Assault on City 17: Team Dunkirk

[acts_of_gord]

The group of fighters tasked with getting civilians out of the line of fire opens on an unremarkable side door of a thoroughly unremarkable building. The walls here are largely grey brick, scribbled here and there with graffiti in a mingle of languages- English, Spanish, something that might be Russian or Ukrainian. A tattered poster of a white-bearded man in a business suit hangs limply from the wall next to a roll-up garage door.

Barney leans forward to rap swiftly on the smaller door, as there's no handle to open it from the outside. The first thing anyone sees of what lies beyond is the muzzle of a shotgun. Before any hostile reaction can happen, the wielder leans forward: a bald, bespectacled, lab-coated figure, blinking in the light of day. "Barney?" he says. "Alyx? My God, when did you get here? And who are these people?"

Comments

[acts_of_gord]

The buzzbots dive out of the darkness at the little cluster of humans. "Run, Dr. Kleiner!" one of the women shouts.

"You don't have to tell me twice!"

[g00d_d0ggie]

To answer your question, Charlie? The giant robot is perfectly equipped for this. The fingers of D0G's right hand crackle and hum with orange light as he activates his zero-point energy manipulator. The nearest manhack is rapidly pulled toward D0G's hand, then flung away with remarkable force, colliding with its fellows and the concrete walls before clattering to the ground in a smoking heap.

"Nice one, D0G!" shouts Alyx as she fires on the oncoming swarm.

[acts_of_gord]

The tunnel swiftly starts resounding with echoes, whether buzzes or gunfire or electronic shrieks. Kleiner and Sophia are running like bunnies, as per their orders; the other two rebels are a little more heavily burdened, and opting therefore to stand and club anything that flies at them out of the air.

It's lucky that the tunnels are so dark. The blood from where the manhacks get past people's defenses hardly shows up.

[vance_prime]

The girl and her robot just keep mowing down the 'hacks as fast as they can--Alyx with her pistol, D0G with his gravity gun or simply his fists when they get too close.

[acts_of_gord]

As the last one falls, the tunnel finally goes quiet. If there's anything else lurking down here, it won't be moving anytime soon, that's for sure.

"Nice shooting, everyone," says the androgynous girl. "And thanks. We'd've been in a lot of trouble if it weren't for you." She holsters her gun. "Hey, Sonia? You okay over there?"

"Yeah, we're fine," calls Sonia's muffled voice, and "Everything operating in optimal condition!" chimes in Kleiner.

The big fellow nods. "This is as safe as it's going to get," he says. "We'll take it from here. White Forest, here we come."

And with that, they're gone.

[vance_prime]

Alyx turns to her robot. "D0G, sit."

D0G obligingly plants his butt on the concrete, and Alyx clambers up onto his back, settling into a set of hidden hand- and footholds. "C'mon, D0G, let's go find Gordon and Barney."

Bweep! says D0G, and they gallop away.