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Post by fen on Mar 9, 2018 20:18:33 GMT -6
'Spitter' had received the call to return, just as he and his flight of three had entered the Pacific. The 'Hellfire' was a bright red Athen, currently configured into its submersible mode, its head nestled into its body and shielded so than only a thin horizontal line teased the sight of a mono-eye. The machine seemed mostly like the average Athen, minus the occasional protrusions towards the rear, and a long metallic pole attached to its side, facing forward with the rest of the machine. "...Eh? Come back? Well, whatever." The pilot within, a boy with long, ebony hair, a toothy grin present, didn't even bother to tell the rest of his flight as his Athen made a u-turn, shooting off into the distance as it quickly covered ground back to Baykovo. --- Cain's rifle quickly adjusted, firing off another beam- only for the Phalanx to dive to the side once more. It flew blindingly fast, but it was clear that it was still being tested- every time it ducked or dodged, its shots would veer wildly off into the distance. Gretel clenched her teeth, bringing up her rifle once more as she made a bee-line to the Phoros. Yet her attention lasted only for a moment, as Cain swung his rifle around once more... "...What-?!" The Phalanx was blaring alarms to its pilot as a blanket of missiles began to rain down on its location. One nicked her rifle, blowing up and capturing it in the blast immediately, taking a few of its fingers in the process. The Phalanx seemed to reverse its direction, attempting to go back downhill to escape most of the blast. Her eyes now on the Arlington, she flipped a switch on her triggers, causing the Phalanx's thruster binders to fire up, momentarily making it airborne. "Just... Fall down already!" Two square containers launched from its thruster binders, flying up a ways into the air before stopping and... The containers split apart, revealing a slew of missiles that it then fired, each and all of them rocketing off towards the Arlington, returning the favor on its previous attack. "Got you!" "...Huh?!" A bright red beam cut through the sky, nearly cleaving the Phalanx were it not for its sudden mid-air movements, instead clipping and taking its damaged arm, which promptly sizzled off and fell to the ground. The Phalanx fell soon after, landing on the ground gently with its hover skirt, the machine pausing. "...You... The two of you...!" Regardless of who it was intended for- one thing was certain, both Cain and Ernest could hear the voice of the pilot, her rage all but bubbling out of their consoles. "You made my Lotus so...!" "It was already ugly." That was all Cain could muster to say before the Phalanx shot off, thrusters blaring to throw it in his direction, apparently no longer-armed, save for another few containers stored in its back and its single arm. --- The Lucky was joined by its considerably less amphibious comrade, the Highlander. The depths were not kind to the Spartan, which rumbled with each step, its pace slowed to a crawl. Really, it was more like the gaunt of a sci-fi giant robot that was terrorizing an Earth city, but it's not like anyone was outside to scream in order to make that comparison. Outside on the docks, three BLADE's approached the edge of the water, their high-powered kinetic rifles firing into the bay, attempting to hit anything. While streams of bubbles no doubt swirled by their heads, for now they were in no danger of getting hit. Still, the Highlander's crawl onto land would be difficult if it didn't manage to stop the suppressing fire. But they may not have time for that. MUSIC TIMEStreaking into the bay, as bright as a star, came the Hellfire. While still in a somewhat submersible mode, it stuck one of its large claw arms out, gripping onto the Highlander's shoulder. The two shook as the machine latched on, a long, thin metal pole sticking out of its claw arm. The Athen slowly shifted back into its normal body, its normally sleek head replaced with an ovular mono-eye rimmed by four large metallic spades giving it the appearance of some sort of monstrous worm. "You got some biiig kahunas decidin' to come in like that, Especially in that piece of junk. Lemme just...' The pole began to move, extending out of the claw. "...Take care of that for you!"
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Post by montywonty on Mar 9, 2018 22:52:04 GMT -6
The blazing-red Athen tore through the water like a meteor through the sky, leaving a trail of bubbles as it approached. The Highlander reached for its heat sword, but Sean could feel the Spartan’s sluggishness weigh on his movements. It felt more like he was wading through molasses than water, and it made him feel like a diver caught helplessly in the path of a bloodthirsty shark…
...but if he was dealing with a shark, then his only choice was to enlist the help of a dolphin.
“Tinder, I’ve got an Athen coming in hot from my 3 o’ clock. Mind reminding them who rules this ocean?”
It was halfway through Sean’s warning that Lana brought her machine to a complete halt in its trajectory. Taking a brief look at the situation above, the Phoros and the Phalanx were exchanging favors toe-to-toe. However, the Spartan she had left behind was threatened to be skewered. Dipping severely to the side she flung her throttles around, taking a u-turn back the way she came. “Oh no you better not--. Dropkick, hold still, okay?!” Down her throat was the possibility that she would miss.
The bubbles blanketed the Athen as it reached its proximity, its left arm exiting its compacted form. Even while she was safe for now, Lana couldn’t help but hold her breath as she aimed the hatch in the arm that was opening. The contents propelled at an accelerating rate with a chain following behind it. The target would be the enemy Athen’s claw.
"You got some biiig kahunas decidin' to come in like that, Especially in that piece of junk. Lemme just…”
A bead of sweat trailed down Sean’s forehead.
"...Take care of that for you!"
The Lucky’s kinetic lance tore through the Hellfire’s clawed arm, momentarily releasing the Highlander from its grasp as it emerged from the other side.
Sean made a desperate grab for his heat sword, which began to turn the water around it into steam as its edge glowed red-hot. Propelling himself backwards, Sean swung his blade in the Hellfire’s direction to force some distance between the two.
“Ye’re not the only one with a big stick...” Sean chided. “...but I know how to use mine!”
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Post by S☆E on Mar 10, 2018 0:16:08 GMT -6
"Good save, Tinder!" Ernest called through the comm. "You guys handle that sea beast. Merlin and I'll clear the- SHIT!"
With a barrage of missiles heading his way Ernest quickly fired off the last of the heavy munitions from his leg pods at the BLADEs below before swinging the Arlington back into flight mode. The projectiles were thick enough that he took a few hits, the ones at the front of the swarm taking blowing off the leg he'd just emptied seconds before. A few others pounded the Hippokon's armor, knocking the machine around as it flailed through the sky.
"Hooo-damn!" Ernest cackled, his voice a raw mix of mettle and nerves. "Tacky bitch caught me by surprise. Keep her busy for a sec while I swing this fridge around, Merlin. I'm on my way!"
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Post by fen on Mar 10, 2018 1:22:01 GMT -6
The impact of the Lucky’s strike on the Hellfire’s arm caused both machines to creak, an uneasy feeling coating the scene. While the strike hadn’t quite torn the arm off, the Hellfire did disengage, an audible (if not muffled) crack distorted the sound of metal being torn off as the arm returned to its body. The Hellfire’s hydrothrusters shot it back, its arms splayed out as if beckoning the Athen and Spartan to try it.
“Not bad, not bad, kid! Still, you’re all dead meat, anyways.”
Two pillars of bubble seemed to fire out in front of it from its shoulders, veering directly towards the Spartan that was still relatively nearby. One streaked and hit the ground nearby the Spartan, immediately exploding it, knocking the machine back. As the Spartan recovered from the blast, the Hellfire shot forward, heat claw powering up to strike at the Highlander, intent on ending the confrontation right then and there.
The other torpedo shot towards the Lucky, intending on making a direction collision.
Above the water, the fire from the Martian forces had momentarily stopped, primarily because one of the BLADE's had been blown to chunks, pieces of metal and electronics sinking into the water as the rest of its smouldering husk burned in the night. The other two had instead opted to return fire at the Arlington, unloading magazines in its general direction before launching forward, hoping over short buildings and heading towards the hill-side fight.
---
Cain let out a grunt, the Phoros’s rifle aiming once more for the Phalanx charging at it. "Tacky bitch caught me by surprise. Keep her busy for a sec while I swing this fridge around, Merlin. I'm on my way!" Merlin stretched his neck out, momentarily easing off the controls. The Phalanx couldn’t do much- it was mostly disarmed, and he had one hell of a rifle…
“No problem on my end, just waiting for it to stop moving…”
In the distance towards the base, the outline of two BLADEs could be seen. They only had rifles, but two guns were still two guns, and he didn’t like his chances of staying on this hillside.
“...Actually, I’ll join you up there.”
With a quick flick of his wrists, his shoulder thrusters angled forward, firing the Phoros backwards and into the air, the AA taking a quick potshot with its rifle, narrowly missing the Phalanx and singing the ground instead. As the Phoros lifted off the ground…
“NOPE!”
Instead of being greeted with open sky, he instead was face to face with the Phalanx, which had dumped whatever was remaining in its binders. Its remaining hand reached forward, gripping the Phoros by the torso. Its arm shifted, opening up and revealing a hidden vulcan, which immediately started firing.
“Wha-”
The first shot missed, but the second grazed part of the torso, and Cain felt his cockpit rumble.
“...God-”
He nearly dropped his rife, but instead took it to bashing the Phalanx’s face in with his remaining hand, his shoulder vulcans popping out of their shutters and opening fire, punching light holes into the Phalanx’s armor.
“Shoot me all you want, I’ll still be taking you down for fucking with my machine!”
“Shit…”
The Phoros and the Phalanx were now dancing in the sky, but also, and mainly- falling.
“Don’t worry about me for now, Basset, just focus on clearing those BLADEs-!”
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Post by Captain Ameijin! on Mar 10, 2018 12:57:30 GMT -6
The torpedo threatened to knock the Highlander straight onto its ass, forcing Sean to steady his machine as the Hellfire bull rushed him. He kicked his back thrusters into gear as the enemy’s heat claws collided with his sword, his blade jamming itself between the Athen’s fingers. His other arm braced against the back of the heat sword, heels digging into the sandbar below. Even with all the strength his machine could muster, Sean could feel the Highlander inch backwards.
“Dead meat, huh? Ye say that, but I’m… still… standing!”
The Highlander’s head turned towards the second torpedo, firing supercavitating rounds from vulcans attached to its lower jaw.
---
The Nemea held up its shield to deflect incoming fire, veering to the right to use the half-collapsed buildings as cover. Brief flashes of yellow stood out between the flames and soot. Myra took potshots at the Hoplite that had emerged from the hangar to the right; though she couldn’t brace herself for a steady shot, Myra hoped that she could take out Hoplite-2’s rifle and force it into close combat.
“Shockwave, do you read? If you bring down the roof on that hangar you might give yourself time to stop, drop, and roll.”
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Post by Charredgp on Mar 11, 2018 0:28:46 GMT -6
Inside the Red Sun, warnings were blaring in Gabe's display about the damage he was suffering. While the heat wasn't an immediate concern, it was worrying that something was able to ignite his Phalanx in the first place. Napalm or some other nasty chemical was his first guess. But he'd have to act fast before his AA lived up to its name in more ways than one.
"All I got to roll 'round in is more fire, Jingo. Probably gonna need to hit the water before I gotta start swimmin' to put it out. Echo, I'm gonna need ya to keep an eye out for any company while I take a dip."
True to her suggestion, a missile would come flying towards the hangar, intent on collapsing the roof and hopefully damaging anything still intact inside. The Red Sun would immediately move towards the shore once it had fired, threatening to spread the fire even further out than before as he did.
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Linkyu
Cosmic Kiddie
aaa
Posts: 47
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Post by Linkyu on Mar 14, 2018 2:23:44 GMT -6
“Roger that, Shockwave. Fire is spreading towards me though, so I’ll move in slightly.”
Kara hated this situation. There had been no time to do a decent full recc and they were now assaulting a base without knowing what could hit them yet. At any rate, she hadn’t expected sticky fire. Thankfully, she wasn't standing on a particularly advantageous spot, so moving away was not really an issue. She leaned on her controls and the Neu Alma leaped across the inferno. Once positioned again, she assessed the battle and aimed towards Hoplite-1.
“Shockwave, once you’re quenched, see if you can move in towards the docks. I’d like to know what’s in there as well. You’re free to use any force necessary.” She fired a round and re-adjusted her aim. “Jingo, Fawn. Hopefully the collapse disabled that incendiary unit, but keep an eye out.”
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Post by fen on Mar 15, 2018 5:22:11 GMT -6
The assault was... Moving.
Nemea weaved between buildings, the Peltast avoiding fire as it braced itself against a half-torn wall, firing shots that veered off into the hangars, rather than their targets. The same fate awaited the Neu Alma as it attempted to fire at the targets. The Hoplites they were up against hardly had to shield themselves, turning instead to meet the Peltast and release a salvo of fire. The daze of the smoke, rubble, and fire lowered accuracy substantially.
The Red Sun's fire did not go amiss, and for better or for worse, its missile had suitably trashed the hangar, causing the roof to fall in. The building itself was not very hardy, and so little damage was caused to the surrounding area. From the ruins, emerged a pitch-black Hoplite, red accents striking its body, a heavy duty rifle-cannon in its arm. Its visor flashed red, the machine taking aim with its gun- towards the Peltast.
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Linkyu
Cosmic Kiddie
aaa
Posts: 47
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Post by Linkyu on Mar 15, 2018 6:29:47 GMT -6
Kara lined up another shot towards Hoplite-1 before she moved to the black machine. That’s such a dangerous weapon, she thought. A welcome one nonetheless, if they could use that to their advantage.
“Well, look who’s unscathed. What a nice toy, too. Would be a shame if it backfired inside the base, right? Fawn, take cover and concentrate your fire on the cannon’s magazine, see if we can burn the burner. Jingo, use your speed; weave and dodge to make a distraction while I’m covering you.”
Without skipping a beat, Kara fired at the black Hoplite.
“Shockwave, status report?” Her tone was hurried, but precise.
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moo!!
Cosmic Kiddie
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Post by moo!! on Mar 16, 2018 19:19:01 GMT -6
During the initial assault, the Kirin shot off towards the nearest ruined building, raising its shield to try and reflect most of the rounds that came its way. Thankfully there wasn’t much space between the AA and its current shelter, and amid all the smoke, dust and rubble, most shots fired missed.
Fawn readied her rifle, hoping the Nemea was causing enough mayhem for her to move the Kirin in closer, behind the row of buildings closest to the hangar – a bit uncomfortably close to the two Hoplites, the destruction of the hangar, and…
The appearance of a black and red Hoplite, stepping unscathed from a haze of dust. Kara’s voice pulled her attention back to the fight, and she set to activate one of the Kirin’s new additions: the hereby named Lightninghorn system. (… because it was the Kirin, and it had a horn on its head, and because of its namesake and-- listen ok she's a nerd and I needed a name for it) Various information popped up on the screens, providing some relevant information on the three targets: while the two regular Hoplites had standard engines, the custom Hoplite had some manner of high performance one.
“Got it.”
With the black Hoplite focused on Myra, Fawn peeked around the edge of the building and immediately fired at the gun-cannon. She had to be quick – if she hit it, maybe the resulting blast would take out the other units while they were still reasonably close. Hopefully.
Regardless of whether she hit, she began moving after firing, speaking to the rest of the team as she ran to a building directly beside the one she was behind before.
"Also, keep an eye out – the one with the big gun's has some special modifications to its engines. The system's saying it's a high-performance engine, but I'm not entirely sure what that means. We'll likely find out in a few moments."
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Post by Charredgp on Mar 16, 2018 20:31:37 GMT -6
"Probably means it's fast. Or it might have some better flight capabilities, then." Gabe added over the growing blare of the Red Sun warning him that he was still on fire. Once he reached the shore, he immediately let the AA drop into the water, submerging almost half of it to ensure the blaze was being properly smothered. While it wasn't extinguishing immediately, he could at least comfort himself knowing the icy waters would prevent any further heat damage.
While the AA waited for the fire to die, he was already going through the motions of replacing his weapon, letting the bazooka stick to the magnetic spot he'd left for it so he could use his rifle. No use in risking friendly fire now. Especially if they could wait for a better opportunity for more dangerous targets.
"Still a bit hot under the collar, Echo, but otherwise good. Switchin' to some lighter ordinance so we don't waste some perfectly good missiles." From where he was, it was doubtful he'd have nearly the stellar opportunities of the rest of his squad. But that didn't mean he wouldn't take what shots he could from the sea at the AAs in the base to back up the three of them, one eye on his diagnostics so he would know when he could leave.
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Post by Captain Ameijin! on Mar 16, 2018 20:36:00 GMT -6
“All eyes on me, huh? Well then…” Myra gripped her controls tightly. “I won’t disappoint.” [Catch Me If You Can]Nemea weaved between partially collapsed bunkers and shredded concrete slabs, dodging gunfire from the enemy Hoplites. The dust began to settle around the Peltast, leaving the machine vulnerable to the fast-approaching ace. As the black-and-red machine readied its rifle-cannon, Myra pulled behind the corner of a nearby building. If it’s a cat-and-mouse game they want, Myra thought, then it’s a cat-and-mouse game they’ll get.Flashes of yellow peeked through narrow cracks and cracked windows. The Peltast moved erratically, never staying in one place long enough for either side to get a shot in. A missile careened from behind one of the buildings, detonating only a fraction of a second after escaping the rubble. It kicked up a whole lot of dirt, but there wasn’t a single scratch on the Hoplites. Had the explosive simply malfunctioned? Another missile suddenly escaped from the cloud of dirt, hot on the heels of the first. This one came from somewhere to the east-- and unlike the first, this missile was headed straight for the black-and-red Hoplite. Out of the corner of their vision, the enemy ace could only watch as Nemea sprung for cover behind the only building on the base that remained (relatively) intact. “Hope that’s enough of a distraction for you, Echo.”
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Post by S☆E on Mar 16, 2018 23:30:13 GMT -6
Ernest gritted his teeth, his focus split between Cain's status readout and the BLADEs below that were firing at him. He didn't like it but the machines below were the higher priority considering they also potentially threatened Sean and Lana. "Keep sharp, kid," he said encouragingly. "You can handle that hunk of junk."
The Arlington flitted through the air avoiding enemy fire, now a bit lighter having lost most of its missiles and a leg. Ernest drew their shots away from the area where the Highlander and Lucky were busy, biding his time. The BLADEs rained bullets on him, the ones that hit doing minimal damage to the Hippokon's armor. As soon as he'd led their fire in one direction Ernest executed a high-velocity bank, swinging the Arlington around hard enough to mash him backward into his seat as the blood rushed to his head. He swooped low and downshifted, his machine switching into combat mode as he careened into one of the BLADEs, the barrel of his rifle pressed squarely against where the cockpit would be and fired off the last of his missiles at the other as he pumped the trigger and unloaded round after round into his target at point-blank range.
The machine crumpled, its chest blasted into a mangled mess. The other BLADE was caught squarely in a curtain of explosives, buffeted by blast after blast until it succumbed. A message flashed across his unit's display notifying him that his missile reserves were now depleted. Well that's me done. All I'm good for now is potshots and evac. he thought wryly.
"BLADEs are out of commission. Heading back your way now to provide what assistance I can, Merlin. I don't think I'd be much help against that weird Athen in my condition."
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Post by montywonty on Mar 17, 2018 17:07:20 GMT -6
Just as Ernest had said, the coupling of symbols attached to the BLADEs had disappeared - the beeps dying off as the new tune was the corporal's conducted symphony of mechanical viscera. And for the better, too. Lana and Sean had bigger fish to fry. Before she could even wipe the brief smile of relief off her face, her heart stopped at the sight of an incoming torpedo exploding just as quickly as it was about to arrive. Successfully being fired down by the Highlander's rounds, the torpedo failed to make direct impact with Lana's machine.
It did however cause a rumbling wave within the waters, as well as a large flash within the impacted sphere of bubbles. There was a screech as the Lucky quickly withdrew the chain of its kinetic lance. Then, through the flash, the Athen was jetting through the remains of the explosion - lance directly in hand as she hungered to impale her opponent's machine. "Hey! Don't you ignore me!"
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Post by fen on Mar 17, 2018 21:14:27 GMT -6
Hansel’s eyes remained focused on the screen before him. A flash of yellow brought his attention to the ruined buildings- but only for a moment before he was under assault by the Kirin. The cannon under his rifle seemed to detach, retreating on a support arm to fold up behind the machine. The Kirin’s fire met its target, but at that point the Hoplite had turned to face it, it's heavier armor taking a few shots as it returned fire, destroying the remaining walls of the building the Kirin had been pressed up against.
The ratata had silenced for just a moment, Hansel’s view immediately shifting to his squadmates.
“Get back and cover the south, don’t go further than my machine.”
His orders were swift and precise, the two Hoplites following suit and falling back, their fire now focused towards where Kara’s DAGGER had been. They only fired a few rounds before realizing that the DAGGER had moved, the Hoplite’s changing direction to where their radars had indicated there was movement…
A rocket shot out towards the Garmr, the machine’s sensors blaring in warning of its proximity. Without stuttering, Hansel pushed back on the controls, a collection of sub-thrusters launching it quickly backwards, narrowly- almost impossibly dodging the rocket as it veered off into the direction of the drydocks, crashing into the back of one of the ships and exploding, tearing a hole in the hull and raining shrapnel onto the engines.
The Garmr’s gun arm raised, aimed at the Nemea- but it never fired.
Hansel narrowed his glare, a light sigh escaping him. The Garmr could take these two- easily, or so he thought. Yet the Nemea’s position put him at risk of damaging the main building, or worse, setting ablaze to more of the forest. His position left him no choice, and recognizing her as his greatest threat- the Garmr moved.
With a roar of its thrusters, the Garmr launched forward, practically skipping over rubble as it landed, the machine’s empty handed arm spinning and grabbing an ejected heat sword from its waist, which it immediately brought down to bare onto the Nemea.
---
Cain and the Phalanx danced, the two spinning down towards the ground, nothing stopping them but a rush of wind.
The two struggled for control, Cain’s Phoros long-since running out of vulcan ammo, the Phalanx’s head and shoulders peppered with holes that its improved armor managed to stifle. The Phalanx couldn’t damage it any further, but its grip was tight onto the Phoros, and it wouldn’t be possible for him to just blast away.
Slowly, Cain worked the Phoros’s leg onto the underside of the Phalanx, an uncomfortably creak echoing throughout the machine.
His shoulder thrusters spun and stuttered for a moment, before adjusting and pointing towards the Phalanx. Instead of trying to stay afloat, all of his energy went into getting out of the moment right then and there. One final kick, and the two broke apart- the Phoros nearly crashing into the hillside. Cain very nearly smashed his face into his console as he bucked against the push, managing to adjust his thrusters one final time and launch up and away- this time to meet up with the Hippokon.
The Lotus, now without prey, landed safely, though falling to a kneel as several systems came out. Its pilot, red-faced, stepped out, strong winds buffeting her face as her glare shot up to the Phoros and Hippokon, now closer to the base.
Mid-air, the Phoros flew along the Hippokon, reaching over to connect its hand with part of the Hippokon’s form.
Cain’s visuals came through to Ernest, the pilot not looking worse for wear- but clearly tired.
“I don’t know who they got to pilot those machines, but that tacky one? Had it out for me. We should book it, not much of a reason to stay here anymore, we did our job.”
Cain’s gaze went from Ernest to…
“...Wait, are they still fighting?’
---
The Hellfire quickly disengaged, spinning in place rather fancifully as it avoided another kinetic lance, the weapon striking into the ground instead, kicking up plenty of sand and rock. Between the two of them, death was a certainty, yet-
“Spitter, rendezvous back with-”
“Are you serious?! I’m engaged with two of them right now and you want me to-”
“Orders came from up-top, they don’t want the eggs, they want the nest.”
The Hellfire swiped with its non-pile driver arm, blowing an extra cover of sand towards the two. Their radars would roar, indicating the machine in close proximity- but only for a moment as it sped past them and towards the direction of the Menaulion, probably.
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