Exo-Force RPG

[sunflower]

IC: D-8015

 

It took only moments for the Thunder Fury's sensors to analyze the incoming liquid, a spray of super-cooled nitrogen, and even less time for D-8015 to go through possible responses to such an unorthodox attack. Different variables of the situation were constantly being taken into account and looked over with an unnatural speed, then again though, the silver-armored Devastator wasn't at all natural.

 

With a mechanical calm, D-8015 raised his Thunder Fury's saw arm to incept the stream of freezing liquid. It had a 87% chance of rendering the titanium power saw inoperable for the time being, though that was preferable to the attack hitting something else of more importance. The nitrogen coated the weapon, covering it with a thick layer of ice.

 

However, before D-8015 could respond to the attack, he found himself once again under fire, this time from the Supernova. His titanic Thunder Fury was forced back from the missile barrage, it's damaged leg unable to hold up against the assault, while it's worn tenatium dented from the explosions. D-8015 himself struggled to process the rapidly changing combat situation at a speed to keep up with it, his eyes glowing brightly with the flurry of activity racing through it electrical mind.

 

As the smoke cleared, he found himself facing only one human mech, the Supernova nowhere to be seen. However, it didn't remain a mystery for long, as the revving of a power weapon sounded behind his Thunder Fury. D-8015 tried to maneuver his gigantic battle machine around to face the human, though mech was far too slow, and too badly damaged.

 

Jessica's power saw came down on the Thunder Fury's arm, as it happened, the one coated with ice. With a crack, the frozen armor shattered like glass, leaving only the bear mechanisms behind. It wasn't the end of the human's assault, as it seemed, as a black-armored Stealth Hunter suddenly materialized just next to the Supernova. In a rush of movement, the next thing D-8015 processed was the fact that his mech's unarmored arm had been ripped apart by two electrified blades, and the only thing remaining were a collection of sparking wires.

 

Now was the time for a tactical retrograde movement/regrouping as most robots know it as. Not running away, not at all. The attack group's purpose had been served, and anything else would simply waste more assets than was necessary. And so, D-8015 gave the order over the comm, before directing his Thunder Fury back towards the Southern side of the mountain at an admittedly rushed speed.

[Wyrd Bid Ful Araed]

OOC: Wait, if Cyrista traced the blast to the power cable...doesn't that mean it hit the power cable

 

IC: With the Silent Strike on the upper sections, Damage was able to regain control of the Banshee's movements, returning it to a stable flight path. That still left the reclaimer though. He was unwilling to open fire on it again, as there was a high chance the blasts would hit his own frontal turbines. Though the resulting fission explosion would take out the Silent Strike, it would take out him as well, and that was an unacceptable loss.

So instead Damage flipped the Sonic Phantom around so it was upside down, counting on the sudden change in orientation to keep the human pilot off balance and stop him firing. Then he flew right at Tenchi Bridge. Oh not so low that the Banshee would crash into it, the Phantom would just clear the rim of the great bridge. The Silent Strike crouched on top (or underneath right now) of it would not be so lucky. If it managed to avoid being slammed off altogether by the impact against the side of the bridge, it would be dragged and scraped against the solid surface of the walkway, tearing it to shreds through sheer friction as the Banshee sped along. Those stabiliser wings sprouting from the back of its shoulders were especially vulnerable, poking up and unable to be folded away

[avmatoran]

OOC:He traced the path of the blast from the position of the guns.IC:Cyrista was holding on for dear life, hands holding tightly and the feet wrapped around the exterior of the Sonic Phantom. It was quite a tight hold, so when the Phantom flipped over, he wasn't in too much trouble. However, when he glanced to the side, he saw Tenchi Bridge fast approaching, at a position where he would take major damage. However, with so tight a holds, he could activate his leg thrusters which would turn the Phantom over, putting it in the spot the Reclaimer was in previously. He did so.

[They]

IC: Sakajima Nori, Medical Ward of Sentai Fortress

 

 

I dreamed a dream. Funny, that with all the battle and desperation of my fellow pilots I could fall asleep amidst their screams. My eyes were open, then they closed, and suddenly the world had changed around me. The ridges of tatami pressed into the soft skin of my feet, a warm breeze stepping through the small backyard garden, indecisive: would it enter the room or not? Thick manga books were strewn about me, larger piles substituting for small desks where drawings of mecha and their components were hastily scrawled on graph paper. I wanted my own mech. Something new.

 

Kazebushi lingered outside, her burned corpse reminding me of my purpose. I looked at her ruined frame, the wires sparking with what little power they had left. She was the chicken with its head removed expending its last futile nerve impulses in disorganized spasm. I looked back down at the machines battling within the pages of my books. Piloted by brave teens and adults, the genre had been inspiration for today's technology. What only a century ago was SF pop culture had become my living, breathing world. The sheer weight of early battle machines had brought them crashing to the ground with each step, unstable and prone to malfunction. Carbon fibers were better and lighter, yet didn't provide the strength to defend against energy based weapons. I glanced up at the movie playing on the television screen, pulled by the sound of crunching steel. Pausing, I stared at the mech beating the snot out of a kaiju with a designer's eye. It was far too large, but its humanistic qualities carried the sense of personality I wanted. No, craved. This had to be a personal journey. I reached my hand out to push play, then realized the answer as I fell onto the floor of the hospital with a groan, what remained of my left arm floundering like a drunken flipper to break my fall.

 

Obviously, it failed.

 

"Ugh, ow," I slurred, feeling drugged from the blow to my head. With my right hand I crawled back onto the bed, but gave up on trying to turn the right way or rearrange the covers. The nurse or someone would be along soon anyway to figure out the cause of my little ruckus, so I decided to leave the details of laying in bed correctly up to them while I plotted my pitch to the engineering department.

Edited July 24, 2013 by Kughii

[Wyrd Bid Ful Araed]

IC: The Silent Strike had boosters on its feet. The Sonic Phantom had several enormous turbines each with its own nuclear-drive engine. Needless to say the Banshee-01 sort of had the edge over the Reclaimer in terms of horsepower. The Banshee remained both upside down and on its near-collision course with Tenchi Bridge. And now Cyrista had no time left to dodge it

[avmatoran]

IC:With no other option, Cyrista dropped off, quickly stabilizing in the air. However, the Devastator had made a mistake in his efforts to get rid of him: By flying over the bridge, he presented his unshielded rear to Cyrista. He smirked, then activated his machine guns, firing at the rear turbines of the Sonic Phantom.

[They]

Ooc : WHAT?! Come on man, let you mech get dragged across the bridge. It makes logical sense, and just will be such a cool thing for character development. Trashed mechs make good stories, even if they cost a lot to repair. I highly recommend riding out that bucking sonic phantom.

Edited July 24, 2013 by Kughii

[avmatoran]

OOC:No, it makes much more logical sense for him to avoid crashing. He's mostly mechanical because of a big crash, so he tries to avoid it whenever possible. Plus, I fail to see where I can go storywise with a trashed mech.

[They]

OOC: Okay, never mind. Just a suggestion. As for a trashed mech... Just wait a little longer and you'll see.

[avmatoran]

OOC:Okay, forget my previous post. Cyrista escaping injury is non-canon.

 

IC:

Cyrista looked to the side and winced, seeing the bridge grow larger and larger on the right. He disconnected from the mech's systems, it would be painful enough without having the Reclaimer's pain as well. Suddenly, it hit. With a screech of stressed metal, the wings of the Reclaimer tore off, tearing holes in the bridge as well. Cyrista let go, but it was too late. His mech was trapped between the Phantom and the bridge. His left arm twisted and broke, shooting off sparks.

 

Finally, the Phantom reached the end of the bridge, and with nothing beneath it, the Reclaimer fell. It hit a bridge about a hundred and fifty feet down, way out of sight of any observers from the battle. Cyrista sighed, then began unclipping his straps, intending to climb out of the Reclaimer and get another mech to drag it back to base for some major repairs.

 

However, at that moment, a patrol of Sentries came clomping by, back on their way to their side of the mountain. Cyrista hid in the wreckage, the dumb Iron Drones not paying any mind to it. His eyes flicked to his captured Devastator drone, but its eyes were dark, it had been knocked out in the conflict. When the Sentries were past, Cyrista pulled his emergency laser pistol from his cokckpit and shot the last Iron Drone. The others never even noticed, and kept right on walking. The Sentry simply stopped, devoid of input. Cyrista pulled his Devastator to the leg and strapped it on, then climbed into the cockpit, taking his emergency kit from the Reclaimer. He bowed his head in respect for his dead machine, than started leaping from bridge to bridge downward until he reached B-1012, a bridge nobody payed any attention to. He unstrapped the Devastator, and, using his toolkit and survival kit, began physically and electronically hacking the robot so it would be under his mental control. From there, he would infiltrate the robot side, personally and using the Devastator, finding info, rescuing captives, hopefully making the other pilots respect him and not strongly dislike him.

 

OOC:I imagine the earlier the letter is, the lower the bridge is on the mountain.

 

Little does Cyrista know, the amount of time he is about to spend in the robot side makes others suspect him and strongly dislike him even more!

 

If I can't escape it, it'll hurt. A lot.

 

EDIT: Yay! 1,000th post!

Edited July 24, 2013 by avmatoran

[25K Now!]

OOC: Yep, I mean it's not like heroically going into enemy territory to rescue people and sabotage robot activities is worthy of praise. I mean, we're totally going to consider you a traitor for being an upstanding member of the Exo-Force; after all, why would we do something logical like congratulating you?

 

IC: Garry (G-MACHINE) ~ Tenchi Bridge

 

Garry stabbed his new sawblade into a Sentry.

[avmatoran]

OOC:Except the only prisoner I'll end up finding....... Never mind, don't wanna spoil it all. Point is, when it's all said and done, it won't look like I've done anything. Plus, with something I'm gonna be pulling out with Eleza soon, it'll look like Cyrista is telling Meca One some of our plans. It'll all come together. Hopefully. Don't worry!

[sunflower]

IC: Robot Force

 

The two Thunder Furies currently standing on the bridge that the Betelgeuse had slammed it's power-up fist into staggered slightly as the temporary walkway shuddered under their armored feet. Mechs as large as the Thunder Fury, as a rule, generally weren't all that agile on their feet. And so, it didn't come as all that much of a surprise that one of them staggered backwards quite a ways, though managed to keep itself on the bridge, which was still holding despite the blow. The second mech was more lucky, and the silver Devastator pilot raised his mech's Ion Cannon, before firing off shots form the massive weapon towards the Supernova.

[25K Now!]

IC: Holly Yuan (BETELGEUSE) ~ Tenchi Bridge

 

Holly pulled her mech below the shots, rolling back as the shots veered past her head. She needed to take the Furies down quickly if she wanted to prevent them from flanking the human forces and completely annihilating her and her colleagues. She shouldn't have a problem though, if she played her cards right.

 

Faster than what a normal human would possibly be capable of, Holly twisted the Betelgeuse into a crouching position, firing of rapid shots from her laser cannon. She was not attempting to destroy them yet, although doing so would be nice, but she was charging up her other arm, readying it for a killing blow.

[Makuta of Time]

OOC: Can some one fill me in on what happened recently?

[BULiK]

IC:

Ahead of me were two thunder furies, back-to-back on this tiny bridge, which one of my teammates was apparently bashing, by the way. I calmly talked to myself in the cockpit.

 

"Time to die you #### toasters,"

 

I was busy withdrawing my blade from my third kill, when the thunder fury enleashed bursts of energy from it's massive ion cannon. I duck under the blasts, using my mech's superior agility to outmaneuver the streams of hot energy. The tank of a mech swung it's saw blade in a wide diagonal arc, aiming to cleave me in two. Raising my electro-blade, I grinned as the steel clashed against steel in a classic battle of brute strength. A battle my limber stealth hunter couldn't handle for long. And the toasters knew that. Both of us were already moving our long range weapons into position at point-blank range. I got there first. A blast from my laser rifle tore through the power cable enabling the ion cannon, disengaging it by shutting off it's critical power supply.

[Krayzikk]

IC:"Have you checked every residence?""Affirmative." The silver Devastator replied, gesturing to the village as it continued. "East sector was cleared by Devastator units 3379 and 9759. West by 6345 and north and south were cleared by yourself and X-71.""Good." Panzer regarded the village and the transports beside him with interest, making a swift estimation of the number of captives they had taken, Primarily teenagers or young adults, a handful of older humans were mixed in. Those individuals possessed skill sets that would be useful, be they engineering or medicine. A glance alone told him which would be good candidates for pilots, and which would require work. Those sitting resolute and defiant were not easily intimidated. Those looking around and getting a careful analysis of the robots' forces were more clever than the others, more pragmatic. Those cowering in their seats would be harder to deal with. Most would be successfully conditioned, but the rest... Well. The implants would need test subjects.There seemed to be roughly fifty in all. A good start to their plan.

 

"Good. Get in the Rammers, and be ready to depart. I will finish the demolition of the village, and then we will continue." Panzer said over the comms, as his clawed digits turned to the communications array.A few taps, and he had sent a coded signal pulse to the main forces on the bridge. Even if intercepted, it would be meaningless to the humans. There was no message within it, simply a signal.But the robots knew what it meant. Mission accomplished, diversion complete. Time to fall back.The Devastator nodded his confirmation, turning to the nearby Iron Drones and relaying the orders as Panzer-009 climbed into the cockpit of the Vernichten. The systems came to life within seconds, a flick of a switch opening the panels that concealed the machine's supply of micro-missiles. Carefully, the mech began to enter the exact strike coordinates of his attack. Scattered around the village were points of explosive materials, or otherwise flammable items. The village's supply of gasoline had been strategically poured to ensure that the village would catch fire just right. With a press of the button, missiles streaked out, impacting with their targets and vanishing in a burst of flame and shrapnel. Many buildings were leveled from the attack alone, but it was what came afterwards that would eliminate the majority of the evidence; the carefully placed materials ignited, carrying the flames to every corner of the village. Most of it was alight within a minute, and Vernichten knew that the rest would soon follow. A few hours from now, the entire settlement would be a charred ruin."Return across the bridge. Watch for enemy machines. I don't want this operation fouled in its final stages."

Edited July 25, 2013 by The Snark Knight

[BULiK]

IC:

 

"Oh," I said, shifting my legs and looking to the side of the hall nervously.

 

Thump!

 

I suddenly hear a resounding crash coming from behind the door to Sakajima's room, probably the aftermath of something - or someone, for that matter - falling over, I assume. I quickly opened the door to find Sakajima sprawled across the bed. The room has that wierd hospital smell of disinfectant, you know? Like when someone sprays air freshener to cover up a nasty smell.

 

"What happened?" I asked the former pilot.

[JiMing]

IC:Josh turned to see the D-8015 rush across to the robot side of the bridge, and scowled. "I'm not going to let that pile of scrap metal escape." he muttered under his breath, firing off his charged laser shot.

[avmatoran]

IC:As the Rammers began driving across the bridge, Eleza hopped in her Vulture, following them across the bridge.

 

OOC:Nothing fancy, just keeping up with the group.

[Visaru]

IC: X-71

Human after human was shoved into the trailers. Some took it nobly, marching evenly, with glares that promised later retribution. Others were less together, kicking, screaming, and crying out for their families.

It did not matter. They were all going to be the same soon enough.

Panzer gave the signal, and I strode towards my rammer as the trailers were locked and the captive humans disappeared from sight. An unearthly wail emanated from one of them. I would have to get used to that sound; we would be making many more humans scream.

The rammer's engine restarted with an ugly growl and I turned it slowly to face the bridge we had just come across, the other two vehicles mirroring my movement. As we did so, Panzer-009's fire vulture shot into the sky and shot a dozen missiles at the explosives we had placed around the already burning town.

Arcs of fire touched each point, and then the entire village blossomed into a wave of fire and sound. Music to my ears. As the pieces of rubble and shrapnel landed around us like some sort of apocalyptic rain, the three R-1 Rammers shot forwards flying away from the fire and ruins.

There were no screams coming from the village. Those humans we did not take had been killed cleanly. Fire was too inefficient. Now the only survivors were trapped within the metal trailers behind the rammers, being rapidly pulled towards our side of the mountain.

So close. So close to victory.

[They]

OOC: Nothing fancy? Really now, I get when writer's block strikes, but if not, have some character development with that fabulous lady.

 

IC: Sakajima Nori

 

"A good idea," I grumbled, rubbing my forehead. "I was sleeping, then had this brilliant thought... Aaaand I woke up eating a mouthful of rinoreum. You gonna help me get back in bed the right way?" I looked at Max in his pilot's outfit, feeling significantly smaller than I did with Zyki. He may have been younger by a year, but there was at least a good head or two between him and me. Hey, maybe he has to duck through doors; I thought oddly.

[avmatoran]

OOC:I will do some interesting stuff, but for now I'm just keeping up.

[BULiK]

IC:

 

"Uh, sure," I replied as I cautiously corrected Sakajima's position.

 

"I... heard a large noise, what was that about?" I asked.

[Krayzikk]

IC:As the Rammers approached, the gates on the robots' side of the mountain opened with the quiet whine of motors. The Rammers went through first, slipping into their home territory one more, behind the safety of the walls. The Sentries went next, walking slowly through while the Vernichten hovered in the air, watching for any approaching foes. Seeing none by the time the Sentries crossed over, he descended to bridge-level and passed through the gate.Behind him, the metal passage clanged shut, sealing their captives' fate.

[The Lonesome Wanderer]

IC: Gunzer-001

I led the Rezansanda after the trailers, on the alert for enemy units.

[BULiK]

IC:

 

With it's power cord split in two by a well-placed shot from my laser rifle, the toaster's ion cannon was now useless. Easy prey for my agile Stealth Hunter. But there was one problem; The saw-blade was still trying to shear through my sword. As one might expect, this was irritating. I withdrew my blade and retreated slightly, it on my heels the whole time. But I had a plan. Raising my mech's laser rifle, as my stare seemed to bore holes into the enemy scum's eyes, I pulled the trigger. A powerful shot of laser ripped through the ammunition magazine just below the Ion cannon's barrel. Boom. Both mechs were bathed in a blinding light as the gas-filled canisters erupted in a glorious fireball. When the smoke cleared, the devastator pilot scanned the area around him, confused. I was gone, from what he could see. In reality, however, I had flipped the switch on my HUD, engaging stealth mode. I was no almost completely undetectable, and thus had a major advantage. Keeping an eye on my steadily decreasing power levels, I flew behind the enemy mech, plunging my sword deep into it's weaker back armor. The power core was ruptured and the mechancal pilot cleaved in two. The warrior mech's corpse's knees buckled and it fell on the ground witha large crash of metal on metal.

 

"Scratch one more thunder fury," I said over the communications channel, already charging towards the final thunder fury on this bridge.

 

And then... well, there wasn't a bridge anymore. Just as I was closing within melee range of the next enemy (which was already being peppered with laser fire from an ally) the bridge suddered with an audible groan, and a third of it split clean off. Apparently, my allies had been trying to destroy the bridge. Might have been nice if they would've ya know... told me about it first

 

"#### robot engineering!" I cursed to myself as the thunder fury and I began a freefall.

 

[Valendale]

IC:As the Rammers approached, the gates on the robots' side of the mountain opened with the quiet whine of motors. The Rammers went through first, slipping into their home territory one more, behind the safety of the walls. The Sentries went next, walking slowly through while the Vernichten hovered in the air, watching for any approaching foes. Seeing none by the time the Sentries crossed over, he descended to bridge-level and passed through the gate.Behind him, the metal passage clanged shut, sealing their captives' fate.

 

OOC: I was kinda down there...

[Krayzikk]

OOC: You made a post wherein you started to descend down to that level, a level that frankly, you shouldn't have been able to notice anyway. There was never any followup post wherein your character investigated or noticed anything, and since you hadn't posted for a significant amount of time, I wasn't going to hold up the entire group on the off chance that tiu returned to respond when you hadn't done anything in the first place.In other words, I know, but you were inactive.

[Valendale]

OOC: Understandable. I check this everyday even if I don't post though. Just go ahead.

 

IC: Roy White

 

It appeared that he was already too late. He sent out a radio to any who might be listening. "I'm in the village off bridge J-16...and we got...uh...Condition" He stomped out a few fires with his mech before getting out to look for anything that might be left.

[Wyrd Bid Ful Araed]

IC: With the Silent Strike dashed to ruins against the very bridge it had been built to defend, Damage took to higher altitudes again. The main force on Tenchi was pulling back, so he assumed that whatever purpose Panzer and X-71 had wanted it for had been fulfilled. There was no more purpose to battle here. The Banshee-01 turned and started zooming back to the robot side of the mountain

 

 

OOC: Since Snark has said he's going to edit his last Alisatair post in a compromise I can get round to that last lonely Thunder Fury

 

NPC: As the drill drove through layers of armour and sparking electronics, the Devastator inside did not know he had a whole ten seconds to do something, but was at least sure he did not have long. So before the boring tip of the Enforcer's weapon pushed through its cockpit the robot turned its Ion Cannon on the Supernova and opened fire at point-blank range. It swiftly locked its joints up, ensuring that the cannon would continue firing even when the pilot was destroyed

 

OOC: You wanted me to post before you edited so I don't know if that ten seconds thing you mentioned still stands. Drop me a PM if you change it

[sunflower]

GM IC: Takeshi

 

Robot mechs died in such a gloriously explosive fashion. It was really quite nice sight, a lot of reds and oranges and blues from the power cores imploding under heavy fire. It really was a shame that the pilot of the giant red-armored mech didn't have time to watch the show, seeing as he was quite busy turning what forces of Robots remained on the bridge into more of the colorful blooms of energy.

 

With a yell over the comm, Takeshi slammed the Grand Titan's pincer right into a Sentry, the smaller mech's armor caving in completely from the blow as it stumbled back. Behind the Grand Titan, another one of the brown-armored mechs sat motionless on the bridge, it's smoking body looking more like a mechanical piece of swiss cheese rather than a fighting mech from the amount of laser-melted holes in it's armor.

 

Without wasting a second, Takeshi maneuvered the Grand Titan forward after the damaged robot battle machine, the pincer locking onto the Sentry's lightly armored "waist" like a vice. However, he didn't activate the weapon's EMP, lest he drain all his power partway through the battle. He did, though, drag the smaller mech back, before using the motion to completely throw the Sentry off the edge of the bridge. A whirr of gears and the unmistakable whine of capacitors charging up was the only warning the two Thunder Furies standing before him got before his heavy gatling laser cannon opened up, even as he was charging towards them.

 

Green beams of energy tore through the air, punching dents in the two robot battle machine's armor even as they themselves returned fire with their own massive cannons. Takeshi deflected two of the yellow ionized blasts on the flat of his pincer, the attack doing little but scratching the durable weapon. A blast caught the Grand Titan on the shoulder, though it barely slowed the massive mech's forward momentum. A second later, and he was right next to them.

 

Like some giant mechanical football player, Takeshi shoulder charged one of the Thunder Furies, nearly knocking the giant robot mech off it's feet, before he whirled the Grand Titan around to catch a swing from the second Fury's power saw on his own melee weapon. Shoving the saw weapon back and away from the Fury's body, Takeshi fired off a blast from all six of his gatling laser cannon's barrels at point-blank range. Their combined strength pierced right through the heavy armor just to the left of the cockpit, before blasting out the other side and into open air with a shower of shrapnel and sparks. The explosion blew the Thunder Fury's saw arm completely off, and staggered the mech.

 

A grin across his face, Takeshi raised his mech's foot, planting it squarely on the Fury's chest, before shoving it off the ledge that it was located quite closely to. Any time before, and he would have immediately rushed to finish off the last Fury, but now, he took the time to admire his work and watch the robot bounce off the rocks below.

 

OOC: Will continue soon.

[25K Now!]

OOC: Loving your auto-hitting powers Bulik. GM priveleges, I suppose. It's not like it completely goes against Gravy's belief that robots aren't made of butter.

[sunflower]

OOC: Loving your auto-hitting powers Bulik. GM priveleges, I suppose. It's not like it completely goes against Gravy's belief that robots aren't made of butter.

 

Hm, I wanted to address this once everything had calmed down and the battle was over, but I suppose now's a good a time as ever. At the moment, there's been what seems to be a complete disregard for the unwritten rule about NPCs not being made of putty, and autohitting and all that. Basically, we're letting things like this through because it allows us to get rid of a fair number of NPCs that have been brought into play without Staff permission. Allowing you guys to tear through them, and breaking out the canon characters, is our way of doing so in a manner that's a fair bit more interesting than just retconning them out of existence.

 

That being said, you can directly control forces to fight with you, though you have to get staff approval before doing so. You can't just magically conjure up a few dozen Uplinks that are suddenly under your command. Now, this only applies for NPCs that are fighting with you, if you want to write up a robot patrol for your character to avoid into existence, go right ahead.

 

After this, NPCs should be returning to their original (non-buttery) state.

[avmatoran]

OOC:Alright, this modifies my earlier post. Instead of simply shooting and taking out the final Iron Drone, this'll happen:

 

FYI, this takes place in a cloud.

 

IC:

A patrol of Sentries came up to the mech and began poking through it. Luckily, Cyrista's captured Devastator was knocked out from the conflict and was hidden underneath the majority of the wreckage. Cyrista quickly entered stealth mode, turning invisible and silent, unable to be seen by anything but the most advanced sensors humanity and robotkind could point at him.

 

"Stay here," the lead Iron Drone commanded two of the five total. "We will go procure assistance in searching and dealing with the wreckage." The three marched off into the cloudbank, intending to return with help. Hmmm.... How should I get rid of one of the Sentries so I can take the other? Hey, I know!

 

Still in stealth mode, he went some distance towards the robot side and then turned towards the robots. Modulating how his voicebox sounded, he said in a robot voice, "ID-4392, I require assistance. Come here." Surprisingly, a robot responded and began walking back towards the robot side. Huh. That was easy. Now, how to kill the other Drone without destroying his Sentry.....

[Wyrd Bid Ful Araed]

IC: After getting the Banshee-01 into a repairs hangar to have the various injuries it had sustained over the battle patched up, Damage withdrew to a monitoring station to go over the statistics of the fight and review performance and tactics.

The human responses were interesting. Their thinking seemed confined to a purely lateral plane, to the extent that they were thrown into not inconsiderable disarray when they found themselves outflanked and surrounded. It was probably the physical nature of the bridges imposing upon their thoughts. Or perhaps they were too used to robot tactics that sought to throw irresistible force around that they had become complacent being an immovable object. Interesting quandaries. Must be looked into further.

Despite their initial distress though, the humans had rallied. Reinforcements had arrived from their fortress, and the troops present on the bridge had rallied around each other to prevent themselves being overwhelmed. It was that unity that was the humans greatest strength, more than their ingenuity, more than their superior skills at piloting battle machines. Their compassion for each other. Their empathy. Give them a friend in need or a cause to believe in and something in those organic minds just clicked and the threat they represented became tenfold. Like the berserkers of old, but clad in mecha. It was a courage that could not be overcome by strength of arms, a daring that could not be outwitted by superior tactics...

The solution, therefore, was to use that empathy against them.

Turning your enemy's strength into your strength was a basic tenet of many of the human martial arts disciplines, and Damage saw no reason it could not hold true if so many other laws of combat likewise did so. The question was how...

He cycled through the processing power of a few nearby Iron Drones, dredging up information of manoeuvres, human history, past battles, known pilots and their preferred ways of doing things, recent operations against the humans...

It was when cross referencing the expedition by Panzer and X-71 with received communications that a plan formulated itself in his electronic mind.

 

There had been a newcomer arriving at the recent battle, the pilot "Azure Thunder" and his mech the "Zephyr". He'd been helpfully broadcasting on all channels, including ones the robots had received. Since his actions in the battle revealed he had joined the local human population, they now knew there were pockets of civilisation outside the mountain that might be seeking help. Pockets that they might be actively listening out for, ready to respond to, now they knew they were out there. They would also be far more watchful of the local villages lower down the mountain. After the destruction wreaked by Panzer and X-71 they'd be paranoid about similar incursions and all too willing to send out troops to defend their own families.

So if Damage were to set up a few communication buoys that relayed calls for help, either from forlorn and forgotten fellow humans or distress calls from villages under siege, then he could lure human forces away from the bulk of their army. They'd send reinforcements to attacks that were non-existant or SOS calls that turned out to be ambushes. They'd waste their time, tire their pilots, stretch themselves thin...The necessity of having a few genuine raids to maintain the pretence also meant the potential of having mechs lost or put out of commission for extended periods of time

 

And what possible counters were there? Damage did not want his plan undone in a matter of days because of a stratagem he overlooked. There was the possibility that they upped the garrison in each village, but this was impractical. The organic restrictions of humans meant their number of pilots were limited until more could be bred and trained. To boost their numbers in one place meant numbers had to decrease elsewhere. If they sought to reinforce all their villages they would be spread too thin as to resist attack anywhere. They'd be overrun everywhere. That was not a viable option.

 

Perhaps then they would pick up that these signals were a lure and stop responding to them? This was a more present threat. An update in security codes and call signs would reveal any beacons Damage set up as outdated and false, so he'd need to keep that updated with an occasional village raid to gain fresh prisoners. Fortunately those were planned to keep the facade going anyway, so no recalculations needed to be made.

Assuming then that the false beacons could be kept realistic, and the humans could not differentiate between them and real signals, could they then choose to simply ignore them? No, that would be unacceptable from their point of view. That same empathy that gave them strength meant they couldn't leave whoever was begging for help to their fate. And even if they did harden their hearts and stop responding to calls for help...well then, that would leave the villages more unprotected than ever. They'd be on their own, pleading for help that would never come. And if they were to be wiped out, one by one, then Sentai Fortress would lose its source of food, materials, new pilots...The fortress was strong now but would quickly crumble if its support structure was knocked out from under it. There were benefits other than the practical as well. Dissent in the ranks as pilots disobeyed their orders and went to help their families. They'd be fractured by conflict, theformer strength that was their empathy now poisoned and bitter.

 

No, the humans could not afford to let that happen. Their best option was to do exactly what Damage wanted them to do and run themselves ragged trying to investigate every call for help, to tire themselves trying to save everyone. And since heartstrings were generally the best to tug if you wanted to pull off that kind of puppeteering, Damage would need to have a word with Panzer and X-71. He needed to borrow a few of those captured humans...

[They]

IC:

 

"Uh, sure," I replied as I cautiously corrected Sakajima's position.

 

"I... heard a large noise, what was that about?" I asked.

 

"IC: Sakajima Nori

 

"Oh, that was just the sound of genius hitting the floor," I said with a sly smirk. "It's gonna take some pull with the staff, but I think I can get the surgeons to hold up a little longer. I had an idea." With those words I let myself refrain from speaking, leaving Max in a friendly purgatory of silence. Eventually he'd either ring my neck for the answer or give a huff and wait impatiently until my scheme was revealed.

[sunflower]

GM IC: Takeshi

 

A blurr of red and the clank of metallic footsteps, and Takeshi piloted the Grand Titan back into the fray. The second Thunder Fury had since recovered from the unorthodox shoulder-charge by the massive red battle machine, and was already charging up it's main cannon to attack. Though it never got the chance to fire. Takeshi jabbed forward with his mech's arm, before catching the robot battle machine's cannon in the grip of his pincer. The metal crumpled under the crushing force of the dual-bladed weapon, which resulted in a rather unexpected outcome. With nowhere to go, the Ion Cannon's charged up power exploded outward from ruined weapon, the blast shoving both of the titanic mechs away from each other.

 

A second explosion sounded from the robot's battle machine, though this time it was from a shoulder-rocket fired from the Grand Titan, rather than an failing power buildup.

 

When the smoke cleared, all that was left of the robot force on the bridge was a pile of blackened, smoking metal shells, with the pilots that survived rushing to make it back to their retreating fellows.

[Krayzikk]

IC:The Fury's last ditch maneuver would prove effective, though perhaps not as much as it had hoped.The blast from its Ion Cannon slammed into the already damaged Supernova's armor, tearing through the first few layers of metal as if it was nothing, finally stopped by the thin sheets of remaining metal. Without hesitation, the Enforcer's left hand slammed into the Fury's chest, shoving it off balance, and remaining still as it tumbled to the ground. Its weapon continued to fire, but that was of no importance. It couldn't harm anyone now.In the cockpit, Alistair raised his hand to his lip, and looked at it after a moment. A dark smear of red coated his fingers, and he could feel it trickling down his head. That last blow had been close, the force alone had slammed his head against the rear of his cockpit. But that was nothing compared to the state the Enforcer was in. The machine had been put through the wringer, and it showed. Sparks flew from its right arm, the inner mechanics exposed to open air. The drill was battered and beaten, clearly showing the wear that it had been put through that day. The paint was entirely stripped from the machine's torso and legs, and the torso's armor was almost breached. The cockpit's protective window was scratched and scorched, the armor surrounding it nothing but a twisted mass of metal and circuitry. The cannons that had been mounted on the chest were a mass of molten metal, twisted and bent, portions almost glowing with heat. Inoperable. Alistair ignored the host of warning messages that flooded his console, focusing only on what he knew; The robots weren't gone yet, his machine was still functional, and that was all that mattered. The Supernova screamed its protests as he forced it to move yet again, metal grinding against metal, fragments of debris showering down as it moved."I'm sorry, old girl," The pilot said through clenched teeth after a moment, shutting out the pain in his head. Probably a concussion. "But we're not done yet. Not by a long shot."After a moment's scan, he could see that the foes were either in full retreat, or vanquished. But this victory hadn't come cheaply. One pilot severely injured, his machine destroyed. Another pilot missing, and all of their machines damaged. Some heavily.**************************************After a moment, the voice came on over the comms again."Seems like you lot aren't exactly quiet up here."

Edited July 31, 2013 by The Snark Knight

[Void Emissary]

IC: Gwen

 

Amidst the rubble of our pyrrhic victory, a slow march of grey and crimson caught my attention. Huddled behind an upturned piece of the Tenchi, my fists clenched at the idea of a (inserting wild extrapolation here) blood-stained Devastator coming to finish me off. No way I was gonna die like, left behind on the battlefield, without a mech to rely on -- no way in ####. In mishandled defiance, I readied my muscles for a pounce at my attacker. My mind, already burnt-out from my last battle and still fizzling out from fear and paranoia, couldn't come up with a plan more complicated than hit it really hard before it hits you -- probably fortunate, 'cause I don't think my body was up to doing anything beyond that either.

 

But... wait. Devastators aren't usually twenty feet tall, are they? Or stand upright without a head? Or look like Supernovas?

 

...

 

Wow, that was embarrassing.

 

No one finds out about this, 'kay.

 

I switched my comlink onto an open channel, too tired to worry if a robot might be listening in. Ignoring the few crackles of static which flare up amidst everything, I sagged in relief when I realized it communications were still up.

 

"Hey there, boys and girls; anyone wanna pick up some hitchhikers?"

 

-Void