Gama (IC) (CLOSED!)

[Utceforp]

"Understood" Jack said. He switched from firing with the railgun on his right arm to the hand cannon on his right, searching for tanks to take out with his armour-piercing ammunition. He rocketed into the sky, using the jets on his feet to crudely brake when he made out a cluster of Proteus soldiers below him, surrounding an APC. They spotted him landing, and fired armour piercing rounds at him. One clipped his leg, throwing Jack off his balance as he landed, causing his VALK to stumble to the side. Jack was jolted forward as this happened, and for a moment he disconnected from the WARBIRD, though he reconnected almost immediately. He regained his balance and took cover behind a low building, firing at the APC with his Hand Cannon. Jack noticed that he had hit himself off of a piece of the machinery, and his nose was bleeding slightly, though he paid no attention to it.

[Xing]

"Coyote 2 Actual to Outlaw 1 Actual. Let's see if you can top that, over." She said before joining her squad, using the direct use of Actual to personally challenge Charlotte. She replaced her box magazine and sat, watching the vehicles draw ever closer.

Charlotte watched the show Allison was putting on down below, making a mess of the proteus forces that got close. At least her guilt didn't make her sloppy. Charlotte thought. A grin forming behind the safety of her sniper scope. As she heard her callsign over the comms she perked up a bit, realizing she was falling behind. "This is Outlaw 1 Actual. I'll see what I can do, feel free to take notes Coyote 2." She retreated back behind the sniper scope and saw the second wave making its way in.

She counted about 15 total of a grouping of tanks and APCs in this wave, each APC loaded with troops capable of compromising the city. As they continued to draw closer to the city she knew that they'd be more than enough to over run the troops. If only this thing could had a semi-auto fire mode. She thought to herself. After examining the rifle a bit more she figured out that there was a mode that left the electromagnets spun up, but it took a major toll on the gun's power supply. She took a few test sights jumping from one to another before slamming in a new mag into the rifle and switching fire modes.

"Within her parlor, but they never came out again." She said cryptically. There was a brief moment of silence below followed by ten rapid thunderclaps. All of the tanks and some of the APCs erupted into fireballs with a couple flipping upside down before coming to rest that way. All that remained in the grouping were 5 spread out BTRs. "This is Outlaw 1 Actual. Outlaw 1 send someone up to my position to retrieve my rifle, the rest of you take up positions on the outer defensive line." She ordered.
"And you ma'am?"

"I'll be pretty hard to miss." She said finally before she stood up. She flicked off the gun's power and stepped back towards the middle of the roof she was on. Relaxing her body with a couple quick hops, she took a ready stance before taking off toward the railing. She unhooked a rappelling cord from her waist and attached it to the rail before leaping from the roof, braking just before coming to a landing. While sprinting toward the front lines, she readied the two SMGs she had at her sides.

As she approached her squad was waiting for her. "What are your orders ma'am?" One soldier said as she continued to run toward them.
"Stay here." She said before vaulting their cover and continuing to charge toward the approaching vehicles. By this time the soldiers of the first APC had stopped to unload. Before the first soldier spotted her, she hosed them with a flurry of gunfire and a handful of them dropped one after another. She primed a grenade and lobbed it over the vehicle into another crowd as it detonated and they crumpled to the ground. There was another moment of silence. The rest of the troops were on the far side of the BTR so it was difficult for Charlotte to tell exactly where they were.

She ducked under the vehicle, telling their positions solely by the pairs of boots that were slowly making their way around each corner. "Where the hell'd she go?" One of them shouted. He soon found his answer as another grenade rolled out from under the vehicle. Just before it detonated Charlotte swore she heard a "What the-" from the very same voice she heard just a second earlier. She pulled herself out from under the APC just in time for the second APC's troops to disembark and understand what had transpired. She looked over and noticed that the troops had left a Javelin missile on the ground nearby. She grabbed it and took aim at the troops. As the first soldier realized what happened and leveled his weapon he was just in time to see a blast of fire from behind Charlotte. He lowered his weapon, accepting his fate, as he watched the missile race toward them, rise higher into the air and immediately nosedive amongst him and the rest of the squad.

"This is Outlaw 1 Actual. No need to sit back and miss all the fun Coyote 2 Actual." She said. There was a slight rustling beside her, and she turned in time to notice one of the wounded soldiers beside her reaching for his sidearm. "You. BITCH!" He yelled. As he drew, Charlotte pulled her knife and lunged for the man laying prone before her. Pushing his arm aside, the shot missed and his arm dropped to the ground as Charlotte slammed her knife into his chest.

[Tsuyoi Tekikoku]

Chaser
Anako, like a snake stalking prey watched as a small group of enemies and one APC, threw her VALKS sniper scope and pulled the trigger, sending a round straight threw the APC's armor and took out it's gun with a second shot, she smiled watching the soldiers scatter and switched to Angeloid's AKMH then started to fire on the infantry that remind on the ground. Her smile turned into a smirk as she watched her enemies die, she truly enjoyed watching her enemies die and wanted nothing more to kill, she finished off the rest of the group and went off to find more targets, a sadistic grin laid across her face.

Upon finding more enemies, these time encountering two VALKs and used Angeloid's missile system to lock-on to them and fire a barrage of rockets, laying waste to the enemies that once stood before her, swiftly ending their lives as if they were cockroaches under her foot and began firing on the ground troops that foolishly chose to fire back at her, she showed no mercy and dispatched with a few rounds from the AKMH, she grew bored soon enough and left the bodies and remains of the soldiers and VALK,she didn't care about stopping Protues now, she only wanted to kill.

"This reminds me of Stalingrad!" She said before noticing the arrival of tanks and Artillery, she smiled. “Time for some more fun...". Anako locked-on to multiple Rocket Artillery Vehicles and fires a barrage of missiles at them. “OH, the Irony...their Rocket Artillery and they’re the ones who get blasted be rockets, that is just sad." Anako whipped out the AKMH again and targeted tanks, getting rid of them and protecting the infantry was her main objective now.

[Utceforp]

(Sadly, I do not know any good music, though not for lack of interest)

Jack managed to hit the APC's fuel tank with his railgun, the heat from the shot's wake igniting it simply by being near it and causing the APC to explode. Without a change of expression, Jack targeted the remaining soldiers with his missiles, firing a small salvo at the remaining soldiers. Jack ran away, automatically looking across the ground for any obstacles that could cause the WARBIRD to slip up.

He noticed a couple more APCs, covered by flying VALKs overhead. They spotted Jack too, and immediately he was showered by gunfire. They were using conventional firearms, but with armour piercing rounds, so Jack still had to take cover. He made the WARBIRD dive behind a half destroyed building and started firing off shots with his railgun once again. One clipped the fuel tank supplying the leg-mounted jets of the first VALK, causing it to veer into another building.

The second one managed to fire a few shots into the WARBIRD's left shoulder, it didn't hit anything extremely important but it was disturbingly close to Jack's cockpit. He made a slight gesture and the WARBIRD partially took control of his left arm. As he fired on the second VALK with his railgun, he also fired on the APC with his hand cannon. He missed all three shots he took, since he was distracted and his VALK's arm was injured, but he drove the soldiers inside of it for cover. He knocked the second VALK out of the sky with a well-placed, targeting computer assisted shot to the VALK's chest, but the first injured VALK was getting back up, though heavily weakened and off balance due to its damaged leg.

The gunfire was starting to put a strain on the building Jack had taken cover behind, and he remembered that concealing himself did not mean he had cover. He jumped, landing behind another building to resume the firefight. He then realized something peculiar, which he thought the others should know. "Isn't it odd that Proteus hasn't used a chemical weapon yet?" Jack said over the comm. "I mean, they usually bring a sample of the virus to use. It's just odd."

[Xing]

(Collaborative post co-written by Monfrox and Xing)

Over the Bridge

Allison was, to say the least, pleasantly impressed with Charlotte's display. Even if she didn't show it on the outside, she was quite happy to finally have someone to compete with. "Ma'am, your shoulder." One of her soldiers pointed out to her. "Hmm?" She looked down and noticed a bullet wound. Blood ran from it, yet it didn't hurt. Her adrenaline must've been negating it, and it must've just been a flesh wound. Nothing serious. "Right, well let's get to it." She said to her squad as APCs and trucks offloaded more troops.

Allison retrieved her MG12E and fed a new belt in while standing next to Charlotte. "Think we can take 'em?"

"Was that even a question?" Charlotte asked as she dropped the Javelin and grabbed both of her Super Vs. She popped both mags out and replaced them with a pair of full ones. "I count about three APCs that are an immediate concern. So, any preference on which of them dies first?"

"Nope. Terminate with extreme prejudice." Allison replied before stepping off and firing her LMG at the advancing troops. "I can't hit a fucking target, man. They just knock them all down!" One of Coyote 2's troopers complained. "Quit your bitching and just find a place to provide supporting fire." Another told the first.

A smirk formed across Charlotte's face as she fired toward the Proteus forces. Since she got back, it always brought a bit of joy to her whenever she fought Proteus as opposed to the riff raff back in Singapore. They were put up a better fight and it was more satisfying to have revenge on the people that put her through hell. She advanced in such a way that she and Allison would be able to hit different flanks of the soldiers as opposed to them both marching in head on.

Allison headed up the left side opposite of Charlotte of the Proteus forces, allowing the squads to put suppressing fire on them from the front. She tossed another grenade at a cluster of troops. Things were looking good so far as she fired a line that cut down several others.

While Allison made progress on the left flank, Charlotte was hosing down the right. A handful had dropped before she got right in the fray. When she got close enough the closest soldier swung his gun around in an attempt to bash her across the head. With a bit of quick thinking she swiped her arm up and knocked the gun out of his hands, followed by a swift kick to the gut before finishing him off with a round to the head. She picked up the shotgun she had knocked out of his hands and used it to mop up a couple more soldiers that were close by.

Allison took a seat off to the side as pullets ripped apart the corner of the building she was hiding around. "You're taking too long you're taking too long you're taking too long..." She repeated in her head over and over as she reloaded her MG. She pulled the belt through and the bolt back before turning and letting it rip across the ranks of the soldiers. She held the trigger until it went click. She looked down as she realized she had just run dry on her last box magazine. "Oh,fuck it." She cursed as she dropped the weapon again and pulled out her pistol. She ran fast around the side and tried her hardest to make her shots count. She only had two pistol magazines left.

Charlotte continued to use the scavenged shotgun while weaving her way from enemy to enemy, stopping only long enough to grab shells off of the soldiers that had them. Eventually she rounded the corner of one of the buildings and noticed that Allison had discarded her MG and taken out a pistol. Charlotte moved her way over to her, still firing on the soldiers in the street. "What'sa matter?" She asked. "Don't tell me you're out already."

"Shut it, Julie!" Allison said, letting her mind slip a bit as she tried focusing on the current situation. She sprinted fast and hopped over one of the APVs to land among the troops. She turned and brought the back of the pistol on the back of one soldier's head before firing at the other that stood next to him. The last one was preparing a flashbang before Allison had arrived, and subsequently dropped it. By the time she had finished off the other two, it detonated right in her face. She put up her arm across her eyes as the black and white image of the scene before her was burned into her retinas. She had also done a bit of training for this moment, and she instinctly brought up her pistol and emptied the last four rounds directly in front of her. The soldier was hit in the neck by the last round.

"Julie?" Charlotte said, taken aback for a moment. There was a single four man squad remaining in the general area when Charlotte heard the crash of the Flashbang and turned to see that Allison had gotten hit by it. She shook her head and rolled her eyes before taking off for the last squad to quickly take their attention off of Allison before she was hit. Her first round caught a soldier square in the chest as he flew back to the ground. Charlotte pumped the next round into the chamber and hit the second just before their weapon was raised to fire. The other two unloaded toward her as she ducked behind a nearby vehicle. She took a moment to recover before tomahawking the shotgun out past the left side of the vehicle, drawing her pistol and getting into a firing stance to the right side. Both of the soldiers focus on the shotgun just long enough for her to put a round through their heads to finish them off.

"Idiots." She said as she relaxed, noticing things were all clear. Now that they had a moment to breathe, Charlotte walked over to Allison to make sure she was alright and recovering from the flashbang. "Hey, you still alive in there?" She asked.

[Utceforp]

Jack aimed his railgun at the first VALK, which was struggling to pick itself up out of the ruined building it had careened into. It started to move, and Jack fired. Immediately he saw a large hole where the supersonic bullet had impacted. He didn't need to lead the target - not when the bullet was accelerated to Mach 7. His aim was slightly off, and he didn't hit anything particularly important, however the Proteus VALK immediately went limp and fell to the ground. Jack was confused for a second, until he realized that he must have shot the pilot through the armour. It unnerved him for a second when we thought about the fact that he wasn't just fighting robots, but almost immediately he went back to fighting.

That moment was all that the other VALK needed, as it pushed itself off of the ground and started laying down suppression fire. The group of soldiers on the APC used this to their advantage, one pulled an RPG from the APC and aimed at the massive robot in front of them. The WARBIRD's leg was hit by the rocket, just barely missing one of the fuel tanks used to power the leg-jets. Damnit, that's a design flaw I'll have to pester the engineers about. Jack thought to himself, as the VALK was strained by the hit.

Jack launched two more missiles from his shoulder launchers, which the Proteus VALK dodged by activating its jets once again. Once it was in the air it turned around, emptying its guns into the incoming missiles, destroying them. The damage, however, was done, and Jack aimed, pulled and fired with the railgun. Like its ally, the Proteus VALK was hit in the torso, and while Jack was reasonably certain that he missed the cockpit, some of the integration machinery must have been hit, since it seemed to go out of control, struggling to remain in the air. Jack deemed it not a threat.

Jack set his computer to auto-target the missiles that the soldiers on the APC would inevitably launch as he switched to targeting them. He ran out of cover and onto the street with the APC, which was accelerating towards him. Jack found their fanaticism curious - if he had been in their situation, he would have turned around and lived another day instead of trying to fight a VALK with a group of soldiers - but in no way did he find it surprising. Two soldiers emerged from the side of the vehicle, wielding RPGs. They both fired. Jack, with help from his computer, targeted the rapidly approaching missiles with his Hand Cannon, he hit the first almost right after it was fired but the second was intercepted too close to the WARBIRD, and the explosion knocked his VALK backwards. The VALK's jets automatically fired, stabilizing it. The sudden start, followed by the sudden stop, caused Jack to disconnect once again, cracking his head off of the back of his cockpit before he reconnected.

Jack noticed that the APC was now following his line of thinking and driving away from him. Jack ran after them, taking long strides and leaping over the APC as they reached an intersection. They rapidly braked, and Jack aimed his railgun. He could tell the soldiers were fine with dying for their cause, he could make out a few of their faces. He fired, pulling from memory the location of the fuel tank on the type of APC the soldiers were using, and destroyed the vehicle. "This is Ensign Jack." he said over the comm. "I've cleared out a few of them, anyone in need of assistance?"

[The Carlisle]

A blip appeared on William's radar. He looked quickly at it. It was coming from the northeast and moving incredibly fast. It appeared to be heading straight towards him. He looked towards the approach of the enemy, but it was already upon him. A quadruped, leopard-like VALK pounced upon him, pushing Jagter through several ruined buildings. He managed to throw him off, but the area was covered in dust. "How could it see me? I'm invisible in this camo!" he thought. He looked aorund and saw purple eyes staring and charging at him. William brought up Jagter's weapon, but not in time. The enemy VALK pounced on him again, grasping onto him with hooked metal claws. William flailed about, trying to get the VALK off him. The enemy VALK opened up its mouth, revealing a row of crushing teeth, and bit down upon Jagter's left shoulder. William brought up Jagter's right fist and brought it down upon the VALK, releasing its grip on him. He then knocked the VALK off him and ran away.

He ran away, towards another area of the battlefield. He didn't care where he wet, as long as it was far away from that VALK. He check his radar to see that the VALk was walking to another area. He stopped to check Jagter. He was bruised up, dented in some areas. The most major damage was his left shoulder. It was crushed inwards, locking the joint and and making it impossible for him to use. "Damn it, how can I fight this thing when I can't use my sword," he said, "I can't even use my railgun. I shouldn't have left it. I'll have to nail it with a missile." He then heard what sounded like a mechanical growl. He turned and saw the leopard VALK on a nearby rooftop and brandishing a small minigun on its back. The VALK glared at him with its violet eyes and started firing at William. William jumped away and started running. The leopard VALK followed. He flipped a switch, activating his small missile turret. The turret spun around !80 degrees and fired two missiles at the leopard VALK. The minigun quickly took the missiles down. "Shit. That thing can track missiles?!" he said. He turned a corner and continued down a road. He had to think, and quick or else he would wound up dead. His face brightened up and he smirked.

He stopped Jagter and waited for the leopard VALK. The VALK pounced towards him but before he could reach Jagter, William brought his right fist into the VALK, knocking him into a building. Quickly, he let out a missile out of his turret and grasped it in his right hand. He slammed it, head first, into Jagter's damaged shoulder. The missile blew up, parting Jagter's left arm from his torso. He then grabbed the dismembered left arm in his right hand. As expected, the leopard VALK was up and charging at him. When it jumped to pounce upon him, WIlliam swung with the arm, hitting it in the torso. He brought the VALK down onto the ground, cutting it deeply in the torso.

The leopard VALK flailed about, trying to get up but it failed in all attempts. William could see that he cut the wires of a battery to the engine of the VALK. The electrical engine inside it slowed down from lack of energy. The VALK' movements slowed to a halt. Its eyes dimmed from a bright violet to a dead black. William panted heavily. He didn't expect his plan to pull through, but luck was on his side. He looked at the VALK. It was definitely a strange design. Extremely agile, fast, and strong. He scanned it and saw it had no pilot inside. It was a robot, and it nearly killed him. He looked at its eyes specifically. It definitely had UV vision, an odd design choice normally but is advantageous to have against VALKs like Jagter. "This thing was designed to kill me," he said while sighing, "It definitely put Jagter out of commission."

He sat Jagter against a nearby building next to the leopard VALK. He turned off his camouflage and powered down the VALK. He grabbed his equipment and exited the VALK. He looked around his area for anything. Thankfully, there was nothing around him but no doubt some Proteus will appear to investigate. He grabbed his communicator and radioed in to everyone. "This is William Kruger. Jagter is incapable of further battle. Going on foot to combat enemy forces. William Kruger Out," he said into the communicator. He put it way and walked off, staying close to the walls.

[Monfrox]

"I don't know, ask the bullet in my shoulder." Allison replied as she sat down and waited for her vision to come back. Her hearing was only slightly interrupted, so it took longer for the rods and cones in her eyes to sort their own shit out after the flashbang screwed them up. Slowly but surely, the image faded into reality again. "I know I trained with flashbang exposure dozens of times, but you still never really get used to it."

[Xing]

"This is William Kruger. Jagter is incapable of further battle. Going on foot to combat enemy forces. William Kruger Out," he said into the communicator. He put it way and walked off, staying close to the walls.

After clearing out the last remainder of the VALKs that he managed to pull away from Valeria and Constantine, Gilbert took to the skies. To prevent his VALK from overheating he brought the Guardian back to a regular operating mode and swapped the Shinso back for his VALKs rifle. "Shame that speed can only be used for short amounts of time." He said as he reached a decent altitude. He checked his radar and noticed the WARBIRD's signature showing up on the IFF. "Ah good to have you back Jack. If you're looking for something I do believe we have some mobile artillery that could use being taken out." At that a small square showed up around each of the missile launchers that were moving toward the city. He took off toward one of the ends of the enemies line. He turned, activated both shoulder mounted missile launchers and made a quick bombing run, taking out a good quarter of them.

After finishing the first pass he got the transmission from William about abandoning his VALK. He looked down and noticed it still sitting there in shambles. "Roger that William. I'll do what I can to keep the enemy away from the wreckage, we can't risk them getting access to GAMA tech. I'd make my way toward Charlotte and Allison if I were you." He was about to return to the battle until he decided to add one more thing. "Oh... I also recommend signalling them before you approach. They both are more of the Shoot First type."

---

"Training doesn't help when it catches you off guard." Charlotte said still scanning the immediate area. She then went around grabbing the shotgun she tossed and more shells from the corpses that were scattered about. "I recommend you get back up as soon as you can and grab something off of one of these stiffs since you're running low. Next waves probably right around the corner."

[Imperialisium]

Fight in the Western Sector

The fighting in the West had devolved into a cat and mouse game of hunter vs hunted as Valeria and Constantine engaged in anything from ranged fights to savage melee with enemy Proteus VALKs and ground forces. Constantine jumped over a low building and slammed a beam saber in between the shoulder and neck armor of an unsuspecting Proteus VALK that had turned away, perhaps its rear cam only catching the split second before the energy saber was rammed home down into the cockpit. Constantine moved the saber around, leaving a molten mesh on the surface, nothing would remain of the pilot except gruel or charred embers. He pulled the saber out and moved along, stalking, or at least the closest a VALK could get to stalking really. Valeria was off to his left, having taken down a squad of enemy ground troops and a tank with her Vulcan gatling guns and chest cannon, now engaging with an enemy VALK and RPG team hiding out in a residential complex.

Both Constantine and Valeria took great care in terms of civilian damages, after all, what was the point of the GAMA defense if they left everyone homeless or the city destroyed in the process. They'd be only fighting over rubble and ruins then, which seemed rather pointless. So while it made things harder for Valeria and Constantine, they still managed to hold their own, using the boroughs to their advantage as they engaged, disengaged, advanced and retreated along roads, parks, boulevards and housing/commercial complexes.

[The Carlisle]

"Roger. Though I'm afraid they already have advanced tech," he said in the communicator while looking back at the fallen VALK, "There's another VALK, enemy one, dead right next to mine. safeguard that one as well. William out." He checked his equipment and then moved out. He marched along the ruined buildings, sticking to the walls and avoiding enemy squads and vehicles. He didn't want to fight anything without any support. He looked around the corner to see Allison, Charlotte, and their assigned squads. He brought up his com and spoke into it. "William Kruger here. Approaching east of your position. Hold your fire, over," he said. He sat there waiting for a response.

[Monfrox]

"This is Coyote 2 Actual, roger that. Be advised, forces are few but may be a few left to mop up before the next assault." Allison answered, standing up. She grabbed an assault rifle from off a dead soldier and looked it over. "What is this, a FAMAS?" She asked, criticizing the weapon.

[The Carlisle]

"Roger. Moving to regroup. William Out," he said. He put away his communicator and walked around the corner. Some guns were trained on him for a split second, but were quickly lowered. "Snappy reactions," he thought. He walked up towards the group and joined up with Charlotte and Allison. "You girls clean up well," he said, overlooking the carnage of the battlefield, "Not to discount the work of the lads here." He spotted the bullet wound on Allison's shoulder. He knew that Allison could take it, but he was still worried. But now was not the time to show worry. "What do we do from here?" he said.

[Xing]

"Roger. Moving to regroup. William Out," he said. He put away his communicator and walked around the corner. Some guns were trained on him for a split second, but were quickly lowered. "Snappy reactions," he thought. He walked up towards the group and joined up with Charlotte and Allison. "You girls clean up well," he said, overlooking the carnage of the battlefield, "Not to discount the work of the lads here." He spotted the bullet wound on Allison's shoulder. He knew that Allison could take it, but he was still worried. But now was not the time to show worry. "What do we do from here?" he said.

Charlotte shrugged. "As far as I know we just hold here I guess." She said, half directing it at one of the members of Outlaw 1 as an order. "Anything the other Valkyries don't get, we take care of." The soldier cracked off a quick salute. "Yes ma'am we'll take up positions around this area. Anything else ma'am?"
"Yeah, tell the squad to get ready for anti-tank engagement. If any of the tanks or artillery get through the VALKs we need to stop them here." She said to him. "Also, was the rifle from my sniping post retrieved?"
"I believe so ma'am. Would you like it now?"
"No. Just keep it out of harms way." She said. "Dismissed soldier." He jogged back to some of his squadmates to relay the message, and Charlotte directed her attention fully back to William and Allison.

[Monfrox]

"It doesn't look like Proteus can keep this up much longer." Allison commented. "They've barely brought out the big guns, and I'm sure with the meat grinder we put them through, they'll back off soon. Of course, they're religious nuts, so they also could have that 'undying faith'. Fuckin' martyrs. They're just throwing themselves at us without a thought, hoping we'll break." She sat rubbed her shoulder a little. "Well at least Gil and I have matching scars now."

In the distance, the battle still raged. Only a few more troop trucks made a try for the gates. These were the Heavies. The VALKs did not get reinforced, as there were still quite a few of them operating and trying to take out the Valkyries. This was the last wave by the looks of it. Everything boiled down to this. "This is it, Valkyries. Hold of this last little push they're giving and we'll have won." Melissa told them over the radio, quite proud of the results so far. Allison figured out the gun and grabbed some ammunition. "Let's go, Will." She said walking up and giving him a sock to his shoulder. She glanced at Charlotte. "It's time you learned how to fight like a girl."

[The Carlisle]

William smiled widely. He dug into his front pocket and brought out a pack of cigarettes. He pulled one out and stuck put it in his mouth. He then put the pack back in. He walked over to a pile of rubble and knelt behind it, facing the direction of the incoming waves. He brought up his ARX-160 and aimed down the lane. He took his eyes off his sights and looked at Allison. "Ready, Sensei," he said, grinning eagerly.

[Xing]

Charlotte rolled her eyes, seeing the way William was wiling to follow Allison so readily was humorous to her. She took a short jog over to one of the other APCs and grabbed the Javelin launcher she had used. She hoisted it onto her shoulder and returned to where Allison and William were. She grabbed one of the members of Outlaw 1 by the collar as he ran past her on his way to a different position. She looked down at a small collection of missiles laying there and gave him a smirk. Without a word he nodded and grabbed them, taking up a loader position behind her.

---

Gilbert still was in the skies above the fight when he got word from Melissa. "You heard her everybody. One last push and we're done here." He said as he launched another salvo at a pair of VALKs that were making their way toward the city. One stopped in its tracks, it wasn't destroyed but Gilbert was sure the concussive blasts had incapacitated the pilot. The other's leg took a solid hit and it toppled sideways to the ground. He checked his radar again to see if anyone was on their way toward William's destroyed VALK. There wasn't anyone close by, but he could see a couple signatures on the radar that were on their way there so he flew over to the position and took up a position to meet them when they got there.

[Imperialisium]

The fighting in Constantine and Valeria's sector had degraded into a frantic engagement, with Valeria taking out the enemy RPG team by literally collapsing the building they were in by destroying the supporting structure. However as she grappled with a Proteus VALK that had dove at her, knocking her VALKs assault rifle from its grasp and punching her VALK in the side plate of its cranial area. Damaging the left-side cranial reciptory equipment and forcing her into a defensive stance. Meanwhile a second Proteus VALK snuck up in the frantic fighting and wrapped its arms around her, holding her in place as the first VALK rushed at her with a Mecha sized Vibro-knife to cut through the glacis plating of her own machine.

But she wasn't helpless entirely, kicking out she used the leverage of the VALK behind her to knock the onrushing VALK back, kicking it squarely in the chest glacis plate. Then using unaimed shots she snapped off a flurry of rounds from her VALKs chest cannon, at least, until the VALK behind her ripped the gun barrel off and smashed her VALKs right ankle gear.

The other VALK rushed her but all of a sudden stopped, fell and was proceeding to be dragged, Constantine's VALK dragging the Proteus VALK back before promptly executing it with a stab through the chest plates into the cockpit. Valeria kicked into gear and lurched back, causing the VALK behind her to fall under the weight, she rolled away with her left ankle still intact.

The enemy VALK pulled out an energy saber of its own and rushed Constantine, her compatriot sidestepping and parrying the enemies first four blows. Clamping his VALKs left hand on the Proteus VALKs cranial head and with maximum force tore it off before one more finishing his foe execution style through the chest. Constantine doing so deliberately to kill the enemy pilot, he seldom left survivors anyways.

"Valeria, damage report?" said Constantine monotoniously through the comm channel.

"Right ankle damaged, chest cannon gone, cranial gear damaged but alive and well. Thanks." said Valeria as she managed to get her VALK to stand up in a swaggered limp, resting the machines weight on its one good leg ad picking up her assault rifle.

Constantine turned and walked away, demagnetizing the beam rifle on his own VALKs back as he took up a firing position and began to take long range shots on Proteus forces now clearly wavering and backing off due to the efforts of the other GAMA forces. Their fight had only been a side-show to the larger battle taking place. Valeria meanwhile went in the opposite direction, backing slowly, using buildings to support her VALK like a wounded Human would use a wall or rail. Meandering deeper into GAMA lines and radioing HQ, "Valeria here, VALK suffering damage to right leg, cranial region, chest cannon destroyed, low on Vulcan minigun ammo and on last two clips for the assault rifle."

Checking her power readings she had her VALK coast on thrusters, but keeping low to not present a target to any long range Proteus fanatic with a VALK outfitted for anti-valk sniper specifics. But her VALK was more wounded than she had thought as a warning flashed in the cockpit, her VALKs core had a leak, its powerplant was unstable.

"Also reporting Powerplant unstable, shutting down secondary systems." Grimacing she turned off the comm, "Shit."

She was wracked in anger, those two Proteus dogs had got the drop her in a classic maneuver of grab and kill, and she hated herself for that.

[United Kingdom of Poland]

Gregori was in full arty mode now. He was going after the launcher, the most likely place any virus samples would be, and the valks, leaving the APC's for his comrades.
" Hey guys" he said as a HE round knocked out two more launchers. "Any one else think that this may be a set up. I mean you guys said that they normally have samples out by now so where are they." His thought was interupted by a Valk charging him. Gregory knelt on the ground and fired the mortar. The HE shell impacted not having traveled far enough to arm cut right through the cockpit killing the pilot. travelling farther down it landed kiling a squad of APC's in the explosion. " Command I'm down to my last mortar rounds and have only my sword left."

[Utceforp]

"It doesn't look like Proteus can keep this up much longer." Allison commented. "They've barely brought out the big guns, and I'm sure with the meat grinder we put them through, they'll back off soon. Of course, they're religious nuts, so they also could have that 'undying faith'. Fuckin' martyrs. They're just throwing themselves at us without a thought, hoping we'll break." She sat rubbed her shoulder a little. "Well at least Gil and I have matching scars now."

In the distance, the battle still raged. Only a few more troop trucks made a try for the gates. These were the Heavies. The VALKs did not get reinforced, as there were still quite a few of them operating and trying to take out the Valkyries. This was the last wave by the looks of it. Everything boiled down to this. "This is it, Valkyries. Hold of this last little push they're giving and we'll have won." Melissa told them over the radio, quite proud of the results so far. Allison figured out the gun and grabbed some ammunition. "Let's go, Will." She said walking up and giving him a sock to his shoulder. She glanced at Charlotte. "It's time you learned how to fight like a girl."

Jack nodded without thinking, forgetting that Allison and Melissa couldn't see him, and that the movement would be transferred to the head-mounted cameras on his VALK. After regaining his VALK's balance after that dizzying experience, Jack activated his comms. "I don't believe in these kinds of things" Jack said "But I feel like now that you said that something like that everything is going to get way, waaay worse." He chuckled slightly and flew into the sky, slowly and awkwardly due to the weight of his VALK, though gaining agility once he gained momentum. He knew that being in the sky was vulnerable, as his fight with the flying VALKs had shown, but he needed to make sure that Proteus didn't obtain air supremacy over the city. Immediately he spotted three flying VALKs heading towards the gates.

Jack squinted, which the WARBIRD picked up as a command to zoom in. Jack made out two other WARBIRD VALKs, they seemed to be earlier models, perhaps MK-30s or MK-25s. The third VALK was unfamiliar to Jack, more nimble and maneuverable in the air and obviously designed to focus on air-based combat while ignoring land-based fighting. Jack had his work cut out for him.


(Start music now)

Jack was knocked forward, temporarily disconnecting from his VALK, as an explosion went off inside the WARBIRD's leg. Again, he was lucky, his jet fuel tank hadn't been hit. He reconnected, just in time to see the weapon on the red VALK's left arm fade from a red hot glow. really, it's got a LASER? Jack thought to himself, sighing. Lasers, of course, looked like kinetic weapons to an untrained eye - people expected to see big flashy red beams, not a tiny point of light on the target followed by a tiny circle of melting metal - but they could be identified since they were nearly impossible to dodge, and didn't make as much noise as a bullet. The outdated WARBIRDs opened fire as well, using normal, albeit large, rifles, instead of the Railgun the MK-35 had, which Jack was thankful for. The pilots of the Proteus WARBIRDS missed, Jack thought that they might be piloted by conscripts or new recruits, and Jack managed to close in on them. He targeted his Railgun, did a bit of complex math in his head to account for the movement of him and the enemy pilot, and opened fire. The bullet hit the cockpit of the Proteus WARBIRD, and down it fell.

Jack pulled his VALK into a tight turn, feeling some of the G-forces despite the claims of the WARBIRD's creators, and came around for another pass. The red VALK had grabbed a hold of the surviving Proteus WARBIRD, using the much less powerful VALK as mobile cover. Smart Jack thought to himself And insane. The red VALK activated its laser, making a slow and methodical downward slicing motion so that the tiny destructive dot on the other end of the invisible beam would do as much damage to Jack's VALk as possible. Jack tried to pull up to avoid the beam, but it hit him anyway, slicing off Jack's WARBIRD's left arm. The sudden loss of weight on the WARBIRD's left side caused it to swerve out of control for a second, pulling Jack up and right sharply. Jack managed to regain control and swivel his VALK downwards, and saw that he was coming down from above the red VALK and the Proteus WARBIRD it was using as a shield. The pilot in the red VALK noticed Jack, and flew away, but the Proteus WARBIRD's pilot was obviously more concerned with sacrificing himself, and didn't notice Jack firing on the VALK's head until it was too late. The Proteus WARBIRD careened out of the sky to join its fallen twin.

The red VALK once more activated its laser, using it again like a sword. This time Jack swerved left as he ascended, and dodged the invisible beam. Jack did math in his head, aiming his Railgun and accounting for the distances between him and the red VALK, and fired, but missed as the red VALK swerved out of the way before he fired. Jack pulled his VALK into a turn, hoping to get behind the red VALK to surprise it, but the red VALK did the same, and it and the WARBIRD went in circles in the air, from the ground resembling vultures over the battlefield below. After a few seconds of circling, desperately trying to gain an advantage over the red VALK, Jack came up with a better plan.

Jack quickly pushed backwards with his jets, extending the wings the WARBIRD used to stabilize itself to suddenly gain a lot of drag and slow down. The red VALK, while more maneuverable, did not stop in time, its pilot not expecting the maneuver Jack tried. The red VALK, as Jack had planned, slammed into the back of Jack's WARBIRD. Both pilots, Proteus and Valkyrie, knew at this point that if a stray bullet or laser hit a fuel tank, both VALKS would go down. Jack switched to manual control of the WARBIRD's hands and swivelled the WARBIRD's entire torso ninety degrees, so that his legs were facing away from the red VALK and his upper body was facing it. Jack grabbed onto the shoulder of the red VALK with the WARBIRD's remaining hand, quickly letting go for a second and grabbing onto the torso-mounted jets on the Proteus VALK. He got an iron grip on the jet, careful not to squeeze too hard lest he caused it to explode and kill both the red VALK's pilot and he himself. Jack swivelled his legs into their correct position, swung behind the red VALK, and planted his legs on its back to get leverage.

The pilot of the red VALK, who at this point had figured out what Jack was doing, started twisting and turning at an increasingly rapid rate to try and shake Jack off of the red VALK's back. Jack pulled, straining the WARBIRD's power, but managed to rip off the jet engine, throwing it far away from the red VALK. The sudden loss of thrust caused the red VALK to swerve out of control, pulling it down and right sharply. Jack flew off without anything to hold onto, careful to avoid activating his jets due to the fuel leaking everywhere. The pilot of the red VALK was not as lucky, however, and the heat from the remaining engine ignited the fuel, lighting the red VALK on fire and causing it to, like its allies, fall towards the ground at an alarming speed.

Jack, however, was not out of danger. His in-the-moment thinking had cost him, as now the bottom half of his VALK was probably coated with fuel. Stupid Jack thought to himself. Do better next time, you're better than that. He was quickly falling towards the ground, but if he used his jets to slow down he might explode. As the ground approached, Jack's breathing quickened and he prepared for pain. When he was a few stories above the ground, he decided to take his chances and activate his jets. He felt an explosion, and was violently pushed forwards and upwards, but he was still intact. His jets, still working despite significant damage from the small explosion, struggled, but managed to get him to the ground safely. He breathed a huge sigh of relief and composed himself before opening comms. "This is ensign Jack." he said. "The skies are clear of enemies, but I don't think I'll be much help until I get some repairs. That was... exciting." The red VALK had been travelling at the same speed as Jack, but had been higher up when the its fuel ignited, and only now did it hit the ground near Jack, landing on a street roughly a block away. It was still mostly intact, though obviously completely inoperable.

[Monfrox]

The troop trucks dropped off their squads and then left the combat space. Surviving tanks and APCs also pulled out. The remaining VALKs were doing their best to support them. The Proteus heavy troopers began to advance upon the teams. Allison looked down at the rifle. "No way this thing is punching through that..." She said, tossing it aside. She unsheathed the katana on her back and breathed, holding the blade out and firm. "This is it. After this, we get to go home." She started walking forward, holding the katana back now.

[Xing]

There were a series of beeps as the Javelin targeted the advancing heavy troops. She pulled the second trigger and after a moment of silence the missile launched out and raced toward them. With a large explosion it took out a good squad or two. The soldier she recruited as her reloader was quick at work to get the next missile loaded in, but it would take about a minute before they were ready to fire again. "Outlaw 1, this is Outlaw 1 Actual. Everyone take up defensive positions on the frontlines. Switch to armor piercing, they're sending in the heavies."

---

In an effort to save ammo, Gilbert engaged the oncoming handful of VALKs in a bit of melee combat. He retreated behind one of the buildings and waited for the enemy to catch up. As the lead VALK approached he dropped and swept its feet out from under it. Before it hit the ground he grabbed it by the arm and tore its rifle away, along with its right hand. He noticed an energy saber on its waist, grabbed it, and slashed the next valk square along its torso. It fell back, the pilot having been charred along with the metal of the chassis. The next Valk however was already upon him before his next slash. It threw its elbow into his valk and continued to assault him with blows to the point that the Guardian was barely able to keep up with blocking. One of the hits finally broke his guard, catching him square to his VALKs core and throwing the saber from his hand. While he recoiled from the blow the enemy VALK leveled its rifle and took careful aim on him.

A klaxon went off in the cockpit of the Guardian, a very distinct ominous one that Gilbert was all to familiar with. The one that only goes off when there's a direct enemy FCS locked on him. He threw the rest of his momentum backward and his valk dead dropped backward to the ground. There was but a brief moment until the gun adjusted for his movement, he'd have to be quick. He threw all of the booster power to the downward thrusters and his valk slid across the ground under his opponents feet. The Guardian kicked one of them out from beneath the VALK and Gilbert reached for the other leg as he passed. It fell to the ground and was dragged behind him. He let go, stopped and stood up, the other VALK still recovering from taking a hard hit to the ground. He slammed his VALK's right foot down into its enemies chest and there was the distinct feeling of all the open spaces inside collapsing under the weight, the cockpit being one of them.

The VALK with the missing right hand had since precariously pulled itself up and had grabbed a beam saber from one of its fallen comrades. It stood there as the lone last ditch effort for success. Gilbert boosted forward, and as the VALK cocked back to swing he delivered a kick to its right knee. The metal twisted and snapped leaving a mess of sparking wires and leaking oil behind. The VALK tumbled to the ground, and Gilbert quickly finished it off. He flicked on the comm channel for command. "Command. Nearly all of our VALKs are low on ammo or inoperable. I hope you've got something lined up to back us up or else we're going to have to resort to fighting old-school." He switched over comm channels to his fellow pilots, Constantine and Gregory being the only two still standing. "Greg, it looks like you and I are going to have to resort to bladed combat. Constantine, Anako. I haven't heard any reports from you two, so I'm assuming you're good on ammo. We're going to need you to provide long range support. Sound like a plan?"

[Tsuyoi Tekikoku]

The troop trucks dropped off their squads and then left the combat space. Surviving tanks and APCs also pulled out. The remaining VALKs were doing their best to support them. The Proteus heavy troopers began to advance upon the teams. Allison looked down at the rifle. "No way this thing is punching through that..." She said, tossing it aside. She unsheathed the katana on her back and breathed, holding the blade out and firm. "This is it. After this, we get to go home." She started walking forward, holding the katana back now.

"um...allison,you know those guys have machine guns and there's more than one...i don't think it's the wisest of ideas to fight them with just a sword,they'll kill with ease." Anako said firing a barrage of missiles at a group of enemies." you're not a ninja you know and i'm pretty sure cutting bullets in half with a sword only works in samurai movies." Anako switched become to her AKMH and fired at the proteus heavies she could spot.

[The Carlisle]

As soon as the heavy troopers were in range, William started firing. Several three round bursts went flying towards the advancing enemy soldiers. Most of them hit, but not many penetrated. Out of a whole clip, William managed to take down one. Whatever armor they were wearing, they could take a pounding. "Fok," he said quietly. He set down his ARX-160 and drew his magnum. He popped out the chamber and brought out the HEIAP rounds on a speedloader. Unlike his normal rounds, these were tipped to a point. It looked like a miniature tank round. He shoved the rounds into the chamber, popped it back in, and brought the magnum up. He aimed it at one of the heavy troopers, specifically at the closest one. "Neem hierdie maaifoedie," he said. He pulled the trigger, and watched the fate of the trooper.

It was like a small fiery explosion went off on top of his armor, sending burning bits of Kevlar and composites in all directions. The core of the bullet went through the exposed area on his chest, into to soft flesh, and exited out the other side, leaving a small hole on the back. The trooper fell, grasping at his burning, bleeding, and fatal wound. The round continued on its path and hit another trooper in the chest and went straight through. That trooper fell into a heap and started gasping frantically.
The bullet, losing most of its energy, hit and embedded into a concrete wall.

William had a look of surprise. The power of these rounds were destructive both to his enemy and nearly him. Even with control, the magnum almost hit him in the face from recoil. The rounds must be packed with several times more gunpowder than standard rounds. He looked at the round's work. "I need to place my shots carefully to get as many kills as I can with them," he thought. He glanced over to Allison who had just drew her katana. "And not hit my allies."

[Monfrox]

Allison dashed amidst the fire and ignored Anako's concern. Between the combined efforts of the squads, Charlotte, and William, there was only one left. He wielded a light machine gun and fired it in Allison's direction. She moved swiftly, but caught another bullet in her torso. That did it for her. She charged head on and fast, closing the distance with a shout of rage in mere seconds. She swung once and cut off the forward part of the barrel of the gun and the trooper's wrist with it, swung low and cut open the armored vest deep before quickly plunging the blade up into his chest. She let him slide down until his face was level with hers, and she stared into his eyes coldly without batting them until the life faded and he slid backwards off the sword. Allison withdrew the blade and wiped the blood off with her bare hands, smearing it on her face to mix with the black face paint. She sheathed the katana on her back and breathed. "Mustang, this is Coyote 2 Actual. Proteus Infantry are no longer a threat, over."