TSW 12: TOYBOX

	Reagan	puts her arm around Robin's shoulder and squeezes. "Everything's fine, everything's fine." She seems to be talking to herself as much as the other girl.
	RobinE	"Yeah, its fine"
	RobinE	"As fine as a monster battle can be anyway."
	Reagan	laughs a little high-pitch.
	Reagan	"And besides, we're practically pros at this, right honey?"
	IcePickLobotomy	The ground suddenly shakes, sending both you sprawling. The lights flicker and bits of dust and concrete float down from above to gently coat you. Artyom takes a moment to stop. "Are you two alright?"
	RobinE	shrugs, "as fine as we can be for fighting."
	Reagan	indignantly straightening her poofy hair. "...Yes."
	IcePickLobotomy	"Right. We go then." he glances to the ceiling "Reminds me of the heavy artillary in the war. . " he mutters, motioning for the two of you to pick up the pace
	Reagan	breaks into a light jog to keep up with Artym, grabbing Robin's hand as she does so.
	Reagan	"It's gonna be alright! When we're all together, we never have too many problems, right!"
	RobinE	takes a deep breath, "yeah."
	Reagan	"Yeah!" She wiggles their held hands.
	IcePickLobotomy	Another blow, stronger the last. Several moments later again, and again. SLowly growing in strength, the thin coating of dust is soon joined by small bits and chunks from the ceiling.
	RobinE	"Man, that thing is goin to town."
	Reagan	frowning, irately brushes concrete from her hair, futilely.
	Reagan	"It's certainly trying my patience."
	RobinE	Sudden realization comes over her face "I wonder..."
	IcePickLobotomy	Another hammer blow, this one much harder than the last. You are sent sprawing despite being prepared. Even Artyom is unable to keep his footing. Chunks on concrete rain down you, the snap and hiss of breaking lights accompanying the ugly roar of the shifting earth.
	Reagan	swaying to her feet, half-dragging Robin up with her. "Wh-what you saying, honey?"
	RobinE	"I," she groans, "I hope everyone at the party got to safety."
	Reagan	"Oh of course, they're in good hands after all, just as good as our Sergeant."
	RobinE	"I hope you are right."
	Reagan	"Sure I am!" She smiles, wincing a little through the concrete dust.
	RobinE	"Forgive me for not sharing your optimism."
	Reagan	"That's fine baby, that's why I got enough for the both a' us!"

	IcePickLobotomy	The car doesn't halt at the underground acess tunnel, instead it blows past the checkpoint, the gate smashed to pieces by the heavy sedan's force. The impact and sharp turn half-way throws most you into the left side of the car.
	IcePickLobotomy	The 2nd car follows shortly behind it
	=-=	Pale_Wolf is now known as Arina
	Arina	lands on Kasra before straightening herself up with an apology.
	Kasra	"It's fine, you okay?"
	Arina	probably hasn't had time to change out of the swimsuit so it's even more awkward. "I am fine, yes."
	Kasra	"Good, because remember, this time, you and me, we're glued." As he says this he grabs her shoulders and smiles reassuringly.
	IcePickLobotomy	The tunnel isn't empty. Groups of technicians and works sprint around, most carrying tools and medical kits. Thankfully the center is mostly clear. The car swerves again, this time rocking back and forth. The lights flicker and the workers outside stumble, some falling to their feet. Dust and specs of concrete flutter in the air. "Sorry, it must be hitting the surface hard." Your driver, a...
	IcePickLobotomy	...woman in a hijab and a business suit, shouts back as she attempts to keep the car straight.
	Arina	chuckles slightly. "... Well I hope not 0x1dliterally0x1d."
	Arina	wobbles into Kasra again. "Not your fault, don't worry about it."
	Kasra	s smile broadens. "Not literally, no. Just remember to fall back if you need, and yes, I will too."
	Arina	nods. "Good to hear."
	Arina	exhales, holding a finger right between his eyes. "And no getting yourself killed. It's rude."
	Kasra	"I said I'd fall back, didn't I?" His hands are raised in mock surrender.
	IcePickLobotomy	The ground shakes again, and again. Each hammer blow harder than the last. Flecks of concrete, then small chips and chunks, plink down on the car.
	Kasra	"Of course at this rate, we might be walking."
	Arina	looks up. "If the damage gets bad enough for us to need to walk, we're not going to be walking anywhere."
	IcePickLobotomy	"Not on my wa-" The driver cuts her pithy statement off as the ground shakes again, only this time a cascade of rock and shattered stone breaks free. The driver floors it, accelerating the car past the collapse, but leaving Mary and John traped behind you. "Damn it!" She hisses after a quick glance back. "Ramirez you better not be dead."
	Arina	hisses. "... Damnation."
	Kasra	"Good driving!"
	Arina	"Very much so, yes. Counting on you."
	IcePickLobotomy	She grunts in acknowledgement before slaming on the breaks, the car sliding to a stop. "Ok, this is our stop." She jumps out of the car and throws your door open, pointing to a nearby stairwell. "Not too far from the hangars, so we'll go on foot from here."
	Arina	"Will do, and thank you for the ride."
	Kasra	"Wish us luck, and get to cover!"
	Arina	hops out of the car, pulling off her heeled sandals and starts running barefoot across the concrete, only wincing a little as she steps on gravel.
	Kasra	With that, Kasra begins bolting off, before seeing Arina's plight. "Would it be faster for me to carry you?"
	IcePickLobotomy	"Roger, I'm going to go back and check on the wreckage." You hear the squeal of tires as you disapear into the stairwell. It's dark, cold, and damp, smelling of iron and seawater. The red glow of the emergency lights just enough to light it.
	Arina	"Probably not, I'm fine."
	IcePickLobotomy	----------
	-->|	WE1RD (Thunderbir@SystemNet-2FD170B0.hsd1.wa.comcast.net) has joined #TSWIC
	=-=	WE1RD is now known as JohnH
	IcePickLobotomy	Within your units, one could almost forget about the chaos outside.
	IcePickLobotomy	The MAGI's text-feed scrolls by at a rapid pace as they status check your units. The briefing text hovers over to the side. [OPERATION PARAMETERS; 5 UNIT COMBAT DEPLOYMENT.]
	Arina	reads it quickly as she runs through the prestart on her end.
	RobinE	is trying to clear her head, breathing deeply as she prepares.
	IcePickLobotomy	[PRIMARY OBJECTIVE. PREVENT INTRUDER ACCESS TO LAYER 13 AT ALL COSTS. INTRUDER IS ATTEMPTING TO BREACH ACCESS TERMINAL HATCH E-4.] A wire-frame springs to life, showing the schematics. THe MAGI show youn two deployment areas. The first is faster, but prevents you from carrying your gear to the surface. The later will take a tad longer, but will allow heavier weapons to be brought up.
	IcePickLobotomy	[UNIT-01/A REQUIRES FURTHER TIME FOR DEPLOYMENT STATUS. IT WILL DEPLOY WHEN READY. DO NOT ASSUME IT WILL BE PRESENT.]
	Arina	immediately picks the first as soon as she's finished reading the Cyrillic characters, and shuts her eyes, humming quietly to herself and squeezing her hand tightly around something slipped into the personal effect storage compartment.
	Kasra	"Prepared for deployment."
	Arina	"... 02/A, ready." She returns her hand to the controls and opens her eyes.
	IcePickLobotomy	[INITIATING DEPLOYMENT. GOOD LUCK.]
	Kasra	"Thanks."
	Arina	"Thank you."
	IcePickLobotomy	Kasra, Arina RobinE: The deployment rails launch forward, forcing you all back into your seats. Your vision blacks out along the edges before you slam to a stop on the surface, bubbles rising in the liquid of the plug. The walls fall away around you to reveal the hell-scape outside. Smoke and fire surround you, and the Intruders trail is apparent. The swath of rubble leading from the beach...
	IcePickLobotomy	...to here is hard to miss. The glow given off by the entity reflects off the smoke and debris around it, surrounding it in a hazy gold corona. Tracer fire and artillery lash out at it, the rounds arcing around it and into the ground or sky.
	RobinE	murmurs something.
	IcePickLobotomy	A large metal hatch, heavily dented and cracks running through it stands in the middle of a large crater. The ground and rubble shift as if a unseen fist were slamming down on it, the smoke around it juts away from the displacement in air. The small cube floats placidly before you as it gently spins.
	Arina	shakes herself and unhooks her Outrider from the launch gantry, moving to get between the Angel and the base hatch.
	Arina	charges into position, scooping up the same surfboard-sized sword as usual as she runs, assuming a guard between the Intruder and the base.
	Kasra	hefts his hammer and tests its weight quickly while extending his AT field to begin neutralizing.
	IcePickLobotomy	The cube pulses a moment, then spins faster. Arina: You feel ground shift beneath you a moment before a sense of crushing wait descends on you. Warnings about structural integrity light up your hud.
	IcePickLobotomy	And then the fist of god slams into you from above.
	Arina	's Outrider falls to the ground, but its glare remains locked on the Angel as her AT field pulses in time with the blow. "Nyet." She's already pushing to get up.
	Kasra	Kasra hefts his hammer and tests its weight quickly while extending his AT field to begin neutralizing.
	IcePickLobotomy	Kasra: Something is wrong. Everytime you attempt to break down the harmonics of the Angel's field, it shifts, switching over and forcing you to start over from the beginning.
	Kasra	"It's uh...it's a slippery one..."
	IcePickLobotomy	Kasra: You see several shimmers appear in the air before the fly to you. Each one impacts you hard.
	RobinE	reaches for her progressive hammer, then she gathers up an energy net and tosses it at the Intruder.
	IcePickLobotomy	You can see a blood red tint slowly coat the sphere of distortion around the angel. . . .
	IcePickLobotomy	Several more of the distortions fly after Kasra, only for them to graze him harmlessly.
	IcePickLobotomy	Reagan, JohnH The elevator's surface doors open up, placing you on the other side of the access hatch from the Intruder.
	Reagan	hefting her pike to her shoulder, she starts off at a run, moving to Sector 6, stopping outside the entrance hatch.
	JohnH	follows behind, keeping pace, rifle shouldered, ready to fire
	IcePickLobotomy	The Intruder spins again, this time longer. The cube separates out into 3 layers of metallic plates, revealing the core, a golden orb with green lines running through it. The a wave of force hammers out at you both. . .
	JohnH	stumbles back from the wave and fires a single shot back towards the intruder
	JohnH	"Shit!" john swears as the shot goes wide
	IcePickLobotomy	The shot misses, but as the first 2 layers of plates retract back over the core, the third remains. The positron shot swerves, arching between the now floating plates and the cube, orbiting it. It's fast enough, and the orbit so short it's little more than a white line.
	IcePickLobotomy	[WARNING. GRAVATONIC ANOMALIE DETECTED]. Arina, you see a distortion grow around you, the way the air and smoke seem to bend inward. Debris start to float up to it. A single utterly black point forms and you find yourself floating up into the air, debris crushing against you. The rest in the team can see your unit pulled to the point, and then the hatch gives a low angry groan as it tears...
	IcePickLobotomy	...itself free from the ground. As it approaches the point it's crushed against the rest of the debris. The entire mass of junk glows red, heating up as your unit is crushed against the surface.
	IcePickLobotomy	[ACCESS BREACHED.]
	IcePickLobotomy	After a moment the force lessens, and Arina is drop back onto the ground, the glowing ball of molten metal and rock hovering above her.
	Reagan	"Arina--!"
	IcePickLobotomy	*droped
	Arina	02/A finishes climbing to its feet, sword point embedded in the ground as a temporary crutch, and once on her feet, Arina hauls the blade upward in a cut, carving the debris in half as she passes through unharmed, and drops back down onto the Intruder with all her weight falling via her sword.
	Arina	's sword sails past and carves into the ground. "Tch."
	IcePickLobotomy	The molten mass hurtles at Kasra. . . .
	Kasra	rotates his outriders torso while splaying it's legs flatter to duck under the redirected projectile.
	IcePickLobotomy	The projectile rapidly turns from a molten ball to a spray as it splatters across the landscape.
	=-=	scya is now known as Mary
	Kasra	You hear Kasra muttering to himself over the comms as he tries to land a hit and fails.
	IcePickLobotomy	[UNIT-01/A ACTIVE.] Mary's ID tag pops into life as she arrives via the 2ndary freight elevator beside John and Reagan.
	Arina	"Good to hear! Welcome, Mary!"
	Kasra	"MARY. I might need a hand here."
	Mary	"Sorry that I am so late .."
	Arina	"We don't mind!"
	Mary	sounds guilty even as she is using the time in the elevator to aim the gun that she brings with her at the enemy while a soft glows encompasses her and her weapon
	IcePickLobotomy	[ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8EUBMp8Aqw ] And she's brought with her the Mk1 Heavy Positron Canon, Mobile. The large gleaming white surface shines in the reddish white, tubes and wires hidden beneath the hardened plastic and metal of the stocky weapon that hugs the back of her unit.
	Kasra	"Oh, that might help...careful everybody."
	IcePickLobotomy	Kasra: Almost in response, you feel the Angel's field changes increase paste.
	IcePickLobotomy	*pace
	Kasra	"...it didn't like that."
	Arina	"Well, if it didn't like it that's good news."
	RobinE	holds to her makeshift net as she approaches the intruder.
	IcePickLobotomy	The Positron shot that's been orbiting the Intruder streaks off at Mary. At the same time, it floats over the now open access shaft leading into the base.
	Arina	cuts the Intruder in the back as it tries to pass her.
	IcePickLobotomy	Your blade is yanked to the side, it bisected empty air as the outermost layer of the Intruder fits back over the cube.
	IcePickLobotomy	Mary: It's not using it's AT Field directly, rather it's using it's AT Field to control gravity. It captured that shot and held it, constantly expending it's energy to hold it and throw it back at it's target.
	Mary	"It has to spend energy to hold these shots back, which means that it runs out of power faster if it is forced to contain them!"
	Mary	takes aim, the otgrows of her field reaching out for those of the Intruder, and then as she lets lose a breath her shots fly correcting itself as it flies a bit
	IcePickLobotomy	The first and 2nd layers of the Angel peel off, the shot arcs around it, now orbiting the angel like the last was.
	JohnH	"That shot is much bigger than mine was, be careful!"
	Arina	"Brace for impact!"
	Kasra	"It was also harder to catch...it had to work for that one."
	IcePickLobotomy	Another massive pulse of force washes past John and Reagan, directly into Mary.
	IcePickLobotomy	The blow snaps your head back, and topples you over into the elevator shaft, where you land hard amidst the ammo and weapons. The armor on your face-plate cracked and the viscous black-blood oozing thickly over your unit.
	Mary	guided by instinct more then anything moves her head slightly, and then the screaming starts as the armor on her head starts to melt and drop down around her while she can feel her skin burn
	Arina	"Mary!"
	Mary	"urgh....still.. alive."
	Arina	"That's good to hear."
	Reagan	lopsidedly lefts her pike and charges the intruder with a yell, but is off balance, unused to working with such heavy weapons, and swipes at it, missing.
	IcePickLobotomy	The orbiting shot from Mary zips out at Kasra
	Kasra	After crumpling slightly after the blow, Kasra takes in a gulp of air and gasps a request. "Mary! Can you get a read on it's AT field? It's acting weird, I could use help figuring it out."
	Mary	!I can try, give , give me a moment to stop seeing double"
	JohnH	"Let's see how you can handle this!" John lets loose a volley of shots
	IcePickLobotomy	All the shots pass through the field. Kasra feels it fight, but fail to bring up enough power in time. The outer covering snaps and shatters, the 2nd scorches and smokes. A sound like shards of glass in a blended on high reverberates out from the creature setting your ears on edge.
	Arina	half-snarls, half-grins. "Good shooting John!"
	Kasra	"WAY TO GO JOHN!"
	IcePickLobotomy	It floats down into the shaft, out of sight of you all.
	IcePickLobotomy	Mary: You see if descent into view, half-way down the shaft, and above you.
	JohnH	"Get back here, I wasn't done with you!"
	Kasra	"That's an issue...command, advise?"
	Arina	growls. "Damn it..."
	IcePickLobotomy	[ROUTING RAPID TRANSFER RAILS TO INTERNAL DEFENSIVE LINE. UNIT-01/A. ENGAGE AND HOLD THE INTRUDER UNTIL REINFORCEMENTS ARRIVE.]
	RobinE	"crap that thing can move."
	Arina	"Thanks Tactical, we're on the way!"
	Kasra	"Understood."
	RobinE	"I gotta try and catch that thing," Robin heads back to the elevator to head to sector 3.
	IcePickLobotomy	The Intruder finishes its decent just as Robin arrives. It stops and seems to be waiting.
	IcePickLobotomy	[CLOSING BLAST DOORS.] The massive bulkheads slide shut, trapping you between 9inch SuperMat armoring and the Intruder.
	Arina	steps out of the elevator a moment after Robin does, just in time for...
	IcePickLobotomy	Another blast of force. This one catching Mary and slamming her into the blast doors. A deep resounding boom echoes across the tunnels as a large dent forms on the door.
	Mary	"Walker.. Close anything behind me "Mary wimpers for a moment as she starts tu aim kneeeling to allow her weapon to reach that high before the blast hits hits her
	IcePickLobotomy	"Mary?" Her voice is barely legible over the harsh crackle of the radio "What are you planning?"
	Mary	There is static audibile from marry as her eva gets knocked back and then falls on its face trying to reach out for the intruder
	Mary	"Hey Kids... don't ... don't try this at home."
	Arina	"Mary what are you doing?"
	IcePickLobotomy	[SEALING BLAST DOORS. ALL PERSONAL. STAND BACK.] The doors slam shut leaving Robin and Arina on one side, and leaving Mary and the Intruder sealed in the shaft.
	IcePickLobotomy	Mary: The seals above you slide shut with a reverberating "think"
	Arina	"Wha-?!"
	Reagan	"Someone wanna tell us what's goin' on here?"
	Mary	closes her eyes as her field starts to wave and pulse falling destablised back on herself before you can see her saying something that is lost in the anomally as then her field surges outward in a brilliant glow visible on the other side of the doors. And then you can see the doors glow as they start to melt and something huge is crashing down
	Arina	"Mary just locked herself in with the Angel!"
	IcePickLobotomy	Kasra: The shaft glows cherry red for a brief moment, before a massive gout of green fire, crackling with lightening bursts out into the sky. Static hisses and washes across the radio and your sight.
	Kasra	"...well done, Mary."
	IcePickLobotomy	RobinE, Arina The blast doors don't slide open. They melt onto the ground. The shaft is glass and molten stone, Mary's unit blackened and glowing cherry red in places, arc's of green lightening slowly peeling themselves across the metal. The Intruder is likewise damaged, several of the plates are shattered and broken. The core is blackened and burned.
	IcePickLobotomy	Mary: You can barely see past the darkened vision, but you can see something forming in front of you. A small, black, dot, with a distorted bent of the background to it. You have just enough time to realize what it is, a black hole, before it drags you and the pools of molten rock into it.
	Arina	"Mary!"
	Mary	tries to scream out something before she vanishes, the gravitational distortion making her last scream hang longer in the air then she is around
	IcePickLobotomy	You black out, a moment later you slam into the ground. Your unit laying at the feet of the others in the shaft.
	Mary	groans
	Reagan	"What in the--"
	Arina	glares up at the Angel, teeth grinding.
	Reagan	bearing her teeth, her outrider mimicking the gesture, she makes a running jump into the open shaft and lands on the intruder, spearhead pointed downward.
	IcePickLobotomy	The Intruder's field flickers to life, only for it to spark as lingering bolts of emerald energy disrupt it. Your spear hits home, shattering the rest of the body, leaving the core hanging in the air.
	IcePickLobotomy	More, smaller, distortions ripple out at Mary's unit.
	Arina	"Mary withdraw!"
	Kasra	mutters to himself as he takes the elevator down.
	IcePickLobotomy	Mary's icon turns red on your huds. [WARNING. PILOT DOWN. IMMEDIATE MEDIVAC REQUIRED.]
	Mary	scream gets  n cuts off as she lolls foreward and swims in the cockpit
	IcePickLobotomy	Kasra: As you step out it fires off several gravity lances at you.
	Arina	"... God damned monster."
	RobinE	"hold on Mary," Robin mutters as she runs out to help her. Dragging her eva off to safety.
	IcePickLobotomy	[Unit-01/A RECOVERED. MEDIVAC IN PROGRESS. CONTINUE OPERATION.]
	Mary	is leaving molten pieces of armor behind while some green sparks linger on her, her chest badly crunched in around the entry plug
	IcePickLobotomy	Arina: You feel the sensation of gravity increasing again, but it fails to do appreciable damage.
	JohnH	drops his gun to the ground and draws his knife, yelling in his semi-drunken stupor as he plummets down the shaft, knife-point first, towards the intruder
	IcePickLobotomy	The Core shatters. Motes of green light, mixed with a hazy gold light fills the shaft for a moment before they fade.
	IcePickLobotomy	A moment latter John slams into the ground
	Arina	"Good shot, John!"
	RobinE	sighs in relief.
	Arina	darts over to help his Outrider stand up again.
	Reagan	sighs. "Not bad, Mr.  Hunter."
	Kasra	"Excellent job, John. Need a hand?" Kasra sounds shaken.
	IcePickLobotomy	[INTRUDER DESTROYED. OPERATION COMPLETE. ALL OBJECTIVES COMPLETED.]
	JohnH	shakily stands up, struggling to maintain balance in his giant war machine, as fatigue and alcohol take their toll
	RobinE	"Good job guys."
	Kasra	"John, are you okay?"
	JohnH	"I'll be fine" John waves a giant mechanical hand in a dismissive fashion, throwing himself slightly off balance
	IcePickLobotomy	[PILOT HUNTER IS SUFFERING FROM A ELEVATED BLOOD ALCOHOL LEVEL]
	Kasra	seems to lose what remains of his surety, and rather than supporting John glances back at the core, staring motionlessly.
	Arina	"How's Mary...?"
	Arina	supports John on the other side from Kasra. "Careful there, John."
	IcePickLobotomy	[PILOT ROBINSON IS BEING RECOVERED FROM THE CORE. BATTLE DAMAGE HAS RESULTED IN FURTHER COMPLICATIONS. PILOT ROBINSON'S LIFE SIGNS ARE ERRATIC.]
	JohnH	"I'm going to need some more of that punch after this one"
	Arina	"... I see. Thank you."
	Kasra	"...command, advise on pilot Robinson's condition."
	Arina	shuts her eyes and takes a deep breath.
	RobinE	"That went better than I thought it would," you can't tell if she is joking or not.
	JohnH	"Let's get back to base" John attempts to climb the shaft
	Reagan	"...Now what the /hell/ did Mary do back there?"
	Arina	"I'm... honestly not sure."
	Kasra	laughs. "She went boom. I hope she lives. I need to congratulate her."
	Reagan	falls quiet.
	RobinE	"she'll be fine. Eveyone has been so far," she tries to comfort Reagan.
	Arina	looks back at the shaft, frowning slightly.
	|<--	Reagan has left irc.systemnet.info (Quit: ChatZilla 0.9.92 [Firefox 45.0.2/20160407164938])
	Kasra	"Not everyone has done what she did though."
	Mary	bleeds a bit in the entry plug as she is extracted
	RobinE	"yeah, I don't know."
	Arina	"... not... everyone, no."
	JohnH	ignores the comms as he ascends the pit walls
	Arina	"John, you, ah... know we can wait for extraction, right?"
	IcePickLobotomy	JohnH: You find no purchase.
	IcePickLobotomy	It's glass. Smooth and hot to the touch.