MAD: Class S (Peregrine x firejay)

[Peregrine]

Good luck, you poor fuck.

The words seemed to echo around the small, enclosed space Vala found herself locked in, louder even than the sound of the door being slammed closed and some locking measure engaging. She shivered slightly, rubbing her hands up and down her arms.

Vala wasn’t entirely sure how she’s got here. One of the roaming cities had stepped over her small home, and the next thing she knew she’d been bundled up with everyone else in the vicinity and escorted to a large waiting room. Many of the others had been ecstatic. The Tortue Cities were by far the safest place to be, and being picked up meant they’d be able to live without threat from the Calamar, even if they’d have to work off their salvation through hard labor. It had to be easier than the life they’d been living previously.

Vala, however, had been nearly paralyzed with some indescribable sense of unease, which had kept her from joining the excitement of her fellows. And soon enough, that concern became reality. As they were lined up and filed before a machine, the people were put on various jobs. Sewer maintenance. Plumbing. Window washing. Nothing fun, but nothing deadly. Until...

Two words popped up when Vala stepped forward. Guard Duty. She’d barely had a chance to mumble in confusion before two men had seized her arms, and dragged her out of the room under the pitying gazed of those who remained unsorted. Now here she was.

Welcome to the mobile armor division! A cheerful, robotic voice sounded around Vala, before a screen in front of her suddenly illuminated, casting both Vala and the metallic interior in faint blue light. You have been assigned to model SX-1956M, which has been preprogrammed with several basic commands.

Several symbolic buttons appeared on the screen in front of Vala, the largest in the center resembling a circle with a line through the top. Please imitate power. The circular symbol began to flash. Hesitantly, Vala reached out to touch it.

There was the rumble of engines, and the darkness around her faded, replaced by a view of the hanger around her. Only now did Vala fully recognize that she’d just been shoved and belted into a mech! Around her, rows and rows of similar contraptions stood, waiting patiently as people climbed into their cockpits. Vala began to panic, struggling in her harness, which didn’t give an inch. She didn’t know how to pilot one of these things! Surely they weren’t really about to send her out against the squids?

Please wait patiently. The robotic voice seemed to care little for her panic. Your bioengineer will be assigned momentarily.

Now, the guards words seemed to make more sense. She was going to need all the luck she could get, or she really would be fucked.

 

[firejay1]

Aemer tapped her foot impatiently on the concrete floor in front of the hangar, arms crossed in front of her. "What do you mean you don't have a mech-driver for me?" she demanded, furiously.

"Look, miss." The solider blocking her passage was eyeing her in a rather irritated fashion, not too surprising since this was the fourth time she'd tried to force her way into a hangar before a dispatch of mechs. "All of the mech-drivers have bioengineers already. I don't care who you are or who your father is. We don't need you."

She opened her mouth to protest, when someone else tapped him on the shoulder, whispering something clearly about her. The soldier turned back to her, a nasty expression on his face. "Well, it looks like we're short one after all. Tyler, here, will lead the way."

"Tyler" grabbed her by the upper arm and hauled her inside as if she was going unwillingly. She had half a mind to slap him, but hey, whatever got her in. When he tried to load her into one of the bioengineer pods, however, she pushed him off her and scrambled inside by herself. Right before he slammed the door behind her, she heard him yell snidely, "Have fun getting a nice hard slap in the face with reality!"

Yeah, yeah, whatever. They all just thought she was a rich girl who'd passed prelims and was looking for some thrills. Fuck did they know? Welcome to the mobile armor biosupport division! A familiar and ever-obnoxious greeting as she secured her own harness. You have been assigned to- Aemer slapped her hand lightly on the dashboard, causing it to light up the few buttons.

With her right hand, she deftly navigated to the menu, pulling up the schematics of the main mech. It was a low-tech government vehicle, a cheap, old model. Even her squidpod looked a little low on fortifications. She perused it while sticking the finger of her left hand in a hole to the left, pricking it against a needle. Please wait patiently while your blood is analyzed to test your compatibility with the Calamar! In the meantime, we- She pressed her finger into the salve chamber before the voice could tell her where it was.

By the time she had finished looking the schematic over, the machine had completed its work and her finger was healed up. Analysis complete! Your compatibility with the Calamar without parasite intervention is: Indeterminate. Your compatibility with the parasite intervention is: 97%. Congratulations! You are extremely compatible! Caution. Prolonged exposure to parasite with high compatibility may have side effects including: Aemer spoke along with the voice even as she pressed on the button to summon the parasite. Rash, seizures, uncontrollable bowel movement, strange visions, frequent nightmares, insomnia, sudden bursts of aggression, confusion of language, extreme euphoria, and death. When she'd first used a simulator and heard this little speech, it had scared the living daylights out of her, but she'd never had any of these symptoms, and the doctors had said her blood was bad enough on its own, there was no point worrying about it.

A wristband shot out and clamped onto her wrist, but the parasite would not be released until she pressed the button, when they got close enough. The button would also activate extra restraints, since things could get a bit... weird with the parasites. Finally, she pressed her thumb against the communications console, ready to make contact with her mech-driver. A better mech would have allowed visual contact, but this one was too old, and only allowed verbal communication. Just as well. She had no idea what a mech-driver would think having her boss them around. "Hey." She started unceremoniously, voice crackling through a speaker in the mecha's main body. "My name is Aemer, and I will be your bioengineer today. If you're new to this, that means that I watch out for and help manipulate the squids while you fight them. So... listen to me. Or we're both dead. Sound good?" She did not mention that it was her first day on the job.

 

[Peregrine]

The minutes seemed to drag on for Vala as she waited for something on the mech to change. Her bioengineer? What did that mean? Part of her still didn’t believe that the city, which had always seemed like a safe haven, a paradise, in the stories would really send out someone completely untrained to fight the Calamar. To die against the Calamar.

The rational part of Vala’s mind was amazed she wasn’t panicking yet. Maybe it was because there was something soothing, almost hypnotic, about the bass rumble of the mech’s engine. Unconsciously, her hands settled in front of her, and a series of minuscule buttons popped up all over the screen, while a faint static shock jolted her wrists. She helped, pulling her hands away, and the seemingly countless little buttons instantly vanished.

Calibration interrupted, the metallic voice intoned. Please... There was a sudden burst of static, and the mech interrupted itself.

Bioengineer assigned, Aemer Correny. Stand by for radio transmission. There was a melodic hum, and Vala licked her lips nervously. What would this bioengineer do if he realized he’d been paired with someone who’d never piloted a mech before? Vala gulped, clenching her teeth in panic, before hope suddenly bloomed in her chest. Maybe this could get her out of here!

The hum ended as abruptly as it started, before a crisp, no nonsense, female voice abruptly came through the speakers. Vala let out a sigh of relief. Thank goodness it wasn’t some hung ho dude who wouldn’t listen to a whit of common sense. “Please, I don’t know how to fight! They just shoved me in here, and they’re going to send me out there to die.”

 

[firejay1]

If she hadn't been securely strapped in, Aemer would've fallen down. For half a second, she was completely silent, then she burst out in full hearing of her poor driver. "Fucking shit! They put me with a fucking amateur! Son of a bitch! No wonder that cunt was so smug about letting me in, think I'm gonna come back in a few pieces by putting me with a 'tarded mech-virgin meat shield. Even though he shat his pants when met father." No wonder this was a substandard craft. They'd never waste a good mech on a meat shield.

"Listen up, you." She snarled. "You are being sent out to die. You don't have a choice about it, and I don't have a choice about you. You scared? Not scared enough. You wanna live? Fight off the squids. If you panic or don't listen to me or try to run, we both die."

Without offering any consolation for the pilot's unfortunate situation, she launched into an explanation. "Crash course, you control the entire mech with your hands. If you haven't let the machine calibrate yet, keep your hands still on the controls and it will do it automatically. Then, let it run through the basic controls. Practice moving the mech before you try to attack anything, and focus on defense if you have to pick one. My job is to let you know where the squids are, and clear paths or guide them somewhere easy for you to cut them down, because I can control them a little while I'm activated. You need to be able to hear what I'm saying, so do not scream. Do not shout. Ask for clear directives if you have questions or suggest something if you see an avenue. My pod will follow you automatically. It looks like a squid, but your mech will recognize it, so do not shoot at me. You need me just as much as I need you. If your stupidity almost gets us killed, I'm killing you. Got it? Let me know when your mech is ready, and hurry the fuck up. I don't know how much longer we'll have before they send out the dispatch."

 

[Peregrine]

Vala felt herself going from terrified to affronted, and then to downright mad, in about 3 seconds flat. She was the one who'd been forced in here against her will, she was the one who was being put into a meat grinder by a city that was supposed to keep her safe, and now this... woman was the one who was acting as though she'd been mistreated somehow.

She grit her teeth, growling silently to herself even as she returned her hands to the front of the controls. The static tingles returned, racing all the way up her arms to her shoulders, but she forced herself to keep her hands in place. Warning. Intoned the robotic voice, all but overwhelmed by the sound of Aemer's crude instructions. Calibration will overwrite preprogrammed movement commands. Please remove your hands to halt the process. Vala ignored it.

The flame in her chest only built brighter and stronger as Aemer continued to degrade her. The resiliency that had kept her alive for over 20 years in an unprotected city had returned in full force, crushing the panic under it. There was no situation so bad it couldn’t be made worse by panic. She would survive this.

“Aright, I’ll ‘hurry the fuck up’,” Vala replied, the venom in her tone clear. “But let me make one thing clear to you, bitch. It’s obviously beyond your limited capability to be supportive, but if you dare try to kill me, I will make sure you go down with me. Got that?”

As though timing itself to her words, the tingling sensation vanished, and the screen in front of her shifted, the countless buttons and controls coming in clear. Calibration stage one complete. Vala’s mech told her. Please follow the on-screen instructions to finalize calibration.

A symbol on the screen lit up, and Vala reached out for it.

 

[firejay1]

The woman was angry. That was good. She'd been called 'bitch' a few times, and it never got funner, but at least an angry mech-driver was better than a scared one, angry people had more to prove, and were less likely to run away. Didn't make this particular lady any more likely to be good at fighting, but at least it took their chances of death from 100% to 98. She snorted and cracked her knuckles. "The point is not that I be supportive, but that I be your support. It's called biosupport division for a reason, meat shield. Don't be stupid, and I won't have any reason to try and kill you." She snapped back, coolly.

Tone morphing suddenly from her usual bossy irritation to cold and practical, Aemer added, "Bioengineer on stand-by, waiting for mech dispatch. That means we go on your go. If you need me before we get to the squids, just holler, but I don't have much to do until we get out there." She could always activate the parasite early, as some did to get used to the somewhat psychedelic feeling the parasites gave before being thrust into battle, but Aemer tried to avoid that. She didn't need the squids in her head longer than necessary.

 

[Peregrine]

Vala forced herself to ingore Aemer, turning the entirety of her attention to the calibration in front of her. The entire display was digital, and the large buttons from only a few minutes before had been replaced with innumerable buttons. She tapped the glowing one, and felt the mech briefly hum under her. A golden aura appeared near the button, and she slid it to enter the glowing point. Out of the corner of her eye, Vala saw the mech's arm lift slightly.

The process repeated on the other side. She lifted the other, lifted the first arm higher, lifted the other arm higher, lifted both arms at once, and then followed the controls for basic foot movment. Following the golden cues, she caused the mech to shift side to side, step in place, and finally take a couple of steps forwards and back.

Calibration complete. Vala's mech intoned. No user adjustment required. Vala had no way of knowing this was a strange final result, only obtainable if there had been absolutely no slop in her response time or movement as the buttons illuminated.

As she'd played with the mech controls, Vala felt her anger fading, and excitement building inside her instead. As the mech hummed underneath her, and its parts moved in response to her own gestures, Vala even felt something like hope inside of her. Somehow, this... actually made sense. She couldn't have explained it to anyone if they'd asked. Hell, she couldn't even explain it to herself, but it somehow made sense. Maybe she'd be able to do this after all. At least well enough not to get mowed over by any squid.

Almost unconsciously, Vala's finger flicked out, pressing a button. Her voice was professional, and unexpectedly kind. "What exactly are you going to be doing, Aemar?"

 

[firejay1]

Aemer sighed, but not loudly enough for the microphone to pick it up. She'd explained it twice. Honestly. Well, she supposed it wouldn't make sense to a newbie. She'd been dealing with it since she was 8 and sometimes forgot not everyone knew how bioengineers worked. Most regular citizens only knew about the mech-drivers, in fact.

She swallowed a nastier reply, since it seemed like her driver was ready to be professional, and went with a somewhat simplified, but nonetheless more technical answer than she'd given earlier.

"Bioengineers are infected with high-class Calamar venom. Most people die at a certain exposure level, but at lower levels, it gives you the ability to tap into the alien's network. Squid communicate with each other mentally, and bioengineers hack into that link. Any venom lets you see what's going on, where they are, what they see, what they're planning, but it's difficult to control what you see unless your body can withstand a certain amount of it. High-class venom allows you to give squid orders. They're not a hive mind. They don't obey 100% and if they suspect you're not one of them, they won't listen to you, but the more high-class venom you can withstand, the better you can control them, your communication with them, and maintain control of yourself."

She waved her hands without thinking about the fact that the other woman couldn't see her. "So I'm supposed to keep the squid off your back, direct them towards traps you set up, let you know when they're trying to trap you or surprise you from behind. I will be talking to you a lot throughout the battle, acting as your eyes and director. But this is a two way street. If you see a way to direct the squids and want me to move them a certain way, you tell me your plan, and I still carry it out. Does that make things clearer?"

 

[Peregrine]

"Mmm..." Vala's reply was entirely mumbled and incomprehensible, almost making it seem as though she wasn't paying attention. Anyone watching would likely have had the same guess, judging by the way her fingers hadn't stopped flicking across the screen, testing buttons and feeling the way they caused the mech to sway. The more things she tried, the more they seemed to click in place. It was entirely logical.

"And how exactly am I supposed to kill the calamari in this thing?" Vala's next question, however, seemed to prove that she was paying at least some attention. "I doubt I'm supposed to bash them in with its fists."

 

[firejay1]

Aemer waited for a more substantial reply to her explanation than the noncommittal "mmm..." she was initially offered and when none seemed forthcoming, she opened her mouth to be cross, but was cut off abruptly. She wasn't expecting the question, and snorted at the idea of someone punching squids with their fists. "You could certainly do that, but it wouldn't be very effective."

She propped one elbow against the dashboard and leaned her cheek on her fist, pulling up the schematic again, and making a mockery of an announcement. "Here in the beautiful Tortue Cities, we do as the gladiators. Every mech, even a sad, old one like this comes with a variety of weapons. Your main ones will be a length-adjustable ion sword and dual-mode gun. The gun's first mode is machine gun, and this is probably what you're going to be using the most, because it requires no precision and takes out as many as it can. The second is sniper, for single precision shots that more advanced pairs use to take out higher-level squid. Boss squid, as we like to call them, are bigger in size, but otherwise not much different-looking. Take one of those out, and you not only encourage a horde to retreat, you make it way easier for me and other bioengineers in the area to control them. You should be able to toggle between the two modes pretty easily. Other than that you have 2 short range missiles. That's bad. They can take out a lot at once but only having two of them means you should only use them in an emergency. A weighted net launcher and a expandable metal pole are available to you, but not many people are really good at using those. The more important thing is a shield on your back. Mechs have multiple reinforcements, but a shield is useful if you do wanna smash a few manually and keep them out of your visual space. I'm not a mech-driver, so you'll have to figure out the commands for those yourself."

 

[Peregrine]

A faint breath escaped Vala's lips at the end of Aemer's list. That kind of firepower would have been more than enough for anyone to mow through her entire village. Her eyes drifted off to the side, staring at the rows of mechs that surrounded her. Every single one of these had that kind of weaponry built into it. And they still hadn't managed to beat back the Calamar.

"Th-thank you for the list," Vala replied, failing to keep the faint stutter out of her words. Her fingers flicked across the keys, tracking down her sword, guns, and shield. She'd never fired a gun before. Never used a sword. Hopefully this mech had some sort of targeting system installed.

Quietly, Vala began to practice with the weapons, drawing and putting away the powered-of sword, switching between sword and gun, and switching between the guns. Entirely by accident, she found the metal pole Aemer had described, but even by the end of her experimentation she hadn't located the net. Halfway through drawing her gun another time, the mech began to hum louder, the engines powering up outside her control. "Oh dear..." Vala mumbled, even as the mech began to speak.

MAD Unit 38 cleared for deployment. Prepare for engagement.

Far in front of Vala, large doors rumbled open, and the mechs in the front row began to stride forward. As soon as they crossed the threshold they seemed to vanish, some of them taking off into the sky, others leaping towards the ground. In the distance, Vala could see a grey haze filling the air and covering the ground. Calamar.

She couldn't help but gulp. She'd never seen so many of them in her life. She was supposed to go out into this? Her hands clenched, and the mech swayed slightly on the spot. The motion seemed to jolt Vala, her hands releasing. The rows of moving mech were getting closer and closer. "Alright, support," she muttered, speaking to herself as much as Aemer. "Here we go."

In time with her own row, Vala's mech began to move forward at the prompting of her fingers, quickly picking up speed.

God, she didn't want to die.

 

[firejay1]

"Oh God, yes." Aemer whispered half to herself, as she heard the exit doors opening. She leaned back, thumb hovering over the catch that would release the parasite. This particular bioengineer pod didn't come with outside visuals but she knew in her head what it would look like when they got close, millions of enormous, dangerous enemies, who wanted nothing more than to destroy them, no one had ever figured out why. This was it. This was what she had been preparing for. This was what she was supposed to do.

She closed her eyes, anticipating the jolt of movement, whole body tensed in waiting for the voice warning her that they were getting too close to the Calamar. Her heart pounded in her chest wildly, whether from fear or excitement, she didn't know. Calamar detected within 500 feet. Please activate your parasite.

"Yessss." Aemer hissed, and slammed her thumb down on the button. She felt the sting of the initial bite, but it faded away almost instantly, replaced by an overwhelming number of sensations. The extra straps securing her body to the seat tightly, the feel of wind, a strange pulsing in her head. Colors and sounds and smells seemed to mix into one entity for a single, crazy moment, and suddenly she was hanging in the air, a perfect view of the world around her and the mechs approaching the horde, a 3D video spliced together from millions of eyes working as one. The squid may not be hive minds, but they knew how to work together in a way Aemer knew humans would never achieve. Not like this.

A strange sound clattered its way out of her actual mouth for a moment, what bioengineers had decided to call "squiddish," though there was no formal name for it. Then, she came back to herself, recognizing herself as the stranger among the squid in the sky, pulling her perspective back to the specific mech she was tied to. She spoke for Vala to hear now. "Syncing with the Calamar complete. Ready for action. Let's go slaughter some real bitches, shall we?" An almost angry note of savage excitement entered her voice as she spoke the last sentence, though she herself did not realize it.

 

[Peregrine]

Somehow, miraculously, Vala managed to step out in time with her own row of mechs, almost as though she’d been trained for this. The sound of the mech seemed to drown out everything else, as she rapidly picked up speed, hurtling towards the edge of the city, before flying out into open space. The rest of her allies scattered, but Vala hesitated momentarily. Sky or ground?

Ground, she decided a moment later. She was new enough to this that she could barely walk properly. How was she supposed to fly?

Vala and her mech plunged towards the ground, falling faster and faster, until, at the last moment, she pressed a series of buttons, causing the jets under the mech to flare, its knees to bend, absorbing some of the shock. The mech shook, and the robotic voice screeched out a complaint. Warning! it cried. 80% strain on joints, small damage incurred. Vala frowned. Weren’t these things supposed to be durable?

But there was no time to think about anything else. In front of her she could see waves and waves of octopus-like Calamar, crawling across the ground towards her. A second later, and Aemer’s voice sounded in her cockpit.

Vala couldn’t help but grin. It was almost like she and her friends were up to some mischief again. “Roger, dodger,” she agreed, before glancing around. The mechs were scattered all around the city, most of them with guns drawn out, waving them back and forth in a sweeping manner, while the Calamar at the front crumpled. Vala quickly imitated then, drawing out her machine gun and starting to fire, sweeping side to side in an attempt to keep any one squid from getting too close to her.

 

[firejay1]

Roger... Dodger? That was new, but every driver had their quirks, she supposed. Better than when she was screaming to be let out. For the moment, she kept quiet, since the first line was going down with the machine gun fire, but, as she had expected, the situation didn't last for long.

She spoke quickly, but as clearly as possible. "Low aerial squid planning to dive bomb while the landsquid swarm. Most aerials should get picked off, but brace for imp- ah fuck, take out your shield with one hand. Keep attack focus on the ground, I'll direct them to your nine. The left. Switch to sword when they get close, you don't want any of these getting past you, but keep your shield up, this is a two-hand job, newbie. Do not attempt to help anyone else, including me. The squid have to think I'm one of them."

She clicked her tongue slightly, annoyed that she had to be adding details to accommodate the new kid, but they would catch on quickly, and she'd been able to warn the driver early about the plan. "Some people are going to go down, but we are not going to go with them." She muttered though gritted teeth.

 

[Peregrine]

Vala was beginning to feel the strange sensation of some echo in the back of her head. It was a bit like the one time she'd found an old bottle of spirits, almost empty and buried in the back of a ruined building. She'd forced herself to swallow those couple mouthfuls of burning liquid, as much out of spite as any real curiosity, and it had left her echoey and jittery for nearly an hour after.

She sensed something vaguely similar in this, in the disconnect between her hands and head that left her fingers to flick across the screen in almost incomprehensible patterns, causing the mech to rumble and sway and mow down squid after squid. It took Vala a couple of moments to recognize that Aemer's words were more than some voice in her head, issuing off instructions that she was supposed to follow without understanding what or why. Not that it really made much difference. The results were the same.

Vala's hand flashed left, and one of the mech's hands released from the gun, jolting the tip up to transition it from a two hand grip to a one hand grip, with the gun rested in the mech's elbow. Her other hand snatched up the shield, causing the energy barrier to bloom around the mech's left arm. True to Aemer's instructions, she ignored the Calamar coming from above until it seemed like it might be too late, until she switched over to the sword in one movement, fluid as though she'd been practicing it for years, instead of just the few repetitions in the bunker before the fight.

One squid slammed against the shield, but Vala had predicted the blow, bracing one leg backwards and practically springing forward into the attack to keep it from throwing her mech off balance. Her sword flashed out in the next second, taking down that squid and the one right after it. Another followed in quick succession, before Vala switched back to the gun, lining up a shot and firing off quick, controlled bursts that ripped through the fragile heads of the Calamar and left them fluttering to the ground like a kite with a cut string.

 

[firejay1]

"Holy shit." Aemer said, stunned. She hadn't been able to see the driver practice and had assumed her instructions were going to be greeted with wild sword swings and a wobbly shield. Not so. The way this driver moved the mech was as if they'd been moving it all their life, as if they were one with it, and damn athletic to boot. And had she just used the sniper mode on her gun??

Quickly shaking off her surprise, she focused on keeping the squid from straying away from the mech's reach. One land squid attempted to jump on the mech from the side, an effective move that could knock an unprepared vehicle over, but Aemer convinced it to pause uncertainly for a moment, just long enough for the mech to respond. "Keep this up!" Aemer yelled, slightly breathless from elation at this unexpected result. "Squid cluster approaching from your back to the right! I've got your front, take care of those! They've got a boss with them." Aemer got ready to convince the squid to mingle in confusion in front of the mech as soon as her driver turned to greet the new threat.

 

[Peregrine]

Vala whirled on the spot, her trust in Aemer, whether intentional or implicit, highlighted by her willingness to turn her back on the rapidly approaching crowd of ground-locked Calamar. However, as she turned, gun firing to match the swing of her mech's torso, Vala finally got a glimpse of why the weak-looking Calamar would be able to stand against a force of such power, and it had more to do than pure numbers.

As her bullets got close, the Calamar seemed to wobble, twisting through space in a way that caused the seemingly countless bullets to pass right through them without inflicting any damage. Soon, Vala would learn this was the influence of low level bosses, who were able to help the grunts around them survive what would otherwise have killed them. The higher rank the boss, the more influence it would have over the battle, and the harder it would make it to kill even the lowest ranked squid.

Vala was only stunned for a moment at the unexpected turn of this battle. She quickly traded out her gun for a sword, knowing she was going to have to engage these guys in close combat. Slightly worried about the wave of enemies coming in on her rear, Vala grunted, before causing the mech to charge forward from a sudden stand still. Just as she was about to reach the Calamar, she twisted wildly to the side, causing the joints of the mech to groan in complaint. Warning! her mech objected immediately. 95% strain on joints. Damage incurred.

The move seemed well worth it, though, as the unexpected twist caused several of the squid to all but run themselves into her sword. This opened up a clean line of shot to the boss, which Vala didn't hesitate to take, plunging herself into their midsts. "Keep them off my back for 5 seconds," she urged Aemer. She knew, if she could get rid of the boss, this would make the whole fight that much easier. But that assumed its lackeys didn't have a chance to surround and overwhelm her before she succeeded.

 

[firejay1]

5 seconds was a cinch for a horde without a boss, since her commands took the place of a boss, essentially. It was significantly more difficult to achieve when there was already someone giving the orders. "Roger." She said, tightly, but if it was more than 5 seconds, things were going to start getting complicated.

She countered the command to attack the mech with her own to scatter and regroup on the other side. A few hopped to it instantly, but most turned this way and that, trying to determine which was the legitimate command. It had to be good enough to delay them for now. She didn't want to call up a second parasite so soon.

ATTACK. The boss demanded silently.

That mech over there. Aemer corrected, directing their attention to a bossless group surrounding a mech wildly firing off shots with the machine gun. Poor sucker. Whether or not these squid joined in, that mech looked like it was ready to be toast if a miracle didn't happen soon.(edited)

 

[Peregrine]

The few seconds Aemer gave was more than enough for Vala. She instantly dove into battle against the boss, pinning it down with a flurry of quick blows that left it with no immediate path of retreat except straight backwards. Whenever it moved back Vala would move forward, locking it down again with either sword or gun. She was waiting for a small opening, a chance to lock it down and prevent it from using that strange ability that allowed it to pass through her attacks as though they didn't exist.

Time was running out, and Vala knew, if she didn't kill the boss soon, the fight was about to get much, much harder. In a desperate move she lowered her shield, before swapping it out for a sword. The boss lunged forwards, one of its tentacles aiming dead-eye for the cockpit of her mech. Vala fired her gun in several bursts, watching as the thing passed through her bullets, but just as it was on the edge her sword flashed out, driving through the thing as it solidified around her sword.

The boss let out a strange, clattering noise that even Vala could recognize as a scream. However, it's forward speed didn't slow. Desperately, she dropped her gun, allowing it to swing back into place, before managing to pull out he shield scant inches before the tentacle would have stabbed right through her. The boss spasmed a couple more times, before going still.

 

[firejay1]

The fight had felt like it was taking forever. A few squid had started drifting towards the boss to help it, just barely held back by Aemer's calls that it didn't need them, when finally the mech drove its sword through the body of the boss, forcing a scream out of it that caused even Aemer to wince, as it came with a last-ditch near-absolute command all bosses seemed to have: all attack at once, or retreat.

Resisting the urge to call up the second parasite, she frantically spread the message to retreat, at least to give them, and a few other mechs close by, a little breathing room. One low-level boss's deathcry wasn't going to deter them forever.

"Prepare to re-engage. They are regrouping, and this isn't even the worst boss you're going to face today." She told her driver.