Re: Intense Struggle Season 2! (Round 1: Training Facility ONX)
08-23-2010, 04:13 PM
Originally posted on MSPA by WoodlandBeef.
The Hunterbot’s termination protocol had kicked in gear as the machine bore down on its first and highest priority target, Marcus. Even as the robot and man grappled, Charlie’s processor worked double time to ascertain useful data about the man. Indeed Karen’s display of powers had escalated her position to one of the more dangerous beings present, but the Hunterbot’s logic demanded it secure data on the weapon toting soldier. If not for the Monitor’s initial description of Marcus, it quite possibly could’ve been Karen being deadlocked with the CH4-12-L13 unit. Meanwhile, Lloyd could only hang on to Charlie’s segmented tail by his towel in vain attempt to bring down the mech.
“Thanks, but Lloyd…you’re insane!” “Seconded.” “…can somebody else help me out here!? Holding hands with the thing intent on killing me isn‘t my ideal afternoon you know”
The mercenary’s palms were in an inverse tug-of-war with the robot’s pincers as the two pushed against each other. They were almost evenly matched if it weren’t for Marcus’ lack of a third arm and leg where Charlie possessed a clear advantage of balance and available weaponry. The Hunterbot’s left leg stepped forward and then its right as it pushed Marcus back into the room’s wall and started to bear down on him. A point blank shot from that menacing laser cannon would turn Marcus into a smoking bloodstain on the wall; the only thing saving him was that for some odd reason, the robot hadn’t bothered to fire it.
Reudic gave the situation some thought and against its better judgment, floated slightly closer to the clashing trio and lashed out with its extendable roots. The plant’s tendrils snaked their way up and around the tail segments, trying to locate a vital point and perhaps work its mental influence on the armored beast. Charlie’s turret segment rotated around and faced the Viridioflorian and Lloyd while continuing to pressure and hopefully overpower Marcus. The primitive looking man grunted as he was forced to one knee while both Lloyd and Reudic tugged vehemently on Charlie’s tail. The Hunterbot’s central processor whirred and decided that the plant and other humanoid could be terminated just as quickly, if not quicker, than the current high priority threat.
“What the heck are you all doing!? We have more pressing matters to attend to! Like-” Charlie expunged a hiss of steam from its coolant tank, drowning out Sarika’s words as the Hunterbot’s pincers began to rotate and grind into Marcus’ palms. The man winced at the sharp tip of metal digging into his toughened skin when suddenly his hands were grasping at the air. He didn’t wait long to figure out where the claws went though as one swatted him aside and the other doing the same to Lloyd in the opposite direction. Both men were sent sprawling to the opposite ends of the room and the Hunterbot fixated its optics on the roots attached to Reudic. Reudic made a strange noise that was a cross between a dismayed groan and frightened shriek as the Viridioflorian acknowledged where the armored beast’s attentions were focused.
“Hae-alp”
The machine’s pincers opened, exposing the flamethrower nozzles and directed them towards the roots still hungrily exploring the polished, steel surface. Twin jets of flame erupted forth and set the biological matter ablaze, forcing some of the contestants to look away while Reudic struggled to somehow dislodge itself from the now-burning roots. The dancing tongues of flame lapped hungrily at their food source and began to quickly slither towards Reudic’s deliciously flammable body. There was a quick movement and Deokwin was hovering near the floating rosebush with claws extended. The burning ashes fell to the floor harmlessly, until some of the cinders landed in some of the goop splattered across the floor.
The green substance gradually turned a vibrant orange and began to bubble and froth as small fires manifested on the surface. Soon, the blazing goo started to smoke and sink into the floor, or rather began to eat away at the floor. Charlie’s processor scanned the strange gelatinous substance and found it now had an acidic quality that would constantly eat way at whatever surface it was present on. The other contestants were either recuperating or watching the goo and Hunterbot carefully, except for Lillian whose emotions began to run rampant and she began to cry uncontrollably.
“What the hell is wrong with you!? It‘s okay Lillian…shhh…it‘s okay, I promise I‘ll protect you” Karen urged as she backed the small girl up to a wall and used herself as the shield. The gaming female did not move, but her hand hovered cautiously by her waist where the hilt of her sword was presently located after having slung it upside down.
Marcus grunted and rubbed his head as he shakily rose to his feet, but fell back to one knee. Being swatted by a big steel claw into a big steel wall did absolute wonders for his injured leg. Despite the pain, he drew his trusted firearm, the Retribution. Sighting down the barrel, Marcus planned to fire off some shots when Sarika cried out.
“Don’t shoot!”
The mercenary muttered under his breath and grit his teeth together, but after all that time spent in the tunnel with the prophetess, Marcus knew better than to ignore warnings and commands from her. It proved to be a good decision because Dekowin’s fluttering form was upon the killer mech with her biometal claws poised to gouge the metal and rip out its circuitry. If Marcus had shot, he might‘ve actually done the killing rather than the robot.
The pre-pubescent Volkhanbet screeched in a bloodcurdling manner that sent bits of spittle everywhere, smoke rising from the surfaces that it touched having become acidic. Charlie’s left pincer lashed out to swat the fly as well as shield its body from the dangerous substance. Small holes melted through the claw’s frontal plates as the acid ate away at the paint and armor. As futuristic as the Hunterbot’s armor was, some biological acids just couldn’t be totally protected against especially if their content was unknown in their universe. Ignoring the superficial damage, Charlie released a jet of flame that the Volkhanbet easily dodged while setting more ooze ablaze.
Dekowin was clearly faster than the Hunterbot as she fluttered around the machine and took potshot swipes with her claws. Charlie’s armor was thicker than she expected as her claws only seemed to scratch the paintjob. She tried to get closer to the central body so maybe some of her acid spit could eat away at the armor plating, but the machine seemed to become more and more aware as it tried to fight with her. Not to mention spitting acid did wonders for her throat. This only infuriated the warrior princess and she grew more aggressive, almost to reckless levels.
As any good hunter would do while stalking its prey, Charlie was securing data on Dekowin and her fighting style even in the heat of battle. The human-insectoid was quite a threat, especially with the biological substance that she could spew at will it seemed. Unfortunately, the only way to quickly dispose of the pesky fly would to blast it with the plasma cannon; and at such a close range inaccuracy was abundant. Charlie’s body segments shifted back and forth as it tried to avoid Dekowin’s rapid slashes until the Volkhanbet’s attack pattern became rather predictable in her recklessness and the Hunterbot struck back.
A wide arcing swipe by Dekowin whiffed as Charlie’s tail folded backwards and was punished by a metal claw clamping down on her abdomen. The strange composition of the Volkhanbet’s exoskeleton prevented the robot’s claws from crushing and snapping the girl in half so Charlie did the next best, logical thing. Gyrating the arm segment, the cool, heartless, well-oiled machine slammed Dekowin into the ground before forcefully hurling her across the room and into a wall. The jarring impacts left the girl relatively stunned state against the wall. The Hunterbot’s turret hummed and buzzed as it charged the tail-mounted laser cannon. Several of the contestants collectively drew in a sharp breath.
“Shit!”
Marcus quickly brought up the Retribution and sighted up Charlie’s tail tip. He didn’t have much time so this shot had to count or not much of Dekowin would be left save for a stain of smoking blood and plasma fused to the wall. Exhaling a deep breath, the mercenary’s finger moved to the trigger.
“Marcus! Don’t….shoot…SHOOT! No don’t! Yes! No! Sh-”
“SHUT IT!” snapped the mercenary and he depressed the trigger.
‘Whatever your stupid future vision holds has to be better than the guilt on my mind of letting another person die. It’s why I went rogue in the first place’
The Retribution’s barrel kicked back with a flash of the muzzle. The bullet whisked through the air and it felt like time slowed around the mercenary and Hunterbot; allowing the other contestants to see the bullet’s trail through the rippling air. Lloyd was pushing himself to his knees; Lillian cowering behind Karen who watched impassively; Reudic who floated with a wary indifference; Sarika clutching at her staff while pressed against a wall; and Dekowin clutching at her abdomen with one eye trained on her imminent executor. In a flash, everything happened…
Lillian and Sarika screamed. The bullet casing glanced off Charlie’s turret, but the impact jostled the aim. The plasma bolt discharged from the turret and seared through the air with an electrical crackle. Lloyd spat a curse, but it was unsure if the curse was directed at Marcus or Karen. Karen’s visage was stoic at the burst of plasma heading directly for her and consequently Lillian behind her.
“I promised to give my life protecting you all, and that’s what I intend to do…” Karen stated as her hand grasped the hilt of her sword and drew it with a flourish. “…but I’m not going to end here!”
The swordmage’s magically infused blade clashed with the sparking bolt. Her hair fluttered outwards and the girl’s teeth were bared in a fiercely determined expression. With a cry and white-knuckled grip on her sword, Karen twisted and deflected the laser bolt. Her hair fell haphazardly over her face concealing half of it while the other glared with a heated fury.
“You’re a hero! BUT ALSO AN IDIOT!”
The burst scorched and exploded into the far wall where it should’ve harmlessly just damaged the infrastructure. That wasn’t the case though as the doors previously sealed by Ifreet clattered to the ground, semi-melted and smoking. Even though the hallway from which Lloyd, Karen, Charlie, and Reudic had been concealed by the smoke; all eight of the contestants could make out forms of various sizes scuttling, scampering, slithering, and making all sorts of grotesque, gut-wrenching noises as they proceeded towards them.
The Hunterbot’s termination protocol had kicked in gear as the machine bore down on its first and highest priority target, Marcus. Even as the robot and man grappled, Charlie’s processor worked double time to ascertain useful data about the man. Indeed Karen’s display of powers had escalated her position to one of the more dangerous beings present, but the Hunterbot’s logic demanded it secure data on the weapon toting soldier. If not for the Monitor’s initial description of Marcus, it quite possibly could’ve been Karen being deadlocked with the CH4-12-L13 unit. Meanwhile, Lloyd could only hang on to Charlie’s segmented tail by his towel in vain attempt to bring down the mech.
“Thanks, but Lloyd…you’re insane!” “Seconded.” “…can somebody else help me out here!? Holding hands with the thing intent on killing me isn‘t my ideal afternoon you know”
The mercenary’s palms were in an inverse tug-of-war with the robot’s pincers as the two pushed against each other. They were almost evenly matched if it weren’t for Marcus’ lack of a third arm and leg where Charlie possessed a clear advantage of balance and available weaponry. The Hunterbot’s left leg stepped forward and then its right as it pushed Marcus back into the room’s wall and started to bear down on him. A point blank shot from that menacing laser cannon would turn Marcus into a smoking bloodstain on the wall; the only thing saving him was that for some odd reason, the robot hadn’t bothered to fire it.
Reudic gave the situation some thought and against its better judgment, floated slightly closer to the clashing trio and lashed out with its extendable roots. The plant’s tendrils snaked their way up and around the tail segments, trying to locate a vital point and perhaps work its mental influence on the armored beast. Charlie’s turret segment rotated around and faced the Viridioflorian and Lloyd while continuing to pressure and hopefully overpower Marcus. The primitive looking man grunted as he was forced to one knee while both Lloyd and Reudic tugged vehemently on Charlie’s tail. The Hunterbot’s central processor whirred and decided that the plant and other humanoid could be terminated just as quickly, if not quicker, than the current high priority threat.
“What the heck are you all doing!? We have more pressing matters to attend to! Like-” Charlie expunged a hiss of steam from its coolant tank, drowning out Sarika’s words as the Hunterbot’s pincers began to rotate and grind into Marcus’ palms. The man winced at the sharp tip of metal digging into his toughened skin when suddenly his hands were grasping at the air. He didn’t wait long to figure out where the claws went though as one swatted him aside and the other doing the same to Lloyd in the opposite direction. Both men were sent sprawling to the opposite ends of the room and the Hunterbot fixated its optics on the roots attached to Reudic. Reudic made a strange noise that was a cross between a dismayed groan and frightened shriek as the Viridioflorian acknowledged where the armored beast’s attentions were focused.
“Hae-alp”
The machine’s pincers opened, exposing the flamethrower nozzles and directed them towards the roots still hungrily exploring the polished, steel surface. Twin jets of flame erupted forth and set the biological matter ablaze, forcing some of the contestants to look away while Reudic struggled to somehow dislodge itself from the now-burning roots. The dancing tongues of flame lapped hungrily at their food source and began to quickly slither towards Reudic’s deliciously flammable body. There was a quick movement and Deokwin was hovering near the floating rosebush with claws extended. The burning ashes fell to the floor harmlessly, until some of the cinders landed in some of the goop splattered across the floor.
The green substance gradually turned a vibrant orange and began to bubble and froth as small fires manifested on the surface. Soon, the blazing goo started to smoke and sink into the floor, or rather began to eat away at the floor. Charlie’s processor scanned the strange gelatinous substance and found it now had an acidic quality that would constantly eat way at whatever surface it was present on. The other contestants were either recuperating or watching the goo and Hunterbot carefully, except for Lillian whose emotions began to run rampant and she began to cry uncontrollably.
“What the hell is wrong with you!? It‘s okay Lillian…shhh…it‘s okay, I promise I‘ll protect you” Karen urged as she backed the small girl up to a wall and used herself as the shield. The gaming female did not move, but her hand hovered cautiously by her waist where the hilt of her sword was presently located after having slung it upside down.
Marcus grunted and rubbed his head as he shakily rose to his feet, but fell back to one knee. Being swatted by a big steel claw into a big steel wall did absolute wonders for his injured leg. Despite the pain, he drew his trusted firearm, the Retribution. Sighting down the barrel, Marcus planned to fire off some shots when Sarika cried out.
“Don’t shoot!”
The mercenary muttered under his breath and grit his teeth together, but after all that time spent in the tunnel with the prophetess, Marcus knew better than to ignore warnings and commands from her. It proved to be a good decision because Dekowin’s fluttering form was upon the killer mech with her biometal claws poised to gouge the metal and rip out its circuitry. If Marcus had shot, he might‘ve actually done the killing rather than the robot.
The pre-pubescent Volkhanbet screeched in a bloodcurdling manner that sent bits of spittle everywhere, smoke rising from the surfaces that it touched having become acidic. Charlie’s left pincer lashed out to swat the fly as well as shield its body from the dangerous substance. Small holes melted through the claw’s frontal plates as the acid ate away at the paint and armor. As futuristic as the Hunterbot’s armor was, some biological acids just couldn’t be totally protected against especially if their content was unknown in their universe. Ignoring the superficial damage, Charlie released a jet of flame that the Volkhanbet easily dodged while setting more ooze ablaze.
Dekowin was clearly faster than the Hunterbot as she fluttered around the machine and took potshot swipes with her claws. Charlie’s armor was thicker than she expected as her claws only seemed to scratch the paintjob. She tried to get closer to the central body so maybe some of her acid spit could eat away at the armor plating, but the machine seemed to become more and more aware as it tried to fight with her. Not to mention spitting acid did wonders for her throat. This only infuriated the warrior princess and she grew more aggressive, almost to reckless levels.
As any good hunter would do while stalking its prey, Charlie was securing data on Dekowin and her fighting style even in the heat of battle. The human-insectoid was quite a threat, especially with the biological substance that she could spew at will it seemed. Unfortunately, the only way to quickly dispose of the pesky fly would to blast it with the plasma cannon; and at such a close range inaccuracy was abundant. Charlie’s body segments shifted back and forth as it tried to avoid Dekowin’s rapid slashes until the Volkhanbet’s attack pattern became rather predictable in her recklessness and the Hunterbot struck back.
A wide arcing swipe by Dekowin whiffed as Charlie’s tail folded backwards and was punished by a metal claw clamping down on her abdomen. The strange composition of the Volkhanbet’s exoskeleton prevented the robot’s claws from crushing and snapping the girl in half so Charlie did the next best, logical thing. Gyrating the arm segment, the cool, heartless, well-oiled machine slammed Dekowin into the ground before forcefully hurling her across the room and into a wall. The jarring impacts left the girl relatively stunned state against the wall. The Hunterbot’s turret hummed and buzzed as it charged the tail-mounted laser cannon. Several of the contestants collectively drew in a sharp breath.
“Shit!”
Marcus quickly brought up the Retribution and sighted up Charlie’s tail tip. He didn’t have much time so this shot had to count or not much of Dekowin would be left save for a stain of smoking blood and plasma fused to the wall. Exhaling a deep breath, the mercenary’s finger moved to the trigger.
“Marcus! Don’t….shoot…SHOOT! No don’t! Yes! No! Sh-”
“SHUT IT!” snapped the mercenary and he depressed the trigger.
‘Whatever your stupid future vision holds has to be better than the guilt on my mind of letting another person die. It’s why I went rogue in the first place’
The Retribution’s barrel kicked back with a flash of the muzzle. The bullet whisked through the air and it felt like time slowed around the mercenary and Hunterbot; allowing the other contestants to see the bullet’s trail through the rippling air. Lloyd was pushing himself to his knees; Lillian cowering behind Karen who watched impassively; Reudic who floated with a wary indifference; Sarika clutching at her staff while pressed against a wall; and Dekowin clutching at her abdomen with one eye trained on her imminent executor. In a flash, everything happened…
Lillian and Sarika screamed. The bullet casing glanced off Charlie’s turret, but the impact jostled the aim. The plasma bolt discharged from the turret and seared through the air with an electrical crackle. Lloyd spat a curse, but it was unsure if the curse was directed at Marcus or Karen. Karen’s visage was stoic at the burst of plasma heading directly for her and consequently Lillian behind her.
“I promised to give my life protecting you all, and that’s what I intend to do…” Karen stated as her hand grasped the hilt of her sword and drew it with a flourish. “…but I’m not going to end here!”
The swordmage’s magically infused blade clashed with the sparking bolt. Her hair fluttered outwards and the girl’s teeth were bared in a fiercely determined expression. With a cry and white-knuckled grip on her sword, Karen twisted and deflected the laser bolt. Her hair fell haphazardly over her face concealing half of it while the other glared with a heated fury.
“You’re a hero! BUT ALSO AN IDIOT!”
The burst scorched and exploded into the far wall where it should’ve harmlessly just damaged the infrastructure. That wasn’t the case though as the doors previously sealed by Ifreet clattered to the ground, semi-melted and smoking. Even though the hallway from which Lloyd, Karen, Charlie, and Reudic had been concealed by the smoke; all eight of the contestants could make out forms of various sizes scuttling, scampering, slithering, and making all sorts of grotesque, gut-wrenching noises as they proceeded towards them.