Not with a Bang: Finale

[voidtreckermods]

It's been a strange few days, between trying to complete all of the tasks needed to stabilise the solar stations and keep the shield going, keep the pandas and armadillos away and fix robots whilst smashing other robots. That's not even counting the strange events that kept happening.

They might have heard the news from those who had found themselves on a small adventure of their own that there were potentially dangerous saboteurs on the planet and indeed once they were aware there were more signs, things moved, pandas far more frightened than they should have been, robots back in areas that had been cleared.

But no sign of the saboteurs themselves as the days go on. Until the evening of the twelfth day of Imagination, the sixth day of the mission.

Everyone's SCA alerts them to an exclamation mark, the Western Control Station, where red and blue had initially went to initialise shields. Clicking on the exclamation mark will show the message. Danger: Control Station unstable. Attempt stabilisation. Situation critical.

A few seconds later there is another exclamation mark, this time on a solar station about an hours walk to the south. A herd of Violet Pandas are loose in Solar station #13, clear the station and minimise damage.

And a few moments after that there is a third exclamation mark, right where they are in the camp. Robot activity approaching. Any red team members who check will see many red rots approaching their camp.

Control Station

For those that decide to tackle this one it is clear the moment they arrive that things are not as they should be. A tree has fallen, or been felled and though it seems the station is designed to withstand falling trees it makes getting into it difficult.

Every alarm is blaring, and indeed when they get inisde their own alarms on their SCA start to flash amber. It's dangerous in here!

Something they will quickly have learned anyways. It looks like someone pressed every button, flicked every switch. Every guage is showing too high, every warning light is flashing.

It's going to take some very quick fixing before this place overloads and explodes. Hopefully their work on the stations in the last few days has taught them enough that with some very quick and diligent work they should get the situation under control.

Solar Station #13

To the south in one of the solar stations a very different situation is unfolding. Those that arrive here will find pandas... everywhere. Somehow they have gotten into the station itself and are busy chewing on wires, exploring machines they really shouldn't be exploring. Some are trying to climb the solar tower and others are just lying on the monitors, seemingly enjoying the lights.

Luckily it seems less damage can be done to the solar stations than a control station, but still, there are alarms and flashing lights and far too many pandas. It will be some work to clear them all out.

Base Camp

It doesn't take long for the robots to arrive. There are a lot, some seem very patched together, as if someone had gone around scavenging parts and remaking them. Some are large terraforming machines, others the smaller security drones. Some are even the automatons that were used for maintenance, yet here they were being put to another purpose.

As they approach the permitted of the camp they stop and six human figures step forward. All are armed with large rifle type weapons and a tall woman speaks in a loud, clear voice.

"You are trespassing on our land. You will leave this place or you will die."

She casually waves the robots forward, they attack.

Comments

[zechs_isonfire]

"Fools," Zechs softly said, under his breath. Everyone else was posing, posturing, readying magic. That much seemed clear. Zechs didn't know who their enemy was, and he didn't care. He would defend the others here, and there seemed little point in speaking to them.

After all, it's not as if he had any point to make here, about peace or the safety of any persons.

By now, he'd realized that the Arms Band had somehow supplied his gun with ammunition. So he pulled it out of the borrowed magical hammerspace, aimed it at whoever in the group of six saboteurs appeared to be the most intelligent - and his finger moved to pull the trigger.

[mtsilver_conquor]

"Wonderful," Eva muttered as she eyed the saboteurs then shrugs as she steps back... And Princess darts out from behind her, the clefairy's fur bristling.

"Princess can try Sing on a few of them," Eva offers, low enough for the Voidtreckers to hear (and hopefully not the saboteurs, but she has worked with worse.) "But he'd need time for it to take effect."

Sing is not instant sleep, much to her ire right now. It'd be nice if it was, but. Again, she's worked under worse.

[wizard_redfive]

"That'll be good... if our attackers are still standing by then," Dairine mutters lowly.

The wizard stands up from where she has been sitting, brushing herself off as she eyes the varying machines they have on call. While part of her would like to at least attempt to reason with them, well, they did go on the offensive.

Her laptop seems to sprout thin spindly metal legs, glowing a dangerous blue.

"You sure don't seem very keen to give us a chance to leave," she notes wryly in the Speech. Dairine cocks her head, eyes narrowed as she regards the humanoids with sharp scrutiny.

"We're here on Void business. What authority do you have to challenge our work here?"

[shadowslipping]

Both Emporio and Yuume stuck around at the camp, but only one can actually be seen. This is a tense situation- the latter would normally have barrelled through with a blade already, but the problem is that this is also base camp- she can't risk everything in the crossfire (other than herself, naturally), which means she can't act recklessly.

But everything has a shadow. And being capable of what she is, she flits through the shadows unseen, unheard, unfelt- if these are truly 'human' in the sense of a lack of ability, they'll never see it coming.

She squints through the dark of the void, looking for someone to disarm- or take hostage, if she must.

When the moment is right, there's very suddenly a woman in violet behind one of the six- grabbing, holding and bringing blade to throat with uncanny ease. She'll move them out of danger if they have to- it's a little hard to talk when someone's dead after all.

"Perhaps," Yuume hums, "You would be open to discussion instead?"

Well, she'll have to vanish again if they manage to turn that around.

Emporio however- Emporio is already making work of the robots alongside the others, once it's clear a fight is to be had. He remembers the talk he had, some time ago with Light- 'what would you do with something like this?'

"WEATHER!" he shouts, and the Stand is immediately getting to work- bringing water within the joints of robots nearest, jamming weapons, joints, and more with slush. "GO!" And of course, punching. There's a lot of punching at robots.

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin is back in the base camp when he gets the emergency messages on his SCA. "Damn!" he swears, seeing how there are two places he ought to be, and he can't be in both at the same time. The Control Station could use him at this moment, but right now the camp is being attacked. He'll have to fight to protect it before he can go anywhere else.

He drops his rucksack on the ground and rips his sword from its sheath at his back and goes to confront the six human figures and the robots. He shouts at them in his thunderous battlefield voice, "If we leave this place, we will ALL die, you as well as us. We're your saviors, you idiots!"

He raises his sword when the robots swarm into the camp, runs at them with great speed and starts slashing. His sword is the one he forged in his own world, and it is not made of ordinary metal. Its basic material is meteoric iron, which is extremely dense and hard. Besides that, it is protected and enhanced by his Elvish metalsmith's spells. This is a sword that will not break, and it is honed to razor sharpness, and when it strikes the metal bodies of the robots, they are in dire peril of being decapitated or sliced in half. He adds his own arcane energy to each blow, which makes a strike far more effective than simple physics would dictate.

[laurefindil]

Yotsuyu made the sun disappear. Glorfindel brought it back...but a lot closer to the ground and centered on him. A flick of the hand not holding his sword, and three of the ragtag robots burst into flame.

An ancient elf, born when the Trees were still in bloom, the spiritual pressure of his presence bursts out to drape over every leaf, every blade of grass, and over every saboteur in a six mile radius (and that's him holding back).

He doesn't actually say anything, however, as he is opening himself up to see if the vision was about this, rather than the asteroid. Besides, there were enough people talking.

[voidtreckernpcs]

As the truck flew towards them the woman threw up an arm. From the side one of the large robots rose to the occasion, terraforming arms reaching up to grab the truck before it can land.

The woman smirked and flicked a finger and the robot threw the truck, back towards the camp of voidtreckers. Siebren’s attack may find the front of the truck first before the face it was intended for.

The sky darkened ominously, bringing darkness over the whole camp, the only light for a moment coming from the glowing of Glorfindel, enough to light up the whole area.

There was a low rumble of thunder and the first spot of rain fell soon turning into a torrent met with thrashing winds, bending nearby trees. It gave Emporio’s Stand more liquid for the machines targeted, bursting metal limbs, but they were only a few; the whizzing of lasers was a shrill noise within the gale, aimed at many of the voidtreckers.

Conversation would be a challenge in such conditions and indeed any words that get through the howling wind are met with smirks and nothing else. ‘A transparent dome surrounds each of the saboteurs, a barrier that was richotetting the rain and attacks from their persons. This may not be a quick fight…

(OOC: Pick a group below to split into. If you haven’t joined the fight yet that’s fine, just jump into either group one or group two. As a rough guide group one is more suitable to high powered characters whereas group two is best for characters whose attacks are more physical/non magical or more suited to close quarter fighting. But anyone is welcome in either!)

GROUP ONE

[voidtreckernpcs]

The woman has barely moved since the fight began, a man and a woman flank her and the teraforming robot stands in front of her. Xue Yang’s lightning flickers over her shield.

Three security robots arrive to shoot at those around the three humans, they don’t seem to be aiming specifically but instead firing a sporadic covering of lasers over the area.

The man flanking her has his gun trained on Yotsuyu, shooting a blast of energy once he has a clear shot.

The woman at her other side finds a sword to her neck, she tries to spin around, attempts to grab Yuume’s arm, she looks amused rather than anything else.

Back out at the front the terrafroming robot swings out a large arm, sweeping into the nearest people, as if they are boulders to clear out of the way. One of the security robots fires towards Sigma, as if to prevent him from another attack. The lead woman pointed a finger back at Yoite, in acceptance or challenge.

[shadowslipping]

Yuume is strong- strong enough to carry a blade as large as herself around in one hand and swing with ease- but she's not stupid. Even someone 'weaker' can get someone in a good hold given the chance, so she's quick to melt away and reappear, now facing the woman more directly.

At least the blade will make a good shield if she's fired at.

"Such a bloodthirsty team aren't you?" She scolds, not at all daunted by uneven odds it seems. Her goggles are on her eyes now- an acceptable visor stanf-in, perhaps. "We were the ones who kept a meteor from making this place a death trap, neh? If anything," she continues, fighting all the while, "You could have waited for us to leave before wreaking your havoc! Impatient, are you?"

[xue_yang]

Xue Yang hardly knows what caution is when he fights. And with his two new weapons he wants nothing more then to feel the excitement of that close up battle. When the lightning hits the shield he doesn't stop. The swords switch to fire, flames licking along the blade clearly unaffected by the rain coming down.

He sends the flames shooting forward with one sword then follows them quickly, bringing up the second to slash at the person and robot in the middle. He doesn't care how many arms these robots have or what kind of shield they think will protect them. He is ready to tear everything apart. A quick battle would have been boring.

[comefadeaway]

They were opening attacking the camp and that was unacceptable. The woman was pointing back at him, foolishly, as though challenging him.

She had no idea what she was getting into.

Yoite didn't need to move to attack her, which might have been what she was expecting, no only his finger barely twitched. He was sending invisible qi in her direction.

If she had no way to stop him from doing so, that qi would enter her body, and he would be able to do serious damage in a moment.

Moving to group two

[namethattune]

The hyperspheres implode against the truck, reappearing floating above his hand. The sky darkens and opens, pouring down rain; Glorfindel glows; Yuume reappears from the shadows; barrier domes appear from seemingly nowhere. In seemingly moments, the situation descends into violent hell.

Sigma extends a hand in a kinetic grasp, the small localized black hole absorbing fire near him: laser crossfire, the shot aimed at him, and given his proximity to Yotsuyu, the energy blast aimed at her as well. The energy will bolster his shields, for the moment, but that is not the issue at hand.

There are equations at work here he has never seen, written in a language he cannot comprehend. Magic is a variable for which he has no reference, no value, no understanding; he cannot calculate around it, and he cannot excise it from the equations at hand. The situation is beyond his ability to control the way he needs to in order to succeed. Additionally, his colleagues here seem well capable of defending themselves without his interference.

His colleagues behind him, however, may require his assistance.

He closes his hand, ending the kinetic grasp, locks eyes with Yotsuyu for a brief moment, then retreats into the rain. He is needed elsewhere.

[laurefindil]

The lasers don't seem to bother Glorfindel as he steps forward, directly into the path of the biggest of the terraforming robots.

With a short, fast run, he dodged the arms and, in a stepping fashion that seemed to defy gravity, he landed on the robot's back or top.

Pulling his arms in front of his chest, he started going hotter, melting feet first through the metal of the robot he was standing on.

[nocawsforconcern]

"Cawwwww.... CRAW!"

It's not, perhaps, the most intimidating battle cry, someone shouting bird noises at the top of their lungs. But it's enough. As the blast is fired, Enna is there, between the man and Yotsuyu, a giant shield materializing between her and the blast.

Enna may be without most of her powers- Indeed, she may not even be high-powered enough here for this team- But that's fine. She plants her shield firmly in the ground in front of her, calling behind her.

"Beat up the people! The big metal guys need them!"

Or so she learned from Lightning, anyway. The big metal people are controlled by the squishier people.

[mynameisallen]

Allen looked over to Enna and simply nodded slightly. Allen was going to make sure he at least got involved and joined in the fight to the best of his ability.

So the first thing Allen did was simply look around, seeing what that was as he quickly decided to simply just unleashing an attack toward the hoped target. Crowns started to form on the fingers of the claw.

"Crown Edge." he called his attack and soon flung it toward the supposed squishy target.

[darkenedmoon]

The last thing Yotsuyu--Tsukuyomi had expected in this instance was to be shielded by others, but the primal shot what could only be a grateful glance towards the bird-child before turning her ire towards the man who had dared attack her.

"That may be easier said than done--they have shields!" Tsukuyomi was well aware of what those shields might be able to do, even if they were less magic and more magitek. Being more than eight feet tall in this form, she'll make a likely target, but that is all right to her. She'd noticed the look Siebren had given her.

"I'll grind you under my heel!" she snarled at the six mortals. A spear materialized in her hand, which she threw at them. As she did, it split into three spears, smashing against the shields.

GROUP TWO

[voidtreckernpcs]

A laser tears through any overgrowth that may be attempting to grow, brought on by another - if smaller - terraforming robot joining the fray, the beam swinging along the ground to cut the gathered voidtreckers into two groups. In the stormy mess, three of the assailants have split off from their group to aim their guns and take fire at those standing in wait. Visors cover their face, making it easier for them to find targets in the haze of the downspout. Watch out, Eva, Nita, and Zechs!

Curufin’s blade slices into the weaker of the bots with good ease, but there are sentry bots that stick back and start firing on him in particular, as well as hovering Stingmons in the sky. Tiny automatons meant for maintenance act as a deterrent as they come swarming for anyone and everyone around. Some have their own tinier lasers, not fatal if they make contact. But they’re quick, and they scuttle and climb in groups.

There’s also the terraforming robot from before that has turned its attention on the rest of the voidtrecker camp, moving on six legs...

[seacub]

If there is one thing he can take advantage of, it's the storm. Weather Report is quick to worsen it, in localized amounts- turning rain into fierce hail above their targets as wind is forced to keep things on target, the Stand's own hands tearing into weakened limbs of robots and throwing them at their enemy as further fodder. At this point it's safer for the boy to hang off the back of the thing- a second set of eyes off the back in a sense, keeping watch for where he could be needed next.

If the weather worsens more for everyone however, he may soon have to focus on things up there.

[mtsilver_conquor]

"SHIT! Si!"

Eva orders as she ducks and moves. While she knows that Princess can likely take a few hits, it doesn't mean she's still not hoping that someone will cover the by now starting to Sing clefairy, the air starting to shimmer with purple energy directed towards the human attackers.

More than that, she sends out Dancer with a sharp 'Go!', the oricorio rapidly taking to the sky as she sharts to glow and trail faint flames as she preps for a Sky Attack. Lele is also sent out, though more to be a living shield for Eva. Some part of her does feel guilty for using it like that, but at the same time...

Pokemon can withstand a great deal more damage than a human being can.

[so_dark_a_road]

Curufin finds himself surrounded by sentry bots that fire their weapons at him. He dives and rolls, trying to evade. An energy bolt creases his left upper arm and a trail of blood appears along the rip in his sleeve, but it isn't deep enough to discourage or hinder him.

Despite Glorfindel's light, the darkness gathers, the rain slashes down, the thunder crashes and rolls. Curufin scrambles to get out of the way of the thrashing trees and the robot fire.

The terraforming robot is making its six-legged run at the camp and its Void Warriors. Curufin decides to try to cut off that robot's arm, as it tries to clear its opponents away. He slips along the darkened ground and leaps towards it, aiming a powerful slash at the robot arm.

[only_one_wei]

Wei Wuxian had stood back at the beginning, there were enough people facing the six that he'd stood off to the side and looked for the catch.

A rough zillion little robots attacking with annoying lasers...that was definitely a catch. These guys looked to be controlling them without controls, though. That meant it had to be invisible...or a sound they couldn't hear.

With the rain lashing down he raised his flute to his lips and sought out the Resentful Energy of the area to try to derail that signal, sending it swirling around them all....

[tactlesstantei]

[Masumi was going to let the others deal with the saboteurs, but it was quickly looking like more help might be needed if there was going to be a chance of stopping them. As such, she rushes to join the fray, kicking at the smaller maintenance robots that were swarming around as she tried to get closer.]

[namethattune]

A furrow in the earth separating the two groups simply does not make a difference when one's feet do not touch the ground. Sigma, floating a steady six inches above the ground, crosses it easily and approaches the second group.

A flick of the wrist recalls the experimental barrier back from where it had been, and a second one sends it forward again, the large blue hard light rectangle coming to rest between their assailants and those who need protection most - namely, Zechs and Eva. "Stay behind the barrier!" It will hold, for a time, provided it does not come under unreasonably heavy fire. It can withstand gunfire, but the laser from the terraforming machine would destroy it easily.

Speaking of which-

He turns to see the robot scrambling towards the camp with Curufin in hot pursuit. Of course. He holds out a hand and calculates as an accretion begins to form, earth and rock and vine and even the odd maintenance automaton or bit of scrap gathered together into a tightly packed boulder. Given the mass of the boulder and the velocity of its travel; given the rate of movement of the automaton and Curufin's angle of approach; given the radius of splash damage from a boulder breaking apart on impact; if he aims there-

He hurls the boulder in a short, powerful arc, aimed at the legs and back of the robot, on the opposite side of Curufin's approach. A direct hit should stun the robot, if only momentarily, while the damage from the debris of a boulder shattering on impact while traveling at speed should miss Curufin entirely; even if he misses, the splash damage should still hit the robot.

Unless the robot is quicker than expected or very suddenly able to fly. Wouldn't that be a messy variable to add to this equation.

At the moment, he would put nothing past it.

[voidtreckernpcs]

Smaller of the automatons burst under the heavy weather conditions amplified by Emporio, and also some of the sentries. But as hotchpotch as some of these machines look, not all are equal: a collection of the sentries with a blue tint in their featureless faces - whereas, the others usually have a warm orange - wash off the rain without it landing on their body, and so is the same with the terraforming robot, arachnid in design.

Curufin will not manage to reach the larger terraforming robot, his earlier attack giving the more up-close bots reason to fire on him, to throw themselves at him, the Terra Spider moving quicker than he will be able to reach. But his results to its legs would have been the same as Siebren’s, if at a less worst cost: for the boulder of material hits an invisible wall, if made discernible upon the hit, sending the broken pieces back out at everyone and the camp. Pieces that may hit some of the robots, but others will need to watch out!

However, it will get the Terra Spider to stop, that shield around it flickering for a second, making itself known. But all eyes should not just be on the larger foes, though the weather makes it hard to see anything in the first place. Princess’s earlier Singing efforts are commendable, but the saboteurs were neither still nor close targets. Dancer should also need to beware, as well as everyone else, but especially those airborne: winds churn and throw spitting rain, the hail made by the Weather added to it; the ground under everyone’s feet rumbles, shakes and stuns even some of the robots. As if the world itself is upset, thrown off by the earlier chaos with the moon and sun.

And in this chaos, the saboteurs have slipped out of immediate sight in the chaos. Wei Wuxian’s cultivator powers will not put any apparent pause to anything, as a red sentry takes fire at the back of Masumi’s shoulder, and moves in to make a cleaner shot.

[ramengroupie]

Even the maintenance robots have been reprogrammed...?

Stingmon flits in the air with surprising grace for such a hefty bug, dodging the sentries' attacks. "Ken-chan!"

"Right." These robots are all needed to protect the planet, but in their current condition...The ground rumbling's knocked Ken to one knee, but he keeps his head up. "Don't worry about damage. Destroy them!"

Stingmon nods. The spikes on his shoulders stick out further, a blade extends from one gauntlet, and he swoops down to try and knock one sentry right into another. Distance combat risks those lasers hitting Ken-chan. Time to get in close!

"Spiking Finish!"