-=NON-CANNON BATTLE POST=-
The cover behind Juniper Hall rattled and shook as lead shells impacted and flattened against it. That would be disconcerting enough without the knowledge that there was an entire trucks worth of armour between herself and her assailant- but also that the two Namidians, one president, and multiple non-combatant agents, were trapped somewhere between them inside the truck itself.
Fortunately the bars on Junipers shoulder that denoted her rank of 'captain' weren't just for show, and she'd already anticipated how to best to turn the situation to her favour.
Her first priority was to ensure that Namidians didn't pen them in and gain control of the battlefield, her second was to ensure that their three prisoners survived to be interrogated, and only once those two objectives were assured did she have the luxury to worry about minimising collateral damage and the damage her own team was likely to sustain.
"You, you and YOU! Return fire to the APC if any troops threaten to break cover! Everyone else, with me! We're moving that van out of the way!"
She called out to the other riders in her unit. Not every agent under her command was gifted, but those who weren't were still more than capable in a scrap. She summoned her own gift and began to expand the ITSDA's feeble cover into something more substantial by summoning several brick walls and concrete roadblocks in a rough ring around the cabless truck.
"Crimson, get moving and clear our flank!- Captain Harding! Cover him!"
An agent crouched in cover by her side, a deceptively fair-featured blonde, shot her a keen
"On it!" before leaving the cover of their truck and taking a running leap into the air. He left two burning footprints and an explosion in his wake as he dived high towards the Namidian gunman without so much as a shadow of hesitation, as though he was as comfortable storming the armoured car as he would have been making a pot of coffee.
Earlier one of the Namidians, Zenith, had called Phoenix Crimson a 'simple predator' and June knew that he'd been right; Daniel's life had revolved around violence since the age of thirteen, and although his lifestyle had made him reckless and volatile, he had nonetheless become frighteningly good at his job. The APC full of Namidian stormtroopers was no light threat, but June knew that for sheer offensive power Daniel was the perfect weapon to take them on.
She turned her attention away from the APC, and towards the other threat; the Black van that'd stopped them dead was only manned by a single gunman, but her training told Juniper that Dieter Sievold's private army was well trained, dangerously resourceful, and well stocked with Gifted lieutenants. With a terse set of orders she began directing her own troops, shoring up her defences against multiple directions and gathering her troops resolve for a counter attack...
"PHOENIX...!"
Daniel dived toward the APC with an eager grin, which was blurred and multiplied by the subtle perception field that Captain Harding had shielded around him. As the distance between himself and his target closed Mister Green swivelled his mounted gun away from the cluster of ITSDA agents and tried to clip the immediate threat, and his efforts were joined by scatted gunfire from the Ghoul troopers who were just leaving the vehicles boarding ramp; although all of their shots seemed to twist and distort harmlessly through Daniels illusionary shield. Stored power built up in his gloved hand and the latent energy behind his attack ignited the air surrounding him just before he struck.
"...PUNCH!"
The APC rocked back onto it's suspension, as the left side that Phoenix struck visibly listed several feet into the air and crashed back to earth. Mister Green was thrown violently from his gunnery seat and across the APCs roof. A blot of white noise squealed over his headset, and through the masks of Samus's entire unit.
Phoenix's first punch had penetrated through several inches of composite armour, and besides throwing several of Dieters elite soldiers off their feet he'd inadvertently damaged Schwartze Augen's tactical transmitter- The Namididan forces reeled for a moment before their systems automatic compensators switched to their short-range configuration. Mister Green recovered from the shock of impact quickly and immediately tried to key back into one of his mission handlers frequencies. Phoenix's punch had done more damage than the young agent knew, and the closest signal that Green could get was butchered by terrestrial interference.
"S----. --een. Draw Phoen-- ------ --to the ----, us- --- --rce necessary."
Mister Green recognised the even tone of Laura even through the disruptive bursts of static, although her actual instructions were illegible. Schwartze Augen had mechanisms in place to restore lost communications, but none of them could be employed whilst their Command APC was still being pummelled by armour piercing punches.
A second explosive jab rocked the vehicle back on it's wheels again, and this time Phoenix's fiery fist split a gap wide enough into the armoured cars side for him to walk through. Any Ghouls who hadn't yet evacuated the vehicle were thrown bodily off their feet and scattered throughout the passenger hold like salt in a shaker. Without S.A's constant tactical input micromanaging his moves Green was forced to fall back on his own training, and he released himself from his gunnery mounting to fall into the APC's compromised hold meet Phoenix Crimson in single combat.
He'd read about the agent in his files, of course. Since the 'Two Crimsons' had battled Daniels file had been updated to include the bright red header 'DO NOT ENGAGE IN C.Q.C'. Unfortunately, Green didn't have much of a choice, and if he didn't deal with Phoenix Crimson now his resources would only diminish. As he dropped from the open-air gunners hatch he landed on the panelled metal floor of the APC's interior with a dramatic stomp of his boots. Crimson was already waiting for him, and greeted him with a cheeky grin.
"Let me guess. You would be Mister... Green?"
He indicated the mans vivid coloured hair with a broad wave of his hand. Green didn't enable Phoenix's need to play with his opponents, and simply made to draw his sidearm.
"My old team did the colour coordinated shtick as well." Phonix continued to prattle.
"Or at least they used to, until you Namidians killed them off. -Oh! On a related note! FINGERS!"
At the same moment that Phoenix shouted that last word he threw a sweep kick in a high arc, and into Greens hand that was just now coming from his jacket with his backup pistol drawn. Daniels kicked carried his hand into the holds wall, where it was crushed between that, his gun and Phoenix's boot with a disturbing snap of broken and dislocated fingerbones.
"Arh-!!!"
Green strangled his own scream of pain in his throat and summoned his Gift; his objective wasn't to defeat Phoenix Crimson here, his files told him that plan was sheer madness, but only to delay him long enough for one off his Ghouls, or perhaps one of Commanders Snipers, to flank him and deal a lethal shot. He forced his alchemical abilities through his broken digits and into the APC's superstructure- turning a fist sized chunk of it's metal frame into pure Argon gas. The claustrophobic hold immediately burst into pale suffocating smog and Green took in a last breath of clean air and held it. Phoenix, completely taken by surprise cried out and ingested a lungful of poisonous air, which left him gagging and stumbling backwards as he instinctively tried to find a source of unpolluted oxygen.
With his own breath held Green pried his weapon out of his ruined digits, and with visible pain and effort managed to swap it into his off-hand. He levelled the weapon at Phoenix just in time to see that the agent had managed to grab a Ghoul helmet off the APC's interior equipment rack and had used it to clear his lungs before he dived back to Green.
Green squared his gun, and pumped it's trigger a trio of times just as Phonix managed to wrench his arm to the ceiling. Ammunition ricochetted and rebounded around the bulletproof transports interior with a firework display of sparks and deafening noise, that was broken with a painful 'Crackk' as Phonix Crimson wrapped his arms around Greens neck and forced his knee into his jaw with a pitiless slam. It had been a good attempt on the Namidian lieutenants part, but without his tactical co-ordination the fight had been viciously one-sided. The Namidians were used to working as a careful group that made accounts for every contingency whereas Phoenix had always been comfortable facing stacked odds, and the damage to their tactical systems had given him the opening he'd needed.
Private Theodore Logan was a hard man, but that was all. He had been rigorously trained by Schwartze Augen in both conventional military technique, as well as specialized counter-gifted combat. He didn't possess super strength or optic blasts or any other kind of gifted ability, yet had been trained how to counter and destroy those who did.
With that said, his training didn't cover what'd just happened.
A single gifted had managed (he guessed by pure chance) to cripple his transport, to throw half his squad into disarray with his opening volley, and to take out both his leader and his contact to his mission co-ordinator.
Mentally his mind filed down his command-chain and realized with a worried start that
he was the units next commanding officer. Considering that his squads misfortunes had all been in the space of a few moments it would be understandable for him to panic, but Schwartze Augen's training was better than that- the studious drilling and training had been taught to him by rote; and he knew exactly how to deal with the new threat.
"Samus!" he Commanded.
"Form on me! Concentrate fire on my mark. Mark!"
With his last word he fired a round into the cramped hold of the APC, and was immediately joined by the four remaining combat-capable members of his squad. Such as it was, the chances of them injuring their superior 'Mister Green' were high, but every ITSDA agent was marked as a high-value target and Logan considered the risk of injuring his superior to be worthwhile against ending the threat of a 'Nova' tier threat.
As the inside of the APC sparked into a rave of rebounding sparks and spent ammunition a gout of fire shot out of the APC's roof and arced down into Logans squad like a mortarshell. With the exertion of battle Phoenix Crimsons armour was glowing a solid white, and Logan scarcely had time to realize that the agent was pushing past the limits of his abilities before his world turned to a mess of disorientation and pain;
Phoenix crashed into the dead centre of five faceless Namidian goons. He couldn't tell one apart from the other, but the gas-filtering helmet he'd stolen identified the one immediately infront of him as 'Acting First Sergeant Logan'. The helmet changed it's display to show a list of more detailed information, but Crimson didn't care to see it because he'd already lifted the it off his head and swung the headpiece in a broad arc to batter Logan's own faceplate as a vicious improvised weapon. Both helmets exploded into fragments, and as Logan collapsed into the ground Crimson raised his fists to handle his next four opponents.
Even without the tactical leadership of Logan, Laura or Green the four remaining soldiers didn't falter- and acted as one as they improvised a battleplan. One dived to tackled Phoenix in a grapple, whilst the others took a step back to use the momentary distraction to check their aim. The first man played his gambit to the hilt, and even as Phoenix downed him with a flurry of explosive punches they were both tackled to the ground by the Ghouls momentum.
As he fell he saw the other men with their weapons already trained squeeze their triggers, and Phoenix twisted in the air to roll into a recovery just as the first volley of rounds sung past his head and kicked craters of asphalt out of the motorway behind him. Daniel desperately ducked and dodged through the multiple lines of fire, another salvo of bullets rattled past him and he felt that the Ghouls wouldn't take much longer to anticipate his evasions- the open road didn't offer much cover, and the hero struggled to think of a way to close the gap to his targets.
"Phoenix! Fall back- the forward flank is open. We're making our escape!" Captain Halls voice suddenly cut across his masks communication systems.
"June! Gladly!" Daniel enthused. He'd been so occupied with his own battle that he'd forgotten the rest of the Captains plan, but she'd obviously been busy herself.
"Just give me a moment! There's something I want to wrap up!"
Daniel stomped both his feet into the ground and launched himself high into the air with an explosive leap. The lines of gunfire tracing him swerved upwards along with the Ghouls aims as they focused their fire on leading their target, and cutting him down before he could dive at them. To their surprise, however, Crimson instead jerked his thumb across his chest to activate his suits 'Flight mode' and fired himself
away from them with a bright burst of flame.
His path brought him out of their veiw and over the top of the stricken Armoured Personnel Carrier. He checked himself by activating his armours airbrakes, and handsprung his landing in an acrobatic vault that dropped him onto the vehicles hood, which brought him grinning face-to-face with Samus's driver through the tanks armoured windshield.
"Buckle up! Buddy!" he called out to the driver, even as the Namidian gunned the APC's engine to either throw off or run down the unwanted Crimson passanger. Phoenix drew back his fist as he wound up another punch, and with a dual explosion of diesel and anti-matter he reduced the transport engine block to a useless mound of burning slag.
Seconds earlier, the ITSDA captain was still engaged in her own conflict.
A bullet whizzed close enough to Juniper Hall's ear to make it ring, and a second round impacted off the brick wall she'd summoned as cover to shower her with shards of hard-light.
She peeled herself out of cover and cracked off a tight bust of bullets at the distant form of Mister Black, who didn't flinch as the deadly storm of ammunition missed him by bare inches. He levelled his weapon and returned fire, sending June back into cover.
"He's reloading! Advance!" she commanded into her headpiece. Mister Blacks ability to slightly alter fate made him a deadly and difficult opponent, but as a single adversary he would only be able to push his luck so far.
As her troops broke cover they were greeted with a volley of return fire- and several muzzle flashes from across the motorways verge told her that a squad of Namidian snipers were covering Blacks blind spots. As she watched one of her agents dropped to the ground howling in surprised agony as a bullet passed through her knee joint- June noted that the snipers seemed to be restraining themselves to non-lethal shots which was something she was thankful for (but, understandably, only by the loosest definition of 'thankful').
"Harding, Sir! Please reposition the perception field off Phoenix and back onto our forward flank! Continue the advance!"
The battle currently hinged on a knifes edge; and every downed Agent or Namidian shifted the weight of the battle by a vital degree. Hall was committed to following through her attack, and she knew that the next few moments would either win or lose them the day.
She pounded after her riders, and a wall of obsticating illusion swept out from the van to cover her. Looking down at her own arms she could see a faint shimmer of afterblur and distorted light- and as another sniper round lanced out at her and missed by a good five feet she knew that Hardings power had taken hold.
Mister Black clacked a new magazine into his weapon and took careful aim. His eyes seemed to linger on the sights for a moment longer than they might have, but when he pulled the trigger June was horrified to see the agent closest to him double over and clutch his hands to a centre-mass bullet wound. With terrifying calmness Black lined up another shot on the next closest agent; June herself. Whatever Blacks fate-altering powers involved they seemed to give him a means to counter Harding's illusion, and June could see the visible concentration on his face as his own gift fought with the other to guide his aim.
June dived to the ground at the same instant the man's aim seemed to steady and his eyes narrowed. Her gift called out for cover, and created a life-saving pile of sandbags only just tall enough to hunker behind. A spray of summoned sand blasted into the air above her as Black's round was wasted, and she dispelled her cover to resume her charge.
The remaining meters between them closed before Blacks gift could line up another shot, and as he forced himself to fire prematurely Hardings gift ensured the shot flew wide. The multiplied and illusionary figures of June summoned another item into her grip, a length of steel piping, which she swung down at him with violent force. Black caught the attack in his bare hand, and although he'd pay for doing so with bruises and fractures the action gave him the chance to pin down June's exact location- which he used to blast her with a dark shot of the same energy that'd jinxed her bike.
Harding's field seemed to shimmer and fade from her, and as Black twisted his grip on his weapon to crush her temple with a savage pistol-whip her feet stumbled backwards and tripped on a magazine that Black had dropped during his gunfight. Bad luck!
Her eyes pulsed red and black as her vision swam, but she managed to steady her posture and keep herself from falling to the ground.
Mister Black was a dedicated bodyguard, and one Dieters more dangerous lieutenants- so he knew how to counter Junipers clumsy retaliation as she held onto her conciousness and took another swing at him. More difficult however, was knowing how to handle the remaining members of Captain Halls squad who were almost on top of him. June fought her corner, and with the two locked in a grapple Black was unable to use his weapons as he was dogpiled, beaten bloodily to the ground, and locked in a pair of restraining handcuffs.
Even with fate on his side, some outcomes were inevitable.
As one of her riders subdued the remaining Namidians in the van, and hastily idled it out of their transports way, Juniper radioed in an update to her convoy.
"Phoenix! Fall back- the forward flank is open. We're making our escape!"
"Slick! Start moving! We will be loading the truck with new prisoners and injured agents- so make yourself ready!"
Tudor paced his Command centre anxiously as he watched his virtual tactical map unfold. With the communication array on Dieters vehicle damaged, and his own strategic aids out of range, he'd been forced to use a long-distance satellite feed that was both unreliable and slow to update. The symbol representing the prisoners transport flickered and lost it's definition, before reforming several meters further down the highway. The prisoner transport was trailed by icons representing several known ITSDA agents, as well as the portraits of Dieters captured Lieutenants. The icons representing his own forces, the Numbered brethren, were unregistrable to his crude satellite fallback- but he knew that once the prisoner transport got moving at full speed they wouldn't be able to keep pace, and that the day would be lost.
The multi-panelled screen dominating his view suddenly shifted format, and a notification from the Namidian net was brought to his attention.
"Schwartze Augen, Sir! Through our emergency channel, Sir!" One of the rooms technicians reported. The emergency channel was only used in the event of a major threat to either Dieter or Commanders organizations- and the fact that it was deployed now indicated both the urgency and weight of the incoming message.
"Put it on the speakers. Audio only. Return main screen to satellite view."
As the tactical map returned to show that the dire situation had worsened the rooms speakers crackled with a calm direct voice. Tudor recognised 'Laura' when he heard her, and although she had been cut off from directly communicating with her men she could still open a channel between other Namidian leaders.
"Acting Commander. The current outcome is unacceptable. Schwartze Augen will not tolerate the capture and interrogation of Samus Unit and two Lieutenants in addition to the casualties we have already sustained today."
Tudor harrumphed his agreement, but added nothing. On the screen the flickering and faulty icons informed him that the cabless prisoner transport was just now passing Mister Blacks downed van, and would soon be on the open road.
"Do you have the means to contact N.B, and to mount a distraction operation?"
Tudor harrumphed again.
"Only barely. N.B has minor munitions, but we can only send simple orders through interceptable one-way wavelength- at this range. If you have a plan it'd better be good."
Lauras voice was as calm as ever. Tudor expected that the situation might elicit a slight note of worry from her, but if anything the need for exact professionalism and quick wits only seemed to make her more driven.
"It is. Tell your troops to stand by- I will also require you to recall a number of your getaway vans back into the field. At designated points A, B and F."
Before Tudor could ask what Laura's recovery plan involved the thermal view of his satellite camera suddenly flared into white noise. Schwartze Augen had triggered the suicide protocols on Mister Blacks van, and dealt a final parting blow against the prisoner transport.
The virtual icons representing Mister Green, Black and several of Samus's still active soldiers scattered from their ITSDA wardens- to make their escape by foot.
Tudor sent his orders.
Seconds earlier...
Sherry hung onto the trucks rear ramp, and watched the procession of captured Namidians being led in step behind her. Juniper had been furious to learn that she'd left her station as the fight had started, but couldn't argue past the fact that Sherrys presence had reduced the ITSDA's casualties to an optimistic minimum. Hall had, however, been adamant that Sherry not be allowed to treat the captured Namidians until they had been sedated, which would have to wait until they had cleared the area and reset the trucks secured deadbolts. Juniper herself was idling her bike behind the prisoners with her eyes open for the first sign of an escape, Harding was still maintaining his distortion field to deter the un-identified Nammidian snipers who must still be lurking close by, and Phoenix Crimson had decided to compensate for his own immobilized bike by hitching a ride atop the Prison Vans roof.
As the prison vehicle started to pick up speed Sherry began to hope that she'd endured the brief burst of excitement the ambush had provided, and that Namidias had played his last hand for the day. Her hopes were shattered when Mister Blacks van detonated without warning- and send a great gout of fire, shrapnel, and searing air across the entire convoy.
Although her hearing had been immediately knocked out Sherry could still register the sharp crack's of fresh gunfire coming from the Namidian sniper team that'd fallen silent after the APC's defeat- her eye's picked out commotion among the fresh captives as well, the handcuffed men and woman of Samus and their two leaders were attempting to fight through the ITSDA lines and make a sprint to freedom, although their efforts were only met with violent retaliation.
Suddenly a second set of explosions set her senses screaming again. Concussive flashbang and gas grenades were being fired from a high arc into the ITSDA lines from the snipers position- the distraction gave the prisoners the edge they needed and they were finally able to break from their captivity. Several of the Namidians were too injured to get far, but both lieutenants and the majority of their soldiers hustled away from the convoy and in separate directions. At this point it must have been obvious that their objective to free Ash and Zenith had failed- and that their new directive was to extract their own casualties.
Sherry squinted her eyes. As some of the fleeing villains made their escape they would seem to fall away and vanish. Between the eye-stinging gas and the confusing nature of a gunfight she couldn't be sure; but she fancied that a few of the fleeing prisoners were being swallowed by 'portals' that would open beneath their feet and spirit them away. What the hell was this?
Several of the ITSDA agents began to direct gunfire towards their fleeing quarry, but Juniper Halls voice cut clear across their headsets to check their actions.
"Hold fire! Our objective is to guard our current prisoners- leave Schwartze Augen to our follow up forces, but we are NOT to pursue this distraction!"
Hall had always been an objective-oriented leader, and now was no different.
"Gaurd the transport with your life. Back to you positions- NOW! Slick, get us rolling again!"
With their siege broken the ITSDA continued on their route, to link up with their sub-Chicago headquarters and deliver their three prisoners into custody. Whilst the Namidian forces made urgent tracks to extract before the numerous other ITSDA forces in the area could hem them in and pick up where Juniper left off.
Beaten and bruised both parties remarked that the fight had not been to their favour- but could have been, and very nearly had been, a whole lot worse.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:48, Sat 05 Dec 2015.