Rungholt

Jagoda

She clicked off the comm and glanced around. She knew Dagfinn couldn't be too far away, but she needed a better vantage point; she couldn't see anything around her but trees. She selected the sturdiest tree amd began to climb it. She hoped to see Dagfinn's holdout position, and she figured she could also get an overview of hostiles that were nearby.

Tera

Tera pulled his blade out from the Zet, still wincing at the squelching sounds. "Ew, ew, ew, ew..." he whispered, backing away from its broken body.

Victoire kicked it just to make sure—he wasn't sure why that was necessary, given he'd just stabbed it through the eye—and then they were off again. But before that, Tera had some questions.

"You said earlier that you'd tell me why I should throw my suit into the river," he said, as they traipsed through the muddy waters to the slightly less muddy other side. "Well, it's later now. Could you please explain?"

Victoire sighed. "Alright. Sure. Whatever." She cleared her throat.

"See, Mercury was one of the first light Exo-Suits. Other two were called Comet and Geist. Comet was really fast, Geist was really stealthy, but everyone wanted Mercury because it could fly." She paused to kick a rock out of the way. "Mercury's first pilot, Cornelio Pullo—that guy was famous. Took a lightly armored, close-combat suit and made it work."

She shrugged. "Lot of good that did him when the suit combusted, though. After that, it was just fire after fire. When the smoke cleared, all that was left was Mariella Durando." Victoire looked over her shoulder at him. "If this isn't enough to convince you, and if—"

"When."

"—we get back to Rungholt, you should totally pay her a visit, hear her story. Then, maybe you'll ditch that thing."

Tera waited, but Victoire didn't say anything else, instead continuing northward towards the city. He followed after her, though he couldn't help but think about what she said. When their group met back up, he should probably ask Astrid or Jagoda about it.

...actually, why wait? Tera unclipped the comm unit from his belt and started clicking out across the different frequencies. "Astrid? Jagoda? Gard? The pig-hybrid with the nice hair? Sorry I never learned your name. Are any of you there?"

Edited by LilyTheLitten on Aug 1st 2020 at 9:16:15 AM

Astrid's heart sank. Judah was too slow. She was too preoccupied with keeping herself safe, she didn't think to try and draw fire away from a potential scuffle. She also wasn't about to let their deaths be in vain though. Their families wouldn't like if she couldn't bring something back, either.

Astrid disembarked from Judah Reborn and kept the engine hot, as it were, the thing sitting open and running while she picked over what she could use. First was the practical concern of the leg though. Outside of the suit she could at least work on that. She sighed at such a pristine jumpsuit's demise, but it would be worth it. Astrid tore the left sleeve off the suit, knelt down, and wrapped it around her leg to keep it covered. These guys probably didn't have any first aid with them. Then she grabbed the most appealing prize: the grenades. She slung a pair onto one of her now-empty shell racks, and with a kick to the lids started going through the crates as well. Then she hesitated. No, this wasn't as important. She sighed and turned to the three dead Wardens.

"Sorry assholes, you're going home." She said, out loud, to nobody, and marched over to them corpses to start picking through them. Dog tags? ID? Uh, some kinda Android Chip? She had no idea, but they had to have something that she could take to the crowd of sad parents she knew was waiting for them. She'd open these fuckers like cans if she had to, anything to get something to take.

Jagoda

Getting up the tree was a matter of seconds. Even a light suit like Snake boosted ones physical strength quite a bit and as such made climbing much easier. Jagoda had to brush the leaves aside and then found a branch that coukd support her weight. The tree she was one was some kind of bloated oak, old and sturdy. Even though mutation had twisted it quite a bit, it still held some majesty like only an ancient tree could.

A look around from her elevated position showed a half-broken linemast a few miles in the distance. The rain let up a bit, so she could see that beyond it was a small break in the treeline, suggesting something stood there that prevented larger plants from growing. Like a building, for example...

Then suddenly something hit her on the shoulder. A look back showed a green-black striped lizard, as large as her arm, having sunk his fangs into her armor. Clear liquid spurted from his teet, that had managed to bury themselves a little bit into the hard metal. The beast wiggled angrily, confused as to why its fangs could not penetrate its chosen prey's skin.

Tera

He didn't have to wait too long for his comm-unit to click again. "Hello? Tera, is that you?", asked a voice on the other side, that the android quickly identified with Gard.

"Where have you been!? I've been trying to reach you all! Are you alright? Do you know were Astrid is? Oh, and Jagoda and Dagfinn, too!" He sounded equal parts angry and worried. Something cracked on his side, loud and sudden. A rifle?

"Listen, I'm on a hill to the north-west of our crash-site! I got ____________ a-and Ka________ with me. We need hel—-! Ka______is down and we are running out of ammo! Can you get to us!?" The connection got worse quickly and before too long, all Tera could hear was white noise.

Victoire had heard the conversation and looked over her shoulder at Tera. "Making a detour is too risky. His position is probably somewhere back the way we came.", she said, her voice cold. "He will probably be dead, by the time we get there. No sense in wasting time..."

With that, she turned around, fully expecting Tera to follow her.

Astrid

It only took a few minutes for Astrid to find something. The dead male android had a dog-tag, similar to hers. He had been serving as a soldier. Marko-X was his name. The female one also was from the military, her name Vega-S.

No ID for the young man in the ADAM, but he had carried a data-pic with him, showing him with a pregnant woman and a young boy in his arms. The boy could not have been older than four or five, but he nonetheless grinned wide at the camera, along with his parents. They looked happy...

While Astrid went through the bodies, she noticed a few things. First were the Zet. The Imps all had weird carapaces. Some were the familiar dark-green and rough chitin. But some had plates that were weirdly smooth and had began to change colour to black. And the Warrior, or at least what was left of it, had a fully formed smooth, black carapace.

The second detail was that several of the dead Zet had not been killed by either the androids or the man. A cluster of Imps had been mowed down close to the bridge by a hail of large-caliber bullets, even though none of the weapons on the battlefield could have fired those.

And finally, now that she was out of her suit, Astrid could smell something. The rain had almost washed it away, but her fine nose did pick up the faint smell of copper. When she looked closer, she saw tracks that did not belong to any of the corpses. Something heavy had moved away, leaving muddy prints in the ground that only just began to wash away. And in those footprints, Astrid could spot blood...

Edited by TheNohen on Aug 4th 2020 at 4:02:32 PM

Tera

"Oh, his name's Dagfinn," Tera said. That would've been good to know earlier. "Also, who's Ka—"

The connection shorted out. Tera blinked, then stared at his comm, wondering if that was the last thing Gard ever said.

"Well," Victoire cut in. "He's dead. C'mon, let's go." She continued heading forward.

Tera blanched—well, okay, not really. Androids couldn't blanch. But if they could, he was certain he would right now. "What?! We can't just leave him!"

"Yes, we can," Victoire replied, not even slowing down. Tera hurried after her to catch up.

"Well, I mean, we can, but...we shouldn't! If he dies, then—"

Victoire snapped around, and Tera stepped back—somehow, he could feel her glare from behind her helmet. "Listen!" she snapped. "It's too damn risky. If we want to go get him, we need to go back the way we came. We'll lose too much time. Besides, he's probably already dead anyway." And with that, she continued on her way.

"V-Victoire, I can't just—" Tera swallowed, feeling a lump in his throat. "I-I can't...if he dies, and...and I could've done something, and there was even the smallest possibility that...he could've been saved, if I'd just been there, then..." He looked down at the ground. "I don't think I would be able to live with myself," he whispered.

Victoire had stopped walking. She simply stood there, staring straight ahead. Tera wondered, for a moment, if he'd said something wrong.

Then, she let out a sigh and turned around. "Alright. We'll go. Also, screw you for making me feel guilty."

Tera's head tilted. "I didn't know you could force emotions on people."

"...alright, whatever." Victoire turned in another direction. "Compass says that this way is northwest. You wanna go now, or...?"

"Hang on for a bit."

Tera grabbed onto a tree branch and pulled himself up, climbing up the tree to the top. When he got there, he scanned the horizon, searching for any hills that might be close to the crash site.

Edited by LilyTheLitten on Aug 4th 2020 at 10:27:23 AM

"Bullets, large, high RPM." Astrid said to herself as she looked over the perforated Zets. Not a sniper or a shotgun or a rail weapon, something like an assault cannon or an HMG. One survivor, and not the one that spoke to them. Never again. She clicked her comm unit on, lounging in the protective shadow of Judah Reborn.

"Astrid Andersdottir here, from Judah Reborn, broadcasting all channels. This may sound ridiculous, but I heard some menacing shit over comms earlier. Speaking our language." She said into it. No idea if anyone was even listening, but these three here might've died because of it. She was done hiding. "They said, very clearly, that they'd found me. Like they were talking shit, in other words. I think they led some Zets to take out, uh..." She pulled up the dogtags. "Marko-X, Vega-S, and a human John Doe with a family. They're probably listening right now, too. One survivor of the whole engagement, headed..." Okay, she could hold off on that one. "Bofa degrees of Sawcon. Pursuing whoever that is, it's getting damn lonely out here. Andersdottir out."

Time to go. Astrid said a little prayer for them and stepped back up into Judah Reborn. With the suit's greater strength she closed the dead folk's arms over their chests, weapons under them. Honorable deaths, preserved in military hardware. She turned towards the tracks and headed off, determined to find whoever walked away from a shitstorm like this.

Jagoda

She pulled a Dizzy dart from her ammo bracelet and jabbed the lizard with it. Its eyes crossed, its jaw relaxed, and it dropped into her waiting palm. She examined its teeth, hard enough to partially penetrate metal, and there was no telling what kind of venom it had. As gently as possible, she plucked one of the venom-teeth from the dazed reptile's mouth and tucked it into her pack. She set the lizard down, double-checked her heading, and shimmied down the tree before it could come to its senses and try to reclaim its tooth.

She began moving silently towards what she hoped was Dagfinn's hiding spot, clicking the comm on again as she ran. "Dagfinn, I think - I hope - I'm coming right to you. Stay put, stay on the comm, and for God's sake stay quiet." She kept her eyes on the derelict line-mast, watching it get closer and closer, straining her ears for any sound of movement nearby. "Four or five klicks out. Closing as fast as I can." Please let it be fast enough.

Tera

A look over the treeline showed that there was indeed a hill near the smoking ruins of the PCC. It was a bit further south-west, with a river cutting through the forest beyond it. The terrain was a bit uneven and Tera believed to see remnants of what used to be a road following the flow of the river. The hill itself was covered by the forest, but large enough to be visible and the android could spot old, ruined structures on it, as well.

As he was about to go down, his comm crackled again. "Astrid Andersdottir here, from Judah Reborn, broadcasting all channels. This — sound ridiculous, but I heard some___________-hit over comms earlier. Speaking our lan_-ge." It was Astrid! The connection was bad, suggesting she was just barely in range. Or perhpas his higher elevation had given him better connection.

"They -________________ they'd found me. Like they were talking _____——ords. I think they led some Zets to take out, uh...Marko-X, Vega-S, and a human John Doe with a family. They're _____— listening right now, too. One survi-_________hole engagement, headed..." She hesitated, then the connection cut out again.

"Found it?", he heard Victoire ask from down below. "You know, if you're busy gazing at the sun, their chances of survival will not improve, right?"

Jagoda

The thicket thinned out as she moved through the undergrowth and got closer to the mast. When she reached it, she saw how massive the structure actually was. Time and weather had toiled away at it, yet it was still standing centuries after it had been built. Cables hung from it, with plants using them and the metal skeleton as aid to grow. A tree had grown on the side to the point, that its bark was partially consuming the metal struts like a cancerous growth.

Following the direction of the cables, Jagoda eventually reached the place that Dagfinn had broadcasted from. It was indeed a building! It looked to be some kind of house, about two levels high. Concrete only barely resisted the temperate jungle around it and Jagoda found herself stepping on the remnants of an old fence, as she got closer. A rusted machine on the side of the building...had this been a power-station? It was hard to tell, without investigating this closer.

It was quiet. No sign of Zet. She could see a rust-crow perched on the edge of the broken ceiling, watching her and silently cleaning its metal beak. The walls of the house had collapsed here and there, revealing cell-like rooms, whose interior had been plundered or rotted away throughout the centuries. Finally, there was the main-door. The metal-gate had been blown open by something in the past, the steel bent badly to the inside.

That was when she spotted Dagfinn. He had tried to stay hidden, but his bulky armor peeked out from around the entrance. When he saw, she spotted him he relaxed his grip on his hand-axe. "Jagoda....thank God, you made it.", he whispered. His helmet had been lost and she could see crusted blood on his face. "Unharmed, too. Good...t-that's very good."

She could see the glowing power-core in his back. There was crack running straight down and it was pulsing weakly. "So glad to see you. I thought, I was done for. My power is running out and I have maybe...an hour or so, before this suit is dead!"

Astrid

Following the trail was easy. Whoever had left it behind, wasn't trying to be stealthy. It seemed more like they were trying to put as much distance behind them and the battlefield, as possible. The rain had slowed down to a drizzle, but even so Astrid could still spot the trail of blood gathering in the puddles of the tracks. It was not stopping..whoever this mysterious person was, they were wounded. Badly.

She followed them, as they split from the old road and into the thicket. Then they seemed to have thought the better of it and went back to the road, before the path was lost in the thick undergowth. Heavy imprints...they had stood here for several minutes. Then the track lead to the side.

As she followed them, she saw trees growing on what used to be old walls. She passed by a rusted turret, whose barrel served as a nesting place for a sparrow. Then Astrid stumbled upon the corpse of a dagger-wolf. The beasts knife-like teeth had been shattered by something and its sharp claws had dug deeply into the wet mud. Its head was caved in. This was a small beast, barely a pup, and half-starved.

When Astrid turned with the tracks, she found herself in the sights of a gatling cannon. The barrels spun, before she could react, but no bullets came out. Instead, the weapon simply clicked empty. Blood ran down the barrel-shaft.

The recruit behind it was leaning against a old wall. The exo-suit was a bright pink, with splots of mud and blood over its frilly paintjob. A red-ribbon was attached to the right arm and soaked wet. On the right side the armor was broken, with a hole in it from which blood seeped. The helmet was discarded to the side, showing a cute girl with brown curls, clinging wet to her head. The pig-hybrid had a cute button nose and a face that was probably perfect for a nervous smile, but right now was sunken in by exhaustion, pain and terror.

When she saw Astrid, she broke down crying. Her finger didn't leave the trigger, her hands cramped around her weapon, unable to let go. Sputtering and bawling, she collapsed on the wall, before she sat down in the mud. "I'm s-sorry...I-I'm so sorry....", she sobbed.

Edited by TheNohen on Aug 12th 2020 at 10:00:33 AM

Tera

Yep, there was definitely a hill near the crash-site. Tera squinted, trying to make out how far it was. If they moved quickly, they could probably get there within the hour.

Though...would an hour be enough?

Tera shook his head. No use worrying when they were still alive. He started climbing down the tree.

""Astrid Andersdottir here, from Judah Reborn, broadcasting all channels."

Tera nearly fell out of the tree. He fumbled for his comm-unit and held it up, eyes lighting up with hope. "Astrid? Astrid, can you hear me?"

"This — sound ridiculous, but I heard some___________-hit over comms earlier. Speaking our lan_-ge." Tera listened, heart pounding as Astrid spoke. "They -________________ they'd found me. Like they were talking _____——ords. I think they led some Zets to take out, uh...Marko-X, Vega-S, and a human John Doe with a family. They're _____— listening right now, too. One survi-_________hole engagement, headed..."

The connection shorted out. Tera stared at his comm-unit in a stunned silence.

"Found it?" Victoire called up.

Slowly, Tera looked down. "Yes. Found it. South-west. Let's go."

And with that, he lightly dropped down from the tree and sprinted towards the hill. Victoire yelped and ran after him. "Hey! Wait! Don't leave me behind like that!"

"Sorry!" Tera threw back over his shoulder, not slowing down. Astrid, Gard, I'll be there soon, just hold on.

He just hoped he could get there in time.

Jagoda

She checked her HUD and saw that her own power core was in fine condition. She considered for a moment. "Dagfinn, your suit is much more suitable for direct combat than mine, my suit has a much lower power draw, and I can still move stealthily without it. Let's swap cores. It will be a lot easier for you to protect me than vice versa."

Before the pig-hybrid could object, she had ejected the power core. Her HUD flickered and died as the suit lost power. She pulled the core out and extended it towards Dagfinn.

Just then, there was a loud thump outside the house. Jagoda froze for an instant, then pressed the core into Dagfinn's free hand. "Hurry," she whispered.

Oh, shit. Astrid wasn't good at this stuff. Emotional help or battlefield support. She flipped the helmet up on Judah Reborn, trying to put on her best concerned face.

"Hey! Hey! Friendly!" She dropped her shotgun and shield to the ground. "I'm Astrid. It's... it's okay." She ran her hands onto the woman's hands, trying to peel her off the gun. "Your friends were heroes. And they won't be forgotten. I got tags. But we need to move." Astrid's hands moved down to the gun. "Let's get you reloaded and get us moving. We've got bogeys talking shit over comms."

Astrid

The young woman still clutched her gatling-gun tight, to the point that Astrid had some difficulties prying her fingers open, while the poor girl went through her breakdown. When she heard that the others were dead, she collapsed entirely.

"I killed them! I-I...I got them all killed! G-God forgive me...", she stammered, staring into empty space.

Finally, the gun was put on her back and Astrid forced her to stand. Still, the pig-hybrid was in total shock and reacted very little to anything the cat tried to say to her. Instead, she just continued to mumble in despair, as she obeyed Astrids commands.

"I trusted him. I thought, h-h-he could help...I had no idea...I-I didn't know...I didn't..."

Tera

He and Victoire rushed through the forest as fast as they could. Tera had to slow down a bit, as Victoires suit was significantly slower than his own. Still, it didn't take long for both of them to hear wild gun-shots. The crack of a rifle echoed through the glade and after a few minutes, they stumbled upon dead Imps and trees marked with bullet-holes.

They were not the only ones here, as Tera could spot shapes stalking through the undergrowth here and there. The Zets ignored them, if they had spotted them in the first place, instead making a beeline for the hill. The numbers were hard to ascertain, but just on the way to the battle Tera could count close to twenty Zets rushing ahead of him and just about as many corpses.

Finally, they reached the hill. Vision through the foliage was spotty, but they could see various Imps rushing from cover to cover, as they tried to make their way uphill. Their efforts were rewarded with cracking rifle-fire, as one Imp got his head blown to pieces, as it peeked out from behind a birch-tree.

Another shot whipped down and one could hear the cracking sound of a ricochet. A look revealed a Warrior moving slowly upwards, with a heavy shard-thrower. He stood behind four Imps, whose limbs had mutated to form thick chitin-shields, each big enough to cover the whole Zet behind it. They formed a defensive line behind the larger Warrior, allowing him to avoid being shot and enabling him to return fire. This mobile cover now made its way slowly up the hill.

Tera's and Victoirse arrival did not go unnoticed. Three Imps spotted them, as they stepped out of the undergrowth and, with a violent hiss, attacked them. Two rushed forward with blades, while the third one aimed with its rifle.

Victoire grunted in frustration. She pumped her arms, which kicked out the empty shells in her weapons, and then met the Zets charge...

Jagoda

"I would suggest, you give me some of your cores power and we cou—" Dagfinn stopped short, when Jagoda voluntarily ejected her own core. Her suit got slower, but thankfully she could still wield it, as it was light enough to move a bit under just her own power.

He took the core, his mouth slightly open. A mixture of emotions ran over his face. Surprise, fear, anger...and regret. "W-Why would you...?", he started, but then trailed off, as if he wasn't sure what to say. "...Fuck..."

He didn't react to the thump outside. He still stared at the core, as Jagoda concentrated on the noise. He thought for a brief moment, his eyes flickering towards her...then he ejected his broken core and slotted the new one in.

And then he slammed his axe into Jagoda's back.

The blow knocked her over, but the blade had hit her armored spine and didn't manage to penetrate her flesh. Still, she fell to the ground and Dagfinn wasted no time and tackled her, putting his considerable weight on her, to prevent her escape.

"I'm sorry, Jagoda. I really, really am. You're a good girl.", he growled, his voice cracking in a mixture of growling and apologizing. "But someone paid a lot of marks, so you would not make it out of here alive. I would preferred to make it an accident...maybe even without getting to know you. But...I guess, that is just the icing on my shitty day now."

The blunt end of his handaxe hit her head, slamming it on the ground. "I would love to let you live, especially with the core and all....but, well with my broken one you wouldn't make it far and I cannot risk my survival on that. I'm really sorry...I have no choice." He raised his axe, squinting his eyes, as if he wanted to avoid looking at what he was about to do.

Another thump then got his attention. Jagoda could see a shadow on the ground. A person, standing before them. Dagfinn hesitated. "W-What the fu-?"

A gunshot silenced him, cracking his skull open like an overripe fruit and scattering his brain on the floor. The pig-hybrid collapsed onto Jagoda, dead.

Steps came closer. The shadow now loomed over her. Dagfinns corpse prevented her from looking up, but she could see the feet in front of her. Metal boots, the tips sharp and scraping on the croncrete. Support-struts and armor-plating. An exo-suit, rusted and encrusted with mud and blood.

A hot gun-barrel was pressed on her head, forcing her face into the dirt. But the shot didn't come. Instead, the gun was slowly lifted and something brushed her hair to the side. Crusted claws scraped gently against her mental-cables. Then they grabbed her hair and forced her head upwards.

She stared into a gasmask, old and dirty. The lenses were tinted and revealed no features. A brown, mud-splattered cloak covered the head and the rest of the armor. A massive hand-cannon, the likes of which she had never seen before, was pointed right at her face.

The person stared at her. They then holstered the gun and let her go. Without a word, they turned around and walked away. Within a few seconds, they were gone...

Tera

They were there. Tera couldn't see them, but he knew that Gard, and whoever was accompanying him, was close. The Imp corpses and bullet-holes proved that.

He frantically clicked on his comm-unit as he and Victoire moved through the undergrowth, following the Zet up the hill. "Gard? Astrid? I-it's me, I think I'm close, I'm with Victoire. I'm at the hill. If either of you are listening, respond, please!" A note of desperation entered his voice. "I-if anyone is listening—!"

"Quiet!" Victoire hissed. "You want us to be found or not?"

Tera swallowed, then shook his head and clipped the comm-unit back to his waist.

Suddenly, two Imps rushed at them with a violent hiss, their blades drawn. A third aimed a rifle at them, and Victoire cursed. "You go up and rendezvous with your buddy, I'll hold them off as long as I can!" She stepped out to meet their charge.

Tera stared at her, then ran out after her. "You can't go alone! You're gonna get killed!"

"I can risk my life, android!"

"I can't!"

"Then why the hell did you take this job if you didn't want to die?!"

"No, I can risk my life! I don't want to risk yours—"

"We'll talk later! Just go!"

"I'm not leaving you!"

Tera lunged forward, burying one of his blades in one of the approaching Imps. The Zet howled, but before it could retaliate, Tera had used his other blade to slice it in half.

The other bladed-Zet stared at its corpse, seemingly in shock. Tera didn't wait to find out. He lunged again, this time stabbing the Imp with both blades at once. Then, he ripped his right hand away before grabbing the Imp and throwing it at the rifle-toting one as hard as he could.

He didn't stick around to see if it had died. Instead, he grabbed Victoire's hand and took off, running up the hill as fast as he could. "Wh-what was that?" she yelled.

For a moment, Tera slowed down, turning his head to look at her. "I didn't want you to die," he said simply.

Then, he looked forward and picked the pace back up, determined to reach the hilltop.

Come on come on come on come on...

Jagoda

The dazed Tinkerer simply lay on the floor. She shoved at Dagfinn's corpse until it wasn't on top of her any more; then she just breathed. In... and out, slowly, until she felt herself regaining some measure of composure.

She lifted herself slowly to her feet, but despite her carefulness, standing upright brought a wave of dizziness that forced her back to hands and knees. "Concussed," she heard herself mutter. The second try was more successful, and she stood shakily over the dead pig-man. She stared down at him. "I trusted you... and you tried... to kill me," she said breathlessly. "Wherever you are now... I hope... you think it was... worth it." She turned to look for the stranger, but he was long gone. Her spore detector clicked faintly when she approached the doorway, and more strongly as she poked it outside. Was he... some kind of Zet? But... why would he save me?

No time for this now. She fumbled at Dagfinn's suit with clumsy fingers until she managed to pop her power core free and slot it back into her suit. Her HUD lit up again, still showing green across the board. She took Dagfinn's hand axes and tucked them into her belt; his pistol went into her pack. Finally, she took his terminal and pocketed it. When - if - they made it back to Rungholt, she would examine it very closely. He had said someone had paid him well to make sure she didn't make it back. Maybe the terminal would have some indication of who exactly had paid him.

Why beat around the bush? It was Bromsfjord. You know it was.

Jagoda shook her head, trying to banish that voice. Even if Bromsfjord would attempt to have one of his charges assassinated - something she had her doubts about - it wouldn't do her any good to think about it now. She had to focus on making it back alive. She pulled out her comm and saw that, mercifully, it had been undamaged by Dagfinn's betrayal. She clicked across frequencies again.

"Astrid? Tera? Gard? This is Jagoda. Dagfinn is dead and I'm injured. I need to meet up with you. If I try to do anything else on my own, I'll be the next one to die. Please, if any of you are there, talk to me."

Zet-human mimics? Maybe a Zet pretending to be friendly? Interesting. Dangerous. Astrid shut down her own empathy, anything that would make her slow down to cry with the pig... though she did keep her visor up. She deserved, at least, to see a face behind the killing machine. "Just follow me." The theory was getting much, much stronger.

She checked over her shoulder every couple of steps... when she heard... fuckin' nonsense on her radio. Practically nothing. She guessed it was one of the others though.

"Say again, Tera or Jagoda." Astrid replied into the radio. "I got another trainee with me. In shock. Not thinking about it right now. We def have something that talks killing us though." She looked back at the pig and held up her commlink. "Anything to say for yourself, ma'am?"

Jagoda

White noise was the only answer to her call. If there was someone in range of her comms, they weren't answering. Jagoda was alone with Dagfinns corpse and the slow clicking of her spore detector. And the latter slowed down and went silent soon as well, as the air cleared up.

She was now alone, without any knowledge of her current position or who else was here. The building gaped empty before her, the entrance wide open. It looked like no one had been here centuries, which made the fact that it still stood pretty remarkable. Whoever had built this, had made sure it was sturdy...

Still, Jagoda had to make a decision. Was she going to stay here and hope someone would pick up her signal? Or would she strike out into the wilderness, hoping to find others? Or maybe something else entirely.

Astrid

The girl had managed to calm down a little bit. Her eyes still flickered around, like she was expecting to see the shadows of her former comrades. But she seemed to be conscious enough to react to Astrid holding the comm-unit in her face. "M-My name is Karolina.", she said. She stumbled a bit, breathing hard through her teeth. Her hand rushed to her open wound. "I-I have a med-pack on my back. C-Couldn't use it, be-because..."

She stopped again, her expression falling as the trauma came back. She whimpered and shook her head violently. When she opened her eyes again, her gaze went over Astrids shoulder. Suddenly she grabbed the cat-hybrid and pulled her with surprising strength behind an outcropping. She pressed her free hand on Astrids mouth.

Second later, heavy steps broke through the undergrowth. A huge being moved, twigs snapping under its feet. Astrid could spot smooth, black carapace and two massive legs, just a few feet away. Two claws followed, along with a huge biorifle growing out of another set of arms. Then she spotted the head...and the crack running over its entire length.

The Teardrop Knight stopped dead in its tracks. Its head slowly moved from side to side, as if it was trying to spot something. Moving surprisingly elegant for its size, it brushed a branch aside and stepped closer to the spot where Astrid and Karolina were hiding. Another step forward and it stood almost on top of them, its clawed feet digging into the edge of the outcropping. It remained there, clearly listening into the silence. On its back, its jet-wings twitched slightly.

Tera

Victoire stared at Tera. Her helmet hid her features, but it was clear that she was surprised by his sudden burst of speed and action. Clearly, she had not expected the bumbling android to suddenly be so....decisive. "Wh-what was that?" she yelled.

Tera slowed down and looked at her. "I didn't want you to die.", he simply answered.

She briefly stopped, even as he was rushing forward. Then she shook her head. "Crazy moron...", she mumbled, to herself in disbelief...and a little bit amusement, as she followed after him.

Running up the hilltop was a challenge. The ground was wet and muddy, after the rain. They saw an Imp hissing, as it lost its footing and tumbled down in a small mudlside. Seconds later, a bullet punched through its chest, killing it. Tera nearly got shot as well, as a projectile missed his head by just an inch. He heard a shout from above.

"Who is—TERA!? My God, you are still alive!", yelled the familiar voice of Gard, filled withe relief. He turned to the side. "Stop shooting. Those are allies!"

Tera could see the shape of Gard at the top, holding his heavy pistol and shooting at an Imp close to him. The creature took three bullets, before it collapsed and rolled down the hill. Next to him was someone wearing red-gold exo-suit and a sniper-rifle. As Gard yelled at her, she aimed away from Tera and shot another Zet, that had made the foolish decision to leave its cover. The recoil was massive, yet she stood still like a rock. It took a second for Tera to realize that her legs had spikes, which had been buried into the ground and stabilized her.

Gard was waving at him. Then he pointed behind Tera. "Watch out!"

Something impacted on Tera's back. He felt it punch through his light armor, as he was thrown off his feet. A roar bellowed behind. The warrior from before had spotted them and aimed at Tera. The shot had him on his barely protected back...he should be dead...

Victoire hissed in pain. Blood ran down her arm and the plates were shattered on her left side. She had stepped into the firing line and taken the brunt of the shot. Seeing that both Wardens were still alive, the warrior roared again and ejected his shells, as he reloaed for a second shot. His bodyguards pulled at their shields and split them apart, with sharp chitin edges jutting out on the sides, transforming them into blades.

"Get up, Tera!", barked Victoire and raised her arms. "Don't you dare die, after you brought me here!" With a roar she jumped down the hill with surprising speed and crashed into the shieldbearers, unloading her gloves straight into the formation.

Tera

Almost there almost there almost there almost there—!

An Imp slid down the muddy hill, seconds before a bullet punched through its chest and killed it. Tera shrieked and ducked down as another bullet flew past his skull, barely missing his head. He looked up in shock to see—

"Gard!" Tera cried out, rushing up to him despite repeatedly slipping on the mud. "You're alive, y-you're still alive..."

Oh, and there was another recruit. A sniper. "Is that the 'Ka' you mentioned earlier—"

Something slammed into his back, puncturing his armor and causing red-hot pain to shoot through his body. Tera screamed as he was blasted off his feet, crashing into the mud. For a moment, he was unable to move, both from pain and shock. How had he...how was he still alive?

"Get up, Tera!"

He snapped to look behind him. Victoire. Victoire, blood running down her arm and her suit heavily damaged. Victoire, shouting at him to get up, to not die. Victoire, charging down the hill, at the formation, in a completely suicidal move—!

Tera screamed. Not out of pain or fear (well, maybe a little fear), but out of sheer frustration! Everyone was leaping into the fray and getting separated from friends and shot and killed and dear god, were all of these people suicidal?! He just wanted—

He just wanted everyone to live.

Was that really so hard?

...no.

No, it was not.

"VICTOIRE!" he screamed, leaping down the hill after her and activating the foot-booster-things, rocketing down the hill at blinding speeds. Victoire paused her assault on the Zet to look up at him in surprise—mere moments before he soared above her head and slammed into the Warrior, both blades extended, relying solely on momentum and his own strength to send them both flying down the hill.

Jagoda

She swore under her breath. The dizziness rose up again, threatening to overwhelm her; she fought it down with a supreme effort of will. She sat down and considered her options. She could stay here and hope to be discovered - and hope that whoever discovered her was friendly - or she could strike out and hope to find her friends. She had to... had to...

Her eyes snapped open, and she realized she had begun to nod off. Can't fall asleep. I'm concussed. I might never wake up.

That put things in a different light. Given the choice between dying here, alone, for no reason other than her own carelessness, and dying on her feet, doing everything she could to improve her situation... she'd pick the latter every time. Well, only the one time, really, because she'd be dead. But it was the principle that -

You're woolgathering, Jagoda. Focus.

She rose to her feet and checked her pack and belt, making sure everything was secure. She took a long drink from her canteen, then stepped through the door and out into the wilderness. She kept moving in the direction her HUD told her Rungholt was, as quickly and silently as she could in her injured state, periodically checking the comm to see if anyone was in range.

"Yeee!" Astrid yelped as Karolina yanked her into cover, but she caught onto what was happening fast. Hello, old friend. That crack in the shell... she looked down at her shotgun. The barrel looked narrow enough to fit into it. They wouldn't get anything out of just waiting. It would find them soon enough. She had this ward here though! Goddammit! And if she moved to get in position it'd hear her, it wasn't going to be a clear execution! She stared at Karolina levelly, then. Astrid would wait for the Knight to move before she made any more moves. She needed more of a runway before she attacked.

Tera

Victoire's charge was met head-on by the shieldbearers. As she peppered them with bullets, they held up their plates and weathered the hail. One of them flinched in pain, as a stray bullet tore through its shoulder, but they held their ground. Then the woman slammend into them, her right fist crashing with full force against the first shield.

The chitin cracked and the Zet was pushed back several inches, its claws digging through the mud. Its companions rushed to its side and held it in place. Together, they stalled Vitcoires momentum completely. The woman snarled and slammed her fist again, but was rewarded by the shield splitting and letting her stumble forward, as she punched empty air.

Then the Zet slammed the sharp edges of its shied into her side. A blow strong enough to blow off some armor-plates. Victoire stumbled back and a red glow flowed through her yellow armor, before gathering at her fists. She whirled around and unloaded a blast against the Zets face. It raised its shield to block it, but the move blinded it to the womans right fist, which arced upwards and buried itself into the creatures unprotected abdomen. The fist glew red and the punch packed a noticable bigger impact, lifting the Zet a few inches upwards and cracking the carapace like it was an eggshell.

But Victoire would not be able to follow up with a killing blow. The other shieldbearers now rushed her and forced her away from the wounded Zet. She weaved and dodged, but with several opponents before her, she didn't find an opening. Then she heard the dreadful cocking of a shard-gun.

The warrior had reloaded and now aimed its heavy gun at Victoire. She tried to get into cover, but the shieldbearers blocked her way and kept her in the warriors sight.

"VICTOIRE!"

With a loud cry, Tera activated his boosters. They were supposed to be used for a shortlived flight, but now he simply used for sheer acceleration. No subtlety or tricks, just speed. Blades shot out of his arms and he soared directly at the warrior. The Zet saw him coming, but the android was too fast for it to dodge. The blades gleamed in the dying sunlight, ready to skewer the tall creature.

Suddenly the wounded shieldbearer jumped in between them. It hissed as it raised its shield. Tera slammed into him. The blades crashed through the shield, tearing through chitin and carapace and then the two bodies collided. In a heap they tumbled down the hill, before crashing against a tree.

The Imp was dead, Teras blades having punctured its shield and chest. Red blood dripped from its broken carapace and it convulsed briefly, before falling silent. Tera had no reason to celebrate, though. Before he could recover, a heavy foot pressed down on his back and the hot barrel of a shard-gun was pressed against the back of his neck.

The warrior hissed at him. Sharp, clicking sounds flowing from its throat in staccato. It roared at him, before firing.

BANG!

The warrior stumbled back, a roar of pain now escaping its maw. It raised its gun, as if to graps its neck, which had a large hole in it. On top of the hill, the sniper reloaded her gun. And then Gard was rushing down, handgun blazing. He managed to headshot one of the shieldbearers, before he drew his spear and aided Victoire.

The warrior heaved in pain, but fought through it. He aimed once again at Tera and his gun buckled, as he fired...

Jagoda

The treck through the forest was arduous. Her head was pounding with a persistent pain and the environment wasn't making it easy, either. More than once, Jagoda had to dodge spore-clouds and small groups of Zet. The former became now more and more present, even as the latter seemed to relax in their patrols. Already, she could spot the forest being affected by their innate terraforming. An oak-tree, whose bark had begun to peel off as the wood bloated. A fox, twitching in pain as its body mutated in horrific ways, with spidery legs bursting out of its back and its fur falling out, leaving scaly skin behind.

Avoiding all this cost time and effort. Both of which Jagoda had now in short supply. The sun began to slowly sink over the horizon and with darkness would come a whole new host of dangers.

As she walked around another spore-cloud, Jagodas dectector began to click again. No cloud this time, though. The concentration was too low for that. She reached an incline, with the terrain becoming more wet. Eventually the ground was permamently submerged in water and the dry patches that were left were covered in wild garlic, whose sharp smell now laid over the air.

The clicking slowly intensified and finally Jagoda saw the source. A gathering of Zet, on an island in the middle of the forest-river. They hadn't spotted her. It took her a few seconds to realize, that they weren't even trying to.

The Zet were behaving unusual. There were two groups. The smaller one consisted of Imps, with black, smooth carapaces, lead by a Warrior whose arms had morphed into two long, sharp, rectangular blades. Opposite of them stood a larger group of the familiar green-clad Imps. They were lead by a bigger Imp, whose carapace was chipped and covered in small cracks and scars. And yet, it was big and evidently pretty old, by the way it carried itself.

The Zet clicked and hissed at each other. The Elder-Imp pointed at the warrior and roared in defiance. The warrior stood silent, while its entourage hissed back in response at the challenge. Then the two leaders suddenly burst into action. The Imp fired its bio-pistols at the Warrior, who ignored the shots and charged at it.

The first blade-strikes the Imp managed to dodge. It rolled on the ground and caught the warrior in the back. Its pistols drew blood, as the bullets struck the less protected back. The warrior whirled around and threw itself against his opponent. Pinning him on the ground, it raised one of its blades. The Imp roared in defiance again and shot the warrior point-blank in the face.

The head snapped back. For a moment, it looked like the shot had ended the fight. But then the blade was thrown downwards and the sharp tip crashed through the Imps neck and cleaved his head clean off. The warrior exhaled sharply, its free arm pressed against it cracked skull.

It then stood back up and glared at the opposing Imps. They clicked and hissed and wailed...but eventually, they bowed their heads before the black Zet. The warrior raised its blade and gathered the blood pooling from its wounds. The surrendering Imps all came forward and all drank a drop of blood, that fell from the sword. They shuddered and twitched and Jagoda could see how a streak of black began to appear on their carapace.

Then the warrior and its grown entourage turned around and marched away, heading with clear purpose deeper into the wetlands...

Astrid

The silence strechted. The tension rose, so much that you could almost cut it with a knife. The Teardrop-Knight listened intently, clearly aware someone was here, but not able to discern where. If it had just known, that its prey was merely a few feet below...

Then a crack in the undergrowth drew its attention. Its head snapped to the side and its rifle whipped around. Without hesitation it fired several heavy rounds into the thicket, the rifle destroying the silence with a bang.

The bullets crashed into the wood and...veered off course. The knight fired again and again the projectile cut through the air, before making a slight turn and arching away. A blue shimmer appeared in the air...

"Found you, you elusive piece of SHIT!", barked a familiar voice.

Commander Bromsfjord broke through the undergrowth, hammers in hand. With a roar he flung one of them forward, with such speed and strength that the heavy head practically turned into a projectile itself. The hammer crashed against the Knights chest and send it flying into a nearby tree.

Bromwfjord clenched his fist and the air flickered around it. The hammer, that had buried itself slightly in the Knights thick carapace, hovered up into the air and then snapped back into the Wardens open hand.

The Knight quickly got back to its feet. Seeing the angry warden approaching, it fired up its jet-wings. "Nononono! DON'T YOU DARE!", screamed Bromsfjord, but he was too late. The Teardrop-Knight jumped into the air, broke through the canopy and fled.

A hammer was hurled after it, but it missed. Bromsfjord recalled it and then roared a flurry of curses. Ranging from describing the Zets questionable parentage, to promises of particular gruesome deaths that involved body-parts being shoved into various orifices.

Astrid felt like she got the bends from the relief when she realized what was happening, but she didn't expect Bromsfjord himself to come rocketing out of the brush. She figured something like the magnet trick would be in the realm of a lighter suit, not that beast. It was also definitely a little gratifying that he didn't take her kill. She'd get her chance eventually.

Astrid kept her gear out when she stepped out of cover. "Bromsfjord. Sir." She made a quick salute and then immediately snapped into a ready position to keep an eye out. Pissing off a Knight would absolutely get them into more trouble. She had no room for celebration, only relief, and the next problem to solve. Solve enough problems and she gets to go home. "Astrid Andersdottir. I've got one with me, Karolina. Two fallen with tags and a John Doe with us as well." She held up her haul from the massacre. She kept her visor on; no sense letting expressions cloud shit. "Communicator with me as well, not that it's reliable. At your disposal, sir."

Tera

"F&$%!"

Tera was not the kind of person to swear, but there really weren't many other ways to convey his frustration at having completely failed to hit the Warrior. Instead, one of the Shieldbearers had intercepted it and sent them both down the hill, leaving Victoire and Gard and Sniper without any help—

A heavy foot suddenly slammed onto his back, a gun pressed against his neck, and Tera realized he was probably about to die.

Hm. This was a problem. He just wished that he could've helped more—

BANG!

The moment the Warrior was off him, Tera scrambled to his feet, staring at the bloody hole in the Zet's neck. A weak point. A plan came together in his mind.

Tera ran. Circling around the weakened Warrior, he grabbed onto the back of (what remained of) its neck and threw himself onto it, pressing himself against it to avoid getting thrown off (though it didn't stop him from shrieking in panic as the Zet flailed every which way).

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Victoire yelled from the hill.

"I HAVE NO IDEA!" Tera yelled back. Clutching onto it as tight as he could, he took his free blade and rammed it into the hole on the Zet's neck.

The Zet's scream was garbled, and Tera winded again at the horrible squishing and slicing sounds. Still, he powered through the resistance, cutting deeper and deeper and deeper—

—before yanking the blade upwards to decapitate the Zet. Or at least severely cripple it.

Edited by LilyTheLitten on Aug 25th 2020 at 1:45:07 AM

Jagoda

She had absolutely no idea what she had just witnessed, and she had absolutely no time to think about it until she was safe. She knew Zet didn't act like this - not in any after-action report she had ever read. She knew there had to be some significance to the ritualistic fight she'd just watched. But she still had to prioritize getting to safety.

Jagoda fell back into the trees again and kept moving towards the great walled city. She gauged the sun carefully. She estimated that she had forty-five minutes before it dipped below the horizon, and probably another hour after that before total darkness fell. If she was still alone when the last light faded, she would put one of Dagfinn's bullets in her head. Better dead that way - quickly, cleanly - than whatever would come upon her in the darkness.

She pushed that thought from her mind, but she could feel it still hovering close by, waiting until she needed it. She kept walking, kept checking the comm. She knew death was very close now, its jaws poised to close on her, eager to snuff her out, whether by her own hand or another's.

She kept walking anyway. She would meet it on her feet, if indeed it came. She would not shy away.

Astrid

Bromsfjord's right hammer twitched, when Astrid came out of her cover. It was the only sign that betrayed his stress. On closer inspection, the cat-hybrid could see that he had been through some rough fights. His suit was covered in dents and scrapes. One his right side, there were visible claw-marks in his armor. While it had failed to penetrate, it still look nasty. There were also scorch-marks on his left shoulder.

"K-Karolina Slanina reporting, sir.", exclaimed the pig-hybrid and quickly saluted, when she saw Astrid do the same. Her hands were still shaking a bit, but it seemed like she had gotten her wits back now. Bromsfjord nodded and saluted them both back.

"Andersdottir...so, you've been the one with the calls over the lines.", he grumbled. "Change the channel to 23.4.6-B, that's a line for command. Should be secure, for now."

He grunted and gestured them to follow him. As they walked, Astrid could notice that the commander favoured his right side a bit. A few minutes later, the shimmering field around him slowly dissipated, as Bromsfjord de-activated his deflector-shield.

"To get you both up to speed: We've been scattered. The Zet are hunting down the survivors of the crash. They go exclusively for recruits and avoid pitched battle with any actual Wardens. We've been trying to gather as many of you as possible for the last few hours. The search will stop at nightfall. By then, we will have to cut our losses.", he explained, lifting a dead tree off the ground and allowing them to pass by. With a loud crash, he let it fall back on the ground, once they left it behind.

"We rendezvous at a signal-tower we set up here a few months ago. Plan is to call the Aegis and then get evacuated. Any questions, soldiers?" He looked at them over his massive shoulder.

Jagoda

She carried on. Wherever she was, it certainly was Zet-territory by now. Jagoda stumbled more and more upon Zet, barely avoiding detection more than once. She could see Imps building small camp-sites, chopping down trees and draining the surrounding wetlands, when they could.

At one point, she even spotted a three Warriors guarding about a dozen four-legged creatures, that were busy erecting a fleshy structure, before covering it in black slime that slowly hardened into a smooth surface. Constructors, said her memory. Organisms that rarely saw the frontline and were used primarily to erect fortifications. Here though, they weren't trying to dig trenches or build towers. Instead, it looked like they were slowly, but surely erecting barracks and walls.

Eventually, darkness fell. The shadows got longer, before finally being swallowed whole by the encroaching night. Jagoda now sneaked through the woods, each noise seeming even louder than normal. Her spore-detector continued to click, showing that the air around her was still tainted.

No light. No stars. No moon. All around her the dripping water. Chittering, scratching, growling. A forest coming to life, as all the various predators began to move. The sound of splashing water. A gun being cocked...

"Recruit?"

Blinding light. It took several seconds, but eventually Jagoda's eyes adjusted to the flashlight being shone at her. Behind it was the frame of an exo-suit and a dark helmet. The warden held up his comm. "Comd. de Maizière, I found a survivor. Light suit, female." He then turned to Jagoda, holding out one hand. "It's all right, recruit. We found you. You're safe now."

Minutes later, several more gathered at her location. Most of them were recruits, like her. With them two Wardens. All of them were banged up, covered in mud and scars. Then out of the darkness stepped Commander Jeanne de Maizière.

She wore a snow-white light suit, with a red cross painted on the front of her helmet. On her back were several servo-arms and metal-containers with supplies, med-packs and more. Her left arm was missing, torn off at the shoulder. Sparks flew out of the wound every now and then.

"Twenty...is that all of them?", she asked the Wardens. They nodded gravely. She said nothing for a brief moment, then turned to Jagoda and the others. "You will stick with us. Debrief on what happened to all of you. Names and suits, too. I need to know what we have at our disposal."

Tera

The warrior roared in agony. Tera's blade was stuck halfway in its neck, tearing through sinew and bone. The flesh was tough, though. Blood splattered onto his helmet and it no doubt caused the Zet incredible pain, but he couldn't kill it.

As Tera tried to pull out and aim for the throat, the warrior buckled and threw itself against a tree. Tera was slammed against old wood, but it did nothing. Androids couldn't be concussed and had little to fear from being bludgeoned. But it cause Tera's blade to slid out of the wound. The Warrior turned its shard-gun and pressed it against its wounded shoulder.

A loud crack echoed through the battle-zone, as it fired. Tera's was thrown off its back, as the projectiles tore through plate and muscle and impacted on his chest. His armor-plates were broken and he could feel at least one shard tearing into his torso. Cooling fluid dripped down his suit...

Nevertheless, the warrior was worse off. It hissed in pain as it turned around, its right arm hanging down from its shoulder by a bloody muscle-thread. Everything else was gone, blown off. It looked around, assessing the situation.

Gards intervention into the fight between Victoire and the Shieldbearers had tipped the balance. Now no longer able to pressure the woman, the Imps began to lose. Gards spear buried itself into the shield of one and pulled it to the side. He then aimed with his gun in one hand and unloaded a shot at point-blank range, shattering the Zets chest and killing it. Victoire also scored a kill, by tanking several blows with her armor, before re-directing the kinetic energy into a stone-shattering blow that punched straight through the shield of her enemy and into the skull behind it, splattering bone and gore everywhere.

The assault on the hill had failed. Most of the Imps were dead and the rest were retreating, now that the main-charge had failed. The Warrior watched this and roared, before turning its gun to Tera and preparing a final shot.

Then its head exploded in a shower of blood and chitin. For a brief second, it stood still. Then it fell to its knees and collapsed onto the wet grass. Back on the hill-top, a hot cartridge was ejected and the Admin-girl raised her rifle. "Boom.", she quipped grim.

Edited by TheNohen on Aug 29th 2020 at 4:28:53 PM

"Yes sir." Astrid said, and passed her hand over the dial. She wiggled her hands over it, hands refusing to actually move it an inch. She wasn't about to leave Tera, Jagoda, Gard... all of them behind.

"I do have a question." She said. Maybe in these... trying times, he'd let slip a few state secrets. "The same one I've been spamming over the radio. Just after everything went to shit, maybe 10 minutes after landing, someone on the radio said found you. Someone was talking shit. It's been hanging over me. We don't really have the time to get it open right now but ideally my flight recorder picked it up." She ground her teeth. She couldn't let this go. She flipped her visor up to look up at Bromsfjord, steely and grimacing. "I need to know: who else is out there, talking to us?" Astrid didn't want to talk about her occasional donations to the Office of Foreign Affairs. She burned the receipts every time. Nobody could know about her crackpot bullshit.