The Black Railgun

[Aldriem]

The massive Frame was well-hidden in the trees, safe from spying eyes and just within the jammer's range.

"Mark 58 degrees to the right." The bearded man commanded as a blip showed up on the HUD.

Using the Ryder's Comm. Stick, James Lyhall, the Ryder turned the Gunman's head to the right. Atenos, the Gunman was called.

As the target came in sight, a red crosshair appeared on the view screen. The Tyrant Frame had been marked.

Reaching up through a tube, James pulled down a Viewpad and aligning it with his right eye, looked through it.

"Move to Review." He commanded yet again.

Almost instantly, a chamber in the Control Panel slid out with a TouchDome on it. James placed his hand on it and moved it right.

The Railgun over Atenos' head moved to follow the TD's movements slowly aligning itself with the unsuspecting target.

On the ViewPad, a green crosshair had now replaced the red one.

"Railgun ready...!"
"Firing in... 3"
"2..."

In the distance, the Tyrant Trap Frame analyzed its surroundings. It's Ryder feverishly moved his fingers on the Control Panel while keeping a watch on the Scanner for any RYDE units in the area.

"Area is clear. Moving to scout", he spoke into the transponder.

The young Ryder had barely moved his hand when an ear-splitting whistle caused him to jerk back. The shrill piercing whistle kept increasing till it reached a deafening pitch. All of a sudden, the light armored Tyrant Frame was ripped apart by an Arganium shell whistling past at Mach 7.

"Owned." James smiled as five to six red blips immediately appeared on the HUD's edge making for Atenos.

James immediately reached for the Comm. Screen and pressed a button connecting him to the RYDE Headquarters.

"Guys, this is James here. If you are relaxing around, then get your asses in your Tyrants and get over here. My location is 10 kilometres to the west of RYDE City. I'll need some help here."

RYDE City was one of the many pockets of resistance spread throughout the world fighting against Lord Knight's tyranny. It was a massive city with the RYDE HQ, a massive 150 storey state-of-the-art building located in the center of it.

James turned back to his combat interface as the Tyrants closed in on him.

"Next up... Rapid Fire Round...!!"

---

"Sir, Norman Daggett and Michael Wales have moved to intercept the Sniper."

"Atenos..." Erik smiled through his beard. "What about our recon team, the new recruits that were sent to the Outer Ring of Badlands...?"

"Sir, it appears that we've lost contact with them only minutes ago."

"Hm...?" Erik cocked an eyebrow.

"We suspect mercenaries."

Erik remained silent for a while, then said,

"Michael and Norman are to return within 10 minutes. De-brief them and set them off to the location of final contact."

"Yes, sir"

The screen switched back to the beautiful landscapes.

"If the rumours about Plasmarganium are true, then I have found it. James, it seems we'll have to delay your departure after all. David...!!"

Erik called his sub-commander who shortly walked in, a laptop in hand.

"Yes, sir...?"

"Get me the Inner Quadrant. I want all of them here right now."

"Very well, sir." David said as he flipped open his laptop and in a few clicks, sent out messages to the Inner Quadrant's smartphones.

"It's done sir. They should be here shortly."

Erik waved him away as he reclined in his plush seat and closed his eyes.

All was good in the Leviathan, Lord Erik's heavily modified Type IV Tyrant that had long since been shutdown and was now housing over a thousand people. It had been fitted with a few additional chambers, living quarters and Tyrant Holds.

This was Lord Erik's home away from home, and one of his many camps spread all around the world.[/hr]

 

[Lady B]

*click-clack-click-clack-click-clack...*

The sound of heels clattering against the floor echoed as Elvira hurriedly made her way through the corridor. She could barely contain her excitement. Not that it showed, she just looked as discontent as always. Maybe even more so, what with the high pace she was moving at. Once she reached her destination, positioning herself in front of Lord Erik, she immediately went into salute. "Elvira Madigan of the Inner Quadrant reporting for duty, my liege!" None of the others had arrived. She took a bit of smug pride in herself that she had made it there first, and awaited her orders patiently.

 

[Flame]

Jack heard the clicking of heels on the ground around the corner. It was probably Elvira... She was pretty, but, had an air about her that made him keep his distance. he waited for the sound to dissipate, and turned the corner, doughnut in hand. The other hand held coffee. He casually sauntered down the hall, frowning at the almost hospital-like uniformity of the place... He didn't really like hospitals. He had to go through a lot of red tape and medical work to pilot his mecha. Especially because of the nervepad controls. Soon, it would be worth it. He'd practiced simulations of it with nervepad controllers hooked into a simulation, so, he felt ready for battle. He reached the room just in time to see Elvira salute. He snorted, and bit off a bit of his doughnut. Watching someone like her do that was a bit funny. He felt like he was in a movie. He shoved the rest of the doughnut in his mouth, and poured the rest of the coffee in with it to soften it, wiped his hands on a napkin, and walked up beside Elvira. He noticed she was pretty short... He turned to Erik, and gave an acceptable salute, then swallowed the food in his mouth. "Jack Weiss, ready to kick ass." He said, and grinned. He loosened up, and looked around. "Mmmm, just looks like me and you, short-stack. Wonder where the other layabouts are..." He looked back the way he came, and around the room. "I like this room better..."

 

[Rax Rosetta]

"Blasted piece of infernal trash, I almost had the bloody thing worked out too!"

Ever so rudely interrupted by the raising of the alarm, as their oh so glorious leader called in the cavalry which meant any and all available units muster and head out. Ronin, aka Arthur Rookfield, looked up from the heat sink he was doing maintenance on, grabbing the cover for the sink and scowling, getting it back in place, thankfully having finished the work he needed already, so this wasn't going to slow him down much. What would have been nice was figuring out this heat sink problem that kept following his armor like a bad stench, restricting how much he could do without waiting for the sinks to discharge heat. Once he had resealed that part, he motioned for the armor segment to be fitted properly again around the sink, tossing the kit to one of the lackeys who he kept on hand to do menial tasks while he was working on his Ravager. Clambering up to the access way to the cockpit, he threw his coat on a hanger as he jogged, he couldn't wear it and pilot at the same time, after all, not with a Nerve Pad system. His jumpsuit under the coat let him interface with the system, considering how it worked, he didn't need some fancy outfit other pilots seemed to favor.

Jacking in, as Arthur coined it, to the suit, he locked his nervous system in with the suit, no longer just some man. He was the ZDX-99 Duelist now, and it was him. He loved this feeling, he would gladly admit, no longer just being a man. The meshing of man and machine, this would be a thing he had to thank the Tyrant and his men for, introducing him to this suit and being foolish enough to not think he would steal it and use it to escape. A thought let him see the system updates, projected directly into his thoughts and he knew everything was as good as it would be right now. Perfect, job well done on his part, like always, and he moved took off, clearing the hanger and moving at top unboosted speed, aiming to get there ASAP and show just how effective an experimental suit could be. He joined in on the comm network that his boss would use with a thought, speaking out loud in the cockpit, which would act like a directed transmission to the man, a direct, secure line to prevent being detected easily. Discretion is key after all. "Ronin here boss, you got your big damn heroes on the way now, one of em at any rate. I'm inbound, don't fret about getting your precious paint scratched."

 

[penguin055]

James's booming voice definitely startled Johnathan. Anyone watching could see him jump and drop his cloth. "Dang it James! I was almost done cleaning..." he said with an obvious look of disappointment. He proceeded to step back and take a look at his nearly completed work. Before him stood the MicroFrame he called "Greyhound," and it was clear why. It looked like a dog standing on two legs, and its paint was nearly all gray. It was also clear why he was disappointed that he couldn't finish his job, as the Frame's right forearm still had plenty of dirt and scratches. Oh well. It would've just gotten dirty again anyways. Once he was done looking his machine over, he climbed up the stairs leading to the AutoControl cockpit in its chest. He stepped in, sat down, and turned the Frame on. "All systems normal. Proceeding to launch." With that, he left the hangar and flipped the switch that controlled the Frame's transportation mode. He could hear the sound of pistons and gears and feel the cockpit move as the Frame got down on all fours. Johnathan then placed his hands on the movement controls and increased the mech's running speed until it caught up with the massive Duelist. "Alright James, Whippet here. I'm on my way too."

 

[Lady B]

Elvira's eye twitched as Jack called her "short-stack". She shot him a sinister glare, but didn't break posture.

"I would prefer it if you didn't call me that..."

She said in her usual, monotonously dry tone.

"...In fact, I'd prefer it if you didn't say anything at all. At least not with a breath that reeks of sour coffee. I could smell it a mile away. Ever heard of gum, or brushing your teeth?"

It wasn't that Elvira disliked the smell of coffee, even on someone's breath. In fact she found the aroma quite enticing, even though she preferred black tea, even more so because she hadn't eaten for a while, and was having serious cravings. It wasn't that she disliked Jack, either. He was quite remarkable at what he did, and she respected that. But, he had interrupted what she perceived as an intimate moment between her and the Lord, and she was irritated by it. Her remarks were nothing short of a child throwing a tantrum over not being allowed to play alone with her favourite toy.

"As for the others, I don't know. But they really ought to be here already. We cannot leave potentially crucial matters unattended for too long, especially not in dire times like these."

Once she was finished dishing moral cake, Elvira went back to sternly facing Lord Erik. She imagined him patting her on the head, saying "Good girl!", which made her lips want to purse into a smile, but she kept them in check. Her heart raced over every single prospect of being praised by the Lord, even if it was for telling off her fellow Inner Quadrants.

 

[Dakota K5]

Adrian heard the alarm klaxon sound and the call from James he thought. "Well here comes the blood." Adrian climbed into his gunman Tyrant the Maus he activated a diagnostic sweep all systems came up green, he radioed James. "Boss man what type of Tyrants we expecting and where are they i'll set up a marksman spot to take 'em out." Adrian then activated his control systems and engaged movement to James position he saw Ronin and Whippet moving out he radioed them both. "This is Adrian, I hope you two don't mind the music." *this starts playing* through the radio only being interrupted when conversation was being sent out or received. "I see fire on the horizon boys, let us go forth and purge this earth of tyranny." "All right let me load AP(armor perpetration) in case of any heavy tyrants...alright that's done...small cannons hmm lets see ah here it is HE(high explosive) alright that's done." Adrian's tyrant was now slowing down and getting into firing range for the 8 inch guns he could see James's tyrant about a mile away he came to a stop and had hos tyrant kneel and pull one of it's 8 inch guns up he was in the tree line surrounded by some massive oaks so he didn't need his active camouflage yet he radioed James. "Boss I have you in sights mark targets for me and you'll get some fire support." He radioed Ronin next. "Ronin if you get attacked by tyrants out of your weight class ping me and i'll switch fire to them if I can, sames goes for you Whippet. Let's end this quick boys I got a special surprise for you all once we get back to base." Adrian's IFF(Identify friend foe) pinged his squad mates and he waited for targets.

 

[Grimoire]

Kamila was leaning back with eyes closed as her fingers skillfully moved across the neck of her charcoal colored electric guitar with black strings. Awesome rock music filled her ears and she was really starting to get into it since the best part of the solo of Led Zeppelin's "Achilles Last Stand" was about to come up. However, James' voice on the RYDE comm. completely ruined the moment and Kamila's eyes popped open while she blurted out a swear word for all to hear. She threw down her headphones onto her bed and almost knocked down Mr. Roboto as she heaved out a small disappointment sigh. Mr. Roboto looked at her with one eye almost popped out...she would have to stitch that back up later. The stuffed bear toy sported a pair of pilot goggles and had never left Kamila's side ever since she was a babe. He was also his number one fan and gracious audience whenever she busted out her epic guitar. "Thank you, ill be here to rock out again after I own the Tyrants," she said without much excitement.

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Kamila put on her leather jacket and secured her goggles on the top of her head as she walked towards her baby...Lancelot. She gently touched the giant Mecha as if waking it from a deep slumber but it didn't take long for it to "wake up." A blue light scanned her hand and then her entire body. A second later the cock pit opened up to let her in. Immediately, Merlin the mecha's highly advanced AI greeted her with its male British accent, "Solomon, good to see you again, I've kept the seat warm for you...although, I do sense you're a bit agitated...did one of the Ryde's crew call you 'shorty' or 'kiddo', again?" Kamila had to admit it was pretty hilarious hearing it say 'shorty' and 'kiddo' with that proper British accent especially when Merlin wasn't mocking her but was indeed serious in his questioning. "No, Merlin, I was in the middle of an epic guitar solo when James interrupted me," she sighed as her fingers quickly flipped on switches and pushed down buttons without much thought. She could read Lancelot blindfolded that's how comfortable she was in her Mecha. "Ah, yes of course," he said in a slight apologetic tone before changing the subject," Should I prompt the location of Lyhall and RYDE on the HUD?" Solo nodded, "Yes." A moment later Lyhall's location along with the others had appeared on the top right. "Let's get this party started..." Solo murmured as she adjusted herself on her seat as Lancelot roared to life and began to head towards their lcoation.

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Once Solo was a half a mile away from Lyhall she finally talked into the RYDE's communication system for all those on the field to hear, "The real damage has arrived, gents" although they couldn't see her they could definitely tell she was jokingly grinning, "you guys wouldn't dare start the party without me, right?" She positioned herself within a cluster of trees to keep cover before she started merc-ing stuff. "Let's make this quick and easy 'cause I want to get back to my epic guitar solo that Jame's so rudely... interrupted," she laughed at the end. At this point she wasn't as irritated as before because that's just how she was...not the type to hold grudges. "Ready to engage when you guys are," she said now with a serious tone. Sharp and focused eyes looked at the HUD screen on the center left as she patiently awaited for Merlin to scan and locate enemy target locations.

 

[Crono]

Colin was silently slumbering on the floor of his personal garage when the message reached him. He made his way to Lord Erik's chambers and entered. Great, Miss. Elvira was here and she was already accusing him of being late. He stood next to her, casting shadow on her. He then stared at Lord Erik, his face reflected on Colin's mask's glasses.

 

[penguin055]

"A surprise, huh? Well then, let's get this done quickly. I wanna know what this 'surprise' is." As Johnathan was speaking, another familiar sound came roaring behind him. He heard the familiar "beep" when his Tyrant's radar detected a new object. "Hey there, kiddo. You're just in time," he said with a smirk, waiting for Kamila to make some snide comment back. He tapped a few things on the touch screen and placed his hands on the holographic controls that appeared. His seat shook slightly as his Frame's back feet dug into the ground, ready to sprint at a moment's notice. "I don't know about you guys, but I'm ready to rock." Johnathan's smirk grew into a mischievous grin as the thought of combat entered his mind.

 

[Rax Rosetta]

Arthur rolled his eyes when the four legged Tyrant caught up to him, sounding off as well while blaring music came over the comms, and he sighed and kept moving forward, blade resting on his shoulder, well, the Duelist's shoulder, but it might as well have been his right now. The comment about anything out of his weight class made him scoff, and responded to the gunman Tyrant's pilot. "Cool your jets hotshot, focus on target elimination. I can handle my own fights, what I'm meant to do. Besides, cavalry isn't for me."

Of course, the one that Arthur would never use the name for, Kiddo, showed up and sounded off as well. Of course she was off mucking about with that noise she called a guitar, and he of course promptly responded to her as well in the process. "Hey hey shorty, welcome to the party, late as always, eh? Too busy flailing about with that infernal contraption you call a guitar solo again to join us sooner." As venomous as it might have sounded, Arthur never really meant poorly for the others, he just had a hell of a time showing otherwise. He disengaged that train of thought though, he had work to do, and that meant getting within blade range of an enemy Tyrant.

Unlike every other Tyrant on the job, Arthur had no way to hit someone from a distance, so he was pushing his Tyrant to maintain maximum non boosted speed so he could get there and do his job, which was, in his mind, find the biggest, meanest enemy Tyrant, and cut it down a few sizes. So he was smirking despite the supposed advantage he was sitting at compared to the others, which he would use as an advantage rather, and in response to the other folks going on about rocking, kicking ass, ect ect, he just chuckled and broke off right to flank around where the rest of the group would be hitting, and flank a target as soon as they lit up as hostiles. "All this bravado, less talk, more fight."

 

[Dakota K5]

"Ya i'm sure you'll be singing a different tune if you get jumped by a few type III armanoid's Ronin." Adrian cut the music. "Alright, I don't see any Inner Quadrant tyrants out their yet so i'm assuming it's open season for us until these small fry soldiers get their backup I guess i'll start the show." Adrian made his tyrant crouch down as he was getting a firing solution. "Alright let's see what's out there...ah theirs my pray a type III." The maus's gun aligned with Adrian's firing solution, he fired and watched as the shell glided towards it's target, the AP shell impacted the tyrant, the armor of the machine tried to hold up but the 8 inch shell hit a weak spot piercing into the tyrant and detonating it's small charge right above one of the enemy's ammo racks detonating the ammo inside the tyrant causing a chain reaction causing the rest of the ammo inside the machine to detonate as well blowing the top half of the tyrant about a three hundred feet into the air and setting the bottom half on fire, the heat was so intense that the flame was white. "And that's how you start off a fight everyone." Adrian said over the radio as he was reloading a second round into his gun.

 

[StarryNight]

Sydney attentively stared at her bathroom mirror. She was slowly and, carefully as possible, putting on her black eye liner, that made her auburn eyes stand out out more on her face. One wrong move then she quite possibly could poke an eye out. She carefully finished lining the bottoms of her eyes. After she was finished, she blinked, then made sure everything looked perfect. It was of course, and then she moved onto her red lipstick that she picked up off the sink. It was a very vibrant red, that would probably stand out from a mile away; which was exactly why she picked it. She couldn't be the center of attention with some boring old lip gloss could she? As she started to put on the red cosmetic, Jame's voice rang loud onto the intercom, Surprising her, making her mess up completely. She accidentally steered the red off onto her cheek, causing a gigantic red streak on her face.
" Fucking hell" She cursed. Sydney quickly threw some water on her face to wash off the substance, and sighed irritably as she ran to get ready for action.

__________

A small smile surfaced on her face as she gently touched her friend....Spoiled. Sydney had just waxed her light red metal a few hours ago, and gave her a good wash an hour before that. It almost sickened Sydney to have to have her out in combat so suddenly. "Spoiled, open the door. You're princess has to go to a ball" She said, grinning. This was the password she used to open her mech. It was fitting, considering that was the nickname everyone seemed to give her. The door to the cockpit flipped open and she jumped in. The nerve gear systematically strapped itself around Sydney's body. This was always her favorite part of the job; she loved feeling part of spoiled, and spoiled being part of her. It was like they were one being, if only for a little while. She took a breath and closed her eyes. She often did this before combat to calm herself. She opened them, and she now saw through Spoiled's eyes. "Time to fuck shit up, babe" and with that, she set off towards the destined location
__________

" I was putting on make-up before getting here and I was oh-so rudely interrupted" She complained, when she was close enough for the communication system to work, " Do you guys know how hard it is to look as good as I do everyday? Actually...never mind, it's pretty easy actually, I mean, It's me were talking about here" She smirked.

Sydney gave a low whistle when she saw Adrian tare the enemy tyrant a new one, "Not bad, not bad at all......for an old guy."

 

[Dakota K5]

"I'm only 28 young blood." Adrian replied to princess's taunt, as he was readjusting his aim several auto cannon rounds struck near him the shooter was a type I, Adrian was so incensed by that action he commented about it over the radio. "You all see that type I gunman with the auto cannon over there ya he just shot me, a type III i'm gonna use this as a perfect opportunity to show why you do not fuck around with type IIIs when your type I." Adrian pulled up his other 8 inch gun which was loaded with HE, he locked onto target with his gun and fired at the type I, the round impacted the cockpit area of the enemy Tyrant but the HE shell completely ignored the type I's armor, the resulting explosion shattered the type I and disintegrated the cockpit of the type I. "Sit down." Thought Adrian.

 

[penguin055]

"Nice shot, Adrian. My turn." His hands moved quickly over the mech's controls, and his Tyrant began to sprint towards a Type-II about 100 yards away. "Greyhound" closed the gap very quickly. Once it was close enough, the dog-like Tyrant pounced, digging the blades on its front feet into the Type-II's chest, making a considerable hole in the mech's armor. The MicroFrame jumped away just in time, and the now-mutilated Tyrant exploded into a ball of flame. Meanwhile, another blip showed up on the radar, and Sydney's familiar bratty voice came through the radio in his cockpit. "Welcome to the battle, Your Highness. You know, it doesn't take me any work to look this good. Greyhound, though... He's a different story."

 

[Rax Rosetta]

"Armanoid Type III are only dangerous if they can hit me, mate. Enemies don't hit me easily, kind of part of the job description. And good luck tagging me outside arms reach, your welcome to give it a go some training, me and my friend here'll show you a thing or two about face to face, man fighting." It wouldn't be surprising Arthur would get into an argument with his polar opposite, in all reality, but they both did work, did it well, so he could at least tolerate things, or so it would appear. But the man could do some things, mainly reach those annoying targets that liked to sit out of engagement range, or run away in ways he couldn't get to, and he would steal the kill and glory, again. These people and their guns, made things too impersonal, too easy. But that was what made all this so commonplace, he reckoned, so that was that, he decided.

"And the premadonna arrives, lovely. I will never understand why looks matter when your in a situation where no one will see how you look. You could be wearing a monster mask, and no one would know! Hey, that gives me an idea, we could all wear different monster masks, and this would be a monster mash!" No, Arthur would not stop being difficult any time soon, since he was now closing on another Type III that wasn't stolen from him by that artillery sniper of a Gunman class Tyrant, and was not being targeted yet. Separated by the last kills, he was in a perfect position for his Duelist to shred to pieces, and he didn't even need the Maverick System or Displacement Field. Brilliant, sure as sure.

The Type III was an Armanoid, just like the kind he was threatened with by their friend a mile off, hiding behind some trees to take potshots. It saw him as he came out of the woods, a low, horizontal slash driving the hostile Tyrant backwards. The other pilot tried to bring one of its arms up, and was deflected with another spinning slash, each cut from his Disruption blade cutting into the armor where it deflected the enemy attempts to bring weapons to bear, and at a moment where he could make the killing blow, Arthur ducked the Duelist down, the enemy Armanoid bringing both arms together to try and crush him between the forceful impact of its weapons and sheer weight. With an upward swing, the ZDX-99's blade curved upwards, passing through the weakened armor and neatly passing through the enemy cockpit, the now lifeless Tyrant falling backwards, covered in nicks and one death stroke, the blade ending with its edge resting on the ground, having performed a full circle to make the final deathstroke. "That, ladies and gents, is how you bring an enemy down. No wasted energy between each action, just one single, precise deathstroke through superior movement."

 

[Dakota K5]

"Ronnin my dear friend, you seem to take me for someone who doesn't appreciate the dance of blades you but on for us every battle, it is a masterpiece but I learned long ago that while the blade requires a...much more practiced ability the gun strikes terror into the enemy, the damage I inflict is not purely physical but psychological, while your blade carving through a cockpit inspires fear it is still a quick death in the end but my guns they set my enemies ablaze most times, burning...burning to death is a horrible way to die the slow melting of your flesh and soft tissues, your nerves burning transmitting every ounce of agony as you are consumed this is a lesson every solider is taught but these cannon fodder they call soldiers are unprepared for what is drug out of those wrecks nor the smell the sight and smell it sits with them from battle to base they see their comrades charred husks and they think "That could have been me." It also doesn't help that they can see or hear my shot all they see is their fellow pilots Tyrants burst into flame and the screams that echo across their radios. So Ronin I ask the next time you see my work think of the impact I have on all of our enemy's forces compared to your dance of blades." As Adrian finished saying this he fires a small cannon found into a type I setting it ablaze just as he said.

(Was that to dark?)

 

[Grimoire]

The sole reason why she sometimes tolerated Whippet and Ronin calling her by those nicknames, that irked the hell outta her, was because they were part of RYDE otherwise they'd be dead on the floor bleeding profusely as body parts flew everywhere from ripping them apart like a beast. There were 3 things that Solo hated with a deep passion, 1. Betrayal, there was NO coming back from that if it involved her loved ones getting hurt...no chance at all, 2. Being hungry, that really put her in a grumpy mood but throw her a cupcake and she'll go back to nice-beastie mode, and 3. Annoying nicknames. "Hey, hey, hey, you leave my guitar outta this, Ronin," she then added, "You guys suck, you know I don't like being called that," she said in a menacing sing-song voice towards the end. At this point, Princess had arrived, "Hey, Princess," Solo smiled for she was glad that another female had finally arrived to join them. ​

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Solo noticed on her map that the enemy Tyrants were beginning to pop up. She saw something suspicious on her map where it showed an enemy Tyrant pop up and then disappear...Merlin had cut into her thoughts and said, "It appears to be a cloaked Tyrant, Solomon, I suggest to take great caution," he said. "It looks like this one separated from its group...I'll be fine, I got this," she replied with confidence. She turned Lancelot around and headed a farther out away from the rest of the RYDE crew.​

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She traveled for about a mile and a half and traveled further into a deserted city that was mostly in ruins. Not a soul lived there save for the wildlife that passed by. What exactly happened there she didn't want to think about it that time, but her heart did ache a little. She maneuvered Lancelot to a street with smashed cars, buses, and lots of rubble. Lancelot then stood at the edge of a large crater that was in the middle of the street. "It appears to be an 80 foot Armanoid Behemoth and its cloaked...Solomon, if this gets a clean shot you could..." but she didn't let Merlin finish off the sentence, "it wont," she said. ​

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The map on her HUD was eerily quiet and the cloaked enemy Tyrant should've appeared by now for the cloaking did not last THAT long unless it wasn't moving then perhaps the cloaking would last a little longer than usual. She proceeded forward with the right gunblade held up to block and the other low ready to thrust forward to pierce through. Solo stopped Lancelot again and stayed quiet to the point that she could hear her own breath. Merlin suggested going back for it sensed that the enemy was near but could not get a hold of it with the scanner. However, Solo was too stubborn to go back. It was at that moment that she heard a loud-high-pitched-echoing noise from behind. Whether it was pure luck or damn good instinct she called out "Boost!" for Merlin to enable and a burst of speed propelled her towards the left. A large mechanical hammer with spinning spikes slammed into the ground next to her making a huge dent into the ground that broke into a large water pipe that fed a near by fire hydrant. The massive spurt of water shot upwards and managed to reach the enemy Armanoid covering it with the water. Solo took advantage of this sudden distraction and quickly spun around to face her enemy. Before her she saw the water cutting through the cloaking shield. Crackling and static surrounded the enemy Tyrant and finally the cloak completely dismantled and she could see it clear as day. All of this in a matter of seconds but the enemy didn't waste any more time and raised its massive club again ready to strike. The club slammed down but crossed her gunblades together so as to block the hit. The impact was hard enough to make cracks around Lancelots feet and then sunk slightly into the street. The club was slowly bearing down into her but she lifted up Lancelot's right leg and kicked the enemy in its center which made it stumble back several steps. There was a Mecha foot shaped dent on the enemy but that didn't stop it from giving it another go at her. It was during this time, unfortunately, that she heard another bleep...bleep...bleep on her radar which indicated two more cloaked Tyrants or worse yet a squad. "Shit..." Solo swore into RYDEs comm. system. Great, now she had more problems coming at her it was at this point when Merlin said something about "I told you so." ​

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[Dakota K5]

Adrian heard the cuss over the radio and turned his frame to where Solo and her tyrant went and activated his thermals and scoped out two clocked tyrants moving in on her he adjusted his fire towards her position he fired his first round quickly without a full aiming solution it didn't hit anything important on the tyrant he aimed for but it did knock it off it's course with Solo his other shot had time to aim this time and he snapped it at the other clocked foe smacking it in the body severely damaging the armor and knocking out its leg motors. "Solo get out of their i'm getting more heat signatures near your position."

Adrian moved away to better cover Solo he radioed. "You all are gonna be without support for a few minutes I got to cover solo." Adrian moved closer to her position looking for the tyrant he just hit but didn't damage. "Solo the first one I hit is close and still active the second is active but can't move i'm coming up on your position now i'll cover you while you move back to me than well regroup with the rest of our allies." Adrian had the small cannons up these were semi automatic perfect for this situation his thermals were scanning for any more cloaked tyrants, one peaked out behind a building and he put two round near it causing the pilot to back off that approach of attack. "Give me an ETA Solo I can't let these guys close with me."

 

[Rax Rosetta]

"We'll settle this discussion later mate, all I'll say is I got the whole psychological warfare thing down pat. And relax guitar solo maestro, the nicknames are because we love you sooooo much." Even with another of the crew in danger, that wouldn't prevent him from making smart comments towards others. But he needed to move fast, and so, he kicked Maverick System online. Time for a real display of speed, it would only be a short burst, so the heat generation shouldn't be too much of a problem. He had a maximum of 30 seconds, but he shouldn't use more than 15, tops, to get there. Granted, that was half the time he had, thankfully not having needed the displacement field sooner, so the cooloff, barring any additionally abnormal heat generation, should run smoothly. He would never say it, but he had to give Adrien credit. He had the emergency response down pat from a distance, but Arthur wasn't going to let one man try to stop multiple Tyrants from engaging a single, surrounded target.

"Blaze away Adrian, they won't see this one coming. Watch this." He would have the element of surprise, since early warning systems or no, the enemies were focusing on the Lancelot, and he was coming in faster than most Type I Ravagers could even manage, and it was hitting the 15th second of boost when he came flying out of a ruined side alley, landing a driving knee strike into the Tyrant staggering from Adrian's snapshot, the speed coupled with element of surprise would throw the hostile Tyrant to the ground, the high impact point coupled with the previous staggering hit from the high speed Duelist would throw it into the ruins, bringing some rubble down, and he called over to Solo. "Fighting retreat sound good, or feel like living up to your namesake some more, Solo?"

Adrian moving to cover made Arthur roll his eyes, a swipe of the blade bringing more of the building down on the Tyrant, burying it beyond ability to dig itself out, he would finish it later, if the time presented itself. Taking a look over the area, Arthur figured that Adrian moving was smart, but very, very risky on his end. He had no close up defenses, not really, that would kill enemies, so he should have hung back, or took a wide loop so he wasn't as close and could keep putting shots down range to cover Solo. These close quarters would not suit the friendly Gunman suit either, even if it was more medium to close range weapons ready. Arthur smirked, flourishing his blade in a full circular pattern, the heat venting from the sinks visible in the current air temperature, trying to displace the heat from the overcharged boosting he had just undertook, and he was on guard, ready to make some fools pay for their transgressions, and would intercede on Solo's behalf if she needed it, or things looked grim on her part, though how, well, would depend on the opening presented.