((Hmm, guess I'll give this a try. This scenario sufficiently appeals to me.
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((Scenario 3: The Ambush))
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"Varus Kapuarr-gia langrun dis Varusu Damis."
"I repeat: lev from Kapur Central now arriving on track 6. Please allow other passengers to disembark before boarding. Repeat: please allow other passengers to disembark before boarding. That is all."
With barely a sound, the sleek, dull-gray maglev train hovered into the station platform, slowly coming to a stop. There were no passengers this late at night anymore, and the few security guards still on duty had settled in for the station's slow shift. They patrolled along the white-dray metalplastic platforms, protected from the storm clouds building overhead by a transparent, parabolic roof.
The dim yellow lighting of the station at night was just bright enough for a few of them to find sleep. The hulking guard bot at the end of the platform stood ever-vigilant anyway, so a little nap on the job wasn't looked at as ground-breaking. Thankfully, the trains made little noise, only a slight hum as the accelerators brought this one to a stop, like they had so many others.
Suddenly, a sound of thunder roared across the station as the guard bot went up in a fireball. Barked orders identified the source - the lifted plasma cannon arm of the gray-blue assault bot still standing in the door of the last car - but it was already too late.
The characteristic hisses of paralyzers rang out as more mechanoids stepped from the train, striking down the living guards in a matter of seconds. Invisible to the naked eye - and most EM-based systems - the bolts incapacitated fully.
The robotic attackers slowly scanned the area for more targets, and then someone else stepped off the train. He stood roughly the size of a tall human, and had two arms and legs, but there the resemblance already ended. His skin was green and leathery, almost an organic armor, complete with a long, slender tail, clawed hands, and a head that seemed to have come from a raptor. The yellow eyes held the distinctive pupils of a reptile, scrutinizing the station meticulously. Clad in a black leather jacket, matching pants and heavy boots, as well as a white T-shirt under the jacket, the intruder slowly made his way to the security checkpoint, located behind a transparent wall at the public exit.
On the way, the intruder stopped for a moment at one of the fallen guards, who lay facedown on the ground. With a boot, he turned the man over, making sure everything had gone as planned.
It had. The Ferron slumbered in a state of deep paralysis that would keep him down for hours, just as it would for a human. Indeed, had it not been for the coppery skin and gray-green hair, the man in the deep-red military uniform and trench coat could have been taken for human.
"Acid Zero!" came a shout from behind, followed once more by the hiss of a paralyzer. The guard who had shouted fell to the ground. His pulse rifle clattered down next to him.
"Ya missed one." Acid said to the closest robot, slipping his pistol-like paralyzer back into its holster. Usually, he carried only three rifle-sized weapons on his back, but today he'd opted to leave behind the third and use the paralyzer as a sidearm instead. It had paid off already - he wouldn't have gotten the much larger combi-rifle to bear in time.
"Bleh bleh bleh." the protector bot pouted, mocking him with a distinctly female tone, "I'd like to see you kill every security feed
and KO the guards at the same time."
"I was just making an observation."
Well, stop observing and get me out of here. I think I'm stuck.
The soundless voice had been clear as day in his mind, the projected thoughts of an avid telepath.
"Stuck?" Acid stared at the windowless cargo car in disbelief, "
What do you mean, stuck?"
As in car too damn small. Can't reach door button. That kind of stuck. Help.
Acid facepalmed, sighing, "Just bust out of it. There's nobody left to notice."
Really? I can? Yay!
Another sound of thunder blasted through the station as the cargo car burst apart, and out came a creature easily comparable in size to an F-14. To the minds of most people now came the words 'anorexic dragon', though this wasn't anywhere close. While the entire frame followed a long-and-slender pattern, from the pterodactyl-like head to the cutting-edged tail, Vyachslav wasn't even a reptile. The black metallic luster of his form only underscored this, as did the orange glow of his unblinking eyes.
"Feel better now?" Acid smirked as his large friend stretched like a cat, mentally complaining that now he knew what a sardine must feel like...even though he'd done things like this many a time.
Seriously, I've got this giant kink in my neck and...
"Later." Acid became serious again as he entered the security checkpoint and accessed a terminal, "Alright, we're good so far. Nothing got out."
"Did you ever have a doubt?" the assault bot interjected smugly.
"Just in case." Acid smirked, entering a few commands, "That should keep 'em busy. Big V, you ready?"
One moment.
Vyachslav stretched again, this time unfolding two large, thin and wing-like frames from his back, connected to his shoulder joints. A moment later, the spindly black constructs crackled with power, and seemingly solid orange energy filled the gaps between the metallic structures.
Alright, ready.
"Good. Get going, we'll meet you at the rendezvous point."
Yehs, mastah. Igor go throw sweetch.
With that, Vyachslav faded from view. Despite his size, remaining unnoticed was one thing he excelled at. Acid and the robotic cadre, meanwhile, stepped to the opaque doors of the exit.
Two guards outside. Awakeness rating minimal, heh heh.
Acid nodded to the assault bot and looked once more through the transparent roof of the station. Storm clouds obscured the already dark night sky, but he could see their target clearly: a gigantic, tent-like structure rising high into the sky. Its apex shot a black line right into the clouds and beyond.
The orbital dock's space elevator.
"Go."
The door exploded under the assault bot's dual plasma burst. Both guards hit the ground paralyzed before they even realized what had happened.
The intruders didn't waste any time. From left to right led the free-floating bridge of the maglev terminal. To the right stood the target, to the left a ramp down to the city, the many lights of Kapur clearly visible far below the metallic structure.
"Take it out." Acid ordered coldly. The robots executed the command with mechanical precision, tearing the ramp to pieces in mere moments. Their weaponry turned the proud structure into nothing more than a falling mass of fire and slag.
Now the easy part was taken care of, and it would buy them some time as well.
It didn't take Acid and the robots long to close the distance to the titanic metal 'tent'. Without reinforcements, the automated defenses didn't stand a chance - and Vyachslav made sure those reinforcements suffered heavy delays.
"Clear!" yelled Acid as he threw a micro at the main gate. The barrier couldn't hold, and some of the surrounding structure suffered as well, despite the bomb's deceptively miniscule proportions. It had been no larger than a marble.
As debris clattered across the bridge floor, rain began to fall, and Acid stepped through the smoke with a malicious, toothy smile. Today, they'd see what happened when you tried to enslave a galaxy.
The rain intensified, and another small part of the complex exploded. Vyachslav was in his element.
"Okay, you know what to do." he told the mechanical cadre, "Be sure to send the signal as soon as this thing blows."
With that, he drew his combi-rifle and ran inside. Not ten meters later, the first thermocannon bolt already thundered into the wall next to him. But the guard had fired too early. A hiss of the paralyzer, and he was on the floor.
Acid smirked as he kept going. Security may have been armed with state-of-the art weaponry, but the entire force was in disarray. They were nervous, panicky, and afraid, and this made them easy prey. They couldn't take on an enemy with such single-minded focus right now - and focus Acid had. The orbital dock held a ship full of allies, and right about now, the interned crew was in the process of viciously retaking their vessel.
Acid was on the bottom floor of the plan, so to speak. The dock's defenses were formidable, but drew their power from the city below. Sure, they had backups...at least normally. With the havoc a certain 'inexplicable software infection' now wreaked through the backup plants, however, the ground was their only lifeline.
It would be severed.
Finally, Acid reached what he'd been looking for: one of the freight elevators that fed into the main line. The shaft was large, circular, and held an open platform, at the other end of which sat the control console.
Grinning viciously, he holstered the rifle and went to work. Clawed hands tore the cover off the terminal, then Acid reached into a pocket and drew a memory stick.
"Time to go to work, my friend." he chuckled evilly, and connected it to the system. The claxon of an alarm sounded almost immediately.
"Warning!" the mechanical voice echoed through the facility, "Emergency release system now active! Evacuate immediately! Eight minutes to detonation!"
Plenty of time. Acid retracted the memory stick and turned to the exit.
Only to find it was blocked.
Acid's eyes narrowed at the Ferron standing there in a blue-and-gray suit of powered armor, expertly cutting off his retreat. He knew the face behind that helmet's visor, and the glimmering fieldbarrels of two plasma pistols aimed directly at him.
Acid knew him all too well. He also knew the guy would shoot long before he could get the rifle back out of his holster, not to mention fire a shot of his own.
Then again, there were other ways to bring people to their knees.
"Mr. Thysthe." he smiled emotionlessly, leaning backwards against the elevator console with immaculate casualness.
"Mr. Zero." his counterpart returned just as dryly, and then cut right to the point, "Please disarm and step away from the terminal. You're under arrest."
"And if I don't?"
"Then I'll turn you into a pile of ashes and be inconsolable because my bounty just got cut in half."
"Hard times, Mr. Thysthe." Acid chuckled, "I don't suppose I could convince you otherwise?"
"Hardly." the bounty hunter motioned to disarm once again, this time with the pistols.
"Shame." Acid retorted, ramming his left elbow into a contact plate on the console. In a mere instant, the elevator clicked, clacked, hummed, and then shot up the shaft, throwing the bounty hunter off balance.
Acid didn't hesitate an instant, using the moment of shock to project an energy barrier. Half a second later, the air in front of him flared up pale-blue as two plasma bolts viciously rammed into the shield.
And the armored man shot by no means only once. Keeping up the fire, the bolts kept coming, even as Acid sidestepped and drew his combi-rifle again with his right hand, using the left to maintain the barrier. The gesture almost resembled that of a Roman legionnaire wielding a wooden shield.
And then Acid was no longer there. The air collapsed into the vacuum that had formed where the reptilian had just stood. He had teleported, and fired the heavy paralyzer the moment he popped back into the world.
Thysthe, however, had anticipated the maneuver. Dropping the spent plasma pistols the moment Acid disappeared, he dove to the floor and let the paralyzer shot go wide. Another shot went into the floor as the bounty hunter rolled sideways frantically to escape the debilitating weapon, pulling a square-barreled weapon off his back at the same time.
As Acid fired again, so did Thysthe - with a rocket launcher.
The invisible paralyzer bolt and rocket passed through one another without ill effect to either, unlike the combatants who'd let them loose - as the bounty hunter rolled on, Acid vanished in a cloud of smoke, fire, and noise.
Thysthe rose again, launcher still aligned, and shoved another rocket into the chamber. It was a good idea.
"Alright..." Acid's voice coughed from the smoke cloud, "Now I'm mad."
As the smoke cleared, Thysthe saw Acid had apparently leaped back from the explosion. It was also evident the combi-rifle had been the impact site of the rocket. The weapon was in tatters, and shrapnel lay all over the place. Several bloody cuts stained Acid's white T-shirt, and the rest of him didn't look so fresh anymore either. Apparently, he hadn't escaped the detonation entirely.
Another rocket screeched away, but exploded uselessly in yet another energy barrier. Thysthe didn't need to see it to know.
Acid had pulled another weapon - the one he liked to use most - a night-black construct that looked like a long rifle with a cutting edge running down the bottom of the barrel. Grip and trigger sat at the very end, and Acid wielded the long weapon more like a very weird pistol, with one hand.
But then Acid just stood there for a moment. He seemed perplexed at something.
"Teleportation not working quite right?" the bounty hunter chuckled darkly, taunting him, "Sorry, but you're not the only one with friends."
Acid's eyes narrowed again, and just then the elevator platform reached the top of the vertical shaft. It didn't stop, however, oh no - a lamellas gate sealing the shaft roared open, and the night rain gushed into the elevator. A bolt of lightning tore through the clouds, and thunder cracked in the air.
With another series of clicks and clacks, the platform transferred to a rail, riding diagonally up the side of the 'tent'. It wouldnt stop until it had reached the very final destination. The momentary jolt this sent through the platform was more than enough distraction for Acid.
Fading away into nothing, he reappeared right in front of Thysthe and struck at the launcher with his bladed weapon. The disintegrator blade sliced cleanly through, and a small cloud of green gas rose as the barrel - and half the rocket - clattered down.
The follow-up strike, however, was countered with a suddenly appearing sword of solid fire, and Thysthe managed to force Acid back again, generating a second fiery blade, then struck with this as well.
With one blade against two, Acid had been forced into the defensive. He had to get him at range again, but Thysthe followed him step by step, keeping himself close to his opponent. About the only good thing about this was that the searing heat of the fire swords didn't really seem to do anything to the reptilian.
Trading strikes and slashes, the bounty hunter forced Acid backwards, to the point where the rail of the complex made contact with the elevator. Metal plating rushed underneath the platform with frightening speed, and anything that landed in there would surely be crushed.
"Enough!" Acid snarled, throwing the bounty hunter back. Thysthe's back hit the floor, and he skidded a little across the plating of the platform before managing to stop.
He swore and scrambled to get up again...then stopped when he noticed the barrel of Acid's weapon in his face.
"Don't do anything stupid." the reptilian stated coldly, "Now I'm going to take my leave. Just lie there for about ten seconds and I'll be outta your hair."
Already, they could hear the characteristic sound of starfighter engines. Thysthe couldn't see the small, cloaked ship, but his visor at least displayed the energy signature. It was almost here.
And suddenly, everything went to hell. The clouds broke apart as a solid sphere 500 meters in diameter descended. Dull-gold and almost luminescent, this object was one of the most feared things in the entire galaxy - a Concile SVE ship.
Thysthe laughed madly, especially as the vessel blasted apart Acid's fighter. A bright-burning fireball slid down the side of the structure. Above, the structurally variable ship shrank to one-fifth of its former size, allowing it to move closer to the complex, then opened a number of bays in its energy hull to dispense troops over the area.
"Last chance." Thysthe grunted, still pinned down, "Give up already. You
can't get away! It's impossible!"
Acid only turned back to him and smiled, "Impossible is what I do."
Then the first detonation rocked the complex. A wave of smoke and fire expanded at the base of the space elevator, and the shockwave ran rampant like a seismic tremor.
"What?!" Thysthe gasped in disbelief as the explosion caught the SVE ship, roaring into the vessel through the now-open troop bays. A second detonation quickly followed, and the ship began to list and descent, clearly damaged. With a devastated interior, even the best hull could no longer prevent a crash.
"No!" the bounty hunter shouted, eyes wide, "It said eight...!"
"Don't believe everything you hear." Acid grinned savagely, "Now if you'll excuse me..."
Acid never got time to finish that sentence. With a roar of rage, Thysthe's fiery blades shot up and knocked the barrel pinning the hunter away. Acid stumbled back, and Thysthe didn't hesitate to follow, striking out yet again.
Above, the detonations continued to spread up the space elevator, and the entire complex seemed at the brink of collapse. A hail of fire and debris now mixed with the rain and crated a truly ghastly scene. Worst of all, the elevator platform rushed right into the inferno.
"Holy frig, you damn moron!" Acid yelled at his opponent, who seemed intent on keeping him locked in combat until everything exploded. Slowly but surely, the fight took them across the entire platform and to the free end. Below, the detonations had already worked themselves down to the gates, and the complex was now in the process of vaporizing from both top and bottom, "Do you really want to die here?!"
"If it means getting you, it's a price I'm willing to pay!"
Oh good grief, why do I always get the crazy ones? Vyachslav!
But this moment of inattention was enough for the hunter. He crashed into Acid directly, and the reptilian lost his footing. Thysthe followed up, and a moment later, it was now him who had Acid pinned - beneath dual swords of fire.
"Only one way left." the hunter laughed psychotically, "Down!"
The top of the complex was now almost here. The detonations were spectacular and chaotic, but above them, a moving orange shape appeared high in the sky.
Acid's eyes narrowed again, and with a boot in the gut, Thysthe took flight in a short parabola...only to crash down again a moment later.
"Down sounds good enough." Acid smirked as he jumped up again, "See ya."
With that, he leaped off the platform, which still rushed upwards. Staring in disbelief, the hunter scrambled to the edge only to back off again as a black blur dragging an orange glow behind it rushed down after the reptilian.
Vyachslav snatched Acid up by the extended left hand, then threw his friend onto his back like a duffle bag. As the SVE ship hit bottom, the complex went with it, and everything sank into a wall of flames and stirring shadows.
"That didn't quite go as planned." Acid murmured as he walked a few steps along Vyachslav's back, surveying the scene, "Thanks for telling me. Heh, they sure gotta be mad right about now"
Oh, no trouble at all. And yes, they are...the ones that survived, anyway.
Acid sighed. He couldn't say he was happy about that. Then again, when one fought fanatical loyalists who didn't want to listen to reason...
Hey, stop that. You're just going to get into a never-ending debate again. We're fighting a war here. Take it for what it is.
"Guess you're right." Acid shrugged, looking down at his friend, "Sick of air?"
Very much so. You know, atmospheres are nice and all, but nothing goes over space. Up?
"Yes." Acid agreed, fiddling with his 'watch' again, "Up..."
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((After reading this again, I realized it had very little to do with the original idea. Oh well.
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Damn, I really don't want to see this die too. It's a great idea. Well, maybe I can talk with yalls in-game tomorrow.))
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