Assault on City 17: Team Destroy

[acts_of_gord]

The group of Milliways patrons earmarked for the pincer movement is ushered into City 17 without much ceremony. The streets here are cobbled, the buildings grey with age; the handful of cars in the street are old, old things, worn down with time and lack of care. They have the look of machines that were abandoned where their owners fell. This was a residential part of town, once. That was before the Combine- before the black thing on the horizon existed. In the distance it rises, visible down the eastward-facing streets: a tower of such immense size that its top pierces the low-lying clouds.

"Hey," calls a human voice- a Hispanic-looking woman, young of face but old of eye and attitude. She's dressed in dark blue and black, partially bulked up by the body armor of a fallen Civil Protection metrocop, and she carries a submachine gun. "Didn't see you guys show up. Are you part of the diversionary force?"

Comments

[captainryan.livejournal.com]

Ryan believes more in whatever works. If headshots take them out faster than anything to the torso, so be it. And even if it just blinds them, that's still a plus.

He's being a bit more careful about being hit, though, mostly because he's fairly certain that pulse fire is not made of atoms and therefore is not stopped by his shield.

But at least it's not a laser.

[md_donighal]

Michael decides he's been their ace in the hole long enough. He raises his right hand, and a ball of fire appears above the palm. A moment later, that ball homes in on an Elite's optic like a ring tossed by a carnival champion. By the time the first fireball launches, he's already forming another over his left hand, which will seek another target.

Any energy bolt that hits him will be absorbed into the glowing aura that surrounds him, and that'll be another bit of energy he doesn't himself have to provide for the returning of, as it were, fire.

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle starts a bit when Michael starts throwing fire. Theoretical knowledge and personal experience are two different things. Still, she's at least seen fire thrown before, if not by Michael.

If the Combine Elites are startled by the sudden influx of fire Annabelle will take full advantage of it.

[smelltheashes]

EVERYBODY is startled by the influx of fire, Combines and Resistance alike. It's just that the Elites snap back into action faster, which is why although some of them are, in fact, being taken down by Ryan's and Annabelle's bullets, the others are diving as swiftly as they can and taking out the most vulnerable targets.

Translation: Dora's goin' down.

[cutting_edgex23]

X--who, considering she was an X-man, is not really surprised by sudden explosions of elemental power--is also not really with this whole idea of Resistance fighters getting killed. At least not if she's in a position to prevent it.

And the best defense is a good offense, which means she flings herself at the Elites, aiming first to take out their weaponry, and next to finish them off permanently.

[aeons_crackshot]

"Dora!" Annabelle shouts as Dora is hit. If there is any chance at all that Dora is still alive, Annabelle will be making her way over towards Dora with the vial of bug juice.

As for any Elites unfortunate enough to get in the way...Annabelle is as fast and as accurate as is humanly possible and genuinely vicious.

[md_donighal]

The Donighal provides covering fire for Annabelle (to the extent she needs it, anyway; he knows she can take care of herself, but he also knows she can't be everywhere at once). He, in his turn, is just a leetle bit faster and more accurate than is humanly possible. And his fireballs are hitting harder, too; if any of his Elite targets stay attached to their torsos, it'll be a testament to Combine engineering.

[smelltheashes]

Ka-click! The scanners capture the scene and immediately lift off, heading up and over the buildings as quickly as they can. In the distance, the second dropship lands and disgorges its cargo of Elites before both vast, ponderous vessels lift off again, making for the Citadel.

It is a very bad day to be on either side of this conflict. If you're not a rebel being shot or shot at, you're an Elite bursting into flames, or clutching at your mask, or simply reeling in circles and falling over backwards. That or you're the scenery and you're flying to pieces at the least little provocation.

[cutting_edgex23]

X does not spare the retreating cargo ships a glance.

They are, at the moment, glaringly irrelevant. And she does not have time for distractions.

There's nothing pretty about what she does. Brutal efficiency is probably closer to the mark.

And another group of Elites bites the dust.

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle appreciates the cover fire, and it's oddly satisfying to see the Elites getting fire in the face or shredded apart by X.

At the moment, however, she has more pressing concerns. With a final vault over the broken bits of building that Dora was using as cover, Annabelle finally reaches her. At the moment she is attempting to ascertain how badly hurt Dora is.

[captainryan.livejournal.com]

Ryan's offering cover fire where he can. He isn't very concerned with Dora getting hit, soldiers die every day in war, but he'll do his best to keep his team mates safe.

Even Donighal.

[md_donighal]

Michael would appreciate the gesture if he noticed it. At the moment, he's wishing he felt he could bring more firepower to bear on the departing dropship without risking the sort of overwhelming response Gordon told him is not a desirable outcome. He hits it amidships in a way he hopes will slow it down, but he's using most of his firepower to protect the team. Also, he's deciding that throwing fireballs takes too much time; some of the Elites are now executing good ol' opcode HCF just from him looking sternly at them.

[acts_of_gord]

It's a pity the Elites aren't human enough any more to feel real terror. The remaining ones would be running if that were the case. As it stands, they're just going to deploy the secondary fire mode, the dark energy orbs, in the Milliways contingent's direction.

Dora, for her part, had to drop her gun. She's using both hands to apply direct pressure as best she can- there's a really amazing amount of blood spreading through the visible part of her clothing. "All right, this stinks," she says weakly and tries to suppress a wince. "Anybody got a rescue pack on them?"

[aeons_crackshot]

"I've got a vial of the bug juice. Will that work?"

There will be much cursing at the energy orbs when Annabelle has to dodge them. Getting hit by those is not an option.

[cutting_edgex23]

Vaporization, such as it is, is definitely not an option for X. Not one she'll survive, anyway.

Which is why she seems to be staying fairly close to those Elites, three quarters of her attention on dodging the energy orbs.

The other quarter is devoted to taking out those weapons. And the Elite holding them.

X is very bad at defensive fighting. That's why she doesn't bother.

[acts_of_gord]

"It'll help," says Dora. "Ay. Is Boots still alive?- he's the medic," she notes, catching the look of incomprehension at the name. "I don't hear him..."

Now, it's a good thing to capture an enemy's weapons and use them yourself. X is making this no longer an option. On the other hand, a weapon destroyed is still a weapon denied the enemy.

It is a very, very bad day to be Elite.

Well. It was. Now it appears to be a good day to be a great many corpses....

(And away in the distance, the sound of fleeing dropship engines is overlaid with the sound of approaching dropship engines. There are three more of them. They are coming. And they are heavy-laden.)

[aeons_crackshot]

There is inventive cursing at the sound of new dropships. Annabelle hands Dora the vial. "Where was Boots when you last saw him?"

Annabelle is afraid that Boots is dead and hoping that she's wrong.

[cutting_edgex23]

X keeps one ear open to gauge the rate of the dropships' approach.

The rest of her attention is devoted to making sure that everyone who should be down is down.

And will stay that way.

[captainryan.livejournal.com]

Ryan's scowling. He can hear the dropships coming and as much as he would've liked to get his hands on one of the pulse rifles, he'll just have to make do with whatever ammo he can scrounge.

He's also looking for health packs. Whatever he finds is getting tossed Dora and Annabelle's way. Just because he doesn't care about her doesn't mean he's going to stand by and watch her die.

[acts_of_gord]

"With Sami and Ying Ying," Dora says, grimacing. She fumbles to get the top off the vial; it takes her several tries. And, alas, there will be no help from Boots, although Ying Ying (a narrow-faced young woman with a bloody bandage wrapped around one arm) comes to her feet and approaches the others. "Who needs ammo?" she says. "I've got more than I can carry..."

[aeons_crackshot]

"I wouldn't say no to ammo, if you have any to spare." Annabelle will pass on any medical supplies to Dora and others who need them.

"More Elites?" Annabelle asks, gesturing in the direction of the sound of incoming drop ships.

[md_donighal]

Michael has opted to take to the air (sooner than he'd have liked) to avoid the dark energy orbs. He thinks he could survive one, but doesn't want to test the theory, let alone repeat the experiment. Besides, the vibes he gets from them remind him uncomfortably of visiting the ruins of Heartland, back in 2054, after Calvert Wycoff blew his stack. Remind him uncomfortably, as well, of how comfortable he, Divis Mal, was with the Terrible Glory of Taint™.

In a spirit of scientific inquiry, he hits one of the orbs with a small-scale version of his energy-suppression field*. If it causes the orb to fizzle, he'll try it again.

While he waits for that experiment's results to come in, he fires a nice big bolt at one of the approaching dropships, big enough to do some real damage.

* See the list of his powers in Aberrant: Worldwide Phase I.

[smelltheashes]

Ying Ying starts passing out the ammunition magazines right away. Sami, an older man with an unplaceable accent and badly fractured English, does his best to get the medkits from Ryan and start applying them in earnest. At Annabelle's question Sami shakes his head. "This, no," he says. "Flying too low now. Here come Striders."

The orb fizzles swiftly, which must be a nice feeling, given that the dropships dive with weirdly fluid grace and release their cargo about thirty feet above the ground, some distance away. Vast brown masses suddenly unfold three legs each, the legs striking the ground in synchrony mere moments later. Then they begin to straighten.

Remember that heavy thudding sound from the pulse rifles of the Elites? Imagine that, times ten, and coming from thirty or forty feet up. That's the Strider's main gun for you- and the warp cannon hasn't even been deployed yet.

[cutting_edgex23]

X looks up, and up, and up.

This will be problematic.

Her first priority is getting into an optimal position for an attack. Remaining at ground level does not seem like it will accomplish anything.

But is there anything around taller than the Striders?

[aeons_crackshot]

Annabelle frowns at the unfolding Striders, thinking about how to kill the giant mechanical spider things.

Then she grins and says, "I think I have a plan."

There is fiddling with grenades, heavy twine, and duct tape.

Then Annabelle is attempting to lure a Strider over to where it won't kill anyone on her side if it explodes or falls over.

She's going to try that plan she mentioned to Barney of climbing up to the knee joint and planting a grenade...