Taxor_the_First
Well-Known Member
Taxor the First and DarkGemini24601
Operation Hidden Stranger, Part 5
A peek from behind the trees on the island confirmed Samantha’s fears. “Cat’s onto us,” she said. “Keep the trees between us and the other guys at all times, unless you can get a shot off on them. Dolores, I want you to hunt that Sectoid down. Everyone else…” she turned in time to see the beast cross the threshold, appearing from the other side of the island with an animal scowl on it’s face. “... let’s put this one down.”
The hulking beast leaped forward, claws outstretched. Samantha rolled out of the way, discarding her Novagun as she did so. Hope he doesn’t step on it, she thought, pulling out her shotgun. Not breaking stride, the Incubator continued forward, swinging it’s deadly paws.
“Whoah!” Nick said, also rolling out of the way. He took a reaction shot with his shotgun, though the creature, predicting the shot, easily weaved away, straight towards Spyridon. It swiped at him, his reaction time saving him for the time being from being disemboweled. But the Incubator did not relent, pushing at the scout with a flurry of paws. One swat got through, striking the scout on the side and shattering his personal shield.
“The hell?!” Spyridon said, getting up and backpedalling. “One hit! One hit!”
My strength is unparalleled, the Incubator’s voice boomed. Certainly none of you could hope to match it.
“Sure about that?” Samantha taunted, standing in the open. “Come on. You, me, fisticuffs, let’s go.”
The Incubator snorted. Surely you jest? When she didn’t back down, it growled. Very well! Allow me to demonstrate why my species is used in melee combat and yours is not! It pounced, sailing through the air towards the Huntress, who remained unmoving. Midway through it’s pounce, the Incubator read an unfamiliar term in her mind. Hyperdrive? What?
The familiar blue shell enveloped Samantha’s form, air hardening around her armor. She swung her left fist at the Incubator, impacting it’s snout and causing a severe concussion. The blow was not without cost, however. With the punch came the sound of cracking bone, not from the Incubator. With the creature lying stunned on the ground, Samantha winced in pain, the latent self-biokinesis in her ability slowly going to work repairing her now shattered left knuckles. With her remaining arm, she lifted her truncated shotgun and fired, executing the beast where it lay. The shell simmered away, and she exhaled heavily. “I never want to do that again,” she said, flexing her fingers.
Seeing their Incubator fall was a blow to the Packmaster’s morale. It only got worse when Dolores, having finally found the lurking Sectoid, filled it’s bulbous head with plasma. The Sectoid Commander, outraged, launched a mind-control thread at her, wresting control of the shadow operative’s mind. A suitable trade, it said, as Dolores turned towards her former allies.
“Oh, no you don’t,” Tornada muttered, fixing her sights on the now exposed Commander and firing, the plasma splitting the creature’s head in two. Flores fell to the ground, holding her head and whispering something under her breath.
Now alone, the final human stepped out into the open. With a suicidal roar, he pulled out a plasma grenade and began running towards the soldiers, having discarded everything else he had been holding. His kamikaze run was stopped short, however, as he tripped over something on the ground. He turned around to see a Seeker, which had flattened itself on the ground, decloaking. He howled in rage as he was summarily executed by Oritz, unable to resist without his weapon.
Samantha exhaled. “Alright,” she said. “Do you think we can actually go upstairs without being ambushed this time?”
“Allow me to save you the trouble,” a voice called out. It belonged to a suited man striding towards them from the staircase, with several other suited men looking far more menacing in tow. “XSDF, I presume?”
Samantha nodded, retrieving her Novagun. “That’d be us, Mr. Gouwel,” she said. “Where were you?”
Peng pointed back at the restaurant. “Thing about teleimagery,” he said, “Is that you can portray anything. Like, for example, a waving curtain where in fact there are six huddled people.”
“I only see five,” Samantha noted.
Peng shrugged. “My date had a bit too much excitement. Thought it safer to wait with everyone else then charge at the people with guns like I did.”
Dolores stood up, frowning. “Uh, guys?” she said. “I think we’ve got company.”
“Still?!” Samantha said. “Godammit. Peng, get behind cover. You suits too.” Confused but not wanting to question their saviours, the engineer obliged, taking cover behind the trees in the centre of the food court. “Don’t mind the dead cat.”
A single man approached, brazenly walking into the center of the circle. (Dolores, however, was able to discern two cloaked allies approaching from the sides.) He was wearing jet black titan armor with red designs in Chinese characters, a faint diffused particle field visible around him, indicated a personal shield. He was armed with a fusion marksman rifle, as well as a pistol of the same deadly fission energy. “I’d ask you to leave,” the man spoke, his accent not Chinese at all but faintly German, “But I’m sure my associates already tried that. All I ask of you now is that you make peace with whatever gods you might worship.” With that simple declaration, he raised his sunspot rifle and fired at Samantha.
Her reactions far from the same level as Spyridon’s, dodging the shot was no option. Instead, thanks to the Vortex Armor she wore, Samantha was able to trigger her ability again, the fusion bolt striking the shell just in front of her face. To her surprise and horror, the bolt continued through, weakened but not fully dissipated by the protection. It hit her personal shielding instead, shattering it but failing to pass through aside from a few licks of energy. “Two shields are better than one,” she said triumphantly, spinning up her Novagun. “Squad, I don’t know who this asshole is, but I’d say he’s made his intentions pretty clear.” The XSDF soldiers all readied their weapons, eyes flicking between the Chinese-German and his flanking entourage. “Let’s make ours equally clear.”
As one, they moved. Dolores, Spyridon and Nick sprinted forward, shotguns and rifles at the ready. Samantha began moving backwards to some semblance of cover, but not before releasing an imbued volley of plasma at her foes. The other two - Oritz and Tornada - both fell back, though the Replitan searched for an elevated position while the medic wanted cover. The Seekers, too damaged to act aggressively, simply remained cloaked, awaiting opportunity.
The two shadow operatives decloaked themselves, taking cover and firing at Spyridon and Nick, while their leader ducked down, his shield wavering violently but staying up as it was grazed by the powerful shot. “Psionics, hm? Allow me to return in kind.” Raising up a hand, he conjured a massive blaze that surrounded Samantha. He didn’t expect it to burn her with her sealed armor taken into account, but it was enough to force her to switch to internal oxygen supply and obstruct vision. Following up that attack quickly, he created two red spheres by the cover of the XSDF scout and assault, blowing their defensive positions to bits.
“Wha- Bullshit!” Nick said, taking the sudden lack of cover in his stride and continuing the sprint forwards. Spyridon ran in front of him, attempting to draw fire from the assault as they weaved back and forth. Once he’d successfully done so, he pulled a smoke grenade from his hip and chucked it ahead of him, providing a wall of obstruction. With a swing of his hand, a wind puffed behind him, pushing the gas forward, towards their enemies. The two used it as cover, moving forward and hoping their enemies didn’t start firing through randomly.
“Sorry Tornada,” Spyridon said softly.
Floating above the battlefield, the Seekers spotted the opportunity they’d been waiting for. As they had done before, they marked the location of the enemies, broadcasting it to their allies. Samantha, unable to see properly past the flames around her, decided this was probably the best shot she would get and began spraying towards the indicator, hoping that something would hit.
The plasma indeed landed home, the Triad Elite not having moved much from his initial position. His shield spiderwebbed before shattering completely. A few bolts hit his armor before the rest that came with the last vestiges of the attack died off as they approached, burning through the fog as their heat swirled around the German. “Not bad…” he muttered, before concentrating a burst of telekinesis to clear the mist around him. “What’s your name?” he addressed Samantha calmly, almost lazily. Distortions from the intense heat swirling around him were moderately visible.
“Samantha Steele,” she responded, defiance in her voice. She ignored the flames licking at her armor for now. “Some called me the Iron Huntress a few years back.”
Operation Hidden Stranger, Part 5
A peek from behind the trees on the island confirmed Samantha’s fears. “Cat’s onto us,” she said. “Keep the trees between us and the other guys at all times, unless you can get a shot off on them. Dolores, I want you to hunt that Sectoid down. Everyone else…” she turned in time to see the beast cross the threshold, appearing from the other side of the island with an animal scowl on it’s face. “... let’s put this one down.”
The hulking beast leaped forward, claws outstretched. Samantha rolled out of the way, discarding her Novagun as she did so. Hope he doesn’t step on it, she thought, pulling out her shotgun. Not breaking stride, the Incubator continued forward, swinging it’s deadly paws.
“Whoah!” Nick said, also rolling out of the way. He took a reaction shot with his shotgun, though the creature, predicting the shot, easily weaved away, straight towards Spyridon. It swiped at him, his reaction time saving him for the time being from being disemboweled. But the Incubator did not relent, pushing at the scout with a flurry of paws. One swat got through, striking the scout on the side and shattering his personal shield.
“The hell?!” Spyridon said, getting up and backpedalling. “One hit! One hit!”
My strength is unparalleled, the Incubator’s voice boomed. Certainly none of you could hope to match it.
“Sure about that?” Samantha taunted, standing in the open. “Come on. You, me, fisticuffs, let’s go.”
The Incubator snorted. Surely you jest? When she didn’t back down, it growled. Very well! Allow me to demonstrate why my species is used in melee combat and yours is not! It pounced, sailing through the air towards the Huntress, who remained unmoving. Midway through it’s pounce, the Incubator read an unfamiliar term in her mind. Hyperdrive? What?
The familiar blue shell enveloped Samantha’s form, air hardening around her armor. She swung her left fist at the Incubator, impacting it’s snout and causing a severe concussion. The blow was not without cost, however. With the punch came the sound of cracking bone, not from the Incubator. With the creature lying stunned on the ground, Samantha winced in pain, the latent self-biokinesis in her ability slowly going to work repairing her now shattered left knuckles. With her remaining arm, she lifted her truncated shotgun and fired, executing the beast where it lay. The shell simmered away, and she exhaled heavily. “I never want to do that again,” she said, flexing her fingers.
Seeing their Incubator fall was a blow to the Packmaster’s morale. It only got worse when Dolores, having finally found the lurking Sectoid, filled it’s bulbous head with plasma. The Sectoid Commander, outraged, launched a mind-control thread at her, wresting control of the shadow operative’s mind. A suitable trade, it said, as Dolores turned towards her former allies.
“Oh, no you don’t,” Tornada muttered, fixing her sights on the now exposed Commander and firing, the plasma splitting the creature’s head in two. Flores fell to the ground, holding her head and whispering something under her breath.
Now alone, the final human stepped out into the open. With a suicidal roar, he pulled out a plasma grenade and began running towards the soldiers, having discarded everything else he had been holding. His kamikaze run was stopped short, however, as he tripped over something on the ground. He turned around to see a Seeker, which had flattened itself on the ground, decloaking. He howled in rage as he was summarily executed by Oritz, unable to resist without his weapon.
Samantha exhaled. “Alright,” she said. “Do you think we can actually go upstairs without being ambushed this time?”
“Allow me to save you the trouble,” a voice called out. It belonged to a suited man striding towards them from the staircase, with several other suited men looking far more menacing in tow. “XSDF, I presume?”
Samantha nodded, retrieving her Novagun. “That’d be us, Mr. Gouwel,” she said. “Where were you?”
Peng pointed back at the restaurant. “Thing about teleimagery,” he said, “Is that you can portray anything. Like, for example, a waving curtain where in fact there are six huddled people.”
“I only see five,” Samantha noted.
Peng shrugged. “My date had a bit too much excitement. Thought it safer to wait with everyone else then charge at the people with guns like I did.”
Dolores stood up, frowning. “Uh, guys?” she said. “I think we’ve got company.”
“Still?!” Samantha said. “Godammit. Peng, get behind cover. You suits too.” Confused but not wanting to question their saviours, the engineer obliged, taking cover behind the trees in the centre of the food court. “Don’t mind the dead cat.”
A single man approached, brazenly walking into the center of the circle. (Dolores, however, was able to discern two cloaked allies approaching from the sides.) He was wearing jet black titan armor with red designs in Chinese characters, a faint diffused particle field visible around him, indicated a personal shield. He was armed with a fusion marksman rifle, as well as a pistol of the same deadly fission energy. “I’d ask you to leave,” the man spoke, his accent not Chinese at all but faintly German, “But I’m sure my associates already tried that. All I ask of you now is that you make peace with whatever gods you might worship.” With that simple declaration, he raised his sunspot rifle and fired at Samantha.
Her reactions far from the same level as Spyridon’s, dodging the shot was no option. Instead, thanks to the Vortex Armor she wore, Samantha was able to trigger her ability again, the fusion bolt striking the shell just in front of her face. To her surprise and horror, the bolt continued through, weakened but not fully dissipated by the protection. It hit her personal shielding instead, shattering it but failing to pass through aside from a few licks of energy. “Two shields are better than one,” she said triumphantly, spinning up her Novagun. “Squad, I don’t know who this asshole is, but I’d say he’s made his intentions pretty clear.” The XSDF soldiers all readied their weapons, eyes flicking between the Chinese-German and his flanking entourage. “Let’s make ours equally clear.”
As one, they moved. Dolores, Spyridon and Nick sprinted forward, shotguns and rifles at the ready. Samantha began moving backwards to some semblance of cover, but not before releasing an imbued volley of plasma at her foes. The other two - Oritz and Tornada - both fell back, though the Replitan searched for an elevated position while the medic wanted cover. The Seekers, too damaged to act aggressively, simply remained cloaked, awaiting opportunity.
The two shadow operatives decloaked themselves, taking cover and firing at Spyridon and Nick, while their leader ducked down, his shield wavering violently but staying up as it was grazed by the powerful shot. “Psionics, hm? Allow me to return in kind.” Raising up a hand, he conjured a massive blaze that surrounded Samantha. He didn’t expect it to burn her with her sealed armor taken into account, but it was enough to force her to switch to internal oxygen supply and obstruct vision. Following up that attack quickly, he created two red spheres by the cover of the XSDF scout and assault, blowing their defensive positions to bits.
“Wha- Bullshit!” Nick said, taking the sudden lack of cover in his stride and continuing the sprint forwards. Spyridon ran in front of him, attempting to draw fire from the assault as they weaved back and forth. Once he’d successfully done so, he pulled a smoke grenade from his hip and chucked it ahead of him, providing a wall of obstruction. With a swing of his hand, a wind puffed behind him, pushing the gas forward, towards their enemies. The two used it as cover, moving forward and hoping their enemies didn’t start firing through randomly.
“Sorry Tornada,” Spyridon said softly.
Floating above the battlefield, the Seekers spotted the opportunity they’d been waiting for. As they had done before, they marked the location of the enemies, broadcasting it to their allies. Samantha, unable to see properly past the flames around her, decided this was probably the best shot she would get and began spraying towards the indicator, hoping that something would hit.
The plasma indeed landed home, the Triad Elite not having moved much from his initial position. His shield spiderwebbed before shattering completely. A few bolts hit his armor before the rest that came with the last vestiges of the attack died off as they approached, burning through the fog as their heat swirled around the German. “Not bad…” he muttered, before concentrating a burst of telekinesis to clear the mist around him. “What’s your name?” he addressed Samantha calmly, almost lazily. Distortions from the intense heat swirling around him were moderately visible.
“Samantha Steele,” she responded, defiance in her voice. She ignored the flames licking at her armor for now. “Some called me the Iron Huntress a few years back.”
Last edited: