"Lesson learned, never trust strange magical boxes. aww.... crud."
Examine self frantically, make sure nothing's broken, misplaced, or changed.
After some, examination, you find that your genitals are still attached. Your sensory organs, vital organs and observable bodyparts seem to all be fine as well. It's a bit hard to check whether or not your appendix and other such organs are still functional, but there's nothing really indicating that they fared any worse.
Beyond the blast doors, there is only a muddled haze of footsteps, neither departing nor advacing. Clearer, more distinct noise however is now emanating from the gantry above the rails upon which the mechanical arms reside.
Ao Shi
"I probably shoud stop asking questions because in the end I only have more questions... I have no skill or knowledge of spell casting so generator have to wait for someone professional. Damn aliens... I knew we shouldn't have let just anybody in. If I were to run the immigration office, I would ensure thorough background checks for all immigrants so terrorists wouldn't get in so easily."
I try to gain time for frame installation by lying to the guys outside.
"Sorry, we welded the door full of all kind of crap so it's a bit hard to open it! And especially since you apparently broke our generators we have to rely slow battery powered cutters to clear it all off! And it's quite cramped here, you know!? So give us few minutes, I'm sure you understand how annoying it is when your workplace is being trashed."
If enemy agrees, then I instruct two guys to start breaking down the makeshift barricade blocking the door slowly. Or at least pretend they are doing so. I will then assist with installation. As soon as it is done I'll jump into cockpit and do systems check to ensure it actually works.
If enemy disagrees, then I tell our engineers to make space (loudly), jump into LATRANS, start it up and do my best to beat the frame coming in. Priorize its weapons, arms and legs. Then deal with their infantry.
Red dissolves into hysteric laughter on the floor, clutching at her sides after you reach the word "professional"
"I oh god, oh please st- st-op, 'professional'? I oh-" she dissolves into laughter once more for a while
"I, this is just, that is... so ridiculously hilarious... You are one of the most professional spellcasters on this planet!" for the next few moments she attempts to regain composure only to look at you and snort with stifled laughter.
"Okay since you seem to be a bit dense on the whole spells thing, I'll spell" she giggles at the unintentional pun
"pardon me I'm just so excitable today~!" she says in a shocked self-mocking tone
", anyway now look at me... you feel that slight ache in the back of your head? Focus on it..." As you follow her commands you see the words of the grimoire moving across your vision and mind
"You can see all of the words. That is something that very few people get, anyone who can cast magic normally knows only 2 or 3 of those words." her voice takes on a slightly sad note at the end of her explanation.
"Oh I'm getting another contact request... I wonder if Sote would mind if I made this a conference call..."With a horrible grating noise, the barrel of a gun erupts through the wall, several meters above the barricaded door. Judging by the length and, oddly sharp appearance, it's either a sniper rifle or a sword. Or maybe some sort of horrible cross between the two. Slowly, ever so slowly it begins to force itself downwards, towards the barricade.
"We'll get it open then! Just keep your limbs and stuff away from that blade. That... really, urgh really slow blade. Sorry 'bout the generators, if it makes you feel any better we've got orders to blow up that whole chamber, so it ain't like you'll be needing it. I would've thought you guys would have backups or something, guess not."Left arm installation complete. Systems check indicates plenty of issues, but nothing you didn't know already. The only ones of actual concern are the fact that the frame isn't receiving enough power (probably just because the generator's hooked up to the chamber's arms right now) and the lack of any weaponry (though the sheer size of the frame should probably be enough anyway). During all of this, Red apparently climbed up the frame's arm and is now sitting on the shoulder.
Tell my men to check what exactly can they test in there. Ask the guys in the truck where they're heading and what are they going to do. If nothing suspicious/dangerous to NEE found - let them go after advising them to evacuate.
"Could test anything really from the looks of things they have bullet proof reusable blast chambers to some sort of high tech uh a '3D metal ion laser etcher'" one of the soldiers responds laconically.
"We're just driving a product testing and coordination truck, an important one, down to the lower industrial district while there were less drivers on the road." the driver states testily.
Well you have no real grounds to keep them any longer... but you know there is something odd about this all, though it might not matter, and definitely not
enough to hold up two truck technicians. You end up letting them go (however begrudgingly), advising they get out of range of the fighting.
"Oohhh... Bugger a Harpy! I need a drink or my 'ead will explode..."
Look around. See if any friendlies are around. or baddies. Or booze. Make sure my rifle is loaded.
Well, the bar hasn't exactly changed in the last few minutes. Unless of course, you count the movement of molecules and particles, changes in air pressure in different points in the room, and the overall increase of entropy that may or may not eventually lead to the heat death of the universe and the erasure of anything and everything you held, hold or will hold dear as the cold and uncaring laws of physics erase all traces of you and the rest of your arrogant species in spite of their desperate, delusional hopes that they are greater than the mere self-replicating structures of carbon compounds and chemical reactions that all logic and reason tells them they are.
The friendlies in the room would be Daos, Hobart, and Winston. The barkeeper could probably also be placed into that category provided you continue to purchase drinks. The greatest threats in the room thus far seem to be broken furniture which may pose as trip hazards, though if one were not to limit this categorization to merely the physical, then the consumerism-driven societal perceptions of alcohol that subtly pressure and indoctrinate people towards its consumption at their own detriment would probably also count.
As for the booze, well, you're in a bar, so there's plenty of it. Though there is currently no quantity of it that you can access without payment or committing a criminal offense. Your assault rifle is definitely loaded. The other two rifles, er, well, they've got what appear to be extension cords screwed into them, does that count as being loaded?
Winston rubbed his head. Memories of... indeed, fire and explosions entered his head. Everyone enjoyed seeing a big boom, right? A tiny niggling doubt wondered if those memories were actually his, but that thought was quickly repressed.
"I... think I do. What were those symbols? Can you tell me how to make more explosions?" That last question almost felt like it didn't come from his own mouth.
A grimoire. Consider yourself lucky, few have access to them. Fewer still have a complete one like yourself. We pulled a few strings to deliver it to you.
They are used to cast spells, and, provided you get your hands on something that can be used to engrave things, certain other kinds of magic.
Keep in mind though that using a spell too powerful for you may be lethal, but we can always bring you back.
I can help with blowing stuff up. You just need to find something remotely explosive and I'll see if anything you have on hand can make it explode and tell you how.
"Well, shit. This doesn't look good. Shouldn't there be someone else attacking? I thought I was supposed to be flanking, not the main force."
Fire autocannon at approaching frame. If that doesn't take it out, focus on dodging the attack. Keep the arms chained and in front of me.
As the other two LUPUS frames scurry into the building, you alone stand to brave the onslaught.
"Other team had an electrical fault and is delayed. Danger-close A605-tracer/smoke and frag are on the way recommend switching to UV filter." ((We'll use orange glow to signify headquarters.))
[MDEF vs. LTAR: 0 vs. 2] [TRANS: 1] Your vision dims as the PUPPET slams into your upraised arms, temper flaring at these mechanical mockeries of men come as everything goes blurry except for your rightful prey. You feel every weakness in their frail forms and shiver with anticipation with the prospect of tearing them apart, limb by limb. The synthesized voice of your console is almost indistinct through your feverish bloodlust.
"> Critical damage to restraint system detected."
"> Continued containment chance 0.003%. Conditions suboptimal."
"> Pilot stress detected, continued voluntary containment chance 0.001%"
"> Combat system active, restraints removed 99.986% ,... 100.000%,... Complete."
"> Beginning restraint repair."
"> Pilot auth. required for re-containment protocol #100."[UTAR vs. MDEF: 1++ vs. 3]You see the hands of the PHARAOH clearly for the first time, glossy and black almost like that of a human rather than the mitten-like hands of the
LUPUS units. You see the armor that saved you, metal strips of a shiny metal covered in ripples linked together around the forearms and across the
backs of the hands.
You also see what the hands can do as the right one grips the mangled mass of scrap that crashed into you and flings it bodily at the other PUPPET seemingly taunting you with by hovering out of reach. The flying PUPPET dodges the flying remains of its comrade, pity that. The husk-turned projectile proceeds to crash through the upper floors of a building and ignite. Collateral damage. Irrelevant. It blurs away into the your clouded vision.
[UTAR vs. MDEF: 2 vs. 6] [UTAR vs. MDEF: 7 vs. 4] [UTAR vs. MDEF: -2 vs. 3] Gunshots and two more crashes ring out. It seems that the PUPPET that trying to fly through a building continued with its course of action, an action which ended predictably, whilst the auto frame you targeted was gunned down by your squad.
You see the rest of the frames down the street, each sharp and clear in your otherwise unfocused sight. Without hesitation, you begin barreling towards them, your radio crackles with the concerns of your squadmates and the frantic yells from the command center. Irrelevant voices. Irrelevant white noise. Noise that is soon drowned out by all the other meaningless sources of similarly pointless sounds. Your prey shall soon be within your grasp, to hell with everyone else.
((Uh, have you desecrated any ancient burial grounds by holding orgies with the spouses of people who work on random.org on top of them recently? Because you've been rolling incredibly poorly for some reason.))
"Can you work on installing the other things right now? I have to concentrate on this."
Type in RED_QUEEN.
"Let's see what this does." Derek whispers to himself.
You get shocked like everyone else.
"Having a bad day?", turning around at the sound of the voice, you find yourself face to face with the same lady that Ao sees.
"As much as I'd like to draw this out, you seem to be in a hurry, so I'll make this quick.""The words that are in your mind right now are uh..." she frowns with concentration
"lets keep this simple and just say "magic". You can "cast" them by focusing on that ache in the back of your head, no not that one the other one, yeah that one. There are no "rules" so no need to worry about syntax or anything. Just, try not to kill yourself with them, well that is a bit unfair since you don't know what they mean, so just um... stand back I guess? Oh, and I, as your new little helper, can give you info on what sort of life forms are hanging about. Like the people outside, the ones with the guns." she finishes with a mildly hushed tone.
You hear a gruff, muffled shout come from outside
"This is your first and final warning. Surrender now, or we will breach." Welp. At least the electrical systems are done, albeit lacking any source of electricity for them to use.
You now have access to the grimoireMiaoko smirked, looking at the engine. "Alright, this should work.." So, now to install those electronics for regulating the flow of the fuel. Calibrate them slightly higher than normal.
Calibrated. There really isn't much else to say for this turn, other than you hearing the same sounds as James.
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Topic: Perplexicon - Down the Foxhole - Raining Mecha (Read 177074 times)