ic Incursion: Blockade Runners

[Fox]

Wraith took to the journey less like a soldier and more like a hound, if hounds had thin ridges of spines on the sides of their heads and long, multi-jointed legs that let them stick low to the ground...and low to the sides of building and obstacles, gravity apparently no more than a passing thought as long as she had something to climb on. She was often visible, if only briefly, opting to slink and slip between shadows and cover and vantage points.

"...we are...uncomfortably surrounded," she observed, having fallen back toward the group. She had only half an eye on them; she'd cocked her head, orienting the spines sideways toward a building like they were ears. "They either do not notice us or do not care, however. I very much hope it stays that way. It...<Ghost Girl, are you okay?>"

[Gizmo]

The translucent blue Terran variant certainly didn't look okay. Visibly shaking in the air, she'd retreated low to the ground to the shadows created by an outcropping in a cyberformed building, the hands covering her eyes almost entirely concealed by the preternatural darkness cast by her cloak's hood. <"They all died, Indira,"> she explained in a quavering voice, withdrawing her fingers enough to reveal twin points of icy blue light in the deep blackness that had replaced her face. <"They all died. Not just the people, the animals and plants, right down to the bugs and grass and they won't stop screaming."> The edges of her silhouette shuddered violently, icicle-like spines forming and dissolving away from moment to moment as she struggled to maintain her composure and her form. <"This isn't right, I knew it would be bad but there has to be a balance and-- and-- and-- ...this can't ever happen. Stop screaming!"> She pressed her palms against the sides of her head to no avail.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

Smoke curled from the dragon-man's mouth as he walked, flames hot and at the ready.  Dragonid tried to stand tall with confidence, but he walked swiftly, and glanced around nervously, trying to catch a glimpse of what Wraith had reported. At least, when they did come, everyone would know it, the Communion did not come slow or quietly.

 

"If it comes to a fight, we are ready. These things deserve to be destroyed, they will not stand against us." Better for something to happen, than to worry and wait for the attack to come.

[Thevshi]

The Lor technicians had stopped and were looking worriedly at Ghost Girl. "What is the matter with her?" Asked one of Lor, who gripped her weapon tightly and glanced nervously about.

Around them, Wraith could sense some of the nearest antibodies starting to stir, as if they were now aware of the group's presence. For the moment they were not moving quickly, more seeming to try to confirm that there was something outside.

"We need to keep moving!" Stated the lead technician. "If they know we are here, we need to get to the relay point before too many of them start swarming toward us."

[Fox]

Wraith made a very quiet rattling noise, casting her eyes around the surrounding buildings. "She can feel the death in this place," she explained. "All of it, down to the plants. It is an unexpected shock. You are right, however - we need to keep moving. We are drawing interest by remaining in one place too long."

She put her front claws on...well, an approximation of on Ghost Girl's shoulders, considering her friend's insubstantial nature. "Ghost Girl. <Ghost Girl. Focus. We need to move, or we will get noticed and you will have more death in your head. I promise that we will mourn this world later, probably.>"

[ca_lazerdwarf]

"The Communion are a sick twisting of life. Do they feel like life? Or death?" The reptilian warrior mused out loud, turning to look at Wraith and the Ghostly form in front of her.

 

"They have done this on untold worlds, we must focus on our mission. If the Fathers are with us, we may stop them before they kill another world." Dragonid moved closer to the technicians, waiting for the inevitable attack.

 

"Stop them for a while, at least. It would seem they always come back. Always hungry for more."

[TheAbsurdist]

It was then Bliss showed her true colors, besides the flesh that tended towards the indigo end of the spectrum, as she took point, moving with that odd sort of boneless motion.  Admittedly not the same as Wraith or the ghost, still she slip down into a crouching walk, only to rise back up as it was no concern.  But she started to laugh, a rasping softly, which given it seemed to made out of vowels it was a bit of a feat.  "Ua ua ua."

 

And with that the enhanced Xuli'pa almost skipped forward, getting some distance, for the sake of someone having to take the lead, and while not the most durable, she had a lot of options in movement.  

[Gizmo]

Eyes still squeezed shut, Ghost Girl nodded quickly as she straightened herself out in the air to float alongside Wraith. <"I know, sorry, I'm okay. It's just... it's just a lot."> Forcing herself to calm down and open her eyes, the phantom squared her shoulders deliberately and swallowed. The screams were still deafening but she could set them aside with considerable effort. They had a job to do and the last thing she wanted to do was embarrass Wraith - not to mention all of Earth - by dropping the ball in front of all the alien soldiers. It helped that she now had a very good reason to want to tear into the Communion, a darker part of her added internally, her eyes glittering like chips of ice floating atop hollow sockets for a slit second. <"Where do we need to go? I can go invisible if we need!">

[Thevshi]

"Over that way!" The leader of the Lor technicians stated, as he recovered from the shock of seeing Ghost Girl's reaction to what she was feeling from the death of this world. The group started moving quickly, Wraith taking the lead with Bliss brining up the rear and the others moving alongside with the Lor technicians.

As they went, Wraith realized more and more of the Communion antibodies were starting to stir in the buildings and area around them. They have moved about half a dozen "blocks" before they came to a group of over a dozen antibodies standing in the middle of the road, facing the group as they approached.

[RobRX]

Kharag scoffed at the sight. "Antibodies. As expected! You earth's champion need not raise a finger. I will handle these abominations myself." Snarling at them, he clenched his fists and ran at them.

 

Leaping into the airs, Kharag proceeded to catch the antibody's neck with his legs and using the momentum of the running jump, spinned around in order to complete his running leaping neck snap. Rolling to avoid any antibody claws, he swept the legs of one, making it fall to the ground. Rolling a second time to avoid more antibodies, he lept back on his feet, kicked the prone antibody back up, before finishing it off with by applying his foot to it's head.

[Fox]

Wraith made a low rattling sound, rising up onto her hind legs - they remained thick and powerful, but her upper body adjusted for her new posture, arms thinning and twisting into whip-like tendrils tipped with wicked, over-sized knives for fingers. By the time she launched herself at the enemy even her head had returned to being sleek and featureless, save for three solid, focused eyes. 

A mass of metal her size had little right to be graceful, but that wasn't about to stop her; rather than plowing into her first target she dug in with her claws and flipped over it, heavily-taloned feet digging into its back to launch her forward into the melee. The one she landed on was less lucky: the impact of her weight drove it into the ground, injured, and it had to wait as she eviscerated its nearby companion before she could shift her weight and grant it a final mercy.

"We must be swift," she noted in a far-too-calm voice. "This is likely to attract attention."

Edited April 18, 2015 by Fox

[Thevshi]

The remaining Communion antibodies rushed forward, a pair each closing with Kharag and Wraith, while a single one moved towards the other heroes still gathered around the Lor technicians.   

The pair attacking Kharag both managed to score hits on the barbarian king, deep slashes which stung, but only slightly slowed the alien warrior down.  Wraith meanwhile managed to dodge one of the attacks, and then withstood the hit scored by the second.

The antibody attack Ghost Girl managed to score a hit, or would have if its hand did not pass harmlessly through her.

Bliss managed to dodge the antibody attacking her, while Dragonid felt claws rack across his right shoulder as he tried to dodge the wicked claws of the anitbody attacking him.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

Shrinking back from the claws of the antibody, Dragonid felt the creature tear in to his hide. Little more than a scratch, but it stoked the Praetorian's inner fires. With a fierce grin, he drew a deep breath ducked below the antibody's oustretched claws and spat out a burst of flame at his attacker.

At such close range, the communion soldier had no chance to dodge the flame which engulfed it, The antibody jerked and flapped ineffectually at the flames before collapsing in a heap, inert. "Keep these things away from the technicians, they will tear them apart."

[Gizmo]

Ghost Girl watched with a sort of detached interest as the antibody's attacks passed through her immaterial form without resistance, the hyper-aggressive drone unable to understand that its assault was proving ineffective. She studied its mutilated, snarling face for a long moment before her own lips pulled back from icicle like teeth, sharp and jagged rather than the small, flat squares she'd been happy to display in broad smiles on the shuttle ride. "You're not going to hurt anyone else," her voice rattled like a frigid wind howling down a long tunnel as she drew back one arm and plunged her hand deep into the cyborg's chest. The meat puppet shuddered as sparks began to fly from its electronics before exploding with high pitched screeches and acrid smoke. It collapsed to the ground in pieces while Ghost Girl floated ominously through the cloud toward her next target.

[RobRX]

Still surrounded by Communion antibodies, Kharag immediately reacted. He didn't even need to see or hear them move around him, he had other ways of sensing his surrounding. Dodging a stray claw swipe, he punched one of the antibody, the one on his left, twice in the chest then moved to the one on the right, landing a jaw-breaking uppercut. Then without even looking he finished the still-standing one on the left with a spinning kick. Grabbing the broken remains of an antibody, he lifted it overheard and screamed triumphantly.

[Fox]

If the Communion antibody that had tried to harm Wraith was capable of feeling regret, it at least didn't have long to dwell on its misery. Its attack on her metallic body had met a distinct lack of resistance when it hit her metal flesh - flesh that immediately locked around it like steel, leaving it trapped and completely unable to defend against a vicious counter-attack.

Its companion fared little better. The drone's attack had carried it past her when she'd dodged, but if it thought that put it beyond her reach it was sorely mistaken: she turned a three-eyed face toward it and lashed out, her free arm extending far beyond its normal reach to neatly claw through what she hoped were still vital areas of whatever it had once been.

[Thevshi]

Bliss made quick work of the last remaining Antibody in the group's immediate vicinity.  Everyone could detect movement in the nearby buildings and streets, evidence that they would soon be facing more of the Communion if they remained where they were. 

"We need to hurry!"  The leader of the technicians stated rather unnecessarily.  "They will start converging, the longer we take the harder it will be to keep them at bay while we do our work." 

The Lor technicians had their sidearms out, though many seemed nervous about possibly having to use them. 

The group started moving once more, this time with more speed.  Behind them they could see Antibodies moving out into the streets, but for the moment they were staying ahead of those emerging. 

[TheAbsurdist]

 

As one of the more cybernetically gifted of the group they bothered to a special degree.  Apart from the... glowing semi-transparent scentless stink ape.  She didn't get that.  Her people were hardly ever ghosts, or she knew precious little of such things.  And with a snarl she dashed forward, moving with a surprising quickness as the tendrils lashed out with a minds of their own, snapping upp an around the form of one of those... Antibodies?  With that, she used moment and a strong jerk to yank, it around, and she swung it into a wall, and then she twisted in a fashion that only a species with a more flexible skeleton could do, and she wrenched it back down hard into the ground.  

"They are going to flank us."  And with that she moved back to said flank, using her tendrils to pulled her back over the rest of the group in a hurry.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

Dragonid moved to walk on the other side of the technicians, protecting the opposite flank. He hated knowing the communion were out there, but not knowing when they were coming. But the longer they did wait, the more time the technicians had to do their work.

"When the onslaught does come, they will bring something stronger than these creatures we crushed so effortlessly." he said, thinking out loud. He looked to the air for the enemy reinforcements he expected. They would find Dragonid and his companions a worthy fight.

[Thevshi]

With their presence confirmed, the group started moving forward more quickly toward the location the Lor technicians had indicated as their target.  Communion antibodies had begun moving out of surrounding buildings, but not so quickly as to easily block their path.  A few that had managed to move too close to the group's path were easily deal with on the move by the gathered heroes.  But there were many, many more of the Communion beginning to mass behind the group. 

As the group drew near one of the compuformed buildings, they came to a small plaza that lay between them and their target.  Dozens of the Communion were gathered in the plaza, forming a small wall between the group and their target. 

Up in the sky, the group could hear the shrill sound of Communion needle fighters, as a trio of the craft streaked into view, flying down low among the buildings and headed toward the plaza.

[ca_lazerdwarf]

Dragonid fired up his jet pack, ready to chase off the oncoming fighters, but shuddered when he counted the enemy gathered in the clearing. He did not like to be defeatest, but he did not like their chances.

"I will try to keep the air clear. Do any of you have an idea of how to get past that hoard to complete our mission? Or do we just have to burn our way straight through?" He looked to his allies for suggestions that would not get every one killed. Some of them had displayed strange and amazing talents that might prove useful.

[Fox]

"We could, perhaps, create cover and distract them," Wraith pondered, quietly counting their enemies. She didn't like those odds; without the technicians she'd be confident in at least the stealth approach, but while having to keep them safe and while trying to get them to their objective.... "With enemies above distracted, we could attempt to draw some or all of the ground-based guards away; I am fast and tough enough to lure them, I think, but only if I can get them to chase me. Then it is a matter of getting our friends through the plaza into a more...defendable position, and keeping the Communion busy. We must decide quickly, however. We still have them behind us, and soon we will have no choice at all."

[RobRX]

"Most unfortunate, the skies are beyond my reach. More fortunately for me, there are plenty of ennemies on the ground." Kharag said, smirking, eager to jump back into the melee and tear antibodies apart with his bare hands. Such horrors deserve an ending like that. "One to lure a part of the ground forces, one to distract the air forces and one to hold back the remaining troops. Seems a feasible plan. I shall hold back those on the ground. The worst which can happen is my death and I assure you, such thing is not permanent. Death is but a mere wound for me, and all wounds heal in time."

[TheAbsurdist]

Bliss made a noise that sounded akin to metal rasping on stone, and she made her burbling growl.  "There are fates worse than death, and these things are harbingers to that.  So let us not talk about heroic stands and other foolish notions.  Our best bet is to not spread apart, stay close, and wedge our way through.  If need be we can carry the technicians.  Creating a diversion is fine, until we get to the door.  Once we are past that, then what?  No, we charge, slowing will be our downfall."

As she spoke her arms lowered and then tendrils shot out, the tips piercing the material of the ground and she started to back up, "If we succeed with the task, then... then the heroics can start..."  Her harsh voice became almost gleeful as a lust for battle was fighting with notions of practicality.

[Thevshi]

As the group began arguing about the strategy for getting past the gathered antibodies, the Communion quickly brought the debate to an end.  A pair of the narrow, sleek needle fighters came screaming down among the cyberformed buildings of the city, the sharp protrusions on their front cracking with green energy. 

The with a high pitched whine, several quick blasts of green energy streaked out towards the unusual group of allies.  One of the fighters fired on Dagonid, who had just been preparing to lift off into the air, but the blasts went well wide, exploding along the ground to the left of the group.  The other fighter fired on Bliss, who easily dodged the blasts, which continued past to strike the ground out in front of the group between them and the plaza. 

The two Communion fighters then shot overhead, heading back over the plaza as they began to climb and bank to turn back around for another pass...