2011-08-13 - Just Another Morning In Rome

Remille Fortner has posed:

The sun was gently rising over the horizon. Smoke rose from the outer sections of Rome that had been war-torn by the recent activities. The people had been moved down into the shelters and the streets were empty. No children played. No songs were sung. It was as if the whole area had become a ghost city and this was all thanks to the appending danger that was attempting to claim the land as their own. So far though the Crusaders have been trying their best to not completely destroy the area.

They were trying to keep the civilians out of this war as much has possible, but the problem with war was, it always found you; no matter how hard the soldiers may try.

The Blockade setup around the area had several patrols that walked along its borders. They knew that the presence of them would summon forth the Alpha Numbers and the A-LAWs. It was only a matter of time after all. One of the units in this patrol stood out slightly from the others. The dark blue, near black Armored Core moved along in the back of the patrol. The sniper rifle resting in both of its black hands and the red visor would flicker from time to time.

Remille Fortner, the pilot of this Armored Core sat back in her chair enjoying a cup of warm tea to ward off the cold air circulating into her machine from the vents being open for the time. Her sapphire eyes glazing slightly over the screens from the long night shift soon to come to an end.

Though every time the top right monitor flickered a strange blip, that glazed look would become sharp as a knife staring for a moment on her sights and at the radar; to only find it was nothing.

Or so she silently hoped.

Ascian Luddite has posed:

BAHRAM really had not taken much of an active role within the battle short of the assistance of warriors such as Suriel Misaki. But today seems to be different. In the name of building a better reputation with the changing leadership within the Divine Crusaders - or rather, the Neo Divine Crusaders. Floating right besides the particular black Armored Core, is an Orbital Frame which hasn't seen the battlefield in a while now.

Coated within red particules that droop off of its wings, the Phoenix Frame, Amenthes. Its left hand touches on the armored core's shoulder for a moment, whilst Ascian observes the city ahead. His unit is slowly drawing a map of the surroundings for him, updating the old map of Rome has has in his possession. <"Good morning, miss Fortner."> It would appear that the young man has hatled being so openly hostile towards the girl. The things a little R&R can do.

The Amenthes lifts its hand away then, and shudders its wings a little, before the machine actually waves at the Nightingale. <"Good morning, miss Fortner."> Duat too decides to speak, in that slightly metalic - but clearly British and female voice it has attained.

Within the cockpit, Ascian taps the controls a few times. <"Guard duty huh?"> He asks her dutifully, and traces a finger over the red half-orb on his right, playing a bit with the radar controls, before laying his full hands onto the machine and forcing it to set down, halting the natural tendency for a machine liek this to remain airborne.

Zanki has posed:

To aid in the Neo DC's efforts, Emperor Gore sent a Mechasaurus piloted by the recently promoted Captain Zanki. Having come out at the top of the pilots' academy and destroyed Neo-MTV's headquarters, he has built himself quite an ego. Of course, with this ego comes a reputation for being a self-important prick. This reputation is one hundred percent accurate. "Pfeh, stupid monkeys. Why are we even helping them out with their little insignificant war? It would be easier to just wait for them to kill each other off. What's another thousand years to us? A job like this is just insulting." Zanki complains loudly, marching along with a couple of Den'an Zons on patrol, his Mechasaurus towering over them. A video screen on the control panel in front of him turns on then, showing General Bat's face. "Zanki," Bat says with the patience of an old man who has dealt with whiny brats all his life and is, quite frankly, tired of it. "You were given this job by the emperor himself. It is a great honor to be assigned a task by him in person." Zanki sneers at the general. "Yes, /uncle/. Whatever you say, /uncle/. You may be the leader of the Empire's military forces, but you're not my father, /uncle/." The corner of Bat's mouth twitches slightly just before he replies. "I have told you before, I am not your uncle on the field. You are to refer to me as General Bat, general, or 'yes sir'. I may not be your father, but I /am/ your commanding officer. Now straighten up that face of yours and do your job." The video feed ends. "Hmph. Yes, /sir/." Zanki snorts, then returns his attention to the patrol. "I can't even shoot anything. This is /boring/."

Russel Bagman has posed:

Russel Bagman is not in his normal machine this evening. Something far more suited to Urban combat is the name of the day, a Knightmare Frame. The small speedy machine is sipping along. He also knew about the issues of civilians himself and intented to keep them out of it as much as he could. He was part of an operation to hit the Neo DC. The machine moves along keeping a low profile they'd get one moment of suprise when they struck and he didn't want to blow it....

Meiya Mitsurugi has posed:

Rome. Meiya never got to visit it before this invasion, and for that she feels a little bit sorry as she looks at the ruined landscapes of the historic city for her perch on the edge of the Takemikazuchi's cockpit door.

The purple Tactical Surface Fighter only stands slightly taller then an ARM Slave, but is still in the right size class for urban fighting in tight areas. She stands with the sword Minarukumi perchedont he cockpit door with her hands held over the end of the hilt as she merely stands and surveys the area ahead, the wind blowing her pony tail and hair ribbon slightly.

Something in the distance makes her frown, and Meiya slides back into the cockpit and fastens the retraints. The Type-00R Takemikazuchi hunches down and moves forward at a run between the buildings, moving steadily forward.

Simon has posed:

Simon the digger can't fight Beastmen /every/ day. Sometimes he has to actually help the EF--the Alpha Numbers out. Naturally, he is driving Gurren Lagann by himself today unless you count Boota and /maybe you should/ because everybody knows who the real brains of the outfit is.

"Buu." Boota says, examining his stock portfolio.

"Better get ready," Simon tells his pal. "We're about to run right smack into 'em. Let's support Meiya, okay?"

YEAH.

"I just hope we're not too late!" He adds as the Gurren clomps along. clomp clomp.

Remille Fortner has posed:

Remille heard a gently 'thunk' outside of her core. This caused a soft eyebrow raise from the pilot, before she noticed the friendly green mark on her radar. "Hm." It was soon followed by the voice of Ascian and his AI. "Morning Ascian." The Frightener replied back over the comm. "And yes-- Guard Duty, I will enjoy when my replacement comes. Staring at nothing has become rather dull."

It would seem her own feelings on the quiet was being shared by some of the beastmen out here; at least one of them.

The Armored Core comes to a halt before looking at Ascian's own unit, before the machine looks out to the distance. "I do not like this quiet." Remille says calmly before taking a sip of her tea over the normal band, "Quiet only comes before the storm."

Remille caught that random red blip again on her radar. Those sapphire blue eyes squint gently as she types something in her computer. The monitor flickers, before it shuts off. Then for a few seconds it stays black before it powers back up again. Those sapphire blue eyes stare at it once more as it happens again. "Hrm."

The Nightingale Armored Core shifts its stance as it turns itself around to suddenly put its sights in the direction of the blips. "..One moment.." Remille says over the band. The Armored Core then walked toward the city environment; thankfully these machines were also designed for urban warfare and unlike their NEXT cousins were not oozing out radioactive particles.

The Nightingale moved with ease. The Sniper rifle staying steady; but ready. The visor glowing brightly as it was zooming rapidly on any movement. Even those forgotten newspaper articles. "..where are you.." Remille whispers softly to herself.

Then there was a flicker of red in the cross-hairs of the sniper rifle. Her sapphire blue eyes stared before she quickly typed in some command instructions to the FPS and her hand quickly throttling on the power, before taking a hold of the joystick.

The Nightingale now strafed around a building with quick steps, before at last she got the lock-on to stick; and when it stuck, she fired.

 Remille Fortner transmits, "Looks like we may have company."

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "Roger that."

Ascian Luddite has posed:

Just around the time where Remille has lead her Armored Core away and is trying to seek out her enemies, Duat lets a little blib appear on the Radar. "Roger that." Ascian replies, not just to her comment on quiet before the storm - but also her comment on there being company. The red glow within the cockpit becomes slightly darker, as the machine reacts to Ascian's urge to enter combat. It'd been a while.

"Let's see if these guys will prove themselves more difficult than those Acemos LEVs." After all, it's not like he's entirely been without combat. Still, unless it is BIS, or some kind of experimental new weapon from Acemos, things tend to be pretty darn boring and easy for him. A look at the radar seems to show that it isn't the unit which Remille was going after though. It was something much... louder.

"Can you identify it, Duat?" Ascian requests, whilst letting his will slip into the machine, sending a red flow of energy trail through the cockpit - to which in response, the machine opens its wings and lifts up into the air. The radar flares out, and concentrates on the location of what appears to be... "A Gunmen?" Admittedly, the young Martian has little experience with them - short of his own Beastmachine hybrid. But with reports coming in due to the battles around Siberia, he's learned of them and their looks.

"Unit identified as the Gurren." The A.I. replies, and throws up a clear view of the slow machine. "Well, it certainly isn't one of ours. Guess... that means we're going to engage it." And with that said, Ascian's mind is set on his target, and he sends his Orbital Frame in, rapidly doing a fly-over, before twirling around in the air, aim its two arms down - both in rifle mode, and lets a twosome of red bolts rip straight in front of the machine - hoping to catch its pilot off-guard!

Arian-16 has posed:

Meeting Shine Hausen was weird.

Never before has Arian ridden a horse, and the experience is still a little strange, in her mind. Her body isn't sore, per se, but the equestrian is one of those things that the teal-haired Boosted Child can freely admit that she's never done before. It also felt kind of weird to do in the middle of the Rome invasion by the DC, when all things were going a little haywire, but...

... y'know. /Shine Hausen/ calls, you gotta go.

Settled reasonably comfortably in the cockpit of the very same TSYF-22 Raptor that she piloted against Ouka Nagisa just the other day, the hull and armor show the fresh wounds and marks of beam weapons, of armor plates replaced as quickly as possible, and of a fresh camera eye installed in the left eyesocket, but the external armor and paint have not been touched up just yet. The white 'YF-22' decal across the left pauldron is mostly scraped and scattered paint, and she's had the hip-mounted flight unit removed to make urban maneuvers a little easier for now.

Arian squints, her hawkish eyes carefully regarding the data that pops up on her screen. Crouched down well behind the 'neutral zone' between the warring forces, the Raptor's head lifts up to look over the top of a small building as weapons fire starts to go off. Rolling the wad of gum in her mouth from one side of her jaw to the other, she tightens the jawguard of the armored, skin-tight flight suit and settles into the cockpit chair properly...

Rising to it's full height, the YF-22 props it's assault rifle on the rooftop as though she were holding a sniper rifle. Waiting for her chance, she cracks off a single shot, aimed at the Amenthes... not at the head or chest as most would expect... no, she knows right where to shoot at an Orbital Frame:

Right in the (tee hee) cockpit.

Zanki has posed:

Just when he says there's nothing to shoot, Zanki sees one of the other patrol squads shooting at something. He immediately begins looking around for a target of his own, and his keen reptilian eyes pick up a tiny little mech making its way through the streets.

"At last! I can see them! I can see the enemy!" he says excitedly, pressing a button on the control panel. Mechasaurus Zen raises its claw, aiming it at Russel's Knightmare Frame. The center of the four-pronged claw slides open to reveal a beam cannon, which opens fire the instant Zanki gets a target lock.

The Neo Divine Crusaders may not want to blow up Rome, but Zanki couldn't care less. There are dinosaurs in the Empire who sympathize with the humans, or at least don't mind them overly much. Captain Zanki isn't one of them. So what if, in his laser frenzy, he happens to blow up a building or two? Serves the monkeys right for taking his ancestral home from him.

Meiya Mitsurugi has posed:

The sniper rifle shot blasts through the city buildings and clips off the Takemikazuchi's shoulder with a ear ringing *CLANG* causing the TSF to lurch back "Uhg! Enemy contact!"

Meiya jumps the TSF to the other side of the street and flattens it's back against a building as it swings it's 36mm addault rifle out from it's back to hold it around the corner and fire it at Remille's Armored Core with the gun's built in camera.

<<"An Armored Core. Arian, whats your target?">>

Simon has posed:

IT'S A GUNMEN.

But Gurren Lagann isn't slow. It's moving slow NOW, yes, but it's not a slow mech. Because when you can arbitrarily rewrite the laws of physics from time to time--'slow' isn't really a concept that bothers you anymore. Admittedly, Simon usually has to warm up to that. HOWEVER--Spiral Power can be ejected to provide thrust over a long period of time if you keep it stable. Ascian gets a first shot off.

Two bolts slam into the chest and left arm of the machine, explosions detonating where it impacts against the machine. It stops, for a moment, not immediately counterattacking.

Instead, Simon opens up a link.

<"Enemy mech."> Simon says. <"I am giving you an opportunity to surrender now. I'd take it if I were you. If you keep fighting, I won't hold back."> Though he might, actually. Arian-16 is certainly kicking enough ass that he can afford something of a warning.

Remille Fortner has posed:

The Nightingale Thrusters kick on as Remille hears the sound of a warning that she has been locked. Though the dark Armored Core isn't fast enough as it bolts around and behind a building. The bullets from the assault rifle catch the edge of the back-end of the Core before it could swing fully around to hide.

The raven haired female pilot tsks as she has the Nightingale stand still for a moment. Staring at her radar, before she then narrows her sapphire blue eyes.

The streets remain quiet from Meiya's contact. There was dead silence, however soon there was the sound of thrusters roaring and not shortly after that came blazing across a street section about two blocks down. It was like almost slow motion, but yet the real speed so quick as the mech was traveling close to perhaps 400 mph. There was a red glow from left lower arm, then a sharp swing as it came fully into the open. With that swing blasted out a horizontal long stream blast that almost looked like a flying energy saber beam of light.

Though as quick as it happened, the Nightingale was moving back for cover behind the next building nearby.

It was almost like a game of cat and mouse in the urban playground.

Russel Bagman has posed:

Russel Bagman is preparing to attack and he knows some weapons are better suitd to close ubran combat than others. Slash harkens work well in this respect as he attempt to deal with the mechasauraus. The getters ain't around and this is likely a good thing or the city would end off worse. He's caught by the laser, as one slash harken is fired but misses, he quickly follows up with another and hopes to fair better.

Ascian Luddite has posed:

Framerunners really don't like it when their Orbital Frames get shot in the cockpit. One, it threatens their lives. Two... well... if you're a guy, there's just /something/ about it that makes you want to grab for your crotch and groan. Not sure what though. Nope nope. However, Amenthes herself doesn't like getting shot at like that either. Though Ascian's attention was aimed at Simon for a good bit, his unit's rifles morphing back into hands and the frame quickly /covers/ the front of her waist!

Metal morphs and continues to twist as the attack of the assault rifle crashes into it - the SSA is kicking in at full force, preventing the delicate limbs from breaking down. Still, one can clearly tell that armor on other parts of the unit have been sacrificed in order for this feat. Another one of those shots, and its self-repair functions likely would not be able to keep up that well!

The Amenthes then finally breaks away from the path of Arian's assault, quickly moving back, whilst Duat opens a second vid-window so Ascian may be aware of the enemy's location. And then there's Simon's little call. The young man appears on his screen with a little spiral symbol around him for absolutely unexplained reasons. The bishonen young man in a way too tight plug-suit look-alike flightsuit stares somewhat... coldly at the young kid, and raises an eyebrow. "The heck is a little squirt like you trying to order me around for? Heck, why are you even in the army? Tssk... the Federation these days." Not that the DC can talk really...

<"Look kid, have you /ever/ met someone who actually listens to such suggestions? I've found that nobody ever actually listens to those requests. So here I am going to go and not surprise you, and stay here to fight. Deal.">

His head then turns and he cuts the link, so he may concentrate on Arian for a moment. Seems he still has a little issue with fighting little kids after all. And that pilot at least, he knew! Besides, they SHOT at his COCKPIT! They were gonna pay - so he'd like to believe. The wings of the Amenthes spread further, the twelve wings unbinding and splitting up into a twenty-four configuration, before the machine summons a whole collection of what looks like fireballs amongst those wings!

Red energy rushes from the core out to those wings, forming those grenade-like balls of weaponized Metatron energy, which then get taken by the hands of the machine and promptly lobbed straight at the Raptor one by one. <"Hey you! Didn't your mother ever tell you it's rude to fire at someone's cockpit?!"> Not like he hasn't done so himself before.

Zanki has posed:

Several buildings find themselves perforated by the lasers, and then in flames shortly afterward. Captain Zanki, of course, is having the time of his life. He has to fight the urge to laugh maniacally, instead settling for simply smirking smugly. One of the lasers even manages to clip the target. The Knightmare Frame fires some little spinny blade things at Zen, but Captain Zanki ignores them and just charges straight ahead, the cuts on his Mechasaurus's hide not hampering him in the slightest as he throws a punch at the tiny machine before him. And then, to follow it up, Zen's claw begins spinning like some sort of buzzsaw or drill or something, and it thrusts it down at the Sutherland. "You monkeys can't even send a proper opponent for me to fight? I'm insulted!"

Simon has posed:

"Alright." Simon says reasonably enough, closing the connection as well.

And then he charges forward, suddenly blasting into close range, a drill spiked fist--WHERE DID THAT DRILL COME FROM--swinging back and--naturally--swinging for the chest of Ascian's robot in a smooth motion. Simplicity itself. The Gurren Lagann remains largely undamaged aside from some black soot covering its outer edges and maybe a dent here and there. He doesn't really feel like he has the time to be fucking around here when he has to prepare for the next Beastman attack but it seems even Genome has taken a moment to avoid trying to kill everybody to do something else--and that's a little worrying in of itself.

Arian-16 has posed:

Sorting her FACE PHONE windows rather quickly, the leading comm line connects to Meiya, bringing her screen to the forefront on the cascade HUD. Arian's attention is still straight ahead, smirking as she manages to clip the Orbital Frame in the aptly-named part of it's construction. "I'm backing up that shrimpy power armor thing on the OF, but my Raptor isn't in the best of shape since AW FUCK--"

The YF-22 twists and tries to lunge to one side, evading the first of the Metatron bursts, but taking the second straight to the chest. The Raptor /rocks/ backward in the middle of this hop, twisting in the air and slamming into the front of an abandoned set of buildings along a main street. Arian grunts as she's rocked back and forth in the cockpit, hanging to one side.

"Then don't stick it out where people can see, dumbass!" The voice might be familiar-- such as skirmishes over the North Pacific. Arian can recognize the Amenthes, but of course not by name. Rolling onto it's chest, the YF-22 gets it's hands and a leg under itself, the agile machine running /toward/ the OF on street level. Hefting up the assault rifle once again, the attached grenade launcher fires, launching an impact-detonating grenade with a trail of smoke chasing after it, aiming once again for the cockpit!

Meiya Mitsurugi has posed:

Meiya ducks back around the corner and puts the TSF's machine gun back on it's rack, and drawing out the long curved PB blade from over it's shoulder, holding it in both hands. There Meiya and her machine wait.

Long ago Meiya learned, that sometimes you must let the enemy get close and strike, if you want a chance at striking them.

When the Nightingale comes screaming around the corner, Remille finds the Takemikazuchi standing there, without regard for it's own defense, swinging it's PB blade across the Armored Core's chest even as the beam blade melts through it's armor and slice up out of it's clavical.

Even as the AC speeds past the Takemikazuchi runs sideways down a side street and changes direction at an intersection, armored feet digging our ashphalt as it runs, the Nightiingale passing an intersection ahead only half a seond before it does. Plenty of time.

For Meiya to lunge in behind it and swing the PB Blade upwards at it's back. Ascian Luddite has posed:

No, Ascian indeed doesn't know that name. But he does know that voice! And not just from that skirmish over the North Pacific. Though Arian may not realize it, she'd met him in his other unit once before as well - the EVA G1 unit. <"Like I designed this thing!"> Ascian calls back at Arian, a tad annoyed of course. Admittedly, this was an Orbital Frame, if he'd designed it, it likely would have held that same rather distinctive feature to it either way. After all, it's not an orbital Frame without a... cock... pit.

The machine quickly dives down as Ascian notices the machine hefting that assault rifle towards him, hiding between some buildings whilst letting the Amenthes launch a quick volley of red bolts. The machine floats sideways as it lets those plasma shots fly for the last position of the YF-22 before Ascian turns his attention forwards as Duat warns him with a big red warning sign.

The Gunmen coming his way, or rather, the drill, clips right past the left wing as Ascian throws the Amenthes into a barrelroll, and crashes into a nearby building due to the sudden maneuvers! It's a good thing people had been evacuated. The spine of the machine crashes into the building, crushing a good few pieces of it, whilst the wings remain in front of the concrete, immediately aiming for the position of both the Gurren /and/ the Raptor. "Tssk, seems I am fighting a battle against two units again." Last time that didn't go too well.

"Also... did that thing just spawn a drill out of nowhere!?" Memories of the use of the G1 quickly flood to him. Still it managed to suprise him. Never fought a Gunmen before after all.

Remille Fortner has posed:

The Nightingale was on the move, even as the Armored Core had the beam saber from her target sliced across the dark armor and ripping a slice into the side of the machine between the hip and the core itself. Remille grit her teeth as she could only hope to break around the corner before Meiya could catch up; this was not the case.

Those sapphire eyes snapped as she noticed the red dot moving in right behind on her radar, "..damn."

As the PB Blade comes for the Nightingale's backside, The Armored Core swiftly spins around in a sharp 180 turn, shattering the glass out of buildings from the thrusters sudden change and the sheer force of those very thrusters. It brings up its own beam blade to parry the PB Blade away, before it swiftly skates back and around another building.

Once more the Armored Core almost seems to go missing.

In those peaceful moments of silence with the sound of combat in the distance, the Armored Core's thrusters could be heard again. Though it wasn't on the ground, instead the machine comes screaming from high above a building and strafing across in the air. The weapon on its shoulder raised as a line of red light can be seen moving rapidly side to side. Then that light beams a single ray of beam that goes to cut into the 00R unit below.

Russel Bagman has posed:

Russel Bagman is not doing so well, he'd got nothing to say to this guy, at least not yet, the Slash harkens go once more. He's caught with the claw. The damage is horrible it cuts into the machine, he pulls back. He's unable to not avoid it but he's also in a good postion to attack. A moment later he powers up the magnum and just goes to punch the dinosaur.

"What you'd rather have the Getters. Sorry you have me! KNIGHTMARE MAGNUM!"

Arian-16 has posed:

The second more of those energy bursts come flying her way, Arian ducks the Raptor to another street at an intersection; the grenade makes contact with the energy bursts and causes a big and nasty explosion, at least with the first shot-- the second is where that dodging leap comes into play, hauling ass to the best of her ability in the shorter machine.

With the YF-22 crouched down with it's back to the buildings that separate herself and Ascian, Arian sets her jaw while keeping her body twisted halfway at the waist. She glances forward to check her ammo trackers on the HUD for the assault rifles that are at her disposal-- /ammo/, at least, she remembered to get replenished before heading back out on duty.

The YF-22 suddenly breaks over the rooftops, managing to spring itself up onto a set of sturdy rooftops that threaten to crack under the machine's weight. Dual-wielding either rifle, holding them close to the Raptor's sides as it goes, the teal-haired Boosted Child jumps down to the next street and runs the machine ahead, trying to start a strafing run... and hoping to catch the Amenthes off guard!

Simon has posed:

Simon glances over his shoulder towards Meiya--but not for too long because Ascian Luddite... is attacking! Swearing under his breath, Simon dashes backwards to avoid the beams, flinging his sunglasses towards Ascian's machine as he pulls back, the glasses opening up and threatening to dig into the mech's shoulders even as he pulls back himself to weave between the beams. He tries punching through the energy at least once but fails to knock the blast back like Superman which is distressing but, at least, not something that results in a missing limb.

Meiya will be fine, he reasons. It's time like this that she tends to kick the most butt, after all. But he can't help but be distracted at an ally taking such abuse. If he can get an opening--he'll shift to lending HER a hand. Hopefully she can last that long!

Zanki has posed:

What a weak machine the humans have sent against Zanki. You would think something that small would at least be able to dodge one attack, but the newly appointed captain has already gained the upper hand. Wait, what was that about the Getter? "Getter Robo would be a far more suitable foe than you! Look at you, so tiny and pathetic! I don't want to waste my time with you, so I'll just make your death quick." Zanki taunts, throwing another punch at the Knightmare Frame...and then getting punched right back. "Oho, so you've got some spirit! Well, we'll see how far that gets you!" The claws are still spinning, and they go for the smaller machine again. However, this time they're followed by Zen's fist, and then the claws again, striking at the Sutherland in an alternating pattern. Zanki, it would seem, is just trying to beat the hell out of the Knightmare Frame.

Ascian Luddite has posed:

As the YF-22 goes on its strafing run, so does the Amenthes. Buildings pass as the two move along the two parallel roads, little passage ways opening between now and again to allow for them to fire at eachother! Red blasts and rifle-blasts rip along the concrete on the buildings. Old porches see their final end, and abandoned plates of pizza are perforated. But neither machine manages to actually lay a shot on the other - be it through use of evasionary tactics, shields, or the lower quantity of shots being placed by the Amenthes itself.

That lack of shots is mostly caused by the assault placed by Simon! The massive sunglasses coming his way is enough to completely confuse the young man, and kind of freak out too much to really concentrate too much on the unit at his side. It becomes something like a bee dance as he moves the machine up and down and in between buildings as he passes along further, until finally - he just boosts the Amenthes up into the air and lets the wings come around the machine like a sort of... set of satelites.

Twenty-four satelites, all aimed down at Arian's machine. He suddenly remembers something. Some jibber jabber about being a Boosted Child. Yeah, pretty sure that was her. <"Hey Boostie!"> Aww, he has got a nickname for her. <"Let's see if you are better than Ibis Douglas!"> And there it comes! A rush of continuous lasers, blasting straight along the streets, spreading out and hiding away from her, before finally centering back down on her, spiralling towards her unit and trying to /trap/ her in a cage of lasers that just keep on flowing - moving smoothly like lines being drawn by some kind of god, and those lines being a paint beneath its brush!

Faster and faster they travel, wrapping around the Raptor's position, cutting smaller and smaller, trying to trap it and cut into its armor - not letting go unless she maneuvers like a pro, or lets her machine be cut by the powerful red lasers! In the meantime, Ascian places his concentration on Simon's machine. <"It even attacks like a kid's toy. Seriously... sunglasses as a boomerang? What kind of idiot comes up with such lame things!?"> He uses the speaker.

Meiya Mitsurugi has posed:

The slash of the PB blade goes wide and the Takemikazuchi slams it's foot into the road to pivot around as quickly as possible.

Only to have the beam from that cannon pierce through it's upper chest.

The Takemikazuchi slams backwards into a an outdoor cafe, abandonded since earlier this week. THe glowing red hole through the TSF's chest pings as it slowly cools. But hte Tacticla surface Fighters keep no reactors up there, and the inside of Meiya's cockpit flashes with diagnostics and red damage readouts as fingers and limbs twitch, slowly even the head comes back on line as Meiya shakes her self out of being momentarily stunned.

Turbojet engines test fire in blasts of air as the TSF slowly stands it's way back up. "Uhg." Meiya groans slightly. "That thing hits like a truck." she glances at her radio and cassually flips a switch to the off position.

The TSF reaches over it's other should to take the second PB blade in hand as it leans forward and rushes down the street. The turbojets at it's sides ignite and launch the the TSF skywards to where the Nightingale launched it's last attack, bearing down on it in what seems like a suicidaly direct attack.

Halfway there the TSF winds one arm back and flings the curved PB blade at Remille's machine like a massive boomerang for the Armored core, slicing through the air as the TSF comes up right behidn it, swingign around to kick at the armored core with it's super carbon edged feet. "I'm sorry. But I do not take deals from anyone flying DC colors."

The Takemikazuchi snatches the thrown PB blade out of the air as it completes it's spin kick, and brings the weapon down across the armored core's chest. The motion of the weapon swings wid, but it's not an error.

Meiya continues on with the motion, allowing it to carry itself through as the second PB blade comes down vertically. Allowing the momentuem of both weapons to swing the Takemikazuchi around and immediatly bring it back into position to attack the Frightener's machine, flipping both weapons around int it's nimble fingers into a reverse grip so they can be swung point first into the Armored Core.

Remille Fortner has posed:

Remille tsks softly before her sapphire eyes narrow. The Machine was still moving and coming at her in the air. Remille was not mistress of close combat, but she did understand enough to know she was in trouble and her target was not backing down either.

The female pilot softly hmphed before she called out over the loud-speaker, "Suit yourself. You had your chance."

The two blades moved in, Remille knew she couldn't avoid them. Instead she braces for the impact as she starts to let her Armored Core drop. The Blades cut into the Core, which causes massive warning lights to go off. Remille can hear the sound of the blades slicing in and close too. There is probably maybe only a foot or two between her and those blades. To close for comfort really.

The Nightingale's front side is utterly sliced off and several wires fly free, snapped in half by the blades. However a small panels open up as a massive amount of light is suddenly flashed out. The light was not only blinding, but something was causing massive static and instrument interference for a moment. When things calmed down, the Armored Core was no longer in front Meiya but behind, which it returned the favor with a close range sniper shot into the mech itself.

"You should have retreated." Remille said calmly. "Maybe next time you will take my offer."

 Remille Fortner transmits, "The Nightingale has taken heavy amount of damage, but is still operational. Does anyone else require assistance?"

 Zanki transmits, "Why would I need assistance? This guy's an amateur!"

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "I think I could use some help here..."

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "Have to put quite some concentration into fighting this darned Raptor, and I'm afraid that Gunmen might pull something any moment now."

 Remille Fortner transmits, "Understood. Mark the target. I will be over there shortly."

Meiya Mitsurugi has posed:

The TSF's already damaged torso is blasted through again and it lands hard, in the city streets. After a moment, Meiya radios back. "Should I have? If I had retreated My machine would have been out of combat for days, maybe a week. It still will be. But now your's is badly damaged as well."

"Sometimes you have to be willing to sacrifice a little more for the real strategy."

Arian-16 has posed:

Arian's eyes narrow again as she gives a harsh click of her tongue. This bastard's Orbital Frame is a little more agile than she had given it credit for-- and she's starting to run out of ammo in the rifles that she's holding in hand. Keeping watch of that, the Boosted Child again ducks down in a position that she thinks she's safe... but it's hard to be that way when /HOMING LASERS/ are part of the equation.

The cage forms, wrapping and lashing around her at sharp, shallow angles. The Raptor steps left, steps right, trying to evade the whole of the shots. The arms of the machine sling forward, covering the chest area up as best as it can as it ducks one, avoids another, and then steps, more or less, right into the rest of the blasts.

There's an explosion as the rest of the lasers strike home seemingly all at once, the Raptor engulfed in a plume of smoke and fire. Arian lashes fiercely in the cockpit chair as her main HUD starts to sputter and flicker with static, as she hears armor being blown clear off or punched straight through. When the smoke clears, the YF-22 is down on one knee, shielding itself with it's arms. The right pauldron has been stripped off, and chunks of armor along the left arm have been stripped down to the chassis and it's inner workings.

"The name's Arian, you Martian dick."

Swinging the AML-99X Railgun over it's shoulder, remaining in that kneeling pose, the Tactical Surface Fighter preps the weapon in a series of smooth maneuvers. Revving up, releasing the sweet stench of ozone as electricity hums in the air, the long rifle lines up not on the cockpit of the Amenthes for once-- instead, she's aiming this one straight at the Orbital Frame's head, holding her position until she gets a bead on it.

And /blam/.

Russel Bagman has posed:

Russel Bagman is caught in close combat and he know he can't avoid it. But what he can do? What he can do is take damage prehaps better than even the Getters can as the attack ravages the smalelr machine it holds it together. One can see the servered powered lines, the leaking fluids from it's interal machinery but some how? Russel keeps the machine going.

"I am not done yet."

He's up close he can risk it, he brings all the ranged weapons online and locks on to the biomecha. It's kinda ironic to think there are two native races to Earth and now they are fighting for it. But nothing much can be done, he doesn't want to die, he doesn't want to see the Dinosarus rule again. The cannons open fire, as does his rifle, along with several grenades all at once.

Simon has posed:

Oh shit, Simon thinks Ascian Luddite goes balls out on Arian-16. What's more, he has to think it AGAIN as Meiya goes down hard. Simon is THEN taunted by Ascian Luddite. And luckily(?) for him, it works! The Spiral Knight (in training)'s eyes narrow sharply. A kid's toy, is it? Well then.

Simon closes his eyes, channeling spiral energy into the inner workings of the machine. He takes in a deep breath, the machine remaining still for several seconds. It's horrible battle strategy but, then again, Gurren Lagann is not really about doing the smart thing.

He swings Gurren Lagann's hand to the left, green plasma rippling around the arm towards the palm of his hand, before the energy dissipitates and in its place is a giant drill that travels up the arm and nearly reaches the elbow of the machine. The drill itself is nearly the size of Gurren Lagann itself.

"Drrrrrrrrrrrrrrriiiillll--" Simon says, which is not very tactically sound with so many other mechs on the field but well, sometimes taunts result in inefficient results. "BREEEEEEEEAKEEEEEER!"

The Gurren Lagann blasts forward, propelled by Spiral Energy--intending to rip right on through Ascian's machine--

--and out the other end.

Remille Fortner has posed:

The female Frightener raises a brow slightly. "..and yet.. you could have been killed.. I respect that choice."

"You fight well, Federation member." The Nightingale then turns around before it blasts off back toward the others where they are engaged. She was asked to focus on another unit that was giving one of the Crusaders issues; mostly her comrade Ascian.

The Nightingale had seen better days and Remille was taking a chance with the structural damage of the core like it was, but chances had to come for victory to be won. The Crusaders could not lose this fight.

The Nightingale comes blasting around the corner after the Drill is launched for the Phoenix-like Orbital Frame, though if Simon wasn't watching his six, he may find a sniper laser round going for his mech from a heavily damaged, sparking Armored Core that refuses to fall.

 Remille Fortner transmits, "..tsk.. take them down quickly and hard."

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "I'm trying, I'm trying. My armaments are not built for that kind of tactic though!"

 Remille Fortner transmits, "Just do what you can and don't get killed. We can not afford to lose."

Zanki has posed:

This monkey just doesn't know when to quit. To be honest, Zanki is actually pretty impressed. Such a tiny, frail thing, yet it keeps going even after the beating he's just given it. Amazing, what these primates can be capable of sometimes. However, it can't last forever.

"You're not done yet? Hm...no, I think you are." Zanki transmits. Just as he's about to attack, though, he gets a tingly feeling in the back of his mind. It tells him to jump, and jump he does, just barely managing to avoid getting blasted to smithereens. He lands behind the Knightmare Frame and starts spinning up the claws again.

"This is our city. I'd suggest you leave..."

Zen's claw slams into the road in front of it, boring a massive hole into the asphalt and the earth beneath it. And maybe, just maybe, it sliced up that Knightmare Frame on the way.

"...or better yet, DIE!"

Ascian Luddite has posed:

Fighting two targets like this was difficult. Remille comes through the radio. Apparently, she'd been such a fantastic pilot today, that she'd already defeaten her opponent. He had to give it to the woman, she had skill. It kind of made him jealous. "Go after the Gunmen please." Ascian mutters over the radio, before his attention is rudely torn back to the battle at hand as the Amenthes starts alerting him of a high energy signature. "Oh... shit..." Ascian mutters, and kind of instinctively triggers the defense mechanisms! Shields go up, the Amenthes covers the cockpit and its chest, and the wings quickly move forwards to form a defensive screen. However...

Its head remains exposed to the world at large. <"Never told me your name before, deal!"> Ascian calls back. Apparently, he's not going to call names back. This is a new and improved Ascian. One who doesn't lose his temper as fast. One who is... just realizing where that giant railgun is aimed.

"Fuck."

The electric rail-propelled plasma bullet rushes forwards, and within the blink of an eye, the head of the Amenthes literally /explodes/ upon contact, sending the entire machine shudder back and crashing into a nearby building, flattening it. Its shield goes into a shocked overload, and within moments an explosion occurs that wastes the entire building! Almost like a NEXT had unleashed a smaller version of Assault Armor.

And there comes Simon! The Gurren Lagann's massive drill being raised in the air. Ascian's eyesight is barely able to focus within that cockpit, his head dripping slightly with blood. The sudden pull back, the surge of energy within the systems, and the balancing mechanics being broken all had come together in a rather rough landing. The youth moves a hand up for a moment towards his head, touching the wet spot, and looks with a bit of surprise at the red liquid.

And then there's Amenthes itself, scared, angry, both wanting to flee and wanting to take revenge. He could feel the spirit within shaking, scared of the enemy before them. Big flickering warning signs are all over the place as systems are malfunctioning with the loss of its head, and Duat having trouble keeping all the energy flows in check. Still, Ascian lays his hands onto the controls, and tries to connect with the machine - more deeply than he probably should. The blood on his hand makes for an eerie glow as it touches that half-orb, and little sparks jump between them and his hands. The young man winces.

The vid-window of the Gurren Lagann coming towards him appears in a HUGE resolution right before Ascian's eyes. "Come on, Amenthes... don't do this to me..." Ascian whines a the machine, pushing his fingers firmly around around those lit orbs, sending flare after flare of bioluminescent light through the machine.

"MOVE!"

The dust continues to beat up from where the Amenthes had landed. Simon goes in for the kill, and strikes the earth with all of his might! Another explosion!? Had he hit!? Had he defeaten that horrid Martian man!?

No!

From the ashes suddenly rises a Phoenix! Its wings clipped, quite literally. Its solid head missing, energy sprouting there to form a deck of 'feathers', that together form what looks like a 'new' head. The Amenthes stares right at the Raptor's position. <"How.... DARE YOU!"> Ascian shouts at Arian. The two arms of the Amenthes, partially broken under both the pressure of the Gurren Lagann, and the railgun impact, slowly transform into a set of rifles, and Duat assists Ascian as he lets the machine release its limiters on the compression of space and extends it straight towards the YF-22, hoping to catch it within... in the mean time, crushing any buildings or other objects within its path under the immense pressure!

<"You won't get away with that!"> He sees from the corner of his eyes as Remille arrives to assist him, before turning his attention towards Arian again. The two arms coming together begin to mold and mesh, morph and melt... forming a gigantic pulsing rifle above the cockpit, red energy quickly flowing to it from its core. The tailfeathers are even connected to it, pushing through the energy that flows from them, building up a pressure.

And within moments, the skies over Rome are momentarily colored a red as if they had been lit on fire... as a massive wave of weaponized Metatron rushes along its path towards Arian's machine!

Russel Bagman has posed:

Russel Bagman doesn't know when to quit, it's in his nature. But his machine is on it's last legs. Meiya's down, but Arian-16 is still in it for the moment. He narrows his eyes he pulls his machine's rifle to bear and opens fire, he doesn't let go of the trigger as he zooms along. He's trying to circle the other machine and just unload the fire power. Maybe they can't win today but they can weaken the enemy right?

"Taken by force."

In the back of his mind he actually hoped Dewey would keep the Getters the hell away from a city like this.

Arian-16 has posed:

The head of the Amenthes turns into, more or less, robo-pulp with the combined impacts. Arian cannot help but grin, even as the Takemikazuchi has been taken down at the hands of the Nightingale. Her thumb flicks across her nose as she lets out a short, "heheh" after the Orbital Frame hits the ground and is engulfed in yet another explosion. Of course, she doesn't plan on it getting back up /that fast/.

Or have energy, or feathers, or whatever it is, spouting out of the head.

"That's fucking cheating!!" she declares back at Ascian, thrusting out a finger to point at her HUD display. How the hell could that thing even /do that/, that didn't even seem remotely normal for any robot she's ever heard of, let /alone/ an Orbital Frame!

Oh. And then the arms become rifles.

Arian grits her teeth and throws the control sticks forward, even as she lines up a shot on the Amenthes with that railgun in hand. The shot fires off, but with the whole 'running' and 'oh god there's beam death flying my way' things, the slug is relatively inaccurate. The Raptor ducks to one side, not actually hiding from the shot, but running /toward/ the Orbital Frame. Slinging the rifle over one shoulder, Arian jumps the YF-22 to the next closest building before /leaping/.

"You're breakin' my heart, Major Crybaby!"

... And instead, it grabs the handle of a /sword/. Holding the blade at a low side-set angle, Arian is grinning like a shark as the straight-bladed weapon is swept at the phoenix-like Orbital Frame in a shoulder-to-hip slash!

Zanki has posed:

Even when it's this badly damaged, the tiny human machine can still move surprisingly well. It skips out of the way of Zen's claws just in time to avoid a painful death, and then unloads its guns on the Mechasaurus some more. However, Zanki didn't come out of the academy at the top of his class for nothing. Just like before, he jumps over the shots, but this time his Mechasaurus hovers in the air.

"I don't know what you're on about. A city taken by force is still a city owned by those who took it. Stop being so sore about it, primate." he taunts some more, aiming the claw beam cannon at Russel again. This time, though, it keeps on spinning as a pink glow appears in its barrel. And mere moments later, when it fires, the beam is joined by countless smaller ones, all zipping off through the battlefield to burn down more buildings and Alpha Numbers. It's a scene of devastation that the Neo DC were trying to avoid, this entire section of Rome going up in flames and explosions.

And Zanki doesn't care.

Simon has posed:

The children's toy fails to actually hit Ascian Luddite's machine, but the explosion of dust ripping out of the ground really is incredible, as is the crater in the floor where Simon hit. Through the dust, a sniper shot rings out and rips off the Gurren Lagann's left arm utterly. That was pretty terrible. Nevertheless, before the arm goes flying TOO far, the Gurren Lagann catches the falling weapon and flings it at the Nightingale, drill fist first. Somehow this works.

"Uh--I don't..." Wait, she said didn't she? "Arian-16!" He shouts. "Hold on a second...!"

And then he ejects. Or so it seems, because in reality he's abandoning the damaged Gurren entirely, a large 'head' with a drill underneath popping out. This is probably even more like 'a toy' than the Gurren Lagann's sunglasses. At least they seem to have a combat purpose.

The head spins around and--flies towards Arian's Raptor? ... weird. And then even weirder, it crashes down, drill first, for the Raptor's head! TREASON! TREASON IN THE WHITE HOUSE!

"Sorry about this, but Gurren doesn't seem to be as capable as your Raptor." He says, "--It must be one of the best machines the Alpha Numbers have!" You might think he was joking if he didn't sound completely and totally sincere with his words.

But contrary to expectations, he doesn't actually try to kill BOTH enemies at once. This is because he has no idea where the Nightingale is, having lost track of it's snipery when Gattai-ing. Instead, finding a lack of missiles, he tries to figure out the weapon systems of this new machine. Hey, it has a sword out! "Oh cool!" He says, swinging the arm up despite Arian's possible protests, and--

--and he throws it at Ascian Luddite. "Go Boomerang Sword!" He shouts. He then pauses as it fails to return. "...It's not a boomerang sword?"

Remille Fortner has posed:

Remille was thankful that being a sniper kept her out of some harms way, even if the drills off the knuckles gnawed through the side of the Armored Core. If this kept up, she may not have much of a Core left to call the Nightingale an Armored Core; she also may be a dead pilot.

Those nimble fingers quickly typed over the glowing keyboard as she started to run through line of code to the FCS and over-ride some safeties inside the program itself.

The Nightingale danced around the edge as the weapon on its shoulder activated once more. It started to glow deep within the barrel, first the light was slow, though soon it started to speed up.

Faster and faster did it move until the Armored Core blasted out around the corner with overboosters on full. The 800 mph machine comes around, its image in a near blur as that weapon on its shoulder blasts out a thin beam for a long amount of time to try to cut right through the now assembled two mechs. She could only hope that Ascian could keep his Orbital Frame in working condition because so far, he has been doing a good job.

Ascian Luddite has posed:

The Amenthes, clearly going a bit overboard on the freakiness of Orbital Frames - due to its rather highly compressed and much overloaded quantity of Metatron - clearly is moving... slower now. After firing that weapon, which Arian quite skillfully managed to avoid, the machine's energy reserves are quite visibly drained. The bioluminescent flow of energy is slower, and its also more faint. Yet still, that featherdeck at the top remains strong.

<"I'm not a Major yet, I'm a Lieu~... hey! I'm not a crybaby!"> God. Ascian has some rather mixed up priorities when it comes to some of these things. Really. The young man moves his body back a bit, and the Amenthes follows suit, quickly rushing back and away from the Raptor as it comes towards him, firing bolt after bolt of red hot energy at the thing, and now and again using the sturdy rifle-arm to actually /block/ her swings before finally the energy regeneration systems have gained enough for a quick boost of velocity to get away from her...

Finally, the Phoenix hangs in the morning sky, the sun rising behind it, blinding it from view - truly making it seem the Phoenix as the background burns, shining off of the black and red of its broken armored plating. This is a Phoenix that could really use a good return to the ashes to make it shine once more. But it still had some fight left in it, it wasn't going to fall!

Especially not to the likes of... did... did those two machines just... COMBINE!?

The Amenthes's glowing 'head' suddenly seems to turn a crimson shade of red, and it moves its hand before what would likely be its mouth. "Ohh...." The machine whispers in a girlish voice, placing its legs together bashfully and slightly 'turning away'. Did... did Ascian's machine just make a shy gesture. Wait, do machines even THINK about such things!? What the hell is going on here!?

Still! Then there's suddenly a sword coming its way. And Amenthes does something unexpected. Or rather, Ascian does! The machine rushes straight for the sword that comes flinging towards it and... grabs it! Those wings flap once, pushing out those crystals of Metatron to increase its velocity once more, before dumping the sword into its Vector Trap (mine now!) and trying to stab against the /top/ head of the Raptor with the massive rifle, after which to pull the trigger and blast it with a ray of laser!

 Remille Fortner transmits, "Ascian!"

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "I... I'm fine."

 Remille Fortner transmits, "..."

 Ascian Luddite teases lightly, "Didn't know you cared."

 Remille Fortner transmits, "Hm. Only doing my job."

 Ascian Luddite transmits, "Right."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "..Not sure how much longer the Nightingale has before her generator explodes. I am starting to see red across the board."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "I don't think the Feds are in much better of a shape."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "Just saying, if you see an explosion.. that is why. I should be fine long as I time my escape."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Just, y'know, be careful."

Arian-16 has posed:

It's a curious sight, the Lagann as it comes flying down toward the Raptor. Even after her miss, even after Ascian somehow manages to avoid the YF-22 mid-jump, Arian's impact warnings scream and wail as she sees the drill coming down, her yellow-hue eyes widening to the size of saucers, and then--

-- IMPACT!!

The YF-22's head crunches with the drill driving straight through it, splitting in half right down the middle while the Lagann burrows down into place. When the metal and inner workings finish making that disgusting squelch noise, there's a painfully loud sound of metals wrenching as the Raptor's angular head slides up and slams back closed over the Lagann like a protective helmet. The angular faceplate splits open and slides to either side to reveal the face...

... and now the entire YF-22 is now passionate mantastic red. Even torn and battered, the Tactical Surface Fighter looks as though it has been injected with new life, even as control is taken away from Arian and given to the Gunman that is invading her machine.

That last blast fires right up in the Raptor's new face, and Arian is left to hold on for dear life during the impact... and the subsequent drill being driven through the Amenthes. Remille's cannon blasts and blazes into the Lagann, ripping through the head unit's new, reformed state of being-- the helmet-like form-- and then things seem to change-- in so much as getting control of her machine again, even for a moment.

"Leave this one to me!!"

Pulling forward even after the head lurches backwards, the YF-22 Raptor-Lagann reaches over it's shoulder and brings around the AML-99X Railgun all over again. With new life, new speed from the Gunman and the heavily damaged head, the Tactical Surface Fighter ejects an empty ammo case while slamming a new one in place. The legs spread, the weight shifts, and targeting reticles don't so much 'appear' on the HUD as they form in a strange spiral-like distortion of the normal programming.

And Arian fires.

Shells and slugs -- shaped like tiny little drills of course -- continue to blaze out of the barrel of the railgun, firing off with the snaps of electricity and the loud BLAM, clouds of dust and debris blasting backward from the combined machines in each shot fired!

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Emperor King Gore transmits, "...Did I just see Zanki, the star pupil at the Machineland Pilots' Academy, destroy a large section of the city I gave him very clear and explicit orders /not to destroy/?"

Russel Bagman has posed:

Russel Bagman is moving quickly but he's got no reply. The reason for this is he's trying to not die, the small machine evades. He watches as the carnage and ins ome level it's his fault. He's going to change up the game plan, with this he's got to pull back he turns firing a long burst from the shoulder cannon, along with rounds from the rifle trying to get the Dinsosaur to chase him. He's going to a much less populated area trying to lure him.

"Hey come catch me!"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Yyyyyep."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Remille Fortner transmits, "Don't concern yourself. I am a Frightener. We live to fight and death is our weapon." pause, "..perhaps?"

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Emperor King Gore transmits, "That is what I thought."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Ascian Luddite transmits, "Frightener or not, still going to be concerned about my allies."

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Emperor King Gore transmits, "I will order him to return to Machineland immediately after the battle."

Remille Fortner has posed:

Remille Fortner slides the Nightingale to a stop. The Machine takes some kind impact, she isn't sure what but the head build up from the generator is going into critical. The radiator couldn't keep up with the demand and errors were flashing all over. The Nightingale did her job and she was now as good has dead. "..You did well." She says softly to her Armored Core as she types in the final commands.

The Frightener already knew what was going to happen next and it was probably the smarter move. The railgun fires with it powerful blast. The drills and shells fly at speeds that are hard to predict. The Nightingale opens fire with the Sniper Rifle over and over like someone locked up the trigger button.

Remille smacks the switch to open the hatch for emergency use. The Back pops off several explosions before the hatch explodes open. Remille leaps out, just as the rail gun shots slam into the Nightingale.

Down goes the pilot and her Armored Core torn in nearly half by the sheer force. The explosion rocks above Remille, the burst in the air sends her almost flying forward.

This is only worsened as the Armored Core itself then explodes into pieces, and shrapnel goes flying by the female Freightner.

The Explosion was large enough it was almost questionable if the female pilot survives or not, but one thing was sure. That mech was dead and someone was going to hate the repair bill; but Zio Matrix would be dancing from the money.

<Radio: B - DC Tactical> Static on Remille's end.

Zanki has posed:

As Rome goes up in flames, Zanki finally starts laughing. The sight of all those man-made structures being destroyed by his power, and so easily too, makes it impossible for him to hold that laughter in any longer.

"Yes! Burn! /Burn it all/! The humans do not deserve a city such as this! Burn it all down! Hahahahahah!" he cackles, firing more lasers with each passing second. But it seems Russel has other ideas, as several rifle rounds sink into Zen's scaly hide. Zanki stops firing and turns toward the retreating Knightmare Frame. He knows what Russel is trying to do; he isn't some dumb animal.

Sections of Zen's armor all over its body open up, revealing enough missiles to level this part of Rome all over again. Zanki locks onto the Sutherland and Arian's Raptor, savoring the moment a little. And then suddenly, there are missiles everywhere. Most of them fly off harmlessly into the sky, to eventually land somewhere outside of the city once their fuel has run out, but several make their way right at Arian and Russel.

"Die, monkeys! DIIIIIIIIEEEEEEE!"

<Radio: C - Global> Hour later, Emperor Gore punches Zanki so hard it can be heard on Global.

<Radio: C - Global> R transmits, "That had to hurt."

Ascian Luddite has posed:

Ascian had not counted on such a rapid deployment of his opponent's defenses, and the drill cuts straight into the torso of his Orbital Frame, finally causing enough of a disconnect between the Metatron Core and the rest of the machine through interupting the bioluminescent veins, that the machine's weaponsystems fall still. There is of course, the required mini-explosion within the machine's structure, and it quickly falls back. And that's when something weird happens. Remille... yells Ascian's name. Over the radio of course, but it still surprises the young man enough to pinch himself in the cheek. Yeah. That totally had just happened.

The young man turns the Amenthes around however. There's no real time to stick around. There was at least one more thing the Amenthes could do in /this/ shape. And that was keep that solid lock it had on the Frightener. when she'd claimed that things might go bad, Ascian had demanded Duat keep a lock on her biosignature, and so when the AC explodes and shrapnel does indeed go flying, the Amenthes is soon floating behind her, protecting her from the blast - casting a mighty shadow of the Phoenix over the pilot's body for a moment.

"Need a ride?" Ascian calls over the speakers, which comes through half as static, before the Amenthes leans in, gently picks up Remille, and then lifts her towards her chest before she blasts off towards the DC beachhead, so that Remille can do whatever she feels she needs to do from there. And while they fly off, Ascian looks behind him - that Boosted Child... and that kid... two hell of some pilots.

Remille Fortner has posed:

Remille does not argue with the pick up. Though she didn't hear Ascian. Her ears were ringing; but she got the idea.

She probably also need to be checked for a concussion and patch up some of those cuts from the shrapnel.

Simon has posed:

Simon, as usual, doesn't comment on everybody getting all bashful on Gattais, he's kind of in a weird headspace when these things happen even if it sort of happens a lot. Spiral power is, in a sense, specifically designed around this sort of thing. If he truly thought about it long and hard he'd probably be more embarrassed more of the time.

"Hey!" Simon shouts as Ascian actually grabs the sword he flung. Man, he's not been having a good run this outing!

He controls the mech long enough to rip through the beam rifle, slamming a fist through Ascian's mech--and then, with a burst of spiral power, bounds forward and--

--and an energy blast rips through Lagann's head and rips into Simon's arm, weakened by the armoring enough that he only gets major burns all across of it. He manages one flying drill punch into Remille's mech before passing out--and letting her do her pose, that is in the past, but also kind of in the future!

PARADOX SPACE.

Arian-16 has posed:

As soon as she's finished firing, Arian releases that AML-99X-- it isn't so much because it's out of ammunition, but because the entire weapon is starting to smoke and spark because it's probably not quite meant to be fired in rapid succession the way that Arian has forced it to. It's a little bit of an unhealthy habit of hers, making things perform above spec... or more aptly, above /safety/ levels.

Missiles start firing. Arian wrenches the controls of the Raptor backward, shifting her footing and throwing all of her weight into the system as the now-red YF-22 seems to handle smoother, more freely, even as it's taking a direct shot to the chest from Remille in her last ditch attempt to take the combined machines down. Hopping back a few steps, the Tactical Surface Gunman comes to a lurching halt, the teal-haired pilot sucking in an irritated breath.

A comm window blitzes open to the Lagann, revealing the teal-haired girl and her odd little armor padding around her jawline. Perhaps fortunately, the angle doesn't reveal the entirety of her outfit??? "Listen kid, I don't know what you just did, but we're not pulling out of here until I'm sure I've put a boot up th-- What. HEY!! WAKE UP, BRAT!! What the hell is that rat...?"

Letting that window close, her attention lurches forward again due to those aforementioned missiles; the Raptor-Lagann lunging backwards as it picks up the Railgun again and /flings/ it at the missiles, end over end. It catches one and sets off a small chain reaction of explosions, but it doesn't get /every/ one, a few allowed to lay waste to the streets of Rome while the TSYG-22 charges toward none other than the Zanki.

Breaking out the pair of AMWS-21 Assault Rifles anew, Arian levels both on the Dinosaur Mechasaurus Robotasaurus, both machine guns chattering away full-on with a spray of gunfire... the bullets, however, look /suspiciously/ like little drills.

Russel Bagman has posed:

Russel Bagman is moving fast, he's spent a lot of ammo, but what he hasn't spent all his repair supplies. He's breaking off the attack, as he spins out of the way of any more harm, he's heading full speed for Arian. The repair arms are online he's even got parts in hand. "Hang in there I'm going to try to patch you up, this isn't going to be pretty but, it should help!"

Simon has posed:

Simon doesn't get shot in the arm much, he's out like a clock and even if he did wake up, he probably wouldn't be much help with one functioning arm.

Boota, however, decides to help by jumping into Arian's cleavage. With an outfit like that, Arian-16 is permanently registeredd to Boota as 'Alternate Yoko Flight Type'.

Zanki has posed:

God, these things are stupid dodgy. All of these missiles, and not a single hit? Zanki's getting a little annoyed now. "Alright, monkeys. I'm going to kill you both very slowly, now." Zanki says. He would have said more, but the sound of gunfire cuts him off, and he turns around just in time to deflect Arian's bullets with Zen's claws. And wait, what's that little one doing? Repairing the other mech? Oh, that's just not fair. They never taught Zanki how to deal with /that/ in the academy! The beam cannon charges again, this time charging up more power than it has the entire battle. It's not only glowing pink, there's now pink electricity arcing all around the metal of the artificial hand, and lashing out at the air. And then it fires a beam at Arian's Raptor. A really, really big beam. "Get the hell out of our city!"

Arian-16 has posed:

And then there's a Boota settling into the cleavage provided by the skin-tight suit, causing Arian's eyes to widen and her jaw to slacken. "What the hell, you were just, you--"

Repair arms suddenly grip the Raptor-Lagann from behind. Arian's about to freak out, but she can't really do so-- not while whassisname is there to help her out! Thankfully, he's able to change out a great deal of the parts in no time... and help bump the machine's combat ability back up to speed. Still looking over her shoulder, his name finally clicks in her mind-- "Good timing, Bagman!!"

Getting a better grip on the controls, she's faced with the terrifying appearance of one of those dinosaurs preparing to fire one hell of a beam right at them. A growl fills her throat as she starts to realize 'running away would put Bagman in a weird spot,' so she does the next best thing-- she stands her ground, and immediately starts punching in commands in the keypads next to the grips.

The beam /slams/ into the Raptor as it manages to get it's arms up in a crossed formation, fire and light and explosive force slamming into the smaller red YF-22. Holding on for dear life as the cockpit starts to heat up under the intense beam's presence, it isn't until it ceases that the condition of the combined robots can be ascertained:

The forearms are nearly stripped of all their armor, the right hand broken down to knuckles. The assault rifles in hand are equally rendered useless, and there's a massive sear in the armor where the beam very nearly punctured the cockpit block of the Raptor proper. Dropping to one knee, it becomes very apparent, very fast: This machine is not /nearly/ as damaged, visibly, as it /should/ be. A blast like that should have completely incinerated the most of the torso, and yet...

... even Arian is left a little dumbfounded while she pants, exhausted and out of breath. Whipping up a finger-- oddly enough, without her making the motions on the controls-- the Boosted Child's voice can be heard over the loudspeaker:

"Next time, I'll put my foot so far up your ass you'll end up extinct at the museum all over again!!"

Turning on it's heel, the Raptor-Lagann makes a bee-line toward the Takemikazuchi to recover the remains-- the ones with the cockpit bloc, anyway-- and it sprints toward the EFA's absolute defense zone, making startlingly good time all around. Once they're a little closer to being 'out of danger,' Arian shifts her eyes back down at the pigmole nestled into her chest and blows an irritated huff of air out.

"I bet Mitsurugi's sister is gonna /love/ this round of combat data."

Simon has posed:

Boota looks up, he's wearing sunglasses.

Arian-16 has posed:

Arian frowns again. "Who makes sunglasses for something that small?"

Russel Bagman has posed:

Russel Bagman doesn't like issuing the order he has, but at the rate they are going? Both of them will fall, and much more damage will happen. Worse loss of life at the crazed dinosaur's hands. He issues the order to pull out. Russel's ravaged machine pulls back now it's flat out fleeing now as fast as he can. The battle is petty much lost.