."

Auratta blushed, embarrassed by her lack of foresight. "Ah.. I'm so sorry, Erja, the ammo is heavy and..." her apology was interrupted by Erja speaking once more,

"Use what you have left, then pick her up."

Auratta's eyes widened, a sparkle in her eyes as Erja offered up her favorite PTRS-41 rifle and gave her a crash course instruction on its use. While nothing more than an annoyance to Erja, the White Death was Auratta's role model, an ace sniper that she desperately wished to surpass one day with the power of her OVERALL OPTICS. "Th-thank you, Erja! I'll take care of her... I promise!" She cried as she picked up the PTRS-41, barely able to hold the 46 pound weapon by the carrying handle. She committed Erja's words to memory and immediately followed her advice, abandoning the rooftop and holding them on the floor just under.

From their new position Auratta and Erja were able to hold the line. Auratta would point out potential targets using her augmented eyes, which allowed her to see through walls and relay the positions of attackers to Erja, who would use her SVD rifle to take them out. Occasionally, a target would slip through the defense, and come dangerously close to Erja, but Auratta would take them out with a overpowered shot from the far larger PTRS-41 rifle.

"Owww. This thing hurts my shoulder." Auratta whined as she stretched her arm out, wincing from the bruise on her arm. Although the defense on the upper floor was going smoothly, a string of explosions from the lower floors worried both of them. Suddenly, a familiar voice crackled over the radio:

"ERJA... THIS IS EMPRESS, GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE IMMEDIATELY! WE NEED HELP!"

-----

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(A FEW MOMENTS EARLIER)

Karin had foresaw this... the enemy attempting to breach the lower floors using the APCs as makeshift battering rams. It was something she had seen in her simulations... her video games, even. It was a rudimentary tactic that they would be very well-prepared for. When the APCs smashed into the building, she waited for the doors to open and release two dozen well-trained CLERICs onto the lower floor of the building.


"Hold... Hold..." Karin began over the radio, preparing to give Ade the signal to detonate the explosives on the lower floor. While Karin knew that Ade hated taking orders from her, especially when to detonate her own explosives, she also knew that Ade valued her life. From the shadows, one of her AK-9 Combat Drones watched... waiting for the enemy to step on predetermined locations. "Okay, go!"

Once the CLERICs were in the perfect position, the explosions Stafford had set up detonated, instantly obliterating the force that had entered the parking structure in a well-rehearsed orchestra of explosives. After the crescendo was complete, nothing was left on the lower floors except the charred remains of CLERICs. Her plan had went off without a hitch and the first entry team had been wiped out completely before they could do any sort of damage.

"Well. Looks like negotiations are over." Karin remarked to herself, picking up her E-MC-19 pistol. "Sorry boys." Without giving them any final words, the Empress executed both of the hostages they were keeping with point blank shots to the forehead, watching without emotion as their bodies hit the floor. Her plan had went off without a hitch... except one part.

Karin had not expected the enemy to rappel onto the roof and attack downwards, rather, she had expected the enemy to rely on brute force attacks from the bottom floor only. This was a grave miscalculation, which threatened to ruin the entire operation. Someone needed to hold off the enemy while everybody else made their escape. Being forced to choose between Auratta and Erja, Karin spent only a few moments in her head as she figured who would be more important to keep alive.

Auratta had by far more potential as a sniper, her elegance allowing her to see through walls and peer off into the distance without a sniper scope, but Erja was a legend, a well-experienced veteran that would always be useful to the Resistance cause. Without using any sort of emotion, Karin made her decision on who would live and who would die based upon this single, statistical calculation.

Knowing that Erja would not abandon her newfound partner, Karin motioned everyone into one of the APCs, now empty and ripe for the taking. It was the perfect escape plan, one that not even GODFATHER would have expected. Once Ade and the rest of the members of Second Squad were seated, Karin pressed her radio, assuming the best "distressed" voice she could muster...

"ERJA... THIS IS EMPRESS, GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE IMMEDIATELY! WE NEED HELP!"

She screamed into the microphone. After waiting a couple of moments for Erja to appear, the Empress used her XS-5 Specialist Exosuit's phase cloak system to turn temporarily invisible. Once Erja was in view, the Empress grabbed her, pushing her into the APC before shutting the door behind.

"We're rolling out!" Empress commanded as the APC whirred to life, being driven by one of Karin's very own Robo-dogs. Before Erja could realize what was happening, the APC was moving out of the parking structure and punching its way through the police barricade.

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"ERJA... THIS IS EMPRESS, GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE IMMEDIATELY! WE NEED HELP!"

Hearing the distress signal from below, the Mistress of Ire realized the severity of the situation. If the bottom floor is lost, then it didn't matter if the upper floors were being held. Erja needed to go down below to get a grip on the situation before it was too late. "It's okay, Erja! I've got this! Just... just come back for me, alright?" She barked over the radio, waiting for Erja to go downstairs to help. While the idea of being alone frightened her, they didn't have much of a choice. They would all be dead if the bottom floor was lost.

As Erja disappeared, Auratta took the White Death's advice to heart, defending the second floor with what little ammunition she had left. She would reposition after every two shots, ensuring that the enemy did not get a beat on her position. Her augmented eyes allowed her to see exactly where the enemy was at all times, even blasting some CLERICs that thought they were safe behind cover. Eventually, all fourteen shots were expended, forcing her to pickup an assault rifle from one of the CLERICs she had killed.

As she picked up the weapon, the room was silent, her eyes did not pick up any more targets in view. She reached for her radio to report in that the coast was clear, when her eyes suddenly noticed an unnatural outline standing across the room. Without hesitation, the Mistress of Ire dove to the side, watching as a streak of pink light blasted past her, crashing against a wall and putting a giant hole in the cement.

"Crap!" Auratta cried as she picked herself up off the ground, only to dodge another oncoming shot. After dodging two shots, Auratta captured the image of a dark haired woman in her eyes. It seemed that the woman was materializing to shoot, then vanishing into an invisible silhouette after every shot.

"So... you can see me." A voice shrilled from the darkness. Despite the ghostly, invisible outline, Auratta could make out a smile that creased the women's lips. "Hello, Auratta."

"Wh-who are you?! How do you know my name?!" Auratta barked from behind a wall, sweat dripping down her forehead. Before she could respond, Auratta dove out from cover, emptying the magazine of her rifle into the silhouette standing in front of her. If it was some sort of stealth technology, the bullets would reveal whoever it was that was attacking her. To her shock, the bullets passed through the silhouette, harmlessly bouncing off of the wall far behind her.

"Wh-what?!" Auratta screeched before the woman materialized before her. She was a tall, raven haired woman with sapphire eyes. The woman grabbed Auratta by the neck, violently slamming the Mistress of Ire into the wall that she had been hiding behind a moment prior. Falling to her knees, Auratta helplessly grabbed the radio that she had left on the floor.

"Oh god, Erja! Somebody help me! ERJA... KARIN! HELP!"

The assassin roughly clenched Auratta by her hair, pulling her to her feet. "It's a shame, I would have thought that my mutations would have developed from a much more... capable NOAH." Staring into her eyes, Auratta noticed a familiar flicker, one that she had seen in the mirror many times before. This woman was a Praetorian... one that had the same eyes as her.

"You don't have to do this... please! I don't want to die! Just let me go... you'll never see me again! I swear!" Auratta begged.

Grabbing her by the collar of her jacket, the Praetorian lifted Auratta off her feet before removing a knife from her utility belt. "NO! Please! I'll do anything! I'm so sorry! I don't want to die!" Auratta screeched, tears rolling down the sides of her cheek. She threw her legs violently against the woman, hoping to break free of the iron grip that pinned her helplessly against the wall. The fear of death gripped Auratta. She did not want to die... not here... not like this. She still had so many questions about her past that she wished to uncover.

Her pleads fell on deaf ears as the Praetorian stabbed her, causing Auratta to release a terrible scream into the radio. "Please don't kill me... Oh god... Erja... I'm so scared..." Auratta cried as she was stabbed again... and again and again and again and again... The Praetorian that had killed ECHO and GLITCH did not stop until every drop of blood had been painfully drained from the Mistress' body.

As Auratta's body hit the ground, her eyes continued to release tears across the side of her face until the once active movement in her augmented eyes slowly came to a stop... once and for all.

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Sarge failed to move after he was pulled into cover. He was old, and his wounds were still setting in. The pain was enough to just have him let his squad go, and let his cover get shot to hell. Granted they stopped focusing on his position once they realized everyone was gone. He watched the fight silently from his position, a growl rising from his throat as he watched everything. He was well beyond wanting to speak, as each word hit home with his mind, and body. "Peasant"....God how he despised that word, it was one so commonly used by even the Clerics.

The old man muttered as he pulled the belt he was wearing off, and slid every explosive he had on it right next to each other. He tossed the cleric's pistol he had stolen earlier, out of the way, and picked up a rifle off another dead soldier. He managed to stand up, and gain his bearings for the most part. Andre watched in horror as Ji Yun was assaulted by the Paladin. His knife found place in its sheath, and his hands gripped his belt of grenades tightly. Sarge wasn't going to let Ji Yun's death go without being avenged. Once more his body pushed beyond its normal limits as he sprinted toward the Paladin.

Sarge's rifle, fired a few bursts whenever he could stop to get his weapon on target. However he eventually tossed the weapon onto the ground, as he needed both hands for what he was going to do. The old soldier, looked more like a viking as he sprinted across the field of fire, perhaps taking another hit, that didn't seem to phase or stop him. As he got close enough, the 40mm cannon firing, nearly blinded him from the amount of smoke and debris. And yet he still kept running.

The warrior, as he viewed himself, sprinted as close as he was willing to go to the Paladin, just staying out of the reach of her Longsword. He pulled the pin on one grenade, and tossed the entire belt at the Paladin. Sarge could only pray it landed around her neck, or near her legs. He wanted her to be dead, or crippled for the rest of her waking life. A roar issuing forth from his lungs, the most primal sound a man could make. On orders, the old man had no time to pick up the corpses of his comrades, and instead began to run toward the extraction zone.

Any Cleric that got in Sarge's way, wasn't going to get much of a fight. They wouldn't survive long enough to actually be counted a fight in the old man's book. Unlike Foxtrot, Sarge had very little finesse with his fighting. He knew he was big, and exceptionally strong, and in a state of rage like this he simply couldn't do more than rely on brute force. Some men he stabbed with his knife, other's he shot with their own weapons that he took from their hands by force...it seemed perhaps his path was intentional, as he took no care in trying to avoid the clerics that he crossed. He even found time to club one to death with a brick he'd found on the ground.

By the time Sarge reached the escape vehicle his shirt was little more than a few scraps, and his body dripped with blood, both his own, and of the Clerics. His white hair, filled with streaks of red, and his chest heaving to take in more air. Yet he kept standing. "Give me a gun...or let me man the cannon." Andre growled, his eyes still filled with hatred. These weren't requests, they were orders from a man, who had just watched his friends die...including Ji Yun, someone who he cared for like a son. He was among the First NOAH to ever come to the Afterlife, and Sarge remembered him like that..."I want to kill more of them. They don't deserve anything less. They killed my friends, my family."
 
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A Paladin? A PALADIN was out there to greet them, alongside more than 40 other CLERICs, all armed to the teeth? Hiding behind practically every other member of their severely reduced team, Arata couldn’t help but feel his teeth chattering. The bloodlust of Regana-Hier was corroding his mind, but his fear kept the violence in check. Forty guns and an individual confident enough to stand against all of them without a firearm? Didn’t that mean that she was, at the very least, his equal when it came to close combat? That meant she was equally capable of catching bullets, dicing steel, and chasing down vehicles, right?

In his mind, the laughing fiend transformed into a true monster, an unknown existence with a fathomless power, capable of completely tearing apart the team all by herself. What on earth was Andre THINKING? Was the immortal madman trying to chase after his death?

The youth crawled hid himself in a corner even further, wondering if they wouldn’t see him once they stormed the building, but Foxtrot had other plans. Smoke blared out and everyone moved out, the RONIN star of FEARLESS leading the charge with a staccato of gunfire. Cries resounded everywhere outside as Arata still stayed back, knuckles turning bone-white as he realized he was alone.

He was alone, and everyone else was gone.

Plunging into the violent unknown was too much, even for himself. If he was going to charge, he at least wanted to know what he was getting into.

No, that was a lie. Arata just missed his opportunity to rush in, and thus, had the privilege of seeing all the carnage unfold around him. Spider, his lanky frame riddled with bullets. Escha, curled into a fetal position as she clutched the dog tag of another. Sarge, a berserker’s rush through the scattered Clerics, losing a piece of himself with each death.

Ji Yun, brain matter splattered against the pavement as if he had been put underneath a hydraulic press. The Paladin, licking her fingers, REVELING in her victory.

Ah.

His throat hurt.

Why?

Oh, he was screaming.

Lionheart tore through the first CLERIC before he had even realized he was running, the New Eccelesian grunt’s face permanently transfixed into an expression of surprise before the raven-haired youth lashed out with his foot. At subsonic speeds, the helmeted head shattered the skull of another CLERIC, a spray of blood mist bursting from the open wound. His partner turned, and yet could not see the assailant. Not before her partner’s corpse split open, Regana-Hier and then Lionheart emerging from underneath. The great blade slid through her jaw and exited from ear, her head bisected.

A hail of bullets scattered around him, but he perceived every one. Three steps closed the distance to the next group, the last bullet, along with its shooter, cut in half with a stroke that shattered the pavement below them.

“Breath of Sky, Fifth Form.”

Time slowed, fragments of concrete rising up at a snail’s pace.

“Tempest.”

A blur of movement, and then firecrackers sounded all around him. The Weapon of Massacre struck each shard with the flat of its blade, sending stone bits slamming into, and then through, whatever meager protection the CLERICs’ armor provide. Agonized cries sounded all around him, but…

I T W A S N T E N O U G H.

If he was to kill the Paladin and prevent her from chasing them down, he’d have to kill all the Clerics first. He couldn’t stop now, not until her bones were crushed into dust and her flesh was flayed from her body. Regana-Hier edged him on, and Lionheart allowed that to happen, turning into a bullet-cleaving, flesh-sundering blur of motion. In the chaos of the battlefield, the Clerics were unable to keep up with his sheer maneuverability, unable to form any sort of effective formation against him. All he could see was blood and guts, even as the captured APC mowed them down and Tinker’s mecha arrived to provide covering fire.

Arata did not stop. Could not stop. Would not stop.

Until Regana-Hier flashed for a final time, cleanly turning a man into meaty cubes.

With a shuddering breath, he breathed in the musk of death, the black stains on his skin growing darker by the minute.

Untainted by the lives it had taken, Regana-Hier gave off its own silver luminescence within the blood-soaked battlefield. Its tip pointed towards the Paladin, the pale maiden with gauntlets of deep-crimson.

They could not escape. Not until they killed everyone.
 
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"No one else saw that coming? No? Just me? Fuck it then..." Ansgar was muttering under his breath, hiding away as he was while the PALADIN pretty much told Sarge to go fuck himself and charged the rest of the squad with them retaliating in kind, well, barring him of course. He was nowhere near the melee which, while that was a damn shame since he wasn't turning Clerics into mincemeat right now, he wasn't too mad about that. Oh no, he had his eyes on a far grander prize really, that prize being the helmetless PALADIN currently engaged in melee with the yo-yo boy. Seriously, who thought it was a good idea to let him bring a god damned kids toy into a battlezone? He'd been doing so well before too, using the assault rifle and somehow not getting shot. However, the brief fighting between the two would give him that scant second to think and plan, the brain of a killer working overdrive on what he was seeing and how to deal with it.

High reflexes, given the bullets failing to actually meet their mark, but considering her shield hadn't been there until the last second? Not unstoppable levels of fast. Strong enough to stomp about in that armor and wield a longsword like it was nothing, considering what most people tended to forget was that longswords were, in fact, two handed weapons. He'd stumbled across the information at one point, when questioning something or another, it wasn't relevant right now. High speed, no helmet, cocky and cursing a bunch about peasants and such. Strong too, would be difficult to best in a melee. Mainly because of her blasted shield. So, he needed a plan. Two fold actually, since the first would do little more than piss her off and bait her into charging him. It required two arrows, and a hell of a lot of timing.

First arrow readied, high explosive tipped, aimed left of center of mass on the PALADIN, while she was busy dealing the coup de grace to Netrunner. As she raised her hand, licking the blood, and exchanged words with Foxtrot, as Sarge's own charge with the grenades occurred, he fired off the high explosive arrow, aimed for her shield arm, deliberately intending her to use her shield to block that one as he, as fast as he was capable of, prepared and launched the razorwire arrow right for her face. With her obviously licking the blood from her hands, it was natural that someone like her would show off by catching the arrow out of mid air after deflecting the explosive arrow with her shield. The explosives, he doubted, were enough to do more than scratch the pain on that slab of metal, assuming that much, but a razor arrow to the face? That would do a damn sight more. Assuming she caught it, and exerted enough force to stop said arrow, the shock of the sudden halt would still deploy the razor wire coiled within, flying forward with extreme velocity since it wasn't fighting to pass through innards right away. He would make his own escape from the area, considering the clerics, raging Lionheart, and Paladin between him and the APC. Secure his own escape, the powers that be had said, after all.​
 
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Erja Liikanen - Team 2
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"Ah.. I'm so sorry, Erja, the ammo is heavy and...Owww. This thing hurts my shoulder." Smirking under her mask as the PTRS fired Erja gives a soft chuckle in response, it was likely the most good natured sociable reply she given to the girl this whole time. Surprisingly an explosion rocks the bottom, seems the demo team was getting its party started, and in one hell of a big way, no smoke either so likely no fire.. Breathing a silent sigh of relief she turns her attention to Ire.

"Of course it's heavy. Ammo is your lifeline as a sniper, even on single assassinations. Don't be Lazy, at times you'll have to wait days for a target, those eyes of yours are special...wish I had em, but they still have weaknesses. Sniping is an Art...one that carries a heavy burden."

Sighting her rifle Erja and Auratta seem to be holding the top floor well enough, though Erja was on her 4th expended magazine by this point, the mysterious sniper still had not shown themselves, and the assault was taking massive casualties. Auratta was on point with most of her calls, the girl would have something of a future at this rate, and she was being less formal, less high strung from training, good signs. Suddenly the radio blared in both girls ears;

"ERJA... THIS IS EMPRESS, GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE IMMEDIATELY! WE NEED HELP!"

At first Erja spoke with a stern if simple reply, "Copy? Say again..."

"It's okay, Erja! I've got this! Just... just come back for me, alright?" Auratta said with a bit of a self confident grin. Looking at the girl Erja had a bad feeling about this, it was a feeling that had been honed and kept her alive all these years.. But if the bottom floor was in danger of being lost...

"Affirmative Empress.. On the Way." Speaking into the radio she looks at Auratta one last time. "...I know this goes against your Nature Ire, but a sniper can only trust their own instincts, even if in the face of command.. If you are in danger get out of here and link up with the fire team elements on the fourth. A good soldier, will never make a good sniper, remember that."

Going down to the bottom floor and avoiding a few traps on the upper levels, she wondered where in the hell the other squads were, the APC's seemed disabled, one had its rear hatch opened however, approaching it cautiously she wondered where in the hell the infantry team was.. With widen shocked eyes she notices them within as something forcibly pushes her inside.

"What the hell!" Turning around it was Karen De-cloaking as the APC fired up and moved out. Not one for teamwork or at least disobeying orders Erja stares at Karin with the same narrowed pupils as she typically had from behind a scope or when angered.

"Ma'am..what in the hell do you think you are doing..we are leaving behind a valuable asset.." Getting the silent treatment Erja stares at the Team commander pointedly, pressing her right arm against the bulkhead and on the other side of Karin's head. "..She's going to di-" Getting cut off the radio blares to life. Ire was on the channel.

"Oh god, Erja! Somebody help me! ERJA... KARIN! HELP!"

Still staring at Karin with a pointed gaze, this didn't sit right with Erja, it was war, that was true, but the girl's tone was one of devastation, abandonment, Erja knew these feelings well. "Copy that Ire..We'll come back for you just hold.." Before she can finish their is the sound of some sort of impact or struggle. Then a new voice.. it was barely audible but a person was talking to her.

"It's a shame, I would have thought that my mutations would have developed from a much more... capable NOAH."

What came next was truly dispiriting and Erja actually had an edge of emotion to her voice in her reply.

"NO! Please! I'll do anything! I'm so sorry! I don't want to die!"

"Don't beg! Never Beg! Escape! Fight! Live! Crawl if you have to, even if the pain burns! Bite them with your teeth!"

Next came a horrible scream and a squishy piercing sound..a knife or a bayonet. She was being stabbed to death. Of all the ways one could go this was one of the worst. And with the repeating sounds, this killer was being slow and sadist.

"Please don't kill me... Oh god... Erja... I'm so scared..."

Rearing her right arm back, and punching the Bulkhead next to Karin, Erja lets out a low hostile growl that barely even sounded human. Though it seemed more for who was on the other side of the Radio than for Karin herself. Suddenly the Radio cuts out. Erja was already committing this voice to memory. Collecting herself, her tone sounded as calm and cool as ever.

"We could have blocked the Fourth Floor off with IED's or fire Ma'am. You cost me valuable equipment, a spotter and an asset with Potential.. While I'm sure you had your reasons, that girl died expecting me to save her, even though she had known me only for one day. You know, I told her when I left, to ignore your commands if she were in danger, that a sniper must count on their own instincts, she followed your orders till the very end, without question. You owe me a gun and her a commendation and your thanks... I respect you as a professional..Empress. She remained a good Soldier to the very end. And you saved the many with the sacrifice of one. Hahaha."

In a low hushed tone Erja leans in so only Karin could hear.

"My village was wiped out as we tried to save the few with the many, so I know how those costs work, nor will I say this wasn't a proper choice.. But when this is all over, I'm retiring, finding a man that likes me around, can ignore what I was or am and having several kids, and I earnestly hope I never see you again. Your mathematics are as bad as me..after all when you called, I suspected she would die, yet I still came. War is a terrible business, makes monsters of us all who can survive in it, but at least I know what I am.. Ma'am." Stepping back and giving her two finger salute, Erja spins on her heels, facing away from Karin.

Setting her SVD down in the corner, many of the surviving infantrymen didn't seem willing to stare the sniper or their commander in the eye, taking up position in the APC's gun turret, Erja somewhat knew the manual control for the auto-cannon, charging a new round into the breech and toggling the safeties off, she doesn't even bother turning the computer systems on, just aiming down the gun sights, rotating the turret to face the rear, any pursuit forces were about to be in for a massive surprise.
 
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\\ Juniper Hamilton
\\ Team III


“Will that be all?”

Juniper didn’t respond to the remaining provocations. She might have taken it a bit too far for a still-active combat situation, and so let the two other members of their team continue to talk. In the meantime, the raven-haired operative searched through the compartments in the front seat of the armored carrier. Finding a peanut butter candy bar, she made a comment of satisfaction before chowing down on her newfound loot, blissfully unaware of the casualties the other squads were taking at that moment.
Well, even if she was fully aware, there was little that could have been done about it.

The team’s commander was still silent when the notice of the deteriorating situation came through. Carelessly throwing the wrapper down into the main cabin, she responded. “Will do. We’ll figure something out, over.” She clicked her tongue as she mulled over her options. With first squad surrounded, there was very little that she and the rest of her team could do for their encircled allies in terms of covert operations. If she were still working for the government, it wasn’t outside the realm of possibilities of making an evacuation through the backdoor of a storefront, but she lacked the immediate access of blueprints she could get otherwise, so even that far-fetched option was out of the question. The only thing they could really do was to break the encirclement by an all-out assault; if they played their cards right and the alarm hadn’t gotten out about Aresia, they could still take the element of surprise via a supposed blue on blue and get first squad out.

“I don’t see much of a way around it. We’re going to have to come in hot.” Juniper opened her mouth to speak again, but was thoroughly interrupted by the sudden appearance of a truck in the road in front of them, forcing Rubel to slam on the brakes, lurching all of them forward. Thankfully, she had been strapped in, although from the sounds of face against metal, it was clear that somebody in the back had not. She raised an eyebrow at the console that Aresia had hit, realizing what it was. “Oh, you found the gun controls, Chaos? Nice job. I’m heading in back in a few. We’re going to have to do this quick, and we’re going to have to do this right.”

As they neared their destination, the radio came to life again with the bike NOAH’s voice. Seems like their escort had arrived. “Welcome to the party. With how things are looking, we’re gonna need to hit them hard, and do it fast. Your idea isn’t half bad. If you can keep Chaos alive, you’re welcome to take her. Our gunnery won’t be outdone, though.”

Juniper glanced at Rubel to see if he was on the same page. “Okay Aresia, switch. If you want in on the bike, now’s the time to do it.” As they swapped places, she quickly looked over the fire control for the 40mm gun. Unfortunately, her knowledge on this system was purely academic, but she knew enough to operate it with some degree of competency, and that was what counted. System esoterics aside, she trusted her own marksmanship. Releasing the gun from automatic control, she placed it under her own as the screen in front of her lit up and became active.

Under escort, they screeched into the evac zone as first squad continued to take fire. Scanning the situation through her screen, she keyed the mic as she locked on to her closest target, spraying a squad of CLERIC men with automatic 40mm fire. “This is BACKDROP. Evac’s here. We’ll lay down covering fire from here. Get your asses onboard!”

She let out a short breath as the remnants of first squad began to trickle in. She had just started firing at the PALADIN that she had quickly made out, testing her abilities, but glanced to the side as the door opened up to reveal a familiar face, but beat up, bleeding, but not out of the fight yet. She cast a slight doubt on his ability to keep up with his wounds, but she also had to get the others in safely.

"Okay. You've got the gun, I'll cover for the rest of your squad."
 
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Andre had an odd gleam in his eyes, as he was given permission to operate the gun. He wiped the blood on his hands off, with his pants. Gently patting Juniper on the back, "Thanks, I need to vent some frustration, and bricks and small caliber guns aren't going to do it." The old man remarked, as he climbed up into the gunners seat. It took him some to adjust to using the targeting computer, however he knew it was going to work much better than if he tried to do this manually.

Being quite an experienced Soldier, Sarge began to pick his targets with care, any time a Cleric or two darted out of cover, he fired a short bursts of rounds, ripping the enemy apart. A small chuckle could be heard as he blew the legs off a man, and left little more than a spot of blood on the ground from a direct hit on another cleric. The old man understood ammunition was limited, so he did his best to conserve it where he could.

However he found himself drawn toward the paladin. Andre let out another one of his more feral growls. The old man didn't hesitate to let loose on the trigger, a short burst, turned into a volley of high explosive shells. However the old man got himself under control again, and went back to prioritizing targets he could actually hurt. The paladin was a damn tough nut to crack. However Cleric armor wasn't. He could rip apart those men with ease. Andre's shots always leaving a horrible sight, hopefully the sight of comrades with legs, arms, or entire torsos would be enough to slow down the clerics with fear! After all they were brainwashed, but they still had the base instinct of fear.

Certainly an APC, with a 40mm cannon would be enough to inspire fear. And even if it didn't, the man picking off targets in a more methodical fashion certainly would. Andre was still seething with rage, but he was more in control now. Able to focus on each target, "This is just step one...just wait until your little castle comes crashing down." Sarge said aloud, mostly to himself, though anyone could hear his ramblings. Certainly he needed Medical attention, as toward the end of his last volley, his control over the gun slipped, and several rounds went high and right of where he planned to shoot. He had simply moved the turret without realizing, his body having slumped a little bit. Though Sarge sat back up, he need to keep the gun singing, until everyone was in the APC, that alone kept his mind and body fighting off the pain of his wounds, and the blood loss he was experiencing.​
 
“GET BACK HERE!” Elayna screeched, even as the sound of the 40mm cannon all but drowned out her fury. Were those peasants seriously running away from her? And that fucking ugly midget freak too! Why couldn’t they just prostrate themselves before her so she could crush their skulls in like that stupid freak? As the pathetic duo of cowards dashed into yet another veil of smoke, all the resplendent PALADIN had to do was raise up her shield and charge in after them…or she would have, if it wasn’t for the fact that the old man popped up once more, emerging from the concrete dust to throw a belt of grenades at her.

Wow.

How scary.

“DID YOU REALLY THINK THAT WOULD WORK?!?!?”

The exquisite beauty didn’t even notice as arrows whizzed by where she once was as she swallowed the small smidgen of fear weakness within her and charged forwards. Tower shield raised up, the woman bashed the belt with all her might, sending it flying towards the hijacked APC. Explosions sounded afterwards, a hail of shrapnel striking both friend or foe…EXCEPT FOR HERSELF.

Dust clouds driven away by the shockwave, Elayna readied her weapon, prepared to engage in the honorable duel that this pisswater rodent dared challenge her in…only to see that he was running away, killing off the useless turds that were the CLERICs who supported her.

Indeed, literally every individual present, outside of the APC that was still wasting ammunition on her heavenly aegis, was focused on some other target. Clerics were being slaughtered by NOAHs on bikes, NOAHs with fire, NOAHs with swords, NOAHs in mecha, and probably a NOAH in the APC. All focused more or less on everything other than herself.



“DON’T IGNORE ME, YOU PEASANTS!!!”

Charging after the old man that somehow made it into the armored truck before her, Elayna fully expected the APC to continue its futile attempts to break through the unbreakable…only for it to switch targets and just blast her useless useless useless allies into pieces. WHILE STANDING THERE. NOT EVEN RETREATING IN FEAR OF HER PRESENCE!

Her red eyes widened, her veins popped out from her skin, and with primal fury, she raced up to the APC, rising above the vehicle in one leap. Bringing both hands onto her great shield, Elayna somersaulted twice in mid-air before slamdunking her shield into the armored truck. Under the force of her blow, the glorious 40mm cannon was crushed like a soda can, a horrific sound reverberating from the vehicle as the tower shield, the Heavenly Aegis of Elayna von Emmeria, bent the ceiling of the APC.

“Come out and play, rebel scum! For the sin of prioritizing my useless surordinates over myself, I will personally tear you to shreds!”
 
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