There was no insertion. No covert strike team, no Mission Impossible theme music. Only the lightning. It was coming from a speck in the sky, and fired at a prison. It had been built on a small island in the middle of the Arctic Circle, with a single cell for one prisoner, and large facilities for... other purposes. Kinetic information extraction. The first strike decimated the control center. The exact location of the cell was unknown, but they were fairly certain that the main area was not it. Intel suggested it was beyond the secondary guard tower, close to the helipad for minimum exposure. But it didn't pay to take chances.
There were two groups. One in the air. @general_kanos led them, directing the Icelandic ships and @titanium_legionarmors. The primary objective would be to provide covering fire and take out remaining defenses once it was deemed it would not harm Sam. The other would be led by @urban_roninthat cool with you dude? and bring with it the Icelandic soldiers, as well as the emissary from @the_yakuza. Their goal would be to find and remove the CiC, and leave with minimum casualties. Once it was done, the entire facility would be on the receiving end of a tactical nuclear weapon. Clean and deadly. Not quite the proportionate response, but the interim CiC was pissed. Don't #%&$ with a kid's dad.
Vai nearly careened into the wall when the entire base shook from the sudden explosion of its control tower. Lights turned red and automatic sirens kicked in. In the words of the immortal Heath Ledger...here...we...go. Vai watched as guards scrambled to defend the base and nodded a little. So far...everything is going the way it was meant to. She moved closer to the actual cell, looking at the transparent aluminum wall that was the 'glass' barrier. So the troops will come crashing in, kill most of the guards and break him out. I can't and won't stop any of that...although I also can't sit by and let them nuke the place either. The real problem is...
I have detected your mother's biological signature. She has entered the facility and is moving slowly in this direction, through some of the Icelandic soldiers. Her ring informed her.
That's the real problem. If she does what I think she's going to do and if my information in the future is right, the alternate timeline is generated when she enters this facility and reaches the cell. So I have to keep her from getting too close. I wish we knew exactly what it was she changed that altered the timeline...nothing's ever very easy though is it? Oh well, this should be interesting.
Vai activated her shield and waited for things to go from interesting to chaotic and full of explosions. She lovingly referred to the apex of battles as the "Michael Bay" phase of war.
"And... There." Curve smiled broadly as he finished applying his makeup, admiring the job he had done. Crimson lipstick, smeared across his face, making an almost-perfect crescent to form a smile. Running a thin comb through his hair a few more times, the criminal mastermind finally stood and started to button up his vest, making any other small adjustments that he could before heading out to the ship's deck. His uniform was almost perfectly ironed, and his actual face paint was nigh-flawless. Spinning around in a circle to admire himself, he stopped as he heard a sharp rap at his chamber door.
"Yeeeeeees?" He called out, and the door opened. A mountain of a man stepped through the doorway, ducking his massive head just to fit inside the frame. Curve recognized the minion almost immediately, not by the size, but rather by the distinct pattern of his specific clown makeup. "What is it, Tearjerker? Are we there yet?" Eyes glancing down to inspect his uniform once more, Curve started to grab his few weapons before heading for the door. Tearjerker merely nodded- his tongue had been cut out long ago by Curve himself, due to back-talk. However, since then, the brute had proved loyal, and was now one of the Clown's best soldiers.
Stepping out the door, Curve glanced around to the other members of his party. Eureka, the contortionist master. Bambi, the thirteen year old hacking prodigy. And below them, down in the decks, almost seventy other loyal goons, ready to serve their part. Curve's eyes skimmed over the deck, before coming into contact with... It. The crystal. Out in the open. Eureka was currently watching the colors change absentmindedly. Walking over delicately, Curve tapped Eureka's shoulder, and the girl turned around innocently, a broad smile on her face to meet her boss.
The sound of the slap echoed over the tide, but did little else. Nobody on board ran to the girl's rescue- she hardly paid any heed either. Pain was weakness, in Curve's eyes. Grabbing the thin cloth that they used to cover the crystal, Curve wrapped it up delicately before handing it to Eureka. "Put it in my office. Pronto." Clapping his hands together briskly, Curve watched Eureka trudge off, before he turned to the island ahead of them- smoke pouring out of one of the windows to the sprawling prison. Curve's smile shrunk slightly, indicating something similar to a frown. "Oh. We're late. TJ, go round up the boys. Bambi, make sure we're not seen. Don't want big brother to come a knockin'," With a chuckle, Curve's orders were performed. In moments, the troops were on deck, and enough stealth tech was around the boat to make even Dark Vengeance quiver in his boots.
Soon, the boat came up to the island, and a small plank was set down before them. Adjusting his bow tie, Curve drew a knife, and started to almost waltz down the steps. His crew followed, various weapons swinging wildly above their heads. One of the gang's most treasured moments was anarchy.
"Boys, let's go show em who we're voting for," the Clown cackled, as he raised the knife high over his head- imitating a flag, or spear. The troops charged past him, going off to kill whatever they saw.
"I'm moving to neutralize the flagship," came the Langley Knave's brief report, moments after the countermaneuvers would begin. Using his signature dagger, he would position himself in a tactically superior location by initiating a secret strike on the massive airship far above the Arctic prison. Simultaneously, the defenders of said prison would roar to action, the weapons of Maverick Incorporated and the new-and-improved Central Intelligence Agency coming into play in tandem with the Delver's clandestine assault on the intimidating ship. Having equipped his newly-developed Eclipse Suit, he would seek to destroy the command craft from within, or, failing that, neutralize their commanding officer.
The suit itself, worn directly over the synth-fluid vest that had saved his life on several occasions, had at first felt unnaturally bulky in comparison to his traditional attire. The small transflector panels that covered every inch of the suit were not themselves heavy, but the yellow insulator pads that covered his suit were rather cumbersome at first. He'd been simultaneously reluctant and excited to try out the new prototype suit he'd designed, but his jovial anticipation had quickly been replaced by professional quiet. This was war, after all, but Klaus was no soldier.
He was the Octarine Rogue, and he was intent on crippling the enemy operation before it could truly begin.
The Mysterious Flagship
Utmost care was taken in selecting his entry-point, for the slightest slip-up could mean death; from structural analysis provided by Maverick Inc., it was determined that the lower level of the ship would be the ideal insertion zone. He'd be going in alone, to minimize chance of detection. While he felt personal conflict was practically inevitable, the Guileful Guardian was assured in his own combat prowess, certain he'd be capable of either eliminating any hostiles who stumbled upon him, or simply slipping by them without revealing his presence. The flagship's origin itself was a mystery, but Klaus had his suspicions, which he'd seek to confirm throughout his mission.
Silently and invisibly, he appeared within a sparsely-populated maintenance hold, the Eclipse Suit dropping to the metal floor without so much as a squeak. Despite its apparent bulk, the suit's design let it operate more quietly than a hummingbird's wings. Taking note of the crew member's current locations within the loading dock in which he'd appeared, he crouched out of habit, silently skulking over to a wall. The suit did its job well, masking his presence through a mixture of ultra-tuned light-transmission and sound-obscuring design; any camera that would ordinarily spot him would see nothing, unable to lock on to any signature. Coming to an automatic door, he stopped in his tracks, almost walking forward and causing it to open.
Close, he thought in German, practically on his tiptoes. On a level of alert this high, he trusted that the guards would be competent enough to monitor automatic doors opening on their own. Wobbling forward slightly, he shifted his weight, stepping back onto his heels. Checking his surroundings, he waited for one of the white-armored patrolling guards to walk by, before slipping through the door after him.
Stalking the soldier, he took note of their seemingly advanced weaponry and armor. Curiously, he knit his eyebrows. Iceland...? he wondered, remembering Sam's association with an emissary from the now closed-off country. A powerful energy shield surrounded the island, suggesting they were technically competent enough to assemble such a force, despite their small population, which had itself been decimated in the odd event before. True, Iceland was an enigma. Nobody, not even the CIA, knew precisely what had happened. Klaus had done some investigating, and it seemed that Reykjavik had been an inside job...but he had no proof of anything. It was awfully convenient that they'd chosen to ally with Samuel Washington, the terrorist who held America hostage...
And now they've declared war on the USA. What kind of suicidal game are they playing? he wondered, stopping as the guard did in front of him. Slipping by, he reached a series of interconnected hallways, the atmosphere highly futuristic. Monitoring his power levels through his HUD, and ensuring the Octarine Oscillator was working properly, he continued into the depths of the flagship.
He'd seek either the weapons control room or the command deck...whichever he encountered first, he'd use to his advantage.
CVbU Xae entered the scene in complete silence. She fell from the sky and landed in a perfect crouch at the entry point made by the attacking forces. Here she waited, slipping into the shadows cast by the building. Her goal was to free Sam Washington...under the right circumstances. He needed to be mad, to be furious...he needed direction. To give him that direction, she was here to take everything he had coming to save him and break it. Everyone she got near would die or leave bleeding and then and only then would she free him. As for the defenders? She'd try not to kill them. She held no remorse for the Icelandic and Yakuza allies though, in her time they were just as responsible for terrible crimes as many others and if they perished a little sooner, so be it.
The PTSD Predator silently removed her pistol from it sheath and flipped the switch into the on position. She waited, utterly quiet, her suit absorbing radar and other sensory signals any time they dared to wash over her. Her body heat was artificially masked to match her surroundings and her suit bent light, effectively cloaking her from the visual spectrum so long as she chose not to move. When the moment to pounce came, she did so eagerly. The moment the Icelandic soldiers were within the perfect striking distance she moved, once more becoming visible and she fired her pistol. A ball of plasma hotter than the sun and with more explosive force than humanity's most advanced plasma cannons shot out from her weapon and crossed the fifty feet between herself and the soldiers. There it exploded among the lead squad, reducing most of the men in it to ions or bubbling goo. She sheathed her pistol after the single shot and leaped backwards into the breach created in the prison wall.
Once inside she moved to another position of cover and uncoiled her neural whip. Here the confines would render her plasma weapon a poor choice, one she would save for a 'break glass in case of emergency' situation. Instead she sat quietly, her cruel whip read to go and her claws ever ready to claim the blood of men she deemed evil. This Xae was not the Xae of the modern world, she was a product of the future, a woman who no longer viewed the world as shades of grey, but rather as people who deserved to live and people who did not. Today she was here to change the future, to create a timeline where (she hoped) the world would be a better place.
Kanos sat in a large chair aboard his ship's bridge. The main power was devoted to yielding, with the weapons and engines on reserve. They were here to retrieve one man and raze the place, not have a prolonged fight. "Commander. There's a group of people on the docks. Unknown quantity."
"You have your orders. Mysterious allies who haven't stated their allegiance beforehand are no allies at all. Send two ships to attack." The conversation was, of course, in Iceland, despite a cultural shift in population bringing the number of english-speaking people in Iceland up to 20%. As his subordinate sent the command through the ranks to the bay in the back of the ship, one could see the solar-panel-winged ships swoop out, and hit Curve's crew with a barrage of laser fire, not aiming to kill all of them, but instead slice the dock in half, setting them adrift, before swinging around and into the air, ready for anther attack.
"One of our infantry groups isn't responding. Advanced technology and a single woman spotted on helmet cameras before they went out. Orders?" Kano contemplated. Washington's telepathic lieutenant had stressed the likely presence of two women from the future, one wearing all green. From the video, this obviously wasn't that one, so... "Send the metal men to handle it. Washington's brat will want to engage." His disdain for the Free States was no secret, but he valued his spotless attack record more than that. And yet another urgent sentence brought a third problem to his attention. "There was an oxygen displacement in sector 3T. And it appears to be moving towards the armory. Orders?" The ship, designed for deep-space travel as well as atmospheric combat, tracked oxygen intake and life-support levels meticulously, a system that would report any unauthorized intake. The Oscillator would mask much, but the Lichter legacy required breathing. "Lock the room down and flood it with paralyzing toxin. And shut off the weapons inside remotely." It was standard procedure for all weapons to be user-coded, but the US was resourceful, and they could not risk them cracking the plasma-weapon tech.
Albert Washington was flying from the command ship, intent on personally retrieving his father, when he saw a pop-up on the suit's display. Technically, Kanos was his commanding officer, so he grumbled internally and obeyed, changing course towards the hole in the prison's wall. The dead soldiers were clearly visible, as well as a silhouette of a woman with a whip and a grim look. He signaled his four men to flank him, with one raising his arm and attempting to project a forcefield around her. The rest would hold up an arm, with a piece of armor shifting to reveal two missiles, pointed at the leather-clad vigilante. "Please come peacefully. I would like to know a lot about the future, and you strike me as someone who would know... rather lot." Their orders had been explicit. Unless Xae was impossible to capture, nonlethal only. Of course, she didn't have to know that.
Paul Thomas was retired. His leg was broken beyond repair, and he was forced to wear a brace. But that didn't stop him from commanding. He sat in a command chair, surrounded by several teenagers, who held what looked like Xbox controllers. They were linked to a series of 360 degree screens showing the automated armor's viewpoints. They were recruited for their almost inhumanly fast reflexes, but too young to be put in harm's way. Thomas himself was simply commanding, but his screen showed all six armor's camera feeds. "All right. Into the main building, through the blast zone. You two, prime your flamethrowers. Other four, shoulder cannons." They obliges, the hole made by an Icelandic satellite still flaming. A green glow could be seen at the end of a hallway exposed by the atmospheric attack. "What in the- OK, new plan. Concentrate fire. First two, project shields, but reflect our attacks through it." They did as he commanded, for once without quips. The hail of plasma-bullets was aimed at Vai, but many more shot down the hallway, hitting a few guards who had moved to flank her, grateful for the metahuman help.
Suddenly, the open metal door before him hissed shut unexpectedly, causing Klaus to pause. Slightly hunched over as he sneaked, he straightened his back, walking over to the closed silver hatch. Placing gloved fingers gently on the passageway, he turned away, watching calmly as the paralyzing gas filled the room behind him.
Gas attack? How trite, he thought, not moving a muscle. The very first time he'd worn the mask, he'd faced poisonous fumes on three separate occasions, and all of them had met with equal degrees of failure. The cowl adorning his face filtered the air effortlessly, allowing him to stand still despite the cloud surrounding him. Turning to the closed door, he resolved to teleport to the other side, still invisible. Withdrawing his dagger from in its sheath within the suit, he clicked the handle, subtly vanishing from within one room and reappearing in the next. The dagger's programming mapped out his arrival point, preventing him from accidentally materializing within solid matter.
Still unseen, he wondered silently how he'd been detected. Replacing the dagger, he continued down the hall, before stopping.
They expect me to go this way. Better change course, he thought, redrawing his weapon. And if they've managed to detect me...conflict is a foregone conclusion. If I remain invisible, I risk walking directly into a trap.
He removed the Death Ray from its holster, resolving to make himself visible once more. The black-and-gold Eclipse Suit would be visible for the moment before light from his weapon filled the corridor. He'd encountered few soldiers, and based on the size of the ship, it seemed to be mostly remote-operated. They could discover who owned it based on the wreckage.
Set to high. Kinetic burn, he thought, adjusting the knob. He prepared for free-fall, calibrating the dagger in its sheath to save him once the ship started its abrupt, forced descent. Here we go.
Turning, he adjusted the Death Ray's settings to provide maximum blasting power, sufficient to rip through the molecules of the surrounding metal corridor. Aiming in a wide arc, Klaus sought to cut the ship in half from where he stood in the middle. The blazing crimson energy ripped through the end of his weapon, annihilating everything it touched. His ultimate goal? To destroy the entirety of the flagship from where he stood, inside the very vessel itself.
@lichter: Kanos' eyes narrowed imperceptibly, and he enlarged the security feed which now showed the Delver, having teleported away from the gas attack, and into the open. His weapon powered on, and he began attempting to slice the passageway open, the beam apparently quite powerful. "Localized EMP. Activate internalized power sources and deploy a team." The blast would, hopefully, short out the teleportation, invisibility, ad weapons of the intruder, with the added benefit of killing the lights. As they flickered, Klaus would see the white-clad figures marching towards him, silent and unflinching. The raised weapons, and as the lights went dark, fired, ten red beams firing from their weapons. They had been outside the blast radius, just barely, but even if their weapons were disabled, an improved striking power with the armor would allow them to break the agent's bones like snapping twigs. However, the beam continued it's work, and the ship began to break. They were in the back half, however, towards the engines. It began to fall away, and thrusters on both ends activated, lowering the ends to the ground. Kano spun in his chair and stood up, grabbing a huge cannon from a rack on the wall. By this point, the soldiers were pointing weapons at Klaus, and parted in the back rows, allowing Kanos to lift the weapon and prime it. "You just damaged a multimillion dollar ship and jeopardized a sensitive military operation. So I'm going to incapacitate you, torture you, take your suit and your gun, make ours better, and raze your country to the ground. Jackass." His voice was protected by a modifier, as well as spoken in perfect English, to mask his nationality.
Xae's sensors alerted her to the shift in electrical signals that resulted from someone attempting to form an entrapping shield around her and immediately back flipped out of it with extreme grace. "It's funny, I was about to ask you to surrender." Xae said, she removed a small sphere from her belt and tossed it onto the ground violently. A cloud of smoke immediately filled the air but it was a disingenuous smoke. Bolts of plue energy arched and snapped through the ever expanding cloud, obscuring Xae while also jamming electronic visual systems and confusing infrared.
She moved through the opening in the building and shifted behind cover. Once in cover she removed a box from her belt and stuck it to the wall. Once there it would use optical sensors to trigger, anything that moved between its position and the opposite wall would set off a tiny amount of anti-matter that would create an explosion large enough to completely obliterate the wall, hallway and external wall and basically reduce that section to rubble. The device itself blended visually with the wall and was set to explode if tampered with.
Xae coiled her whip once more now that she was fighting against power armored forces and moved several dozen feet back from the newly planted explosive. Here inside the building she knew their movement was likely to be restricted while her own incredible agility and lethal nature would be heightened.
"Well, shit. All right. Wait out here, concentrate fire as I go in. Keep her off balance." Al darted in, not quite passing the explosive, when a bullet from the hail his group was firing struck the antimatter device. His suit's mechanisms took over as the blast shredded several outer layers of armor and a piece of shrapnel carved a pic out of his leg. The injury popped up on the rest of the team's screens, as the suit's remaining functions diverted to anesthetic, and cauterizing the wound. Al was put under, passing out immediately, and another took charge. He made a rapid hand gesture, and the torso and arm that remained on Al's armor removed itself and the helmet popped off. The arm would rest pointed at the entrance, while the helmet would maintain communications and provide a video feed. "All right, keep moving. There should be a team of Kanos' guys here in a few minutes to take care of him." They walked forward, sighting the relic from the future. One raised his arm, but instead of firing a plasma burst, he fired a grappling hook, aiming to pierce Xae's skin and rag her over to them. The rest opened fire with tear gas rounds and tranquilizers.
@general_kanos: As the ship shook around him, Klaus watched the halls go dark, squinting in the low-light as his HUD went temporarily offline. Letting his finger off the trigger for a moment, he stopped to inspect his surroundings, the lights overhead flickering as the sound of boots filled the corridor. The Icelandic military opened fire just as the ship lurched forwards, lasers ricocheting dangerously around the Delver as the entire balance of the craft was wrecked. A smile filled his face as he realized damage had been done, but already the ship was beginning to adjust course.
Abruptly, the firing stopped, balance of the ship regained. Spreading his arms, he took a step back to regain his balance, quickly adjusting his posture, and aiming the Death Ray down the ruimed hall towards the soldiers. They weren't in freefall, clearly, but he perceived the ship descending slightly beneath his feet. He vaguely heard boots part in the back of their ranks, and held off firing for a minute while the gun re-calibrated. The EMP wouldn't stop him from firing...but there was no need to take stupid risks. Ten more seconds, and it'd be 100% safe to use.
"You just damaged a multimillion dollar ship and jeopardized a sensitive military operation. So I'm going to incapacitate you, torture you, take your suit and your gun, make ours better, and raze your country to the ground. Jackass."
The voice was distorted heavily, and it came from a towering man wielding a blaster weapon of enormous size. Holding his ground, Klaus narrowed his eyes behind his visor, fingers of his left hand twitching.
"Compensating for something?" he replied, also in English, indicating the gigantic weapon with his gloved free hand. Another juvenile taunt, selected from the annals of teenage vernacular and structured precisely to agitate his foe beyond measure.
Kanos don't bother with a response, instead firing his gun with an intention of sending Klaus flying into a wall. The rest would activate shields, attempting to protect him from a return volley, should the sockheaded german dodge. If such n action was taken, Kanos would press a button on his glove, and seal Klaus inside the corridor he had removed from the main ship, attempting to finish the fight with decisive action.
Just as he thought his taunt had bought him enough time, Kanos pulled his trigger, sending a concussive energy blast rocketing into Klaus' chest just as he began a small chuckle, with the intent of adding further insult to the presumed verbal injury. Lifted from his feet, Klaus spiraled down the corridor, skidding across the silver floor. Only the mag-locks on his gloves kept the Death Ray locked firmly in his grip.
Struggling weakly to his feet as the corridor closed off, he blinked, shaking his head. Looking down, he saw a large smoking hole in the yellow Eclipse Suit's pads, revealing his traditional vestements underneath. The rest of the transflector panels on his suit sputtered and died, utterly useless. Viscous coolant seeped from the would-be wound, leaking onto the ground as the panels flickered. The suit was broken, but not beyond eventual repair. He coughed, feeling his chest. Perhaps a slight fracture? He'd need medical attention, eventually, but he was by no means in critical condition. He felt as though he'd been punched, hard, in the chest...but little more. He did taste blood in his mouth, but it'd become familiar again for the first time since his childhood.
"You weren't joking. Your guns do need upgrades," he said, chuckling. All around him, alarms blared, the corridors flashing red. They'd landed upon an Arctic shelf, so far as he could see, meaning he'd been at least partially successful. Drawing the Gottschwert, he activated his communicator, only now just back online since the presumed EMP hit. Only those he'd keyed in to his signal would be able to hear him. Namely, Maverick Inc. and the other CIA operatives.
"Flagship down. I'm moving to extract the objective. Unexpected variables en route, more likely than not."
Adjusting his dagger to take him inside the prison, he left without sound, leaving but a small puddle of coolant behind.
The Prison Security Room
Klaus materialized within the fortified security area, the guards within forewarned of his arrival in order to prevent panic. He turned to the man in charge, nodding at him slightly.
"I'm escorting the prisoner to a more secure location. Maverick will be here soon. Sit tight, don't engage. You're going to be fine," he said, patting the man on the shoulder. Turning, he inspected the cameras, taking note of the seemingly-unrelated engagements taking place throughout the prison. He'd need to assess his situation before moving to remove Washington.
Who's that luminous girl? And that berserker tearing through guards and foes alike...
Her legs are crossed, as she looks over the reports of invading air space. Watching the movement of the rogue nation from the heavens, and seeing as their sky sentinels moved.
"I think we should contact a few of our friends...."
Later....
"Ok. Here is what we have. Samuel Washington's forces, lead by seemingly his child and other forces. We have yet to quite get a positive ID on the enemy itself. However, their foreign design and unique spacecraft capable designs, lead us to believe that our dear Sam is being aided by Iceland. Still, we need evidence. And evidence can come in many forms. While someone alive can tell us things, dead men do indeed tell tales, gentleman."
She flips up a screen on their HUDS. "Bring their soldiers back. Dead to be IDed and confirmed to be likely among Iceland's Enlist men, or alive to be interrogated by our friends at the CIA, and beyond. If the fact that they obviously are the only military using Spacecraft isn't a dead give-away, it's going to be should bring one back with us, or for our friends in the CIA. Get international, neutral authorities to investigate. And see what happens."
Initial Contact with Icelandic Squad Within the Green Box
<"This way."> A group of Icelandic soldiers, clad in their C-1 EVA Armor moved through the small building. If Gale had encountered soldiers within already, most assuredly, they could tread through the building within a few shakes of lamps tail. Dangerously close to the room where Sam would be.
"Door."
A portal formed, not of Maverick's own technology, but of technology utilized by the temporal anomaly known as Rossum And right outside the room, where Sam was being held, the M.O.R.S. appeared, clad in thick body armor. Almost instantly and visually, they acquired their targets, who had already brought their weapons to bear.
"Engage"
Bullets and Plasma Alike whirred through the air, each of the opposing Squad tearing into the enemies set before them. A strike with a bolt of plasma melting through metallic helmets and causing the mechanical being's flesh to flash flash vaporize into steam, a grizzly cauterization accompanying each impact of ionized gas delivering a thermal payload on the wholly organic, yet still machine-like men. Of course, many of them fell. The plasma exploited the metallic nature of their helmets and destroyed exposed areas not properly armored by SiC ceramics. Kevlar only insulated so much, and flesh had little defense against such overbearing heat that was most likely within thousands of degrees centigrade. In opposition, Maverick's HV rounds roared forward at blinding speeds, attributing a majority of it's damage to wholly kinetic effects. Their rounds went forth and tore through any semblance of cover the Icelandic troopers sought to take, let alone the armor they had forged to protect themselves.
Bullet holes formed in a number of the Iceland, and the armor's durability worked to the troops disdvantage. Raw impact energies were sufficient to pulverize the inside of their enemies upon penetration, with Maverick's weapons traveling at velocities more akin to that of a railgun but with all the lighter weight that chemically propelled weapons provided over such electromagnetic ammunition .The rounds traveled fast enough to ignite the air like a meteor. Hit hard enough to make an inert slab of lead explode from sheer kinetic force. The velocity at which the round traveled, enabled them to tear through most armored vehicles, let alone the armored infantry set before them.
The Icelandic trooper yets, had managed some concealment as the rounds tore through the walls and into other rooms, and out of the building even. They made their noble last stand, driven by their hatred of America and belief that change was necessary for progression, and that America had been driven into the ground by incompetence and corruption. Despite their skill, tenacity only prolonged the inevitable.
From the portal, Moya strode forth as M.O.R.S. fell to the ground in steaming heaps all around her. Icelandic Troopers sent accurately aimed ionized air downrange at her in vane, as the bolt swirved and bent harmlessly around her, an intense magnetic field surrounding her and manipulating the path at which the plasmonic projectiles traveled. Invisibly, every last plasma based round fired at Moya deflected around the magnetic field her soft suit produced. Bullets however, such FMJ rounds made of copper and lead, are not at all magnetic.
Enough data on them.
"Jackal. Kill all but one." A grey blur zoomed past her, the woman's long hair flowing with the wind as the Extra-Normal Execution dashed forth, covering the distance between the portal in the blink of an eye. A man flies away with a casual swat, that breaks the bones of his body. A blaster shot fired, and a shot deflected with a superconducting throwing knife. The knife is thrown forward at transonic speeds, the tungsten carbide tip enabling the knife to go into the man's body armor, and the superconducting knife promptly detonates within taking out almost all of the rest except for one.
A trooper gets up, disoriented, the smell of blood and burnt bodies blocked by his armor. His vision swims, but he recovers enough to see the Cybernetic psychopath pick his remaining ally up and slam him into the ground with such force as to crater him in it. The force crushed the man's helmet. Crimson crept from it, and trickled down to the dent where his head rested. "Huh." The man raises his blaster to fire at Jackal and in response the blur blitzes him. But the man lands his first shit, the bolt striking Jackal point blank in the forhead, and this being only shot that actually tagged the Mutant slaying Mechanical monstrosity.
"Kinda stung. But, it was a nice shot." He holds the man up by the neck. He attempts to raise his gun to fire again, only for it to be intercepted. "I don't really smell any mutant on you guys. Shame really. That would've made this more fun." Jackal, winds up, twirling with the man as he hurls him across the room at speeds akin to an automobile. Moya leans to the side as the man flies past, and then continues forward, her repulsor field turning off as she tune's her shades, analyzing all that goes on. The wholly mortal woman doing her best to pursue nigh omniscience.
*Dink dink dink*Three dents appeared a reinforced door of one of the three rooms in the area. The 500 pound steel door flies off away like a cover. Jackal appears, flanked by a small Army of M.O.R.S. Jackal wields his signature all carbon resonance blade and a repulsor equipped combat knife as the group opens fire. Moya walking calmly up to join them.
"Well lookie what we have here. Ms. Superior!" Jackal exclaims towards Gale, as he alludes to the two's past.
"Fancy meeting you here."
Moya placed on her gas mask, guns blazing through the room as the already masked M.O.R.S. stormed into the room. Jackal immediately took defensive stance, deflecting tranquilizers and slicing the cord for her, intercepting the projectiles sent down their path. Tear gas serving to not harm or stun him, but disrupt his vision enough for a Tranquilizer to hit him, and bounce off his hardened chassis completely. Behind him, Moya peaked around Maverick's arguably deadliest CQC combatant, swatting away every bit of plasma that got in his path. MORS behind him, supplementing with covering fire.
"I hope you're listening, boy." Moya spoke her tone equally calm as it is, condescending.
Given that you are seemingly being lead by a clearly brash, and less than level headed child, I doubt that you are going to listen to reason.
I would withdraw, now, because this is going to get much worse for in a moment. Much, much worse. For your little flagship in the sky, and for your allies in the sky."
Moya pointed her finger upwards, towards the flying spacecraft above her, high up in the sky.
Covertly, the R-Telepathy Opitcal Array on her temple enabled her to form a covert line of communication with Lichter, whom it seems has recently returned due to the M.O.R.S. remaining spotting him.
"Are you alright?"
She smiles lightheartedly.
"It seems we may need to move him. I can tell that you meant for this building to be inconspicuous. But I'm not sure how much we can protect it. It's only a matter of time before more uninvited guests begin to break in."
He turned to face the woman behind him, grinning. Realizing his facial expressions would be obscured, he put down the dagger on a panel, reaching up to his head. With a hiss, he pulled off the headgear, unclasping the metal helmet to reveal his magenta cowl. Fumbling with the neckline, he grasped at the front with spindly fingers, removing his mask. Despite the ever-present dark circles under his eyes, his pupils were alight with excitement. A small trail of blood ran from his aquiline nose, no doubt from the stress his body had endured when it'd been hit by Kanos' weapon. Absentmindedly, he wiped it away with his sleeve, smiling.
"Ms. Hawkins, I presume," he said, offering his hand. "I've heard a lot about your work. The Company really misses you," he said with a wink. "I'm Agent Braun. Autonomous operative."
Albert Washington was flying from the command ship, intent on personally retrieving his father, when he saw a pop-up on the suit's display. Technically, Kanos was his commanding officer, so he grumbled internally and obeyed, changing course towards the hole in the prison's wall. The dead soldiers were clearly visible, as well as a silhouette of a woman with a whip and a grim look. He signaled his four men to flank him, with one raising his arm and attempting to project a forcefield around her. The rest would hold up an arm, with a piece of armor shifting to reveal two missiles, pointed at the leather-clad vigilante. "Please come peacefully. I would like to know a lot about the future, and you strike me as someone who would know... rather lot." Their orders had been explicit. Unless Xae was impossible to capture, nonlethal only. Of course, she didn't have to know that.
Paul Thomas was retired. His leg was broken beyond repair, and he was forced to wear a brace. But that didn't stop him from commanding. He sat in a command chair, surrounded by several teenagers, who held what looked like Xbox controllers. They were linked to a series of 360 degree screens showing the automated armor's viewpoints. They were recruited for their almost inhumanly fast reflexes, but too young to be put in harm's way. Thomas himself was simply commanding, but his screen showed all six armor's camera feeds. "All right. Into the main building, through the blast zone. You two, prime your flamethrowers. Other four, shoulder cannons." They obliges, the hole made by an Icelandic satellite still flaming. A green glow could be seen at the end of a hallway exposed by the atmospheric attack. "What in the- OK, new plan. Concentrate fire. First two, project shields, but reflect our attacks through it." They did as he commanded, for once without quips. The hail of plasma-bullets was aimed at Vai, but many more shot down the hallway, hitting a few guards who had moved to flank her, grateful for the metahuman help.
Vai frowned when the weapons fire started and immediately created a giant brick wall made out of green construct energy that filled the hallway from one wall to the other and easily absorbed the various plasma weapon shots. Vai grinned at them through the translucent brick and sent the wall suddenly flying down the hallway towards the soldiers responsible for firing at her. Rather than sending any sort of ranged weapon, she was sending a wall of Green Lantern energy at them at the speeds of a freight train. If the wall impacted them, it would do so at bone breaking speeds and with mental rending force. This was not her only attack though and the moment the wall did its thing (or was dealt with) she generated a weapons harness around her body, arming herself with two huge gatling guns, one on either arm. She pointed these down the corridor and opened fire. The weapon barrels spun and spat out green bursts of potentially armor searing, flesh destroying green lantern energy at the rate of a thousand rounds per second.
Her aim was to force the troops back or mow them down, whichever came first. She advanced slowly, continuing her fire for several long and potentially very fatal seconds. Her ring was fully charged and ready for whatever constructs or adjustments she needed to make and her body was protected by a high powered green shield capable of absorbing body destroying blows without transmitting any of the kinetic or thermal impact to her body at all. The guns made no sound as they fired and the 'bullets' were not tangible, once they did their thing they would vanish. Green lantern energy was drive by her considerable force of will and she focused her efforts on creating shots strong enough to blast through most known types of armor.
Xae was going to ignore the tranq darts and grappling hook, both would have bounced off her armor. The future Xae simply had a lot more tricks than the current one and a great deal more technology. Her 'leather' was exceptionally advanced armor with the capability to shrug of high powered weapons, among other traits. The moment her sensors detected tear gas a mouth piece deployed over her lower face, covering it and sealing her suit into its own separate environment. The suit's systems acted as its own environment, allowing her to breath continually reprocessed and safe air. When Jackal arrived her eyes focused on him for a moment...but she didn't return his comment in the way present Xae would have done. Instead she simply returned her eyes to the Icelandic iron men. Perhaps present Xae would have taken the opportunity to withdraw but not future Xae, here she saw only enemies.
Xae shifted her gaze between Moya/Jackal and the Iron suited wonders. The suited wonders need to die or retreat. I can afford to wait and see which option they choose...but I have a feeling I know what it is. She detached kept her pistol aimed directly at them and removed another of the spherical devices from her belt with a grin. She activated the device but didn't throw it just yet, holding it to use to her advantage should a fire fight break out instead of a retreat. She continued to say nothing, her taste for banter died somewhere in Korea. Instead her pistol hand tightened its grip on the weapon and her finger moves from the side of the gun to the trigger mechanism.
Moya is already starting to run the company at this stage. I liked Bold more...Why the hell are we waiting? These people need to be convinced to retreat. Best to wait though...lest Maverick decides to try and interfere with my mission as well as theirs. Of course eventually they'll realize what my mission...
"Pull out. All units. Pull out. We're collapsing objectives." Thomas' voice echoed in every suit's head, as the flurry of attacks fired at them. A few went down to the glowing green wall, or Maverick's onslaught, but the vast majority, including Al's unconscious body made it out, abandoning the pointless fight. They had no chance against all of the PMC's forces, or the Green Lantern. Instead, they simply shifted to the primary objective. Sam.
The entire thirty-man team was racing for it, with planes behind them, and Icelandic fighters behind them. The holding cell. A few well-placed rockets collapsed the wall, revealing a man in an orange jumpsuit, suspended upside down from the ceiling. Several guards stood there attentive, but the Legion tore through them, and grabbed the leader of the Free States. "All right. Someone give me a sitrep."
"We're in the middle of a flaming wreck of a prison, with Maverick, two time-travelling metahumans, a shitton pf guards, your son in unconscious, and our extraction ship is disabled. Orders?"
"Backup is on it's way." Kanos stood outside of the ship, surrounded by his entire force. They had received word of Sam's extraction, and now waited for their extraction, as well as tractor beam to life the halves of the command ship, to be repaired. Several MORS and guards were advancing, but a shield hd been put around them, creating a standoff, the first side to move initiating a bloodbath. A solder looked to the general for orders, and he pointed to the sky simply. Where the moon once shone on the Arctic battlefield, there was now a silhouette. A silhouette that rained fire. Another large section of the prison was destroyed in the barrage, and it lowered down over the Icelandic encampment, bathing the downed ship in purple light that lifted it, as well as the remaining infantry. Kanos turned to see their rescuer, finding @urban_ronin, as well as Kanos' rival. "Maxwell."
"Admiral Maxwell, Kanos. Now, I am to defer to you, unfortunately, so what course of action do you suggest?"
"Find the primary objective. This battle is no longer sustainable without more backup."
"See that it is done," Maxwell commanded to a nearby technician. "And you. Take a dropship and get there first." He waved a hand at the Ronin, and the bodyguard went to find his charge.
Xae reached down to her belt as everyone retreated and realized her moment to change history was quickly slipping away. She retrieved the ace card she had brought with her, a small square box that was in fact an anti-matter bomb...containing an entire ounce of antimatter. This small device was enough to create an explosion not unlike the one that leveled Hiroshima minus all the radiation and would certainly wipe out all life on the island. She was about to move to throw the weapon and collect her prize, using the vortex technology created by STRIKE in the present day...when a female hand gently closed her fingers around the back and held the hand in place. Xae turned, her eyes widening when she saw Vai standing there.
"It won't help." Vai said gently, completely ignoring the nearby Maverick soldiers.
"It has to, it..." Xae started.
"No, it won't. It creates another timeline in which everything gets worse." She said.
Xae lowered her head for a moment, thinking before she returned her gaze to her daughter. "That's sort of the point, not the worse part but the timeline creation. Another parallel world is needed."
"But why?" Vai wondered.
"Because the only way to heal Korea is to create a Final Crisis Event, we have to..."
Vai shook her head and Xae fell quiet. "Nothing will heal Korea. The best thing to do is move on and never let it happen again. We have to heal the species not the event. Bring Humans and Meta Humans and Mutants together so they never again line one another up against walls and shoot each other until whole cities have been buried in mass graves. The past is not the place to solve the problem mother." She said gently.
Xae looked down at the device in her hand, her finger an inch or perhaps half an inch from the activation stud. "What about me?" She asked finally. "When do I get to heal and move on? No, I have to do this, I can make everything right again." She moved her finger but paused for a moment.
Vai placed her hands on her mother's shoulders and looked into her eyes. "If you do it, you'll kill everyone here except for the two of us, hundreds of people and you'll make another world where people suffer through everything all over again, only ten times worse. That's not what a good person does."
"Maybe I'm not a good person anymore." Xae said bitterly. "You and Dark Justicar sound like a Star Wars character. Not everyone has good in them anymore Vai. Sometimes people are just killing machines because that's all they have left."
Vai shook her head. "Not you. I know you're not the person you pretend to be. You don't kill innocent people, you kill the predators that turn them into victims. You act in savage ways so others don't have to. You're a soldier...and soldiers don't kill without cause." Vai moved to take the device from Xae's hands. Xae paused and then slowly allowed her fingers to slip away from the weapon and let Vai take possession of it.
"Why do you keep helping me?" Xae asked quietly, it was a question that had been bothering her for years since Korea. "I've said terrible things to you."
"You're my mother...and you never meant one word of them." Vai said. "It was the PTSD talking."
Xae fell into Vai's arms, the two embracing in a long needed hug that had been years in the making. Vai held her mother close to her body and closed her eyes for a moment. She didn't say a word but she knew her mother well enough to know that Xae didn't need her to say a word. The estranged mother and daughter were reunited again and right now, it was all that mattered to either one of them. Xae let her plans for a Final Crisis Event slip by the wayside...at least for the time being. There was a long road ahead to heal future Xae of the damage done by thousands of years of war and the loss of a family, the damage that had been built upon and renewed by the horrible events of Korea.
"What?" Jackal says, his knife and resonance blade lowered. "They're leaving?" His question lingered, a hint of disappointment even. However, his blades lowered, but his guard far from down. Moya took the moment to leave, as she herself spoke.
"It seems almost too easy, don't you think? I'll go check on the party's VIPs."
Moya walked back, leaving the room, and briefly eyeing Vai and Gale for a moment, before she proceeded through the room where Sam was. There, she was met with a man she had a bit of familiarity with himself. Unorthodox. He's wearing some sort of mask. Almost reminiscent of a vigilante or even a villain. Just like how the file reads. She leaned off to the side, Sam still in captivity and in sight at the moment, as she then returned her gaze to him, her visor hiding most anything of an expression almost equally, aside from her eyes.
Her hand went back to moving her long hair back for a moment, as her hands went to undo the locks that took off her own mask, designed to protect against the likes of toxins and diseases. As of yet, her face was unmarred. Utterly untouched, though the same cannot be said for the dead M.O.R.S. laying about the ground. Her eyes fix upon him, and she flashes a smile back towards him.
"You would presume correct."
An explosion shakes the room, and for a moment, she stumbles, the soles of her feet anchoring her to the ground.
"But, now is no time for introductions, Agent Braum. The asset is escaping. Jackal. Omega. (@hunterzillas.) To the back of the building. Stop the prisoner from escaping."
An arrow goes towards the oncoming troops, the the round stopping abruptly on the forcefield he erects. Unceasingly, the M.O.R.S. fire at the field.
"Damn."
Jackal dashes into the room, jumping feet first onto the door as she dashes into the room. Not even attempting to go through it, he abruptly jumps up, slashing into the ceiling to weaken it as his body pierces through the rest of the building's interior and landing him immediately on the roof. He takes a step and then lands down below, slashing into the ground below him.
"Sorry Sammy." Jackal muses, dropping his Katana as he twirls a set of knives intricately about hi s "Can't let you get away that easily." His eyes goes up to oncoming air and he grips the knives, winding up, and then unleashing two. Tungsten carbide tips flying forward at speeds of mach two, the heavy blades sought to puncture into their targets and explode, room temperature, overcharged superconductors unleashing an enormous plasma explosion in all directions at temperatures akin to the sun. Enough to melt into a tank, let alone an aircraft.
Her mother's quest put aside Vai eventually stepped back from her. The two predators nodded to one another in silent agreement on something and Xae put her device back on her belt. Vai used her ring's abilities to fly out of the damaged section of the prison and then landed next to Jackal. She thought for a moment, her eyes focusing on the aircraft and the armored men. She turned a little in place, her eyes then falling on the huge craft in the air. "Mm..." She turned her attention to Jackal again. "I can't try to sway the battle one way or another, I only came here to prevent my mother from initiating her own plan. That's done...but there is one thing I want to change. They're going to nuke this place when they leave. You do your thing and I'll keep that nuke from getting anywhere near us."
"I am at your disposal, Ms. Hawkins," he said, pulling the protective mask back down over his face. Blinking, the white lenses adjusted, appearing to any onlooker to have contoured perfectly to his eyes. At that very moment, the ground rumbled beneath them as the facility was struck with another volley of attacks. Stabilizing himself with his hands, Klaus put the other helmet back on, listening to it lock into the neck of his broken Eclipse Suit. Redrawing the Death Ray from its holster, he calibrated the beam frequency further, tapering his next shot to a narrow pencil-thin circular beam that would have more penetrating power than knockback. He intended to wound and capture his next target, whomever it may be.
Who's that? he wondered, watching the luminous woman hug another, vaguely familiar one. The other had been the berserker, she who had torn through enemy and ally alike in a mad attempt to reach the prisoner.
Damned variables, he thought angrily in German, looking at an outside camera, which depicted the attempted escape of the crashed (presumably) Icelandic force. He'd have to make a choice: detain the unknown entity, or prevent the escape of his previous enemy. But, if he could take down the Icelandic commander, or capture him, they'd not only gain a major strategic advantage in the coming conflict, but acquire proof of Iceland's involvement. The mysterious stranger couldn't afford them that.
A few degrees South, he thought, adjusting the dagger and blinking away from his position in the control room.
The Ice Shelf
Klaus emerged from nothingness back into existence on the nearby ice shelf, sliding down a small hill. Waving one of his hands to keep his balance, he dropped to a knee, ice parting beneath his still-smoking leg armor.
I hadn't noticed that, he thought, looking up to where the Icelandic forces had been moments before on the camera. His eyes widened as he saw the purple tractor beam lifting the group steadily into the sky, like a pulp science fiction film. Gripping the Ray tightly in both hands, he clenched his teeth, getting up and sprinting towards the base of the energy cone. As he ran, he lifted the weapon, firing shot after shot into the small squad of Icelandic troopers, now presumably unprotected. Making note of the commanding officer's different garb, he took special care to aim for him.
Can't let them escape so easily. And, this looks like fun, he thought, leaping with reckless abandon into the purple energy. His weight carried him down to the ground, his face hovering an inch from the ice for a mere moment...before he slowly began rising into the air after the group in the artificial zero-g field, spinning around to face them. With his legs pointed upwards in order to minimize his target area, he hefted the Death Ray towards them, firing up with a wild barrage of laser-thin kinetic energy attacks. Each one could slice through titanium, eviscerating anything they touched. The recoil from each attack bounced him slightly around within the field, making him a difficult target to hit.
And as they steadily rose into the ship, a laser-powered midair battle would commence.
@lichter: I wrote my post as having them already inside, but whatever... :/
Maxwell turned incredulously at the purple-suited man dashing towards them. He fired a weapon that one man informed him sliced through the command ship. His face was set as a beam whizzed over his head, and he spat a set of rapid-fire commands, Kanos and several crewmen already in safety. As the Delver leapt into the zero-g field, Maxilla lifted a pistol from his belt, and the other soldiers did the same. But As they mimicked a swimming motion to move throughout the narrowing cone, one enterprising infantryman dove towards him, steel-gloved fist rocketing towards the Legacy. He presented small profile, making him hard to hit, and if the punch connected, it would most likely break a bone.
"Erect an anti-teleportation field around the prison." Kanos a technician commanded as Maxwell rose, leaving only a few soldiers to fight the CIA agent. If they made it up, or he killed them all, they would cut the field off, sending him plummeting.
A cyborg landed in front of the assembled group. As Sam's armor smacked onto his body, he barked "Shields up," and they sprang up. One, however, was too slow, and the knife impacted on his body, as the shield closed, containing the explosion, in a gory explosion of guts and steel. "Don't bother," he said, as several moved to retaliate. "You have what you came for, and I'm not in a box. Let's go." The obliged, rising into the air, though several could't resist sending a few bullets or grenades. "And send the order. Raze the place." As the Legion ascended to the Icelandic ship, they saw a shape emerge from the front. Soon, the entire facility would be ash.
Teeth grit as he ascended slowly towards the Icelandic squad, Klaus continued to fire rapidly in small bursts, deftly maneuvering through the zero-g field and keeping close track of every threat in his vicinity. What came immediately to his attention was the sight of one of the white-clad infantrymen advancing rapidly down the purple cone towards him, fist extended for what would undoubtedly be a painful punch. But the man had descended directly through both his line of sight and fire, and though he was no soldier, the Delver had been designed to react appropriately to any plausible threat, even if he didn't know it. Swinging his weapon about, he caught the soldier in the leg with a penetrating blast, throwing off his attack and watching him spiral out of control.
Idea, he thought, shooting a small burst to the side, soaring over to where the wounded Icelander tumbled in slow free-fall, soon to ascend again. Reaching out with black-gloved fingers, he gripped the man under the arm, swinging himself underneath the pale trooper, who struggled in his spider-like grasp. Quickly, Klaus locked the back of his Death Ray onto the man's helm from the side, and fired quickly, grimacing as the recoil from his weapon rapidly twisted the soldier's neck around with a sickening crack. The infantryman went limp in his arms as he unlaced the Ray's tip from underneath the dead fighter's chin, wrapping one of his legs around his torso.
Maintaining his grip on the armored corpse, he continued his steady advanced towards the ship, resuming his volley of shots from behind the cover of human shield.
As a beam shot up to the ceiling and fizzled against the reinforced titanium, Maxwell smacked the control, and shut the beam off. All but one soldier was inside, by that point, and he fired a grappling hook, which slowed his descent. He would pull back up as he touched the ground, the hole opening again to admit him. If all went well, the Delver would splat against the ground, his teleportation disabled.
Sudden, abrupt shock interrupted the surreal dream-like floating, the tractor-ray cutting out just as the last of the soldiers clambered aboard ahead of Klaus and his human shield. Eyes widening as their freefall began, he felt adrenaline rush through his veins, his actions subconsciously guided by years of training and instinct. Kicking away the dead weight of the white-clad soldier, he maintained his hold on the Death Ray, drawing his blink dagger casually as he began his freefall. Clicking the handle, his eyes widened once again.
No, no, no-!
Screaming out of frustration and fear, he dropped the dagger, not having the time to replace it in its sheath. Tumbling head-over-heels towards the surface, the disoriented Delver thought with speeds that would humble prodigies, drawing the Death Ray in close to his stomach. Fiddling with the knobs on the side with magician-like digit-dexterity, he drastically increased the field-of-fire, whilst also reducing recoil control to zero. Now, he'd fly in the opposite direction of wherever he pointed the gun, as per Newton's Third Law of physics. About thirty meters above the ground, he pointed the tip of the weapon at the ice with the back of the gun lodged in his gut, pulling the trigger as hard as he could.
The beam shot out from the end of his gun into the ground, dramatically reducing Klaus' landing speed. Hovering in place for but a second, his aim soon wavered, sending him rocketing to the side at a low angle to the ground. Skidding along the ice, he plowed through a snowbank, leaving cracked, half-melted icebergs in his wake. Sliding across the frozen ground, he released his grip on the trigger, breathing deeply as he came to rest. Blinking, he scrambled to his feet, noticing his dropped knife sticking out of the ice by the blade nearby.
"...Convenient," he breathed, out of breath. Slowly, he crouched down next to it. Wrapping his black-gloved fingers around the blade's handle, he plucked it from the ice, looking up to the ship.
Alright. Round...three? Four?
Hefting his weapon up with both hands, he twisted the power knob close to maximum, seeking to cleave through the evacuating vessel with a wide beam of crimson energy that could rend battleships.
@lichter: "No. No, no, no, not happening. Not again, you purple idiot." Kanos looked out on the screens, now next to Aldous on the bridge. "Can we brig up shields? Good." A lieutenant signaled to him. "The Legion is coming in hot."
"Open the bay doors, but train all weapons in it. Anything not approved comes in I want it dead." Maxwell turned and took over the Licther problem, the (ostensibly) rivals working fluidly. "Fire the main cannons at him and take us to one-hundredth of Epstein." He referenced a theoretical speed to most, but approachable by the Icelandic tech."
Noticing a small shield envelop the ship, Klaus decided his efforts would best be focused elsewhere. He was in no mood to try his luck against a battleship. Eyes darting around the environment, he noticed the rocket-propelled armored legion of Samuel Washington's soaring through the sky towards the ship. Altering his aim, he fired a volley of long-range beams towards the group, aiming as instinctively as a man might ride a bicycle. Regardless of whether or not his attack landed, he looked back, listening to the tell-tale noise of a cannon rotating to face him. Looking up at the charging weapon, he silently turned around, and ran as fast as he could.
Sprinting over the ice, he jabbed his wrist with the hilt of his weapon, haphazardly activating his busted Eclipse Suit. Electricity sparked and fizzled around his exposed chest, but sure enough, bits and pieces of him disappeared. Legs shimmered in and out of sight as he ran, his head becoming fully invisible. Even if he wasn't impossible to see, he hoped the malfunctioning suit's semi-workable jammers would protect him from any targeting computers on the enormous vessel. Weapons that large likely wouldn't be fired solely from line-of-sight, after all...
As the beam from the Death Ray shot through the air, a Legionnaire screamed, and a gloved arm fell to the ground, suit arm pulling off to preserve the monopoly the States had on the tech, a cynical but necessary protocol.
Meanwhile, Maxwell spat a string of language too foul to repeat here in Icelandic, and fired a barrage of heat-seekers, hoping the sharp contrast with the frigid arctic would allow them to pick the Delver out even if he was invisible. If not, a single elite soldier, @urban_ronin, would descend, clad in white camouflage, with a hefty Icelandic pulse cannon in hand, to hunt him down personally.
A sizable number of missiles had begun to approach, and Klaus felt his heartbeat accelerate with the slight panic. Holding his breath, he remained still, watching a few missiles drift away from his position, confused by his suit's barely-working thermal masking. Others, however, closed in on his position, bright white lights soaring towards him. Raising the Ray, he opened fire, shooting down the remainder of the missiles with twitch accuracy ingrained in his very psyche through his enigmatic upbringing. Not even pausing to consider how he'd accomplished such a feat, he turned, only for the shockwave of the missiles to carry him further away from the ships.
Close.
Sliding on his side, he propped himself up on an elbow and continued his run, adjusting the suit to make sure it was working properly.
The Urban Ronin had been charged with protecting Sam Washington. He was going to do it.
A man-sized hole opened in the huge ship that had transported him and Maxwell, the reserve force in the inevitable event of something going wrong. He wore white camouflage for the arctic setting, and carried a large gun. The lenses all non-armored Icelandic and Free States troops wore pointed out the Octarine Rogue in the snow.He raised the weapon and fired three times.
A moving target was difficult to hit, but the so-called Urban Ronin was a master of marksmanship. The shot caught Klaus directly in his semi-transparent back as he ran, causing him to stumble and slide into the snow. The impact-negating gel within his double-layered suit did its work exceptionally well, saving the Legacy from any lasting harm and protecting his body from the lead's deathly touch. Fingers curling around the snowy drift, he initiated a slick combat roll, letting his shoulder hit the ground first and coming up aiming the Ray, his offhand already adjusting the setting to wide.
No need to aim, he thought, pulling the trigger. The moment he did, an enormous energy blast with an incredibly wide firing arc shot towards the Ronin, vaporizing the snow from its sheer crimson heat and moving towards him faster than thought.
Ronin mentally filed away that his weapon could not deal a killing blow, noticing at the same time that the Delver's hand went for is weapon, and leaping to the side mere seconds before a scorching blast sheared a hole in an outer layer of his suit.
Ronin unclipped three incendiary grenades from his belt, hooking his fingers around the round ends of the pins, and grasping a grenade launcher attached to his leg. He loaded the explosives in, and fired each in a pattern around Klaus, aiming to box him in.
@general_kanos: Instinctively raising a hand to his eyes as the grenades landed around him in a circle, Klaus grimaced, watching flames spring up on all sides.
Think fast, he thought, adjusting the gun. Turning, he fired the ray's laser around in a circle, the immense kinetic energy creating enough wind to extinguish them. The small circular wake that surrounded his beam dragged the flames away, leaving only the flammable materials. I'm visible, he thought, remembering the ship above; however, odds were that they wouldn't harm their own agent with artillery if he were nearby. He was typically loathe to engage in close-quarters combat, but now, it would afford him a tactical advantage.
Leaping over what remained of the fires, he charged the white-clad mercenary, taking time to measure his breathing. Training exercises kept him in shape, but he was no super-soldier. Drawing his dagger, he clicked a concealed switch, watching the blade extend into a gleaming fencing saber. Small jolts of electricity stung through his palm and up his arm, linking with his nervous system and essentially making the blade a part of his muscular system, controlled by twitch reflexes that made it seem impossibly fast. The Delver was known for rapid thought, and with a weapon that could move as quickly as he could react, he was truly a foe to be feared.
Eschewing the traditional stab, Klaus went for a rapid overhead strike followed by a pivot of his foot, dancing expertly over the ice and following with an impossibly fast flurry of slashes. The very air in between the two would be filled with the shining afterimage of his resonant blade, itself capable of ripping through nearly any conventional material. Eyes locked on his foe, he'd finish by swapping his sword from his right hand to his left with a deft juggle-like maneuver, resulting in a follow-up attack that would be impossible for any other swordsman to replicate. It was not often that the Prodigy had a chance to employ his swordsmanship.
But there was a reason why he'd practiced it every single day of his life since he could walk.
The CIA was already working on a way to reverse engineer the trans dimensional portals provided by the Frenchman in order to use them for their own purposes without needing permission. They could ask and he would more than likely give them the schematics, there was a certain pride that he needed to maintain in doing things on his own.
His alarm had gone off just as he had told Washington, his people would be there to stop him. His army of rebels had taken the place with blitzkrieg strength. Like the Germans, they use this tactic to mask their lack of resources and manpower. The only thing he had to was to try to drag this battle out and eventually they would strain themselves. More Maverick troops would keep showing up and eventually they would inevitably lose.
The main conundrum was getting inside the ship. He needed to weaken their shields and make an opening for them to infiltrate the ship. Unless..
From afar, a yellow portal opened up and his battle jet flew right off . The plane could be beyond inaudible, it was designed to shift the sound waves around itself. but when it wanted to the plane could sound like the leviathan's growl. He wanted Samuel to be baffled by what had just happened to him
After locking into the turbines with the optic zoom, he fired a mid range, air to air Maverick issued set of missiles humbly known as the "Deathfinders". Each unit costing around one million dollars to make. Chump change for the CIA's forty billion dollar budget. Roughly around a meter long and capable of being fully operational under extreme weather conditions. Their thermobaric capacity making it especially effective against the turbines, due to using oxygen from surrounding air to generate an even more fierce explosion.
"Black Bat to Agent Braun. Air support is on it's way."
The agreement between Xae and her Daughter had been simple...They were no longer going to try and change history the way Xae had intended, but they also couldn't bring themselves to stand around and watch the fighting. Since Vai had to stay to prevent the nuke she was going to happen Xae agreed to do something else to help out...try and take out the main ship. She spread her wings and took off, sailing through the air at high speeds she made a large circle around the island and waited for the right moment to strike.
Said moment presented itself when the CIA's craft blitzed into the area from a portal and opened fire. To aide in the assault on the ship's engines Xae flew up and then zoomed down, folding her wings nearly onto her back and plummeting at incredible speeds towards the turbines. Xae whipped a pair of small square devices from her belt, thumbed on the activation and sent them sailing down towards the open portions of the turbines. Once they impacted they would release a small portion of anti-matter, enough to create twin explosions of one kiloton each.
Xae spread her wings again and banked away from the craft, intending to circle back if it was necessary. She pulled her plasma pistol out and activated the weapon, ready to use it on anything that go close or in the event another pass over the vessel was necessary to bring down its engines.
The Ronin was no swordsman. His combat strategy had no place for anachronism. But as the Legacy leapt towards him, he spun, lifting an armored hand to attempt to block a strike. Several struck him, drawing blood, but he blocked a few, before a voice buzzed in his ear, telling him to engage the ship now attacking the escaping Icelandic craft's engines. He turned and rolled away into the snow, firing a gas grenade behind him to obscure the Delver's aim should he attempt to fire on his back. A cable descended and he grabbed onto it, magnetic cables securing him.
As the Black Bat and the PTSD Predator near-simultaneously engaged the engines, two things occurred on the command deck. Kanos barked a set of commands in Icelandic and had three "Punisher" class ships sent out. Each had three times the normal amount of firepower Icelandic craft possessed. They would attempt to gain targeting lock on both Donn and Xanders, using heated plasma to try to melt them in their leather. And Maxwell pulled a lever over the shoulder of a technician, which took a second to charge, before turning the engine flames white, and extending their reach. They would be hot enough to melt the shells off of the explosives aimed at the engines, sending the explosive components plummeting to the ocean below. This would also speed them up, trying to leave the soon-decimated prison instead of continuing the fight. By this time, all forces had been recalled.
As he struck for the Ronin, he felt the sword slice through his target, expecting to maim him; instead, amazingly, he'd continued to fight, attempting to block his blade with a few strikes from his fist. Klaus knew not of his parahuman abilities, if he had any, but to match his speed, one would need to move faster than thought. Perhaps it was this momentary astonishment that caught him off-guard, resulting in the man batting away his refined blade like a stick. Shifting, he watched the man roll away, preparing a lunge, but his foe came up with a grenade launcher, firing one of his arcing projectiles towards the Delver of Secrets.
Gasping for a moment, he maintained his focus, raising the sword and deflecting the grenade up into the air. It landed behind him, and while he expected an explosion, he was merely subject to vision obscuring gas. Distracted, he'd been unable to see where his foe had gotten to. Growling, he spun his blade in a circle like a fan, the speed of his stroke dispersing the smoke. Looking up, he saw his target rising far into the air, boarding the Icelandic ship and speeding off.
Eluded, he thought, clicking the hilt and retracting the blade.
"Black Bat to Agent Braun. Air support is on it's way."
Him again, he realized, raising a finger to his communicator unit in the side of his helmet. "Acknowledged, Black Bat. I'm exiting the hot zone now," he said, looking up to see the matte-black shroud tear towards the remainder of the attacking force. He'd best leave; he was heavily exposed on the ice shelf, and his gear was malfunctioning. He suspected that whatever was jamming his teleportation had been on the ship, which was rapidly leaving. Rather than test his dagger, however, he sheathed it.
"Door?" he said experimentally, raising his eyebrows as the luminescent portal appeared before him.
Bonaparte's tricks continue to astound me. This technology, though...it is not his. It can't be. It's...alien.
Glancing back at the ongoing battle behind him, he stepped through the portal, exiting the combat zone for now.
Xae's reality slipped back sixty five million years with the first attack on her person. A plasma burst exploded near her and her armor adjusted instantly, absorbing and redirecting the heat to other uses the 'leather' once more proved that it was anything but. She banked hard left and did a barrel roll and before the pilot could adjust she'd pressed the stud on her belt that activated a vortex teleportation device built into her suit. She reappeared just above the craft and folded her wings, dropping onto the small ship's surface. She sank her claws into the material of the hull to hold on with one hand while she placed two of her little anti-matter bombs to the cockpit. Once they were active she released the vehicle and spread her wings, using them to immediately slow her speed and regain control of her flight. For good measure she fired her plasma pistol at the rear of the craft. The shots were at least as strong as the ones fired by the craft's own weaponry, just confined to a much smaller weapon.
Meanwhile, removing the casing of the anti-matter weapons sent for the engines of the main ship proved a fatalistic mistake. There were no 'devices' that made the bomb explode save one, the one that released the magnetic containment field holding back the anti-matter from meeting its matter counterparts. When the device was incinerated the magnetic bottle released and the anti-matter met air. While the explosions didn't happen on the engines, they instead happened directly behind them, two titanic one kiloton blasts erupted in massive fireballs and fast moving shockwaves.
The PTSD predator wasn't finished. She adjusted course to fly towards the main ship, ignoring the other vessel for now (though her sensors kept her appraised of its actions and position and her HUD gave her a 360 degree view) she increased her flight speed and aimed for the hull, intent on gaining entry and butchering anything alive inside. If she was able to lodge onto the hull, she'd use her devices and claws to cut an entry point at the first possible airlock or entrance.
"Alright," came Omega's reply over comms as he began to make his descent on to the scene below. Once again, it had been awhile since Omega had done much in the line of, well, anything. STRIKE didn't issue any missions, apparently they were lying low; none of his prior contacts had asked for his assistance. Everything was quiet.
Then, Maverick contacted him, said they needed his 'help.' To be honest, their debriefing on the situation was rather limited, keeping it pretty vague. "Probably a need-to-know basis. And clearly, I'm not in the need-to-know." And now here he was, sitting in a small Maverick plane, about to be dropped into hostile territory. "Should be fun!" he shouted to the pilot over the roar of the engines, attempting to get her attention. The pilot didn't acknowledge him, instead seeming to find the view outside suddenly interesting. "C'mon," groaned Omega, "A simple 'hello,' would suffice. Are you just going to-"
"We are now in the drop zone," snapped the pilot, her voice blaring, almost hurting Omega's ears. "We can't lower the vehicle anymore, so if you plan on jumping, now would be a good time," she turned back to him, her mouth forming a smile, "Unless you would rather talk?"
Omega looked back at the pilot, an eye brow raised at her abrupt response. But his plain look was quickly replaced with a smirk, and sharp laugh. He reached over, his arm ripping open the door he was supposed to jump out of. "Perhaps later. For now," Omega gripped Indignation, "now is time for action." And with that, he jumped.
The Prison
"I am inbound, arriving from the air!" Omega shouted into the comms as the scene quickly approached his field of vision. His ally's were in the middle of a battle atop the prison, as well as above it. Some of them were familiar, such as Xae, while the others not so much. They ranged from a fighter jet to what looked like a cyborg ninja. All of them were assaulting a ship that appeared to be heading off. I need to take out the engines, preferably before the ship gets away.
Taking one last glimpse of the ship, he noticed Xae preparing to make an entrance into the ship.
Perfect.
Omega's hand went to his blade, his hand gliding over the trigger on the scabbard. Coming down with extreme speed, his body threatened to collide with the ship and punch through the armored hull. However, that was not what the samurai had in mind. Just as he was in range of the ship, he pulled the trigger, and his sword shot off out the sheath and into his hands in the blink of an eye. With the added momentum from literally shooting the sword, Omega made several slashes in a fraction of second before slamming into the ship, his blade seeking to vibrate past the material and destabilize it. If successful, the blade would make short work of the material, and he would crash through, into the ship.
Turning towards Xae, he he put his red blade over his shoulder and lifted a hand. "I'm heading to the engines, care to join me?"
When Xae looked at him, it looked at first as if she didn't recognize him and for a moment, like she might have even thought he was an enemy. Her hand shifted position and she looked at him again, her expression suddenly softening. "Omega." She said, as if testing the word for the first time. In truth, it had been a long time where she came from, a very long time."I haven't seen you in..." She trailed off and shook her head. "A long time." She said after a moment. She looked back at the hull of the ship for a moment, contemplating his offer. I work alone.
"I could use the help." She said, surprising herself with the words. I need him to understand... "I'm...I'm not exactly the same person you think I am...well..I am, I'm just from a part of the time stream farther ahead than this moment by almost twenty four years." She stood slowly. "I haven't worked with anyone in a long time. You lead the way to the engines and I will follow." she said and holstered her plasma pistol. Instead she had her claws unsheathed, ready to hack into anything or anyone foolish enough to get close to them.
(I know it's short but I don't really have a bunch to say until we get into the ship to be honest =) )
Omega cocked his head slightly as she explained how she wasn't quite the same Xae that he knew. Taking a good look at her, it seemed to just occur to him that her attire was different, and her gear was altered somewhat as well. Chuckling to himself, he brought his hand up to his chin, realization dawning on him. "Well, the plot thickens." he began, looking Xae up up and down. "That would explain your new get-up, as well as the wings...especially the wings"
I'm a little surprised I didn't notice beforehand, I'm usually pretty good with time stuff, Omega thought worriedly in his mind., shaking his head. I'm getting rusty in my old age.
Watching as Xae put away her gun to unsheathe her claws, Omega gave a quizzical look. "Hoping to get your hand's dirty?" Shrugging, Omega sheathed his sword, and he turned toward the hallway that would lead them to the engines. We need to get there quickly, they are preparing to leave. I hope the others are figuring out a plan.
"Alright, I shall lead, but I'm not slowing down for you..." Omega turned to Xae, giving a playful smile. Crouching low, he made a mad dash forward, one hand on the pommel of Indignation, ready to butcher the enemy. While on his sprint, he tilted his head towards Xae. "So, would you mind filling me in on what is going on here? Maverick told me that we're here to keep someone from escaping, but that was about it."
During the talk, Omega would arrive in the engine room. Unsheathing his sword, he began doing what he did best....breaking things.
"Actually I've always had the wings, I'm a limited shape shifter, I just make them go away when I don't need them. Like now." She said, folding her wings on her back and making them vanish. She followed after him, easily hitting full speed in the straight ahead hallway. "Basically a Presidential candidate went rogue and created his own rogue state of hovering cities and has nukes pointed at major cities. He was captured and is attempting to escape."
Once at the engine room Xae slid to a stop and dropped into a defensive stance, ready to clear the room of any would be defenders that happened to arrive or already be there. "You take the engines, I've got the room." She said. Xae's claws gleamed in the steady lights of the engineering section, their unnatural coating ready to cut through anything short of true adamantium thanks not only to their mono-molecular edge but also their very slight and highly tuned vibration that would separate the atomic bonds holding most alloys together and thus allow the claws to 'cut' through the material in question. The claws themselves were a reinforced special alloy crafted specifically by Xae, capable of sustaining damage in a similar fashion and to similar levels as Steel-Vibranium alloy.
"I always get my hands dirty these days." Xae said in reference to his earlier question. "Plus the pistol won't work well in these confines without possibly taking part of us with it.
"There's a breach in the engine room!" A security technician turned to the triumvirate of leaders now on the bridge, pointing at a blinking red light on his screen. "It appears to be the time traveller and a Maverick freelancer."
"I'll go. You, you and you. With me." Sam gestured to @urban_ronin and two Icelandic soldiers. "And someone bring me that shield."
Sam wore now a simple layer of body armor, instead of the titanium exoskeleton that was now almost irreparably damaged. He held a solid-black shield in his hand, a white star in the center. They entered the engine room, with the shock troopers firing twin beams of superheated plasma. Sam crouched behind the shield, which covered almost his entire body, with his bodyguard firing the same plasma cannons as the rest. Sam stood up, dashed forward, leapt up twisting, and tossed the carbonadium disk at the Preshitoric Veteran, aiming to slice her in two.
"There's a breach in the engine room!" A security technician turned to the triumvirate of leaders now on the bridge, pointing at a blinking red light on his screen. "It appears to be the time traveller and a Maverick freelancer."
"I'll go. You, you and you. With me." Sam gestured to @urban_ronin and two Icelandic soldiers. "And someone bring me that shield."
Sam wore now a simple layer of body armor, instead of the titanium exoskeleton that was now almost irreparably damaged. He held a solid-black shield in his hand, a white star in the center. They entered the engine room, with the shock troopers firing twin beams of superheated plasma. Sam crouched behind the shield, which covered almost his entire body, with his bodyguard firing the same plasma cannons as the rest. Sam stood up, dashed forward, leapt up twisting, and tossed the carbonadium disk at the Preshitoric Veteran, aiming to slice her in two.
Xae moved with reflexes greater than those of a human, she dodged to the left as a plasma beam passed through the space she had been occupying moments before, but her eyes were not locked on one person, her three hundred and sixty degree vision observed everything going on in the room and part of her mind tracked the throwing motion of Sam and his shield. Her sensors projected the most likely trajectory and so as it neared she was already in the process of avoiding a strike she knew, based on her sensor readings, was one of the few materials capable of slicing through her armor with ease.
To avoid a strike aimed at her mid section she flipped back and low, placing one hand on the ground behind her to keep her from falling backwards and over completely while she brought her other one up. The shield sliced through the armor over her raising arm and sent a trail of deep green blood flowing from the nearly bone deep wound it left behind. Her suit compensated immediately with pain killers and nanobot injections and she did her best to ignore the pain. She reached up and sank her claws into the shield. They drug along the underside of the shield in a shower of sparks until her fingers reached the band the wielder used to hold the shield on his arm or hand.
Gripping the strap as tightly as possible Xae was pulled from her feet and thrown backwards almost a dozen yards by the momentum of the shield alone. When she landed on her back however she had control of the shield and flipped to her feet from her back, green blood dripping from her wound. Without a word the ancient soldier took her new found weapon and mimicked the movements Sam had used to throw the shield...except she sent the shield flying straight at the engines with her good arm.
Xae closed her eyes for a moment, the pain was almost overwhelming even with the pain killers, which were beginning to kick in at last. The nanomachines would repair the wound shortly enough but for the mean time her arm was virtually useless. She turned slowly to face Sam and opened her eyes. "Thanks for the weapon."
Sam grinned. "You're quite welcome. I had heard that you were here to help me. Can I ask what necessitated the change of heart?" Sam made a few deft motions and the shield arced at the last second, a powerful magnet reattaching it to his arm. His men continued their attack, moving forward cautiously to try to secure the engines.
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