As an aside I'm going to list and count the votes for each character individually rather than packaged together. Future votes will also of course, make full usage of SV's inbuilt vote tally and counting systems. So I'm hopeful that future votes will go quite smoothly once we get rolling. In the future, should I settle into a good rhythm I might also increase update rates if people would be fine with that. Though for the moment I'll try to get an update out about once every 72-96 hours. And of course, feel free to ask me questions as always, I love getting to talk about my weird nonsense.
(This will be a bit of an atypically long post. In the future, don't expect this much to happen in a single post except when plots get started or shifted in huge ways. This post also had like, three different drafts that I think I've edited out the remnants of.)
Samus
[X]: Bolt past them and head towards the two kids, they need saving
Arne
[X]: Make it clear that you'll be asking the questions here: 5 votes
Samus
You can't delay here for too long. Baseline humans in temperatures like this would freeze to death in very little time at all. While you might have some trepidations about leaving Arne on his own to handle the lowtechs, you need someone to stick behind and run interference while you worked.
"Who left their car here? How did it get left here!?" You can hear from behind you, confirming that the PRT had moved to encircle you, towards where the two mysterious vehicles were hiding out. You couldn't quite blame them, encircling you was a tactically sound option, but you hated the sense of having your freedom of movement constrained in such a way.
"Nevermind that, why is there an entire fucking Jet in the middle of the forest?!" A rather more confused voice shouted. You giggled a bit under your helmet at that. It seemed you weren't the only one who had severe doubts about the ability of that jet to hide.
Still, you had your other concerns, and wouldn't let the presence of the PRT distract you from that for too long. Not when you could feel the causeways of fate pulsating with your need to act as soon as you could.
"+Arne, keep them busy. Don't let them get the wrong idea about what we're doing.+" You said to Arne, you trusted he could handle this. He's come a while away from the utterly awkward boy you met two years ago...but then, you both have, haven't you?
You take only a moment to analyse the group that's come out to meet you, their bodies seeming to be moving in slow motion as your mind shifted into combat time before they appeared to stop altogether. You scanned them for any individuals of particular interest, drawing yourself towards the one in power armour in particular.
His systems were secured yes, but you could have sliced the firewall yourself once you understood the operating system; nevermind when you had the aid of one of the most powerful shackled A.Is ever developed. His suit had quantum entanglement alarms meant to immediately close off such unwanted access at the speed of conjoined particles. Still, your armour's scanning systems transcended mere quantum mechanics and bypassed such things faster than even his systems could detect the breach.
Armsmaster: Real Name: Collin Wallis.
General: Armsmaster is a Veteran "Cape" attached to an organisation known as the Protectorate meant to consolidate large numbers of parahumans under the aegis of the governments of the United States and Canada. While broadly fitting within the genetic norms expected of fully matured human of the early 21st century, an extradimensional symbiont has formed a connection to the subject. It has altered the Brain to create a new segment referred to as the Corona Pollentia and appears able to modify specific patterns of behaviour subtly. Symbiont appears to implant suggestions for technology that it adjusts to function in particular formats into the memory of the host. Recommendations based on armour suit analysis revolve around efficiency and miniaturisation, further modified by symbiont's extradimensional energies to allow for additional effects.
Personal information: Collin Wallis is a resident of the City of Brockton Bay (Notice: No such city is known to have existed in this time within the United States, discrepancy recorded) and a former student of Psychology. Collin Wallis bonded with the symbiont during his adult years and was thus able to directly join the Protectorate rather than first serving within its youth program. Over his years of service, Collin has demonstrated a high degree of competence, skill, and professionalism that has made many see him as an ideal hero. However, Collin occasionally clashes with others over his disdainfulness towards individuals who do not take "Hero-Work" seriously enough. Despite this, many regard him as highly approachable in the right circumstances.
Combat Capabilities: Armsmaster's armour is well outside of the norm for the present era and contains a large quantity of miniaturised equipment greatly exceeding what would usually be possible with the demonstrated technology of this planet. Armour provides for general survival capabilities, physical augmentations, mental shielding, electronic warfare capabilities, and battle-prediction systems. Halberd demonstrates numerous additional capabilities that the weapon may transform into including flails, plasma blades, rotary capability, grappling hooks, and extension.
Addendum: Subject armour software compromised by same malware programs as all other electronic devices scanned thus far. Comparing program architecture reveals that the malware was not designed by Armsmaster or anyone operating under a similar technological base. Xenological origin is extremely likely given the intelligent nature of the malware systems.
Samus' Notes: I'm guessing that "Capes" function a lot like Lancers do back home. The Protectorate must be Statelancers then; but hrm. I'd like to know why he's so set on taking his job seriously? And why they would send him out to investigate our re-entry when he doesn't have any useful ranged weapons either. I have so many questions! I'll be sure to talk to him later once I've rescued the two children. I think with some tech upgrades though he could be a very helpful ally as long as he doesn't try to force us to follow his rules.
Arne's Notes: Seemed like the kind of person my mother would have come to blows with the second I saw him. It looks like I wasn't wrong in that assessment either. Mostly uses his abilities to enforce the way things are too, which I'm not exactly fond of. He's clearly important though so I'll try to be nice. But I don't think I'll get along that well with him. Not really a huge concern though, I don't really want to be friends with law enforcement.
Arne
"Do you two understand me? We're not here to hurt you. We're just here to determine your intentions." Armsmaster said to you, raising his halberd to show that he was no threat to you. Huh, it seems some gestures remained universal across the millennia. His language was long dead, but your suit had already uploaded how to speak it fluently directly into your memory—still, no need to demonstrate your clarity of understanding just yet.
"Are you injured at all? You fell a pretty long way. If you could please come with us, we could discuss this in a place more comfortable for all of us. " He asked, your attentions turning towards Samus as the two of you shared a quiet suit to suit exchange.
"+I don't think we should take him up on that offer. They're probably going to try and recruit us.+" You said over the link.
"+I don't think they'll be able to reach Nightcaster and Eudaimonica in time either. I'm going to get them now. Won't be more than a minute Arne.+" She said before backing off and then turning her head in the direction of the two voices she'd heard earlier and getting her legs going. A whipcrack was heard as she moved faster than any of the gathered figures could follow, and her gilded yellow, orange and red suit charged off into the distance while your own visor glinted a bit from the lights they tried to shine at you.
"Whoa, what the fuck?!" One of the PRT troops shouted in surprise as Samus just about teleported out of their line of sight as far as they were concerned. Guns were raised, and you realised now was the time to defuse the situation. You didn't entirely enjoy being the one to do this, but you figured someone would have to.
"Velocity, can you follow her?" The power armoured one said, getting a somewhat concerned squint from you. How did he already figure Samus for female? Sure her suit had some feminine aesthetics but
You noted one figure in a red outfit sprinting off to chase after her. Hrm, speedster.
You raised your left hand and made a "one" gesture with your thumb finger. "I speak your language, fluently." You started before you extended another finger. "We are uninjured." Third finger. "We do not mean you any harm." Fourth finger. "We are not coming with you just yet until you answer some of our questions." Fifth finger. "I would think your lack of ability to hurt us would be obvious from none of you being able to survive re-entry."
Blunt, to the point, brusque. You didn't completely revel in the sight of them seeming to be stunned by you speaking in fluent English, albeit with a somewhat noticeable accent that they would have likely pegged for Scandinavian. Oh sure you smirked at it, but you didn't hold onto that momentary pleasure. That'd just be rude.
"What is your name, and how did you get here?" Armsmaster asked, regaining his composure remarkably quickly to a degree that actually impressed you somewhat.
"Wormhole station with an exit in your planet's orbit. Got separated from our ships and fell the long way down. Now, you. A computer virus has compromised all of your software systems. Why is that?" You asked. Everyone seems to be taken aback by your words, and you get the impression none of them were even aware of that.
"What do you mean a Virus?" He asks, once again recovering remarkably quickly from getting broadsided by your revelations.
"An intelligent hyper adaptive sequence of scrap code is present in literally every computer system on your planet I can analyse. Including every system in your armour." You said, letting him ruminate on that as he looked at his armour briefly. Did he assume you were trying to trick him? Quite possibly, probably even but it did give him something to think about as you heard knuckles rapping on a windshield.
"Hey, you in the car. Come on out of there. There's an ongoing investigation that you don't have the clearance to be here for." Ah, so it's definitely not one of theirs then.
"You still haven't given me a name. Are you human?" Armsmaster asked, still courteous but somewhat on edge. You had to give him credit, though; he was holding his own in this conversation remarkably well.
"We'll get to that later. Have you had any prior extraterrestrial cont-" You said before you heard a CHKT CHKT BZZ CHKT in the background as one of the PRT officers tried to apply a windshield breaker to the yellow Volkswagen only for the car to...stand up?
You did a double-take as you saw the vehicle shift plating around, splitting open its sections and unfurling limbs, a torso, and a head with big blue optics. You blinked a few times as if to confirm what you were seeing was happening, having had "the car is a transforming robot" so far down the list of things you were going to be seeing today that you're somewhat doubtful it was ever on the proverbial list.
"*Get your damn dirty hands off me!*" The car...no...the radio of the car said, sounding like some sort of clipped footage rather than something the machine itself actually said.
The jet would follow suit in transformation shortly afterwards, seeming to compact itself into a size much closer to the yellow one as she. Yes, you were guessing the robot was a she based on the very overtly feminine shape of the chassis...why did a robot have breasts? Focus, focus...stood up to her two feet fully upright, wings folding onto her back like those of an angel and blue optics analysing the humans who scattered before her intently.
"...Wow that's...something?" You said before you found Armsmaster having used your distraction to get closer to you. Damn, you let yourself lose sight of the objective. You flick your eyes away from the machines as the PRT's attentions turn towards them; guns clicking and loading while a mechanoid in armour rather more advanced than even Armsmaster's backed away slightly from the advancing alien machines as Bumblebee, the yellow one, raised his hands up to try and indicate a willingness to speak.
"Trying to sneak up on me?" You say with a slightly bemused tone, quirking a brow beneath your helmet as you turn towards him.
"I'm trying to show you that I'm not dangerous." He said, planting the head of his halberd into the ground. He wasn't willing to drop it altogether, but you couldn't fault him. You'd probably also want some extra insurance if faced with a progenitor touched warrior.
"I never thought you were. What do you want from me?" You say, not even looking at him as you tilt your head at the unfolding drama involving the machines and the scurrying PRT officers who seemed ready to let loose the second anything went not according to plan. You found it so interesting...
"The same as what you want from me, answers." He said, studying the way you moved as you shifted on your feet and moved to avoid having to look directly at him. You disliked the feeling of older men staring down at you, far too reminiscent of the painful solar glare of the one you call Father.
"Answers about what?" You said; a slight shake in your voice as you tried to avoid directly meeting his gaze, attempting to focus squarely on the machines, to try and break down what made them tick as you put your mind at work. It was relaxing really, the engaging problem of unpacking the mechanisms of such wonderfully complicated mechanical organisms.
"How old are you? Early teens?" Your eyes widened a bit beneath your helmet, as he folded his arms and looked down at you. How would he know to ask a question like that? You control the urge to sputter and stammer, if only briefly as you give your head a minute shake.
"Your voice, mannerisms, and the way you carry yourself suggest you're not yet fully grown. And neither is she, isn't she? You're not quite as mysterious as you think you are." He asks, making you sweat a bit beneath your helmet as you flinch from his gaze.
You could crush this man's skull with a squeeze of your fingers. It'd be a motion with all the effort of popping a bubble, but that couldn't remove a fundamental fact. You were fourteen and had only been in regular contact with other humanoids for two years, and he was at the very least twice your age and while a bit of a loner for sure; was nowhere near as isolated as you were. You gave too many tells, too many open pages in your book for others to read. You gave him what he wanted and spoke too much.
But you were able to follow his radio comms. You tried to console yourself with the fact that at the very least, he didn't know that you had bugged his comms from the very beginning.
At least...did he?
Armsmaster: "+Battery how are you with the...vehicles?+"
Battery: "+They're not tinker tech.+"
Armsmaster: "+How did you figure?+"
Battery: "+They said so. Something about a Cybertron? They refer to it as their home planet.+"
Adamant: "+The metal they're made out of isn't anything from Earth either.+"
Miss Militia: "+They said they were part of an army called the Autobots?+"
Armsmaster: "+So aliens.+"
Battery: "+Alien robots.+"
Armsmaster: "+Who are they controlled by?+"
Assault: "+Uh, nobody. They're autonomous.+"
Miss Militia: "+Autonomous Robotic Organisms.+"
Adamant: "+There's some weird sort of energy presence in them too, it's something I can almost...taste in the metal. It'd make them resistant to my abilities.+"
Battery: "+Oh so we're screwed if they decide to kill us?+"
Adamant: "+I said resistant, not immune.+"
Miss Militia: "+How about we not try to start a fight as soon as we meet extraterrestrial life?+"
Assault: "+Yeah I'm with her, I could do without having "started an interstellar war" on my resume.+"
Armsmaster: "+I'm going to enjoy writing this report to the higher-ups.+"
Battery: "+Wow really, you having fun?+"
Assault: "+Without showing off too?+"
Armsmaster: "+No, not even a little. That was sarcasm.+"
Battery: "+Thank god, for a second I thought you got replaced by an alien robot in disguise.+"
Adamant: "+Can they do that?+"
Battery: "+...I...fuck.+"
Assault: "+Thank you Adamant, I greatly appreciate the helping of paranoia.+"
Miss Militia: "+I would also very much appreciate not rushing to conclusions about alien infiltration.+"
Armsmaster: "+The boy in the blue power suit did bring up something unusual though. Said all of our computer systems were compromised by malware.+"
Battery: "+You know he's a boy?+"
Armsmaster: "+Awkward unless in complete control of a conversation, doesn't like to be confronted by older men, changes the subject when uncomfortable. Voice suggests early puberty.+"
Assault: "+Wow you got all that from studying him for a bit?+"
Armsmaster: "+It helps when you can pay attention for more than thirty seconds.+"
Samus
Snow particles glanced off of your shielding as you ran. A vaulting jump took you into a spin that saw you land directly on top of the last known location of the two children's voices. The snow crunches beneath your boots, and you listened again while your visor flicked into Thermal mode. You heard rather monstrous grunts and howling not too far away. You almost fired off a shot in surprise when you saw the source of the noise.
Surrounding the two children; one wearing black and blue armoured robes with a witch's hat and blue goggles and the other wearing white and green armour with splendid hood, a gasmask, and cape; were six creatures you recognised as fitting the Christian idea of demons. Red skin almost like flayed musculature, flicking tails, horned heads like the skulls of beasts, and cloven-hooved feet. Near the boy were dark, wraith-like figures who moved around like additional shadows attached to him, two having "peeled" themselves upwards with wispy tails trailing off into infinity and whispering what they've been able to find into his ears.
Nine were the size of the average adult human, three wrapped in orange flames, three emitting further cold, three engulfed in toxic green hellfire; Demonlings. Three were twice as large as average humans, with a more bestial posture and head shape and more muscular form; one of fire, one of frost, and the other of hellflame; Demon Soldiers. The last, whose body stood more than three times your height and stood with a decidedly regal posture, was a creature of bitter frosts, conventional flame, and that corrosive green hellfire, that your visor identified as a Demon Prince. Your visor further noted that the Prince was a creature whose power was heavily constrained, only a portion of his body was allowed to manifest in this realm thanks to restrictions he had imposed himself.
Yet you sensed no danger from them. Indeed the fiery Demons were sticking close to the boy while the white-clad girl weaved a spell of fire with deft hand gestures, cloaking both of them in a harmless sphere of protective flame. She sat upon the shoulders of the Prince, unharmed by the nimbuses of energy that surrounded the Prince of Demons. She even seemed outright relaxed.
Analysis of data on the subject reveals that this individual's real name is Alice Wetticks Dahl. Data extracted from FBSA issued metahuman registration card, personal phone, and laptop further indicates that Alice is the daughter of Anette Dahl and James Canonchet; a Norwegian Witch and a Narragansett Magician. Educated in the ways of magic that have been passed down her two lineages, Alice specialises in Daemonomancy and Pyromancy and has a pact with the benign Demon Prince Winterpyre, who helps to instruct her in further magic. Alice is capable of using her magic in many ways but is most well suited to offering support, healing, augmentation, and hexes with her Pyromancy and summoning additional aid with her Daemonomancy. Her direct offensive capabilities are somewhat limited but not nonexistent.
Addendum: Subject's technology shows identical Malware compromising it despite originating from a differing universe. Likelihood of Malware being of xenological make increased to 100%.
Samus' Notes: She seems like she'll be a fun person to befriend! I'm curious as to how her relationship with her demons works though. Especially when her demons are so visibly monstrous, it must get inconvenient at times to continually explain that they mean no harm when she does not ask for it.
Arne's Notes: She seems like a happy person. I'm glad for that, at least some people get to enjoy power without pain to accompany it. I can't say I'm not at least a little jealous that she still has her parents and even a guardian demon. But if Winterpyre is anything to go by, they're probably all pretty great parents.
Nightcaster's actual name is Joseph Willow Black. Born to a Pequot practitioner of magic named Sarah Willow and to an English-American warlock named James Black under an eclipse at Halloween, Joseph was infused with extraordinarily high potential for umbramancy. Quickly befriending many spirits of the night which helped him master his magical abilities, Joseph seeks to use his powers to help as much as possible and follow in both of his parents' footsteps. Joseph's offensive capabilities are moderate as his magic is primarily focused on offering support. Still, his ability to enervate enemies and bolster allies with the strength he steals is regarded as a tremendous asset to the Starsetters in Paragon City.
Samus' Notes: Umbrakinetics are an underrespected art, and it's a shame that so many people automatically associate it with evil. I'd be more than honoured if he'd teach me some of what he's learned though. Even if I am not to start learning how to use my sorcerous and psychic potential until I'm fully matured.
Arne's Notes: I wonder what it's like to have a circle of friends who are literally shadowing you at all times. It seems like it'd be nice, but on the other hand, what if you want some privacy from them sometimes? I should speak to him some day, ask him what it's like. I could think of a lot of times I'd have liked that sort of company.
"There? Better?" She asked, folding her arms and exhaling a puff of condensation filled air through her mask.
"Yeah...but how do you think we're going to get back?" The boy said, rubbing at his arms through his gloves and casting a spell that your scan visor identified as a spell of dark vision. He looked towards you and froze briefly while each and every one of Eudaimonica's demons snapped their attention towards you and let loose long, crocodilian hisses.
You pause and sidestep, moving out the way of the speeding red streak of a man you recognised was under the effects of a temporal distortion field. As a bit of snow was driven up by his movements and he pulled up a mouth-cover to keep his face warm while he rubbed his hands and looked between you before almost falling over when he saw the demons.
"Jesus!" He shouted, catching himself on a tree and pushing himself back up.
"Hrm, rather far off the mark there my good chap. Call me Winterpyre, Prince of the Frostflame." The Demon Prince chuckled with a jovial tone, offering a small curtsy to the human while you couldn't help but let out a laugh.
"Wow look at the tech on that one...what archetype are you? Sentinel? No no...Striker maybe? Warden? Bastion? Guardian?" He said, getting you to scrunch up your face briefly. The words he was saying all made sense but the way he was using them didn't register with you at all. You figured them to be some sort of classification system, but you were less sure of how the system worked. You'd need to get in a scan to do that.
"Don't worry about them, they're friendly," Eudaimonica said as the Demons hissed and crackled like boiling soup. You felt at peace with them, sensing no danger in your distant sight, and offered a varia-suit clad hand to one of the demons who happily rubbed their head against the extended hand. Through the synaptic feedback of your armour, you felt its skull-like head as if your hands were bare, and you let out a small and affectionate laugh as the demonling rolled around, melting snow boiling against its flames.
"You are not from here, are you?" One of the shadowy wraiths said, coiling around you and staring through its empty hood into your visor.
"No. And if I had to guess, neither are you, honoured spirit." You said with appropriate respect given to the ancient creature of darkness as it laughed with its hands clasped and body whisking away to its charge.
"I like this one." He whispered to Nightcaster.
"Okay, before we get onto that. I'm Velocity, with the Brockton Protectorate. Are you kids...alright?" Velocity said, dusting off some of the snow that had accumulated on him. He seems to have sussed out your age, likely based on your voice as you rarely bothered with a voice modulator. Though you were curious as to how he figured the two were children, and you couldn't help but notice how uncomfortable he was with the presence of the demons and the shadow spirits.
"Nightcaster I'm with the Paragon City Starsetters. How are you native of dimension...whatever this one is." Nightcaster said with a genuflection.
"...What's a Paragon City?" Velocity said in confusion before you shrugged yourself, not being any more familiar with the concept.
"Eudaimonica. These are my demon friends! But hey, I don't know what a Brockton Bay is either. Ayyyyyy." She said, giving double finger pistols and a head tilt you surmised was meant to indicate she had just given a wink.
"And who are you?" Nightcaster asked, frowning when he tried to cast an identification spell upon you only for your progenitor blood to block out his sorcery entirely. You could hear him curse beneath his breath, but he quickly regained his composure, rocking on his feet.
"You can call me Aira-Sekh." You said, typically your Chozo name sufficed as an alias until you felt like you could trust someone enough to give them your birth name. Your accent, usually having a bit of an Irish lilt, shifted to something closer to Coptic Egyptian as you seamlessly pronounced the name given to you by your adoptive family, and the two looked at each other with grins beneath their masks.
"Whoa...dank." Eudaimonica said as you furrowed your brow once again.
"I'm not...wet as far as I know?" You said, looking at your armour and then back at them.
"It means like, cool my dude." That bit of slang was long-lived enough for you to recognise at least.
"Okay so I'm going not to try and contest the idea that two of you aren't from this dimension and that she's from...space I think?" Velocity said, bringing his hands out to indicate he wanted the conversation to slow down at least several notches.
"But do any of you kids have adult chaperones?" He asked before Winterpyre and the shadow spirits made a series of harrumphs to make it clear they were not amused with being overlooked in such a way.
"...You know what I'll take it." He said, looking up at the hulking Demon Prince and giving a confident thumbs up.
"Huh, so, how did the two of you get here exactly?" You asked, firing up your scan visor to get what information you could one after the other. They were all so young...but you supposed that it would hardly be fair for you to call them out on that, you weren't any older than they were.
"Well, we were trying to escape from a Rikti patrol and jumped straight through the first portal we could in a base they had on primal earth and wham, we ended up here in the middle of nowhere." Eudaimonica said, spreading her arms wide for emphasis as you tilted your head briefly.
"Rikti?" You asked.
"Oh, they're...not exactly aliens but like...humans from another timeline who were altered by aliens to be more like them? Shit's wack as fuck. Hype as fuck tech and invaded Earth god...nineteen years ago? Won't leave still." Nightcaster said, getting a nod out of you as you sensed something moving in the background.
You turned your head towards the movement and gasped before you tackled the two kids and threw them both to the ground as a green sphere of plasma sizzled overhead. You could hear the snow boiling away from its radiant heat before it discharged into a tree and exploded in an eerie green flash, a pulsating sound accompanying the sound of tree trunk crumbling to ash.
You analysed the shot, not as powerful as your weapons or even space pirate weapons, but well beyond most of the armaments seen on this iteration of earth. The umbral spirits and the demons swivelled around and made their haunting noises, lobbing projectiles and threads of magic in the direction of the shots as more torso sized plasma orbs roiled downrange into your path.
You picked yourself up and vaulted around one of the incoming shots, taking stock of your opposition. You counted at least thirty-nine Rikti plus sixty of their nautiloid drones. It seems the two had managed to stir up an entire platoon of them.
Each of them was clad in powered armour suits, though the rank and file seemed to have their heads; shaped oddly like that of a mouthless and hornless triceratops; exposed to the elements for reasons you didn't quite understand. Some of the higher-ranking ones also exposed their heads, but your scan visor quickly confirmed that these were Rikti who had developed their psychic powers; standing alongside those who instead chose to focus on sheer martial prowess.
"Target: Eudaimonica. Of Paramount Importance: Retrieval of data. Elimination of Hostiles: Demanded by General." The tallest among them ordered, making a hand slicing across the throat gesture after pointing at Eudaimonica. The enemy spread itself out into three squads of thirteen, each with a trio of more heavily armoured headmasters and a pair of psionic mentalists, five infantry, and two guardians and a single commander.
You identified three commanders; two were psions; a mentalist and a mesmerist, the last; a chief soldier in steely grey power armour; drew a sizzling power blade from his other arm while his plasma cannon charged up. The squads had split up, the Chief Soldier's squad would try to pin you down with the Drone Swarm spitting out plasma in a chorus of suppressive fire while the other two sought to flank around.
You could take the hits, but you weren't sure about your companions as they scattered; Eudaimonica's fiery magic shields sparking as they were impacted by alien plasma and pulse cannon blasts. That seemed to give encouraging signs, as did the outraged howling of the Demon Prince as he smashed his hands into the ground to create walls of ice to absorb Rikti Fusion missiles. But if they had been running away from this patrol, they had to have thought they weren't able to take them on their own especially as Nightcaster released a shroud of magical darkness to try and conceal you and the others.
"We need to ollie the fuck outie, come on!" He shouted. But...you could take them. You knew it; there was no need to run, save maybe to consolidate forces with Arne. Velocity was already on his way to withdraw, probably to report what he had just seen in person.
Arne
Your fuming attempts at a comeback were interrupted by the flashing visions of something about to teleport in. Your hairs on your back stood up, and your spine shivered with sudden alarm.
"Get cover now!" You shouted as you rolled to the side and dodged a volley of plasma fire from Rikti who had just managed to teleport into the fray through shimmering green portals.
Everything began to unfurl in the span of a few seconds while you were busy dodging shots thrown at you from all angles.
A PRT officer who wasn't so lucky took a hit dead-on, his kevlar and mail starting to sublime away before the plasma had even hit his already charring away flesh. He barely had enough time to scream before the plasma orb detonated and reduced him to charred ash and steaming offal emitting from the stumps of his legs.
Another who had tried to get off a containment foam grenade found the Rikti headman getting into his reach a bit too quickly, three-fingered hands grabbing at his arms and pulling them out of their sockets with a spray of blood before a boot to his chest imploded it. Bullets rained harmlessly off of the shielded power armour of the Rikti, who drew a power sword and gave the blade a flick, sending another officer in steaming halves where they stood.
A quick headcount of the enemy was made in your head and confirmed by your armour suit. Thirty-nine troopers, sixty flying drones; split into three combat groups. They'd formed a triangular killbox around you, equidistant. North had some taking position atop a hill to lay down suppressive fire; southeast had a squad waiting to target those who had moved out of concealment into their waiting guns; southwest was spreading out to cover a wider field of fire. Fairly conventional small unit tactics, but lethally effective if not broken out of.
You made your frank assessment of the situation. The PRT officers were, for the most part, useless besides as distractions. And you were not going to use people who couldn't take a hit as bait. Bumblebee and Windblade were able to absorb the shots just fine though, and their guns were bigger than the Rikti's. You could take them all out yourself, your power beam hit harder than their plasma casters, but the question was whether you could do it without letting too many people die. Fast as you were, you couldn't be everywhere at once. The parahumans, whom your infiltration of Protectorate Comms had designated as Armsmaster, Battery, Assault, Miss Militia, and Adamant, were generally speaking; fragile. Except for the last one...hrm.
"Are you able to fight?" Armsmaster asked you, giving you the briefest of glances as you stood yourself up and looked for where to intervene. As much as you weren't fond of the PRT from the moment you laid eyes on it, the Rikti were quite clearly the more immediate problem.
"I was raised for it." You said, your cannon starting to hum as you flicked through your options.
"Good, you wouldn't happen to have a plan for this sort of situation? It seems like something pretty ordinary for you." He said with a hint of what you recognised as sarcasm. You still weren't good with it, but you were able to catch his intended meaning with a bit of focus.
"I haven't seen this culture before. But their capabilities aren't too hard to grasp. You could probably figure most of it out if you had some samples." You said as you raised your arm cannon into a ready position.
"Wouldn't that be something." Armsmaster mused with a slight whistle.
"Your Technology: Inferior to Rikti Make. General Rass'Illon's Victory: Assured beyond doubt. Your Demise: Mandated immediately." The leading Chief Soldier said, pointing towards Armsmaster and levelling its arm cannon at him.
"Extradimensional interlopers: To be captured. Unknown Technology: To be studied. Lineage of War: Acquisitions demanded." The Chief Soldier barked at its subordinates as the Rikti started to open fire in earnest. But before another PRT squad could be wiped off the map; Bumblebee and Windblade moved to block the incoming shots which skipped into oblivion off of the autobots' shielding. The Rikti seemed to be astonished, but came to realise the two Autobots had a technological edge over them and started to focus fire towards them.
This gave you some time to think.
Rikti drones are simple hover capable disposable infantry units armed with simple Rikti Plasma weapons that can be swapped out for other forms of Rikti ranged attack. Fast but on the fragile side for Rikti technology, Drones are expended with very little thought given to their long term survival as Rikti fabrication devices can rapidly create more with access to the appropriate materials. Rikti Drones are typically slaved to the overall psychic battle network of Rikti combat units which regulates their independent artificial intelligence systems to the needs of a Rikti formation. Rikti Drones are particularly vulnerable to electrical damage or dark energy.
Samus' Notes: They almost look cute actually. I could see myself reprogramming some to take home with me.
Arne's Notes: I hate rapidly moving head-sized drones so much...at least they're not as durable as psychobits.
Rikti Infantry are equipped with basic battle armour to allow them to engage with the enemies of the Rikti Collective's Lineage of War. After more than nineteen years of continual conflict with the Primal Earth dimension that Nightcaster and Eudaimonica both hail from, the Lineage of War has grown bitter in its prosecution of the conflict. While all Rikti have the potential for psionics, most do not have combat useful psychic abilities. As such Rikti Infantry focus primarily on the damage offered by their power swords and plasma caster rifles or the brute strength of their power armour. While shielded and made of resilient composited alloys, Rikti technology is well behind the standard of your own universe. However it is well ahead of the standards of both Primal Earth and the present dimension you are residing in, making them a lethal threat to allies and civilians. Like all Rikti, when critically injured; Rikti infantry will be teleported back to the nearest Rikti base into a biopod chamber that will restore their bodies and equipment.
Addendum: All Rikti technology is compromised by identical malware seen in human technology from both local reality and Primal Earth. Analysis of software eliminates the Rikti as a possible origin point for the malicious program; lacking the sophistication needed to program such an intelligent virus.
Samus' Notes: The DNA that I'm picking up is...human, partly. There's some sort of mutagenic helix that's been spliced into the human genome to turn them into...this. I think it can be reversed though, but I'd need my ship's restore station to do it. Just what sort of monster would have originally designed this mutagen though? But I think I could help the indigenous humans understand this technology.
Arne's Notes: Their psychic coordination makes them very difficult to sneak up on. As soon as one Rikti knows about something, they all know. Bad news for the locals here who can't take many hits from them. But some of these Rikti show spatialchronal signatures similar to the locals...the Rikti must be converting local humans into more of themselves.
Rikti Guardians are the medics of the Rikti. Each squad has a pair of additional Rikti Guardians attached to it to provide medical support with advanced radiological nanotechnology. This technology can seal up the wounds and mend armour breaches of Rikti and their mechanical assistants within seconds, even restoring lost limbs and destroyed armour components. The technology is also able to be used to overclock the biologies and machinery of Rikti combatants, allowing them to fight at increased speed and increase their rate of fire significantly for a short time. Rikti Guardians are also armed, though they do not habitually carry more than Plasma submachine guns and combat knives.
Samus' Notes: As much as it hurts me to do it, I think I'll have to target the medics first. They don't seem to care about not participating in the fight themselves, and they'll continually keep injured Rikti in the fight. Why did they have to turn healers into combatants? It's profane to have medics as warriors who only heal one side's fighters.
Arne's Notes: It seems Rikti medical teleporters will delay their action if a Guardian signals that they are ready and able to offer medical support. I don't think I want to cross the bridge of exploiting this though. Forcing them to teleport out still takes them out of the battle even if it doesn't kill them.
Rikti Headmen are equipped with full grade Rikti battlesuits that allow for the usage of more powerful energy or energy intensive weapons as well as more powerful melee instruments. Rikti headmen are an order of magnitude stronger than standard infantry with their power suits and have enough firepower to vaporise local main battle tanks in single shots. Rikti Headmen are once again primarily equipped with plasma caster weapons and power blades, which they wield with more skill than standard Rikti Infantry. However, Rikti Headmen do have a vulnerability to dark energy, which their systems are not rated to offer full defence against.
Samus' Notes: Unfortunately, I don't have any dark energy weapons at the moment. I'll just have to do this the hard way then.
Arne's Notes: Headmen seem to serve as lieutenants in the Rikti military hierarchy. Taking them out seems to disrupt their command and control temporarily.
While most Rikti do not develop their psionic abilities to the point of battlefield usefulness, Rikti Mentalists have honed their psychic potential into a formidable weapon. Able to manifest lethal darts of psionic energy, make combat usage of telepathy and telekinesis, and still having access to Rikti Power Armour and weapons, Rikti Mentalists are a formidable danger if less physically imposing than Headmen. Given user immunity to most psionic abilities, it is recommended that the user draw Mentalist attacks to prevent them from focusing on those with higher vulnerability to Rikti mental assault.
These advanced Rikti Psions have focused their psionic abilities into the fields of direct offence and utility via dynakinetics and telekinesis. This essentially turns the Rikti practitioner into a living artillery weapon whose mind is able to devastate the battlefield on their own. Wielding even more advanced power suits than their lesser counterparts, Mentalists can be expected to face down many high-security level metahumans on Primal Earth with confidence.
Samus' Notes: Just Mentalists but more so. Need to watch for them throwing projectiles at me if they realise that they can't directly affect me with most psychic bolts. Their telekinetic barriers can also shield allies.
Arne's Notes: They're the less disruptive of the two types of higher grade Rikti psions honestly. The direct nature of their psychic abilities makes it a lot easier to predict what they're going to do with them.
Mesmerists take their psionic powers in a differing direction, seeking to enhance their telepathic abilities to cause maximum disarray and confusion in the ranks of their foes. Masters of Mind Control and mental state alteration, Mesmerists excel at preventing enemies from acting or turning their foes against each other. Many also serve as the primary means of indoctrinating those meant to become servants of the Lineage of War; overwriting thoughts and personalities until the subject is left in complete compliance. However, they also are somewhat weak in direct combat with enemies who can resist their control.
Samus' Notes: With these, I think I'll have to worry more about my allies than myself. I'll have to keep a close eye on any mind control attempts on allies in particular. Papa always talked about how mind control was an obscenity...I won't let them puppet people however they like.
Arne's Notes: Battlefield mind control is incredibly dangerous at absolute best I hate the idea that an entire army builds much of its strategy around it. They're not going to focus on me either when they realise that they can't really directly affect me too. Need to adjust tactics then...
Rikti Chief Soldiers spend their professional lifetimes mastering the arts of the Lineage of War. Each is a seasoned veteran or at the very least a graduate of a prestigious military training program and a recipient of Rikti Supersoldier treatments. All are outfitted with a high-end mass-produced battlesuit that allows them to go toe to toe with even hard-hitting Primal Earth Tankers and Brutes. Though lacking in combat psionics, Rikti Chief Soldiers carry high-grade weapons that can lay down rapid volleys of fire or explosive charged orbs. In close combat, their power blades are of a higher grade mark meant to augment their own swing better than the armour alone can, moving faster than they have any right to.
Samus' Notes: After nineteen years of continual variable intensity warfare with Primal Earth, I'm not sure how the Rikti still find it in themselves to fight so viciously. Surely they'd have come to some sort of agreement to negotiate by now? Something must be keeping them invested in a decisive victory then. But if I'm here to end this war, then I'm going to end it.
Arne's Notes: Most of these Rikti know what they're doing pretty well, but they seem to have some sort of honour code at least. They don't seem to go out of their way to engage anyone lacking in a weapon to fight back with. I get a sense of professionalism from them, but what good is professionalism when it can't tell you that a war that's been fought for a generation might be futile?
Options:
For both
[]: Reconverge positions to assist each other (will double the number of Rikti in the overall fight but allow Samus and Arne's groups to directly fight alongside each other)
[]: Continue to fight separately (Fights will be resolved separately)
[]: Draw combats close enough to support but not close enough to merge (Fights will be separate but characters may offer support to each other)
For Samus: Pick One
[]: Engage Rikti in close-quarters combat to prevent them from being able to focus on allies. You are the most durable person in the group and would attract the most attention. This will keep your allies the safest.
[]: Engage the Rikti in hit and run attacks. Constantly weave in and out of close-quarters combat and ranged assault, swapping between targets at will and never allowing the Rikti to concentrate on any one position. This keeps you the safest but the Rikti might decide to reorient rather than try to pin you down.
[]: Fight the Rikti at range to maximise your firepower advantages and coordinate with the ranged firepower of your allies, focusing down Rikti Squadrons to more quickly eliminate them.
[]: Fight a rearguard action to allow your allies to withdraw to a more advantageous position. This will require you to try and distract the Rikti long enough for your allies to flee rather than seek to engage them to destruction.
[]: Make a fighting retreat to a different position, this will have you take less hits than if you decided to stay and fight a rearguard but does make it more dangerous for your allies.
[]: Don't bother to fight, just run to a different position. This will allow for the highest chance of moving to a new position without interference but allows the Rikti to engage your formation freely.
[]: Write in.
For Arne: Pick One (retreat is impossible due to the number of PRT casualties that would be incurred trying to break the Rikti cordon)
[]: Engage Rikti in close-quarters combat to prevent them from being able to focus on allies. You are the most durable person in the group and would attract the most attention. This will keep your allies the safest.
[]: Engage the Rikti in hit and run attacks. Constantly weave in and out of close-quarters combat and ranged assault, swapping between targets at will and never allowing the Rikti to concentrate on any one position. This keeps you the safest but the Rikti might decide to reorient rather than try to pin you down.
[]: Fight the Rikti at range to maximise your firepower advantages and coordinate with the ranged firepower of your allies, focusing down Rikti Squadrons to more quickly eliminate them.
[]: Write in
Pick one suboption:
[]: Have yourself and the autobots split up to engage different squadrons separately, holding down all their attention and keeping the less durable humans out of harm's way. Allow PRT and Protectorate to split up to engage as they will.
[]: Have the PRT and Protectorate concentrate against one squad, the autobots against another, and yourself against a third.
[]: Focus all efforts on a single squad at a time to eliminate them as quickly as possible.
[]: Write in
[X]: Draw combats close enough to support but not close enough to merge (Fights will be separate but characters may offer support to each other)
[X] Samus
- [X]: Fight a rearguard action to allow your allies to withdraw to a more advantageous position. This will require you to try and distract the Rikti long enough for your allies to flee rather than seek to engage them to destruction.
[X] Arne
- [X]: Engage Rikti in close-quarters combat to prevent them from being able to focus on allies. You are the most durable person in the group and would attract the most attention. This will keep your allies the safest.
[X]: Have yourself and the autobots split up to engage different squadrons separately, holding down all their attention and keeping the less durable humans out of harm's way. Allow PRT and Protectorate to split up to engage as they will.
I figure we're safe taking the brunt of the fighting, while our squishy new allies get into better/safer positions.
X]: Draw combats close enough to support but not close enough to merge (Fights will be separate but characters may offer support to each other)
[X] Samus
- [X]: Fight a rearguard action to allow your allies to withdraw to a more advantageous position. This will require you to try and distract the Rikti long enough for your allies to flee rather than seek to engage them to destruction.
[X] Arne
- [X]: Engage Rikti in close-quarters combat to prevent them from being able to focus on allies. You are the most durable person in the group and would attract the most attention. This will keep your allies the safest.
[X]: Have yourself and the autobots split up to engage different squadrons separately, holding down all their attention and keeping the less durable humans out of harm's way. Allow PRT and Protectorate to split up to engage as they will.
[X]: Draw combats close enough to support but not close enough to merge (Fights will be separate but characters may offer support to each other)
[X] Samus
- [X]: Fight a rearguard action to allow your allies to withdraw to a more advantageous position. This will require you to try and distract the Rikti long enough for your allies to flee rather than seek to engage them to destruction.
[X] Arne
- [X]: Engage Rikti in close-quarters combat to prevent them from being able to focus on allies. You are the most durable person in the group and would attract the most attention. This will keep your allies the safest.
[X]: Have yourself and the autobots split up to engage different squadrons separately, holding down all their attention and keeping the less durable humans out of harm's way. Allow PRT and Protectorate to split up to engage as they will.
[X] Write In : Make sure there is as little for the PRT to salvage as possible; ideally, nothing. You don't know near enough about them to trust them with access to tech clearly so much more advanced than theirs, and what you do know isn't indicative that you can.
[X]: Draw combats close enough to support but not close enough to merge (Fights will be separate but characters may offer support to each other)
[X] Samus
- [X]: Fight a rearguard action to allow your allies to withdraw to a more advantageous position. This will require you to try and distract the Rikti long enough for your allies to flee rather than seek to engage them to destruction.
[X] Arne
- [X]: Engage Rikti in close-quarters combat to prevent them from being able to focus on allies. You are the most durable person in the group and would attract the most attention. This will keep your allies the safest.
[X]: Have yourself and the autobots split up to engage different squadrons separately, holding down all their attention and keeping the less durable humans out of harm's way. Allow PRT and Protectorate to split up to engage as they will.
I mean, PRT Officers are unlikely to really do much to stop Rikti weapons that don't detonate on impact like their plasma orb caster weapons. So using them as human shields is unlikely to do very much good as funny as the image is. Their primary value would be with containment foam being able to disrupt Rikti movements, though it can't properly stick to them due to their shielding. It will however, slow them down, force them to have to stop and get it to slide off, and spoil their aim which is very big when Rikti weapons are so lethal to them. The ones firing lethal munitions are for the most part, wasting their ammo and mostly just giving the Rikti easier targets. But a lot of combat tends to be defaulting to drilled instincts rather than particularly well planned actions unless you're well trained in keeping your head cool when things get hot.
Unfortunately for the PRT they never covered "how to deal with aliens with plasma guns that can burn through tank armour and power suits that can yet their armoured cars down the street" in basic. But this should be a wake up call that there are worse things out there than simple villains. It's up to the PRT whether they heed it though.
[X]: Draw combats close enough to support but not close enough to merge (Fights will be separate but characters may offer support to each other)
[X] Samus
- [X]: Fight a rearguard action to allow your allies to withdraw to a more advantageous position. This will require you to try and distract the Rikti long enough for your allies to flee rather than seek to engage them to destruction.
[X] Arne
- [X]: Engage Rikti in close-quarters combat to prevent them from being able to focus on allies. You are the most durable person in the group and would attract the most attention. This will keep your allies the safest.
[X]: Have yourself and the autobots split up to engage different squadrons separately, holding down all their attention and keeping the less durable humans out of harm's way. Allow PRT and Protectorate to split up to engage as they will.
Adhoc vote count started by Mental Omega on Oct 15, 2020 at 2:54 PM, finished with 6 posts and 5 votes.
[X] Samus
- [X]: Fight a rearguard action to allow your allies to withdraw to a more advantageous position. This will require you to try and distract the Rikti long enough for your allies to flee rather than seek to engage them to destruction.
[X]: Have yourself and the autobots split up to engage different squadrons separately, holding down all their attention and keeping the less durable humans out of harm's way. Allow PRT and Protectorate to split up to engage as they will.
[X] Arne
- [X]: Engage Rikti in close-quarters combat to prevent them from being able to focus on allies. You are the most durable person in the group and would attract the most attention. This will keep your allies the safest.
[X] Arne
- [X]: Engage Rikti in close-quarters combat to prevent them from being able to focus on allies. You are the most durable person in the group and would attract the most attention. This will keep your allies the safest.
[X] Write In : Make sure there is as little for the PRT to salvage as possible; ideally, nothing. You don't know near enough about them to trust them with access to tech clearly so much more advanced than theirs, and what you do know isn't indicative that you can.
Alright that's a unanimous vote then. Should be easy enough to process this combat result as it's meant to be a simple tutorial with overall little risk to any of the major characters.
RIP the poor PRT bastards who have to go around a battlefield with all these plasma weapons though. Poor sods have coin flip chances of survival.
Oh well, it's not like the fate of the world really depends on joe schmoe the average policeman right? Still, many of them should be able to be of at least some use. Anyway, expect the post later today.
[X]: Draw combats close enough to support but not close enough to merge (Fights will be separate but characters may offer support to each other) [X] Samus
- [X]: Fight a rearguard action to allow your allies to withdraw to a more advantageous position. This will require you to try and distract the Rikti long enough for your allies to flee rather than seek to engage them to destruction.
[X] Arne
- [X]: Engage Rikti in close-quarters combat to prevent them from being able to focus on allies. You are the most durable person in the group and would attract the most attention. This will keep your allies the safest. [X]: Have yourself and the autobots split up to engage different squadrons separately, holding down all their attention and keeping the less durable humans out of harm's way. Allow PRT and Protectorate to split up to engage as they will.
Samus
Okay, this was way too poorly defensible of a position for your more vulnerable allies to stick around here. Trusting your foresight and pointing in a direction given to you by esoteric instinct you pointed them towards. A hill that the demons and shadow spirits could marshal from while keeping the more vulnerable members of the party from harm's way.
It'd also be a position that should give them commanding overwatch ability over the nearby battlezone Arne was in. Trusting that he would be able to handle the situation; you didn't feel the need to burden him with a doubled enemy presence; simply getting close enough to lend him a hand.
"Head over to that hill; I'll hold them off." You grit your teeth a bit and step out in front to get the Rikti's attentions; the orange plating of your varia suit shifting as you moved ahead. Not too far, just enough to get the Riktis' attentions. Eudaimonica and Nightcaster both looked at you as if you'd grown a second head, with Velocity, in particular, looking at you as if you'd gone completely stark raving mad.
"Whoa, young lady, you can't just take on that much firepower all at once." He said, trying to get you to come with him, extending a hand out to try and reach for you before you shrugged him off.
"I can handle it. Don't try to argue with me right now. Just...go! I'll keep you guys safe. Promise." You said, giving them one of your traditional thumbs-ups to try and help them share your easy confidence. You weren't sure if they bought it, but you felt tendrils of mystic energy wash over you as both Nightcaster and Eudaimonica passed onto you the benefit of their spellcraft.
Their chanting in the old language of the Mu filling your ears. Your armour reported the effects; fiery shields to increase your resistance to most forms of damage, ensuring that the impact of the Rikti's blasters on your shields was as weak as possible from Eudaimonica. And from Nightcaster came smothering whispy darkness that made you harder to see and strike in the first place.
"Thanks for the help. But you should probably focus on yourselves. I can handle myself." You tell them. You can feel their doubt, and you sympathise with it. You'd be worried about someone going out there to fight dozens of enemies on their own too. But you know what you're doing, and you hope they'll understand too.
"Alright but I'm keeping a close eye on you. Just uh, don't get yourself hurt out there." Nightcaster said with a hesitant returning of your thumbs up before Eudaimonica fired up a spell of teleportation to drag the trio and their pets a bit farther away from the focus of the Rikti as you felt all their eyes shift towards you. They seemed to be going in with confidence, but also caution. They did not know you; they weren't sure of what you could do besides that your technology did not seem to register on any of their databases.
Good, you were going to show them.
Your arm cannon started to charge up a shot as your arm cannon shifted and extended to the sides; building up a purple electric orb within its barrel. You've done this so many times before it felt almost automatic. Yet you didn't let yourself get complacent. You always had to keep mindful of your surroundings and the opposition; this was something your caretakers have warned you about a million times over.
You strike first as the Rikti decide to make their move. When possible, strike after the enemy has committed to a decision before they can think otherwise of their actions. One of Grey Voice's most frequent and essential lessons. Nine projectiles erupt from your cannon and home in on the Rikti you designate as your foe. Nine orbs find three targets, and each target essentially disintegrates from the impact as a cascade of lightning erupts over their bodies. Shielding pops out of existence and Rikti forged armour is shredded down to the atomic level by the electrical surge to create wisps of free-floating particles.
Their medical teleportation systems pull them back before the moment of death to the location of their medical facilities; with your scan visor quickly and efficiently slicing into the data stream to determine where they were going. You make a mental note to investigate that later as you flip yourself to the side to dodge a scalding Fusion Lance. The solar hot ejecta flash vaporised a hill's worth of snow before firing again, but you simply took the blow head-on and rushed the heavy weapons Headman responsible.
Energy: (07 energy tanks: 97 energy remaining in current tank)
Your power blade crackled to life as it extended from your left arm; a green claymore esque weapon emerging from the vambrace and swung with blinding speed. The Headman's shields burst, and your blade began to cut into its neck after gliding through its armour plating right before it disappeared in a green flash, forcing you to catch yourself. That was going to be more than a bit annoying.
A Rikti trying to strike at you with its power blade at a speed that seemed like it was stuck in Honey barely noticed an incoming fireball thrown its way by one of Eudaimonica's demonlings, the howling hellspawn's fire latching onto the hybrid's shielding.
It flickered and burned for a moment before being followed by an Ice Demon's cold spell, the temperature shock briefly getting the Infantryman to stumble. More fire and frost followed suit as Eudaimonica's demons took point, scattering snow and tree debris in all directions.
With the opening given to you as you blasted apart the other Headman with your Electrowave Beam, you threw yourself into a kickflip. A motion that brought your boots onto the Infantry man's head hard enough to create a shockwave; jumping away just as it teleported to let loose a pair of missiles into the midst of the next Rikti Drone swarm.
The satisfying eruption of noise from the exploding missiles made part of you quite pleased, but the rest of you knew that; given the number of shots still going your way, you weren't done just yet. A few shots winged you, skipping off of your shields, but you weren't trying too hard to dodge every single hit.
Energy: (07 energy tanks: 95 energy remaining in current tank) Missiles: 153/155
Especially not when the Rikti were having a hard time even making out your position as the twisting shadow magic made you seem to disappear whenever you were too far away. Letting you weave to and from targets, striking down another drone swarm with a speed booster charge that disintegrated the shell-like drones by the dozens.
A fireteam of the pseudo-aliens who were preparing to lay suppressive fire upon you dropped their weapons from their hands. Something prompted by the wispy curls of dark magic you saw emanating from Nightcaster's stare; nightmares made manifest. Fear overtook the five Rikti and left them unable to stop you from electrocuting them; joining forces with Eudaimonica's demon team who raked across their position with fire, hellflame, and cold.
Alice spoke in tongues to conjure up a lash of hellfire to scourge one of the terrified Rikti headmen, who flinched from the stinging impact to its shielding and the embers of fel magics that clung to it.
A gout of fire from Winterpyre scorched the unfortunate Headman into oblivion, a wisp of teleportation energy being the sole reminder of her former presence as the Demon Prince rampaged forward. You could hear the howling outrage from the Prince as a sharp cry of pain came from one of the Demonlings, its arm severed by the Chief Mentalist's psi-sword before they were cast aside like trash; and briefly pitied the Rikti who had aroused the hellspawn's rage.
"Fuck it I'm not sitting around here doing nothing." Velocity grumbled as he dodged around a cascade of Rikti shots; moving around a thicket, you lessened with a burst from your Cryolyte that encased many of the remaining drones in ice. He wasn't fast enough to avoid every shot as the Rikti adjusted their aim; one striking him against the fiery magical shielding that Eudaimonica had cast for him. He looked at himself and patted his body, surprised he wasn't dead but glad for it before he grinned.
"Okay let's try interrupting some of those plays of yours." He said before springing into action while you snapped a Rikti powersword with your gauntlet and smashed the wielder's head into your knee.
Seemingly committed to action on the logic that children could kick these things around; he could too; Velocity rushed up to quickly push one of the Rikti out of its firing position as Nightcaster wailed and threw up a barrier of dark magic to block a concentrated burst of fire. Strobe lights danced on his shielding and he fell to a knee, throwing back his own offensive magic that managed to bowl over a Mentalist but clearly unable to take much more.
Just before his barrier could fail, the one missed shot gave him enough room to teleport and direct his shadowy wraiths forward to harry the enemy, negative energy laced touches draining vitality and twisting away at defences. Shadowy tendrils of dark magic erupted from the ground at his behest, grabbing onto and holding down the pseudo-aliens while Velocity shoved them into the pit of shadowy magicks to let more tendrils spawn to grab them.
You took a moment to scan around and smiled as you spotted the Chief Mesmerist trying to focus on Eudaimonica's demon legionaries while they started to throw down a cascade of offensive magic towards Arne's group. As the mesmerist's thoughts raced through its body, you were already there with your grapple beam; pulling it towards you before it could complete that thought and roping it into charged missile strike that cut straight through it and much of its surrounding company.
Missiles: 150/155
The remaining Rikti, now fully aware that you were the greatest threat, started to turn all their fire towards you. You shrugged off a few incoming hits, not wanting them to get too frustrated with trying to land blows on you. The green and blue energies flickered against your shielding and dissipated, your cannon's power beam hammering away at full blast to shred through those who still stood.
A quick morph ball jaunt and you were already in their midst, determined to prevent them from focusing on anyone but you and the bombs you just left in their midst. You weren't going to let them hurt anyone except you, because you could take it and dish it out in spades.
This was exactly where you wanted to be.
Arne
"Bumblebee, Windblade. Can you split up? Each of us take on a squad and keep the fragiles out of the field of fire?" You said as you deflected an incoming plasma sphere with a swing of your power blade back to its sender to prevent it from striking a PRT officer. You looked over the Officer who seemed to be in something of a fugue state, staring at the severed halves of her companion and felt bile in your throat.
You weren't sure what to do for them, but there was too much going on for you to offer them the comfort they needed. You felt bad, sick almost, but you had to save at least some of the people here.
"-You're damn right I can-!" Bumblebee's radio crackled, playing off of some clip you didn't recognise. The solar cannon his arm transformed into whined before making a high pitched pinging sound to send a yellow ovoid of radiant energy that neatly dispatched of a pair of Rikti.
"Good call, but what about the humans?" Windblade asked, her twisting energy sword glancing a fusion lance off into the side before she spun up her turbofans to throw the chief mentalist off his feet before he could try to engage the cityspeaker in a telepathy duel.
"They can pick their own targets, can't they?" You said, not exactly sure what to make of their capabilities just yet. You felt bad about letting them get close to weapons they couldn't tank the way you could, but you gauged that they weren't going to be backing away anytime soon.
You had curled into your psycho morph form and threw aside a Mentalist with a barrage of pulse bursts before unfurling atop a Guardian and smashing your cannon down hard enough to cause something grotesque sounding to snap.
Leaping off the body as its broken vertebrate collapsed beneath it and a green flash indicated it had teleported out, your shock coil erupted to life with blue lightning and the growl of electricity and neutrino flow. It was your favoured weapon, your old reliable and the system best integrated into the capabilities of your suit.
You took a charged shot from a Headman, you didn't care, focusing the coil on the Grey Armoured chief soldier who writhed from the bolts seeping into them and flowing through their suit. Energy flowed from them into your own shielding, and the Rikti busily pouring fire into you hardly noticed Armsmaster behind them.
As your attentions were briefly distracted by Bumblebee launching a barrage of mini-missiles from unfolding launchers in his arms, a Headman tried to stab its powerblade into your back while your free hand was busy grabbing and throwing a Drone that sought to ram you.
Twisting out of its way without looking, you pushed the Rikti into the forward stab of Armsmaster with a backwards kick that cracked its energy shielding. The extra momentum and the dissipated shielding allowed his plasma blade to start burning into the strange composite of the Headman's armour.
"Always watch your six. I figured they'd at least teach that on whatever planet you came from." Armsmaster grunted as he pushed the halberd through just as the Rikti teleported out for treatment.
He huffed and spun around, forewarned of an incoming plasma shot from a drone and with a single, clean motion used his halberd to bat the shot away as you had.
He groaned from the unexpected effort, but was able to rush forward and get the drone off your back the moment you disengaged from the chief soldier; letting it slump to the ground and vanish in a puff.
You paused, analysed for the briefest moment. You had to keep looking for people in need of assistance. The autobots seemed able to handle themselves, Bumblebee making some sort of beeping sound as he swung an energon hammer of some sort and sent half a dozen drones and two infantry flying. Windblade seemed to be doing just as well, missiles erupting from her wings to keep a woman with the most patriotic outfit you've ever seen from being focused down by her opponents.
So that left you, a missile shivering out of your cannon and tearing through a trio of drones with another PRT officer's death scream ringing in your ears as the remaining Headman blasted his upper body off. You analysed the situation again, and saw its Mentalist companion turning their attentions away from you and towards one of the indigenous humans.
You barely even thought through what you were doing and then threw yourself at the Mentalist as it sought to disengage from you and target Battery; fixing her in place by overwhelming her thoughts with psychic noise. Hearing the thrum of its psi-sword roaring to life, you stepped into the swing, grabbed the psi-blade by the hilt and crushed the hilt and the wielder's hands with a squeeze of your fingers.
You let loose another missile, ripping apart the Mentalist right before your cannon converted to beam mode and selected the star beam; letting the highlights turn a rich orange while the cannon expanded vertically. When combined with the prism beam, your shots skipped through the remaining Rikti. Each hit bouncing around and searing through them all the while.
Missiles: 154/155
A cry went out and your heart briefly stopped as you saw the patriotic woman grasp at an arm that had been caught too close to a Rikti plasma sphere, much of the tissue on her shoulder burnt by the radiant heat. Busy with crushing the head of the remaining mentalist and targeting for a charged missile strike on the last batch of drones in your vicinity, you couldn't quite reach them. Windblade too was busy, shielding PRT officers from the drones with her body.
Missiles: 151/155
But fire ruptured from the ground and engulfed the offending Rikti, sizzling shields of magic enshrouding the remaining allies. Nightcaster had sent forth a spell of healing, sapping vital energies from the Rikti and radiating them outwards was issued forth. Dying PRT soldiers gasped with sudden breath; Miss Militia looking at her now mended arm with astonishment before scorching spells of weakening entrapped the Rikti in front of her as its shielding broke down.
Her shotgun actually bowled over the Rikti infantry; its defences weakened to the point that her arsenal was effective and her eyes flicking towards Eudaimonica in acknowledgement.
For your part, you were about wrapping up, taking a power blade to the chin and charging up a beam shot to scorch the offending Rikti. Another death cry, inhuman and anguished as a Demonling found itself blown in half by a Headman rattled in your ears; hellish ichor dripping out as the icy creature cried in pain. Another PRT trooper's scream followed suit, ash wafting onto your helmet as you blew away the alien that had sought to duel you.
Energy: (07 energy tanks: 96 energy remaining in current tank)
More life taken, more life you couldn't help. But your helmet informed you of an Arcane event taking place, and it wasn't the Demon Prince seeming to pull what looked like a small comet of magical ice from a portal to smash into a defensive position of aliens. No, it was Nightcaster pulling life energy; not enough to hurt, but enough to stun enemies in line of sight; from his foes and radiating it outwards.
A legionary that had lost half of its face to a Rikti sword found the bone regrowing in moments, and a trio of bisected PRT troopers found tendrils of darkness pulling their corpses together. Shadow became flesh, and stolen life force wove itself into them. Breath drew itself into restarting lungs, and the dead picked themselves up refreshed and ready, bullets flying into mystically weakened Rikti to cut down the last of the drones.
Even to you, it was an impressive sight to watch, though Nightcaster seemed winded by it and had to pull back, his shadow spirits orbiting around him to intercept shots while his own offensive spells stopped.
Bumblebee certainly seemed to think so, playing a clip of "-Great work kiddo!" after having finished off his mass of Rikti with a burst of electrical energy from his stinger and punting the last one to Windblade whose hand reached out and smashed the alien into the snow.
"I think that's all of them on our end." Windblade said.
"D...don't say stuff like that, please." You said, frowning at the Cybertronian woman's reckless temptation of fate. Didn't she know never to tempt the sentinels of destiny?
Samus
You had cut down nearly all of the remaining Rikti, the last Headman standing after Winterpyre had charbroiled the other trapped in Alice's whip with his hellfire at Eudaimonica's command raising their gun to strike at Armsmaster. With a whistle to get Alice's attention, she muttered an incantation and made a few hand gestures to send tendrils of fiery energy into a nearby PRT corpse. You were treated to the splendid sight of the dead woman's eyes flinging open as her rent armour and ruined flesh knitted back together. But your keen mind's eye could tell that wasn't the only trick, as the coiling energy waited to spring outwards in an orange burst of phoenix-like flames. Harmless to the woman or her possessions, but very much not so to the foe. An inferno hotter than even Rikti plasma weapons engulfed the remaining Headman and turned the snow to molten water or even steam for hundreds of meters. A combination of Alice's shields of magic flame and her shaping of the energies of the Witch's spells protecting the soldiers from the heat while the Headman fried.
You whistled, impressed as you looked to see where the last of the enemies were, ducking as Windblade's neutron assault rifle scythed down three infantry and cheering internally at Bumblebee's cannon smiting a Guardian before they could heal a fallen comrade. You shot at the Guardian's companion with a barrage of beam fire and sent the medic crumpling onto the ground, bleeding red blood before it vanished in a fade of green light.
Two left.
Directing yourself via the distant sight, you catch the last Mentalist wreathing themselves in a psi-cloak and teleporting towards Nightcaster's side with a psi-blade in hand. Not on your watch, you swore as your legs exploded into action.
You vaulted into his direction, spinning and grabbing the foe and smashing its head into the ground before pushing off when you caught sight of Adamant smashing his fist into its back. Ferrokinetic power surged into the shield deprived Rikti and turned the metallic elements of its composites against it, a grunt of alien pain coming from it as bones snapped in its body before its teleport went off.
One last Infantryman, sneaking up behind you, was promptly shoved into Battery's way by Velocity and took a sucker punch to the face that tossed it to the side. Without even looking; you fired off a missile and smirked beneath your helmet as the distant explosion erupted.
Missiles: 149/155.
"Is everyone alright?" You asked, gulping when you did a quick headcount of the PRT officers. There were once forty, not counting the ones that Nightcaster had resurrected, only eighteen still stood. Twenty-two lost souls.
You muttered a prayer for their safe passage into the hereafter and sighed as you sat down on the snow, the wind blowing more flakes into your visor while Arne hovered to your position and unmorphed besides you, taking a knee and then a seat.
"Okay...what was any of that?" Velocity said, panting breathlessly while Eudaimonica pulled some energy from her thermal magics to heal what injuries she could. You could tell that she wasn't as good at it as Nightcaster, but unlike him, she didn't need to leech some energy first to catalyse her healing abilities.
"Rikti, extradimensional invaders who bug our Earth a lot. We got lost in one of their bases beneath Paragon City and well...now we're in New Hampshire I guess? Eye dee kay, Eudai yeeted us through the nearest portal when a patrol saw us.." Nightcaster said between pants.
"...Yeet?" Battery said as she walked up, panting a bit and seeming almost hopelessly confused. Good, that made two of you. However, Bumblebee seemed to approve based on his prompt usage of a clip that said that word with an absolutely enthusiastic voice.
"You know...yeet that motherfucker." Eudaimonica said.
"...I don't get it." Arne admitted. You offered him a sympathetic pat and nodded towards him before sending him a text message to the effect of "Neither do I."
"Throw it like, really fucking good, you know?" Nightcaster said with a shrug and a mimed throwing action.
"I think these people are a bit behind on the slang." One of Nightcasters shadow spirits whispered into his ear as he made an "ooooh" sound of realisation before fishing into his utility belt and pulling out a card.
You took a quick look at it, not asking to hold it when you could make out all the details just fine with your vision. The top was blue with some red while the bulk of the card was white, with a picture of Nightcaster in full costume doing...something with his arms that looked like sneezing. Looking at the pose, he was holding both of his arms diagonally upwards in one direction while he put his face into the fulcrum of the arm closest to it.
You noticed the date on the card read "March 22nd, 2020" and that at the bottom read the text "Issued by the Paragon City Department of the Federal Bureau of Superpowered Affairs and the Modern Arcane Guild of Investigation." It seemed to be some sort of license to carry out vigilante work as well as a brief rundown on his abilities and the team of his association.
"...Kid I cannot even begin to list every reason why this card isn't valid." Armsmaster said with a prolonged sigh.
"Yeah well, we're certified for interdimensional activities by PortalCorp so we're super valid." Eudaimonica huffed while Winterpyre leaned in and snorted, the fiery pits that served as his eyes looming menacingly close to the PRT.
"Can someone make that thing back off before I start feeling uncomfortable?" Battery said, stepping back quickly as the Demon Prince hissed steam from his maw.
"Do not badger my charge mortal, and show some respect for the one who helped save you." Winterpyre grunted.
"-Gentlemen! You can't fight in here! This is the war room!-" Bumblebee chimed in, interposing himself between all the competing parties and flipping their battle mask back up to show his face, blue optics scanning between the two groups while you gave an excited wave to the yellow Autobot.
"Nightcaster." You ask, Arne, turning to you to try and gauge what you're trying to do.
"Yeah?" He says, flicking his attention your way.
"What are you planning on doing here? This isn't your reality so...where would you even go?" You ask, giving him a head tilt.
"Oh you see that's uh...easy we're just gonna well. Find a Rikti base and call PortalCorp to pick us up. Super simple." He said, gesticulating nervously.
"So you're going to stumble around a planet you don't know for a base you're not sure about the location of and then fight your way inside a facility full of hostile Rikti and just...wait to be extracted?" Arne asked, his voice genuinely curious rather than the sort of deadpan snark that sort of statement was usually accompanied by.
"...We uh...never said it was a smart plan?" Eudaimonica admitted as Winterpyre clacked the jaws of his exposed skull together.
"...Yeah we're kind of dumbasses." Nightcaster said before you decided to intercede. You were never going to let people who had done so amazingly well insult themselves like that.
"You're not a dumbass! You did amazing there! What you could do with your magic?! That's incredible! You're so young, and you've got so many genetic health issues, and you've never even met a progenitor and...you're just absolutely not stupid!" You say, shooting up and looming over a now very overwhelmed looking Nightcaster who gulps and raises his hands defensively.
"Pep-talks aside, now that we've shown our presence to you, we need to get you debriefed by Jetfire." Windblade said, making a metallic finger snap to get everyone's attention.
"...Is that a codename or an actual name?" Arne said quizzically.
"We'll request a ground bridge to get you all to our nearby base. I'm sure the Decepticons are involved in this." She said as she tapped at the side of her head.
"Hold on, shouldn't we try and find the Rikti base first? If there's more of them out there this planet would be in so much danger with its low tech level. And I've got the signal tracked already." You said, raising your hand and getting an almost astonished look from Eudaimonica.
"Yooooo my gal cracked Rikti cryptography that's sooooooo sweeeeet!" She cheered.
"Okay okay everyone calm down for five seconds. We're not going anywhere because we have four unattended minors, two aliens, and...whatever you are." Armsmaster said, looking between the four of you, the two Autobots and then at Winterpyre before looking back at Nightcaster.
"What protocol says to do is to bring you in for PRT debriefing. We just need to get the right paperwork cleared and get you comfortable in the system before we let you go off and cowboy your way through the planet." Armsmaster said, raising a finger and then pointing it to the Autobots.
"And you two, did you just admit to already having a presence on the planet?"
"Autobot command's been monitoring your planet and putting down scouts since 1984 to counteract Decepticon activity." Windblade said casually as if these were words that made any sense to anyone but herself and Bumblebee.
"...Okay, I'm calling this in." Armsmaster said after giving her a hard look.
"STOP!" You shout.
"STOP FIGHTING!" You scream loud enough to get everyone's attention.
Arne
You felt overwhelmed by all the shouting as Samus looked to you with concern on her face beneath her helmet. Why was everyone already being so hostile towards each other immediately after fighting together against the Rikti? Is this what passes for solidarity here?
"She's right..." You say, standing up yourself and looking at the group.
"I don't think any of this is normal for any of us?" You say, shrugging as you tried to think of what to do. You were rather annoyed by how unclear the next course of action was...you liked being able to always think of the next plan or the next route. This sort of confusion made you feel helpless.
"But I don't think it'd be right for us to try and leave when there's clearly a lot of stuff going on. Maybe we're here for a reason?" You say, looking towards Samus who nodded in approval.
"Yeah, there's definitely a lot of weird stuff going on already and I think we can help out. Especially if we all try to help each other, right?" She said.
"Yeah...but first." You say before Samus pulls you to the side in a predicted motion to share some words with you in secret. You needed to decide what to go for first.
Options:
These actions will be done in unison by Samus and Arne/Sylux and as such there won't be separate options for them. You can also put in a suboption to convince the other groups to come with you.
[]: Go with the autobots to meet Jetfire
[]: Go with Eudaimonica and Nightcaster to try and uncover the Rikti portal base
[]: Go with the Protectorate to the PRT
[]: Go to the Rikti medical base to see their operations
[]: Try to see what's going on in the nearby Urban area
[]: Focus efforts on learning more about the omnipresent malware.
[]: Write in
[X]: Go with the autobots to meet Jetfire
-[X]: Convince Eudaimonica and Nightcaster to come with you so they can rest and recharge before heading into another fight.
-[X]: Convince the local primitive law enforcement the Protectorate to send a representative with you to the Autobot base to discuss what's going on and coordinate.
I like the autobots more then any of the other options.
There's 40 or so PRT officers, coin flip to see which of the randos lives or dies:
That's a binomial random variable with 40 'trials' and even chances of 'success' or 'failure'.
result: 18 'successes' out of 40 'trials'
For determining injuries among the protectorate we have six protectorate people: Armsmaster, Battery, Assault, Velocity, Miss Militia, Adamant Adamant has a 1 in 10 chance of being injured, Armsmaster a 2 in 10, Velocity a 2 in 10; everyone else a 3 in 10. Then roll again to see whether that injury is serious or not (if they fail the roll again its serious).
So this translates to a 10% chance of injury for Adamant, and a 1% chance of serious injury. Similarly 20% injury and 4% serious injury chances for Armsmaster & Velocity, and 30% chance of injury with 6% chance of serious injury for all other characters considered.
result: Miss Militia injured, not seriously
Eudaimonica's 9 demonlings have a 3 in 10 chance of being injured, her 3 demon legionaries a 2 in 10 chance.
This is a binomial random variable with 9 'trials' and a 30% chance each of being injured for the demonlings, and 6% seriously.
result: 3 demonlings injured, 1 seriously
Similarly the 3 legionaries each have a 20% chance of injury, and 4% chance of serious injury.
[X]: Go with the autobots to meet Jetfire
-[X]: Convince Eudaimonica and Nightcaster to come with you so they can rest and recharge before heading into another fight.
-[X]: Convince the local primitive law enforcement the Protectorate to send a representative with you to the Autobot base to discuss what's going on and coordinate.
The banner says vote opens in 48 hours. It should say closes in 48 hours. I fail at clicking buttons apparently, and there doesn't seem to be a way to edit the scheduled tally. Press F for my stupid ass.
Edit: Issue now resolved
Scheduled vote count started by FreeWhisky on Oct 16, 2020 at 8:59 PM, finished with 6 posts and 17 votes.
[X]: Go with the autobots to meet Jetfire
-[X]: Convince Eudaimonica and Nightcaster to come with you so they can rest and recharge before heading into another fight.
-[X]: Convince the local primitive law enforcement the Protectorate to send a representative with you to the Autobot base to discuss what's going on and coordinate.
[X] Samus
- [X]: Fight a rearguard action to allow your allies to withdraw to a more advantageous position. This will require you to try and distract the Rikti long enough for your allies to flee rather than seek to engage them to destruction.
[X]: Have yourself and the autobots split up to engage different squadrons separately, holding down all their attention and keeping the less durable humans out of harm's way. Allow PRT and Protectorate to split up to engage as they will.
[X] Arne
- [X]: Engage Rikti in close-quarters combat to prevent them from being able to focus on allies. You are the most durable person in the group and would attract the most attention. This will keep your allies the safest.
[X] Arne
- [X]: Engage Rikti in close-quarters combat to prevent them from being able to focus on allies. You are the most durable person in the group and would attract the most attention. This will keep your allies the safest.
[X]: Go with the autobots to meet Jetfire
-[X]: Convince Eudaimonica and Nightcaster to come with you so they can rest and recharge before heading into another fight.
-[X]: Convince the local primitive law enforcement the Protectorate to send a representative with you to the Autobot base to discuss what's going on and coordinate.
[X]: Go to the Rikti medical base to see their operations
This is probably time sensitive, now that we've talked about knowing where their base is and they have broad tech supremacy over everyone else.
Hit it now or never.
