NorikSigma

It's fine fam

Mecha won't die that easily

IC: Hassan

Hassan was a little embarrassed at the yelp of excitement he almost let out despite his slight disappointment at being unable to detect the scorch mark. Just a little. Despite being a veteran and seeing his fair share of battle and death at the hands of these war machines, he couldn't help but look forward to weapons testing. The armaments of the Arsenal Walkers were one ###### of a power trip, for sure.

Hassan flipped open a small plexiglas safety cover and pressed down on the master safety switch, watching as the indicators for the weapon safeties lit up, before climbing out of the cockpit and down the ladder.

"Fun part, huh? Let's get going then," he let himself smile a little as he said that.

IC: Tube - Infirmary

 

Tube seemed to think deeply for a moment. "Well, he had shadows, but otherwise he was..."

 

That was when their patient suddenly started yelling and jerking around. Tube happily obliged with their request, releasing them to fall the short distance onto an Infirmary bed. "Oh! You're awake! Get better soon!"

 

IC: Thurisaz / Gym

 

 

It would probably be a good time to kick off the final round of the tournament, except that Glass was yet to return. Hopefully he wouldn't be too much longer.

IC:

 

"Yeah, I hear it," Gwen said, rubbing her temples with the heels of her hands. "Sounds like a cracked bearing in the knee joint. We're gonna have to take the whole knee apart to replace it. Frick."

 

She sighed.

 

"Anyway. Good ear, Hassan. Think you're getting the hang of this," she let her hands sink back down to her sides as she cracked her face back into the semblance of a smile. "Bring the left leg back and try flexing the right arm. I'm gonna let you try and spot any problems in this all on your own now, got it?"

 

-Void

IC: Hassan

Hassan brought the leg back and locked the controls, moving on to the right arm. Flexing it, he didn't hear or see anything out of the ordinary.

"Nothing seems off," he called out, flexing the left arm too.

"Arms look good," he called out, though he was unsure if his assessment was right.

Man, it would blow if I screwed this up after she let me spot the problems myself.

I don't even remember my characters anymore

IC: Hassan

"Got it! Returning right leg to original position." Hassan moved the leg back, and moved the left forward. He heard a weird whirring sound from the gears below as he moved the leg out.

"You hear that?"

IC:

 

In the time it had taken for Hassan to cozy himself into the Scout's cockpit, Gwen had fixed a toolbelt around her waist and was pushing a step-stool over to the mech's right leg. She climbed up onto it so that she could crouch down on it and still be at eye-level with the knee-joint of the appendage, one hand digging into her belt. Her gaze never shifted from the machine.

 

"I need you to flex the right leg," she called out. "Just a little, but I need to see how it moves."

 

-Void

"Got it!" He called out, booting up the user settings and setting it to "maintenance".

He set the locomotion to manual with a few button presses. An indicator on his left flicked to the right, signalling the change.

Setting his foot down onto the contoured pedals and adjusting his legs into the now smaller leg compartment of the cockpit, lined with touch-sensitive panels, Hassan counted down aloud, so he wouldn't accidentally crush Gwen if she was still in the joint.

"Three... Two... One... Flexing," Hassan pushed his leg down, mimicking a flexing motion.

"Holding position," he said, activating the motion locks.

 

IC: Tube - Infirmary

 

"You know, he was big and scary, with black and red paint. He was a smart and very evil Master, and I liked helping him!" Tube illustrated their description with grand motions with their free hand as they set their charge down on a bed.

IC: Glass

Big and red and evil and-

His Makuta?!

"Did Checkers happen to have shadow powers? And, like, forty plus other powers?"

IC: Glass

Err who?

"What was Master Checkers like?"

IC: Tube - Hallways

 

Tube looks down and concentrates hard to recall it. "Well, I had another master, but he left... and then I found Thurstaz, and he was happy to have me!"

IC: Glass

"I see... Who was this other master, if you remember?"

 

 

OOC: Really sorry about the (very) late reply. College got the better of me.

 

IC:

 

"And you, for today, anyway," Gwen said, strolling over to Hassan and bopping him, lightly, on the shoulder. "Come on, let's get this show on the road. Can you get in the cockpit for me?"

 

-Void

 

IC: Hassan

"On it," he said, still wondering about the repeated shoulder taps. Not that he minded.

He squeezed through the half-open canopy and sat himself in the cockpit, his arms instinctively reaching for the controls. As the Scout frame shared similar control mechanisms with the Warrior, he immediately felt at home.

"What next?" he called out.

IC: Tube - Hallways

 

"Oh, Thurstaz is my Master! He is good and smart! I like to help him!"

IC: Glass

"Your... master? How did he come to be that?"

IC: Glass, helping Tube carry Paladin to the Infirmary

"Hey Tube, how did you end up as Thurisaz's... assistant?" Glass asked as the pair carried the unconscious Paladin to Palma.

IC: Sukiru (Sting) - Arena

 

"What?" Sting peeked out from behind the column to see her plan had actually worked. She honestly didn't expect it to.

 

But she quickly grasped the situation and sauntered over as gracefully as her aching body could allow. She kneeled next to him with a pained wince she turned into a victorious grin. "Maybe you should watch where you're going next time," she sneered. One hand gathered up the hilts of her daggers and neatly tore them from the column before she standing to walk away, stepping over him and the column.

IC: Zekev [Reaver]

Zekev mumbled under his breath as he pushed himself up. He considered attacking her from behind, but dismissed the notion.

She didn't kill me. I guess I shouldn't push my luck too far.

IC: Sukiru (Sting) - Arena

 

 

 

Once behind cover, Sting lay back against the column, weakly gasping for breath. Who was she kidding; he had won already. But she couldn't let him win that easily...

 

Warmth was washing over the column behind her. More laser vision. Mata Nui, how she hated laser vision. No skill involved; just point and shoot, and there was only so much your foe could do.

 

However, laser vision had one very important flaw: it weakened the user's eyes while in use, especially after he had been using it for this long. Odds were he was just staring at the column half-blind. A perfect time to make her move.

 

First, find cover. Keeping the column between her and Reaver, she limped back toward another.

 

Second, the column. With his deadly glare turning the stone to slag on his end, it wouldn't take much to tilt it in his direction. As she moved, Sting sent a burst of telekinesis into the upper portion. Perhaps it was too short to actually land on him, but at least it would serve as a decent distraction for

 

Third, the knives. Pulling out a small handful of four, one tucked between each finger, Sting whirled her arm around toward him, sending them in an arc in his general direction. Two cut around the left side of the falling column, and two to the right. Her pitiful accuracy in exchange for quantity was quickly rectified by a nudge to each with her mind, turning them in a collision course with various areas of his torso.

 

Fourth, congratulation. Some say not to count your Infernikava before they hatch, but between the blindness and the plethora of attacks, Sting felt pretty good about this one. Or maybe that was just Gus pumping her with bloodlust, eager to see his flattened or skewered remains.

 

IC: Zekev - [Reaver]

Zekev heard the column collapsing, and shut his laser vision, a little too late, the column already toppling towards him.

Karz! Zekev dived to the side, but the collapsing column fell on him, a portion of it trapping the Skakdi. Vision still swimming, he barely made out the knives flying toward him, burying themselves into the column.

How convenient. Zekev struggled to drag himself out, but it was too heavy. There was no doubt that his opponent had him at a severe disadvantage, and even if he freed himself, there was no way he could do it in time before she came up to him.

"Alright, alright, you win," Zekev grumbled, shifting his body density to painstakingly ease his way out of the rubble.

 

 

IC: Hassan

 

Hassan looked up at the Scout, towering over the pair despite its relatively small Walker size.

 

"A scout undergoing maintenance?"

IC:

 

"Not just that," she said. "It's Kimberly, bro. You can see where the letters were right here, y'see?"

 

Her fingers tapped against the chipped paint.

 

"Who's Kimberly? Was it the pilot's name? Was it their mother's? Sister's? Girlfriend's? Daughter's? Was it a name they read in a book somewhere that they couldn't forget? The name of a great-great-grandmother on their uncle's side that they heard stories about growing up?" She laid a hand against the cold metal plating. "I don't know. But whatever they named this mech after meant something to them. Because this mech means something to them. It'll be their best friend out in the field, out in the fray. They'll be closer to this Scout than they might be to their actual best friend. Know it more intimately than a lover. It'll be their lifeline, their rock, and their only hope when push comes to shove and they're staring down the barrel of an Ark Union gun."

 

"What you see here, Hassan," Gwen said, "is someone's life. And it's in our hands right now."

 

-Void

Woah.

Hassan was completely enraptured by the genuine care and reverence in Gwen's voice. It wasn't that Hassan had never thought of a mech as something more than a tool or weapon. He certainly cared for Djinn much more than that. He'd brought Hassan out of numerous battles, his guardian genie, and he'd always made sure the old heap got the best care Hassan could find. Heck, that was how Hassan had met Gwen; he was complaining about shoddy maintenance work, after all.

Hassan looked back at the name, the myriad possibile triumphs and defeats throughout the Scout's life unfolding in his mind's eye. All of that could disappear into a thermonuclear pile in a second in war.

Gwen was right. The techies were entrusted with a life, but it wasn't just the pilot's.

"Got to admit, I never realised the gravity of your work Gwen, apart from its obvious essentiality. Real glad to have someone like you taking care of our other, mechanized halves."

IC: Sukiru (Sting) - Arena

 

While Reaver prepared his potentially crippling triple assault, Sting used the opportunity to push back farther into the arena ruins. Out in the open and in close quarters, he had the clear advantage, but here there was cover and obstacles to keep him on his guard.

 

The large and heavy axe hurtling through the air didn't take much effort to avoid, but the laser beams caught her spines as she ducked behind a column to await him.

IC: Zekev - [Reaver]

Taken cover... Must be careful.

Zekev crouched as he ran to pick up his axe, laser vision activated again. He kept his gaze trained on the column. Either it would cut in half and fall on the other Skakdi, or she would be too concerned taking cover from the beams to throw knives from her vantage point.

He scooped up his weapon and jogged forward at a brisk pace, keeping the lasers trained on the column.

IC: Sukiru (Sting) - Arena

 

Boy, this guy sure could talk. Sting was hoping he'd get disqualified before she'd have to put up with him on an actual mission.

 

Anyway, she wasn't just laying helpless while her diversion did its work. Moments before it struck, she was already rolling away from his shield. Her spines burned behind her for a moment, but she didn't let it stop her from sending another knife his way, this time toward his axe arm.

IC: Zekev

Zekev very quickly noticed that Sting was gone from her spot. He spotted Stigng several boo away, half-up and knife in flight already.

The Skakdi flinched and dodged without thought, which would normally be disastrous, but the movement was enough, as he tilted his weapon so the knife bounced off the blade.

Alright, time to switch strategies. Zekev thought, seeing how predictable his movements were.

He leant back... And threw his axe. He'd done this before, and was better than most(as most did not bother with something as impractical as axe-throwing), but he wasn't hoping for a bulls eye hit. He fired off a long, aimed burst at Sting as the axe sailed through the air, before charging her, shield up.

IC: Glass

Hey, we won without Terrortooth!

Glass carried the unconscious Rahk off the platform. He'd won!

yay.

IC: Zekev [Reaver]

Zekev noticed Sting furrowing her brow in concentration a little too late. He yelped in pain as the blade impacted his calf.

"Yow!" he let go of the laser blast involuntarily while still looking at Sukiru, the beams at the very least stinging am stunning her. He turned around and saw the blade lodged in his lower leg. He didn't know if it had cut into his leg or not, but there was no time to find out just yet.

Zekev looked back at Sukiru.

"Didn't want to do this..." Zekev brought the flat of his axe down on her head with all his might intending to knock her out.

IC: Glass

"I... can't... back down," the other Rank mumbled as he struggled to get up.

"Don't push yourself friend. Your armour's all broken, and you're exposed from your armour."

Glass offered a hand to help him up, making sure to keep his legs away from Paladin's, just in case Paladin decided to repay the favour.

"Yield?"

IC: Zekev - [Reaver]

Zekev felt his weapon inexplicably nudged away for the briefest of seconds, but it didn't matter. He fell upon his foe with all his weight, shield smashing into his opponent, her knife guard giving away. He braced, and landed hard and ungracefully. Nonetheless, he counted himself lucky that he did not fall flat on his face and leave himself completely open.

Zekev got up and kicked the knives away, before standing beside the fallen Skakdi's head, keeping out of reach of her limbs and positioning his axe over her neck. His eyes glowed softly with built-up laser energy.

"I would say something witty, but I gotta admit, I'm pretty winded from the obstacle course and the fight. Concede?"

IC: Glass

Come on, there's no way he can aim properly with all that blood.

All that what?

Glass backpedalled, staff out front, moving back, letting the blinded Rahk uppercut the air unwieldily with his heavy shield, before moving in and swiping his staff low, hoping to knock the other Rahk off his feet and end the fight.

IC: Zekev [Reaver]

The lasers reflected off the shiny surface of the daggers, but he could already see them melting under the intense heat.

Good enough, Zekev thought, hoping the melting had done enough to take the edge off the blades

At least they'll be weaker, or ruined their aero... aerodana... aero-something. She can't throw 'em reliably is what I'm saying!

Zekev leaped the last two bio and swung his axe down as he descended on the other Skakdi, a warcry from his youth on his lips.

IC: Glass Vs Paladin

Glass watched as vital circulatory solvent splashed out from the faceplate, too distracted to see the blade.

"Yikes!"

Watch it!

Glass tried to dodge, but the blade got lodged within the plates of his suit's abdomen armour.

What the-

Twist it away from him!

Glass twisted his body, using the armour's grip on the sword to pull Paladin off-balance, downwards and towards Glass. At the same time, Glass drew back and let fly another punch at the rapidly approaching head.